Sometimes you just need someone to help you find something you didn't even know you were looking for. For me, that was having my friends help me discover something about myself that I doubt I would have found otherwise. My name is Mel, I am a pansexual trans girl from a Hispanic household who attends a Title I school in Los Angeles County. My love for how video games are created has inspired me to major in game design when I go to college this fall, at either UC Santa Cruz or UC Irvine. Ever since I first started playing video games as a kid, I have been fascinated by the process of how they're created. That curiosity pushed me to study game design myself, from learning how to code to creating 3D models. One day, I hope to design games that millions of people around the world can enjoy. My connection to the queer community began during my freshman year of high school. I would look at girls in my class, and instead of thinking, “Look at how pretty they are,” I would think to myself, “I wish I looked like them.” I used Halloween as an excuse to wear dresses and other feminine clothes, and on those nights I felt genuinely happy with how I looked. I also started growing out my hair because I was jealous of how good the girls looked. All of the signs were there, but I didn't notice any of them, no matter how obvious they were. During my junior year, one of my friends jokingly asked if I would rather be a girl. They asked if I would prefer wearing feminine clothes or being treated like one. That's when everything clicked for me; all of those experiences from before made me happy because I felt like a girl, I felt like I was truly myself, and that's when I realized I was trans. Because of the support and kindness I have experienced from the queer community, I want to give back in the future. After graduating from college and beginning my career, I hope to start my own scholarship and help fund nonprofit organizations that support people looking for gender-affirming care. Many people in the community have financial and social issues that make it hard to get the help and support they need. I want to create opportunities for people who are in similar situations as me so they can live more comfortably and confidently as themselves. My family has never been wealthy. Toward the end of last year, we lost our EBT and Medi-Cal benefits. Although we were eventually able to get back our medical insurance, we were not able to get our EBT benefits back. We are still managing, but having that additional support made life less stressful for my family. This is why I want to support and give back to the queer community, because I know how valuable having the extra support is. One of my goals when I start college is to begin HRT. This scholarship would help make that possible. Being able to use my own money that would otherwise go toward college expenses for something life-changing like estrogen would make an incredible difference for me. I hope through my efforts to prepare financially for college, I will be able to accomplish this goal and be more confident in myself.

“Life couldn’t give everyone everything. It gave some wisdom and others hair.” I love to joke that my teacher was so wise and inspirational that life had to take his hair to balance it out. My name is Mel, and I am a Hispanic trans girl attending a Title I school in Los Angeles County. My freshman year of high school, I was a naive kid who had no idea what school had in store for me. When I walked into Mr. Soufl’s class for AP Human Geography, it felt like I had suddenly discovered a whole new meaning to school and education. AP Human Geography was not an easy class to begin with, and when you add in the fact that I was only a freshman, it was not a recipe for success. I struggled with studying and understanding the material while trying to keep up with the pace of AP classes. I began receiving constant Ds and Fs, which was shocking for someone who had been an all-A student in middle school. Believe it or not though, I was loving the class. I woke up every morning excited to go to school (which I couldn’t believe), and it was all because of Mr. Soufl. He was the kind of teacher who encouraged the class to keep their energy up no matter how heavy the workload was. He had a way of making rigorous studying enjoyable, and he gave me a work ethic that I still carry with me today. He captivated the class and molded students into academic weapons, something my school usually does not see until junior year. I was sad to leave that class at the end of the year, but he left me with so much. He gave me the drive to learn and to do the best I could in all of my other classes, and I could not be more thankful. He showed me how to study, how to write essays, how to take notes, and how to succeed in classes just as challenging as AP Human Geography, to the point that my regular classes felt like busy work. Then he did it again. Junior year rolled around, and I was ecstatic to see that I had Mr. Soufl again for AP Psychology. Having another year to mature made me appreciate what he taught me even more, and now I had the opportunity to show him how much I had grown. I was able to really connect with him, and even after all that time he still had so much to teach me. Because it was a psychology class, he helped me better understand how to work with others and even how to better understand myself. He was still the same teacher who molded students into high achievers while making them genuinely enjoy the rigor of the course. Now in my senior year, I have accomplished more than I ever thought possible, and I have Mr. Soufl to thank for much of it. He inspired me to keep learning, and because of him I feel prepared to pursue college. I have gained so many personal, social, educational, and practical skills that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I still do not know how to properly thank him, and this essay alone does not do him justice. Mr. Soufl feels like a second father to me, and I hope that one day, years after I graduate from college, I can come back and show him everything I have accomplished, all because of the two classes he taught.

