By the age of three, I had already hit my mom's tooth with a fork, causing it to become crooked. This more or less describes my higher education journey. Hit every obstacle with enough power to make an impact. My lack of knowledge in this higher education world forced me to become very type-A and organized. Therefore, I create a process. Starting in middle school, I would spend countless hours participating in webinars on how to win private, federal, or state scholarships. Then, I'd make an Excel and Word sheet with all the information they provided. In high school, I did a bit of research and decided it would be a great idea to take college-level courses in my junior and senior years. This allowed me to get a great head start for college without me realizing it. When I started applying for colleges, I had absolutely no idea how any of the finances worked. No webinar, counselor, or friend explains how it works. It almost made me feel like my preparation from my earlier years had gone out through the door. I did not know that Georgia had full financial help for students with a GPA of 3.0 or more. In general, I did not understand how important your GPA was at all. I had no one tell me my high school GPA of 3.4 wasn't enough. I was scared and felt hopeless because I kept asking myself, "What if I had done this instead?'' Throughout college, I struggled with the transition from high school to college. I didn't know what was right or wrong. I kept seeing everyone else experiences and tried my best to learn from them. Luckily, by my side, I had my mom, my ride-or-die, and the one who has always believed in me and trusted me to do my best in school because she taught me that I had no choice. I had to be better and do something good with my life. She has been my rock and my drive to continue with the career I have chosen. Now, throughout my middle and high school years, I struggled with one thing. And that was choosing my future career. I went from civil engineer to architect to information technology to pharmacist. Until one day, a very unforgettable moment occurred that led me to choose dentistry. The look on my mom's face when she left the dentist one day, broke my heart and that was the deciding factor in pursuing dentistry. To help the Hispanic community feel safe and comfortable knowing that my practice will be a judge-free zone. I am currently in my junior year of undergrad. Through many difficulties I faced in my first two years because of my lack of knowledge or guidance, I made it through, and I am almost done. My next steps are to pursue a master's degree and then apply and attend dental school. I believe because of my lack of knowledge, I learned a lot, and it has made me the person I am today. I would not change where I am from because that is what makes me unique. I hope to inspire other first and second-generation students one day as well.

In Mr.linag 7th grade math class, I struggled to see the board. I told my mom and boom next thing you know I’m wearing glasses. I became a completely different person physically of course, because it changed how I look. However, as I grew older, taking my contacts off at night, I could really feel my mindset shift. From running all over the place from school to work and just everyday hassles. At night it was finally an opportunity for me to think about my goals. Who I want to become and what are my steps to get there. As the child of immigrant parents, the options were always either to become a doctor, engineer, or lawyer. After many attempts of trying to like engineering and honestly law never really caught my attention, I chose the medical field. I am a very type-A person who likes to plan things out, especially my future. Being a first-generation freshman student in college is like throwing a 2-month-old baby into a swimming pool and expecting it to float on the first try. It takes them some time to return to the surface and float on their backs; this is how I can describe my college experience as a freshman. I was thrown into my first semester as a dental hygiene major, not really understanding how long that program was or if I needed those classes for dental school. Like every college student, changing majors isn’t a big deal, but it was important for me to choose a major that could help me in the long run and allow me to take all the prerequisites for dental school. After realizing that being dental hygiene wasn’t going to work out, I switched over to health information administration. However, after a long talk with my wonderful advisor, we settled that health services allowed me to pursue a unique major and still complete all my prerequisites. Therefore, I chose health services as my major and chemistry as a minor. I didn’t want to be the typical applicant with a biology major, however, my advisor recommend I take on a minor in chemistry to ease out my credits and classes. My end goal is to become a dentist and provide a comfortable and pleasant experience to my future patients. Especially in my Latino community which is often overlooked and disadvantaged. As a student in the health services program, I hope to learn administration in the healthcare environment and how to face issues and challenges in healthcare, specifically in underdeveloped and poor areas. I firmly believe that selecting health services as my major will help with the administrative skills of running and operating a dental office. I hope to meet like-minded individuals who share the same ideology and meet people who can help me connect with resources or jobs in the future. I am very excited to be pursuing my educational career at Augusta university and my goal is to hopefully one day become a successful and honorable dentist.

When I was little, around 3 years old, I hit my mom's tooth with a fork. Ever since then, my mom's teeth have been crocked. Now you may be wondering, there's no way a 3-year-old could cause deformation of the teeth, it's impossible. However, since my mom told me that story, I have always wondered what the science behind this was and a certain determination sparked in me. I told myself, I want to be a doctor because I want to know the answer when someone asks me a question. I want to be informed and share my knowledge so that others can be taken care of. My end goal is to become a dentist. Oftentimes, Hispanics are looked down on because of our poor backgrounds, and education levels and many times taken advantage of, because of our ignorance. We simply do not know, it was never taught or passed down. The Hispanic community deserves a place, a medical place, where number one they can freely communicate what they are trying to say, without having to use google translate or force their 6-year kid to translate for them. The Hispanic community deserves a place where they can worry about their treatment and especially for their kids and not have to worry about if they can pay for it now. Creating a safe space for the Hispanic community is important to me because I lived firsthand the struggles of my mom and I don’t want more families to necessary worry about these struggles as well. I am also very committed to enhancing my dental office experience. Many kids hate or are scared of the dentist. I want to be able to change that and encourage children to see that their dental health is just as important as visiting a regular doctor. Making it less frustrating for parents to book appointments and have a large variety of people from different backgrounds working in the practice, so everyone has an opportunity of being heard. As a person who went to the dentist growing up, just like everyone else, I want to take my frustrations and turn them into good. I would like to offer my services in events that are predominantly Hispanic or start a foundation to help pay for braces. I also grew up watching the TV commercials for MercyShips, and I want to go on there as a dentist to help those poor little kids with their dental hygiene. A small impact makes a difference and I have the opportunity to change someone's life through my knowledge and skills. The road of my career isn't easy, but knowing what I can do to help others is exciting and gives me the adrenaline to keep pushing.