As I graduated from high school almost a year ago, I have realized that I've got a lot of people behind my back, who were building me at some point. I realized that throughout my high school career, I have been asking and asked to help with certain stuff as a volunteer or team member. I have never been a good team player, because I can't just do a separate task or tell others what to do. After all, usually it's easy for me to finish everything in one go, as that method has been the most efficient way of working both physically and theoretically for me. However, in the team, I have been helping my teammates whenever they needed help or tried to help themselves. As a team player and leader, I failed, but even by helping to solve someone's problem, they still did not care about me not being capable of teamwork. As I became a college student, I started to focus on myself and the people around me, either those who helped me or whom I helped a lot before. I started to make my own life decisions instead of moving with the wave. I realized a lot of things about humanity, about elders and newcomers to this world, simply by playing a very philosophical game called "Sky: Children of the Light." The game had no words spoken, and no final destination, every time you reach the end of the journey, you come back with more experience to start a new journey or to help others to complete the same journey. Looking at the interactions in the game and comparing how most of the adults think in real life, I realized that one of the ways to make the world warmer, despite all the developing personalities, simply helping others, making someone's life feel least stressful, a little bit easier, or at least trying to do so, is already a good trait, which should be kept on going. before seventh grade, I used to be a person failing to give a hand to a lot of people, but I haven't given up. I built myself, slowly, and grew up physically and mentally. I did all the studies and training to be able to help others, which as I said earlier, helped me to develop my environment. An example of that could be: I was well-known by the administration of my school, they asked me, and a few other representative students, what would we like to see changing in the campus? I responded that I would like to see flowers, bushes, and more greenery around, for inspiration and a warmer feeling of home. Guess what, they did it! Teachers with the help of students did it in the last semester of my senior year, but still, I was happy, and still am! My point is, that no matter what career a person chooses, there is always a way to help people, to help the environment. As a computer science major, I am pretty sure that as I master my skill, I can help medics with improving their machines. I can also help scientists to easily view the data and collect the materials with developing machines to do that. I can help a person to find another person online, or to find a place to live, before actually moving somewhere. Of course, all those ideas are already functioning, but as I am on the same path, I will become the person who may develop a much more complex tool to help most people if not everyone.

Every person in the world at some point experienced the realization of having at least a few issues with their mental health. I had an experience when my anxiety level was so high so many times at school, with friends, and even at home. From the first to eighth grade I used to be the worst student in terms of overall grade, but I was passing anyway only because of the final exams, no matter what country I was studying at. That experience brought me a lot of insecurities, which I have still been dealing with, from teachers and students and classmates telling that I should've not passed or asking about my ways, or rather "secrets" of passing, which developed into my own thoughts, and those insecurities, even though I changed to the one of the top-tier students since then, became one of my struggles throughout my junior and senior year whenever I had a struggle in certain activities or tests. More I was focused on my past mistakes, worse my daily experience became, and worse my health became. Adding up that I had a status as a leader at school, which also added up as the anxiety factor to my health issues. There was a possibility to back up as a smart and strong person, but the levels of my anxiety were increasing as the year was approaching the graduation ceremony, which I had lesser hopes to pass. The expectation of others in my presence during the graduation ceremony has been minimal of me. With each gaze at me, that looked the same as my classmates from other countries, of course my head reminded me of them, I thought that I have not changed at all since then - "I am still the worst student in the world..." I don't know if that was luckily, coincidence, or that was my only good accomplishment, but I had really good friends, who protected me and taught me one important thing: "You are overthinking it too much. Try to not overthink." - Such a simple, but important message a head of mine should've known for all those twelve years I have been into academics and other aspects of life. I accepted that hint, and tried to finish everything faster instead of doing any outlines for every task. Keeping that mindset, I passed, and actually participated for the graduation ceremony, receiving several rewards for my achievements I have done for all these years, and which I forgot about til my counselor handed the medals to me and I carried them on the way to my house. The only reason I passed through my senior year, blindfolded with my mistakes, and hand-chained with all the emotions, was because I decided to just push through it and keep my mental stability, or at least try to do that until everything is done. Since then I believe that in order to achieve anything, my mental health should be at least better than stable, which means I should do the things I love, meanwhile studying. I found a lot of ways to maintain my mental health's stability by accomplishing small things, both those I am interested in, and which I felt like doing whenever I need positive energy before or after the classes or homework. For example, I learned how to do Latte art for the past month, meanwhile doing a lot of homework for college classe, but mainly prioritizing my own interests, which brought my grade up, simply because I had more discipline towards myself to complete huge goals with tiny and repeating steps.

