Faith, the definition of Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. How does someone get their faith by their actions or by their emotions from their day to day lives? When I was a kid I had no idea what faith meant to me was when I grew up on the other hand, I began to realize that faith in God is more than words in the Bible but solely on your connection with God internally and externally. I believe we could never improve mentally, physically or grow into the person we want to be unless you are you understand your faith. Through my experiences and hardships with life, I have come to understand that faith is the key to self-betterment. Growing up I never did like myself, something I desired most in the world was to be someone everyone else wanted me to be, I thought of myself unworthy, non-intelligent, never good enough, and unloved. My mother, father, and teachers would always tell me ¨what is wrong with me,¨ and I would answer I do not know. My mother would advise me I should act more like my cousin, my father would say to me there is something wrong with me, and my teachers would tell me that I am simply not smart enough. Apprehending this at the age of eight I had convinced myself that there was something wrong with me. I yelled at God for making me this way I questioned my faith, for years I despised myself, merely based on the statements of others. Through my struggles finding myself and my faith, I had to go on a self-discovering journey of finding my connection with Jesus. elating to my journey of finding my faith, I got into a constant of not improving or declining and as an athlete, you strive to improve every day. I had no idea why I was not improving and I started losing confidence in myself. One day after a soccer game I went home and cried in my room due to my lack of performance during that game, I had this feeling in my chest that was not oppression nor happiness. All of a sudden I realized I possessed a feeling of unfulfillment I did not entirely understand why therefore I started looking for Gods plan for me and I realized I still felt resentment towards myself, I began to truly understand the meaning of having faith. I finally understood the reason why I despised myself it was not that I did not like the way I looked or felt, I despised who I was. I desired to be someone who everyone else wanted me to be, when who I should have wanted to be is myself. That was what God had been trying to tell me for years, God was telling me to love myself for everything that I was. Additionally, through my path of finding my faith, I promised myself that I would love and care for myself because I had finally understood Jesus love for me. I have faith because not only did it teach me to love myself but to also find compassion and forgiveness for everyone that had hurt me in my past because everyone deserves forgiveness.

I feel privileged to have been able to give back to my community through community service. Volunteering at my local hospital gave me a life-changing experience. I have volunteered at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital for three years; I worked every Saturday from 6 to 8 pm, and I did daily rounds where I went to every patient's room. After rounds, I would help concierges, nurses, and doctors with anything they needed and I also helped people who got lost in the hospital. However, the best part about my job is that I got to talk to the patients, and I could see how me just being there and having someone they can talk to and listening to them brought a smile to their face. That would make my day and theirs before they went to bed. Getting to work at my local hospital has been the best experience in my life; I feel privileged to have the opportunity to connect with people in their most vulnerable state. Another great experience I had the privileged to participate in was volunteering in a Special Education Class at Boronda Meadows Elementary School for four years. I got to help kids with many different learning disorders; this was also the class I was in when I was in elementary school. It was a great experience working with with those students and helping the teachers. It has been an amazing experience getting to volunteer in my community and getting to know different people and understanding the different areas in my city that need improvement and appreciation. Nevertheless, the countless hours I have spent volunteering in different areas in my city, not many people know or understand the unprivileged centers in the community. I hope to change this problem, I want to spend the rest of my life in the service of helping people’s health, from mental to physical. Heping those in need, especially now in these tough times is important to me because I want to be a public servant for those who need it the most. Community engagement is an important factor in any community, for the past four years, I have been an activity member in my community. For example, I have volunteered in various places in my community from elementary schools to my local hospital and a rehab center. Being part of my community is a great experience compared to no other. I do not want to stop at just my community I would like to help other communities, and make a difference in people’s lives. Being part of a greater cause to inspire and advocate for what I am passionate about is a mission I know I can achieve. I want to inspire people and change or save a life, this is my dream and is one of the reasons why I want to go into the medical field. I want to make a difference advocate for what is right and help people who need it most. Community engagement is important because it lets people see up close what is going on in their community and what the community lacks. People getting involved allows changes to occur and allows improvements from teen programs to homeless. Additional to the improvements in the community getting involved allows teens to get to know other people in the community but also get to know those in need and understand their stories. Community engagement is more than improving the community but becoming close with others who need it.

