My last year of high school, I got the opportunity to participate in one of the most extraordinary experiences I have ever had when doing volunteer work. My school gave me the opportunity to volunteer in an orphanage here in Mexico. We were asked to organize different holiday activities for the kids at a home called “Casa Hogar Rhuaa” which is located in my hometown Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. The volunteering experience lasted all school year. We started out with the organization and collection of donations back in August, where me and some of my classmates started designing the whole project. We had to organize every singe thing, from the materials we would need, to coming up with fun games and activities for the kids, and even the transportation of other volunteers. Some of the activities I was a part of were designing and creating a haunted house in the kids' dorms and getting candies for “trick or treating” for their Halloween celebration in October. Painting their faces for the “Dia de Muertos” celebration in early November. In December, getting them toys and clothes and different presents for Christmas. And the “Dia de Reyes” in January. Finally organizing a “Posada” which is a traditional Mexican Christmas celebration where we got to make and serve the food, and of course prepare some fun games. During all of these activities, and through the time we spent together, I got to know the kids very closely, I got the chance to help them celebrate and play. I understood the situation each one of them was in. I got a chance to hold babies that hadn't been held by their mothers, and I got to speak with the older kids about their experiences and their roles in the community. Not only that, but I also got a chance to learn about all the different jobs an orphanage owner or manager does, how collections work and what is usually needed from volunteers and donators. The job that this people are doing is admirable, not only do they keep the kids safe and healthy, but to always keep them entertained and happy is a harder job than I imagined. Since my time volunteering, I've had the chance of donating and helping collect clothes and toys for the kids, and I have plans to go back and volunteer as soon as I have the chance. This experience gave me the opportunity to learn about my community, my city, my hometown, my country, and my culture. It also helped me learn about myself, it helped me understand what my role is in this community, and the role that I want to keep developing with time. This was so much more than a volunteering experience, it was a look into what many people in my hometown go through, it was an opportunity to meet other people and to learn a little more about my community.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when my mother and I drove around our hometown, León, Guanajuato, singing at the top of our lungs to One Direction's Midnight Memories. We spotted the Divina Cocoa, a chocolaterie and homage to Mexican ingredients, like cacao, maize, amaranth, and mole. As we walked into the place, I could feel my mother's excitement. Being a Chilean who fell in love with Mexico, she adored the place right away. I had to try the chocolate before making a final decision. We walked up to the counter and asked for a menu, which included strange flavors like cardamom, mint, and even blue cheese, but the one that caught my attention immediately was the one with chipotle pepper. When thinking of chocolate, people often refer to the sweet treat that modern chocolate is, but its existence can be traced back to the Olmecs and the Mayans. Being raised in Mexico, I have learned some interesting lessons on the subject. These Mesoamerican cultures created xocolatl, a bitter beverage from cacao seed, also known as “the food of the gods”. As I tried the chipotle pepper chocolate, the sweetness of the chocolate, the heat of the pepper and the bitterness of the cacao mixed in my mouth and made an explosion of happiness. This is what Mesoamerican cultures taste like. This is what I relate to. I could see myself sharing this chocolate with Aztec emperor Moctezuma. As I savored the delicacy, I could feel my South American roots connect with my very Mexican self. Even though it is not officially written, I am Mexican by heart. My heart is painted in green, white, and red as I sing the national anthem proudly and follow all traditions. I know when a tortilla is upside down, and I always dance and sing along to Payaso de Rodeo. Every time I visit Chile or the U.S., I become a tourist. Surprised by everyday activities and how words are used in different ways, I am eager to try every new food and ready to learn about the country. Even though these are my recorded nationalities, I do not understand the cultures as much as I do Mexico’s. When I am away from home, I find myself missing spicy food and longing for Mexican chocolate. Having to choose what type of chocolate I prefer is not easy. I love variation; I like it bitter, white, and with milk. I like it with almonds, fruits, and even with peppers. My desire for variety is not only in chocolate. It is common in my everyday life; having multiple nationalities, changing languages when I speak, being quiet but talkative, messy but straightforward, and finding joy in baking and (recently) in programming. Even if I struggle, I have found that this gives me a desire for diversity. I combine the things no one would imagine, and make them enjoyable, just like chocolate with chipotle peppers. Whatever I do in life, will always be representing my amazing country, and my family. Recalling my happiest moments, I always look back to the Divina Cocoa and the flavor of the chipotle pepper chocolate; the bitterness of cacao beans. I think of my mom and my sisters. With every bite of the decadent chocolate, I am reminded how it feels to fall in love with culture. I think of my family, and how chocolate always makes us a little happier. I go back to the sense of belonging that Mexican culture gives me.

