When I first began high school I did not know what I wanted to pursue as a career. I felt pressured to choose something quickly because I am a first-generation student. Due to the pressure, for the longest time, I concluded that I would major in Calculus because I thought it to be the best option. However, as time has passed, Avid has allowed me to dive deep into many universities and find a career I would be passionate about, Research on the mind. I joined Avid in my Junior year. We spent most of our time researching colleges and careers and through Avid I discovered many possible colleges I could attend and during the summer I visited most colleges. That is why I decided to go to UC Irvine when I graduate. Around this time I also got into reading. I enjoyed learning and analyzing fictional characters that were alienated and I somewhat related to the struggles and emotions they felt. When reading characters who are having difficulties fitting in with society I cannot help but relate as someone who came from immigrant parents and who is facing a difficult period in time due to the mass deportation of immigrants. We are currently being depicted as illegal aliens and I can’t help but fear what could happen to my family if ICE catches them and sends them back to Mexico. Due to the circumstances, my family is being careful and not going out much anymore and we feel alienated just like the characters in fictional books. Going through this and reading has inspired me to become interested in the mind and how it deals with consequences/trauma. Avid allowed me to look more into my interests and I discovered that I wanted to major in cognitive science BS because BS still includes math which I enjoy doing. Eventually, by my senior year of high school, I became confident in my decision and applied to colleges that offered the major. When talking with friends about my plans the topic of doing research often came up. I knew that despite wanting to major in cognitive science I did not want to be a counselor but rather focus on analysis and research gives me a great opportunity to do that. Being able to understand how the mind works is beneficial to many medical fields when they are treating a patient because they need to understand their patient and their behavior to help them. I also hope the research I plan to do will help those with similar jobs such as counselors and therapists.