“Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” This quotation by J.K. Rowling has lived on in my heart for many years because, for me, Hogwarts was home. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of watching the movies or reading the books with my father. It was a world in which I could get lost for hours. Imagining myself in the Harry Potter world, attending Hogwarts, I used to think I would be sorted into Ravenclaw. I loved riddles and games of cleverness. I did well in school so it only made sense that I would be a Ravenclaw. Later on, I thought to myself that Hufflepuff would make more sense. I was kind and loyal to my friends. Somehow, it still didn’t quite fit. I knew I couldn’t be a Slytherin. I wasn’t ambitious to that degree. Though it took some time to realize, I am now convinced that the sorting hat would have placed me in Gryffindor. While it may seem entirely contradictory, I’ve never really considered myself very brave. I’m shy and introverted. I rarely allow myself to standout in anyway. I’m also not much of a risktaker. Being a Gryffindor didn’t really make much sense at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it fit perfectly. Five years ago, I realized I wanted to be a veterinarian. From that moment on, I knew I was going to do everything I could to make it happen. I started accumulating shadowing hours, talking to doctors, and visiting various clinics. Despite the work I had put in and the work I still am currently doing, I often wonder if I really am capable of becoming a vet. I still doubt myself at times. In my moments of doubt, I remember that if I truly didn’t believe I could do it, I wouldn’t be trying. I’ve had my shortcomings and I’ve made my mistakes along the way. However, I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to give up on becoming a veterinarian and I’ve still stuck to that decision. It is this courage in the face of doubt that leads me to believe that I am a Gryffindor. It’s true that I could be clever enough to be a Ravenclaw or kind enough to be a Hufflepuff. My soft-spoken nature often makes me wonder if I’m brave at all. People, however, are often complex and can often have traits and tendencies of the other houses. Luna Lovegood, for example, was an incredibly intelligent Ravenclaw. She was also very brave, however. She had characteristics of more than one house. Just because she was a Ravenclaw, it didn’t diminish the fact that she was incredibly courageous. She was both brave and wise. Neville Longbottom also provides an excellent example. His personality starts off as one that is a bit timid. The sorting hat, however, could still see the bravery within Neville. I find myself to be similar. Though my personality shows to be timid, I have more courage than is visible to the eye. I can see the things that are important to me and I am willing to reach beyond my comfort zones to get them.

Learning to love myself was hard. I’m still trying to learn. It’s a hard task when I’ve spent most of my life criticising myself for everything that didn’t meet my expectations. When my self-criticism began affecting the way I saw other people, I knew something had to change. The way I decided to start combating my negative self-image was by pinpointing the things I liked about myself. There is one trait of mine that I especially love and it’s one that I want to always hold on to. I love my kindness. I love hearing people tell me I’m kind, not because it boosts my ego but because it’s something that affects everyone positively. Not only does it make other people happy but I’ve found that it’s reciprocated. When I am kind to other people, they’re kind in return. When we stop to consider it, the word kindness is a vague description. It can entail so many different actions which can be described as “kind”. Everyone is unique and with their own love language, kindness can take many different forms. For me, words of affirmation are mine. Because words of affirmation mean so much to me, this is what I especially enjoy extending out to others. There is at least one good quality in every person and I pride myself on my ability to find it. I love getting to remind people just how special they are. People are quick to find their faults and quick to forget what makes them unique. Acts of service are another love language that can be very meaningful to people. It’s incredible how far just opening a door for someone can go. We often make it a habit of thinking that we have to do everything alone. It’s easy to convince ourselves that accepting help is a sign of weakness. Being able to help someone with a task without their asking often reminds them that it’s okay to accept help once in a while. It also helps me feel good to have helped someone complete their task. One of the best parts of being kind to others is that not only is it reciprocated back to me, the people I am kind to often feel obligated to spread it themselves. It’s incredible to see the chain reaction it starts and how far a simple act of kindness can go. Being kind to others has brought me far and it’s something I plan to always do. Not only does it help other people, it makes me happy in return. It’s like a gift that I can give to other people and still feel full. It’s like a wildfire that keeps spreading but instead of damage, it benefits the people it touches.