I live in a small three-bedroom apartment behind Walmart, with my mom, younger brother, sister, and my older brother and sister. We make it day by day; my older brother has bipolar depression and is an addict. My older sister has schizophrenia; my little brother has ADHD and bipolar disorder. Because I am the oldest of my two younger siblings, I have to step up and take care of everyone in the house when my mom is not home. I help my younger siblings with their homework; I make sure everyone in the house has eaten. I also make sure that my older brother and sister had their medication before going to bed. When everyone is asleep, I stay up and clean the house before my mom comes back home when she leaves. My mother is a busy woman, so I have to wake up every morning at 6:20 am, get dressed, ready by 6:50 am, and wake everyone up for school. My mom has a lot to keep track of all the time, and I have to continually remind her about doctor’s appointments for my older siblings or if the medication runs out. I also go walking to the store when the car is not working; I also take care of our dog, which also helps take care of my older siblings. When my older brother first came home high, I had to take care of my younger siblings and my older sister, and when he got a DUI and crashed my mom’s new car, she worked so hard to get, I had to pay 400 hundred dollars that I had saved for a school trip to get the car out of the impound. I love my brother, but I begged my mother to let him go. Nevertheless, I did my best to be the best I could for my younger siblings. I hope everything I do has a positive influence on my younger sibling. I want to succeed so that they can succeed, so they can see if I can make it so can they. Everyone has hardships and difficulties in life. I am no exception to this; I have had my fair share of hardships and difficulties. Being diagnosed at 7 years old with dyslexia, being repeatedly told by everyone to try harder, and being compared to everyone in my life was grueling to handle. I had avoice in my head that I was in a constant fight with telling me to give up and accept that I will never be good enough. Why aren’t I smart? Why can’t I be who they want me to be? What did I do that was so bad to deserve this pain that I feel? My parents would always tell me how their lives were much more challenging than mine, and I thought, who am I to complain about my life? My mother's father died when she was young, and her mother was an addict. My mother's ex-husband abused her and my older siblings. My father comes from a big military family, and he is both black and Japanese. He had to deal with discrimination. Because of my parents' hardships, I felt mine were not significant, so I never told anybody that I hated the very essence of my life. This was difficult because I lost my purpose; I saw no point in trying if I could not get anywhere and I started falling further behind in school. However, I went into a special education class with teachers who knew how to teach students like me, and for once in my life, I was improving. It took half my life to start to love myself for who I am, for once I understood my potential. By my junior year, I was taking AP classes and passing them. I believed in myself, I believed I could graduate high school and go to college, but most of all, I believed that all my hard work is not for nothing; I can and will succeed. All these events in my life has shaped me into the person I am today, despite my set backs it is not going to stop me from giving it everything I got. I have learned through my hardships that the reason why I want to succeed is not for me but for the people who look up to me, I want to be an inspiration for my siblings, I want to be their hero.