Usually, I am not the one who likes to talk about myself, despite all the hardships I had in the past with my friends, teachers, family members, and myself. I have been blaming a lot of people until my seventh grade, for being judged at school and at home for the things that I wasn't even a part of sometimes. My classmates used to tell something to each other, and I was always interested in the stories, which led me to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. An example of the types of problems I faced, was when my friend would be in negative relationships with upper-graders. In the country I was in, there is no separation between schools, all students from first to eleventh grade are in one school. There was a period of time when I was overeating of stress that I am not passing my classes as the third-grader, which on the next year, when my class-leading teacher was changed, and we got new classmates, occurred to be a theme for my peers and friends to rumor about. I've always been told by teachers in Russia and my peers that I won't achieve anything in the life by "doing this." But unfortunately I have never got a time to know what "this" is, that I am not supposed to do in order to achieve better grades and not to cause more laughter from my peers. One time, in the boys locker room, everything changed, because there was the one kid from another class with all the boys, who were making fun of me, and for the duration of the month tried to physically interact to me, which I could successfully avoid, but then in that locker room, I said something that they couldn't take, and some kids decided to literally fight me. Seemed like I have no chances against several kids, since I was a lonely kid, but somehow I managed to resist, not without bruises, but after the teacher came, first thing they will obviously conclude, is that the survivor started it. However, later on, no one called on me, and school asked me to keep that in secret from my parents, but the kids who did that to me will be punished. I have even gone to Aikido until the green belt, which taught me that fighting is meaningless... After several years, in American High School, I became "the most peaceful boy," or "the most boring boy" - as my friends called me. We still talk, but the hardships happening at school were much more terrifying than even my loss of friends in Russia. I had friends, who was abused by her "boyfriend," whom I later got to know was the person I was going to be friends with, and it revealed to be true. When I was on the leadership position in a music band, he was in my group, and sometimes I had to help him, even during sports exercises, because leader is supposed to treat everyone equally according to my band's rules. After awhile, my friend, who was older than me, was helping the entire band, while that one guy whom I was helping without my own will, would blame my friend for something he hasn't done, and everyone who wasn't on my side, would agree with him, which put me and most of the people into shock. My friend got temporary fired, even though with him our scores were ten, if not hundreds of times better. I really hated my senior year, but at the end, all compensated by my arts teacher, whom I respected throughout all the years for always giving me a good advice.

Working with different devices has always been the only thing I could do besides arts and math. For most of my life, I have been told that all my knowledge has been delusional by peers, friends, teachers, and family. Until the eighth grade I couldn't pass a single test right, except the final exam, which was a barely achievable task at the end of each year for every single subject. However, once I found a person, who literally taught me the logic from zero. It was a simple math tutor, but she taught me as if it's okay to not even know what a simple inequality is. After two weeks of making progress, I started to get ahead of everyone in my class, which my teachers, of course, couldn't believe of course, but eventually I left to the U.S. She truly changed my life upside-down, and I will never forgive myself if I betray her in pursuing anything other than Mathematics and a single field of Science. When I still was in Russia and Armenia, - I used to switch countries of study before coming to U.S. - I've been involved in fixing technical issues and participated in programming contests. I've faced more mistakes than successful projects, and regardless of how minimal or significant the achievement was, I felt happy to the point of not being able to hold tears or "tail-sharing" about my accomplishments to all my friends and family members. I have always had to switch interfaces and even transition from one operating system to another just when I got used to one, because of new opportunities I needed or was compelled to do due to competition requirements or school standards in different countries. Different working environments taught me to adapt and understand the logic behind and in front of the screen. I decided to focus on becoming an expert in computer science and everything related to devices and networks. My dream job, which I believe would be most helpful to other programmers and people in general, is to be an Expert in Computer Sciences. This means I can solve anyone's problem in "one click" or, in other words, solve problems five times faster than the average programmer or problem solver, enabling people to work on solving new problems that humanity actually needs to address. This also means that I will go through the full career ladder of a developer, network security specialist, and even a digital artist, in order to demonstrate my expertise in all areas of the digital world. It may not be the easiest path, but if I do everything right, I will attain the status of "the best," because all my life I've learned from mistakes. If I get recognized, then I did most of the steps right; however, if I fail, then I need to learn from the successful steps of the winner.

I want to become The Expert in the digital world. By "The Expert," I mean to encompass roles such as Developer, Cyber Guard, and even an Artist who may have shifted focus from art but still possesses the skills to captivate a wide audience. Becoming proficient in all these areas will empower me to have a significant impact, allowing me to contribute to changing at least a piece of the world. Both within and beyond the borders of the U.S., many individuals still lack the opportunity to choose their own career paths. In my earlier years, I harbored a fervent wish that individuals could select their preferred careers as early as the first grade. However, as I matured, I came to recognize that children often lack the experiential knowledge necessary to make such decisions until they reach a certain age. Therefore, one crucial aspect to address is how adults guide children toward discovering their creative potential and identifying fields suited to their talents, unless the children express different aspirations themselves. Through my expertise in the digital realm, I want to become The Expert in the digital world. By "The Expert," I mean to encompass roles such as Developer, Cyber Guard, and even an Artist who may have shifted focus from art but still possesses the skills to captivate a wide audience. Becoming proficient in all these areas will empower me to have a significant impact, allowing me to contribute to changing at least a piece of the world. Both within and beyond the borders of the U.S., many individuals still lack the opportunity to choose their own career paths. In my earlier years, I harbored a fervent wish that individuals could select their preferred careers as early as the first grade. However, as I matured, I came to recognize that children often lack the experiential knowledge necessary to make such decisions until they reach a certain age. Therefore, one crucial aspect to address is how adults guide children toward discovering their creative potential and identifying fields suited to their talents, unless the children express different aspirations themselves. Through my expertise in the digital realm, I aim to contribute to creating a world where individuals are empowered to pursue careers that align with their passions and aptitudes, fostering a society where personal fulfillment and societal progress go hand in hand. Whether through educational initiatives, mentorship programs, or technological innovations, I aspire to play a role in shaping a future where individuals are not bound by societal expectations or limitations, but instead are empowered to realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to their communities and beyond. I used to be an artist, but as my school continued to show my lacking skills, I became one of the top best students my class acquired, because I realized, that in the current world, doing my favorite thing is not going to pay out in terms of educational and financial progression. Once I was on track with the students on the top of school's rating, I started to be very involved in activities which I barely, but successfully accomplished, but also I learned that my actual passion can be improved by using different skills. By leveraging my skills and knowledge, I hope to inspire others to embrace their unique talents and pursue paths that lead to personal fulfillment and collective advancement. In doing so, I aim to make a positive impact on my home country and beyond, contributing to a world where opportunity and possibility abound for all.

