I am a transgender Cuban woman, and my transgender experience has served in my eyes as both a blessing and a curse. A curse in the sense that it has made much of my early childhood more difficult since I was always outcasted, especially in a Hispanic community in which toxic masculinity is still seen as the norm. I have always been different and have had to deal with unsupportive family members and a toxic household environment that has stunted my growth socially and emotionally. I am an upcoming psychology major because of all of this and my desire to help others like me who do not have access to resources. Most of my early childhood was fairly ordinary other than the fact that I never truly fit in anywhere, but as soon as puberty hit and I started middle school, everything started going downhill. It was around this time that I started to realize that I was different and began to notice just how uncomfortable it was to be boxed into male spaces and forced to perform typically male activities that triggered my dysphoria. Throughout most of my life, I have been very skinny, which has helped alleviate certain issues for me because, at least to me, not being overly muscular helped me cope and feel better about my body. However, my face has always been an area of discontent for me since this is where most of my dysphoria stems from. Feeling socially isolated and outcasted, along with the negative feedback from my own family, took a toll on my mental health to the point where I didn’t even think I would be writing this essay, as I had planned my suicide a little over five years ago. I believe that voices like mine are important, and the world needs to hear our stories to promote positive influences with transgender people so that we can create peace, acceptance, and equality for all. There are too many of us being killed just for existing right now, and that cannot stand. To this day, I have never had any healthy romantic experiences due to my generalized fear and anxiety towards men because of the treatment many trans women have experienced in the real world, especially transgender women of color who face even bigger challenges than their Caucasian counterparts. The world needs to hear us and see that we are just as human as they are. I believe I could be of help to our community by empowering our cause not only by sharing my story and those of my friends but also by providing mental health services. My main career goals as a transgender woman are to become a licensed therapist who can help the community through mental health services and be a social media advocate for our community and mental health as a whole. Our community deserves visibility and access to proper resources and education not only for ourselves but also for our allies and those who may come across it. I hope to be a voice of change and progress for our community with a strong social media presence to spread our stories and information about our struggles. I aim to achieve all of this sooner rather than later, which is where this scholarship comes in to help fund my academic journey today so that I can support our trans brothers and sisters tomorrow.

As someone who has been following Sabrina Carpenters journey since girl meets world I have seen myself in her and grown up with her. From her humble beginnings as a young girl on Disney channel to a super pop star of today's world Sabrina Carpenter continues to inspire me and show me that you can infact do anything you put ur mind too as long as you try hard enough. I believe this to be true because she has always been a singer but she wasn't always as well known as she is now which gives me the courage to go for what I want to do and strive in my career as an entertainer and therapist. Sabrina Carpenters rise to stardom shows that anything can happen at anytime in your life if your willing to stick through it, Sabrina's fame has been a long time coming but her rise to superstardom took around a decade which just goes to show you can succeed at any time in your life. Overall Sabrina Carpenters career and her songs specifically some of my favorites being skin and because I liked a boy have shaped me into who I am today because I myself as a woman who has felt disliked by others and discriminated against because of my LGBT status feel a connection with her songs and how despite any adversity she faces in her career she still keeps going and still made it.

I am a transgender Cuban woman, and my transgender experience has served in my eyes as both a blessing and a curse. A curse in the sense that it has made much of my early childhood more difficult since I was always outcasted, especially in a Hispanic community in which toxic masculinity is still seen as the norm. I have always been different and have had to deal with unsupportive family members and a toxic household environment that has stunted my growth socially and emotionally. I am an upcoming psychology major because of all of this and my desire to help others like me who do not have access to resources. Most of my early childhood was fairly ordinary other than the fact that I never truly fit in anywhere, but as soon as puberty hit and I started middle school, everything started going downhill. It was around this time that I started to realize that I was different and began to notice just how uncomfortable it was to be boxed into male spaces and forced to perform typically male activities that triggered my dysphoria. Throughout most of my life, I have been very skinny, which has helped alleviate certain issues for me because, at least to me, not being overly muscular helped me cope and feel better about my body. However, my face has always been an area of discontent for me since this is where most of my dysphoria stems from. Feeling socially isolated and outcasted, along with the negative feedback from my own family, took a toll on my mental health to the point where I didn't even think I would be writing this essay, as I had planned my suicide a little over five years ago. I believe that voices like mine are important, and the world needs to hear our stories to promote positive influences with transgender people so that we can create peace, acceptance, and equality for all. There are too many of us being killed just for existing right now, and that cannot stand. To this day, I have never had any healthy romantic experiences due to my generalized fear and anxiety towards men because of the treatment many trans women have experienced in the real world, especially transgender women of color who face even bigger challenges than their Caucasian counterparts. The world needs to hear us and see that we are just as human as they are. I believe I could be of help to our community by empowering our cause not only by sharing my story and those of my friends but also by providing mental health services. My main career goals as a transgender woman are to become a licensed therapist who can help the community through mental health services and be a social media advocate for our community and mental health as a whole. Our community deserves visibility and access to proper resources and education not only for ourselves but also for our allies and those who may come across it. I hope to be a voice of change and progress for our community with a strong social media presence to spread our stories and information about our struggles. I aim to achieve all of this sooner rather than later, which is where this scholarship comes in to help fund my academic journey today so that I can support our trans brothers and sisters tomorrow.

I would describe my educational goals as exceptional and my current level as exquisite for my situation. For my educational goals I would like to gain a master's in psychology and successfully participate in a great college experience with lots of school activities and extracurriculars. I would like to graduate as soon as possible and be able to graduate top of my class in college as I am currently in high school. I believe that my future has nothing but excellence in it since I am very academically driven and self motivated towards success. As a woman of transgender experience I have found that my own mental health and surrounding environment have not been very happy or healthy for me and so I had to motivate myself and get myself out of deep suicidal depression and panic attack inducing anxiety and now here I am with a weighted gpa of 4.3 and going to college for a master's in psychology. I believe that I have overcome much adversity in my educational career and have even exceeded my own expectations in what I could do because of my own inner demons. My career goals are to be a psychological therapist who helps others get through their own mental health issues and challenges like I myself have faced before on my own to make sure that no one else has to go through what I went through alone. I also want to have an online social media presense to help reach a wider amount of people to help as many people as I can and spread as much mental health information to the public as I can in my lifetime to leave behind a legacy of information, peace, and love. I would like to help be a voice that empowers others to take control of their own inner demons and show them that they can move on and that things do get better. Overall my general career goals and aspirations are to obtain a master's in psychology and help as many people as I can through it and this scholarship would mean the world to me and to those that I could potentially help since this scholarship would be a large step forward in funding my tuition goals and therefore giving me time and resources to invest in my social media presence and work experience since I would have less tuition to pay.