It's easy to assume people have walked a similar path as you. It's common to see people assuming everyone has had the opportunities they've had. This can lead to ignorance, and people not understanding why people with less privilages or a rougher start to life need to do things differently, or are asking for help. In my life, I've noticed this when many people tell me "just pay attention" or "just get over it" when I talk about my struggles with ADHD. Many people don't even think ADHD is real and that we're just not trying, and don't realize how deeply it affects our lives. They don't get it, and I understand why. They simply don't experience the world the way I do. This realization has made me understand other people also have struggles that make their experience vastly different from mine. I never want to make them feel like they are not heard, or like their struggles don't matter. To me, listening isn't just a matter of hearing someone's words. Listening means I keep an open mind and understand that I can't make assumptions about another person's situation. I can't assume they have the same things I do. This doesn't just apply to struggles, it also applies to cultures. Your culture influences you how you experience different things. For example, how you celebrate holidays. I do not dress up on Christmas, and I had a friend from Germany who does. What you do might just be what you're used to. Even little differences like this can be eye opening. For that reason, listening when other people talk about their cultures, without making your own assumptions based on your own experiences, is a beautiful thing. Listening to me means understanding that I may not understand, and keeping my mind open.

It sounds like the most obvious thing in the world, but when you're an impulsive 18-19 year old trying to "build your credit", it might be a bad idea to trust yourself with a credit card. One of the most important lessons I've learned is to not go into credit card debt. When I was 18-19, I hadn't learned that lesson yet. My mindset was often, "just put it on the credit card, I'll pay for it later." If it wasn't for the fact that banks don't let you have more than a couple thousand dollars in credit card limits if you don't have credit history, my choices back then would have been even worse. I got myself $3,000 in credit card debt at just 19. I paid off a decent chunk of it when I got my tax return that year, and then I made the same mistakes again. It took me making even worse mistakes, such as moving away from my family before I was financially ready when I was 20, to truly understand the impact of financial choices. I have since moved back, and learned how to not spend money I don't have, and am even developing a savings. Now I'm 24, and still paying off the mistakes I made at 19. This isn't even my only debt, I have far more in student loans, but I am hoping that's more of an investment. Now, I'm finally starting to build my credit like I'd planned with those credit cards, now that I'm 24. At 18, you may think you can handle a credit card, and want to build your credit. At 18, you aren't as wise as you think. It's a good idea to have someone help and supervise you. Don't go into credit card debt.

It took me 5 years to get my associate's degree, because I couldn't afford to go full time. I am a part time student and a part time employee. Even though it's taken me longer, I have loved every part of being a student. I am learning so much more as a college student than I did when I was in high school, and will transfer to a university with more life experience. However, now that I know what I want to do, I really hope to find a way to just focus on school, and be a full time student. Especially because I hope to move on after getting my bachelor's degree to get a master's degree as well. I spent a lot of my time in school knowing I wanted to study a science, and really enjoying the learning experience. After realizing how much I love learning about biology and ecosystems, I've decided I'm going to be a marine biologist, and I'm more dedicated than ever. It's quite a struggle, though, trying to figure out how to pay for it. Not only do I need money for tuition, but I need money for living expenses. At my community college, loans barely covered cost of tuition, let alone living expenses. I am hoping to live in a dorm, as it's more affordable and I can be near campus. Dorms often require full-time enrollment, so I'm really hoping to find a way to pay for tuition and a dorm, as I won't be able to work as much as I could if I only went part time. I do still plan on working, working not only helps with the financial side of things, but it helps give me structure in my schedule. I am paying for school all by myself, my family isn't paying for it. Though I know it will be a struggle to pay for it, I am looking forward to it. I am so excited to become a marine biologist, and learn about what we don't yet know about our oceans. I am hoping to learn more about the ocean, and especially what's affecting the organisms in it. I want to know how pollution is hurting the ecosystems, so that we can learn how to do better and create a more Eco-friendly society. I know our society is trying to become more sustainable, and I hope that I can be part of that, by learning how we're hurting our oceans.

One of my earliest memories is of my mother teaching me about addition and subtraction using french fries. She taught me the basics of math before they were taught to me in school, and it helped me understand what was going on early on. As I grew older, math became a favorite subject. In 5th grade, I started playing with Rubik's cubes, and became known in the class as one of the "math kids". As I got even older, I started to really use math in daily life when I became a cashier as an adult. Sure, I could have relied on calculators, but sometimes they weren't available, and I genuinely enjoyed the challenge of trying to add and subtract prices in my head as quickly as possible. It kept things from getting too boring. I then took some math classes in college, and I loved them. When I didn't understand something, at least I knew if I continued to try, I would eventually get it. Because math is logical, there's no vague rules about what's a good or bad job, there's a specific answer (or in some cases, multiple answers) that can be found by following logical steps. The answer is not affected by who is doing it. While I also enjoyed subjects like art and writing, I could always trust that math will make sense. I've always loved math, and always had fun with it. For much of my time as a college student, I didn't know what I wanted to major in, but I did know I wanted something that required a bunch of math, and a bunch of challenging myself. Science is similar to math in that it follows logical steps, and science actually requires quite a bit of mathematical knowledge. I have this desire to challenge myself to understand things I don't, so I figured I'd eventually decide to major in a science. As I studied more, I realized I love learning about ecosystems. Learning about how different organisms interact, why they do what they do, and why they need what they need has deepened my appreciation for the world around me, and even inspired my art, by making me want to paint nature more. A bee, for example, is no longer just a bee. A bee is made up of many cells, and each of them need to be fueled by energy. A bee is also a pollinator, that many plants depend on. Some plants will not bloom or produce their fruits without being pollinated. The plants are often the main energy source of the ecosystem, as they are what turn sunlight into consumable energy, that the rest of the organisms depend on. Something about knowing all this makes me appreciate the nature around me all the more. This desire to learn about ecosystems has inspired me to major in marine biology, as there is a lot going on in our oceans, and there's a lot I don't yet know about it.

