Whenever I can, I would often sit in a corner with a history book in hand, absorbing in all the struggle and drama of the events of past episodes, and I would think to myself: “it would be a great honor to be mentioned in history”. I was unable understand why many of my peers considered history to be a ‘boring’ subject. History to me, is a collection of stories and legacies of past achievements- an immortal reminder of what we have achieved over the ages, and of the cost which was copious amounts of blood and toil. It provides us with role models such as Newton, Fabre, and Neil Armstrong; with boundless examples of what we could potentially become in the future. Our legacy. History not only sings to us of tales of the past, but to me, it also sings to us of what we could potentially achieve in the near future. Would I live to see mankind colonize or even terraform other celestial bodies? Would we eventually be able to travel space at the speed of light? Will we achieve full knowledge and control over biomass? I can already imagine these sentences I just put together being written in history textbooks (or data) someday. And there is nothing more encouraging than that. I believe that this inspiration is our legacy. It doesn’t matter what a person’s study of interest is, whether it be Physics, Biology, or even Arts. It will all become part of history’s pantheon of legends. Acts and discoveries, all immortalized so that future generations may also be inspired to do the same.

I am an aspiring freshman who dreams to do bigger things in the future. But unfortunately I was not blessed with great wealth as to be able to afford college without taking out loans. I want to pursue my dreams but I also do not want to worry my parents too much, much less directly impact them with financial crisis. I strongly believe I can achieve great things in life if only I could take my mind off of trying to accumulate funds for my education that may or may not be the bane of my family's livelihood.

My family had just settled in Korea when I was hospitalized due to a rare disease known as Kawasaki disease. I like to believe that the hospital is where I made my first friend in Korea. What had me interested in this friend was a particular comic book about beetles. It was supposedly her favorite book and was the only way anybody could relate to her now that she was cognitively disabled due to a car crash. Silently binging through this book in my most quiet days in the hospital, I opened my eyes to an entire world of little creatures that I used to detest prior to this discovery. I truly felt sorry for her then, having to leave the exploring to others for good. But if I had the chance, I would like to let her know that, however indirectly, she has introduced another soul to an entire world worth committing to, and I am forever grateful for it. If there's one thing my life has taught me, it's that life is short, and I must spend it on appreciating the things it offers while I can. I know that God has created this world for our sake, so nothing can stop me from appreciating its mysteries. I want to indulge myself in the sciences and marvel at its wonders. The world is both terrifying and majestic, with stories just waiting to be uncovered. In this short life, I want to witness and explore as much as I can.

My favorite artist/scientist is without a doubt, Leonardo Da Vinci. I am starkly convinced that this genius of a man is quite probably the most intelligent man recorded in human history. He has many fields of interests and is excellent at all of them, some of which are still majorly impacted by his ideas and innovations to this day. He is both a phenomenal artist and scientist who has gifted the world with the fruits of his talent for generations to come, and has lived a life worthy of the pantheon of legends.

For most of my school life, I always stood out in class. Not necessarily because of my high grades or anything like that, but because of my background and/or ethnicity. I've always felt like a foreigner in a foreign land. In America I was the Asian American of the class. There was nothing notably uncomfortable at the time, but the physical differences between my peers was difficult to overlook. I was walking the line between two vastly different cultures, still confused as to which is where I truly belonged to. Our family's move to Korea presented me with more surprises. I was in an environment where people looked like me and spoke my other language, so it was a rather pleasant experience. But although our hardwares may look very alike, I found that it was a different story when it came down to our softwares. Among many things, it was particularly confusing as to why there was absolute submission to people who they believed to be at least 1 year older than themselves. Differences such as these led to some misunderstandings between me and my fellow kinsmen, though thankfully, I was able to adapt into the culture fairy quickly. Compared to my previous experiences, the Philippines was a completely different beast. Not only was I different physically, but culturally as well. Like Korea, it was difficult getting used to the norms, and it felt rather lonely and isolated for the first few years of my time in the Philippines, despite having the kindest friends through it all. But I slowly came to realize that being different wasn't a bad thing after all. I was approached by different people, allowing me to interact with many different people. If previously I thought I didn't really belong anywhere, I now believed that I could belong in all of them equally. These experiences granted me with a wider perspective of the world around me, influencing my outlook on life. As a result, I was also compelled to seek new things out, only this time I wanted to know more about the world.