Get rich, and you can afford everything you've ever dreamed of. That was my mindset from the time I was in fourth grade, dreaming of becoming a businessman. By eighth grade, I had discovered the stock market, and from that moment on, finance wasn't just an interest; it became a passion. It became the structure of my days. I studied legendary investors, read about market news, and dug into financial concepts not because I had to, but because I genuinely loved it. Finance was the route. I just didn’t understand how winding that route would be. My grandparents immigrated from Chile in the 1970s, shortly before my father was born. My dad worked construction before building a career in trucking. My mother and her siblings were raised under one roof by my grandmother, a single mom doing everything she could to hold a family together. My parents came from nothing and gave me every opportunity they could so I could build on what their parents had set in motion. I am a first-generation college student walking a path no one in my family has had the chance to walk before. That path has not been straight. I've attended three different schools. I started at a junior college near my hometown of Caddo Mills, Texas, then moved to College Station with plans to transfer into Texas A&M. When transfer credit issues made that impossible for a finance major, I pivoted, applied to UT Dallas, and was admitted. I moved back home and got back to work. I pay for my own education. I receive little academic guidance from home because, through no fault of their own, my parents don't know the system. What they do know is sacrifice, and they've modeled it my entire life. Their example is why I take nothing for granted, why I work hard, and why I refuse to waste the opportunity I've been given. This summer, I'm interning as a finance intern at Texas Instruments in Dallas, my first real step into the industry I've been preparing for since middle school. My senior year will bring twelve demanding courses that will test my time management, discipline, and dedication. I'm ready for it. But finance, to me, has never just been about personal success. The financial advisory profession has the power to change lives, and too often, that power doesn't reach the people who need it most. Families like mine grow up without exposure to investing, credit, or long-term wealth-building. They work hard their whole lives without ever being taught how money can work for them. I want to be part of changing that. My long-term goal is to use my career to bring financial education and advisory services to communities that have historically been left out of the conversation, first-generation students, immigrant families, and working-class households. I want to mentor students who are building from the ground up, the way I am now. I want to give back through philanthropy and community service, and I want my success to translate into opportunity for others. My definition of being "rich" has changed substantially since fourth grade. Being rich, to me, is now the ability to provide for myself, for my family, and for my community. It's the freedom to be generous. It's using what I've built to lift others up. That's the future I'm working toward, and that's the kind of financial advisor I intend to become.

Only one-third of all college students in the U.S. are first-generation college students. The amount of Hispanics that continue their education is even lower. After graduating college I would be amongst the very few of my family members who have accomplished such a thing. Attending college is something that I have looked forward to my entire life. I was introduced to the idea of business in the 4th grade when my father told me about some of his friends that were multimillion-dollar entrepreneurs, and I decided from that point on that I wanted to be just like them. It has since been my lifelong dream to become an entrepreneur. In the 8th grade, I fell in love with the stock market. I idolized Warren Buffett, read everything about him, and even purchased books he recommended, such as The Intelligent Investor. I began investing with fake money before eventually using my mom’s information to open my own brokerage account. Like Warren Buffett, I began to research companies and read their financial statements to learn more about their business. I began to teach myself how to assess them, how they make money, and what makes them a good or bad investment. Saying this, finance quickly became a growing passion. I wish to use finance as my gateway into the business world and use it to help with future ventures and endeavors that I seek to begin. This scholarship will help me in chasing those aspirations and dreams. It will provide me with a huge headstart and propel me forward. It will be used to fund these dreams that I have so that I am not set back financially by the cost that comes with furthering my education. I have no clue what my future holds. I do know the path I want to take in pursuit of my own success. I have been juggling with the thought of going to graduate school to maybe one day earn my MBA. I have not made a decision but it very well is in the deck of cards. My family comes from a background of immigrants who moved here from Chile. My grandfather and grandmother moved my father and their two other children to Oklahoma in pursuit of better opportunities. I can safely confirm that it was the best decision that they ever could have made. My father, aunt, and uncle are all successful in their own respect. I want to continue to make my grandparents proud by following my dreams and being more successful than they ever could have imagined.