Welcome to my college experience! We have highs, we have lows, we have a little bit of everything, we have outcasts and networking, but most importantly we have doubts! In all seriousness I love college and was very happy to make this playlist, so thank you for the opportunity! Hope you enjoy it! Good Times by The Monkees Free Time by Ruel Reality Check Please by Lime Cordiale Impostor Syndrome by Sidney Gish Motion by Khalid FRIENDS by LAUNDRY DAY Dopamine by Reesky Playlist by: Queen of Doubts I actually created the playlist on Spotify, check it out: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0z2Q6JdXlzQSSWwZ5VqbR1?si=96kM6OwZS-KRir8YI-PmqA&utm_source=copy-link

I have always hated school. Since I was little I begged my mom not to take me to that old boring place, this was very funny because I would get home and do all of my homework as fast as I could so I could spend the rest of my afternoons reading and watching nature documentaries. Looking back, it is clear to me that even though I didn't like school I loved learning about the world. And until my very last day of high school, I stayed that way, a "school hater" that was secretly a nerd. I still am that way, but I now know that I want to dedicate my life to learning. How is that even possible? School and learning are often put together so, how can I love one and hate the other? while it is true that we learn some things at school, we tend to forget that learning is so much more than memorizing, learning is experiencing, it is living, it is making mistakes and failing, it is getting up over and over again. My goal in life is to learn as much as I possibly can. I have always had a wide range of interests, I like a little bit of everything. So I am always that person that has a fun fact for you in the middle of our conversation, no matter what the conversation is about. So, here is a fun fact for you: your brain cells actually change when you learn new stuff. There is a complex explanation that I won't go into, but I believe we can all agree that the brain is a muscle, and we need to exercise it, and I don't think we do that at school. At least not in the most efficient way. I know that this can be a very abstract concept and an abstract goal, so I invite you to imagine how fun school would be if we not only got to learn the useful stuff but also the things that make us unique, the things that give purpose to our life, all the things that make our little brains move like crazy when talking about them. We should all have the opportunity to explore ourselves and the world, when we learn in different ways we train our brain to not only keep moving but to be curious and hungry for knowledge. One of my biggest goals is discovering (or even creating) more effective ways of learning, I want me, and everyone to be able to unlock this amazing superpower of learning anything we want. Whatever your interest is, you should be able to pursue it, whether it is as a profession, a career, or just a hobby, we should all have access to effective tools to achieve our goals. As a nerd for the science of learning, I would love for people to be able to unlock this incredible capacity that is learning effectively. I would love for kids in the future to be able to have school and learning as their passions, because that is what school is supposed to be, a place to find ourselves and develop our skills. and the only way to do that is through the power of learning.

(TW: mentions of suicide) The first time I understood how impactful depression can be was in the 5th grade when one of my best friends at the time called me in the middle of the night to tell me she was about to kill herself. Thankfully she was okay, but I haven't seen her or heard from her since we both changed schools about a year later. After that, I went on to discover that many people in my family suffered from this illness, and one of them even committed suicide. Throughout the years I have met multiple people that have dealt with depression, and I have felt related to most of them in one way or another. I always had this weird thought in the back of my head that I was not completely well, that life was not supposed to feel the way I was feeling it, but since mental health is not a very discussed topic in the Latin/Hispanic community, I swallowed all the words I wanted to scream and found other ways to cope with my own depression and anxiety for several years before I even got an official diagnosis. A couple months ago my youngest sister, my 15-year-old sister told me she was diagnosed with depression and was seeking treatment, I inmedeatly took it upon myself to help her, I would not let her feel the same way I did for so long, I was not going to let her feel alone for one more second of her life. So we both started working with mental health professionals to help ourselves and eachother. I am happy to say that I have been in medical treatment for over three months and am finally, for the first time in my adolescent life, feeling like life is opposed to fell like this, it is supposed to be something we enjoy, something that challenges us and that makes us feel connected to ourselves and others, even during the bad days I feel get to feel alive. As for my sister, she is starting with regular therapy visits and is still working hard to achieve her goal, but we both still have a long way to go in our mental health journey. I dream of a world where mental heath will not be a tabboo topic, especially around my culture and other minorities. I am fighting for accessible and affordable mental health aid for everyone, and will continue to do so until this becomes a reality everywhere.

