Math is a language communicated through pure logic. It is astounding how math as a concept is grasped throughout the world no matter the language or the culture. Even for underprivileged communities where math is not academically taught expertly, there is always a way to explain the concepts in a nutshell. Having mastered the deeper logic of math, I feel pride in being able to put my knowledge into teaching and explaining what is commonly known as one of the hardest subjects. I love how math is applicable to different aspects of real-world scenarios. Not only can math help understand patterns like scaling and correlation, but it can also be used to make predictions, which is mind-blowing to think about. To be able to teach these abilities to people and to witness the light-bulb moment where the logic behind an equation or a process clicks is an honor and a privilege to me. Changing such a useful tool from a dreaded school subject into one that tests problem-solving and application can give so much power in one's life. From understanding price values and discounts in stores, to understanding payment plans, understanding measurement conversions, and even understanding the highest probability of an outcome at a casino! The branches of application of math are astounding to me and the fact that I can give someone that knowledge makes me feel a responsibility to help others understand math and its usefulness.

Living in a first-world country, I notice that people tend to ignore the importance of their water usage. One of the main observations I have made so far is that people tend to open the faucet as much as possible and then proceed to ignore the amount of time they do not have their hands under the water. It hurts my soul to see and hear the water heavily flowing out of the faucet without consideration of the amount of it being wasted in an attempt to quickly and lazily wash hands. For this reason, I have decided to change the way in which I wash my hands in a way that guarantees better cleanliness of my hands while minimizing the amount of wasted water. I begin by opening the faucet to a point where my palm can fill up with water in a matter of 1 to 2 seconds (it surprisingly requires a significantly lower water flow than what people habitually open it to). I rinse my hands in it and then shift toward the soap dispenser or the soap bar. In the time that it takes to shift from the faucet to the dispenser, I've already salvaged plenty of water. I imagine the flowing water falling into a bucket and become conscious of the amount of water I save up with my technique. After getting soap, I spread it through my hands, dip it in the water every now and then for lubrication, and ensure to scrub in the commonly missed spots in my hands. Having the water flowing at a much slower rate gives me the peace of mind that focusing on my scrubbing does not waste too much water. This peace of mind and the focus in my washing gives me the confidence to take my time with ensuring that my hands are truly clean, so I "wring" my hands with as much pressure as possible. I noticed that this wringing tactic makes the grime much more visible in the water and soap that comes out (especially in white sinks), guiding me toward a visual signal of cleanliness. I continue the process of a light dip, a scrub to lubricate, and the wringing until the "wrung water" comes out clean. This technique of handwashing not only saves a substantial amount of water but also ensures cleaner hands. Our first-world country has gotten used to the idea that having easy access to water supply means we should use it as much as possible and it irks me to see the lack of attempt to lessen our use of these resources, similarly with electricity and single-use materials. If each person lessens their carbon footprint, even through small changes of habit, there will be a compiled mass of effort that will soon reflect on our environment. With each person who gains consciousness of the effects of their actions on the environment, there will be a small step toward environmental wellness.