The concept of leadership has always been one that I’ve found to be terrifying. I was always much more comfortable with being a follower than a leader. It was easier for me to follow instructions than to give them. I was most comfortable being silent and invisible. I had one experience, however, that reshaped how I thought of leadership. My older sister owns a dance studio and for eight years, she was the only teacher at her studio. It seemed an overwhelming task but she was really good at it. She choreographed beautiful dances for her students and she was really well-liked by the community. After her eighth year teaching, she received a job opportunity out of the state. She took the job but her heart was broken over the idea that many of her students wouldn’t be able to dance anymore. She and my mom came up with the plan that my sister would still own the studio but my mom would run it. All they needed to do was hire a few teachers, one for each style. I had been dancing for ten years at that point so my sister asked if I would be willing to step up as a tap teacher. The idea of teaching was terrifying. It meant that all eyes would be on me. It meant that I would have to start making big decisions and trusting in the decisions that I would make. I didn’t like that idea but I hated the idea of my sister not being able to keep her studio open even more. I agreed to teach her beginner and intermediate tap classes. Later that year, one of the teachers quit so my sister needed someone to teach those classes as well. We split the classes between the remaining teachers and I ended up teaching intermediate hip hop as well. Teaching was difficult but I was able to learn a lot from that experience. Learning what leadership really meant was hard. I learned that leadership meant being willing to be seen and heard, not stay silent and wait for direction. I had to come up with my own choreography with the understanding that it would be performed. I had to make sure my students weren’t being given choreography that was too difficult or too easy. I had to get comfortable with the idea that my creative work was going to be visible to an audience. It also helped me learn to stand my ground instead of backing down. I had to keep everyone on task and make sure they weren’t just goofing around. I had to make sure my classes were productive and fun. Having a leadership position meant being able to have faith in myself and the decisions I was making. This was the hardest part. My self confidence has always been fairly minimal. Teaching dance helped me learn to trust myself. I learned to speak with confidence instead of whisper. Even though I won’t be teaching dance after I graduate high school, the lessons I learned from it will stick with me. I was able to learn to be confident and walk with my head held high. I’ve learned to voice my thoughts without being terrified of what other people will think of me. I’ve learned to be decisive and accept the outcomes of my decisions. Overall, for me, leadership was stepping out of my comfort zone. It was learning to be everything I was afraid of: confident, self-assured, seen, and heard.

I consider myself pretty lucky. I have two parents who love me, three older sisters who look out for me, two nieces and a nephew who make me smile, and friends who make me laugh. I’ve spent my whole life working hard in school. It paid off when I got accepted to my dream college in my dream city; Carroll College in Helena, Montana. When I attend Carroll College next fall, I’ll be majoring in anthrozoology. Carroll College is one of the only schools in the country to offer anthrozoology. This past summer, I was able to visit the campus and tour the anthrozoology building. During the tour, I was able to learn more about their unique program and everything it entailed. Anthrozoology is the study of human and animal interaction. Students get to work hands-on with dogs and horses specifically. Not only was I excited about the prospect of working with animals directly, but after the tour, I was excited about the people I would get to work with. I was able to talk with a few of the professors about the program. Each professor was incredibly kind and quick to answer any questions I had. I couldn’t be more excited to begin my studies in anthrozoology. After I receive my bachelor’s degree from Carroll College, I plan on attending vet school, though I have not yet decided where. Two years ago, I began shadowing at a vet clinic where I realized I wanted to be a veterinarian. Everytime I shadow, I am able to learn something new and I love getting to learn more about what it means to be a vet. I admire everything I see the vets do. When I watch surgery, I imagine being the one operating and I feel excited. The opportunity to become a vet means everything to me. Animals have always been a significant part of my life and the opportunity to give back and do something for them is very meaningful to me. Avoiding debt, however, is going to be difficult. I have to be sure that I don’t go too far into debt during my time in undergrad so I will still be able to afford attending vet school. Right now, I plan to use my college savings for my vet school tuition. My savings can stay in the bank and gather interest even though the interest amount isn’t a lot. I plan to use scholarships to be able to afford my undergrad. My goal is to apply for at least two scholarships daily during the school year and five daily during the summer. I’ve been meeting this goal most days and so far, I haven’t earned any scholarships yet other than the starter scholarship Carroll College has offered me. I’m not giving up hope, however! I’ll keep applying for scholarships and working to ensure that I can afford to attend both college and grad school.

