My fins scissor across the cool currents of the ocean as I swim about thoughtlessly, like every other day of my life. I pass a swirl of bright yellow bodies spinning, weaving in and out synchronously, a school of tuna sailing collectively, on the hunt for food and mates. Moving forward I come across the sea turtles soaring lazily through the clouds of fish, they have a nice life I think, existing so calmly and without much worry (other than the occasional grocery bag), but this lone lonely’ eel doesn’t have much going on at all. I’ve tried to make friends, but I scare the others away, my long slippery body and serrated smile isn’t very inviting. I’ve found the other eels to be quite troublesome too. One day, a couple of eels swam up to me during my daily sulking and asked if I’d like to join them at the latest party spot, The Net. I was wary at first, normally I don’t get invites to such places as I am not one to be deemed the life of the party, but nevertheless, I accepted because I’d very much like to make friends. We traveled some way up, farther than I ever had until we saw tons of other sea creatures, a blur of shapes and colors dancing about to the roar of everyone’s unique noise, I had never seen anything like this and was in awe of the scene before me. I stayed close to my new friends hesitant to give in to the trance of this party’s song, but the others fell in almost instantly, as if they movement and echoes and vibrations cast a spell on them. I tried copying the others, swaying side to side, careful my tail didn’t swipe anyone, but no one seemed to care about the brushing and pushing, so I let myself fall in rhythm, darting and fluttering this way and that way, becoming apart of this body like we were one. But then something broke the surface and plunged downwards, breaking me from my trance and I glanced at the others in question but none of them seemed to notice, or they noticed too late. The pressure got heavy as I tried swimming out and away from the frenzy of fish and crustaceans fighting to break through the prison that appeared before them, my long slippery body allowed me to wriggle from the scene as fast as I could and thankfully, I caught on much faster than the others, perhaps because of my years of quiet observation. From a safe distance I watch as the eerie prison lured the rest of the party up and out of the water, but the cacophony of music never stopped, it only sped up and became greater. I guess I should’ve stayed for the afterparty, but it’s pretty late and my rock sounds very comfy right now.

If I had to choose one key take away from growing up in a low-income household, it would be making the most out of nothing. This was a daily struggle when it came to money, food, and clothing among other thing, and the most important thing we learned through all of this is to be grateful for what we had because it could always be much worse. Though I am much better off now than I was a decade ago, I still carry that same mindset of making the most out of nothing and when I feel like I hit rock bottom or I feel like quitting, I ground myself in the present moment in what I have grown from, where I am now, and inspire myself with the potential I have to be somewhere greater than where I am now. This active reflection allows me to get through any challenge and when I feel as though I am lost, I always look to find what I can make out of this situation, whether that be a learning curve, a solution, or just a moment of rest, there is always something to make out of nothing. There is always something I can do and that is why I continue to take action by being on top of my school work, researching career paths, and completing opportunities such as this one where I can come a step closer to financial success. My ultimate goal is to be in a place where I can say I finally made it, and until then I will do everything in my power to make the most of what I have to build my dream life.

Growing up in a low income household with only a few toys and very little access to social media, I never had much that kept me occupied other than books. Little me loved going to the library to browse through the fiction and fantasy, the magic and adventure, mysteries, fairies, and wizards, I loved to indulge in it all. You couldn't pry the books out of my hand, all day and night I read and read and when it was bedtime I would pull out those small light up rings you won at arcades and shine it on whatever book I was reading, "Just one more page...", I would think to myself as the end of the story grew closer and closer; I was completely enthralled and wouldn't stop until I reached the end. But pretty soon, reading wasn't enough for me, I had to create my own stories, including personal renditions of Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and other fantasies that couldn't escape my young mind. I loved being in control of some aspect of my life, I felt as though I had always gotten the bad end of the stick when it came to my childhood, but writing was a gift I had complete freedom in. Whenever I got sad or felt as though I had no other escape from the troubles in my life, I would turn to my writing journal that felt like an opening to a world where all my dreams and fantasies came true, I could be a princess one day, a superhero the next, I could throw all of my dreams into the perfect character that I felt I could never be. Fast forward many years, those characters and fantasies are still keeping me alive, pushing me to be motivated in writing as a career and perhaps unlocking a world of luxury I could only manifest onto paper. As I grow older, I feel like I have very little time to make my dreams come true and while I am still young, I want to give myself every opportunity to show the world that I can make it past the few options that were given to me as a child to succeed beyong which I grew up with, which is why I am in college working as hard as I can towards my goal of becoming a published author one day. To me, my education is but a stepping stone to unlocking my full potential as a creative writer and with the right amount of resources, I am absolutely positive I can reach my goal to becoming a world renowned author.

