Going to college has never been a question for me. I needed to go to college. I needed to prove to myself that all the hard work my parents put in for me to attain a successful career was worth it. A couple years ago, I couldn't conceptualize why someone wouldn't want to get a degree. The idea that someone would choose not to go to college, not because they couldn't, but because they didn't want to was absurd to me, until my little sister brought up that she might not want to go to college. The idea infuriated me. How could she possibly entertain the idea of not going to college when that was all my parents had wanted for us growing up? Our parents' wishes aside, how could she deny herself an opportunity to engage outside the community we had grown up in? As the oldest, I was used to setting examples for my sisters. I couldn't believe that she wouldn’t follow in my footsteps and attend university. I used anger, pity, and even guilt to manipulate my little sister into going to school. Needless to say, my anger brought me nowhere. After feeble attempts at getting her to rethink her decision, I had to try something new. I approached my sister with the intent of changing her mind. That was a mistake. Even though I encouraged her to look at multiple universities, programs and locations, I had done nothing to change her mind. I finally had an epiphany when I sat down and talked to my dad. I distinctly remember him telling me that I couldn't change her mind, but I could change her options. I sat down with my sister once more and asked her why she didn't want to go to college. She voiced her concerns about not liking what she was learning and not wanting to feel stuck in four more years of school when she wasn't sure what she wanted to study. It all made more sense. I still wanted her to continue her education, but now I could help her target exactly what she was worried about. Everyone who chooses not to go to college has their own reasons for doing so. By approaching the situation with compassion and understanding, I found that there were more specific concerns than just not wanting to go. Addressing the concerns and providing the necessary resources to understand what further schooling would mean for her changed her perception. She found that she could take a gap year, explore specific subjects or be a part-time student until she could figure out what path she wanted. With alternatives, time and the proper resources she found the choice less daunting. She changed her options.

My life has always been one of firsts. Granted, everybody else’s life has been too. No one can live their life without experiencing their first, well, everything, but my firsts are a little different than most. In my family, I was the first to do a lot of things. I am a first-generation Mexican-American. My parents are immigrants. They came to this country over 20 years ago, searching for a better life, as most immigrants do. They decided to make the journey into the US from their small towns in Guanajuato and Jalisco, Mexico. They crossed the border and settled down in a not-so-small town in the Chicago suburbs: my hometown, Aurora, IL. I was the first to grow up in the United States with a completely different life than my parents, which meant I had to figure out how to do a lot of things on my own. Although I could not ask my parents to help me with my homework or read papers from school, I always tried my best to be their best. I am the first of three sisters. Throughout my years, I have always been in charge of setting good examples for my younger sisters. I was in charge of looking after them when my parents were working, and am therefore responsible for a lot of what they know. My proudest moment with my siblings was teaching them to appreciate what they were given. Although we did not have a lot growing up, I taught them to always use what they had around them, especially when it came to school. I have always been determined to use school to succeed and have passed that down to my sisters. I am the first to go to high school. After finishing junior high I decided that I wanted to go somewhere better than the high school in my area. During my freshman year, I applied to the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, and to my surprise, I got my acceptance letter on May 4th of 2017. I was ecstatic! I would be going somewhere with better options and bigger opportunities. I am making my parents proud by going to school, a dream they had both given up to provide for themselves and their families. I am the first to live away from home. I had been used to doing things on my own and doing things for others because I had to take care of my sisters, but living on my own at a residential school was something I had never experienced before. Balancing learning to live on my own, participating in extracurriculars, and having a workload I could not finish in an hour took some time getting used to, but I found my groove. I discovered new ways to learn, study, and I even formed a new circle of friends with new cultures and experiences I would have never known about had I stayed in a school that I knew would not push me to learn new things. I am the first Multicultural Advocate of my high school. I, along with six other seniors, were the first in a new initiative to spread diversity and teach about equity and inclusion. Each is in charge of one of the seven residence halls. We are responsible for facilitating conversations. We are responsible for setting the example of future advocates to come. I am the first to graduate high school: to throw my cap in the air and say that I did it. I am the first to go to college. Through all my hardships in school, and in life in general, I am now studying to become a nurse. I carry the determination, the strength, and the willpower that growing up in a world of firsts has given me in my everyday life. I apply everything that I have learned to do on my own to one day help those who need it. Whether it be their first or not. But my life of firsts does not end here. There are many more “I will be’s.” I will be the first to graduate from college. I will be the first to give back to my parents; more than they could ever give me.