I believe that my main goal in life is to help people, so I decided that I´m gonna go into psychology and later on become a therapist to help those who need the help. Throughout my entire life I have seen people struggle with mental health or hunger, and most of those people were those I consider family. Seeing them struggle and never being truly happy made me think that no one should have to experience that or even suffer from these situations. I have now devoted my future into helping those who really need it because no one should suffer. People can suffer from many things, ranging from mental health to hunger that affects the entire world. I believe I should become a therapist because people like myself do not wanna see others suffer in pure silence but, unlike many others I decided to do something about the situation at hand. During my entire time in high school I have been putting away time into helping my community in various ways. I helped with my local theater putting together the play ¨The Wizard of Oz'' where me and some of my friends helped kids between the ages of 6-10 learn more about the creative world of the performing arts. Another way I decided to help my community is during quarantine, where once again me and some friends decided to volunteer at a food bank where we were to pack boxes with healthy canned foods to give to the eldery homes and the homeless shelters. These are only a few ways I decided to help my community, and in order to help them in the way I want to is by going and getting a form of higher education but that is more easily said than done. Pursuing any form of higher education will almost always be hard, but for me it is really just about proving myself. My entire life I have had to prove people wrong. I am more than an intimidating face with a dark skin tone, I am human just like anyone else. Throughout my entire time in school I have been labeled the different kid for being the only African American student in my class. It is very hard growing up the kid that looks different from everyone else and has no one else besides their parents and siblings who looks like them, because of this I needed to prove myself to others that I am not the different kid whos gonna grow up to be forgotten, I am gonna be the person to pursue my goals and help the people in my community. I learned that people are gonna judge me just based on my appearance, but I need to show them that I am an intelligent, respectful, positive and encouraging person and they should have never lowered their expectations for me just because of my external appearance and that is what I am planning to tell others who share the same story as me. That they should not let someone judge themself based on appearance. Show them that they are wrong to lower expectations for someone who they have not even met. To prove them wrong about you.

Mental health problems are situations that I have become way too familiar with at my age of seventeen and even before that. Like many others I have seen people I care for struggle with their ongoing battles with mental health, including myself. I struggle from depression and so does my mother. It gets very hard for us to talk to one another sometimes but we still find ways to communicate about our mental health because we both agreed to never give up and lose the battle. With this promise I have made with my mom I decided that I´m gonna help others who are in need of it, such as me volunteering my time to participate in community service around my county. I have also always found an interest in how and why people think and act a certain way. With this interest combined with my joy of helping others, it was fairly clear to me that I should go to school to become a social worker or a therapist. Since I have been in seventh grade I have felt a dark cloud follow me wherever I go. I could not really feel happy, even with my friends it was hard for me to laugh then keep a smile for more than ten seconds after. I remember the day I told my mom about how I was feeling. She said I must be overreacting which I believed all the way until my sophomore year of high school where my entire school was online. Like many others online was hard but it really took a toll on me. I remember crying at least once a day because I just could not adjust or learn fast enough. I finally talked to my mom about how I was feeling once again but this time, she told me why she wanted me to think I was overreacting. She doesn't want me to go through what she goes through. It was a real difficult moment knowing that my mom was struggling, it really caused me to think about others and how they might be in a good place either. At that point me and her made an agreement that whenever we were in a bad place we would talk to each other about the problem. During my entire time in high school I have been putting away time into helping my community in various ways. I helped with my local theater putting together the play ¨The Wizard of Oz'' where me and some of my friends helped kids between the ages of 6-10 learn more about the creative world of the performing arts. Another way I decided to help my community is during quarantine, where once again me and some friends decided to volunteer at a food bank where we were to pack boxes with healthy canned foods to give to the elderly homes and the homeless shelters. I did this because everyone should have happiness in their life. Even if it was helping some little boy with his costume or helping the less fortunate know when the next meal is. I believe that I should go into a field that helps people mentally. Throughout my entire life I have seen people struggle with mental health, hunger and even substance abuse. It makes it worse because most of those people were those I consider family. Seeing them struggle and never being truly happy made me think that no one should have to experience that or even suffer from these situations. I have now devoted my future into helping those who really need it, because no one should suffer.

