I am half Filipino and half Chamorro. I was born and raised on the island of Guam, a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific. My dad is Chamorro and my mom is Filipino. My goal in life is to become a commercial pilot with a legacy airline. I am currently attending Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus in Mesa, Arizona studying Professional Flight. When I visited the Philippines in 2018 for a baseball tournament, I saw the poverty and the conditions that some people live in. I grew up on Guam and was afforded opportunities to strengthen my abilities both academically and athletically. Even now that I am attending college, there are Filipinos and even Chamorros that will not be able to afford higher learning. While I am from what I consider a middle class family, I know the importance of getting financial support while attending the university. So, if I win this scholarship, I will use it towards my flight school training and paying from tuition and other expenses. Since I was around 5 or 6 years old, I have always been fascinated by flying. Unfortunately on Guam there was no flight school with English speaking instructors. In 2021, a flight school recently opened on Guam and I was able to volunteer some time before I left for college. It gives local kids a venue to learn more about aviation. My goal is when I become a Certified Flight Instructor and go home for the holidays or summer breaks, I plan to volunteer my time to help the community learn more about aviation. I would like to start an organization or club that allows the community - those who are Filipino or less fortunate - to join and learn the joys of aviation and flying. I would offer my help to guide them in the journey of becoming a pilot, sharing with them my successes and the lessons I learned from my mistakes. My grandmother, who immigrated with my grandfather and two aunts in the 1960's from the P.I., also has many friends who are in the Filipino-American community on Guam. I can ask her for her help in putting me in touch with those who would like to learn more about aviation. My parents guided me in my educational journey, but it is always beneficial to share stores and get advice where you can in order to succeed.

When I was a kid, like 5 or 6 years old, I would tell my parents to pull over to the side of the road if a plane was on its final approach to land. I am from Guam, which is a small island in the Western Pacific about 32 miles long, so the airport is not far from my home and we would drive by every day. Since then, I have always been fascinated by airplanes - seeing them in the sky, landing, or parked at the airport terminal building. It was during those moments that l fell in love with aviation and knew that my dream was to become a captain of a Boeing 777 or 787. My parents have a picture of me with a pilot and I have this huge smile on my face. It was one of my first airplane rides being in such a huge plane. It was exciting to be flying high in the air and even walking around the airport, I enjoyed seeing the pilots walk to the gate. I liked the excitement of the travel, taking people to their destination and cruising at an altitude between 30,000 and 42,000 feet in the air. Growing up on the small island of Guam there were limited opportunities on the island compared to the U.S mainland. Unfortunately, there was no flight school on Guam that had English-speaking instructors so I chose to apply at Arizona State University which offered a Bachelor of Science in Professional Flight. My current goal in aviation is to complete my flight training and become a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) and teach at the ATP flight school in Mesa, Arizona. I also want to join the United Aviate Program in Goodyear, Arizona. I hope to receive all of my ratings by next spring semester (2023) to gain the hours I need to get to the next level of my aviation journey. I know that my flight training is important, but my academic goals are just as important because I believe in being a well-rounded person. My current academic goal is to finish the Spring Semester 2022 stronger than Fall 2021. Last semester I finished with a 3.24 GPA and I would like to bump that up to a 3.5 GPA to cap my first year of college. But my ultimate goal is to graduate from ASU with honors - magna cum laude - to add the cherry on top especially since I wasn't much of a studious student growing up. I've been trying to focus my efforts in doing well in school and finding a balance between flight training and academia. After college, I want to give back to the people who helped me and to help the people in my community on Guam. I want to help my parents because I am the eldest of 6 children and my parent's goal is to send each of my siblings to college. I want to help them because they have always been there for me. I have a younger brother who wants to become a commercial airline pilot too. I am fortunate to have a mentor in my uncle who is a captain for United Airlines and is helping me through my aviation journey. I hope to mentor my brother as he begins his aviation journey. Over the summer of 2021, I had the opportunity to meet the pilot who started a flight school in Guam. I would like to see Guam’s flight school succeed and plan on volunteering whenever I am at home.