In my childhood, like any other kid, I would often sleep in my mother's bed. Except when I'd stretch my arms to get comfortable, slipping them under her pillows, a cold glass bottle of Grand Marnier would always press against me. That cold feeling brought me a sense of comfort. I grew up surrounded by a family indulging in addiction every day, from my mother, my father, my grandma, my tia, my tio, my close family friends, both my brothers and both my sisters. I grew up surrounded by alcohol, cigarettes, vapes, joints, pills, and self-harm. I thought it was normal for my brother's arms to be covered in new cuts and developing scars, for my mother's words to blend together and never make sense, for my tio and grandma to gift each other vapes, for my family friend to stumble and often fall to the floor, for my father to smoke beside me, and for other kids in middle school to tell me I reek of cigarettes every day, I thought it was normal for me and my younger sister to be the only sober people in my entire immediate family. Addiction was a constant and everyday part of my life, it was essentially part of my routine. My experiences worked to develop me into a person with broken personal goals, values, and future aspirations. In middle school I started to choose to surround myself with addicts and I'd occasionally indulge in their substances and tolerate their use of them. I had considered addiction something I was bound to submit to and inherit from a family full of it, it must be in my genes, so why should I resist it? This mindset allowed me to border the line of addiction myself, until I realized I wasn't only harming myself, but also my little sister who I wasn't protecting from the reins of addiction. I saw a parallel between me and my sister and me and my childhood, that I was the one who was meant to positively influence her and push her in the right direction, and yet, just like my family had done to me, I was doing the opposite for her. This realization is what caused me to change my personal goals, values, and future aspirations. I rejected my previous ideology, addiction wasn't something I was bound to inherit and I can, and will, fight it. These ideology's and past had hindered my growth as a human, but from the minute I realized I was being hindered, I finally let go of it and allowed myself to grow. This scholarship would allow me to continue my journey of growth through college education while lessening the burden of debt I’ll have to take on.

In my childhood, like any other kid, I would often sleep in my mother's bed. Except when I'd stretch my arms to get comfortable, slipping them under her pillows, a cold glass bottle of Grand Marnier would always press against me. That cold feeling brought me a sense of comfort. I grew up surrounded by a family indulging in addiction every day, from my mother, my father, my grandma, my tia, my tio, my close family friends, both my brothers and both my sisters. I grew up surrounded by alcohol, cigarettes, vapes, joints, pills, and self-harm. I thought it was normal for my brother's arms to be covered in new cuts and developing scars, for my mother's words to blend together and never make sense, for my tio and grandma to gift each other vapes, for my family friend to stumble and often fall to the floor, for my father to smoke beside me, and for other kids in middle school to tell me I reek of cigarettes every day, I thought it was normal for me and my younger sister to be the only sober people in my entire immediate family. Addiction was a constant and everyday part of my life, it was essentially part of my routine. My experiences worked to develop me into a person with broken personal goals, values, and future aspirations. In middle school I started to choose to surround myself with addicts and I'd occasionally indulge in their substances and tolerate their use of them. I had considered addiction something I was bound to submit to and inherit from a family full of it, it must be in my genes, so why should I resist it? This mindset allowed me to border the line of addiction myself, until I realized I wasn't only harming myself, but also my little sister who I wasn't protecting from the reins of addiction. I saw a parallel between me and my sister and me and my childhood, that I was the one who was meant to positively influence her and push her in the right direction, and yet, just like my family had done to me, I was doing the opposite for her. This realization is what caused me to change my personal goals, values, and future aspirations. I rejected my previous idealogy, addiction wasn't something I was bound to inherit and I can, and will, fight it. I developed the personal goal of resisting addiction and I've held strong from middle school to now, even through the many experiences I've been through which are familiar to me due to my childhood. I value strength and perseverance. My future aspirations are to continue being strong, to continue persevering, and to fittingly, someday become a Forensic Toxicologist.

I've never been paid to do chores or babysit or given a monthly allowance, but I've always found ways to budget and spread the small amounts of money I'd get on yearly celebrations across the span of a year, until the celebration would inevitably come around again. Then I started working my first job in September of 2024, earning the minimum wage of 15$ an hour in a retail store and I've worked there since. I get paid weekly and I have consistently put at least 50-75% of every single paycheck into the savings of my bank account I opened right when I turned 18, while leaving the rest in my checkings. This was a tip I learned while on my self-educated financial journey, which was supported by countless TikTok and YouTube tips, tricks and tutorial videos. Even before my formal experience with financial education, I dedicated myself to being as financially smart and considerate of my future as I could have, even with my then current and limited knowledge. This school year I began taking a Financial Literacy and Action Civics course, which is my first formal experience with financial education. It has been an enlightening course, I've learned many things that I hadn't even considered to be relevant or to have even existed until then. One specific piece of knowledge that I plan to use to better my future would be my knowledge on loans, a topic we've been learning about which I've found definitely applies to me. Through my teachings on loans, I've learned how essential it is to take full advantage of my access and ability to apply for scholarships and other means that would help me avoid large amounts of loans and debt. Although I also know from my teachings that all debt is not bad debt, my journey of learning has helped me realize that I myself do not feel as though I'm a person who will willingly choose to rely on large amounts of loans to support my future, to support my college journey, I want to be able to support myself through it and hopefully graduate college debt free, a concept which I have learned is usually difficult to achieve, but I still strive to reach. I hope to use all this knowledge in the future to always be aware and willing to learn about finances as I don't, and will never know absolutely EVERYTHING unless I continue being aware and willing.

My greatest achievement to date is working through highschool and now my efforts beyond highschool as I work towards pursuing a college education. My freshman year was during the midst of covid, It was the first year I had been back to school since 7th grade and this first impression set the inevitably stressful tone for the rest of my highschool years. High School was a long and hard journey but through all the pain and challenges I kept pushing. I pushed beyond struggling in class, beyond losing friends, beyond spending countless tired nights studying and now I've finally made it. Being two months away from earning my highschool diploma is the greatest thing I have achieved so far, and in two months my greatest achievement will be receiving that diploma, and then in several more months my greatest achievement will be being enrolled in college as a first generation student. I work and strive everyday to be constantly reaching new achievements. Highschool put me through so much pain but also happiness, through which I learned many things about myself as my experience in highschool has shaped me. Being in highschool surrounded by others unfamiliar faces 5 days a week has pushed me out of my comfort zone. I've learned my own boundaries and the boundaries of others and how to respect those boundaries while also learning how and why I should push myself beyond what I am socially and academically comfortable with, this is how you grow. Although I never held this mindset before highschool, I now realize that I want to learn, I want to push myself, I want to and I find it essential to grow. In the future I am going to pursue a hopefully successful career in Forensic Science. The unknown is scary but I want to be able to discover it and put the pieces together with the use of forensics in order to alleviate the stress that the unknown can bring upon grieving and hurting families and victims. I hope to gain the achievement of graduating college with my bachelors in Forensic Science in the future. I hope to be able to continue to be someone who constantly pushes myself everyday to do more, to grow more and to learn more in my future and in my career with the use of my bachelors and the vast experiences I will gain in college.