My name is Mel, and I’m a transfeminine Hispanic student going to a Title I school in Los Angeles County. Money has always been a concern for my family. My mom taught us to live very frugally from the day we understood the concept of money. She would only shop at thrift stores, go dumpster diving to find used items she could sell, and always use coupons when she had the chance. Since we were low-income, we always had to make sure that we were getting the best value for our money. We had EBT SNAP in our household for a while, which helped us a lot, but my mom eventually made enough money that we no longer qualified. It was a kind of financial limbo, too broke to live comfortably but too well off to qualify for need-based support. In the end, we found a way to make it work and live the best life we could despite our shortcomings. She is also the reason I am so responsible with my income today. She engraved this sense of responsibility into me, which has helped me build strong habits like checking my bank account every week and paying off my credit card as soon as possible. On top of that, I had an AVID teacher who encouraged us to learn more about how to use the stock market, credit card debt, and other financial tools to our advantage. As someone who always tries to get the most out of the money I have, his lessons captivated my attention, and I would constantly ask him after class or during tutoring hours for more advice. Armed with the knowledge I have and knowing what lies ahead, I will be able to use every money-saving tactic I know in college, saving money whenever and wherever I can. College is the perfect way to test my knowledge, and the fact that it is expensive means that saving money is extremely important because it allows you to set yourself up for even more success after college when you have to pay off your educational loans. I am already doing what I can by applying for scholarships, researching how to avoid extra fees, and saving money for housing, but I know that I still have a lot of financial education to gain and many more ways to apply it. I hope to use all of my skills to save as much money as I can and avoid worrying about costs so that I can focus entirely on doing my best academically.

“The trifecta of college is being a person of color, broke, and smart. If you have all three, you’re set for life.” This is what my AVID teacher, Ms. Jennings, told us when we first walked into her class senior year, and to be honest, she’s right. My name is Mel, and I am a transfeminine Hispanic student at Lawndale High. My time at LHS has been better than I could have hoped for going into high school. I have had so many positive experiences, from being pushed to do my best academically in AVID, to learning real-world skills in the Music and Recording Arts Pathway, to having fun performing for my peers with the school’s former Marching Band and Colorguard. I could not be happier or prouder to say that I go to Lawndale High. I want to be able to give back to this community, as it has been so good to me. One way I plan to pay it forward for future students is by becoming a tutor for one of the pathways or programs at the school to help other students, just as I was once helped. I hope to become an AVID tutor, as that was the program I was most involved in at the school, and because I know how important it is for the AVID program to be as accessible and open as possible. As a Title I school, every advantage students can get for pursuing higher education and increasing their course rigor is vital to ensuring they can succeed. We do not have the money to afford fancy private tutors or other assistance that is locked behind paywalls, so having free resources that students can use is important. Becoming a tutor would allow me to pay it forward because I can directly help students at LHS prepare to do their best. I can provide tutoring for the SAT math section, teach them English at a college level, and provide them with all the resources they need. I would also like to be a part of the College and Career Center. There, I would be able to help the entire school rather than just a select few. I know that college is the next big step for a majority of these students. Most of them come from immigrant backgrounds where they would be the first generation to go to college, which means that pursuing higher education is a way to set themselves up for a successful future, and so many of them have the intelligence they need to flourish. Being able to pass the torch to future generations and give them the support they need to pursue higher education, just as I was once given, is how I would support Lawndale High long after I graduate this summer.

Have you ever been moved so much by a video game that it changed your life? My name is Mel, and I have had such an unbelievable experience with video games that they have shaped my life for the better. I am a Hispanic transfeminine student currently attending a Title I high school in Los Angeles County, and I come from a low-income, immigrant family. When I was five years old, I played video games for the very first time: Super Mario World on the SNES. Ever since that day, I have not stopped playing video games, and I continue to learn about them every day. I love learning about how games are designed and developed, from how characters and stories in RPGs are created to the technical knowledge needed to program and balance esports titles. I am fascinated by all the unseen effort that goes into creating these amazing experiences for people to enjoy. Games can have a lasting impact on people, just as books, movies, and other forms of media and entertainment can. A personal example of this impact in my life is VRChat, a virtual reality social game where users can create their own characters to represent themselves, similar to profile pictures on social media platforms. VRChat gave me a way to open up and show a part of myself that I was never able to before. It gave me the ability to look the way I wanted, and through this freedom, I discovered that I am transgender. While this is not the only example of how video games have shaped people’s lives, it highlights the level of impact they can have. I would like to use the scholarship funds to help pay for college materials. I plan to major in Game Design or Game Development so that I can one day create my own games for others to experience and give back to the community of enthusiasts and creators that has had a lasting impact on my life. This scholarship would allow me to purchase textbooks and help cover housing costs, giving me the ability to focus on my coursework instead of worrying about financial aid and how to pay for college. I would also like to have funds available for unexpected expenses. There will most likely be situations where I need extra money, and this scholarship would give me a reliable source of support. Whether it is helping a friend afford college materials or repairing my school computer, which is vital for running programs like Unity and Blender, having this scholarship would allow me to breathe a sigh of relief and give me the opportunity to do the best I can in college.