There is nothing better than a drink that is always ready for you at any times, especially when people already know what you really want. To determine how your year will go is how you start it, that's why Fall beverages are the one source for me, which help me with considering and supporting my tempo for the first couple of days, weeks, and even months til the very end of the semester or school year. There is the one place I used to come in fall, and still go there during the busy days or to wait for special events. Near my high school, I have been visiting a small Starbucks, which had very skillful workers, and every time I came there, they knew, as they read my mind, which drink I want today. Any other season, they would ask me: "As usual?" - And I would get either a Chocolate Shaken Espresso, or my favorite, when it's Fall, - Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, with almond milk, and four shots. Baristas at my favorite Starbucks always knew my drink in details, so I only bothered to pay, and say no word. Even when I had a time of crisis when I had a bunch of homework thrown at me within the extracurricular activities like music band, and art projects. Without the Fall beverages, and a specific amount of Caffeine, I would not be able to balance up my energy to finish a good amount of projects and exercises for my classes. Also, even when I graduated less than a year ago, I have still been coming there to visit the performances of my friends, for example Marching Band home show, which is usually made for alumni, who used to be in the music classes at high school. We and my friends usually used to hang out at that small Starbucks, but now it's just me, sometimes visiting them. Next academic year, or rather this upcoming Fall, I am waiting for the Fall beverages to be available for order, since it will be a very hard year for me at college, especially since I am going to apply for a part-time job within my freelance activity as an artist. A lot of times I had to submit the work in three days, which would look like an easy task with no need of any caffeine, and the first thing I thought is to start working on it now, however, my energy was already drained from the school assignments I did, which only could be compensated by my favorite bevarage for both mental and physical support fo the next hour and a half. I love drinking Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew because it has a lot of light foams and flavors, - it's perfectly sweet, not a lot, and almost not completely without sweetness, and it is still coffee, which helps me to deal with a large amount of tasks despite all my difficulties, and at the end I get rewarded by finishing the work and instantly laying on my bed with a calm heart of peace. Fall is the time every person needs a material source of energy and support to go through it without anxiety and think about going through or around the obstacles.

Usually, I'm not one to freely divulge personal details, despite enduring numerous challenges with friends, teachers, family, and myself. Until seventh grade, I often attributed blame, feeling judged both at school and home for situations I wasn't involved in. My curiosity about classmates' stories often placed me in inconvenient circumstances, like when I inadvertently became entangled in upper-grade friendships gone sour. In my country's school system, spanning from first to eleventh grade, there was no distinction between levels, intensifying my stress about academic performance. I faced scrutiny from Russian teachers and peers, often being told I wouldn't succeed without clarity on what actions to avoid. This ambiguous admonition haunted me, fueling gossip and laughter among classmates. A pivotal moment occurred in the boys' locker room when a confrontation erupted, leaving me to fend off multiple aggressors. Despite being outnumbered, I managed to defend myself, albeit not unscathed. Unfortunately, the school's intervention painted me as the instigator, forcing me into secrecy per the school's request. Seeking solace in martial arts, I pursued Aikido up to the green belt, learning the futility of physical conflict. Transitioning to an American high school, I garnered a reputation as "the most peaceful boy," a stark contrast to my tumultuous past. Yet, challenges persisted, surpassing even the loss of friends back in Russia. I witnessed a friend's abuse by her boyfriend, who unbeknownst to me, would later become an acquaintance. In a leadership role within a music band, I reluctantly assisted him, abiding by the band's principle of impartial treatment. Despite my efforts, he unjustly accused my older friend, resulting in her temporary dismissal, despite her invaluable contributions to our success. Senior year proved arduous, marred by conflicts and injustices. However, amidst the turmoil, my art teacher emerged as a beacon of support, offering invaluable guidance.

My major is computer science, and I want to pursue Cyber security and Software engineering. The story behind my first and final decision before enrolling in college would be very long if I haven't tried to shorten it, but has a very funny irony personally for me. I have been growing up as an artist since I was first given a chance to touch the brushing tool. At first I hasn't thought about relating myself with tech, because until seventh grade I have only been thinking about art, and I still sometimes do. However, in seventh grade I discovered 3D modeling, and installed Blender 3D. Then my father asked me if I can make designs for his website, - of course he said that to inspire me to continue learning, but at that time I really was trying to create something worth his professional background, but I was also trying to create the entire webpage from zero. I found those tutorials that were an hour long each, and learned more than I expected to get, which helped me to create, well, something, it wasn't exactly how I imagined, but everything was in the approximately the same place as I typed in the code. Promise that I gave to myself was to continue learning coding and structures of the softwares. After a few years of doing digital art and coding in Russia, I enrolled in my freshman year at high school in the United States, and got to be a recognizable artist in my sophomore year, which filled my schedule full of commissions, and shortly I was out of time to practice coding. I even made shirt designs, logos, and animations for my school. However, upon my senior year, I predicted that as Artificial Intelligence may become a bad sign to me and my art, which eventually became a true prediction, and I even made a project-presentation on the research I made. Artificial Intelligence took over most of the artists, which also affected me, and soon I stopped making art as my main way of income. I started to push hard on studying programming languages and different topics like Machine Learning in order to accomplish most of the computer science classes' goals. The reason for that decision was that my family needs at least a stable income in future, and I cannot really pursue myself in anything else than Computer Science and Math, because those thing are my only skills that I master easily by pushing myself and even staying overnight to research the topic I don't understand. My desire is to learn in details and globally how Artificial Intelligence works and how many ways it can be created or corrupted, in order to control it, because the one area of study that for sure will stay in tech, is software engineer and cyber guards. Artificial Intelligence won't fix itself if the system is corrupted, - without the control of a human, Artificial Intelligence won't satisfy the desires of a human.