It hasn’t been easy getting through school with ADHD. High school classrooms were always very distracting, and I couldn’t get any work done until I got home. In college, the classroom environments are better, and I feel more motivated. But despite efforts, it takes me a few times longer to get an assignment done than it takes my peers, making my workload feel even heavier. So why am not only continuing to peruse education, but majoring in marine biology, a major many describe as challenging? I don’t want to let my ADHD stop me from following my passions. I know I’m in for a large workload, I know my future career choice will be challenging, and I know I will overwhelmed. I want it anyway. I have always loved math, and animals, and I grew up near the ocean. As I learned more about animals, I learned about how complex ecosystems can be. I now love learning more about ecosystems, and how organisms interact with each other and their habitat. Understanding how they work has deepened my appreciation for them, and has even inspired me creatively. Now whenever I paint a flower or an animal, I can’t help but think about how the organism works. And being that I love math, I want a career where I have to be good at it. Not only do I feel becoming a marine biologist will help me pursue my own interests, but I am hoping my work will help the planet. It’s a big goal, for sure, and I’m going after it anyway. I not only want to learn about ecosystems, but I want to learn what’s harming them, as human-caused climate change is becoming more and more of an issue. What chemicals or materials are getting into these marine ecosystems, and how are they affecting the organisms? How is the rising temperature of the world affecting them? In finding the answers to these questions, I will also want to think of ways to reverse or minimize the damage, and help think of better ways for humans to take care of our world. ADHD can make education difficult, but the fact is, I am passionate about science, and that’s enough to keep me going. I work hard to keep my GPA up and understand the materials as best as I possibly can, and ask a lot of questions. I don’t just want to know the material I am learning, I want to really understand it.

Even though I didn't grow up with a lot of money, I've always had a desire in my heart to travel. The fact that I had never gotten to leave the Pacific Northwest for the first 19 years of my life only made this desire burn deeper. Being an adult and being able to get a job gave me more freedom to travel, and I've traveled more in the past few years than I have in my entire life. That passion to travel is a motivator for several of my life goals. The first thing on my bucket list is all the places I want to see, especially places with cultures that are different than what I'm used to. The second thing on my bucket list is a desire to help people, and the environment. My big goal here is to become a marine biologist, and study ecosystems and see what's affecting them, so I can learn what I and the world can do to better take care of the environment. The smaller ways that I'm already achieving my goals in helping people is through volunteer work. I've volunteered for habitat for humanity, my schools LGBTQ+ resource center, and am currently volunteering for a 4H geology group, which I absolutely love as it is getting kids interested in science. The final thing on my bucket list is my creative pursuits. I am a writer and a painter. It's interesting the way interests can intersect, and how learning about biology is inspiring my paintings. Another creative goal is to write some books, and I already know what they will be about. I haven't gotten a whole book published yet, but I have gotten a poem published before. I can't wait to see where my goals take me.

Helping the planet while continuing to learn and challenge myself throughout my career is my goal. I am studying to become a marine biologist. Something I really love learning about are ecosystems, and how different organisms interact with each other and their surrounding environment. I also want a career involving a lot of math and figuring things out, as that's something I really enjoy. So I figured marine biology would be a great way for me to explore subjects I love, while also learning what's affecting marine life and the environment as a whole. I plan to learn about what is affecting marine life, and what we, as people, could do differently to have less affect on our oceans. I want to learn what's being put into our oceans, how it's affecting the oceans and the water quality, how organisms are affected, and how we are affected. I also know that a lot of things on this planet are part of a cycle, and that includes the water cycle. So how is what's being put in our oceans affecting what's in other bodies or sources of water? I am hoping to take part in the research that is telling the world about the effect pollution is having, and what we should be doing better for the environment.

