I have always loved traveling because of how much I learn from it. It goes beyond the cultural differences and the food that you learn about. It starts at home, when you learn new tricks to search for flights, when you receive tips from hotel reviews regarding restaurants in the area, and when you get that excitement exploding in the family as you proceed to checkout on the flights and hotel. It is then that you realise to value the laughs and smiles, the trip has not happened yet but the family is already exhaling happiness. I believe that is when we start our growth journey, before we leave home. Learning to value and cherish the moments we have with our family is a valuable lesson about empathy and love. These two things can transform perspectives and opinions. If someone is happy, they will see more positive things in the world. They will be more grateful for the little things and able to value both the little and the big moments in life. That is just the preparation for the travel. When it is time to fly, we see ourselves in huge airports filled with different people who have the richest stories and most heartfelt memories. That is when we learn that life is not static, that life is like an airport, where many people come and go, and a few stay. Nevertheless, we still have the memory of people who were only in our lives for a connection flight. Sometimes, an airport is the place of goodbyes, and tears. However, at other times, an airport can be a place for greetings, welcomes, and laughter. Meting people in airports is an enriching experience because it is usually unexpected. People are coming from different places with completely different stories. These can expose you to what to ask, what to listen for, what to expect. Most of the time, an airport can simply be quiet, a place where people don't have many memories because they are just anxious about getting to their flights in time, and so is life. But when you travel, you learn to slow down, you learn to appreciate the opportunity to be exactly where you are. You learn that from them on, it will just get better. It does get better, when you arrive at the travel destination, and you have the chance to explore the place you have dreamed of. You see the monuments that someone created, you try the food that someone made, and you listen to stories someone tells. At the end of the day, you learn to value people for what they did, and appreciate them for who they are. This might just be the most important lesson we learn while traveling. That is, to value things and people for that they do, and appreciate them for what and who they are. This is the most important lesson because it goes beyond language, culture, memories, history, and perspectives. It is when these things change you. When you travel and learn about another culture, you re-think yours. When you lear about another language, you compare it with yours. When you see things from a different perspective, you cannot believe you had never thought of doing so before. This is when, you can take all that you found missing in your own customs and ways of living and improve them. You have the chance to change your own conceptions and stigmas for eve, which ultimately leads to personal growth and development.

I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and Graves disease at 15 years old. At the time, my family had just recently moved (6 months prior) to South Africa, where we did not have family or friends, and we did not speak the local languages or the most common language - English. The move was already very stressful, I was discriminated against at school and bullied for not being able to understand my peers or teachers. I developed stress eczema due to that, which became worse when I started having allergic reactions to my thyroid medication. Not knowing English in an English-centered foreign country is already scary enough, but doctors appointments, exams, lab tests, and bad symptoms made everything a little worse. Hyperthyroidism is quite common among teenage girls nowadays, but I had really bad symptoms and an allergic reaction to the only medication offered for it in South Africa - which my doctor informed me was very uncommon, as only 1 in every 1000 Asians showed such reactions (I am not Asian, I am a white Brazilian). I was deprived of social events at and out of school. I missed camps and classes because I simply couldn’t breathe some days - the allergy would close my throat. This made me very upset, I viewed myself as a burden to my parents and as someone whom people would feel sorry for whenever they looked at me. Looking back, I can totally understand why I thought that way. I was the foreign girl who couldn’t speak English and had health issues, I appeared fragile and vulnerable - and really, I was. I had many bad episodes of almost fainting, either due to the heat or the lack of air. I have, ever since being diagnosed, had to deal with crazy mood changes and extreme fatigue. I did not let my health condition label me or dictate who I was going to be. I made that a mere detail of my life and nothing more. I acted as if I was perfectly fine even when I was hiding my stress eczema or feeling unrealistically warm. I continued practising sports and complying with all my school and extra activities as I used to before the diagnosis. Not letting this affect my positive attitude toward life also required a lot of will from me. I simply did not accept feeling sorry for myself and using my health as an excuse to not do things. This was quite challenging because I was in fact limited sometimes, but I kept going. This is what I have been doing ever since - keep going. Since being diagnosed, I have had to switch doctors (due to their personal/professional problems) which interrupted my treatment, and I have moved countries to follow my father's job which impacted my treatment because every country has a slightly different variant of the same medication used for hyperthyroidism. This treatment has also given me a lot of uncertainty because of medical recommendations. Overall, I can say that this condition is tiring in every way possible - financially, hormonally, physically, emotionally, and mentally. However, I try to understand that this could all be a lot worse. Thanks to this condition, I have become a more grateful person. I learned to appreciate the little things, such as not having natural bulging eyes, being able to breathe, and having such a loving and supportive family. I have never considered myself sick and I don't think I ever will because this has only ever put me down for me to come back up stronger.