I've been playing Minecraft for over 10 years with friends, alone, and with players online. First time I ever played Minecraft, was my second grade, when my father brought home an XBOX 360. I could only play a few games, so, for the first couple of months, I played Minecraft as a demo, but was enjoying the game as if I didn't care about progress at all, only to experiment a variety of different tools, structures, poisons, and visit different places of the classic Minecraft tutorial, which gave the player a freedom to do anything before ten minutes pass, and then I would get sent back to the XBOX main software menu. After awhile, I actually got a disk for Minecraft, and I was really happy, that day, I spent the most of my hours playing Minecraft even with a half-finished homework. First day I was only focusing on survival mode, and built my first actual house that will be saved as a progress. After awhile, I discovered Creative mode, which allowed me to build whatever I want without looking for resources or being aware of monsters around me. With Creative mode, I've built an entire city and a lot of other structures, and I even recorded myself building and showing the cities that I've built. I realized that my passion in Minecraft was building huge structures and Redstone mechanisms. "I am a Creator, - I create worlds," - I thought back then. Minecraft inspired me to start learning 3D modeling, and I installed Blender 2.7 and MagicaVoxel, which both are still great programs to work in professionally. Then, after five years, for some reason, despite the fact that I was really caring about my console, my XBOX 360 broke or got lost, - I don't remember, because at that time my family was changing countries, and I forced myself to focus on other issues which I need to solve to get used to my new environment. I am still capable of designing very well in Minecraft. I don't play Minecraft or any games very often nowadays because of the path I have chosen, but when different people call me to play Minecraft, and when I am asked to build a house or any other structure, I know I need to complete my job at the best of my skill. I think that being a builder in Minecraft resonates with me, because I am a creator, not a farmer, fighter, fisher, dungeon slayer, or even a zookeeper. Every time, my confidence in my designing techniques increases when my group calls my buildings "a work of art," which of course is not perfect, because, in fact, not a single picture is ever finished.

If I have never discovered "Boku no Hero Akademia," I would nominate Attack on Titan as my very first anime I ever watched. However, five years ago, in 2018, I discovered and anime for myself, which after awhile slowly has been changing my perception about the people and environment I've lived in. None of my friends watched My Hero Academia, but I wasn't just the only person in my group watching it, but also I was watching it in Russian, I loved the Dub Actors, and still love them, and hopped that they will voice the anime until the very last season. I would watch that anime over and over again because no matter how quickly everything happens, there are a lot of details in the anime, which not a single human-being will notice and memorize in one sitting of the season, simply because there is a lot of characters and backstage moments, as well as artworks of other teams and subtitle mini stories that don't have any key-objectives in the show, but they tell small stories, proving that the authors and artists really cared about their story, about each character and had favorites. Even villains and second-plan characters had their own stories. Careful, I am probably about to tell a spoiler, in case you, reader, is afraid of those. The one film I watched of My Hero Academia had a character named Sooru, who's quirk is his little bird that shows his true emotions and desires, which he told Deku as a plan to defeat the villain, but we don't get a chance to be informed about that until Sooru almost dies at the resolution part, where he stopped all the timers on the bombs around the world by entering his father's codes into the control panel of those bombs. That scene made me very emotional, which happened not once, that anime had a lot of moments where it made me drop more tears than any other anime I have ever watched. Deku held Sooru, even though they both were in the same condition. Sooru on Deku's hands said: "Am I like you Deku? Am I a hero too?" - That line touched me right in the core where I started to tear up unstoppably. Deku said: "Yes, you are a hero." Then the bird disappeared with a smile. However, after awhile, which was really "A While" because I was stressed out the entire time watching the episode, that I even forgot about my homework for a few seconds, - they showed that Sooru is okay, but is injured, his bird revived after he got on his legs again. I was really happy that he stayed alive, but honestly, I wanted more, I wanted him to join Deku, but I knew that's too much, so watching another scene where Sooru pretends like he doesn't care that Deku is leaving, his bird shows otherwise, that he won't handle to miss him. I dropped another tear, but forcefully stopped myself and surprisingly started laughing at how the anime never fails to get me at this moments. And yes, it is endlessly captivating for me, because me and Deku grew up with the same issue, but in different worlds and environments. I also used to be useless and that I am nothing, until I met a lot of heroes in my life, who changed me and made me stronger simply by existing and showing their actions. I would wish Boku no Hero Akademia never ends, but everything ends at some point. I am a hero too, stories are in our hands.

