Hello, my name is Nuriana Rauda-Lopez, I am 14 years old and as I am writing this essay, I hope to bond with my readers. While looking at this scholarship's description I noticed, "...put effort into volunteering and giving back to others who should be rewarded for their selflessness. ", this line specifically made me think of my purpose. I normally spend my after school hours recycling, doing community service, clubs or studying for biology. I specifically go to a local senior living retirement home to volunteer whenever I can, but I have never thought of what I wanted from all of this, or even if I desired something. I mostly do everything because I thought of how I could provide someone else with a better day. In my local retirement home I can be seen chatting with a resident, helping them during workouts, going on a walk and sometimes even preparing snacks for a movie night. One of my favorite activities is having a conversation with a resident. I have always enjoyed hearing about their life, lessons and experiences. When I'm not there I will be volunteering with a teacher, or at Beta, SGA or FFA club! Twice a week, I work on Racko, my paper collecting bin which allows me to create reusable paper to distribute to my school peers. I have noticed that I have never thought of any of these activities being a job, but rather my life. I think that this is why I have not thought of my outcomes from these adventures. But, I love and enjoy the way my life is. I enjoy seeing the smiles on the residents faces, making an impact in my school and collecting or passing paper to my peers. I also have a positive grade book as I hope to become one of America's future Oncologists/ Hematologists. I have had this career path in mind for multiple reasons, from seeing my dad's near experience and from my studies on this career. I have learned how this path requires decades and multiple factors but I believe that I will be able to overcome every obstacle through the reminders of what this life has provided me. Growing up in an immigrant household has taught me to be strong willed and independent. I grew up seeing my loving parents work hard everyday in order to provide my brother and I a life better than they were given. I want to turn this love into an even bigger one, one that I can give to others, be it in the form of my services or career choice. Through the experiences of learning a second language and adapting to new customs, I have been able to gain skills that I have used to impact others positively, and am going to use more in the future. I have made plenty of mistakes and learned from them, in the hopes of creating a better experience for someone else. With this, I plan to continue and improve wherever life leads me. I strive to leave a positive impact, everywhere I go. In order to provide others with a stepping stone for their own success. I hope that by applying to this scholarship, I can continue with my dreams and help others with theirs. Thank you for your time!

Hello, my name is Nuriana Rauda-Lopez! For a little background story, I am 14 years old and a first generation student as my loving parents immigrated from Mexico to the United States, giving their childhood away in order to work. I have encountered many obstacles, for example having to learn a new language and adjusting to cultures in the U.S.A. While I have seen plenty of problems occur throughout my life I have learned to enjoy and embrace anything that comes my way. There have been plenty of good sides, but I also appreciate all of the lessons I have learned from my own or other mistakes. I enjoy knowing that I am willing to give anything a try even if it seems risky. I give my credit to the loving family I grew up in. If I was not taught from a young age to vouch for others, be a leader and learn multiple languages simultaneously I would not be here today. Growing up, I learned about the burdens my parents took for the family. From my dad's debt, learning a new language, or working night and day just to feed his family. I may not understand the gravity of it as I am blessed to not have these responsibilities but it does not mean that I do not look for ways to help. My mom managed taking care of her family while also working day and night. By 5 in the morning both of my parents would be at work, I would start school at 8 and come back by 3 but my parents came back by 7 p.m. or later. I developed skills, like cleaning the house or cooking for myself at a young age in order to lessen my parents burdens and these are skills not many have, which is a reason as to why I am thankful. Over the past few years I noticed my mom acting, not like her self. Eventually she went to therapy. I learned that it was not her first time attending therapy as when she was pregnant with me, my family was held hostage in their own home, causing her to start therapy in order to help her stabilize. As my parents had no papers at the time and I was due any moment my mom went back to work to earn more money. Eventually the burdens built up and she reached for therapy again, except this time she has legal documents. I thank my mom for everything she has endured and hope to help levitate these problems for her, just as she kept them away from me. In a recent doctors visit for my dad, it was brought to our attention that my dad may have cancer. I remember telling my dad "Papi, no importa que tienes, porque vas a poder salir de eso. Si es cancer, Podemos aser tratamientos, te amo pa."/"Daddy, it does not matter what you have, because you are going to get out of it. If it is cancer, we can start treatments, I love you dad.", that same night I cried but I also looked for ways to help my dad. I looked for healthier food and came across careers. One such was Oncology/Hematology. While they are separate careers, I learned that I could study for both. Ever since those three years, I have been set on these careers. I have watched and gone through some lessons about these respective fields and while they are difficult and rigorous I understand that I can prosper through the lessons that I will learn. I hope to study to the best of my abilities, hands on or not in order to help others find the answers they need and find the solutions for each individual because I too, was once the family of an individual suffering. This all leads up to success, a word commonly related with the greatness of the world. My world is my family, so I too, relate this word to my parents. if success had a body it would be these two individuals. Success is the outcome of all of the hardships, errors and achievements attained. Success is the selfless acts projected by an individual. I hope to achieve such success by being like my parents. giving my all to the world, with my heart. I hope to use this scholarship to help in aiding my future debt for college and schooling. I understand that I will encounter lots of potholes down my road, but it does not mean that I cannot put gravel on top of those same potholes. Thank you for your time!