If there is one Netflix release I would recommend for everyone to watch at least once, it would be Bo Burnham's Netflix special "INSIDE." This movie has given me a moment of laughter and relatability to Bo Burnham's emotional spiraling throughout the COVID-19 quarantine. He creates incredibly creative songs that present very common patterns within today's society that practically guarantee a laugh from the viewer. His talent in songwriting and piano makes him a beautiful mix of a singer with catchy, memorable tunes and a comedian with a great source of comedic punchlines. This movie is more than just a singing comedian making content. I was a fan of his on-stage comedy, as he has already proven his comedic and musical talents since he was only 15 years old. He also directed a show of his own in 2013 in which he mocks his own journey as a content creator aiming to become famous however he can. However, in INSIDE he states that he quit doing live comedy in 2015 due to severe panic attacks. He also mentioned his growth in mental health ever since, and introduced the pandemic as an obstacle to his reborn motivation and effort to return to comedy. Nevertheless, he put his efforts to work, despite the hardships of quarantine and the negativity stemming from the ubiquitous hardships of adaptation. The release of a one-man, hour-and-a-half-long movie of skits is a demonstration of his persistent efforts and determination to put work into his art. Throughout the movie, he shows the emotional spiraling stemming from the loss of motivation that a comedian typically has from their audience, which is an important recursive relationship. In his song, "Goodbye," he sings a lyric that may be one of the most impacting ones in the whole show: "I wanna hear you tell a joke when no one's laughing in the background." It shows the insecurity and pain that he went through when making this special. This movie presents Bo Burnham as a singing comedian and simultaneously puts it aside to reflect the reality of his life that we do not see through things such as "preparation" clips and within skits like the "INSIDE" video game. To be able to laugh from his content all while becoming aware of the process' hardships brings a cocktail of emotions that leaves the audience on their toes. Some songs in his show reflect parodies of mockable, current-day topics along with the harsh reality of Bo's life as a comedian who is unable to fully return when most motivated to. His writing style varies from mocking people in a lighthearted manner, presenting his emotions and reflections as the quarantine continues in a seemingly endless manner, and bringing light to present-day issues within our society. All songs, however, create a catchiness to them that makes the movie memorable to those who watch it. The variety and flow between reality and comedy through the use of music and singing is what makes this movie my top Netflix recommendation.

Mental health is a crucial aspect of our daily lives. It affects our motivation to live out our day, it impacts our physical well-being, it impacts how we act, and it defines the way we perceive our life in the bit of time we have to live it. The way we think is the first part of our lives that is directly impacted by mental health. A healthy mind enables us to think clearly, make decisions, and cope with any obstacles that life may throw our way. Having a healthy mind can guide us during times of stress and give our well-being a priority over anything else. When one does not give mental health the priority that it deserves, it can lead to depression and anxiety, which seems heavily prevalent in our society, don't you think? I'm convinced that our society does not prioritize individual well-being as much as it should. School provides little to no breaks (inside and outside of school hours), jobs don't give enough time for self-care to its hardworking employees, and mental health services are not affordable and accessible enough to reach the people who need it most. There should be more incentives within our day-to-day society to have people enjoy themselves more often. It seems that we've been conditioned to believe that working non-stop and getting the most amount of money is a form of success when in reality that does not take into account the isolation of pedestals that are too high. Children are taught from a very young that the more you work the better your grades and the better chances of success in life. Are they taught how to self soothe? How to cope with stress? What they need for physical wellbeing? Mental wellbeing? It is unfathomable how much American children and people in general are put into society like pawns to compete for a capitalistic definition of "success." That is why I encourage people to go into some self-led exploration of self-care. I have learned what my best methods of self-care in the quarantine. From music and singing to art and maybe even a call to my familiy members in a distant country. I truly love to progress with my own wants and passions. THAT is what brings me true happiness. The knowledge that I put hard work into my own mental health and wellbeing that's so ignored by today's society.

Every episode I watched, I felt like Michael Scott. I always do my best to cheer others up in whatever ways I can, even if others see it as too eccentric, or cringe. I'm willing to talk loudly in public for a laugh, dance in random circumstances just so someone can catch me and have a laugh, and maybe sporadically add a "that's what she said" in my life. I've had my Holly friendships out there that would join me in my prideful weirdness and amplify it. Michael has also shown how much loyalty and affection he has for those he cares about, in both platonic and romantic relationships. He always shows that he cares about those he works with through action and motivation. One example of this was when Pam had her art exhibition and he went out of his way to show her how proud he was of her work and for putting the work up. I truly hope to reflect that level of loyalty and pride to the people I care about. Another very notable aspect of his that I connect with is the way he treats everyone as a friend (except for the occasional Toby that tries to "put out" eccentric positivity). The office shows a group of people varying in race, age, sexuality, work attitudes, and general attitude, and he gets along and respects them all. I believe Toby gets a despicable side out of Michael because he represents "HR" more than for who he is, meaning his job of "shutting things down" is what made Michael despise him. He proved this when he first interacted with Holly, thinking she would be as stale and boring as Toby (she proved otherwise). Apart from that, he will put effort into cheering everyone up and making everyone a friend, just like me!