At first, I was indecisive about my major, but I knew I wanted something involving a lot of math. I finally decided on marine biology, but I still wish to learn about other sciences too. I'd considered mathematics, programming, geology, and forestry, but I finally decided on marine biology. Our oceans are so vast, and we still don't know very much about what's in them. Yet, our behavior as a species has had such an impact on them, and affecting sensitive organisms in them. Other ecosystems have also been affected, but the fact is, the oceans are very important and we don't know enough about them. My goal in becoming a marine biologist is to study what's in our oceans, how they affect us, how they affect other ecosystems, and what's harming or changing them. It saddens me how chemicals and plastic end up in the ocean and hurting other organisms. It results in things like coral bleaching, which not only affects the corals themselves, but also the other organisms that live in a coral reef. What right do we have to affect so many other creatures that we share this planet with? I aim to learn what exactly is ending up in our oceans, what organisms are affected, and try to figure out how to lessen our impact. I know a great many of us are already trying our best to make a smaller footprint, and in a society where we so heavily depend on gasoline, plastic, and other things that are contributors to pollution, it isn't easy. Especially when eco-friendly options are often more expensive to the consumer, and many people are struggling to pay for living expenses with rising gas prices and getting back on their feet after the pandemic. I hope to do research as a marine biologist that will help both consumers and those producing the products to find more eco-friendly solutions.

Every problem has a simple answer. In math, even if your equation is complex and looks advanced, there's a right way to do it, and a specific answer. Math follows a set of rules that everyone has to go by. In other subjects, and in social situations, there's not a defined right or wrong answer, and the answer could very from person to person, and how well you did could be subjective. In math, there are defined rules, allowing me to come up with a solution I can be confident about. Math has changed the world. Earlier societies used math to study astronomy and physics, and we have built upon their discoveries to get where we are. Math is used nearly everything, from things like physics and chemistry, to art and architecture. These subjects can often overlap, such as how an architect has to think about the physics of what they design, but can often be artistic about it. A big part of technological advances is mathematical, and programming is also based on a set of rules like math is. Technology is such a big part of modern life, affecting not only our social and professional lives, but healthcare and accessibility for people with disabilities. An understanding of math will always be important, no matter what someone's interests are. When I tell people I'm a marine biology major, they often tell me, "Wow, you must be smart!". I got the same response when I was considering other majors, such as mathematics and geology. Before I decided on a major, I always told people that, while I wasn't yet sure exactly what I wanted, I knew I wanted to go into a field that involved a lot of mathematical or scientific thinking. I have loved math since I was a child, and my mother first taught me how to multiply using french fries, before I learned it in school. In elementary school, I thrived in math, earning an award from my teacher in 5th grade, and being placed in advanced math. Even I think math can be difficult sometimes, but I know if I try, I will understand it, because I can trust that it will follow a set of rules and make sense. When I finally understand how to solve a problem, I feel like I've achieved something. People may think I'm smart for my choice of major, but I do not think that, if I am, that that's what makes me smart. I chose my major because I love math, and it just makes sense to me.

I moved to Colorado. The day I got there, my father was found dead. I was in a new state, nowhere around anyone I knew, with no money, and dealing with a sudden loss. I didn't know how he died at first, it sounded like he just dropped dead. If it could happen to him, it could happen to any of my loved ones, or me. Not only was I heartbroken, but I was terrified. I had this roommate. She didn't understand that I needed space, in fact, she didn't understand basic boundaries. It started with her getting frustrated and calling me selfish, for being sad all the time, and it went downhill from there. Overtime, she started calling me names, and yelling at me all the time. Eventually, she began banging on things, and even threw things. She'd threaten me. There was constant tension in my home. She'd even insult my cats. I couldn't afford to break the lease, but I began saving. I was going to leave, one way or another. It was miserable. My mental health was tanking. Even my cats were stressed. I considered putting them in a kennel until I could get out. It took me months to save. It was hard to take care of myself because I was so miserable. But I knew I had to get out. Especially for my cats, but also, I wanted to see my friends again. Eventually, I had the money. I told my roommate I wanted to break the lease. She wasn't happy, and tried to fight it. I told her that, even if you don't break the lease, I'm leaving the state. After a fight in the parking lot, she finally agreed. The flight home was the most free I've ever felt.

Being a college student with a job, there have been times where I felt too busy to take care of myself. I found that not doing so led to being less productive, and more anxiety. I know now how important self-care is. I find I am a better student, and can get more done, if I don't neglect myself. Keeping my skin moisturized is an important part of self-care. I have bottles of moisturizer around the house. Having dry skin can be painful, and there is just something relaxing about moisturizing your skin. My face and my hands especially. The gym is another form of self-care. It's about more than staying fit. It's about giving myself a break from all my stressors and just focusing on the workout alone. It's about the music I listen to in my headphones. It's about fighting insomnia by working out enough to feel exhausted at night. And finally, it's about how I feel, physically, afterwords. I feel good, and I feel strong. My final major self care step is just taking time to be by myself. I love my friends, but I am introvert. When I have so much homework to do, and I want to spend time with the people I love, I may not get a chance to schedule time to just be. If I don't, though, not only do I get worse anxiety, but I become unable to focus, making me a worse student. Even if it's just 15 minutes a day, I be sure I have some time to just sit and be myself, without homework, without distractions, and without other people. Even when life gets busy, spending time to take care of yourself will not only make you happier, but will help you be a more focused student.

Johan Reinhard is the anthropologist who found Mummy Juanita, the mummy of an child sacrifice victim from the Incan Empire. He has traveled quite a lot for his career, and has published many works, his findings telling the world a lot about the Inca.