My educational goal in life is to become a physician assistant and later become a part of an admission committee for physician assistant programs. I want to do this because I have learned through many forms that a meaningful life not only involves the success of our own lives, but also being a part of someone else's success and happiness. I know that my vision will impact the world positively because I already see it impacting people in my life. They see that I have this fire burning in my heart which longs for what truly matters in life: what truly matters is genuine love for one another and sharing positivity in all ways possible. I think that if more people in the world cared about one another we would be much happier and would live more fulfilling lives. Unfortunately, we are all different people with very different views. Despite this, I know the importance of an individual life. As a physician assistant I will fulfill my life through helping others, others will experience happiness and love through me, and those individuals' lives will be changed for the better. One day when I die people many people will surely forget about me, but there will be many that will remember me and pass on the feeling of love and care to others.

I am a female, hispanic immigrant who came to the U.S when I was nine years old. Spanish is my first language and I thought for a long time that going to college was not an option for me. Currently, I am a DACA recipient and although I am not qualified to obtain financial aid because of my immigration status, I was able to graduate from college without any debt; this was possible because of all the scholarships and the state aid that I received. My dream is to become a physician assistant and later become a member of a committee that advocates for education. The kind of impact I would like to make in the world is that of love. I want people to feel that I truly care by providing exceptional individualized care as a physician assistant and by advocating for those students in the world that hope to obtain an education. I am interested especially in the medical field because as a physician assistant I will have the balance that I need to take care of a future family, I will be able to foster trusting relationships with patients, and I will be the best advocate for my patients; I am passionate about speaking up for others and especially those who are venerable. I know that I will reach this goal because I have read books by Malcolm Gladwell and about how people became successful. I learned through his writing that success in part has to do with hard work and opportunities. Based on his writing, if I continue to work as hard as I have so far and more opportunities continue to arise, I will seize those opportunities and they will lead me to success inevitably. So, my plan is to do just that: to be driven by my passion and to spread the love that I have to give.

To me being independent means being able to take care of yourself financially, emotionally, spiritually and still being able to help others somehow. As adults we come across many obstacles and new responsibilities that it can be difficult to keep up with one's health, finances, career, education, etc. Part of becoming an independent person means that we have to face problems head on and come up with solutions. If we are sad or upset at something, we can no longer blame others for what we feel or for not doing anything about the way that we feel. If there is something that upsets us we can realize as independent individuals that we have to speak up for ourselves and the things that we believe in. To me, independency means that there is nobody that will come and save you; it is up to you as an individual to make yourself heard, to take care of yourself and make sure that what matters to you is expressed. As kids we are not able to be too independent because we do not have full knowledge of the world. As adults, we still do not have full knowledge of the world, but we gain the independence of exploring the world and making it what we want it to be.

I love that no matter what happens in my life I always use the lessons I learn, or the things that I learn from others, to keep pushing forward. I love this aspect about me because it has allowed me to overcome many challenges in my life. As a female, immigrant, hispanic person there are so many statistics that are against me, and being the way that I am I have managed to do more than what many will ever attempt to do. I love this about myself because I know that being this way can inspire others to do better for themselves, or it can influence someone else to want to do better despite their bad circumstances. In my mind, I try to focus on what I do have and what I can do, and less on the things that I have no control over. One day I hope to instill this characteristic of mine to my children; so that they can love themselves the same way that I do and always find a bit of hope regardless of the situation.

The kind of impact I want to leave in the world is that of love. I want to show love through my professional job and as I live my life everyday. I want to become a physician assistant and through this role in society I want people to feel the love that I have for others, the patience I am willing to provide, the individual care I wish to give and my willingness to go above and beyond to make other's feelings heard. As an individual I am an advocate for love and I try to show this everyday through small gestures such as asking how someone is doing if they are sad, making people laugh, being open minded, listening to others, and speaking up for others when they feel like they don't have a voice. Later on I want to use some of the money that I earn as a physician assistant to create scholarships that students that use for college in the future.

I want to make a positive impact in the world by supporting and encouraging education not only with the kids I want to have one day, but also with other disadvantaged kids in the world. One day I want to be a member of a foundation that funds student's education. I want to be the kind of person that gives other students the opportunity to accomplish their dreams. As a student that has received many scholarships in the past, I can tell you that you never forget the people that helped you get to where you are especially if they wanted nothing more than to just help you. Other people's kindness and care has inspired me to be like them and to adopt the values that led them to those positions of power. If I ever have a lot of money I don't want it to be spent on Gucci bags or fancy cars; I would rather invest this money in the future of the world, which is all those kids that have a dream.

