My dad was born in a small village in Peru. With an alcoholic father and a mother and siblings who died due to a lack of medical access, he had to strive for a way out while also taking care of his younger siblings. He went to a rural school where there was a single teacher for 5 grade levels. Eventually, he was able to move to the capital and he went to a public school where he had to adapt to a new culture and people that made fun of his background. My dad worked during the nights and took jobs so that he could have something to eat. It was survival. His hard work paid off when he got admitted into the best engineering school in Peru. Pushing himself through the rigorous courses, he finally graduated. He single-handedly broke the cycle of poverty he was born into and he helped his family out of it too. That is my dad's story. This story not only shaped him, but it shaped me. I grew up with education being the number one priority in my life. With my dad being living proof of what education was capable of, my parents made a tough decision: for me and my brother to have an American education. When I was about 10 years old, we moved to the United States. This change was hard for me because then I felt as if I was leaving my whole life behind. Eventually, I was able to see why my parents sacrificed everything. Their sacrifice has taught me how different love can look because their decision was completely selfless and tough. It is bittersweet how parents give their children the things they couldn't have. With everything I had been given, I decided to make the most out of it and focus on school, combatting my own challenges and adversities. To this day, my parents are doing absolutely everything to keep me in school and their work ethic has taught me how to be strong against all obstacles and how to persevere. They have also taught me the importance of building relationships with others and building a community. Perhaps the most important lesson is how sacred family is and how we will do anything for one another. We have faced many challenges as a family, but we are still here and we keep on fighting. My parents ask a single thing of me: to ensure that the future generations of our family will not experience poverty the way my dad did. I, however, have bigger goals. I want to ensure everyone does not experience extreme poverty like my dad did. This has always been one of my life goals, and I hope to make progress toward it during college as I strongly believe that I can create social change by furthering my education.