The American dream was supposed to be one in which an individual goes to a land of prosperity. I was raised around people who said America was the land of opportunity for wealth. Those people claimed that whoever came to the USA just got miraculously rich. But as I grew up, I saw that the opportunity they mentioned was low-tier job-related. When I moved to America, I realized that the wealth they used to brag about was one conquered with a lot of hard work and years of fearing any small offence could blow it. The process of migrating to the USA legally is not burden-free. Families go through hours of standing in lines to hear their visas got declined, and when they finally get the little piece of paper that approves them to enter the country, they anxiously go through immigration at the airport where any wrong move could end their hope of starting a new chapter of their stories. When these families come into the country, they start the million of paperwork that must be done before they can do basically anything other people do. The so-desired social security number is not for everyone. The one paper that legally allows people to work in the country, is not given to those who desperately want to work, because they simply don't fulfill the requirements. I used to see America as the land where anything was possible. You could make a living out of any job, much better than in any other country in my opinion, but that was until I realized they don't give jobs to everyone. People who don't qualify for that little piece of paper that allows people to be registered to work, simply can't make a living in the USA legally unless they are investing in stocks. Although it takes a lot of hard work to reach the hoped American dream of prosperity, some people still think it is easy for immigrants to come into this foreign land and use their economy to make a living. Upon watching people struggle to maintain themselves here, I have come to define the American dream as the dream of those who are unafraid of hard work, judgement, discrimination, low appreciation, never looking back, and who are still willing to be thankful and happy with what they have and what they accomplish in this foreign land - the American dream is exclusively for the hopeful strong-minded.

My name is Larissa Tavares Giacomin and I am a 19 years old Brazilian multi-passionate girl. One of my biggest passions is music. I have been playing the violin since I was 10 and it has in many instances been the only way to communicate with people - when I moved to South Africa and could not speak English, music was my escape. At the moment, I am pursuing a Bachelor's in International Relations with a focus on a 3+3 law program at Oakland University, MI. regarding activities, I like to engage in as many opportunities as I can such as pre-law club, DECA (at which I have been recently accepted as the director of membership), and orchestras. My personal goals include building a happy family, travelling and discovering the world, helping my family and others who have less them me, and inspiring those who are around me to dream big and seek their ambitions. My ultimate career goal has always been to become a judge. I always contemplated the idea of being a lawyer and making a difference from within the system. Regarding my Bachelor's choice, I want to facilitate migration, but not because I want people to 'escape' their country or government. I want people to be able to be proud of where they come from like I am. I want to help people move overseas to see they discover new things, make new memories, and have different experiences from what they would in their own countries. I want people to be able to live these new opportunities in dignity, being free wherever they are, no matter who they are, what they look like, what they believe in, and where they come from. I want to promote self-identity and cultural knowledge because globalization is making the whole world look similar and lose individual characteristics. People are forgetting the importance of displaying cultural differences. People are forgetting that these differences are what make international relationships so appealing and rich. Without them, there is less need for international commerce which could potentially lead to a decreasing global economy. I wish to help policies improve international access to new experiences by facilitating migration, but in the process, I want to uphold the individuality of my country and my people. I have heard and studied about representativity, and how it influences people positively. It is true that when you can relate to a leading character, you have a feeling of safety, hope, and belonging. I want to provide my people with those feelings. This is because I come from a country where people always compliment, and think or speak highly of other countries but never acknowledge our own country's unique features. I want to help countries get the right sort of attention and the world to appreciate my country for what it is. I believe there is only one way of achieving that, and that is by teaching people to appreciate and respect their own country. I hope to accomplish this by encouraging other influential people to portray their country's particularities in good light, to the world but most especially to their people. I believe it is in the world's interest to keep good international relations, so it should also be in the world's interest to defend each other's values and cultures. I want people to admire each other's countries and cultures, while also loving their own, no matter if they emigrated or if they plan to. This is what I want to be part of.