It's always been intriguing to me that people are so unique, that their reasonings for how they behave and how they think are justified in an irreplicable way by their experiences and their identity. Helping people has generally been an interest of mine, and this curiosity about the uniqueness of every person's story led me to find interest in the way that people relate to each other and how these stories and experiences intertwine within a relationship and a family: I went into couple and family therapy. Ever since I was young, those who surrounded me knew my quality of trustworthiness and empathy. When people would present their concerns to me, I would continuously become a "devil's advocate" and set a different perspective for the person to see the good in others, see the good in situations, and potentially help them become more of a "devil's advocate" to their own negative thoughts. I would become this representation of alternative thinking to people in my school and even people in my family, especially my younger brothers. Having these experiences sparked an interest within me in "helping people through changing perspectives." After thoughtful consideration and research, I decided that couple and family therapy matches my interests best out of all fields of counseling and therapy. I am currently in my first semester of graduate school and one of the main things I have learned so far is that "you are not the problem, the problem is the problem." This entails that no individual person IS a problem, but rather the problem is a product of their surrounding relationships. There is a recursiveness to the things that occur within a family or a couple, (which we call a system), presenting a neverending loop of responses. Even when mental illness is present within a person, we attempt to count it as a factor of influence rather than a label that covers all the person's actions. When we use a diagnosis as a label, it is hard for a person to see themselves in a more positive manner. One would imagine a mental illness to be something that overtakes one's life, but couples and family therapy undoes that sense of "I am the problem" and THAT is one of the main reasons I genuinely enjoy the field I got into. This idea of separating the "problem" and the blame from an individual person to then shift their perspective on the problem as a whole truly aligns with my goals of shifting people's perspectives into a more positive one. I love that I am learning about so many ways in which to help. Learning about all the approaches of systemic therapy makes me excited to go forth in the field because it shows me that helping comes in several shapes and forms. It makes me excited to become more knowledgeable on the ways to help, as I learn different ways to think through the aspects that make up mental health. From solution-focused therapy that helps people see their own strengths and achievements, to narrative therapy that allows one to express their stories and reauthor them, to the Bowenian therapy that explores the impact of familial emotions on the relationships within a system, it just opens my eyes to all the aspects of a system that impact mental health within an individual. All this knowledge excites me, not only because I want to master the art of dance through therapy, but because I can use this knowledge to help those around me. I become more aware of more than just the concerns they bring up and better shift their perspectives on the matter. Another very motivating factor in entering the field of therapy was the learning of techniques for mental health not only to help others, but to help myself. The field of psychology is truly eye-opening, considering it opens my perspective on life and each aspect's impact on my own behavior. Along with that, this field demands extensive analysis of the self in order to understand what aspects of life surround me, what position of privilege I hold, and how these aspects could create biases within me. The intention of analyzing these concepts of the self is to prevent my biases from making me incapable of connecting and understanding others through their perspective. Not only will this self-analysis help me become a better therapist, but it will also help me become a more empathetic person. In the long run, this will help me help those that surround me outside of therapy. Prior to my undergraduate and graduate experiences toward counseling and therapy-- right before the COVID-19 pandemic, I went through some tough times of my own and, interestingly, it involved social relationships. During the quarantine, I tried to get through the tough times by prioritizing my own mental health over the constant, exhausting effort of staying close to others. This experience allowed me to explore methods of self-care and well-being and it helped me see the importance of intrinsic motivation and my thirst for progress and growth. I believe that the lesson I learned by handling that mental health crisis in that way made me grow as a person, and it flourished into a thirst to become the best at what I do. I am now the youngest, most analytical person in all my graduate school classes. Let me present some of the self-analysis I have engaged in within the past few weeks. I graduated a year early from undergraduate school and am now a 21-year-old woman in graduate school with more recently gained experience with technology and online learning. I was assigned a group project with 3 other groupmates of varying ages and varying graduation years in which we had to create a PowerPoint on the approaches presented within Narrative Therapy. I set myself forth as a pseudo-leader, considering I had extensive experience and ease with the PowerPoint program, and created a blueprint of what we needed to present based on the rubric and created a hidden To-Do list slide for ease in tracking progress and equality of work. As time went on, I noticed the other members were not inputting as much and were taking a while to work on their parts. Of course, I began to stress. After analyzing my position in life, I realized that there is something that I have that they do not: time. I am currently living with my middle-class parents and have no expenses, which gives me the privilege of not having to work while I study. I get concerned about the cost of tuition, but I have saved up money across several years of my life and also have the privilege of my parents saving up for me and for my education when I was younger, so I have money in my bank to pay for the first few semesters. These aspects assuaged my concerns about needing a job for the time being. This alone gives me a substantial amount of spare time to give extra support on the group project and to learn a superfluous amount of content about therapy that interests me and helps expand my scope of knowledge. I've used my privilege of gifted time to go to online webinars and learn more about marriage and family therapy through an AAMFT systemic family therapy conference. I also spend my free time watching professional videos from my school's online library system to expose myself to a larger variation of cases. I am now motivated to learn as much as I can-- become a sponge as some call it-- and become the best couple and family therapist I can be. I want to use my privilege, my intrinsic motivation, and my opportunity to learn to become a master at helping. I want to be remembered by my classmates as one of the most motivated, most supportive, and most analytical people in the room. I want to make it known that I am reliable in the field of therapy by those who know me from school and by those who casually surround me in life. I want to be remembered by family, friends, classmates, and clients, for having left a positive mark on their lives whether it be through helping them become a better person, having been an inspiration, or having shown the impacts of hard work and determination. With all this being said, I am heavily motivated to help and inspire others by being the best couple and family therapist I can be. I want to make the most out of my higher education and my upcoming opportunities to learn as much as I can, be able to help a broad scope of clientele, and be remembered for shifting people's lives onto a brighter lens.

