As a little girl, I traveled to Mexico every other year to visit my family. During these trips, we would go at the same time as my grandparents and stay at my aunt's house. Next to my aunt's house, there was a small abandoned house where a Husky and his puppies were left. We weren't allowed to go into the property to help them as the house still had an owner, but nobody was living in it. Instead, my aunt would feed them every day and give them water through the gate. Seeing these dogs alone and struggling without a stable home started to hurt me and affect me as well. My grandmother and I, who was a very big inspiration in my life, would go buy food for these puppies to help them stay healthy as much as possible. This was my first experience where I found a new passion that stuck with me all the way until now. While I was in Mexico, there were many stray dogs who had no food and were barely surviving. As time went on, while I stayed in Mexico, I would walk around with food for the stray dogs who needed it. One dog I specifically remember is a pregnant black Labrador who came up to me looking for food. I then fed her food and gave her water. Each day after that, she would show up to my front door waiting for food, this started to make me realize how special it was for an animal, especially one who is in such a vulnerable state can trust you. I also cared for stray cats and raised a stray kitten while I was staying in Mexico. From then on, the feeling of helping all these stray animals made me feel happy and accomplished, knowing I had helped as much as I could. I would watch many people just walk past the animals as they were severely dehydrated and hungry, but wouldn't help them. This just showed me how much better it was to be a part of the solution than part of the problem. When we returned from Mexico, my grandmother then bought pet birds; we had Parakeets, Cockatoos, and Finches. I learned to care for these birds, which taught me how to be responsible with different types of animals and how to be patient while training them. These experiences made me realize this is what I wanted to do for my future, and it is what I wanted to do long-term. Now, I own eight animals myself that I care very much for. I also often go to the animal shelter to help volunteers. At the shelter I get hands-on experience and learning basic medical skills for when I go to the University of Delaware next year to major in Animal science. The overall goal is to become a veterinarian to help care and provide care to all these animals in need. I want to help be a part of the change in my community as I got to experience firsthand how much some animals struggle and many people ignore this problem. My experiences motivate me every day to stay committed towards my goals and dedicating everything that I have done to helping those animals.