People make me happy. This is pretty ironic coming from an introvert. When people ask me why I wanted to be a veterinarian, I always say it’s because I didn’t want to be a doctor for humans. When I stop and really think about what makes me happy, the answer always goes back to people. People are irritating. They cheat, lie, steal, and are selfish creatures. Nothing can make me feel worse than human beings. People, however, are also the only things that can make me feel absolute joy. All the experiences I enjoy aren’t as enjoyable if I’m alone. Travelling isn’t fun if it’s not with my friends or family. Nothing makes me laugh as hard as my best friend does. Nothing makes me as proud as when my mentors and teachers tell me they’re proud of me. The joy I felt when I first held my newborn nephew was incomparable. As aggravating as human beings are, as frustrating as they can be, they aren’t one-sided. People are a full force of emotions. We both have them and instigate them in each other. Sometimes full force both ways is good. I would rather experience all the anger, pain, love and joy that comes from people than live completely isolated from people. As complicated as they are, people make me happy.

My dad is the most patient person I’ve ever met. He takes his time with his tasks and he doesn’t get frustrated when things don’t work out. When one way doesn’t work, he looks for another solution. I didn’t inherit his patience, but I did learn it from him. The best way he taught me patience was through fishing. As a kid, standing by a lake and waiting for fish to bite wasn’t my idea of fun when I could have been playing on the playground right next to the lake. As I got older, I realized that catching fish wasn’t the important part of fishing. It was the waiting that mattered. Learning to enjoy the waiting has been one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned. It helped me enjoy waiting for my college acceptance letter. It’s helped me enjoy the process of waiting for scholarships to come in, though I have yet to receive any. Fishing with my dad also taught me that you don’t always get the reward you hope for. That doesn’t mean that the effort wasn’t worth it. It just means you get to try again. Patience is learning to enjoy the process of waiting. It’s understanding that tasks with instant gratification aren’t always as worthwhile as tasks that take time. It’s understanding that you won’t always get the final reward you want but sometimes the waiting itself is the reward.

If you had asked me what independence meant to me a year ago, it would have meant living alone, doing my own chores and paying my own utilities. As I am preparing to be an independent college student, I am realizing that independence doesn’t really mean what I thought it did. Independence is more than just being on your own. Independence is the choice to take full responsibility for yourself. That means taking responsibility for your actions and being willing to face the consequences, good or bad, with your head held high. It means owning your mistakes and learning from them. Independence is also not bowing to the will or pressures of other people. It’s knowing when to back away from the crowd and hold on to your own values. It’s not allowing other people’s thoughts to overshadow your own. Independence is hard, just like many worthwhile goals. It’s a journey that takes time and one that happens day by day. No one learns independence overnight. It’s not a final destination either. Some days will be better than others. The thing that matters most is trying to live each day with independence. As long as we strive for it, that is what counts.

Learning to love myself was hard. I’m still trying to learn. It’s a hard task when I’ve spent most of my life criticising myself for everything that didn’t meet my expectations. When my self-criticism began affecting the way I saw other people, I knew something had to change. The way I decided to start combating my negative self-image was by pinpointing the things I liked about myself. There is one trait of mine that I especially love and it’s one that I want to hold on to. I love my kindness. I love hearing people tell me I’m kind, not because it boosts my ego but because it’s something that affects everyone positively. It’s like a gift that I can give to other people and still feel full. Not only does it make other people happy but I’ve found that it’s reciprocated. When I am kind to other people, they’re kind in return. I love that my kindness can make a difference for other people, even if it’s a small difference.

For a long time, friendship didn’t mean very much to me, mostly because I didn’t really have any true friends. I bounced from group to group and I never made any deep connections with anyone. It wasn’t until this year that I realized what friendship meant to me. Friends are people who make you laugh harder than you even knew you could. They’re the people who you can laugh with just for the sake of laughing. They make the corniest jokes funny and can make you crack up with one look. Nobody has ever made me laugh as hard as my best friend. True friends also know when to listen. Sometimes the best safe place you can have is actually a person rather than a place. They hold your secrets close and dry your tears when they feel like a flood. Friends are very important people in our lives and they are the ones we should hold closest in our hearts.