Mental health has always been a struggle for me. Starting in middle school, the pressure of doing well in school, having a strained relationship with my parents, and growing up secluded from people outside of our home led me to face mental challenges that younger me could not wrap their head around. Anxiety crippled me in ways that I still struggle with today. It held me back from making friends, going places that are unfamiliar to me, and from opportunities I could have been rewarded if only I could speak out and get out of my shell. From tics to stomach aches that would begin in the morning before I headed to school until later in the day, my anxiety began to take over my life and hold me back from my true potential. I was told by my parents that it was all in my head, that my anxiety was only as real as I make it out to be. I never really got the support I needed and I think that made it more crushing than it needed to be. Soon after I began to experience symptoms of depression. I was never in the mood to do much, my appetite was terrible, I hardly went outside and enjoyed my childhood with the few friends I had, and I just felt so angry and drained. I feel as though it would have been much easier if I had someone that I could have reached out to or if someone would have made contact with me. My parents finally decided it would be best to get me some help after a particularly bad outburst from all of the pent up emotions that I was bottling, but even then I still felt like my feelings were being brushed off. It was always “you should be very grateful, others are in a far worse position than you are.” I felt as though my feelings were never acknowledged fully, that I have been overreacting all this time. For so long I’ve felt numb, I have felt that I can’t get the help I need. Over the years and into my highschool career my emotions from early childhood have definitely mellowed out, but I still feel like a ticking time bomb, like all it takes is a little more pressure. I’m not sure what the future holds for me and my mental health and with the pressure to do well in upcoming society and navigating adulthood, I hope that I can find the support system that I have been longing for.

My dream self is joyful, grateful for success, and contributing to a community in need of help in some way.

To me, generational wealth means securing a future generation with assets that will act as a foundation for their academic future and career path. I believe that it is in the best interest of younger generations to begin attaining wealth for themselves and for their future families by learning the steps to saving money, being goal oriented, and not being afraid to enter entrepreneurship. The first step to achieving generational wealth is acknowledging that change can and will start with me. Others may wait around for wealth to come to them or procrastinate learning about securing wealth because the future seems so far, but time is moving to quickly to sit still and as college and the workforce is approaching faster, it would not be ideal to wait for money to fall into my hands. Wealth can be acquired with a plan, one that has multiple objectives and goals. A few of my short term goals is researching colleges that has the best educational path for me, orienting myself with prospective career interests, and searching for jobs and internships that could earn me money in the meantime. My long term goals include graduating college with a Bachelors degree, starting a business that focuses on environmental awareness, and writing a novel. Making smart decisions, planning, and extensive research will make my goals achievable and by making the right moves, what could stop me from achieving wealth? Another step to securing generational wealth is saving money and investing now. It is important to have a savings account set up and routinely adding money to it can make a little go a long way. Learning to differentiate between spending money and saving money is important and may be hard, but I have found that planning how that will look and immediately depositing my money to my savings after that decision is made will not only help me to control spending urges, but also building wealth little by little. Small things such as these really do make a difference and though the money doesn’t seem like a lot now, the moment I do have stable income, the process will be so much easier. Knowing where my money is coming and where it is going is essential to keeping my wealth stable, and with a secure career and potential business as well as planning throughout every phase, wealth will not be crowded with doubt and struggle.

When I am involved in extracurricular activities, I am involved with a room full of people willing to make a change in our school community. I love working with others because it allows me to make friends, build my leadership and teamwork skills, and craft my individuality. Most importantly, the reason for joining my chosen extracurriculars is because I want to learn more about what I can do for the community and who exactly is in that community. One of the extracurriculars I am in is Green Club, which focuses on keeping the campus litter free, upholding our status as a certified Green School, and planning events and fundraisers. We also look for ways to manage the school’s waste and make our campus more appealing. We work to provide students with a safe and clean environment by surveying them on what they think is working and what we can change to better the school environment. This enables our peers to deeply think on possible environmental issues and educates us on the presence of issues and how we can address them. This club teaches us steps to approaching problems and allows us to be directly in touch with our school community. Another extracurricular that I am apart of is the Gay and Straight Alliance (GSA), and the purpose of this club is to provide all students, regardless of gender and sexuality, with a safe and accepting classroom. We talk to each other about prevalent issues we see in the classroom such as homophobia, transphobia, and other ignorance from teachers and students and how we could possibly address them. When we aren’t talking about heavy issues, we plan ways to educate peers on LGBTQ+ related things such as stereotypes, correct usage of gendered terms, and info on various sexualities through posters and announcements. This fosters an environment that allows students to be who they truly are and show that we have no problem spreading awareness when some may not have the voice to do so. When we create spaces such as these not only do we get more members, but we build an educated community that will continue to improve themselves for everyone’s benefit. We have fun, we learn, and we teach others the importance of caring for the environment and creating a safe for our peers. The information and skills I have acquired will follow me into future academic and professional settings and allow me to ensue a change I wish to see in my community.