As someone who is working toward a Master's degree in Couple and Family Therapy, one might assume that the only thing to help is by providing services to clients. Even though I aim to work in a company that is known to help those with lower access to resources, my aim toward a positive impact expands further than just providing services. I have seen several mental health professionals posting content that provides free, useful tips and information for the public to know and apply onto their own lives, and I have been a listener to innumerable podcasts that provide information about mental health with interviews of leading professionals in the mental health industry. These acts of service made from the genuine desire to help motivate me to one day make unique content for people to use throughout the media, whether it be making an account on a social media platform, or making posters and "cheat sheets" on the aspects of communication and relationships. Lastly, to move away from the profession-related positive impacts, I aim to positively impact my family. I worked hard to get high scores in high school so that I could go through college without causing a financial strain on my parents, who gave up everything they had to bless me with the privilege to study what I wanted with a guarantee of growth and opportunity. I had the choice to study whatever I wanted: something that pays a lot, something fun, or something that is in high demand. Out of all the options out there, I, the first person in my whole Argentinean family to go to a U.S. university, chose to go into a field that helps people feel and live better. I hope that my choice not only makes my family proud, but that it motivates them to help others as well in their own time. I tend to share what I learn with those around me, as I find it astonishingly interesting, and hope that the little twinkle in my eye from my genuine enjoyment of relationship patterns and circularity makes those around me find an interest in bettering their own relationships and passing the information on to others. Lastly, I hope to encourage my two younger brothers to find a passion and chase their dreams, regardless of how hard it may seem. I want to give them a clear conscience that, if they ever need help at any step of the process, their big sister got through it and will be there to help. Without a doubt, I can say that I came into the profession to help others out. I will help several clients by guiding them through their relationship patterns, I will positively impact the public by sharing my studies and knowledge in creative ways, and I hope that my determination, passion, and grit to make a positive impact on others will motivate those around me to help and spread the positivity with me.