I have been very concerned about the labor shortage in the United States since I will soon be entering the workforce myself. On top of my personal reasons for working on this, according to research, if the issue is not addressed, “the U.S. worker shortage will lead to even higher inflation, reduced incomes, higher taxes, and a smaller economy” (Greszler, 2022). There are currently about 10 million job openings in the US, and about 10.5 million undocumented immigrants already in the country. The number of immigrants who are actively working illegally is unknown, but Pew Research Center estimated that 7.6 million of them are. The country's labor shortage amounts to about 3 million workers, which is almost the exact number of undocumented immigrant workers that are not currently working. The statistics suggest that the workers could successfully replace the missing labor force. In addition to this analysis, the fields most affected by this problem are the low-paying ones, which include childcare, food preparation and service, personal care, home health, and loading and stocking, which are jobs that Native Americans do not want. I have done research on how to solve this problem and I am currently planning to draft a bill for congress to propose that the American government create a new international visa type, along with a special work permit, which will allow current undocumented immigrants to legally work in the US. Researchers have noted that immigrants not only contribute to the economy but can also help advance it. To make sure the immigrants with the new visa are working in the fields specified to them, The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would simply monitor where each immigrant is working (tracking in which systems each of the issued visas’ numbers are registered). This should help general national American public understand that these immigrants are not a threat to their security, economic and otherwise. My plan will solve the workers' shortage in the country while helping American employers who are struggling to afford to bring immigrants under visas H-2A and H-2B, and relieving the burden that undocumented immigrants live with due to their illegal status. For a more complete understanding of my research and proposition, please access my research paper: https://1drv.ms/w/s!AnLGTxLr51KqgSqeF3gmi7BaEW10.

My favourite Disney character has always been Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She is beautiful and kind, very feminine, but she is also very smart, strong and brave, which were not traits usually attributed to women, specially in early Disney movies. From an early age, girls are taught to be delicate and fragile, to not desire much education or power but intead to depend on men to support them. I was always against that idea. I argued as a kid that girls should want to reach the same levels of accomplishments as men. I know now that there are obstacles to women achieve all of that. But I still believe that it is worth to walk the extra mile in order to become the people we once admired and dreamed of being. The stigma around the role of women in society has changed a lot in the past few years but I am sure that there is still much improvement that can be done. I also believe that if women don't seek knowledge like Belle did, there is no way that can be changed. I also always felt represented by Belle physically. I have dark hair and eyes, and my skin has a little of yellow undertone, which resemble Belle's characterisation. Representation such as this from an early age, can encourage and stimulate kids to want to do the same things as fictional characters. I don't claim to have Belle's beauty and grace, but I feel motivated by her that those are characteristics I can have one day. That is how I always thought. These are the reasons that Beauty and the Beast has been one of my comfort movies since I was a child.

My passion for music started when I was only 10 when I started learning the violin. At 14, my father was transferred to South Africa, but my whole family moved only because music opened doors for me. Playing the violin became my happy place, my home away from home. In the look-and-see (the period given to the employee to learn more about the place before signing a contract), my family visited three high schools to talk about enrolling me. Two of the schools' headmasters denied my enrolment because I did not speak English. The second one eve said it would be impossible for me to learn English fast enough to catch up with the rest of the class. But when we were already losing hope, we got another interview in another high school. My family toured the school and at the end of the visit, while the headmaster spoke about my language barrier, through a translator, he asked me if I played any instruments. I said yes and quickly elaborated on it. He then said that I was more than welcome to enroll there because even though I did not speak English, I spoke the language of the soul. My family had discussed that in case none of the high schools accepted me, my father would either have to live in South Africa alone or decline the offer to work there. But music allowed us to stay together. Music not only gave me hope, but it also gave my whole family peace. I had always loved music, but I did not know how much until I had to choose a college major. I faced impostor syndrome then. I started questioning my abilities and my passions. Through careful analysis, I decided I would not major in Music because my goals in the field did not necessarily have to involve that. My dream is to play in a big symphony orchestra. I don't necessarily want to be a soloist, praised for my virtuosity. I want music to continue to comfort me in tough times, I want it to be the open door to my happy place. That is why I chose music as my minor. My college major and minor decision reflects how much music made me more mature and thoughtful. Through this activity, I have learned that in a group task if only one of the members is not fully synchronized, the whole thing may fall apart. This has become a life lesson to me. It has made me understand that no one can do anything completely alone and that humans always depend on others to some extent. It has also given me more responsibilities and taught me to appreciate studying and practicing.