Everyone wants to be someone, but it takes endless resilience to achieve who we strive to be. I was born and raised in Monterey County in Salinas. I have four brothers, and two sisters, I live in a three-bedroom apartment with my mom, two sisters, and my two brothers. I attend North Salinas High School. School has always been a struggle for me because of my learning disorder. Still, it does not stop me from wanting to go to college and pursue a career in oncology. Oncology is more than a career for me. I am a compassionate and empathetic person, and seeing mothers and fathers witness their child deteriorate in front of them is heart-breaking. I knew oncology was meant for me because if I can change one person’s life, then that’s all I need out of my life. Beside oncology I also have another passion, sports. I have played sports my whole life, one of my significant accomplishments was that I made first teams for field hockey and also got the most defensive player for varsity. At the age of 7, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Everything I have endured has made me have resilience. What lies within me is passion, and grit I had experienced, I have more fight and potential within me. If I could persevere through my learning disorder, I can do anything. I want to spread love and happiness to as many people as I can do, and I know that is through oncology. Everything I aspire to be is everything the future holds for me. All of this is what makes me who I am today. What I have undertaken last year was volunteer at my local hospital, the experience that I have gained from volunteering at the hospital is honestly a privilege. Ever seen I was a kid we would have cancer awareness month, and they would sit all of us in the gym and show us clips of what cancer was, how people would get cancer, and what I being done to help those that were diagnosed. I would see kids my age battling cancer, I would see mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters fighting for their lives. Having to see their loved ones deteriorate right in front of their eyes was heartbreaking for me to watch. I am a compassionate and empathetic person and watching mothers and fathers seeing their child dying in front of them is horrific. I have always wanted to go into the medical field I just did not know what I wanted to do, and getting to volunteer at my local hospital, had open my eyes to so many professions like surgery, ER, and oncology. Oncology didn’t get personal with me until my grandma was diagnosed with cancer, and I traveled back to that little girl again, sitting down on that gym floor watching kids my own age fight for their lives. I knew right there I was meant to be an oncologist, I want to spread love and happiness to as many people as I can, and the way I can do that is through oncology because if I can change one person’s life then that’s all I need out of my life. Getting to work at my local hospital has been the best experience in my life that not a lot of people get to experience. I am privilege to have the opportunity to connect with people in their most vulnerable state, getting to work with doctors and nurse has been so extraordinary I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to volunteer at the hospital.

The career I want to pursue is oncology. My reasoning for this is ever seen I was a kid, we would have cancer awareness month, and they would sit all of us in the gym and show us clips of what cancer was, how people would get cancer, and what is being done to help those that were diagnosed. I would see kids my age 7 battling cancer; I would see mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters fighting for their lives. Children, mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives having to see their loved ones deteriorate right in front of their eyes was heartbreaking for me to watch. I am a compassionate and empathetic person, and watching mothers and fathers seeing their child dying in front of them is horrific. I have always wanted to go into the medical field; I just did not know what I wanted to do. Getting to volunteer at my local hospital, had open my eyes to so many professions like surgery, ER, and oncology. Oncology didn’t get personal with me until my grandma was diagnosed with cancer, and I traveled back to that little girl again, sitting down on that gym floor watching kids my own age fight for their lives. I knew right there, I was meant to be an oncologist; I want to spread love and happiness to as many people as I can, and the way I can do that is through oncology because if I can change one person’s life, then that’s all I need out of mine.

I have volunteered at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital for three years; I did daily rounds where I went to every patient's room. After rounds, I would help concierges, nurses, and doctors with anything they needed and I also helped people who got lost in the hospital. However, the best part about my job is that I got to talk to the patients, and I could see how me just being there and having someone they can talk to and listening to them brought a smile to their face. That would make my day and theirs before they went to bed. Getting to work at my local hospital has been the best experience in my life; I feel privileged to have the opportunity to connect with people in their most vulnerable state. Another great experience I had the privileged to participate in was volunteering in a Special Education Class at Boronda Meadows Elementary School for four years. I got to help kids with many different learning disorders; this was also the class I was in when I was in elementary school. This amazing experience working with those students and helping the teachers. As a personal with a learning disorder helping these students, was the world to me because I got to mentor some of those students to this day. Volunteering at Sun Street Center S.T.E.P.S. I worked directly with people to discuss their addictions and formulate a plan to improve their life. Created presentations on effects drugs and alcohol have on people and their families. Assisted with community leaders to organize more programs to assist the local population. This was an amazing experience for me because I got to meet wonderful people and really got to be a part of my community in a significate way. The different variety of experience I have gained volunteering in different places, has helped me develop my communication skills, leader role skills and mentor skill. All of these factors will end up helping me through college by giving me confidence to communicate with other when I needed it, take charge when it comes to working in groups and learn from others so I may be successful. My goals in college are to go to medical school after college. I have always wanted to go into the medical field; I just did not know what I wanted to do. Getting to volunteer at my local hospital, had open my eyes to so many professions like surgery, ER, and oncology. Oncology didn’t get personal with me until my grandma was diagnosed with cancer. I knew right there, I was meant to be an oncologist; I want to inspire, spread love and happiness to as many people as I can, and the way I can do that is through oncology because if I can change one person’s life, then that’s all I need out of mine. It has been an amazing experience getting to volunteer in my community and getting to know different people and understanding the different areas in my city that need improvement and appreciation. Nevertheless, the countless hours I have spent volunteering in different areas in my city, not many people know or understand the unprivileged centers in the community. I hope to change this problem, I want to spend the rest of my life in the service of helping people’s health, from mental to physical. Heping those in need, especially now in these tough times is important to me because I want to be a public servant for those who need it the most.