My future means everything to me. I’ve been accepted into my dream college to study for my dream job. I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have without the people who helped me get here. It’s these same people who motivate me to keep working and keep pursuing my dreams. The first group of people I think of are my family. My parents raised me to work hard and taught me that the only limit I had was the one I gave myself. My siblings helped build my character and taught me that it’s okay to relax and have fun sometimes. The second group of people who motivate me are the ones at the veterinary clinic where I job shadow. They helped set me on the path I’m on and helped me find my passion for veterinary medicine. Years down the road when I am a vet, I will remember that they were the ones who helped me get there. It’s because of these people that I am motivated to keep working hard. I want them to see that their encouragement and belief in me wasn’t wasted. I want them to know that I was able to be successful because they believed in me.

Today, I am seventeen years old and I have been accepted into Carroll College where I will study pre veterinary medicine. I have an incredible future ahead of me and frankly, I’m pretty lucky I have it. About sixteen years ago, when I was a baby, a drunk driver wrecked my mom at a four way stop. Her car completely turned around and the backseat where my car seat was was bent in half. My mom had just gotten me out of the car. On a normal day, I would have been in the car but my mom had an event to attend that day so she dropped me off with my dad. If I had been in the car, I would have been dead. The drunk driver did suffer the consequences of his actions. He wasn’t severely injured but he did pay a hefty fine and his girlfriend broke up with him for it. Life could have been a lot different if that accident had never happened. At the time, my parents were trying to have another kid but after the wreck, my mom’s body couldn’t take it so they stopped trying. Although I’m too young to remember it, that accident will always remind me of the dangers of drunk driving and how much it can change a person or multiple people’s lives.

When you’re a high school student in honors, AP, and college courses working a job and participating in extracurricular activities, self care often becomes a distant thought in the back of your mind. Needless to say, it’s hard to make time for self care. In fact, this is the first year I’ve tried to prioritize self care. Whenever I am feeling stressed, overwhelmed or exhausted, there is always one thing I’ll do to relax. I try to set aside time for one episode of any of my favorite shows. Though it may seem like a silly thing to consider “self care”, setting aside the time to do something I enjoy helps me relax and recharge. It gives me time to slow down when my days are typically busy and fast paced. One of the best ways we can do self care is to simply set aside time for things we enjoy. This is the first year I’ve done it and it’s made a tremendous impact. I’ve been more relaxed and overall a lot happier. I believe everyone should set aside even just a few minutes for something they enjoy.

“You’re not alone.” I like this three word sentence because it applies to so many different things. The first application people will usually think of is emotions. Whatever you may be feeling, you’re not the only one feeling it. You aren’t the only person grieving, feeling sad or stressed, lost or alone. Everyone experiences feelings like these and even though they can often make us feel isolated, we truly aren’t alone in feeling them. The second application this sentence can have is needing help. People often think that they have to go through things alone or shoulder their burdens on their own. We often don’t realize that there are people out there willing to help us. We don’t have to take on everything by ourselves. We often think we have to be quiet and put on a brave face when really sometimes the bravest thing we can do is admit that we need help. I wish people understood that they are not alone in their emotions or their problems and if I could share one sentence it would be “You are not alone” because I think we forget it too often.

Have you ever felt embarrassed of yourself? I think everyone has. For me, my lifelong embarrassment had a lot to do with my heritage. I’m not embarrassed that my mom is Puerto Rican or that my dad is white. I’m not embarrassed that I’m mixed. I was embarrassed because I didn’t feel entitled to be proud of my Hispanic heritage. I’ve lived in Montana my entire life. I’ve never lived in Puerto Rico and I don’t speak fluent Spanish. Who was I to be proud of a language I didn’t speak and a place I’d never lived. One of the hardest parts of my conflict was that I felt like I was the only person with experiences like mine. There was one book that offered me a new perspective on my heritage and that was “With The Fire On High”. This book is about a Puerto Rican high school senior girl who grew up in Philly. Throughout the book, she discussed what it was like for her to be Puerto Rican without ever having lived in Puerto Rico. She talked about the guilt she felt for not knowing Spanish and the shame she felt for feeling disconnected from her roots. This was the first time I had even heard of someone with experiences similar to mine. It made me realize I wasn’t the only person with these experiences. This book was able to inspire me to be open with my mom about my embarrassment and encourage me to learn more about my heritage and roots. This book helped me to learn more about a different side of me and to be comfortable with being bicultural and understanding who I am.