Currently in the world there is so much discrimination and disagreements and that is what should be changed. On the topic of discrimination so many are being discriminated against just because of their gender, skin color and sexual orientation, in which all of these things are something no one can pick and choose but people are still getting harassed for. Another topic that should change is on disagreements between two countries. Such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine where Russia believes Ukraine still belongs to them but Ukraine thinks otherwise. I believe if we solve these problems the world as we know it would become a better place for future generations. One of the ways I would like the world to change is the discrimination of minorities throughout the world. Discrimination has always been around since the first acts of slavery all the way up to present day. The word discrimination has always affected me, I am an African American and Mexican who also so happens to be openly bisexual. I have gone through way too much hatred towards myself in all of the seventeen years I have been alive and frankly, I do not want people to go through what I have been through. I have had people tell me that I am not Mexican because I do not look like it and that I just wanted to fit in because I was so different. Although telling people about my race was the least of my problems, being bisexual in a very religious town can be very mentally draining at sometimes. Coming out and having close friends say that I'm gonna rot in hell and or threaten to kill me was not easy and I don't want anyone to go through the pain of being second guessed because you don´t look a certain way or lose friends who threaten you because you felt comfortable with them. Another way I would like the world to change is on the topic of disagreements. Currently in this world it seems like no one can find peace with one another. Take for example what is happening between Russia and Ukraine right now, Russia claims that Ukraine is still under jurisdiction of Russia but Ukraine thinks otherwise because of this millions of people are losing their houses, their freedoms or even their friends, sons, daughters, fathers and their mothers all because their country's government disagreed. All these men, women and children are risking or losing their lives just because of a disagreement that could be resolved. The world should change where people should not be living in fear of being discriminate against based on sexual orientation or, shall they be afraid of losing their life because people with power in their country can not find peace with one another. It is time for the world to find peace. So many people live in fear and it is time to change that.

Mental health problems are situations that I have become way too familiar with at my age of seventeen and even before that. Like many others I have seen people I care for struggle with their ongoing battles with mental health, including myself. I struggle from depression and so does my mother. It gets very hard for us to talk to one another sometimes but we still find ways to communicate about our mental health because we both agreed to never give up and lose the battle. With this promise I have made with my mom I decided that I´m gonna help others who are in need of it, such as me volunteering my time to participate in community service around my county. I have also always found an interest in how and why people think and act a certain way. With this interest combined with my joy of helping others, it was fairly clear to me that I should go to school to become a social worker or a therapist. Since I have been in seventh grade I have felt a dark cloud follow me wherever I go. I could not really feel happy, even with my friends it was hard for me to laugh then keep a smile for more than ten seconds after. I remember the day I told my mom about how I was feeling. She said I must be overreacting which I believed all the way until my sophomore year of high school where my entire school was online. Like many others online was hard but it really took a toll on me. I remember crying at least once a day because I just could not adjust or learn fast enough. I finally talked to my mom about how I was feeling once again but this time, she told me why she wanted me to think I was overreacting. She doesn't want me to go through what she goes through. It was a real difficult moment knowing that my mom was struggling, it really caused me to think about others and how they might be in a good place either. At that point me and her made an agreement that whenever we were in a bad place we would talk to each other about the problem. During my entire time in high school I have been putting away time into helping my community in various ways. I helped with my local theater putting together the play ¨The Wizard of Oz'' where me and some of my friends helped kids between the ages of 6-10 learn more about the creative world of the performing arts. Another way I decided to help my community is during quarantine, where once again me and some friends decided to volunteer at a food bank where we were to pack boxes with healthy canned foods to give to the elderly homes and the homeless shelters. I did this because everyone should have happiness in their life. Even if it was helping some little boy with his costume or helping the less fortunate know when the next meal is. I believe that I should go into a field that helps people mentally. Throughout my entire life I have seen people struggle with mental health, hunger and even substance abuse. It makes it worse because most of those people were those I consider family. Seeing them struggle and never being truly happy made me think that no one should have to experience that or even suffer from these situations. I have now devoted my future into helping those who really need it, because no one should suffer.

