It was deep into the night, and I was sitting across from my parents going over bills, keeping them company the way I always did. The document spread in front of us was from the bank, and the words were cryptic even to me. But, I was the most fluent person at the table, so I tried my best to translate. From that moment on, that was how bill-days operated in my house. I figured out what I could because I could not bear the distressed looks on my parents' faces. Growing up in a Vietnamese immigrant family, I absorbed financial anxiety like a reflection of my parents. They were not bad with money, but they were working against the language tide, getting lost in the complex structure of a new country. Mail from banks made my mom tense, and certain conversations would happen in a suspended mood after dinner. So I started paying attention, helping where I could, and using our family computer to teach myself what I did not know. When I got old enough to earn my own income, I began building my own financial foundation. I track my money, save, invest, and help my parents with daily expenses. I researched credit cards, utilization ratios, credit scores, and I set up an automation system that keeps our payments consistent without requiring me to constantly worry. I opened a Roth IRA after learning that starting early gives the real push and builds a phenomenal financial habit. I also helped my parents move their savings into a high-yield savings account, because I realized their money was sitting somewhere it could not grow. This knowledge does not come only from school, but also from social media, library books, and the simple habit of looking things up whenever I do not understand something. This fall, I am starting at Georgia State University studying public policy with an interest in finance, both fields centered on solving problems, including financial ones. My long-term goal is law school, and I see financial literacy as a solid base for the climb towards my dream. So, I spent a lot of time this year researching my scholarship coverage, student loans, and planning how to stay financially steady while keeping my academics strong. Consequently, financial literacy does not stop with me; it also expands to those around me. I have helped friends set up automation systems so their finances run without the sleepless nights my parents used to have. Moreover, through my work with Boat People SOS, I helped connect low-income families to tax assistance services, because I learned quickly that knowing where to find help is often as valuable as providing it directly. I know what financial stress looks like, because I have seen it settle onto my parents' faces on those late nights over bills, and that is exactly why I want to build this financial foundation for myself and for the people around me, so that no one would have to feel lost like we did.

Trailing after my parents to their tennis lesson at 10 is when I first fell in love with a sport. I was not even playing yet. I was just watching, the way the ball arced through the air, the sharp crisp pop of the racket making contact. Something about it pulled me in completely. From that moment on, I convinced my parents to let me start practicing. Tennis became my world. What I did not know then was that tennis would become one of my greatest teachers. The court has a way of creating a miniature version of real life, with every emotion amplified and every lesson made immediate. When I win a point, the joy is instant. When I lose a match, the frustration is agonizing with nowhere to hide from it. There were no teammates to mitigate the loss, no one else to rely on. It is just me, the racket in my hand, and my next decision. Tennis taught me early that how you respond to a hard moment matters more than the moment itself. I learned that the hard way during one varsity match I still think about. I had not played in six months due to a hip injury, and it showed. My timing was off, my confidence was shaky, and I kept losing points that I had no business losing. What I did not know until after the match was that my racket strings had loosened so badly that every full swing sent the ball flying wild. The whole match, without realizing why, I had been compensating by slicing almost every shot, finding a way to keep the ball in play with a completely different game than the one I usually play. I lost to an opponent I should have beaten. However, when my coach pulled me aside afterward, she told me she was proud of me. Not because of the score, but because I had recognized something was wrong and I adjusted on the fly without anyone telling me to. She said that kind of instinct, the ability to change your approach mid-match when your original plan stopped working, is what makes me a great player in her mind and solidifies her trust in my potential. That conversation stayed with me. Tennis does not always go the way you prepared for it. Neither does anything else. What matters is whether you can think clearly when the conditions shift and keep competing anyway. The team side of varsity taught me something different. I came in expecting an individual sport and found something closer to a family. The people I practiced with, competed beside, and pushed through exhaustion became some of my closest friends. We cheered, we cried, and we did everything connected hip by hip. That kind of trust, built through shared joy and difficulty is what makes tennis beautiful. It shaped how I think about community and what it means to be someone you can count on. Those qualities are exactly what I want to carry into the future. I am heading to Georgia State University this fall to study public policy on a pre-law track, with the goal of becoming an immigration attorney. The law, like tennis, rewards the people who prepare relentlessly, who adapt when the conditions change, and who refuse to quit when the match gets difficult. I have spent my whole tennis career learning how to do all three, and I plan to continue proving that I can and will excel at what I do.