The first answer that came to me was, "I would book a flight to France". After trying to think of some other more meaningful answers, I second-guessed myself. Why is flying to France not meaningful enough to me? What is the meaning of life, if not living? Fully enjoying the moment and appreciating life is what we should be doing. From my experience, as a Brazilian living in South Africa, I can say that I have grown to appreciate my country even more after I left it. Going to South Africa taught me to not take anything for granted. I should know that going abroad can give you co much more than just pretty pictures. Going abroad can give you a lifetime experience. But even knowing all of this, I still thought it was not meaningful enough to fly to France if I had $1,000 right now. Maybe this is the main reason why I should do it. There are so many things I could do with $1,000. I could buy a new phone, my college books, stocks to start investing, and even a car. But in the long time plan, are any of these things more important than real-life experience? I don't think so. I am amazed by how much life appreciation this prompt reminded me of, I wonder what actually going to France could teach me.

I believe my determination is one of my strongest qualities. I have faced academic, social, and health challenges from which I had to embrace my determination to do better and to be better. I had to learn to be determined to get through not only the academic difficulties but through heavier personal issues. Determination has proved to be very effective in my life so far and I believe that it will continue to be for as long as I want it to. I think everything is about choices and perspectives. So as long as I believe that determination can take me somewhere and actually act determinedly, this characteristic will continue to show its effects on me. People usually only develop certain traits when they face certain situations, and this is what happened to me. Until the age of 14, my life was pretty much like every other kid's, I was learning how to develop social skills, how to study and achieve good grades, and discovering my passions and talents. At the same time, my life was very different from most other kids'. By the age of 14, I had lived in 3 different states, 7 different houses, and gone to 6 different schools. Upon hearing this summary of my life, people my age used to say how lucky I was for having met so many people and made so many new friends. The reality, however, was that because I only stayed in each place for a short period of time, I had not made strong connections. At the age of 14, I found myself surrounded by so many people I have met and yet, feeling lonely. At the age of 15, my family moved abroad for the first time. I have always been a bubbly person, happy, energetic, and extremely extroverted. But for the first time, I could not speak to the people around me. I did not speak English when my family moved abroad. I then faced one of the toughest times of my life. I was stuck in the language learning process while almost failing all my classes, having to deal with a recent hyperthyroidism diagnosis, and being socially isolated because my peers did not have the patience to talk to me. At that point in my life, it was easy to simply stay isolated and pity myself, but I did not. I endured the hard time my peers gave me, by laughing at me in class, through reading. I confess I was never much into reading, but this was until I decided that it was the only way to learn the language fast. After I read about 12 books in 8 months' time, my English was a lot better. So much so, that I started making friends. This was an accomplishment by itself but at the age of 16, I was already in the top 10 of my class' academic performances, and I had overcome a whole year of heavy thyroid treatment, having 14 pills a day. I had to study twice as hard as my peers to catch up with them in academics, but I did it. At the age of 17, I managed to receive 3 academic awards and finish high school ranked 8th in my class. I feel that if I was able to overcome all of these challenges so far, as long as I stay hard-working and faithful, my determination will continue to help me in the future. In addition to helping me, it will eventually help others, because humans naturally become motivated when people around them already are, and that's my goal.

I chose International Relations as my major for a few reasons. 1 is that it would give me an excellent background to go into Law in the future. 2 is that as a foreigner, I understand the stress of visa applications and moving abroad. Hence, I want to facilitate this process for people in my country. My biggest carrier goal is to become a judge, but I will enjoy the process of first helping other Brazilians this way. Then advocating for their rights in the country, this is once I became a lawyer. When I reach my ultimate goal, I wish to help make the big decisions so that people who must go through the difficult process of moving abroad won't struggle as much as others have in the past. Morally I wish to always stand by my culture and values, to represent my people wherever I go. It is not my job to educate people on my culture but I want to show others that Brazil is much more than its Carnaval. Similarly, I want to show Brazilians how proud we can be of our culture. In my country, people always compliment life abroad and neglect how fortunate they are to have our governmental system. In Brazil, there are working public health aid and schools available to all. Although there is still a lot of corruption and flaws in the whole system, there are so many things to be grateful for. Humans in general usually take things for granted. We don't realize how fortunate we are simply because we are not aware of how much worse the situation could be. I want to be able to share this with my people. I want to be able to broaden people's perspectives to bring them some gratefulness. I also want to inspire Brazilians to pursue their studies abroad. People in Brazil think studying abroad is so far from reach, but it is only because we are not stimulated to research opportunities and follow our hearts. I want to incentive people to pursue their dreams of going abroad and having the same experience I will have. I plan in explaining ways in which they can do this while getting financial aid and scholarships.

