As a Mexican-American young woman attending a predominantly Dominican school, I find figuring out where I fit in most extremely difficult at times. Raised by first-generation parents made my process of understanding my identity even more challenging because I felt unfit to be a part of my school's community and my own home. Throughout my teenage years, I have explored my Mexican culture in ways, I attended marches and began embracing the food made by my ancestors. Soon after, I fell in love with who I was and finally embraced where my roots came from. Using my proud Mexican heritage, 17-year-old me has matured into a confident, proud woman, with many values rooted in the cacti, the colors, and the country of mine that together lead me to my future. My goal in life is to help as many young children as possible in any way that I can, specifically through the field of medicine. My future profession–a pediatric surgeon–would make my family proud, especially as a woman in a male-dominated field. However, being a Mexican-American woman in this field will make my family’s country of origin especially proud. Creating this lifetime goal for myself is grueling due to the fact that I come from a lower income, hardworking family. This economic challenge is even more so because, in the eyes of government student aid qualifications, my parents are paid "too much." But with bills and debt, along with five other people in this household, living comfortably and affording school present financial hardships. With the wonderful support of this scholarship, I can focus on advancing my education, and that is a promise I make to both myself and my family. My lifetime goal is to graduate from college and medical school, thus becoming the first in my family to fully accomplish the dream my mother had to give up at a young age.

My life has gone through many obstacles and challenges that have changed my perspective on certain topics. At a very young age my mother and I became accustomed to being in our own bubble, growing up together with a 15 year old gap between our ages. During those isolated times, my mother found that television shows were entertaining to both her and myself, seeing as this was a common interest between us, she began watching a medically dominated show called Grey’s Anatomy. Watching this show repeatedly with my mother began to form a large interest in myself to help all people and make a difference in this world. To further insert this ideology in my brain and future, my mother mentioned how she always hoped for me to become someone important; a dream she wished to pursue. After continuous years went by I found myself in the hospital as well due to stones found in my gallbladder leading to me having to spend a long week hospitalized without control. Living through this traumatic and painful experience opened my eyes to the aching discomfort that takes place in the pediatric department, so as a result I set my life's purpose to help as many children as possible. I felt there has been an invisible string tying me together with the medical field and every moment in my life added to this conclusion.The person pushing me through with the most support she could possibly give me would be my mother, she is the reason I wake up in the morning and do everything right to make her proud. My mother has taught me a number of the values I find important in this day of age, she has taught me that the underdogs need the most support. In many occasions, children are the ones that are seen by adults as underdogs due to their unlikeliness of being heard, I want to be that figure they look to for help and when they need it I will be there. The person I wish to become is all thanks to my mother and events I have been through in life. In 20 years I wish to look back at the impact my helpfulness does and how it can pay forward to future generations. My character further adds to this conclusion seeing as I feel the need to help everyone around me before I can help myself. To make this dream of being a pediatric surgeon, this string has led me to different paths.

Coming from a younger generation, the strong urge to break ongoing cycles that the older generations have set in stone for us is prevalent. Being a part of an impactful group of teenagers, I have built many bridges colliding with groups of various kinds. To add to my enthusiasm for bonding with others, this began with the large influence my mother had on me throughout my life. She has taught me that though we are a part of a small community, we should create a lasting impact on others. Following in her footsteps, I found myself volunteering to help children in my local church every Sunday for 3 hours. During this period, I learned to build bridges with kids who were about 8 to 10 years younger than me. As an older sister of now 3 siblings, I find it easy to build a connection with children younger than me but slowly I began to realize that the children I was working with looked up to me as a role model. Seeing as my mother built this ideology that everyone should be treated the same, I found myself using the same lessons she taught me to further educate the following generation to do the same. Creating this lasting bond with children who were new to the world and looked to me for answers was a way I built a bridge I am hoping is as meaningful to them as it is to me.My life has gone through many obstacles and challenges that have changed my perspective on certain topics. At a very young age my mother and I became accustomed to being in our own bubble, growing up together with a 15 year old gap between our ages. During those isolated times, my mother found that television shows were entertaining to both her and myself, seeing as this was a common interest between us, she began watching a medically dominated show called Grey’s Anatomy. Watching this show repeatedly with my mother began to form a large interest in myself to help all people and make a difference in this world. To further insert this ideology in my brain and future, my mother mentioned how she always hoped for me to become someone important; a dream she wished to pursue. After continuous years went by I found myself in the hospital as well due to stones found in my gallbladder leading to me having to spend a long week hospitalized without control. Living through this traumatic and painful experience opened my eyes to the aching discomfort that takes place in the pediatric department, so as a result I set my life's purpose to help as many children as possible. I felt there has been an invisible string tying me together with the medical field and every moment in my life added to this conclusion. My character further adds to this conclusion seeing as I feel the need to help everyone around me before I can help myself. To make this dream of being a pediatric surgeon, this string has led me to different paths.