The career I want to pursue in is oncology because I believe everyone deserves a fighting chance at life. The medical field is no easy feat it takes dedication and the willingness to always strive to improve. I feel the Amplify Continuous Learning Scholarship will give me the support I need and the will give me the guidance I need to succeed. I am prepared to take this rigorous journey and with the help of this scholarship, I will have the confidence to do so. If I would to receive this scholarship I would spend my funds on tuition and room and board because I do not want to burden my mom with the cost of my education. I am one out of seven kids, I will also be the first in our family to go to college. My mother is a single parent she works hard to put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and struggles to make ends meet every first of the month. One of the main reasons why I want to go to college is to give my mom a break and buy her a house one day. My older brother has bipolar depression, my older sister has schizophrenia, my younger brother has ADHD, bipolar, and a younger sister. Because I am the third oldest, it is my responsibility to care for everyone when my mother is not home. the Amplify Continuous Learning Scholarship will help me reach my dream of going to college and inspiring my younger sibling that it does not matter where we come from we choose our own path. I will be a great for this scholarship because I am resilient, driven, and optimistic about life, and my attend career.

The Power Of Self Awareness Self-awareness, the definition of self-awareness is the knowledge of one's character, feelings, motives, and desires. How does one become self-aware by their actions or by their emotions from their day to day lives? When I was a kid I had no idea what self-awareness was when I grew up on the other hand, I began to realize that self-awareness is more than likes or dislikes, but solely on who you are internally and externally. I believe we could never improve mentally, physically or grow as a person unless you are self-aware. Through my experiences and hardships with life, I have come to understand that self-awareness is the key to self-betterment and mental health. Growing up I never did like myself, something I desired most in the world was to be someone everyone else wanted me to be, I thought of myself unworthy, non-intelligent, never good enough, and unloved. My mother, father, and teachers would always tell me ¨what is wrong with me,¨ and I would answer I do not know. My mother would advise me I should act more like my cousin, my father would say to me there is something wrong with me, and my teachers would tell me that I am simply not smart enough. Apprehending this at the age of eight I had convinced myself that there was something wrong with me, for years I despised myself, merely based on the statements of others. Through my struggles finding myself and my worth, I had to go on a self-discovering journey of finding what I call my why. Relating to my journey of self-awareness, I got into a constant of not improving or declining and as an athlete, you strive to improve every day. I had no idea why I was not improving and I started losing confidence in myself. One day after a soccer game I went home and cried in my room due to my performance during that game, I had this feeling in my chest that was not oppression nor happiness. All of a sudden I realized I possessed a feeling of unfulfillment I did not entirely understand why therefore I started looking for my purpose in life and realized I still felt resentment towards myself, I began to truly understand the meaning of self-awareness. I finally understood the reason why I despised myself it was not that I did not like the way I looked or felt, I despised who I was. I desired to be someone who everyone else wanted me to be, when who I should have wanted to be is myself. I promise myself that day forward whatever I decide to do in life I would do it for me. Additionally, I promised myself that I would love and care for myself because my why is my worth. I believe in self-awareness because not only did it teach me to love myself but to also find compassion and forgiveness for everyone that had hurt me in my past.