I am a forgetful person. I'm almost always forgetting something, whether it be my keys, phone, wallet, or brushing my teeth. Despite the frustration that comes with forgetting these things, I believe that the worst thing I've forgotten was myself. Particularly, how to be me. When I was a kid, I was always told that I was nice. By the time I got to middle school, I thought I needed to be tough so I started acting tough. I wanted people to take me seriously. Once I got what I wanted, I realized that it wasn't what I really wanted at all. When I got to high school, I didn't have very many friends. I stopped caring about the kind of person I was and began caring about my achievements and successes. In my junior year, I made friends and all I wanted was for them to like me. I watch shows I didn't like and buy clothes that weren't my style, all so I could be liked. Partway through the year, I stopped to look at myself and I realized that I had tried to be so many different people, I couldn't remember who I was. It was hard but I eventually relearned myself and I even discovered more about myself than I would have expected. Dolly Parton said it perfectly when she said, "Find out who you are, then do it on purpose." The reason I can be who I am is that I was able to pick apart the different pieces of who I am and put myself back together so I could be the best version of myself. I unbecame everything I wasn't so I could become the person I was meant to be and keep growing.

Memory is a powerful tool of the human brain. It's crazy when we think about all the things we remember. Some people remember the day we first learned to read but can't remember what we had for breakfast. Some people are the exact opposite. Memory doesn't just serve as a vault for our past experiences, it also serves as a defense mechanism. When we're wronged by another person, especially someone we care about, it's very easy to remember when they've wronged us. Why? It's because we don't want it to happen again. It's because of this defense mechanism that my favorite quote has become "When someone does something wrong, don't forget all the things they did right." (Unknown). I have spent my entire life struggling with holding grudges and learning to let things go. Remembering the mistakes of other people makes me feel safer. If I remember the first time it happened, I'll be prepared if it happens again.The problem is that by holding on to every mistake a person makes, I forget all the kind things they've done for me. I begin to forget all the good memories we share. When I stop to consider that, I realize that by holding on, I lose more than I gain. Another reason why I find this quote so brilliant is that it reminds me that I don't want my mistakes held over my head. I don't want the people I care about to only associate me with the wrong things I say or do. If I don't want people forgetting the things I've done right, it's not fair for me to do the same to them. Overall, the quote I love so much reminds me to use the powerful tool of memory to remember the good in people when they make mistakes. It's okay to make mistakes and we should move forward when other people make them. After all, "When someone does something wrong, don't forget all the things they did right."

People generally don't like making mistakes and most people find it embarrassing to make them. It's natural for people to feel this way despite the fact that we're aware that human beings are imperfect and mistakes are impossible to avoid. I am certainly guilty of mistakes and fearing any kind of failure whatsoever. There is one person from history, however, that was willing to be proud of his mistakes are turn them into learning experience. Thomas Edison is by far one of my biggest role models and my favorite quote from history was said by him. "I have not failed, I have simply found 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb." This in itself is an optimistic statement. Edison was willing to try over and over and get it wrong time and time again in order to find a way to get the light bulb to work. He didn't become discouraged by failure like so many of us do. Not only was he comfortable with mistakes and with failure, but he also believed in himself even when most people didn't. The idea that someone could make a light was one that seemed crazy at the time. People thought it was impossible. Edison believed in what other people deemed impossible and eventually was able to achieve it. Thomas Edison reminds me to be comfortable with failure and to learn from the things that go wrong. He also reminds me that anything is possible if I can believe in it and work to make it a reality.

I've read a lot of books, and I do mean a lot. I come from a family that has a deep love of reading. There is one in particular that we all love and we read as a family every Christmas; "A Christmas Carol". There are several reasons I adore this book and I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it to give it a try. First and foremost, Charles Dickens is a phenomenal writer. The way he writes literature is incredible and there is brilliance within every sentence. Reading his work feels like a symphony visible to the eyes, like every word is a note played perfectly. Dickens is a genius with words and well-deserving of having his work read and studied by students in classes to this day. Secondly, the story of "A Christmas Carol" itself is a work of art. An old, miserly man is forced to review his past, experience the joys the present day has to bring and see a horrifying future if his ill-tempered ways were to continue. What I love about this story is that it portrays the interconnectedness of our past, present, and future. The past affects who we are now and who we are now affects who we will be. The choices we make do make all the difference in who we are and how we affect the people around us. Third, I love that this book reminds me of home and Christmas with my family. As I prepare to leave for college, "A Christmas Carol" can always remind me of how much I love my family and how much reading it with them means to me.