Fourteen years may seem small, but to me, it is an achievement. From 3 years old, having to learn a new language, English, to having to prepare myself for a career that will possibly take me over a decade before I can apply to a job. My name is Nuriana Rauda-Lopez, 14 years old and a daughter to immigrants. A couple months before I was born my parents and older brother fell victims in their own house. They were held hostage by some criminals and held at gunpoint. After the police rescued my family, I was born, but not without complications. My mother received therapy and medicine during pregnancy and after. I was born with a tooth that did not grow properly due to medicinal effects during pregnancy. Although these are the only effects I received, my family has never forgotten this. In fact, my mother still attends therapy due to this event and childhood ones. During the 2020 pandemic, my family went through many obstacles, financial and family wise. We also continue to be affected by these events as my dad has taken on a debt that I wish could be easily paid. With this in mind, I have always looked for ways to over achieve everything I do. I enjoy listening to others and doing my academic best. I have won awards and positions of which some did not believe that I could achieve. But, I attest my achievements to my family, I work to help my family in order to give them something they could be proud of. My parents never graduated high school, no one in my family has graduated college but my brother has gone to the military, which I am proud of. At school, I attend clubs and extracurricular activities in order to help improve school experiences for my peers. I have always enjoyed challenges because I believe that there is a way for everything. In fact, I am currently doing 2 SAE's (Supervised Agricultural Experience) with FFA. These SAE's involved volunteering at my local retirement home along with recycling paper from my school and turning it into useful paper again. The latter project I continue to do because I use the new paper to give out to students for free, making it easier and more sustainable for students to acquire paper. After high school, I plan to become an Oncologist/Hematologist. I have had my goals set on this career because of multiple reasons. When my father's doctor proposed the idea that my dad may have cancer I thought, "How can I help my dad?", I changed the way I cooked meals to healthier options but I also came across careers. Such careers were Hematology and Oncology. These careers are strenuous and by no means easy, but what they achieve is what makes the hard work to get there seem worth it. I hope to learn more about the body, its blood, cancers and other activities. What started out as a passing idea ended up becoming my dreams after watching activities workers and lessons. I also know of the school debt I would get from this career, which I am willing to gain if the end goal is my career. I never differ from an obstacle, and hope to inspire those around me to do the same. This is a percentage of why I believe that I have a gritty mindset.Thank you for your time!

I appreciate and love math because it is a universal language. Everyone on this Earth has a specific language they speak. Someone who speaks solely Spanish may be unable to understand a person who speaks Hangul. But, through math, anyone can communicate. Such an example would be when I was younger in elementary school, we received a new student who did not know English. As she only spoke Spanish I was assigned to help her throughout the school days. I noticed that my peers did not want to attempt to interact with the new student as they thought there was no point since they did not understand Spanish. As I was in math class, helping her in class, I thought of what my peers thought. Then, I realized that there is a way for everyone to interact with each other. Math, if the new student could understand math and so could my peers, then that could be their language. During math projects, I tried to push my peers to do their projects with her. On the first project, some of my peers noticed how smart she was. During problems, she would correct answers and show her work. Once the school year ended and summer began, I thought about the changes over the school year. My peers' original assumptions of being unable to communicate due to barriers were debunked and there were many similarities between us and our new friend. I share this story because I hope that others do not immediately give up on new opportunities due to obstacles, but rather keep attempting to find methods that will work for them. We never know what can happen, and if it is not dangerous, we could discover new talents or friendships. Math has shown me that anyone can show their love with not just words or actions but numbers and more. Math is love.