"You are what you eat." It's almost guaranteed that everyone has heard the phrase at least once in their lives. It brings intense emotions of pride or guilt over every individual food consumed, which is an unhealthy, black-or-white mentality. I believe there is a more accurate alternative phrase that is representative of the power of food choices over one's life: "Food is fuel for the soul." People shouldn't feel guilty for eating something just because it's deemed unhealthy here and there. The key is to be aware of what we fuel ourselves with. Our bodies function best when a diet consists of a variety of foods, so we should become aware of just how much variety we're bringing in. Treating ourselves to a snack is not a bad thing nor is it something to feel guilty about, but we need to think about how it adds to the other meals consumed throughout the day. "What nutritional components are in this food? Have I eaten too much of any of these components today? Are there any components in this food that I haven't had today? Are there any components I should be wary of?" When one becomes aware of the nutrients in their food, they will feel more knowledgeable of the amount of each nutritional component in their daily diet along with awareness of the ones that are missing or lacking. To go even further, learning the specific qualities and effects of each nutrient on our body can bring a bigger insight as to what foods one would benefit from depending on their circumstances, such as fibrous foods being essential to ease excretion for those with constipation, or protein-heavy foods helping aid and repair muscles and bones after exercising. Along with that, there are nutritional components that are best avoided or lessened as much as possible within our diet, such as saturated fats and trans fats that can negatively affect our cardiovascular fitness. The knowledge of both beneficial and detrimental components of foods will naturally lead people to read nutritional labels more attentively and make them more aware of what their fuel entails. Once a person controls their intake of food and becomes aware of the variety of the macronutrients they receive, the physical effects will truly reflect on their soul. A controlled variety of foods and nutrients will give their body everything needed to optimize it and will naturally improve mental health. The pride that comes with caring about one's own body is also astonishing and the habit of attentiveness and care can help practice awareness and discipline in our day-to-day life. Even so, there is a common stereotype that most healthy foods taste odd or worse than the unhealthier alternatives. That's where the happiness brought by food through the soul comes into play. With the mastery of knowledge of ingredients' nutritional components and the incorporation of spices and flavors, a plethora of varying healthy recipes consciously made with nutritional variety and flavors is essential to change this perspective on healthy foods. I have been experimenting with an application ("Intent") that provides a meal plan with recipes picked based on my needs and it not only encourages me to cook with awareness of every ingredient in my food but it also exposes me to varied healthy combinations and gives me the power to experiment with them, adjusting them to my taste to enjoy it and remake it. It brings me pride to make conscious choices about what I consume and it has made a change in my soul reflected in the way I feel when exercising.

I like to describe myself to people as "American by soil, Argentinean by heart." The phrase alone brings me pride in my identity. I am proud to say that I was given the privilege to be born in the U.S. and the opportunity to grow up in what is considered to be one of the world's biggest providers of professional growth opportunities, all while having experienced my family's culture. I was the first in my entire family to be born in the United States. My parents came to live in the United States under a work visa after they finished high school. After working tirelessly for years, they decided to have their first daughter, the first of my generation in my entire immediate and extended family. My parents' efforts gave me a direct passage to live in the land of the free without their hardships as a citizen through jus soli (right of soil). After 6 years of living in the U.S., my parents decided to have us move back to Argentina to grow up having our extended family around and to experience them through more than occasional visits. This made me feel closer to my family and expanded my love for the Argentinean culture. My childhood became similar to that of my parents, experiencing the joy of a tight-knit social culture, the delicious Argentinean food, and having life outdoors every weekend. The years of experience living in Argentina gave me the earliest memories of my life that I can recall to this day, connecting me to the Argentinean culture even more and making me feel that I'm Argentinean by heart. After 5 years of living there, my parents decided to move back to the U.S. to escape Argentina's economic downturn and to let me and my two younger brothers continue our academic course toward professional growth opportunities. After 7 years of working my hardest to maintain high grades albeit having lost my English fluency throughout my Argentina years, I became the first member of my family to graduate from an American high school and get accepted into an American college of my choice: the University of Central Florida. I initially attended college because I believed that I had to graduate college to get a job, all while learning about my field of interest: Psychology. Even so, the motivation pushing me through college began to transform into one of family pride. I wanted to bring pride to my family rooting for me from Argentina, show my parents that their efforts for my growth paid off, and set an example for my younger brothers and experience college first-hand to help them when their turns come. Psychology interests me because I find it compelling to understand all the factors that can influence the way a person thinks and acts, but I had not gone into the major with a career goal in mind. I soon realized that my interests, my empathic personality, and my intrinsic motivation to help others and make a positive impact on their lives may have set me into my niche to become a therapist. After careful consideration, I decided that the best way for my work to impact the most people is to work toward becoming a marriage and family therapist. Not only do I want to be recognized for helping others, but I want to potentially teach others about Psychology and ways to improve their lives and relationships through social media. I look forward to a future where I can feel pride in the mark I've left on this world.

