It has always been overall extremely difficult growing up. Ever since I could remember, my parents, my mother, and my father struggled to provide for me and my five other siblings. My dad worked and continues to work under the heat of the sun in construction daily, most of the time with no days off. In the past, he would earn barely enough to provide for us all. My mother was and is a stay-at-home mom, who cleans, cooks, and cares for my siblings. So, when I was younger, all I saw, felt, and remembered was a hard-working father who came home tired to hungry children. My mom couldn’t do anything to help except keep her composure under the stress and pain that her children and husband, my dad, endured. My mother did all that she could to be able to feed us and maintain us during this, what seemed endless, point of time that lasted years up until we came to California. There was a specific moment in my past I want to touch on. When I was about nine, it was a weekday and close to bedtime. I went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water and my dad was about to go outside to light a cigarette with the cigarette in his mouth, he mumbled to me showing me only three single dollar bills, saying “This is all I have, but it’s enough.” His voice was full of sadness and desperation and by remembering it, I can still hear his words ringing in my head sometimes. This memory brings me heartbreak and sadness because, during this time, he had lost his job due to his inability to work from a severe back injury. That point in time had to be the worst memory when it comes to the topic of my family’s economic background facing poverty and food insecurity. However, we persevered and my parents did all that they could to keep us in school in the hopes that we do not end up like them and so we do not experience moments of economic hardship like they did. As a family, we stayed together and went to hell and back to be where we are today. Even through the Covid-19 pandemic, we managed and fought to keep our home. Although it was not as challenging as my past, it shows how strong and capable we are now. Financially, we continue to manage and make ends meet with what we can. We hold our heads up high because based on our economic past, there is nothing we can’t achieve together as a family. I plan on giving back to my community by teaching high school English at the high school I graduated from. I want to become a teacher because I was inspired by my teachers, especially my English teachers. After all, they radiated this positive and lovely energy when they taught. All of my past English teachers from middle school up to college, have been so inspiring and encouraging to me to pursue my goals, that I wanted to become like them. I want to provide a sense of comfort to my future students the way mine did for me. I want to teach them all the goodness and fun that can come out of writing and reading. Most importantly, I want my future students to become inspired by me, as I will encourage them to flourish and dive deep into who they want to become.