As a first-generation college student, I strive to create an impact on my community and become involved in the spread of awareness in how truly important mental health is. I have felt a calling my entire life to be a reliable, trustworthy, and helpful person to others utilizing my empathy and calm demeanor. Since I was a child, I always wanted to be the person who would lend a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on to those around me. I like to think I have successfully achieved that goal but my ambitions have only grown stronger. I want to make a difference not only in my close community but school-wide, nation-wide, and eventually world-wide. In my adolescences, I had experienced tough times which required me to go see therapists and seek out mental health services. Yet I found that all these services were kept discrete and made the process of seeking help even more difficult than it already was. I have realized that as a college student, I now have opportunities and access to go out and start creating a difference in the promotion of these service which all schools have. I often take part in mental health activities on my campus which help promote healthy thinking and ways to get access to our mental health services on campus. I have successfully joined the Student Health Center on my campus and work to promote our services on campus whether at club events or being invited to speak in classes about the services we offer. I am actively trying to create a difference on my college campus and I hope this serves as a stepping stone into the awareness of mental health services available to students. I truly hope that my handing out of our card, speaking to those walking by on campus, and taking the time to speak to classes about where and how they can access our mental health services on campus makes a difference in one singular student's life. As I am just in my first semester of college, I see so much opportunity to do more. I want to start making differences outside of my community. Gaining a mentor, internships, working in clinics and more are all included in my ideas to try and make a positive impact outside of my community and overall broaden my community and make more of an impact. As I discover and acquire new skills in my college life, I hope to do more with my passion and abilities to create an even stronger positive impact on others