I was in foster care from age 12 to age 16. My sister and I have been adopted by our foster mom this past summer. We now have a forever home. Although my adoptive mom has a higher education, I still feel that I am the first in my biological family to attend college and I believe this deserves to be acknowledged. There were extremely difficult circumstances that negatively affected my academic performance in 9th and 10th grade. These grades do not reflect my ability. My sister and I were removed by CPS from my abusive mother and placed in foster care. We had to deal with the instability of moving to 4 foster homes and 3 schools due to mistreatment. I had to figure out the rules of each home and was treated differently by each foster family. I was also new to the country and just learning the English language. This was not manageable for a 12 year old. Through all of this chaos, my biggest responsibility was to protect my little sister who was only 3 when we were removed for the first time. I became angry and depressed and school was not my main concern, I was focused on survival and I longed for a mother's love. After being moved to my 4th and forever home, I feel loved and supported and can focus on school and my future. I actively seek support when needed and enjoy my teachers and classes. I am determined to succeed and stay for extra help when needed, personally reach out to teachers about questions, attend the ENL center regularly, and my adoptive mom hired a private tutor to help me catch up academically to my peers. My grades have improved significantly and I have made Honor Roll and received student of the year award in the English as a New Language Program. I am now involved in clubs and afterschool programs. I continue to grow as a person and overcome my fear of standing out by pursuing my singing talent at the Music Conservatory of Westchester and pushed myself to perform a solo in front of an audience. I am still adjusting to living without the weight of the world on my shoulders, but I do know that I am safe and loved. With this support, I will only keep improving in school and in life. I will be the best me I can be in order to show my little sister that anything is possible for us and the best is yet to come. I plan on either going into a field working with animals or working with the immigrant community to share the lessons learned from my experiences while in foster care. Spanish is my first language and I try to help out now by translating for anyone that needs assistance expressing their wants and needs. I plan on becoming a foster parent myself to help kids that are in the same situation I was.