I have never related to one single country or culture. It has always been parts of different cultures that I picked up over time. I listen to Mexican music and speak English with my sisters. I like spicy food and have a Chilean family. I have two passports that I take everywhere and three flags that I respect with my whole heart. Chilean mom, Colombian-Chilean dad, Mexican sisters, and me being born in Pennsylvania. I have always felt like I didn't belong in any of my three countries. I have two official nationalities and an adopted one. I was born to a Chilean family in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania. But before I even learned how to speak, I was already living in my beautiful Mexico. The country that adopted me and raised me as its own. Of course, I can relate to little things in every culture, but it never feels complete. There is always something missing. All my life has been a constant struggle to figure out who I am, not only because of my nationalities but because relating and committing to a culture entirely is difficult. I do not check off all the boxes. For a very long time, this discouraged me very much. That was until I met this woman, Isela. She had been living in the same town she was born in all her life. Born, raised, married, and had children in the same place, she had never left the country. What stood out to me was that she called herself a citizen of the world. She explained to me she was unhappy with this town. But because of different circumstances, she was never able to leave, so she decided to adopt the definition of a citizen of the world, an expression often used for people with lives very different from hers, but she still chose it. She explained she believed the expression described someone with an open mind, a curious individual who wants to learn and grow and experience life in its fullest form. From that moment on I started relating to the name citizen of the world a little more every day. When the opportunity to study abroad opened for me, I did not hesitate in taking it. All my life I knew I had to take advantage of my American nationality somehow, and that was it. After a full 18 years living in Mexico (and not feeling one hundred percent Mexican), I decided to go back to the place where I was born, Penn State University. As a Latina woman, having the opportunity to study in a place with the best education possible, and being able to represent all the flags that I carry in my heart, is the best way I can prove to the people who did not believe in me that they are wrong. I will not let this opportunity go to waste. Like Isela taught me, I will live life to the fullest and continue to express my curiosity in every situation. I get to prove that Latinas have what it takes, I get to be a role model for my sisters, show them they can do whatever they want, and I want to show Isela how much she changed my life with the simple definition of a citizen of the world.

When I was little I hated school, and if I am being honest that hatred stayed with me for a very long time. It was long hours of boring activities, and classmates that I didn't like very much, all morning I would be waiting for the last bell to ring so I could go home and start the real learning, I would spend my afternoons researching topics that I was passionate about, I would read for hours and hours about things they never taught me at school, all of my life I have had this idea that school sucks because all the really useful learning was outside of the classroom. With time I turned this hatred for school into a passion for learning, I started enjoying the fun facts my chemistry teacher gave me, I started to see a purpose on the dreaded physics exercises and the math problems. Slowly school became everything to me, I started to enjoy it, I made friends and when they all complained about the literature homework I would hide my excitement to get home and write all of the essays and complete all of the workbook pages. I loved school. Of course, there were parts that I didn't like, and I still preferred my own little classroom at home, but school became a not-so-bad place after all. As my high school years started I realized how much I would love college, everytime my teachers mentioned college, my attention would sharpen and all I could think about was this amazing place where you get to choose what to study, finally, a place where I could practice my passion for learning alongside other people with similar interests as mine. It was a dream come true. My biggest achievement so far is being accepted to Penn State University, I had a plan, and this was only the next step. As a Latina woman, it is a bigger deal, I would have to move away from home (every Latin family's worst nightmare) and it was economically challenging, my family doesn't like to make me feel the economic aspect of it is a problem, but being honest it was, it was a big problem. Applying for financial aid is one of the most stressful things I have ever have to do, right next to receiving my awarded financial aid summary, it was not enough. So I gave up on the idea of attending Penn State for a while, it is too expensive and my family could never afford it, so I started making different plans: community college, a gap year working and saving up, applying to a million scholarships so I could afford it... To be honest it was a bit discouraging realizing attending my dream school was actually just that, a dream. But a few weeks ago I decided that I won't give up on it just yet, I am a strong woman, and I will work hard to get where I want to be, I want to be a STEM major, I want the Computer Science field to be open for everyone, I want that 3% of Latina women working in STEM-related fields to grow a little bit every day, and I will start by doing it myself, I want to prove something to myself, I want to prove I am capable of achieving anything I want. And I want to show my family that even though it is hard, it is also possible. And that money won't stop me, I will get to the place I belong no matter what, I want to be a role model for young Latin girls with a passion for math, science, technology, and most importantly, for girls with a passion for learning.

My favorite scientist is astrophysicist Margaret J. Geller. She is the perfect example of female representation in STEM careers. As a fan of outer space, I admire all of the hard work that Geller has made, for example, the discovery of the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, the largest structure in the observable universe. Every day we learn something new about our universe and I am glad to say that Margaret Geller contributed to multiple discoveries.