When I was very young, I was introduced to a Disney musical that truly changed my life. This musical gave me a passion for singing and a beautiful (albeit slightly unrealistic) dream of what being in a relationship would feel like. With what I have said so far, there are many movies that fit the role, yet the movie that got my musical passion snowball rolling-- the movie I hold near and dear to my heart-- is High School Musical. High School Musical's main characters, Troy Bolton and Gabriela Montez were the picture-perfect couple out of all movies and series Disney could present (in my opinion). Their love could be seen within a simple glance that they gave each other, their actions, their expressions, and especially their energy when singing beautiful harmonies and heartfelt lyrics. Even though there would be certain conflicts between them bringing them heavy emotional distress that ranged from a difference in passions and a chaotically jealous "competitor" to Gabriela, they always seemed to go get through it all thanks to their intense passion for each other. Their extreme passion along with their resolutions to their problems gave me the undying dream of having someone to sing with me with a passion that served even a fraction of the Disney couple's passion. To this day, one of the main songs from the High School Musical series that makes me cry tears of joy every time is the song, "Can I Have This Dance" from High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Whenever I hear this song, I sing as Gabriela and imagine myself singing with Troy (or whoever I would be dating in the moment) and I would potentially Waltz around the room with arms stretched as if I was dancing in someone's embrace, just closing my eyes and envisioning myself on the beautiful terrace they danced on or dancing at the center of my wedding. The main thing that gets me to tears about this song, however, is the lyrics. The statements that are said throughout this song demonstrate an ongoing cycle of reciprocated passion and commitment that I aspire to have in a romantic relationship. The beginning of the chorus says, "It's like catching lightning the chances of finding someone like you. It's one in a million the chances of feeling the way we do." This in itself shows that they are both extremely certain that the strength of their love cannot be matched, and that is the type of feeling I aspire to have with the people I date. Apart from the chorus, each verse, which is sung in a manner like that of wedding vows, speaks of trust. I feel like the right person will make me unafraid to fall or mess up during this dance, which is both literal and metaphorical. The dance as a whole shows a metaphorical flow of affection from one person to the other and the lyrics emphasize the ability to rely on each other in the relationship, which is also a feeling I aspire to experience one day. It is almost unbelievable that a movie that I watched when I was merely 5 years old has had an impact that has lasted longer than a decade. The movie has given me a lifelong passion to sing my emotions and has made me dream of an intense, passionate chance at love.

Awareness of how I spend my time is one of the most important attributes for my wellness. It gives me a sense of accountability for the progress, or lack thereof, made throughout my day. When one puts effort into controlling their time, “I don’t have enough time” is no longer an excuse. The use of electronics has been taking over my generation, and I am most certainly included in the unavoidable succumbence. One of the efforts I made toward improving the way in which I use my time consists of setting a screen time limit for apps that I use too often so I can be alerted of having used it for longer than I wanted to. This has been helpful to me when I try to focus on doing homework and working toward other goals that require focus, ensuring academic success as a college student. Knowing there is a ticking timer every time I impulsively open an app makes me immediately close it before I get stuck to scrolling. Another effort aims to increase the time I have during the day by manipulating my sleep time. Not only do I intentionally try to go to sleep at the same time every night, but I also attempt to wake up by alarm every day at an earlier than necessary time (after at least 7-8 hours of sleep). Reinforcing a circadian rhythm and sleeping the recommended hours every night helps me prevent the need to nap, starts my day productively, and makes me feel proud for putting my whole day to use. Me-time is another aspect of my day-to-day living that has been crucial to my wellbeing. I found that I cope best by turning off all lights except for one color-changing light on a fade setting (slowly fading into other colors), putting lo-fi music on a speaker, putting the speaker on my head or forehead, and feeling the vibrations as my body lays flat on the bed facing up. It feels like a form of meditation, as my focus on the vibrations and music ground me to the present, as chills go down my motionless body. Walking outside has also been a calming and reflective activity for me as I have an immense appreciation for nature. The warm sunlight on my skin always feels healthy and energizing, the thought of taking in the fresh air, the singing of birds and funny screams of overprotective squirrels, and the view of beautiful, green grass with scattered, vivid flowers always give me a sense of calmness that being indoors can never match. My deepest breaths come from walking slowly and taking in the moment. The awareness of how I use my time has led me to take control over how much time I get and improve how productively I use. Time can go by fast, but acknowledging the control over what is done with it has made my college experience a lot more bearable. The quality of managing our time as college students is crucial, since using time in a productive way will make us better students, all while making us practice discipline to make time for activities that improve our physical and mental wellness.