I was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 7 years old, and from that day on, I was told that I could never be good enough or at the level as my peers. I had thought I could never even graduate high school; college seemed so far beyond my reach. However, I was placed in a special education class and met four wonderful teachers that believed in me. I want to go to college to inspire others, my younger siblings, that it does not matter where you come from or the challenges you may have to overcome; you can do anything with hard work and resilience. The career I want to pursue is oncology. My reasoning for this is ever seen I was a kid, we would have cancer awareness month, and they would sit all of us in the gym and show us clips of what cancer was, how people would get cancer, and what is being done to help those that were diagnosed. I would see kids my age 7 battling cancer; I would see mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters fighting for their lives. Children, mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives having to see their loved ones deteriorate right in front of their eyes was heartbreaking for me to watch. I am a compassionate and empathetic person, and watching mothers and fathers seeing their child dying in front of them is horrific. I have always wanted to go into the medical field; I just did not know what I wanted to do. Getting to volunteer at my local hospital, had open my eyes to so many professions like surgery, ER, and oncology. Oncology didn’t get personal with me until my grandma was diagnosed with cancer, and I traveled back to that little girl again, sitting down on that gym floor watching kids my own age fight for their lives. I knew right there, I was meant to be an oncologist; I want to spread love and happiness to as many people as I can, and the way I can do that is through oncology because if I can change one person’s life, then that’s all I need out of mine.

I was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 7 years old, and from that day on, I was told that I could never be good enough or at the level as my peers. I had thought I could never even graduate high school; college seemed so far beyond my reach. However, I was placed in a special education class and met four wonderful teachers that believed in me. I want to go to college to inspire others, my younger siblings, that it does not matter where you come from or the challenges you may have to overcome; you can do anything with hard work and resilience. The career I want to pursue is oncology. My reasoning for this is ever seen I was a kid, we would have cancer awareness month, and they would sit all of us in the gym and show us clips of what cancer was, how people would get cancer, and what is being done to help those that were diagnosed. I would see kids my age 7 battling cancer; I would see mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters fighting for their lives. Children, mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives having to see their loved ones deteriorate right in front of their eyes was heartbreaking for me to watch. I am a compassionate and empathetic person, and watching mothers and fathers seeing their child dying in front of them is horrific. I have always wanted to go into the medical field; I just did not know what I wanted to do. Getting to volunteer at my local hospital, had open my eyes to so many professions like surgery, ER, and oncology. Oncology didn’t get personal with me until my grandma was diagnosed with cancer, and I traveled back to that little girl again, sitting down on that gym floor watching kids my own age fight for their lives. I knew right there, I was meant to be an oncologist; My dream is to spread love and happiness to as many people as I can, and the way I can do that is through oncology because if I can change one person’s life, then that’s all I need out of mine. Everyone has hardships and difficulties in life. I am no exception to this; I have had my fair share of hardships and difficulties. Being diagnosed at 7 years old with dyslexia, being repeatedly told by everyone to try harder, and being compared to everyone in my life was grueling to handle. I had avoice in my head that I was in a constant fight with telling me to give up and accept that I will never be good enough. Why aren’t I smart? Why can’t I be who they want me to be? What did I do that was so bad to deserve this pain that I feel? My parents would always tell me how their lives were much more challenging than mine, and I thought, who am I to complain about my life? My mother's father died when she was young, and her mother was an addict. My mother's ex-husband abused her and my older siblings. My father comes from a big military family, and he is both black and Japanese. He had to deal with discrimination. Because of my parents' hardships, I felt mine were not significant, so I never told anybody that I hated the very essence of my life. This was difficult because I lost my purpose; I saw no point in trying if I could not get anywhere and I started falling further behind in school. However, I went into a special education class with teachers who knew how to teach students like me, and for once in my life, I was improving. It took half my life to start to love myself for who I am, for once I understood my potential. By my junior year, I was taking AP classes and passing them. I believed in myself, I believed I could graduate high school and go to college, but most of all, I believed that all my hard work is not for nothing; I can and will succeed.

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