Having one hand open to receive, while having another hand out to give is something my mother would tell me in Spanish and was instilled in me greatly as a child. My first opportunity doing community service was through my church passing out Christmas day meals to less fortunate families when I was around five years old. Since I was still very young, I wasn't given much responsibility therefore I was placed on passing out drinks duty. Although this event happened almost over fifteen years ago, I still remember it clearly, as from that day I knew I wanted to continue taking part in these opportunities and making a difference whether it was small or large. Fast-forwarding to now, I am a twenty-one-year-old first-generation student who is a sophomore at George Mason University, my dream college. It may not have been many other's dream institutions, but for me, it was always Mason or Mason. Two organizations at Mason which I am part of and take much pride in are Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity Inc., the oldest Latino fraternity in existence, as well as the Early Identification Program. I became a member of Phi Iota Alpha in the spring semester of my freshman year. Growing up, I associated the word "fraternity" with parties, jocks, men who disrespect women, essentially I had almost nothing good to say. This negative stigma that I had would go away when I went to college. My third highest priority after my health and academics was becoming involved in my community. I used the school's online directory site and stumbled upon the fraternity, where then I would attend an informational as I went into it knowing I had nothing to lose. I was more than impressed with what I learned as this organization shared many values with me such as appreciation of the Latino culture, giving back, empowering our peers to become leaders in our communities and I also liked the fact they didn’t haze which was important to me. Today as a brother of this fraternity I hold the position of Community Service Chairman. I am the person in charge of setting up our volunteering opportunities as well as bringing awareness to members of our communities to join us in these events. In the past couple of months, various countries in Central America have been deeply affected by recent hurricanes, Eta, and Iota. This news affected me personally as a member of the Latinx community, but I also know it hit harder for my friends and peers whose families were directly impacted by this. I organized with the help of my brothers a relief donation drive where we collected online currency funds, clothing, masks, and non-perishable foods. We got into contact with another local organizer who was directly sending the donations to communities in Honduras who were affected and handed them the twenty-plus full bags of donations that we received from people who were willing to support. Unfortunately, another hurricane hit Central American again in the following days and we came up with another initiative to do a “pollada”. Pretty much what that meant was selling plates that included Peruvian style chicken served with rice and potatoes and selling each for twelve dollars. This event was very successful and in total along with our first fundraiser, we raised a little over $1,300 in relief funds where we split it in half and donated to two relief organizers one going to communities affected in Guatemala and the other in Nicaragua. I am very proud of the role I was able to take in making sure these opportunities were a success, but I am more proud of seeing members of our local communities coming together to support others who face unprecedented challenges and need a helping hand. As Helen Keller once said: “Alone we are nothing; together we can do so much”. I would not be where I am today if it weren't for the Early Identification Program (EIP) of George Mason. This program provides tutoring and mentoring to selected first-generation students that are in 8th-12th grade located in the Northern Virginia region. I was very fortunate to have been in this program before college as the mentors and coaches provided support in many areas which I could find in no other place. They showed me that my dream to pursue further education was not impossible through their assistance as long as I did my part with consistently keeping my academics up in addition to attending events for the program. With great pleasure, I can say today I work with EIP as an academic success coach. I have completed three semesters working with them through tutoring and mentoring students in all grades in high- school in physical and online environments. I’ve been able to provide the support they much need through the capacity of help I bring. I see a lot of my younger self in many of my mentees and give them advice that I was told when I was in their shoes. Many of them also come to me about their concerns, ninety- nine percent of the time they are normals worries most teenagers face, and to my best judgment, I show them what they can do to handle their situation responsibly and maturely or if I’m not able to provide adequate assistance I hand them over to someone who may be more equipped to their particular situation. I also volunteer with EIP conducting outreach to eighth-graders and their families and take note of their concerns and answer questions they may have. As alumni of the program, I hear worries and comments, which my family would make and I with no problem reassure them that in the long run, they will see how worth it was for their son or daughter to stick with the program and how they will see before their eyes their driven and hardworking students become the first in their families to go to college.