My academic and professional goal is to become a physician and surgeon. This is my dream and it carries the weight of my mother’s story. My mother came to the United States as a nineteen-year-old woman trying to escape a difficult situation in Colombia and build a better life. She set up a small business in Miami, FL and did whatever it took to give me a good life. I want to become the first surgeon in my family, not only to honor her sacrifice, but to use my hands, knowledge, and heart to help people during some of the hardest moments of their lives. My journey has led me to Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and put me in a position to become a surgeon. I want to operate with skill, humility, compassion, and cultural understanding. I hope to teach the next generation of physicians and surgeons how to care for people with excellence and humanity. I want to serve patients who are struggling financially, because not everyone has the resources or support system needed to access life-changing care. I know what it feels like to be hungry, cold, scared, and uncertain about the future. I want to use those experiences to give better medical care. I need this scholarship because medical school is financially demanding, and I have real financial need. I’m currently borrowing the maximum amount with federal unsubsidized and GRAD plus loans. This scholarship means more because it speaks to my identity. I am a metalhead. I love heavy music because it tells the truth about struggle. Metal speaks about addiction, grief, depression, rage, self-doubt, survival, transformation, and triumph. It gives language to the darkest parts of being human while reminding us that we can overcome them. Some of my favorite bands are Chelsea Grin, Thy Art Is Murder, Shadow of Intent, Like Moths to Flames, Suicide Silence, August Burns Red, Knocked Loose, and Fit For an Autopsy. I have seen all of them live, and I especially identify with deathcore bands because of their raw intensity, honesty, and emotional weight. Their music has helped me process painful experiences and turn them into forward motion. It also helps that I love playing guitar and metal bands have some of the best musicianship in live performances. I try to learn every song that I like and talk to the guitarists at live shows. My favorite concert experience was seeing Fit For an Autopsy at Irving Plaza in NYC shortly after moving to New Jersey for medical school. During the opener, Disembodied Tyrant, my phone was stolen. For a few minutes, I was crushed because I knew I would not record the show or easily get home. Then someone near me, whose phone had also been stolen, told me to let it go. She was right. I decided I was not going to let a stolen phone steal that night from me. I moshed, screamed, crowd surfed, and lived fully in that room. Hell, I even caught Tim Howley’s guitar pick. The best part came afterward. I had no phone, no directions, and no idea how I was getting back to New Jersey. Some guys I had met in the pit were also heading home, and they made sure I got back safely. A few months later, I won tickets to Christmas Burns Red and saw those same guys again. Since then, we have gone to multiple shows together. That is what I love most about metal, the brotherhood. In the pit, when someone falls, you pick them up. When someone needs to tie their shoe, strangers form a shield. People who appear intimidating often show incredible tenderness inside the community. I have hugged strangers after shows and told them I loved them because, in that moment, I meant it. Metal has shown me what kind of surgeon I want to become: someone strong enough to face chaos, but human enough to lift people up when they fall.