My family’s history is a large contributor to who I am today. My parents both migrated from different parts of Brazil to America in hopes of having better lives. Every day since then they have fought hard to build the life that my family has now. Working tirelessly every day, they inspired me to be who I am today. I have learned invaluable life lessons that I hope to be able to pass on to others over time, one of which is to stay true to who I am and not assimilate. They have always taught me to stay true to my identity and to be proud of my ethnicity. Being Brazilian to me means being boisterous but also caring and compassionate. Brazilian culture is full of love and it is comforting to know that I will always have a family who will support and love me through my ups and downs. In the same way, many people say my personality reflects this. I am quick to love and slow to judge. I am extroverted and boisterous but I wouldn’t change this for anything. I am able to meet new people and learn new things every day because I am unafraid of putting myself out there because I have a strong foundation of confidence built on the unconditional love that my family has given me. Without this, I would not be who I am now. In April of 2020, in the midst of COVID, I decided to become a vegan -- despite my carnivorous upbringing and to my parents’ chagrin. After extensive research, I decided that veganism was the path for me. Since in Brazilian culture many meals contain meat, when I told my parents I was going vegan, the news broke their hearts. They peppered me with questions, expecting me to change my mind. However, for every question, I had an answer. They joked about how I couldn’t remain a vegan forever because of our Brazilian culture. Every year on my birthday we would throw a family birthday party. There would always be a spread with rice, churrasco, vinaigrette, feijão tropeiro, and pudim de leite. I remember people standing by the grill, taking pieces of the churrasco as soon as it was ready. My parents said I would feel ostracised from our culture and traditions, and that it would be challenging to maintain at school. Each time a new obstacle was presented, I reflected and questioned whether or not my parents were right. My parents’ pushback forced me to do more research and educate myself, thereby clarifying and solidifying my choice. I still smile when I look back on those birthdays and cherish the moments my parents shared their upbringing with me. But, for every time they counter my choice to become vegan, I let them know that this is not a reflection of them or how I feel about who I am. Being vegan to me is not about having special food for myself or about the health benefits. It is all about putting a stop to animal cruelty. Despite my family's outlook on this, I enjoy learning more about animal rights and doing what I can to prevent animal cruelty. I truly believe that every animal deserves to be treated well and that the cruelty that many large production companies have enacted toward animals is wrong. So while being a first-generational student has forced me to work hard just to get on the level that many of my peers are already on, I took on veganism, not as another challenge, but as a way that I can help contribute to solving the climate crisis and help care for the numerous unique and fascinating animals that have co-existed with us all this time.

My name is Laryssa Barbosa, I am 18 years old and I am from Massachusetts. I come from a family who loves their Brazilian culture and believes family comes first no matter what. In Brazilian culture, you do not typically up and leave at 14. In fact, many people do not leave until they are about 23 years old, which is when they have developed enough financial maturity to the point where they can sustain themselves in their daily life without financial assistance. So leaving for boarding school in hopes of having a brighter future was a big leap for my family and me. There was a lot of separation anxiety and struggles that we faced as I grew to become an independent person with my own beliefs, ones that oftentimes did not align with what I was taught growing up. But one thing that did not change in the past 4 years, was my determined and ambitious personality. I studied often and worked hard to obtain leadership roles within my boarding school community. Among a small school that had incredibly bright students, I knew that as a Latina, to be heard, seen, and acknowledged, I sometimes had to do double the work, but I was ok with that. So I set off, with ambitious goals of attending an ivy, I worked day and night because I knew that after all my family had done for me, I wanted to not only make them proud but also realize the potential that I knew I had. I did not want to go to an ivy league school because of the name, but rather I was seeking the opportunities that were provided. Some of which I knew might not be provided through other universities around the U.S. My passion has always been to help the environment, whether that be through my art or my studies, I want to inform people of global practices that are unsustainable and help put a stop to them. My dream is to be a sustainability consultant so that I can help larger companies that are contributing to the climate crisis lower their carbon footprint and hopefully influence smaller businesses to do the same. I am aware that as humans we have generated a global climate crisis, however, I believe that through my education I can give back to communities around the world by putting a stop to these unsustainable practices. My family has supported me through my academic journey and they support my future dreams in all the ways they can. So when I was accepted into Brown university to study biology, it was more than a personal accomplishment, but rather it was something that we had all done together. As I mentioned previously, being Latina often means not being recognized for my work. This block for me has always been difficult, and it is truly a systematic problem I and many others hope to solve in the future. We should all be recognized for the work we do no matter what our identities are. I will continue to do the work no matter what is thrown at me, however as I continue in the STEM field, I will also use my platform to advocate for all women of color. It is a case of unrecognized potential, and if people saw in us what they see in others, they would recognize that we too are change makers and can make a significant impact on the world around us.

As a Latina woman, I have always been told that I am not capable of doing more than playing a sport like soccer. Ever since second grade I have played soccer and I have grown to love it but I have also grown to love basketball and rowing. I am now a senior in high school competing at the varsity level for all of these sports. I have worked extremely hard over the past few years while still performing athletically to the best of my ability. I am now a high honor, soccer & rowing captain, along with holding many other leadership roles in my school. I have done all that I can to defy the odds set for me at such a young age but most of all I have used athletics to help drive my passions. I have learned that through practice and consistent effort I can do anything I set my mind to, on and off the field, court, and course.

9 years ago, my nine-year-old self was struck by a powerful character by the name of Merida. Her fiery red hair fit her wildly ambitious personality. Throughout my life, I have fought hard for what I have, similar to Merida. My parents both migrated from different parts of Brazil to America in hopes of having better lives. Every day since then they have fought hard to build the life that my family has now. I have learned invaluable life lessons that I hope to be able to pass on to others over time, one of which is to stay true to who I am and to not assimilate. Aside from our cultural and ethnic differences, Merida and I are passionate and unique in the same way, and she has taught me that I can achieve my goals as long as I stay true to myself and work hard.