I am passionate about being a first-generation, Mexican-American college graduate because I want to make history in my family and make my parents proud. In my family not many of them have ever went to college. I only know of three relatives who actually went to college and graduated but they are more distant. In my immediate family none of them have went to college. My dad was a high school dropout and my mom didn't go to a four year university or a community college. They are both hard workers and have worked nearly all their lives to ensure that my siblings and I have everything we need to have a good life and a good future. Even when my mom quit her job to take care of us she still did anything she could to support us in our educational and creative endeavors. For years I saw my parents work so hard for us so that we could have a better future and life then they had. Because of this I want to make sure that all the sacrifices they made will be worth something. I don't want to conform to a life where I work a dead end job. I don't want to have a life where I constantly worry if I'm going to make it to next week. I don't want to fall into the cycle of members of my family not pursuing a better education. I want to graduate and get a degree so that my parents could say," Look at my daughter, look at this amazing thing she's done". I want to be the one person in my family where they can say ,"Hey, she went to college. She's doing so good for herself". I want to lead the life that my parents worked and prayed for me to have. A life where I'm happy and I don't have to struggle as much as they did. Even now while I'm trying to earn my degree they are still helping me through it by opting into loans for me and helping me pay off one while I try to find a consistent job so I can start paying it back myself. They have fully supported me in everything I'm doing and push me to keep going even when I feel like I can't anymore. As I've gotten older I've realized just how much my parents have done for us so that we can have a chance at a better life. I am grateful for everything they have done for me and the last thing I want to be is a burden or a disappointment. All of these factors pushes me to pursuing my degree and becoming the first person in my family to graduate college. If I graduate I could get a sustainable career so that I could finally pay back my parents for all they've done and release the stress they have been carrying for so long. In the end after everything is said and done, all I want to here is my parents say, "I'm proud of you". This is why I'm passionate about being a first-generation Mexican American college graduate.

All my life I've lived in small towns. I had a hard time making friends so all I had was my family. To pass the time I would invest my time in art and different stories. I would watch movies, read books and comics, and play video games. As I did this I would begin drawing and writing my own stories as these medias inspired me. My interests would change as I grew up but I always kept my passion in art and storytelling. Now my main interests are mostly in horror and fantasy stories, though I still enjoy a variety of different genres. These stories helped me a lot through my life and still do to this day. I hope that I can one day make art and stories that will help people and give people the joy that those other pieces of art and stories gave me. I hoped that going to college and getting a degree would help me improve my skills so that I can achieve my goals. I plan to start my own comic series as well as open my own shop where I sell my own art after I graduate college. If I'm successful in this I could not only lead a comfortable life but I could also help my parents with their troubles as well. My family have done so much for me and I would like nothing more than to pay them back somehow. My whole life a cooperate job never sounded appealing. I know that I will never be truly happy unless I pursue a career that I'm passionate about. I'll do anything to achieve this. If I receive this scholarship it will help lead to a happy life not only for myself, but for my family and many others.

Ever since I was a little girl I had a passion for art. It was the only thing that I was ever truly interested in. I made hundreds of drawings and paintings, trying to improve my skills and make art that made myself and others happy. Some of my biggest inspirations at the time were stories, comics, and movies that I really loved because I wanted to make stories and art that gave people the same enjoyment that those other pieces of media gave me. When I got to high school I was asked what career I wanted to pursue. I ended up choosing art. When I told my mom she was a little worried since its a common saying that artists don't make a ton of money. Despite her worries she still supported me because she knew how important art was to me. I was aware of the "starving artist" trope and I knew that art can be a risky path to take but I knew that I would not be happy in any other career and that art was my dream. When I graduated high school I began a two-year art program at Victoria Community College before transferring to Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. I wanted to go to college for art because I wanted to improve my skills in art so that my art could be at a professional level and so that I can become versatile in different mediums. While there I learned some skills in drawing and painting and made some pieces that I'm still really proud of. I actually got really interested in fine and studio art when I transferred to Texas A&M. When I got there there were two galleries the college hosted and I applied to both. I didn't get accepted into the first one but was accepted in the second one. When I went to the gallery it was a interesting experience. It was my first time doing a gallery but I met a lot of amazing artists and saw a lot of fantastic artworks. Eventually a woman came and really loved my artwork and ended up buying it for more than I was selling it for. That experience gave me confidence that my art was worth something and now I'm more interested in studio art, and art in general, than ever before. Art has always been a huge part of my life and was always something that brought me joy. There's nothing better to me than getting all my supplies together, putting on my favorite song, letting myself go, and making whatever comes into my head. I love making art that's a little weird and tells a story or spread a message that I believe in. I want to keep pursuing a career in art because if I don't I will not be happy and I'd rather struggle in pursuing something I'm passionate about than settling for something I would be miserable with.