A maid and an oil field worker. A pair that met from thousands of miles away, through a letter in the mail. My parents were never strangers to hard work. My Dad planted the seed for my love of education and service to others throughout my life. Throughout my whole life, my goal has been to make my family proud by graduating high school and being the first in our family to go to college. One can prepare for a year of AP tests, midterms, and rigor extensively, but no one could prepare me for the two weeks my life was swept up like a flood. The day my dad was rushed to the hospital marked the beginning of my greatest test of resilience. Five days later, my gut feeling urged me to leave school and stay with my dad at his bedside. I held his hand as the beep of his oxygen machine went silent. I watched the coroner cover the face I kissed goodbye in cloth. Three days later, I wrote his obituary. The day I returned to school, I questioned how I would keep up when my world was falling apart, while the rest of the world kept spinning. School was my escape, but in the months following the loss of my Dad, I had never felt more lost. The flood that took him away from me took my motivations with it. Three of my brothers dropped out of high school, and my greatest fear of disappointing my family and letting my dreams go became a devastating reality for me. I felt defeated, but during his final days in a coma, I knelt by my Dad and whispered my promise to him: “You always told me that learning would be my gateway to doing something greater with my life. Everything you and Mama have done for me will be worth it.” Change is how I learn to overcome. I saw from my Dad that his upbringing did not hinder his dreams, but fueled his yearning for something greater in life. I embrace who I am and where I come from now more than ever knowing I have made the best with the resources I’ve been given. I may not have been born with research opportunities or new laptops at my fingertips. Still, I rest assured knowing that I belong in communities of academia because life without my Dad has taught me patience, resourcefulness, and dedication to my dreams despite my circumstances. I am grateful for every textbook I saved up to buy, every night I spent in the hospital with my Dad, and every opportunity I’ve had to fight for. I carry the hopes of my family across the ocean and those who came before me, with an urge to progress and resilience like never before. In the words of W.S. Merwin: “Your absence has gone through me like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color.” I live my days no longer feeling pain over his absence, but living every day celebrating the love he gave me, and being grateful I got to call him Dad in this life.