Math is important because it can help people expand their knowledge for certain real-life situations, such as understanding the proportionality of recipes and models, predicting an event, making projections, and finance budgeting. Many students state that math is useless whenever they struggle to understand its logic, yet it is always present in the most discrete ways through things such as keeping track of the amount of time left before a deadline, buying a chocolate bar at a kiosk, or understanding a test score as a percentage! Math is especially important to people in certain careers that depend on it, such as finances, engineering, economics, physics, chemistry, and even coding! These subjects and many more require their involved professionals to understand the logistics of math to its core, or else the career would be impossible for them to pursue. I personally love math because there are several moments in which learning new aspects of it has made me experience this "click" or "lightbulb" moment when I connect the dots of different mathematical concepts. For example, when I realized that the equation for the x value of a vertex of a parabola (x = -b/2a) is included in the quadratic formula as its own term that is multiplied by the square root of the discriminant of the function, my mind was blown. I was fascinated by the fact that two seemingly independent functions (the vertex equation and the quadratic equation) were connected. In another instance, it was proven to me that the vertex equation is x = -b/2a by attempting to find the midpoint between two random values ([x1+x2]/2) and replacing x1 and x2 points with the quadratic formula which ended up cancelling most of the quadratic equation out and leaving behind the vertex equation. My socks were blown off!!. The way in which math can be proven to be straight logic and a language of its own is what makes me so interested in learning more mind-blowing connections like those. I feel privileged to be able to grasp the logic behind math. I've seen so many people struggle with the subject in a way that, no matter how many times it is explained, they will not get the concept. That is why I use my privilege to tutor children from 1st to 8th grade in math through a company that solely focuses on teaching math skills through their own, simplified, techniques. I make sure I use my knowledge to help prevent children from struggling with math by morphing it into basic language and visual representations of what math really means (ex. multiplication means the number added this many times). The opportunity to teach it to children makes me love math even more, as I get to witness them experiencing the same clicking, mind-blowing feeling that I feel when making new mathematical connections!

Math is pure logic. English and other languages may have grammar differences, have odd exceptions to spelling, and even pronounce words with the same spelling differently! Math, on the other hand, the concept of math can be grasped throughout the world. If someone is to understand the deeper meaning of subjects like Algebra and Geometry-- why certain equations are what they are-- then math will become a logic to the individual rather than just equations to memorize. The fact that math is logic makes it justify and explain different aspects of real-world situations. The logic behind math can help expand on a situation through the prediction of outcomes and understanding of growth or decline patterns throughout time. Mathematical concepts that lead to that can always be described in a nutshell. For example, if someone were to look at a population that is expanding by the equation P = 2^t where P is the population number and t is time, then it can be explained that if two years passed, the population multiplied by 2, or doubled, and then the product of that was doubled again in the third year, then doubled again in the fourth year, and so on, demonstrating a logical example on how exponents work along with a visual representation of the logic behind exponential graphs. Once an individual understands the concept of math, it no longer becomes a dreaded school task, but more of a base of logic that can guide the person to problem-solve in several real-world tasks, such as proportions of recipes or models, the prediction of the probability of a specific outcome, and the amount of material needed for an area to be renovated. Math can expand to many aspects of life and, once its logic is understood, it can be a great benefit to our daily lives.

