Hello, my name is Kendra Castrejon, I am a first-generation Mexican college student from Washington State. A little bit about me is that I like to bake, sew, and play/watch soccer. I also enjoy getting to learn about different cultures and languages. I know both Spanish and English, a little bit of ASL, and a little bit of German. I hope to be able to learn more languages in the future, like Russian, Italian, or even Japanese. A few fun facts about me are that I am left-handed, I have never tried sushi, I really want to though, and I don't think I will ever be 5-feet tall, at least not without heels on. Career wise, I am interested in becoming a nurse (maybe NICU nurse, pediatric, or oncology nurse) and this upcoming academic year I will start a nursing program (PL-BSN) through Washington State University. I would say I am pretty motivated by my parents, who since I was young have always encouraged me to pursue higher education and to always do my best in whatever that I do. I am motivated at the thought of being able to give myself a better life as my parents would want, and not only that, but also be able to give a better life to those around me. I am motivated to become a nurse because I really feel that as a nurse that is where I can make the most difference in other people's lives. I think even if I could do anything with my life, I would still imagine I would want to help people, I would want to care for others, and just overall, I would want people to be able to live better lives. I know some people do not consider nursing as a part of STEM, so I am sorry if this is also the case here, but I thought I would give this scholarship a try and see what happens. Personally, what excites me about STEM, specifically women in STEM, is getting to be a part of the women who did not let topics such as these, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, etc., be left only to "men". For me, getting to a part of this percentage (or even just the workforce percentage of women in general) so that it is able to increase and there is more equal representation is awesome to me. For many years I have been hearing, in school and in other places, that representation of women in STEM is not as high as many would like it to be. And there might be multiple reasons for this lower representation, but one reason I would never want to hear about is because girls or young women don't believe that they have what it takes. Getting to be a part of the percentage of women in STEM so others, like young women, see the path other women have laid for them and are encouraged to do just the same or more is really the goal. It is to let them know that they can do it if they want to and that there are many options for them. I am not sure how I could make a positive impact on the world through a job in information technology, just because I am more interested in becoming a nurse, with which I could make a positive impact on the world by wanting others to feel a care that is genuine. Even though nursing is an occupation that is fairly heavily female, it takes a lot of hard work to become a nurse (quite a lot of science classes), and even as a nurse it can be very difficult, but I know it can and also is very rewarding. So even if just as a nurse, I want to encourage others to give their best, do their best, and never back down from a challenge. One of the greatest challenges I have had to overcome was the death of my first dog, Chex. This was one of the greatest challenges I faced because MY dog died and I maybe, just maybe could have prevented it if I didn't take him for granted. I thought that because I had him one day, the next day he would still be here, but sadly, this was not the case. What I really regret was that the day before he passed away, I hadn't gone out to see him. I had not gone out to tell him that he was a good boy, and I won't get to. I kept thinking to myself what maybe would have happened if I had gone out even for a minute the day before. Would I have noticed something was off in him? Could I have done anything? Why didn't I go outside? Why didn't you even think about him? I was heartbroken knowing that I took him for granted and that it took his death to make me realize how grateful I was to have him only too late. I knew I would never want to feel like this again, and so I knew I had to learn to be grateful every day, for all the little things in my life because change can happen from one day to the next and regret is one of the hardest things to have in life. And so today, I continue to learn about being grateful for all the things I have in my life, all the things I will have, and all the things I had like, Chex, who created some of the memories I will never forget.

For as long as I can remember I have always thought that I would go to college, so there was no second guessing when the topic of college came up. Even to this day I am not second guessing furthering my education. I am going to college. The only real second guessing comes from where exactly I want to go. My parents never went to college and maybe that is why they encourage my siblings and I to go. Not to say that because they never went to college they could never really ¨prosper¨, because they made and make it work. I am happy to say I have two supporting parents by my side that encourage me to do my best by telling me ¨echale ganas¨ (give what you got), while referring to my education and honestly anything that I do. They want me to prosper and go further than they got. I live in a small town where farming and agriculture are peoples main occupations, my dad included. Together our family has orchards where every year the trees grow cherries, apples, pears, and nectarines. I do not really know very much about everything that goes into running orchards, but one thing I know is that it is hard work. One of my main supporters, one of the most hard working people I know, my dad, is and has been always around working, doing something that involves the orchards, that being spraying, cutting grass, loading bins, and those jobs that need to be done to keep the orchard going. From my dad, both my parents really, I learned about hard work. I started working or more like helping around the orchard during cherry time when I was twelve and I have continued to this day when the season comes around. What cherry season looks like is people starting to work at 5 am and continuing until it gets to hot that the cherry starts to soften to a point where it is just to soft or whenever the boss says ¨al llenar¨ (just fill up). I do not pick cherry, I am sorting the cherry along with others, bending over, picking up cherry lugs, counting tickets, etc. It is at the end of the day when it is really hot, and you just want to leave, but there are just so many cherry lugs that still need to be ¨dumped¨ into the bin and cleaned when I think ¨wow¨. I have a huge respect for laborers. I mean I work during the cherry season, which is like a month, and I do it to get a sense of hard work and help out. But I know many do it because they have people counting on them at home or wherever they are. Going to college is so important to me as a first-generating college student because I know how not going can impact those that are around me. I want to go to college because I want to get a job that I will enjoy, not just a job that I happen to need. My future plans involve attending WSU or UW. My future plans involve graduating with my BSN as a first-generation college student. This scholarship provides me to be more free of mind that college is not so far off with some financial help. My future plans can be expensive, so I hope and I know with hard work and some help I will do it. I will ¨echale ganas¨.