I believe that my main goal in life is to help people, so I decided that I´m gonna go into psychology and later on become a therapist to help those who need the help. Throughout my entire life I have seen people struggle with mental health or hunger, and most of those people were those I consider family. Seeing them struggle and never being truly happy made me think that no one should have to experience that or even suffer from these situations. I have now devoted my future into helping those who really need it because no one should suffer. People can suffer from many things, ranging from mental health to hunger that affects the entire world. I believe I should become a therapist because people like myself do not wanna see others suffer in pure silence but, unlike many others I decided to do something about the situation at hand. During my entire time in high school I have been putting away time into helping my community in various ways. I helped with my local theater putting together the play ¨The Wizard of Oz'' where me and some of my friends helped kids between the ages of 6-10 learn more about the creative world of the performing arts. Another way I decided to help my community is during quarantine, where once again me and some friends decided to volunteer at a food bank where we were to pack boxes with healthy canned foods to give to the eldery homes and the homeless shelters. These are only a few ways I decided to help my community, and in order to help them in the way I want to is by going and getting a form of higher education but that is more easily said than done. Pursuing any form of higher education will almost always be hard, but for me it is really just about proving myself. My entire life I have had to prove people wrong. I am more than an intimidating face with a dark skin tone, I am human just like anyone else. Throughout my entire time in school I have been labeled the different kid for being the only African American student in my class. It is very hard growing up the kid that looks different from everyone else and has no one else besides their parents and siblings who looks like them, because of this I needed to prove myself to others that I am not the different kid whos gonna grow up to be forgotten, I am gonna be the person to pursue my goals and help the people in my community. I learned that people are gonna judge me just based on my appearance, but I need to show them that I am an intelligent, respectful, positive and encouraging person and they should have never lowered their expectations for me just because of my external appearance and that is what I am planning to tell others who share the same story as me. That they should not let someone judge themself based on appearance. Show them that they are wrong to lower expectations for someone who they have not even met. To prove them wrong about you.

I believe that my main goal in life is to help people, so I decided that I´m gonna go into psychology and later on become a therapist to help those who need the help. Throughout my entire life I have seen people struggle with mental health or hunger, and most of those people were those I consider family. Seeing them struggle and never being truly happy made me think that no one should have to experience that or even suffer from these situations. I have now devoted my future into helping those who really need it because no one should suffer. People can suffer from many things, ranging from mental health to hunger that affects the entire world. I believe I should become a therapist because people like myself do not wanna see others suffer in pure silence but, unlike many others I decided to do something about the situation at hand. During my entire time in high school I have been putting away time into helping my community in various ways. I helped with my local theater putting together the play ¨The Wizard of Oz'' where me and some of my friends helped kids between the ages of 6-10 learn more about the creative world of the performing arts. Another way I decided to help my community is during quarantine of COVID-19, where once again me and some friends decided to volunteer at a food bank where we were to pack boxes with healthy canned foods to give to the elderly homes and the homeless shelters. These are only a few ways I decided to help my community, and in order to help them in the way I want to is by going and getting a form of higher education but that is more easily said than done. Pursuing any form of higher education will almost always be hard, but for me it is really just about proving myself. My entire life I have had to prove people wrong. I am more than an intimidating face with a dark skin tone, I am human just like anyone else. Throughout my entire time in school I have been labeled the different kid for being the only African American student in my class. It is very hard growing up the kid that looks different from everyone else and has no one else besides their parents and siblings who looks like them, because of this I needed to prove myself to others that I am not the different kid who´s gonna grow up to be forgotten, I am gonna be the person to pursue my goals and help the people in my community. I learned that people are gonna judge me just based on my appearance, but I need to show them that I am an intelligent, respectful, positive and encouraging person and they should have never lowered their expectations for me just because of my external appearance and that is what I am planning to tell others who share the same story as me. That they should not let someone judge themselves based on appearance. Show them that they are wrong to lower expectations for someone who they have not even met. To prove them wrong about you.