My passion for music started when I was only 10. At 14, my father was transferred to South Africa, but my whole family moved only because music opened doors for me. Playing the violin became my happy place, my home away from home. In the look-and-see (the period given to the employee to learn more about the place before signing a contract), my family visited three high schools to talk about enrolling me. Two of the schools' headmasters denied my enrolment because I did not speak English. The second one eve said it would be impossible for me to learn English fast enough to catch up with the rest of the class. But when we were already losing hope, we got another interview in another high school. My family toured the school and at the end of the visit, while the headmaster spoke about my language barrier, through a translator, he asked me if I played any instruments. I said yes and quickly elaborated on it. He then said that I was more than welcome to enrol there because even though I did not speak English, I spoke the language of the soul. My family had discussed that in case none of the high schools accepted me, my father would either have to live in South Africa alone or decline the offer to work there. But music allowed us to stay together. Music not only gave me hope, but it also gave my whole family peace. I had always loved music, but I did not know how much until I had to choose a college major. I faced impostor syndrome then. I started questioning my abilities and my passions. Through careful analysis, I decided I would not major in Music because my goals in the field did not necessarily have to involve that. My dream is to play in a big symphony orchestra. I don't necessarily want to be a soloist, praised for my virtuosity. I want music to continue to comfort me in tough times, I want it to be the open door to my happy place. That is why I chose music as my minor. My college major and minor decision reflects how much music made me more mature and thoughtful. Through this activity, I have learned that in a group task if only one of the members is not fully synchronised, the whole thing may fall apart. This has become a life lesson to me. It has made me understand that no one can do anything completely alone and that humans always depend on others to some extent. It has also given me more responsibilities and taught me to appreciate studying and practicing.

Music is a dream that keeps my other dreams going. In May 2018, my dad received a new job opportunity in South Africa. Our family had the chance of coming to the city where he would work to look for available schools for me and my brother. But when we came we couldn’t speak English at all because English classes in Brazil were always unaffordable to us. We could visit as many schools as we’d liked but in order to chose one there were some requirements. The school had to be international, it had to be the cheapest option and the process os admission plus enrollment had to take no longer than 2 months because the company needed my dad working there as soon as possible. There were only one school available in this case. In a meeting with the high school’s headmaster, he told our family that it would be impossible (he really emphasized it) for my brother and I to learn English quick enough to be en par with their pace. He then didn’t accept us in his high school. That was very frustrating and sad for us to hear since you would only expect to hear words of encouragement coming from someone in the education department. Disclaimer, he had previously accepted other Brazilians who had no English there. He argued that our case was different as i was going to grade 9 and my brother to grade 10. When we had already lost our hopes of moving to South Africa, another Brazilian lady my mon had just met told us about another school. She said it was expensive but she could get us a meeting with the headmaster the next day. This second school was a little far from the city but it was huge and beautiful. The headmaster was very welcoming and asked to see our marks, which the other headmaster had just forgotten or ignored. He was impressed with our averages but he asked my brother and I if we did music in Brazil. The Brazilian lady accompanying us translated that for us and we nodded yes, then explained in Portuguese we had been playing the violin for 3 years. The headmaster immediately smiled and said, “How could I not accept you two if you speak the international language, the language of the soul. You are more than welcome here.” On the first of July 2018, my brother and I started going to the school that had accepted us and within 3 months we were already speaking basic English but our marks were affected a lot. Because of music, now I’m a senior(grade 12) in the same school, nearly fluent in English and in top 10 for academics. I recently won the first place in a music national IEB (a school system corporation) competition where I played the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata in E minor K304. I am now in grade 7 LCM level on the violin and also grade 3 Rock School on the piano which i started last year. Music has always been my ‘safe place’ in difficult times. I always hold on to it because I know it’ll bring me comfort. I have played in different orchestras in Brazil for short periods of time but I am deeply in love with the idea of playing in a Symphonic Orchestra one day. I want to pass on the love and passion I have felt when watching and listening to orchestras. I don’t think I’ll become a virtuoso soloist one day but I want to be part of something big. I don’t want to watch classical music be forgotten because there are so many new music genres our there. I want to keep classical music alive and show people how incredible it is.