Before I say my dream life I must mention first that I am an illegal immigrant that moved to the U.S as a child. I am a DACA recipient and this status can be renewed every two years, but it does not grant legal status in the U.S. My wild, big dream is to become a physician assistant, to find enough money to fund my education, to have two kids and help them go to college, to buy a home, to one day be a committee member of a physician assistant program, and become a member of a foundation that helps disadvantaged kids go to college. I want nothing more than to give back and to bring kids into the world to make the world a better place. I do not want to bring kids into the world simply to be called a mother, but rather I want to bring children into the world filled with love and determination to spread the love. Too many times people become parents for the wrong reasons and fail to realize how important it is to invest in their children; by investing I am referring to love, time, education, patience and understanding. My dream is simple in my mind, but in reality there are many things against me. Despite this, I have allowed myself to dream big, because the bigger the dream, the bigger the victory; I want to show my kids one day that I did that.

The meaning of life is to help each other be happy. I think that we were not created in this life to be against each other or to not be happy. Quite literally we all work for each other. An employee works for a CEO, a teacher works for a school, cooks work to make us food, and everyone has a role in the world to benefit someone else. This benefit is not always good to the person providing the service or good; which is how exploitation or neglect happens in the workplace. I feel that if we tried to help each other find happiness we would in return find our happiness as well. I try to achieve this by learning from others and implementing the good lessons that others have taught me in life. I have learned to be more open-minded, more inclusive, more patient, more tolerable, more understanding and more willing to be uncomfortable. Happiness does not look the same for everybody, but that's why we have to be willing to be uncomfortable at first to then be able to accept a different form of happiness. I think if more people focused on helping others they would eventually fill the void in their lives to feel happiness.

I am committed to being selfless because I think that in helping others be happy, I will also find happiness. In every setting I have been in life I have tried to help others feel included, feel like they matter, feel like what they have to say matters, and that they deserve to be loved. There are many things that as individuals we need and we sometimes fail to acknowledge these basic needs. Most of the things I do to help others do not involve money, but rather gestures and interactions to help others feel empowered or validated. I allow positivity to ooze out of me in a contagious way, and encourage others to do the same. The best example of this happens at work. Many of my coworkers are afraid to speak up about their feelings or the things that they are struggling with. My goal is to always make sure their voices are being heard and speak up for those that feel like they have no voice. I also make an effort to ask people how they are doing when I know they are stressed, worried or going through a tough time in their life. At the end of the day I want people to know that I care and that their life matters.

I grew up in a small village in Honduras and was the happiest child that you could imagine. I had the simple things in life such as the river to swim in, pets running around, my family, and friends to have fun with. It was difficult to know at the time that I had it all and that money would not make me any happier, but looking back today I do realize that as a child I was the luckiest kid. I was lucky to have known and experienced the small things in life and I feel forever grateful to God for bringing me into humble beginnings. Fast forward to today, I have a loving husband, pets to love, food, good health and friends. I have also obtained a degree and many people in my life have helped me apply for scholarships, wrote letter of recommendations for me, helped me get a job or helped me with another opportunity in my life. Of all things in life, I am thankful for the relationships that I have fostered over the years because people have made difficult times more bearable. Recently I got into a physician assistant program and I am supposed to start school in August. As an illegal immigrant I do not qualify for federal aid, so I have to look for money elsewhere and private loans are very limited. Even if I don't end up having all of the money by the time August comes around, I am truly lucky and grateful to have made it this far and to represent where I come from with pride.

I was in elementary school when I first heard about college. I asked my dad about it when I came home and I remember him vividly telling me that immigrants do not go to college. He told me that the only option for us was to get a job and that was it. This was the first time in my life that I realized I was an illegal immigrant and that I would never be like the other kids. It wasn't until I went to high school and I was getting ready to graduate that I found out about scholarships. My counselor brought up the importance of applying to scholarships for college to reduce debt. To me that was the opportunity of a lifetime! I realized then that although illegal immigrants can go to college, they sure make it nearly impossible to pay for it; but scholarships were the golden tickets I needed to get through it. The rest is history, but the point is that I graduated from college with a bachelor's degree and free of debt. I did not qualify for federal aid due to my immigration status and despite this I was able to accomplish the impossible; or at least something impossible in the eyes of my dad. My experience as an illegal immigrant has shaped me into a perseverant, determined and challenge-seeking person. Although some may see this as a sad memory or sad life experience, I see it as me smiling from the top of a mountain that I was able to climb; a mountain that many are too frightened of. I am not defined by my immigration status, but that factor in my life has definitely molded me into a better person and has humbled me greatly.