My very first favorite show on Disney channel definitely is Gravity Falls. The second favorite show is Wander over Yonder, which in Russian was translated as "With Greetings Through the Planets," if not Kick Butowski. If those shows ever had a crossover, I feel like the reason behind it would be to connect people with interests to relationship strengthening in-between family, friends, and even expressing kindness to the people around. So, the episode would start with Dipper and Mable coming back on the bus to Uncle Stan during one of the summers after all the chaos is gone, and they finished another year of school. That would be a surprise visit, so uncle Stan doesn't even suspect anything coming. However, on the road to Gravity Falls, Dipper and Mabel, while talking about plans for summer, see a portal open in the middle of the road, which forced the driver to step on breaks. From the portal they see Sylvia, obviously they don't know her name yet. Sylvia yells: "Wander, get outta there quick! The portal is closing soon!" - And then Sylvia grabs Wander as he is about to pass the portal which closes right after they successfully escape from something that produce very loud and scary noises heard even by people in the bus. Sylvia and Wander notice that the planet they traveled to is wealthily terraformed, and they notice people in the bus, which excites Wander to greet everyone with a smile, but everyone gets scared, Dipper just tries to observe the situation, but Mable as well as Wander, meet each other with hugs as if they have both been prepared for that. Meanwhile Dipper and Sylvia would just shake their heads like they can't handle the immaturity of their partner in journey. In the episode they would introduce each other, and apologize for distracting the bus, however, Sylvia and Wander cannot open a portal anymore because the device they used for portals broke while they where chased. Then Dipper asks what they were running from. They told that there is an unknown army of a small empire that chased them as the greatest threat to the galaxy. Dipper wrote everything he heard onto his own notebook as uncle Stanley used to. Dipper also assumed that they may not be from this universe, and that means that Sylvia and Wander may cause some inter-universal consequences, which Wander wasn't really paying attention to, because he was just wondering around with Mable discussing different stuff that is totally not about anything, but how to fix the portal device. Dipper started thinking on how to solve the problem. Then, the entire episode would just be them trying to find methods to fix that problem, but with the intervention of The Empire that Sylvia would talk about, that will also start chasing Dipper Pines, but after everything, Wander and Sylvia, as well as The Empire would comeback to their universe, and the Empire would lose half of their units on different quadrants in their universe, which helped Sylvia and Wander to have time for a rest for a very while. I would call that episode: "Wander blesses Gravity Falls,' because throughout the episode, Wander would make everyone in the town happy with Mable, while Dipper and Sylvia try to fix the portal device or get one from any place possible. Honestly, I miss those shows, because every morning before school, they motivated me on a lot of actions, which made me a person who I am today, the best version of most I could think, all because those shows changed me.

Usually, I am not the one who likes to talk about myself, despite all the hardships I had in the past with my friends, teachers, family members, and myself. Sorry if I am using complicated terms, but I am writing as I was taught to. Throughout my life, I've encountered numerous challenges and struggles, but I've always tried to navigate through them with resilience and a desire for self-improvement. From early on, I found myself in situations where I was unfairly judged and misunderstood, both by my peers and authority figures. In my seventh grade, I found myself entangled in situations not of my making. I was often in the wrong place at the wrong time, simply because I was curious about the stories circulating among my classmates. This led to me being unfairly implicated in negative situations, such as my friend's troubled relationships with older students. The environment I was in, where students from different grades attended the same school without separation, exacerbated the challenges I faced. I felt immense pressure to perform academically, fearing failure and the ridicule of my peers. Despite this, I never truly understood what actions I needed to avoid in order to gain acceptance and avoid judgment. One particularly harrowing incident occurred in the boys' locker room, where I was targeted and physically attacked by a group of boys. Despite being outnumbered and physically overpowered, I managed to defend myself. However, the aftermath of the incident only added to my sense of isolation and disillusionment, as I felt unfairly blamed and urged to keep the incident secret from my parents. Seeking solace and empowerment, I turned to martial arts, specifically Aikido, where I attained the green belt. Through this practice, I learned the futility of fighting and the importance of inner strength and resilience. Transitioning to an American high school brought its own set of challenges, but I endeavored to maintain a sense of peace and composure amidst the chaos. I witnessed the abuse suffered by a friend at the hands of her boyfriend, who later became a member of the music band I led. Despite his troubling behavior and the strain it placed on our group dynamics, I felt obligated to assist him, as per the principles of fairness and equality that I upheld as a leader. However, I soon found myself at odds with the dynamics within the band, as my efforts to support my friend were met with skepticism and betrayal. Despite his invaluable contributions to our group's success, he was unjustly blamed for actions he did not commit, leading to his temporary dismissal. This experience left me disillusioned and resentful, particularly during my senior year. Despite the challenges I faced, there were moments of redemption and guidance, particularly from my arts teacher, who provided invaluable support and advice throughout my academic journey. Their mentorship served as a beacon of hope amidst the turmoil, reminding me of the importance of perseverance and integrity in the face of adversity. In retrospect, my journey has been marked by hardship and adversity, but it has also been defined by resilience, growth, and the unwavering pursuit of personal integrity. Through each trial and tribulation, I have emerged stronger and more determined to carve out my own path, guided by the lessons learned from my experiences.

Math helped me to change myself and people around me in a better way. My entire life at school, - from the first til eighth grade I couldn't get a higher grade than 2 out of 10 or 5. The grading system was different, because I have been switching countries with family. Every subject was a struggle, and a lot of tutors taught me, and gave up after a year. Math has been the main struggle, but one week changed everything... The one tutor my family found, was a graduate of the local Russian University in Armenia, at first, it was very complicated for us to talk, but she tested me, and gave me examples from first to eighth grade in one hour, using an interval-teaching method, which was about jumping in-between difficulties and grade like ping-pong. She found all the weak spots of my knowledge of math, which I would lie if I said there was not a lot. She told me: "Next day, we will start to build you up." After a week, I realized, that I knew everything, but there were just some silly mistakes, and that my level of confidence made me deny my knowledge of everything, which affected other subjects, and even recognizing new formulas given by the school program. My grades got better, and I felt like I think better than my peers at that time. My thought after passing the exam with the more than average were: "I am not chained up anymore!" I hysterically cried of happiness that day. I wish someone like her met me awhile ago, but I think it's for the better I met her that day. I don't dare to forget her until the very end of my life, because those five years I've been learning with her, made me give her a promise. The promise was to prove the world I am the mathematician. She once said: "Mathematica' is like a woman, you love her, and she love you." I love math, not because of what my teacher said, but because with math, my family stopped worrying about my problems, because I can solve most of the tasks in my journey towards my goals. I love math, it's like a music, - calm, relaxing, always precise, and never fails to help me.

