I am looking to pursue an associate's degree in building construction at TSTC's Waco campus starting in the fall of 2023. My future goal is to become a general contractor to construct people's dream homes. Construction and fabrication have been in my family for the past two generations. My great-grandfather started a company building homes and passed it down to my grandfather. He was in the trade until he left to go to seminary and start a career in ministry. My father went through an apprenticeship in a sheet metal union and worked his way to being a mechanical engineer. Although they are not in the trades anymore, my father and grandfather have taught me what I know today. Growing up, I learned to work for everything that I own. I learned to be honest in my work and that it is better to do a job right the first time rather than to cut corners. When I started working at Solid Rock Services, my boss said that he never finishes a job until it is finished right. That grew on me and is an ethic I will forever work by. Whenever covid hit and schools shut down, I went to my grandfather's house every day and helped him build all kinds of things. The more I made, the more and more I grew a love for carpentry. I then started building more furniture and finer finished projects and realized how profitable it could be. I then decided I wanted to go into a trade for the manual labor aspect. After working for my boss for the past couple of years, I decided that I wanted to go into building new homes for people. I enjoy the excitement of people seeing their "new" homes from renovations and want to use my skills to help people live in their dream homes. In June of 2022, I went on a mission trip to Lake Charles, Louisiana. My group got to perform several small renovations in a lady's home that had been sitting damaged for several years after a hurricane hit it. We laid flooring, installed a new ceiling and roof, and rebuilt a porch for her. When she saw all that we had completed, she was speechless. The joy of using my skills to help someone less fortunate than me sparked the desire to go into home construction and build dream homes at an affordable price for the buyer because I know it is hard to buy a house in today's economy. I also want to be able to do volunteer work and maybe even start an organization that renovates homes for those in need and living in poor housing conditions that cannot otherwise afford a renovation.