As a child, I never dreamed of living in the United States of America; I was content with my simple and happy Filipino life. So when the news came that we were immigrating to America in two weeks, I was lost. As a nine-year-old, I didn't know what to feel. I still vividly remember my sister bawling her eyes out on the bus on our way to Manila. I thought, "Should I be crying as well? But for who...for what?" From our trek to NAIA to our final destination, IAH, I never understood why we had to leave our simple and happy Filipino life; I loved the Philippines and life there wasn't that bad. Then came the official start of my American life; middle school. The first few months were the toughest; I sat alone in the cafeteria, walked by myself in the hallways, and didn't utter a single word because my English wasn't perfect. I dreaded going to school every day. I remember crying every night because I wanted to go back to the Philippines; I wanted to be with my childhood friends; I wanted to go to the school where I didn't sit alone and people didn't ignore me; I wanted to go back, but I failed to realize that I was only thinking of what I wanted to do. Seeing me like that every night, wailing helplessly, my parents eventually sat and talked with me. The first thing my dad said was "Anak, even I miss the Philippines. If we could, we would surely stay back home and live there for the rest of our lives, but life isn't that easy." My mom then explained to me that our family business wasn't doing well and we hit rock bottom, financially. We were extremely lucky that my aunt's appeal to petition us to immigrate to America came at the right time. My parents said that their savings were almost gone and they relied on my grandpa and aunt to fund my sister's and my education. With that conversation, I realized how selfish I was as a daughter. Although everything was overwhelming for a nine-year-old, I'm disappointed in myself for living lavishly while we had difficulties financially. My parents have been doing their best to give me and my sister a better life, and a better future, but I failed to see that because I was only preoccupied with the life I wanted to live. Now, as a high school junior, I'm doing my best to be a better version of myself. I'm planning to pursue a career in the medical field as a physiatrist. As a physiatrist, I want to help patients with certain disabilities and chronic pain illnesses to live a more functional and pain-free life without having to undergo extensive and expensive surgery. I also plan on pursuing something in the arts as a minor because I want to share the joys of colors with the world. Although we have lived a decent life, financially, we are still a family who earns just enough to live. We are a low-income household and my older sister is currently in college, so this scholarship will be able to ease part of my college tuition. I want to help my parents and not be a burden to them; I want to be a daughter who's able to give them the life that they deserve as parents who have sacrificed for the better of their children, not because I'm obliged to, but because they deserve that; and the first step to that path of success will be this scholarship.

Life is like a dream that we are all living in. The concept of life is not yet to be determined. We just live our lives to the fullest. We are blessed to be living, that's why we need to cherish every moment of our lives and think of it as a blessing and not a curse. For life is not forever, it is not extended nor deducted. Our life ends in the blink of an eye, whether we want it or not, it's not for us to decide. Life is a dream full of sorrow and darkness, but each day we find the courage to keep fighting. This is the meaning of life. We fight for what we want and live happily until our last breaths. As a person who has lived for quite a long time, I have encountered many events. My overview of life wasn't the best. I have questioned the essence of living each day. It is hard to live a life where you don't know what your purpose is. I always thought that I had to follow someone's orders to get through life. However, it was only recently that my mindset has changed. It was as if my eyes were fully opened to view what my purpose was in this world. At that moment, I exactly knew that I had to follow what I wanted to. What was in my heart and mind was the true meaning of life. Living wasn't about finding your purpose. It was always about exploring your purpose. We must learn to listen to our hearts and minds to find the meaning of our lives. We live life to learn, be free, and be happy. Living is not forever, which is why we don't find the purpose, we explore the purpose.