As a Latina student, combining my interests of psychology and athletics will allow me to specialize in helping BIPOC athletes who need support in navigating the mental demands of sports. I have been part of a predominantly wealthy and white sport for five years, and the lack of people of color is something I notice at every event my team attends. It can be isolating to be the only person from a different background, even in a team environment. That feeling is further exasperated when coupled with struggles with mental health. I am someone who understands the position these athletes are in, which is why I am committed to pursuing an education that will give me the tools to help. There are incredible pressures on athletes, yet few are provided effective strategies to cope with them. Not enough focus is paid to how athletes process and deal with expectations, and how they can improve their mental game to enhance their physical one. It's important to address the mental strategies any athlete can utilize, as well as addressing the deeper struggles some athletes face. Once I am qualified to do so, I plan to offer services specifically to BIPOC athletes who are typically overlooked. Mental health issues don't discriminate, but access to resources do. Conscious efforts must be made to bridge the gap of mental health care for BIPOC communities and my personal experiences will allow me to be part of them.

In Barbie's Dream House, anything is possible. That is the point, it is a place where you can have anything and everything. So, when I imagined what features my Dream House would have inside it was almost impossible to choose from all the options I could think of. At first thought, I wished for a huge kitchen to fuel my prolific baking habit, fully stocked with every ingredient and appliance imaginable, ending last-minute grocery runs once and for all. Then I imagined all the bedrooms and bathrooms a Dream House could hold, meaning I would never again need to battle for the first shower with my siblings. Outside, the house would be sheltered by trees, a beautiful lake nearby and the snow from ski slopes glistening off the mountains in the background. Then, I began to consider the implications all these features would have. Would I miss the surreal feeling of wandering the empty isles of a supermarket? Would I see my family nearly as much if a giant house minimized everyday interactions? Would activities like swimming and skiing lose all novelty if they were so easily accessible? After thinking these through, I revised my plan. Maybe the house didn't have to be so large as to get someone lost, roaming neverending halls. It didn't have to contain everything to the point I would never feel the need to leave the property (though that does sound quite tempting). This prompt made me decide what would truly be important to me. A library just big enough that some titles on my "To Be Read' could be found in the stacks, but not so expansive that a trip to the local library wasn't warranted now and then. A kitchen that had plenty of room and tools, but not to the point where I ever stopped feeling like there were constantly new things to try. Possibly some type of multipurpose room that would rotate from pool to movie theater to skate rink and so on so the excitement would never wear off. So yes, my Barbie Dream House could be anything and everything, but by gaining all of that, I feel like I would lose some of the other things I love about life. Of course, it would still be exciting and colorful, all the things that make Barbie popular and timeless, but it would also keep me grounded in the things that matter.