During my Junior year of high school, I was finally enrolled to the digital art class. My teacher gave everyone an assignment to create 10-12 sketches for each of the 12 Principles of Art. The assignment lasted for a month, so most of the students had time to make artworks. I made the artwork that represents emission, which was one of the twelve artworks I made. On the artwork you can view a hybrid of a ship and a huge city on the wheels. While making this artwork, I was listening to different music, which helped me to achieve the result in my head in less than an hour. My friends told me that since childhood I unconsciously liked to draw ships, with water paint, with the pencils, at any angle, in any naval situation, on every paper piece, even on the books with the pencil, so I can erase it before giving the books back, - I was an unorganized kid. I had a theory that the reason I draw ships was because of all the troubles I had at school all the years before high school. Drawing ships and buildings was like an escape for me from all the drama and stereotypes towards me, or any drama in general. I would rather say that every single ship I draw symbolizes myself, swimming on the water to the farthest islands, just piece. However, while making this artwork, I assume, my thought were not just about swimming. I left my previous two countries of schools, and came to the U.S. as the high school freshman. My years at high school were very limited in terms of moving around and conversing, I couldn't really be anywhere else than my room or school, unless my school moves me on the competitions or artist events, which kind of gave me an inspirational reference for the artwork. "A ship on the wheels, and everyone can move wherever they want, without leaving their home." - That was a millisecond thought in my head, which was appearing visually in my head. Then I made a ship that can move people across the lands and seas. The artwork I made in fantasy style, since I am a very huge fan of the fantasy genre, as Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit were my first favorite series of movies I've watched as a child. That city on the wheels carries faeries and dwarves, but I just called the artwork "Moving across realms." This artwork people in my long-ago competitions considered the best in my art gallery, and I am very proud of making this artwork, despite the fact it still had a lot of details to be finished.

I want to become The Expert in the digital world. By "The Expert," I mean to encompass roles such as Developer, Cyber Guard, and even an Artist who may have shifted focus from art but still possesses the skills to captivate a wide audience. Becoming proficient in all these areas will empower me to have a significant impact, allowing me to contribute to changing at least a piece of the world. Both within and beyond the borders of the U.S., many individuals still lack the opportunity to choose their own career paths. In my earlier years, I harbored a fervent wish that individuals could select their preferred careers as early as the first grade. However, as I matured, I came to recognize that children often lack the experiential knowledge necessary to make such decisions until they reach a certain age. Therefore, one crucial aspect to address is how adults guide children toward discovering their creative potential and identifying fields suited to their talents, unless the children express different aspirations themselves. Through my expertise in the digital realm,..... I want to become The Expert in the digital world. By "The Expert," I mean to encompass roles such as Developer, Cyber Guard, and even an Artist who may have shifted focus from art but still possesses the skills to captivate a wide audience. Becoming proficient in all these areas will empower me to have a significant impact, allowing me to contribute to changing at least a piece of the world. Both within and beyond the borders of the U.S., many individuals still lack the opportunity to choose their own career paths. In my earlier years, I harbored a fervent wish that individuals could select their preferred careers as early as the first grade. However, as I matured, I came to recognize that children often lack the experiential knowledge necessary to make such decisions until they reach a certain age. Therefore, one crucial aspect to address is how adults guide children toward discovering their creative potential and identifying fields suited to their talents, unless the children express different aspirations themselves. Through my expertise in the digital realm, I aim to contribute to creating a world where individuals are empowered to pursue careers that align with their passions and aptitudes, fostering a society where personal fulfillment and societal progress go hand in hand. Whether through educational initiatives, mentorship programs, or technological innovations, I aspire to play a role in shaping a future where individuals are not bound by societal expectations or limitations, but instead are empowered to realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to their communities and beyond. I used to be an artist, but as my school continued to show my lacking skills, I became one of the top best students my class acquired, because I realized, that in the current world, doing my favorite thing is not going to pay out in terms of educational and financial progression. Once I was on track with the students on the top of school's rating, I started to be very involved in activities which I barely, but successfully accomplished, but also I learned that my actual passion can be improved by using different skills. By leveraging my skills and knowledge, I hope to inspire others to embrace their unique talents and pursue paths that lead to personal fulfillment and collective advancement. In doing so, I aim to make a positive impact on my home country and beyond, contributing to a world where opportunity and possibility abound for all.

As one of the STEM students in technology and computer science, my experience was full of problems that needed a short and fast solution that will also have equivalent efficiency for both user and the hardware. Calculus is the name for the advanced mathematics area, where all the confirmed theories of certain algebraic terms have easy goals and visual structure, but highly vary in the difficulty of structure and patterns of solutions, - meaning, - all the formulas in Calculus give a very large amount of solutions for the problems that are closely above the standard problems. For example: Dealing with one physics problem in fourth grade with a bunch of variables and using over three formulas may take over five or ten minutes to solve the problem, meanwhile the same problem may appear for the Calculus student, but with the lesser variables given; however, the obtained Calculus concept will help the student to solve the fourth grade with lesser amount of given variables in less than a minute, - which is an exaggeration of course. There were moments in my field, when I really needed to reference the formulas of advanced algebra. As the Computer Science and Mathematics student, I had to solve pretty easy problems, but the main purpose of the problem through code and other technological aspect is not about the result, rather which way the problem is solved. Different problems were given in my class, sometimes with given formulas, and everyone could get the right solution, hoping for the best grade, until the teacher looks at their submitted code. Of course students shouldn't have the exact same code, but a STEM student in any science should aim for the fastest and efficient way to achieve the expected result or desired outcome. After looking at students' code, professor would give lower grades, and students were concerned about that, however that was a mistake, instead, students have always been supposed to look up the comments of the professor, or to ask them about how to make their code efficient, especially when dealing with visual aspects of the technology. Then Calculus comes in, giving literally all of the ways of solving the problems with shorter steps, with easy concepts, and giving all the large calculations left on the technology. That's what can also be applied in other STEM fields, since all science areas have a lot of detailed calculations to be made before coming to the simple way of solving which we learned before coming to advanced level. Calculus helps to explore the problem even further than most of the students used to in middle grades, and teaches to make a right decision before diving into the detailed solution, which also helps memorizing the formulas as students make both correct and wrong steps to achieve the goal.

