During my younger days, I was always told hateful things about people in the LGBTQA+ community and racial minorities like Black and Indian people. I didn´t know any better since I was taught that they were seen in a negative light. However, as I got older, I soon realized that what I learned and said about those groups were harmful in more ways than one. That doesn´t excuse my actions in the past but I learned to better myself and learn about the cultures of the groups. I learned that the world is filled with hatred towards minorities. Back in the day, The world was okay with saying any racist, homophobic, transphobic, or other remark without any backlash. This has caused damage to our society that hasn´t been healed. We did not find out until recently that half of the ¨dark humor¨ jokes we made were harmful and straight up not funny. These jokes have caused suicide in minority groups and hurtful misinformation that prevents them from being given job opportunities or gets them killed. I´m glad that I was able to learn such information as it allowed me to become a better person and help out people in those groups get the equality they deserve.

People face hardships in their lives and it can hinder their progress on anything. That roadblock can also suck the joy and optimism you had. I face obstacles that prevent me from moving forward towards my goal and I start to feel sad. Despite how many challenges get in my way, I find solutions to those trials of my abilities through my sheer will, AKA my optimism and joy. It's rather difficult to stay positive in times where it seems impossible to deal with our confrontation with whatever situation you might find yourself in. I have had role models that pushed me to my limit to help me get passed my roadblocks. When I was younger, my family and I faced multiple tests of our skill sets. We lost our main mode of transportation, our house numerous times, and my mom faced identity theft. I was at a loss at what was going on and cried. My mother told me not to worry and got through those myriad of problems with a smile. I was there with her and it inspired me to do the same. From that day on, I face my challenges with a positive attitude and move forward. I don't fret about it as that'll slow down my advancement to my life-long goal of becoming a video game designer.

During my journey of school, I had many teachers help me through my life. All those teachers I considered to be good but there's one in particular that always comes in to my mind and am thankful for. My eighth grade English, Ms. Leota, has felt like a second mother to me as she cared for my mental and physical health. She also taught me valuable life lessons that helped me get through life. Despite only having Ms. Leota for a school year, that school year felt like years that I'm glad to have had. My eighth grade year started off pretty rough, I didn't have any classes with my best friend, I wasn't mentally prepared to leave middle school and go onto high school, etc etc. My homeroom teacher was Ms. Leota, she was a new teacher to our school, and we had a good first impression of her if I recall correctly. She got to learn about learn of us throughout the school year, including me. We would get to learn about her as well and she was a genuinely nice person. I would go into go into her classroom after school ended to help her with stuff she needed to put up in the class and we would talk. I enjoyed her presence and she treated me like a son. Nearing the second semester of the school year is when she impacted my life for the better Around the end of the first semester and the beginning of the second semester is when I felt terrible mentally. I felt like a terrible person for all the things I said to my peers, family and strangers. I felt as if everybody hated me and I just bottled up my emotions for prolonged periods of time. From time to time, I'd let them out when nobody was around me. However, the pain was too overbearing and I broke out to a couple of people, one of them being Ms. Leota. I spoke my mind to her and she helped me. She told me that people cared and loved me. She also told me my actions don't define who you are. I felt wanted thanks to her. I later went on to improve myself to become a better person. Ms. Leota helped me through a struggling time and I won't forget that. I told her that she was a second mother to me and that made her delighted. Ultimately, all of my teachers are great people who helped me through life. All of them deserve a big "THANK YOU" for all they have done for me and other students. Ms. Leota had a greater impact on my life and I can't thank her enough. Where ever I am, I never forget the people that helped me out and how I got there. My life would be radically different without her help. Ms. Leota, I want to show you my gratitude by saying this, thank you.