I plan to start with being a criminal defense attorney for a few years and work my way up to Congress with my end goal being a Supreme Court Justice. With each step, I will be fighting for criminal justice reform differently. My target within the criminal justice system is addressing the problem of false convictions which happen far too often and many will argue is due to bias, which in some aspects I can agree with. However, I feel the main issue lies with public defenders or lack thereof. Public defenders have an extremely large workload with little time and little pay/resources. This is the problem as because of these things there are more areas for public defenders to lack or miss something as the case is essentially rushed on their end. While I am an attorney I plan to do both paid and pro-bono work to ensure false conviction rates decrease and with this, I will spread awareness of this fact and do my best to assist public defenders as much as possible. This will begin the process of change and the lowering of false convictions. When going into Congress I plan to create more policies that provide more protection for criminal defense attorneys and work on better enforcing the proper allocation of funding for these individuals. However, being in these positions I can do much more, so I will continue to spread awareness of the multitude of reasons that cause false convictions, bias being one of them. I plan to enforce a policy that addresses this issue and even makes consequences for those who are guilty of having bias when investigating or representing an individual. This is something many think only happened back in the day as it is shown heavily in movies such as 'Just Mercy'. However, this is 100% something many still have to worry about today it is just less known which causes it to happen more often with no consequence. So, I will create a list of what can/cannot be considered biased and make a consequence for those found guilty of this. As a Supreme Court justice, I plan to better enforce these policies without discrimination or bias. This will bring my goal to life and not only I, not only California, but the world will see a change in the criminal justice system. America will see REAL justice, equal and with consequence to whom deserves it. All of this, starting now.

I have always had to lead when I was uncomfortable, sad, or unmotivated. I had to push through regardless of my circumstances or feelings because I knew what would happen if I slacked. This has built my character though, because of my growing up, I have become more strong-willed, disciplined, and organized. I had to be a second mother to my siblings at a very young age. This caused me to have to stay organized and disciplined because if I didn't lead correctly, they could lack something, and when it comes to caring for children you have lives in your hands, so you have to pay attention to little things and be very disciplined. Though many would look at this and think it's a sob story I think of it as my origin story because without this I wouldn't be the person I am today. Some ways I have demonstrated leadership in an academic setting would have to be my senior year of high school. My school district had multiple racist incidents at a few of the high schools within it and the head of my district tried to sweep these incidents under the rug. This was something that made me and many other students feel uncomfortable within my district, however, the social media posts weren't doing enough and teachers didn't feel like they could speak up. I then wrote a piece addressing this issue and it was published in the newspaper. Nothing worked. Due to this, I organized a walkout, I made sure to think of what people would need as I knew it would be hot that day and I prepared for a big turnout. After planning and announcing this walkout, the admin asked us to "forget about it" and while many thought we should listen, I explained exactly what forgetting about it would suffice and still led the protest which many participated in. Another way I demonstrated leadership was when I created and presented a revised child abuse policy to my school board which was passed. In the future, I hope to raise awareness of the cause of false convictions while I am a criminal defense attorney and work my way up to Congress where I will continue to fight for criminal justice reform and lead in the passing of policies in that way. To assist in the process of enforcing these laws I hope to become a supreme court justice. As of now though, I am working to establish a non-profit where I will educate and provide resources to children in the parts of places that are often forgotten about, due to crime or whatever other stereotype a location can have, causing children to receive fewer benefits/knowledge as opposed to those in other areas. My goal overall, is to use the leadership skills I have gained over time to create equal opportunities for all, children, criminals, and anyone else I may think of. I mean after all, who knows what the future holds?