Starting with minor point: despite the financial obstacles, I had to go through a lot of conflicts happening in my communities, or others may call them clubs, where usually I was responsible for making a lot of solutions. Before I graduated high school, I had to solve a lot of problems caused by the drama in my music bands, the senior year has gone rough because of my leadership position. The toughest thing was to stay calm when half of the people were against my decisions and participation, which created and effect of self-doubt in me, which I also successfully fought, and, at least, half of the people stayed on my side. Though I found what I needed to accomplish my leadership expectations of staff, after graduation, I decided for myself, that I won’t ever again become a leader. On the other hand, I had to finish all my work meanwhile with helping to set up the events for my high school, all of the work was "voluntary" work. Usually my class didn't have choice to participate in helping or setting up for stuff, but as well as others, I was fine with that. The only problem was to be in the same group of students, who's red flags were stereotypes about me. Most of them were friends with me in the past, and I was disguised of the idea that I may have any type of negative thoughts against them. However, almost at the end of the senior year, last month before graduation, two of the students who used to go to the cafe with me just to sit and talk just a year before, called me out on behaving like a child the entire year, which I accepted, but after the phrase: "We are responsible for you," - my heart started trebling, both from stress of what I am about to say, and of anger which I tried to hide from them this entire year. - I yelled on the lower tone... I don't quite remember what I said, there were no bad words or assaults, but I said something about who has been really is responsible for everything that happened that year, when I became one of leaders, and that they have no right to give any command which I will blindly follow. While they were stunned, shocked by what I said and realizing, how much I am different than when I was nice to them, which would make me disappointed, because they would have known that I can be like that if they were truly my past friends. Meanwhile, I was entering the hall, where everyone of the students in my class was, like nothing happened just then. I thought that I did a mistake at first, but I felt myself freed, after that relief, all of my grades improved much better that during the stress I had for the entirety of the years, and most of my teachers noticed a change in me, they smiled, like they knew my hands were chained the entire time. The realization of chained hands, - when I can’t help others without any “staff meetings,” felt horrible enough for me. Instead, I would like to have a significant value, as if I was a leader, but without having my hands chained for every problem of my community. My future goal is to become an expert in my field, because then I will have a value to the world to support people, whose ideas and skills bring significant improvement towards the peaceful times of the words we are about to explore.

I want to become The Expert in the digital world. By "The Expert," I mean to encompass roles such as Developer, Cyber Guard, and even an Artist who may have shifted focus from art but still possesses the skills to captivate a wide audience. Becoming proficient in all these areas will empower me to have a significant impact, allowing me to contribute to changing at least a piece of the world. Both within and beyond the borders of the U.S., many individuals still lack the opportunity to choose their own career paths. In my earlier years, I harbored a fervent wish that individuals could select their preferred careers as early as the first grade. However, as I matured, I came to recognize that children often lack the experiential knowledge necessary to make such decisions until they reach a certain age. Therefore, one crucial aspect to address is how adults guide children toward discovering their creative potential and identifying fields suited to their talents, unless the children express different aspirations themselves. Through my expertise in the digital realm, I aim to contribute to creating a world where individuals are empowered to pursue careers that align with their passions and aptitudes, fostering a society where personal fulfillment and societal progress go hand in hand. Whether through educational initiatives, mentorship programs, or technological innovations, I aspire to play a role in shaping a future where individuals are not bound by societal expectations or limitations, but instead are empowered to realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to their communities and beyond. I used to be an artist, but as my school continued to show my lacking skills, I became one of the top best students my class acquired, because I realized, that in the current world, doing my favorite thing is not going to pay out in terms of educational and financial progression. Once I was on track with the students on the top of school's rating, I started to be very involved in activities which I barely, but successfully accomplished, but also I learned that my actual passion can be improved by using different skills. By leveraging my skills and knowledge, I hope to inspire others to embrace their unique talents and pursue paths that lead to personal fulfillment and collective advancement. In doing so, I aim to make a positive impact on my home country and beyond, contributing to a world where opportunity and possibility abound for all.

Growing up, my perception has been changing a lot, and all the experiences, both positive and negative, had a significant impact on me as a human. A lot of people in the world behave the way the have to, or how their brain tells them, because of the experiences they had in the past. Most of those were negative experiences, which led to the ways of problem solving with a negative outcome. At times I thought that it is impossible to meet so many different people, whom I met for the entire time I switched countries, schools, hobbies, and even groups of friends. The world has always been changing for me, and for every generation of people. One day I hope to change the world by myself, by making it comfortable for the most and important people, who will also desire to change the world towards the right way. Every day I see people to harm themselves or others, in the public areas, and simply expressing themselves online, despite the fact I used to be the one who harmed myself for certain mistakes I intensionally used to do, or because no one taught me the methods. For example, when I was in both Russian and American schools, both systems usually had teachers to have at least one or several lower-class students who principally were not supposed to pass the class, because nowadays, human populations requires to have such people like that, and you may never find the talent in every individual, since talents are killed by teachers, but mainly by people controlling the educational facilities in any way. I used to be a passionate artist, musician, and even had my own community of talented people. But I had to switch my passion towards the other, non-lesser passion, but which also was getting harder for me, - Computer Science. All the teachers in all schools taught me personally that I will not achieve anything with art, social, 'maybe' with music, even though I was really great with those. I could play on many different music instruments, and even reached an intermediate level of playing on a bassoon, flute, and Baritone saxophone, but I sold my tenor sax, which was one of the 4 the only instruments I could use at home because I no longer had motivation and discipline for getting better at music. Other instrument, - I just stopped playing, except the ukulele, on which I rarely play, because of my favorite game I had. I stopped making art, only rarely make some scribbles in the notes, which my dear grandma still calls the great art. I don't want anyone to stop doing what they are passionate for, or what they love to do. If it takes myself to stop doing what I love to do, I will change the world to not force people to downgrade anyone who wants to do what the truly want to do from the very first steps of their very first walk as a child.