I believe that my main goal in life is to help people, so I decided that I´m gonna go into psychology and later on become a therapist to help those who need the help. Throughout my entire life I have seen people struggle with mental health or hunger, and most of those people were those I consider family. Seeing them struggle and never being truly happy made me think that no one should have to experience that or even suffer from these situations. I have now devoted my future into helping those who really need it because no one should suffer. People can suffer from many things, ranging from mental health to hunger that affects the entire world. I believe I should become a therapist because people like myself do not wanna see others suffer in pure silence but, unlike many others I decided to do something about the situation at hand. During my entire time in high school I have been putting away time into helping my community in various ways. I helped with my local theater putting together the play ¨The Wizard of Oz'' where me and some of my friends helped kids between the ages of 6-10 learn more about the creative world of the performing arts. Another way I decided to help my community is during quarantine, where once again me and some friends decided to volunteer at a food bank where we were to pack boxes with healthy canned foods to give to the elderly homes and the homeless shelters. These are only a few ways I decided to help my community, and in order to help them in the way I want to is by going and getting a form of higher education. In order for me to help my community in the way I want to help them, is by me getting a higher education. Right now my main goal is to become a therapist as I previously have stated but, there are steps to get a therapy license. I will need to get a psychology degree of any sort but right now I want to go for my doctoral degree. After getting my doctorate degree I plan on either opening my own therapy office or being a therapist at a school. In my life I should pursue being a therapist. I have always wanted to help people in any sort of way but as I grew older I realized that people struggle the most mentaly and are too afraid to express their feelings. I wanna change that, I want to help people get better. That is why I took an early start by doing my best in my local community and now my steps on how to become a licensed therapist.

My main goal in life is to help those who need the help but truly do not know they need it. Throughout my life I have struggled with mental health and so has my entire family but, I have met so many people who say they are ¨fine¨ but are mentally struggling. I wanna change that, I wanna get a psychology degree then become a therapist to help those people who need it and make sure they are working to fix their mental health so they can be free of this obstacle in life.

Within the past year I have grown as a person by expressing who I really am. My entire life I have struggled with many things but the one that has affected me the most is my race, but within the last year I have come to terms with myself and decided that I am not gonna put on a persona or let people decide what they want to view me as. I wanna embrace my cultures to show people that I am proud of who I am and tell others who are struggling like me that it is time to accept themselves for who they are. The struggle I had been dealing with since I was born has been my race. When most people see me they assume I am only African-American but that is only half true. My father is African-American and my mother is Mexican, two very different races and cultures. Just for some references, my prominent features are that I have dark skin like chocolate, I am taller than a good portion of people and have very dark compacted and frizzy hair. From a quick glance you probably assume I am only African American but like I said that, that is wrong, but people still decide to argue against that. I am from southern California in a small city called Shafter just north of Bakersfield. In Shafter around eighty-four percent of the population is Hispanic while African Americans barely take up two percent. It also does not help that I am one of three African American students in my class which is around three hundred and fifty students. In all my years of being in school I had to convince people that I am really who I am. Those people I am talking about are my classmates and sometimes my own teachers. Having my own teachers, adults who I'm supposed to learn from and trust, question who I really am and decided to disagree with me took a toll on myself. Even when I had to answer simple school based surveys that asked you about your race, most of those surveys only allowed me to pick one race making me confused and choose between the two. I had to deal with this my entire time in school, all thirteen years but something came over me this summer. I had this thought, me telling myself why do I let people question who I am and let it get to my head making me question myself? That day I decided that I am not gonna let people tell me who or what I am. I´m gonna write my own story, without letting people get inside my head and affect me like that ever again. Trying to convince people that my race is both Black and Hispanic is over. My time of arguing over what my nationality is with someone who barely knows me is in my past. I am proud to be myself, I am proud of my background and most importantly I am proud of my race and it is time I embrace that.