In high school, I was a big advocate for racial and financial equality within my school district; I've had articles published in the local newspaper addressing the issue and multiple meetings with district members. Due to this, there have been slight changes in how the district handles students of color and students with financial needs. My long-term goals are to own a non-profit and become a criminal defense attorney, I plan to do pro-bono work as well as paid work assuring those in financial need still receive good representation like those without financial need. I believe everyone deserves the right to a good attorney regardless of their financial need. Still, they don't receive that due to how overwhelmed and underpaid public defenders are. This will ensure more fair trials and fewer wrongful convictions. I am also working on establishing a non-profit in the underserved area of Fresno, CA. I have noticed that those in low-income areas aren't exposed to many opportunities they qualify for as opposed to those in wealthier areas. Due to this, I have been working on establishing a non-profit that will expose these opportunities to kids in lower-income areas as well as assist them in navigating college apps, recommendations, internship opportunities, volunteer opportunities, and even assisting in funding for many of these things. As a high schooler growing up I had to teach myself to research things to receive the same opportunities. However, this is a skill kids in other parts of town were taught; I also never got the chance to get volunteer hours because my mom couldn't provide transportation. However, other schools had clubs that provided volunteer opportunities; my school did not out of lack of funding. So, my non-profit would provide transportation, partner with schools in low-income areas, and give students the skills they need to succeed in life passed high school. This is something I am working on currently and the attentive date for this to start being put into action is August 2024. My goal in life is to help those in need that are overlooked simply because of their situation. A lot of time people don't have much control over their situation and regardless of how much they want to change their situation, the system is still working against them. This goes for the justice system and the education system; this is why my targeted places of action are in these disciplines.

Being an early grad is one of my greatest achievements and I have always known what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people with disadvantages. I never felt it was fair for someone to have mediocre representation because they couldn’t afford it. This type of representation is what lead to people being wrongfully convicted, I want to become a criminal defense attorney and do some pro-bono work to help people in my community with an economic disadvantage. I decided to graduate early because I know the justice system needs to change and I plan to be part of the enforcement of that change, I plan to get there and begin as soon as possible. I have an outline of what I need to do to achieve this goal and one of those things is to of course, go to college. I persevere, and I will continue to do so; my mother is a single mom with 12 kids, 2 of my siblings have heart conditions and one of them has not only a heart condition but colitis as well. Due to this going to college is a lot on our family due to how expensive it can be. However, I understood the challenges when I decided I wanted to graduate high school early and attend college, between me helping my mom to babysit my younger sibling so my brother can go to his doctor’s appointments, cheer, Rise Up, and schoolwork I have always been busy. However, regardless of these challenges my determination never faltered I would make sure to always communicate with my teachers and maintain respect; I have a dream much like Martin Luther King’s, peace, and equality. With having big dreams there will be many struggles and I learned to adapt to tough situations and face struggles head on early in life. I strongly believe the saying, “If there is a will there is a way” and I have always found a way to remain positive and steadfast in the face of difficulty. This is something I want to help other young people to understand as well, everyone has tough times, but those times are temporary and can be overcome with the right attitude. I want to teach young kids how to utilize their resources and give them hope for a better future because I understand what it’s like to feel as though your parent’s life is what your future entails. I understand what it’s like to not come from much and feel as though you are set up to fail. I want children my age and younger to understand that none of that is true and that the world is full of possibilities and that succeeding is one of those possibilities. There are many resources for them, and they just need to be made aware of them and learn how to utilize them. These are things I plan to execute through community service. I want everyone to have fair representation and some people were never given hope or the chance to do better and this is something I will execute with my future career. I want there to be real change within the justice system and within communities like mine where there are many hopeless kids and not enough people working to give these kids hope. I just want to help people I have never given up on my goals even when I felt exhausted and helpless and I do not plan to start now.