The autonomy I got from college is what most excited me. I would get to learn how to better manage my responsibilities but, this time, they extended outside of my living space. I have to manage my chores and homework and make sure I leave my dorm on time to not be late for a class or event. Being away from my parents gave me the opportunity to practice checking on myself and putting energy into what I needed. I had to recognize what I was missing and how to get what I need without the two cents of people that surrounded me with it constantly (my parents). For example, I got the freedom of eating and buying as much junk food as I wanted, eating midnight snacks, or even staying up all night-- or as we call it, "pulling an all-nighter." However, after some time of doing these formerly limited activities, it now gives me space to think, "is this really what I should be doing? Won't this hurt me in the long run? I should treat my body a bit better than this.." and then put the intrinsic effort of eating healthier and exercising more often. Having practiced that ability to think more carefully about my actions, financially, health-wise, and even mentally, gave me the ability to recognize any unsettling patterns in the way I act or think in my day-to-day, which is something I will need by the time I am fully independent, and not a college student paying partial bills and having a part-time job. The fact that I am now autonomous enough to decide what I would do with my time without being questioned or judged for it (albeit knowing it's done out of wariness and care) and not being judged for the way I would decide to dress made me a lot more mentally stable by now, as the constant judgments from two of the most important people in my life would tear my confidence down. Lastly, the autonomy that college has given me led me to be more on-track and organized with the responsibilities I have, both academic and personal. Living at home with my parents meant constant reminders of things that they would either care about or be involved with. Now that I don't have those constant reminders, it's all up to me to ensure that I know what activities and deadlines are coming up. The autonomy I have held over the past 3 years as a college student living in or nearby to my university has made me grow in my health and well-being by allowing me to choose my own path toward progress, achievements, and improved mental health. It changed my behaviors and thoughts, and changed me as a person, allowing me to learn from any mistakes I made in the process, adjust my priorities, and work toward what I truly need.

I dream of a future self that is economically stable to the point I can focus on helping as many couples and families as I can through counseling, all while learning and expanding knowledge in the field and putting time into hobbies such as making music and singing.

I've always been one to prove that those around me can confide in me with their struggles and needs. I've been the middle ground in my family in which both my parents and my siblings would entrust me with how they feel about each other and I'm able to understand and comfort them without letting those interactions interfere with the way I interact with the other side. As time goes by, it becomes more and more clear that my best, most satisfying role in our society is to be a helper. For quite some time, I've experienced bursts of energy and intrinsic motivation to learn the deeper functioning of things that we typically don't think of in our day-to-day lives, but it would mostly be toward the functionality of material things. Now, I channel that eagerness of mine toward learning and understanding the ins and outs of relationships and all the techniques of helping. Some of the methods I've used to research my interests include contacting licensed professionals in my desired field, Marriage and Family Therapy, requesting to interview them about their paths toward success, listening to counseling podcasts with interviews of different professionals in the counseling field that bring up different aspects of psychology, even watching sample intakes and notetaking with a former supervisor of mine from a nonprofit organization I volunteered at (which is a graduate-level assignment they did for their master's program). I am genuinely giddy about learning and expanding on every aspect of counseling and relationships. I decided to pursue a specialized field of Psychology not only because of my genuine interest in the aspects of relationships, but because I aim to become as knowledgeable as possible in my branch. Some of the topics I have to become knowledgeable of in order to reach the level of expertise I aim for include aspects of different communities, religions, upbringings, ethnicities, and even abnormal psychology along with its effects on the people that interact with it routinely. Hopefully, my expertise can take me to places such as sharing tips and tricks for maintaining healthy relationships with others and oneself through social media, the release of a novel, or participation as a panelist or guest speaker in a counseling podcast! The opportunities and dreams are endless! By pursuing these dreams, I believe that I will be able to connect with more people through exemplary empathy and education, hopefully uniting people through my use of media for wellness.