Your body should feel like you, not like a lie you tell yourself is okay. My name is Mel, and I am a Hispanic transfeminine student currently attending Lawndale High School, a Title I school in Los Angeles County. From the day I played Super Mario World on the SNES at the age of five, I have had a strong passion for every aspect of game design, from music and storytelling to the experience and minute details that make a game feel snappy and responsive. I have had so much fun using programs like Unity and Blender to model and build my own characters, as well as program my own games. I also love computers. Although troubleshooting them can be a pain at times, learning and teaching others the ins and outs of building and setting up computers is something I have been doing since my freshman year. Being involved with and helping my community is something I am always happy to do. I volunteer on Halloween night to collect cans for Baja Bound, and I advocate for a greener future by volunteering with Grades of Green. I have helped showcase the flourishing culture in Compton by volunteering at ComptonFest 2025 to break the negative stigma associated with the area, and I have had a blast volunteering to help run a sponsored esports tournament for Rec Room. Once I am done with high school, I hope to attend the University of California, Irvine, my dream school, and major in game design to fully lean into my passion for games and maybe even make a career out of it. If I were to start my own charity, my mission would be to help trans people on their journey to transition. As a member of the transgender community myself, I feel it is my duty to support others in similar situations and lend a helping hand when others fail to. One way volunteers could help is by creating spaces in their local communities for trans people to meet and connect with one another. This would allow them to feel secure in knowing they are not alone. Volunteers would also be encouraged to host clothing drives and fundraisers to donate to trans people. Clothing is one of the most effective gender-affirming ways to support someone’s transition, and helping low-income trans people afford hormonal medication is another way to make a massive impact. I want to help this community because I remember when I began transitioning. I was nervous and confused about what to do, but I was able to meet incredible people who supported me in a way I feel compelled to repay. I want people to feel that the body they live in truly reflects who they are, and that they should never have to compromise for anything less.

As a Hispanic transfeminine student in a Title I school, I grew up learning that you have to create safe spaces. Since I was a kid, I have always had a passion for creating my own games and sharing them with others, and I hope to build a career in designing games for people to experience. In school, I have an internship with our school's Stageband Club and have been a member of the AVID program for four years. Outside of school, I spend a lot of time doing community service, helping online communities, and focusing on my own hobbies such as learning Unity, Blender, and Adobe Substance Painter. I come from a low-income household (-1500 on the SAI), and as such, entering higher education raises a lot of questions about how I will be able to afford school, especially if I need to find new housing because of distance. More recently, my family had its EBT taken away, and while we are still doing fine, having the extra income was reassuring in case of an emergency. I will likely need to do work-study in order to help pay for tuition, since having extra income is vital for any unexpected charges that may appear, such as educational materials and fees. Even with everything I plan to do to minimize financial need, such as applying for FAFSA and work-study, I want to ensure that I do not need loans that I would need to repay if I cannot cover my full tuition. My financial need is something I am taking very seriously when planning my future, and I hope to use all available resources so that I do not have to worry as much about finances and can dedicate my time and energy to my coursework. As for how I keep my communities safe, whether online or in person, I always try to create an environment where everyone feels safe and does not have to worry about toxicity. I know how it feels to not have somewhere you can feel safe and I try to make sure that other kids don't have to go through that same feeling. In the communities I identify with, I do my part to keep them safe for all. When it comes to online safety specifically, I am a moderator for a sponsored esports organization, known as Rec Room Pistol-Only Laser Tag League. This is a 13+ organization where people create teams and compete to become the best in the world. I spend my time making sure the environment remains competitive and fun, while also enforcing rules to keep the organization kid-friendly. I let members know when they are breaking rules or being rude to others, and I help resolve issues and disputes between them. I am also a moderator for a popular VRChat group, FURRY.7070 (also known as Furry or Verified Furry), with more than 59,000 members. VRChat is a game that is often criticized for lacking moderation, and by keeping kids safe from bad actors, I help create a space that is open and accepting of everyone. I ensure that instances (game rooms) created by the group follow our rules and maintain a 13+ environment for everyone. Any time someone thanks me for keeping them safe it brings me gratification and whenever I prevent bullying or toxicity, I take pride knowing I'm helping people I care for. Within both of these communities, I am there so that anyone who has concerns or feels uncomfortable can come to me for support, and I enjoy doing my part to keep these places safe.