When I was younger, I didn’t think I’d make it pass 12. I am now 17 and a high school early grad. I am still in disbelief when I think about how far I came but I also don’t give myself enough time to soak it all up. I have a plan to help people while also doing the thing I love, fighting for people. To execute this plan, I don’t have time to reminisce about the bad times when I have work to do, of course I balance self-care and responsibilities but still I don’t acknowledge my accomplishments much because my accomplishments now are nothing in comparison to what I plan to do after college. When I first started elementary school, I was severely bullied and this lasted until 10th grade of high school, I never felt comfortable at school and often felt unmotivated. As if school wasn’t hard enough home life wasn’t the easiest. I have 10 siblings and being the second oldest and the oldest girl I often had to look after my siblings. When covid first began my brother was diagnosed with cancer and it was extremely difficult for all of us. Due to my mom having to be at the hospital with my brother I had to stay home and care for my siblings as she is a single mom. Having to maintain my grades online, babysit, and process the fact that my brother was diagnosed with something life-threatening was a lot for me at the age of 14 but I got through it. This time built my determination, resilience, and overall made me stronger. I often still stay home from school to babysit and must maintain my grades which I have thankfully been able to do. In 8th grade I decided I wanted to graduate early, of course with the constant bullying I often doubted myself, but I never gave up. I made sure to notify my counselor in the 9th grade of my plan and did summer school every year of high school. I am now an early grad and will attend UC Merced in the fall majoring in Political Science. I want to help people all over the world and enforce equality in the justice system. I plan to be a criminal defense attorney and ensure everyone receives the proper representation. I plan to also do pro-bono work and advocate as well as invest in the public defense system because I feel like the quality of someone’s representation should not depend on their financial status. Everyone has the right to a “fair trial” this should include those that struggle financially. Growing up with 10 siblings we struggled financially often and if any of us were to be falsely accused or anything of that nature we could possibly be wrongfully convicted simply because we weren’t able to afford proper representation. Public defenders are swamped with cases and are not provided with the proper resources to sustain a fair trial, all while hardly being paid. I want to assist in terminating this issue and getting to college is the first step to that. With all my continuous struggles I became stronger and will continue to grow as a person. I do not doubt that I will encounter many more challenges in my life, but I do know that I am very determined to make a difference and I will overcome any obstacles thrown at me.

My greatest achievement to date would have to be graduating high school a year early. I faced many obstacles I wasn't sure I would overcome but instead of letting that fear take over I persevered and worked harder. I had to take summer credit every summer to receive extra credits, I have a single mother with 10 siblings, and with me being the second oldest but oldest girl I had a lot of home responsibility. With 2 of my siblings having heart issues there were many doctor's appointments causing me to stay home from school often to babysit. Though this made maintaining my grades more difficult I was still able to maintain mostly straight A's. This was the case for the last 2 years of high school as the first years was online due to covid. My mom couldn't afford a babysitter and we often couldn't afford to get to my law and policy presentations for my dual enrollment course. Struggling to get there though didn't stop me from getting there; at times I would take the city bus or ask different family members. None of this made me feel any negative way about my mom because I feel this instilled perseverance within me. I've had teachers tell me to look into different colleges than the ones I had hoped to get into simply because they were expensive while others were encouraged to apply to those schools and this did have a very big impact on me. At first, I thought it was because I wasn't good enough but I realized it was simply because of my financial status and I didn't want that to define me for my entire life. I have a dream to be an attorney and help people and I refuse to let how I grew up affect that. So, I took Summer classes every Summer to receive extra credits, stayed after school to learn or teach myself materials I wasn't in class to learn, and endured a lot of sleepless nights studying for tests. This hard work allowed me to be a first-gen high school grad a year early. I understood going to college would be hard and I still understand that but I don't plan to let my financial situation be the reason I can't pursue higher education and be an example to others in a similar position to mine. This has taught me not to envy anyone for what they have because if you work hard enough you can be at the same place as those people even if you started with less. This also taught me to persevere and it overall strengthened my self-discipline, I realize now that I can do anything I put my mind to regardless of my situation; this is something I wish I knew in middle school. Graduating early taught me that and I hope to continue with my education and in the future become one of the best Criminal Defense attorneys that provides equal representation I will even do pro-bono work because I feel like no one deserves to be represented lazily due to their economic status. The wrongful convictions need to stop and I plan to make that happen.