"I'm sure many people consider Super Mario Kart their favorite. I remember my uncle and father going through a lot of struggle to find Nintendo games when we were in another country at that time, especially when we already had a second PlayStation. Super Mario Kart wasn't just a co-op game; it was a multiplayer game that my friends and I would turn on at any time of the day or night. Not a single gaming session would start without having Nestle cereals on the side. However, for other players in my group, they had different snacks, as well as time to roast me for eating cereals dry while I was almost near the finish line, while those guys who tried to make me fall behind were only half circles behind me. I remember that every time I played that game with a single person, whom I considered my life duo, those were the most peaceful times in my life because I had no concern about others at all, and every player at my school had no sense of responsibility as well. As it happens with most gamers, all groups of players, like music bands, usually fall apart, and it wasn't an unexpected outcome for mine... I still keep nice memories about playing the Mario Kart series with my old friends, despite the fact that I also stopped playing it, and after thousands of different games I passed through, the memories slowly fade away, and I don't even remember the people who played with me. After years, I met people who enjoy Nintendo games and who actively played Mario Kart during my freshman year in high school. I was such an introvert; I never told anyone about my interests, and honestly, my interests have changed. Despite that, when I see people enjoy any of the competitive racing games, I instantly remember Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64. I miss a lot of the old stuff, but as I grew, everything changed. Mario Kart, however, stayed as one of the starting marks for my gamer's journey."

Working with different devices has always been the only thing I could do besides arts and math. For most of my life, I've been involved in fixing technical issues and participated in programming contests. I've faced more mistakes than successful projects, and regardless of how minimal or significant the achievement was, I felt happy to the point of shedding tears or boasting about it to all my friends and family. I have always had to switch interfaces and even transition from one operating system to another just when I got used to one, because of new opportunities I needed or was compelled to do due to competition requirements or school standards in different countries. Different working environments taught me to adapt and understand the logic behind the screen. I decided to focus on becoming an expert in computer science and everything related to devices and networks. My dream job, which I believe would be most helpful to other programmers and people in general, is to be an Expert in Computer Sciences. This means I can solve anyone's problem in "one click" or, in other words, solve problems four times faster than the average programmer or problem solver, enabling people to work on solving new problems that humanity actually needs to address. This also means that I will go through the full career ladder of a developer, network security specialist, and even a digital artist, in order to demonstrate my expertise in all areas of the digital world. It may not be the easiest path, but if I do everything right, I will attain the status of "the best," because all my life I've learned from mistakes. If I get recognized, then I did most of the steps right; however, if I fail, then I need to learn from the successful steps of the winner.

My true best friend is too far away, yet simultaneously so close to me. Before becoming a first-generation college student and long before coming to America as a high school freshman, I had many friends — hundreds, thousands, maybe even more. However, many of them either forgot me or were forgotten by me, due to distance, work, or reasons I wished to avoid. The one friend I can truly call my best friend is Levon, though I call him Lyova. Despite being physically stronger than him, more educated in terms of awards and the number of courses taken, and having experienced more places around the world, his opinion of me remained consistent. He always tells the truth and offers honest critiques of everything I do. We've had numerous arguments over critiques and faced many daily misunderstandings regarding trust, actions, decisions, burdens, problems, and even our sense of belonging. Back in Russia, at a governmental school where there were no separate elementary, middle, or high schools — everything was combined into one — having a weakness was a sign to hide it, which both Lyova and I couldn't do. He was short at the time, and I was very fat. "Fat once, fat forever!"— a quote known to most people who have experienced being overweight — was something I used to hear from anyone who wanted to use me for their own purposes. Despite being overweight, I could still defend myself, almost without involving adults, who were not just teachers. I was someone who tried to avoid conflicts and really hated realizing that someone got into trouble. I would help, but even when successful in resolving conflicts, no one asked me for help anymore, and surprisingly, I stopped getting into trouble myself. However, my friend still asked me for help, though it was mostly about homework and other non-relationship issues. As the years went by, I continued to meet different people who were very nice to me. Lyova was improving intellectually, while I started to work out actively. I didn't know what I wanted to do for my career yet, but a month before summer, I found out that my family wanted to move to the United States. I told everyone in class that I was leaving, but they thought I was showing off. At home, for the first time in a while, I cried. I had been resisting hard, but eventually, we boarded the plane. After a few months, I received an international call. It was Levon. He asked about everything that had changed in my life, basically having a normal "long time no see" conversation. Since I left, he had lost his ambitions and become addicted to video games, but soon it turned into a hobby for both of us. During one of the fan-made game competitions, he said a quote that resonated with me: "A smart person who wants to quit will never announce their departure." From then on, we worked on several projects together, including art contests and music production, which weren't popular. However, with each project, we improved and gained more views. Small steps lead to progress, but the most significant progress we achieved was realizing that we stick together even when faced with the strongest obstacles trying to stop us.