My life has gone through many obstacles and challenges that have changed my perspective on certain topics. At a very young age my mother and I became accustomed to being in our own bubble, growing up together with a 15 year old gap between our ages. During those isolated times, my mother found that television shows were entertaining to both her and myself, seeing as this was a common interest between us, she began watching a medically dominated show called Grey’s Anatomy. Watching this show repeatedly with my mother began to form a large interest in myself to help all people and make a difference in this world. To further insert this ideology in my brain and future, my mother mentioned how she always hoped for me to become someone important; a dream she wished to pursue. After continuous years went by I found myself in the hospital as well due to stones found in my gallbladder leading to me having to spend a long week hospitalized without control. Living through this traumatic and painful experience opened my eyes to the aching discomfort that takes place in the pediatric department, so as a result I set my life's purpose to help as many children as possible. I felt there has been an invisible string tying me together with the medical field and every moment in my life added to this conclusion. My character further adds to this conclusion seeing as I feel the need to help everyone around me before I can help myself. To make this dream of being a pediatric surgeon, this string has led me to different paths. Coming from a younger generation, the strong urge to break ongoing cycles that the older generations have set in stone for us is prevalent. Being a part of an impactful group of teenagers, I have built many bridges colliding with groups of various kinds. To add to my enthusiasm for bonding with others, this began with the large influence my mother had on me throughout my life. She has taught me that though we are a part of a small community, we should create a lasting impact on others. Following in her footsteps, I found myself volunteering to help children in my local church every Sunday for 3 hours. During this period, I learned to build bridges with kids who were about 8 to 10 years younger than me. As an older sister of now 3 siblings, I find it easy to build a connection with children younger than me but slowly I began to realize that the children I was working with looked up to me as a role model. Seeing as my mother built this ideology that everyone should be treated the same, I found myself using the same lessons she taught me to further educate the following generation to do the same. Creating this lasting bond with children who were new to the world and looked to me for answers was a way I built a bridge I am hoping is as meaningful to them as it is to me.

My life has gone through many obstacles and challenges that have changed my perspective on certain topics. At a very young age my mother and I became accustomed to being in our own bubble, growing up together with a 15 year old gap between our ages. During those isolated times, my mother found that television shows were entertaining to both her and myself, seeing as this was a common interest between us, she began watching a medically dominated show called Grey’s Anatomy. Watching this show repeatedly with my mother began to form a large interest in myself to help all people and make a difference in this world. To further insert this ideology in my brain and future, my mother mentioned how she always hoped for me to become someone important; a dream she wished to pursue. After continuous years went by I found myself in the hospital as well due to stones found in my gallbladder leading to me having to spend a long week hospitalized without control. Living through this traumatic and painful experience opened my eyes to the aching discomfort that takes place in the pediatric department, so as a result I set my life's purpose to help as many children as possible. I felt there has been an invisible string tying me together with the medical field and every moment in my life added to this conclusion. My character further adds to this conclusion seeing as I feel the need to help everyone around me before I can help myself. To make this dream of being a pediatric surgeon, this string has led me to different paths.Coming from a younger generation, the strong urge to break ongoing cycles that the older generations have set in stone for us is prevalent. Being a part of an impactful group of teenagers, I have built many bridges colliding with groups of various kinds. To add to my enthusiasm for bonding with others, this began with the large influence my mother had on me throughout my life. She has taught me that though we are a part of a small community, we should create a lasting impact on others. Following in her footsteps, I found myself volunteering to help children in my local church every Sunday for 3 hours. During this period, I learned to build bridges with kids who were about 8 to 10 years younger than me. As an older sister of now 3 siblings, I find it easy to build a connection with children younger than me but slowly I began to realize that the children I was working with looked up to me as a role model. Seeing as my mother built this ideology that everyone should be treated the same, I found myself using the same lessons she taught me to further educate the following generation to do the same. Creating this lasting bond with children who were new to the world and looked to me for answers was a way I built a bridge I am hoping is as meaningful to them as it is to me.