Hello, I am Kaitlyn Arevalo. I am currently eighteen, and will be nineteen next Spring. I live in South Jordan, Utah and currently go to the University of Utah. This is my first year in the U of U and I am Pre-Med and am studying to earn my degree in Biochemistry to eventually become an anesthesiologist, a career which was inspired by my dad and another anesthesiologist when I had to have a surgery as an eleven year old. My father was born and raised in Ecuador. He studied to be a surgeon there until his family had to opportunity to immigrate to the U.S. via the Latin American VISA Lottery system. None of his credentials were transferrable and on top of that, he didn't speak much English and had no substantial income to even think of going back to college without accumulating mass debt. Therefore, he decided to give up on his goal of going into the medical field and join the military instead. Growing up, I would hear countless stories from my dad about how he used to study the human body and illnesses, as well as stories about the cadavers that he worked with. He taught me basic assessment techniques, organ functions, common signs of dengue and malaria (common illnesses in Ecuador), and how to treat various illnesses. Growing up with these accounts made me incredibly fascinated and essentially obsessed with topics covering modern medicine and medical technology (such as da Vinci Surgical robots). But, with the hundreds of different careers involving medicine, I had no idea where to specifically direct my passion; that is, until 2017. I needed to have ear surgery due to a nasty long-term middle ear infection that was causing me to go deaf in one ear. I, as any young child would be, was incredibly nervous and jittery. I had never been put under before, and when I told my classmates about it, they certainly did not help with all their speculations of what it would be like. I remember that I was sitting in the hospital bed when an anesthesiologist walked in to administer to the sedatives. He at first appeared emotionless until he saw me curled on the bed, shaking. He, when no one else would, calmed me down. He at first asked me a couple of silly questions like "What is your favorite ice cream?" and "Do you plan on going anywhere fun now that school is ending?" and would follow up with, "You here that, Mom? The boss ordered mint chocolate chip." He got me to smile in an unfamiliar place where the only person I could trust was my mom. He got me to look forward to having the procedure. I asked him about his job (because I was still curious about medicine despite my fear), and he told me that he was an anesthesiologist. A job I could barely spell (much less say) at the time. He summed up that his job was putting people to sleep so that they wouldn't feel pain; to which I asked if that was what he was here (in the hospital room) to do. He joked "Are you a mind reader?" which earned him another laugh from me. He told me the basics of what was going to happen, and in that moment, I no longer felt any fear for the surgery. My experience with the anesthesiologist and my dad both solidified my resolve to study medicine and to go into anesthesia. My love and anticipation have only grown, and I know that it's what I want to do.

I am a first-generation undergraduate student. Both of my parents are immigrants, and both have started, but not finished college due to different circumstances. My dad is from Ecuador. He was studying to become a surgeon; however, his family ended up winning the Visa Lottery. The Visa Lottery is a program that randomly allows a few families each year in Ecuador (and other Latin American countries) to get a one way ticket to the U.S. His family was hesitant on going, but ultimately decided that it would be better for them to immigrate. When they went to the United States, my dad's brother and sister both decided to attend community college. My dad, however, was not willing to redo the two years of medical school he had completed in Ecuador (his credits did not transfer). On top of that, his English was not the best, so he had even less incentive to go back to studying medicine. Instead, he joined the military. The military sent him to Germany, where he met my mom. My mom is from Bulgaria. When she hit twenty, she decided she wanted to study in Germany (this is typical for many Bulgarians). She had already been studying the German language for a while, but now she was ready to put it to the test. One of her friends knew one of my dad's friends, so they both arranged for their own respective friend groups to go out partying. This is how my dad met my mom. They exchanged numbers and addresses and started sending each other letters. My mom kept up her studies and eventually got married to my dad. However, during one of their trips, my mom became pregnant. She had to stop her studies, move to the United States, and decide to completely give up her studies (she wanted me to have American citizenship). My mom never declared a major and kind of just bounced in between classes, meaning hat she never got a degree. Since I was told this story, I have felt extremely guilty. I have always thought that it was my fault my mom did not have a degree (which isn't true, but it doesn't get rid of the feeling). Because of this feeling, I always seize my college opportunities; if not for me, for my mom. Once I heard both of my parents' stories, I knew I had to pick and plan a career path for myself. Because of their experiences, I've learned that unexpected things can happen and I might not get another chance to achieve my career goals.

When I was born, neither of my parents had any sort of addictions. My mother later on grew a dependence to alcohol because of the death of my uncle, her brother. I did not know him very well, but the news of his passing shocked my mother to her core. I was only five at the time, so I was still very oblivious to concepts such as death and addiction. After his funeral, my mother would stay up late, occasionally drinking a glass of wine while silently crying. She quit her job and stayed home as well, saying that she "just isn't ready to go back to normal." The way I initially saw it was just my mom being sad that she couldn't see my uncle anymore; I thought that she would soon get over it, just as she had done with other sad things. My dad tried helping her by seeking the help of her side of the family and by just trying to get her to think of other things such as exercising and getting out of the house. I tried to help too by trying to make her laugh whenever I would see her starting to tear up or when I would see her looking for another bottle of alcohol. Although my mom was home all the time, it did not feel like she was truly "there." She lapsed in and out of her addiction, one of her longest streaks being two years before relapsing and losing her job. Although my mom might not have been the strongest figure in my life, she is definitely a key person who makes me who I am and makes me realize who I want to be when I grow up. I've seen how addiction caused my mom, one of the kindest people I know, to spiral into a pit that is incredibly hard to get out of. Because of her addiction, I have missed out on having an important female role model in my life. At the same time, I have learned warning signs of relapse, signs of depression, and effective coping mechanisms that do not involve alcohol or other addictive substances. Currently I am studying to be a rehabilitation therapist. I am haunted by all the things I wish I could've done to help my mother, and due to these constant regrets, I am fueled with determination to prevent others from going through the same things my mother and my family did. I will continue to study for this career and I do not intend to get stuck in the cycle as my mother. Seeing first hand how something such as alcohol can change a person has definitely made me steer clear of any sort of alcoholic beverage, but I know that alcohol is not necessarily 100% the "villain" in cases of addiction. When I inevitably have children of my own, I plan on teaching them how to safely drink alcohol, as I know it is a normal thing to do in the United States. For now at least, I plan to keep up my studies and live a sober life.