My dream is not to be rich one day or to ride in fancy cars to show off to others. My dream is not to eat foods to which the names I struggle to pronounce or eat in ways that I was not taught in my childhood. My dream is to be a physician assistant and to help others find their happiness. In other words, I want my legacy to be that of a woman that came from a small village in Honduras and traveled to different parts in the world, but regardless of the journey in my life, my heart remained gold. By gold I mean that I stayed humble and never forgot where I came from; that along the paths I took in life I never lost myself in the fancy things in life, the things that are fleeting, or the things that do not matter in the end. I want people to remember me as the kind of person that would celebrate your successes regardless of how big or small they were: the person that would go out of her way to make you feel included, the kind of person that wanted the best for others, the kind of person to speak up for others when they felt like they had no voice, and the kind of person that would always try hard at everything because she believed that everyone deserves nothing less than for her to be great. So one day I will be a physician assistant and I will use the money I earn not only to have a sustainable life, but also to give back to the world in ways that may seem small, but to individuals it may mean the world.

There are many factors in our lives that make us want to lose hope and optimism. For me, these things have been rooted to realities that I can't change such as my ethnicity and the place that I was born. Although I came to the U.S when I was a child and had no knowledge that the journey I was taking at the time was illegal, I find myself today in a situation that I can't change. I am a DACA(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient and this gives me the opportunity to hold a legal job and obtain a license like everyone else. Unfortunately, there are many things that as an illegal immigrant I am not able to benefit from. One of the biggest struggles that I have to deal with at this time is that I am not eligible to obtain federal aid for graduate school. This is no news to me; during my undergrad I also dealt with this and I turned that into a challenge. I ended up graduating in 2020 with honors and no student debt thanks to the help of scholarships, and private funding that my school provided. I realize that there are even more hurdles this time around with graduate school because most scholarships are tailored for undergrad students and U.S citizens/legal residents. Staying optimistic despite the realities of life has allowed me to dream big and to try harder. I realize that there is more that I have to do and more that I have to overcome, but I am always optimistic that my hard work will pay off and that one day all of this will only be another mountain I had to climb. Being optimistic has taught me the importance of having a positive mindset to keep pushing forward.

My main hobby is to draw and paint. I took an art 101 class when I was dual-enrolled in college while in high school. The class was so fun and exciting, and I was challenged to find a new passion for painting. My art professor had so much belief in me that he wanted me to pursue art as a career; he encouraged me to build my portfolio and then go to an art convention. To me, art is too much of a hobby and a fun aspect of my life. I did not pursue it as a career because I never want to lose the love for art to the duty of having to do something; as opposed to doing it because I want to at the time or because I feel inspired. Whenever I feel inspired to draw or paint I create the best pieces of artwork and I have them on the wall of my apartment. They remind me of different points in my life or the feeling I had when I created them; they are like memories stuck in time. Many times I do not do artwork because I am too much of a perfectionist, but recently I challenged myself to make a self portrait of not only myself, but also of my husband. Challenging myself in this way was exciting because I truly created a masterpiece! It took me months to create this piece of acrylic painting. I had never painted people before, never had to blend skin tones, and almost never work with colors. Somehow I managed to nail each one of these challenges and the painting is now hanging in the center of my living room for me to admire the hard work it took to get there.

I learned to speak my mind in hopes to not get in trouble, but it transformed into a desire to be heard. As a child I didn't realize that speaking up was a necessary skill to have in life. It wasn't until I moved to the U.S from Honduras and lived with my mom that I started to understand that if I wanted things to change in my life or if I truly wanted something, I needed to speak up. My mom was the kind of person to raise her voice and have a disagreement with you in which what you had to say was not important; only what she had to say was important. I learned in time that if I wanted for her to listen to me that I could not wait for her to change and listen to me; I needed to make her listen to me. So when she would start arguing and raising her voice at me I would tell her to sit down, so that we could have a conversation. I would tell her that if she didn't sit down I would not say anything because she would not listen to me anyway. Slowly but surely she began to have conversations with me and realized that in order to get her point across she simply needed to have a constructive conversation and not yell. As the years went on and I found myself in positions that required leadership, whether it was in school, work or at home, I started to believe in the power of my voice. I truly believe today that what I have to say matters, it's important, and needs to be said. If what I have to say matters enough to me, nobody can shut me out.

My favorite paintings are by the artist Frida Kahlo. I like the paintings because of the vast representation of symbolism and metaphors that she painted. I myself am not the best painter, but Frida's "The Broken Column" is a piece of painting that I admire. I admire this one specifically because you can look at it and know based on the symbolism the kinds of feelings she was trying to convey. She painted tears to show sadness, nails to show pain, the straps to show restriction, and most importantly she included the column within the core of her body. The column was a perfect item to use as something that should not break and should remain strong. Although, the fact that she showed it broken lets us know or infer that something within her, or in her life, was falling apart. Another important piece of the painting is that she is crying, but no expression is being shown; almost as if she hid the feelings she had or pretended to remain strong despite the pain. The colors of the background are also more on the cooler spectrum, so this does quite a bit to convey a gloomy mood. Overall, I love Frida Kahlo's paintings because she did many self-portraits, and as artist you have to be willing to be vulnerable and experiment to paint yourself. This is one of the reasons that I was inspired to do a self-portrait, acrylic painting of myself and my husband.