Being the line leader in elementary always felt so important to little me, despite being a silly title that was easy to maintain. But to me, it was more than just a silly title, it gave me purpose as a leader to my classmates. In many aspects of my life, I have always wanted to be a leader, no matter how big or small the impact I have had on peers and subordinates. I always wanted to guide others to achieve their goals and strive to be the best versions of themselves, yet I struggled to take the initiative to help others until high school. Army JROTC’s mission is “to motivate young people to be better citizens.” As a freshman in this high school program, I always wondered how I could fulfill this mission statement. I had entered this program fresh out of quarantine with a lack of public speaking and social interaction skills, which made me apprehensive about staying in the program. I became intimidated by student staff leaders with superiority complexes over cadets below them, which made me realize: I wanted to stay in the program and fulfill the mission of JROTC, breaking communication and interpersonal barriers between leadership and subordinates. Taking action to fix this issue in our JROTC program was no simple or fast task. It was mentally challenging and would take me almost three years to complete. Acknowledging how long it could take to lead others to success in a challenging yet welcoming environment, I took the initiative to help complete our program’s goal. I became the Security and Intelligence Officer in my junior year, positively impacting the mental and physical wellness of over 200 cadets by creating risk assessments for events and interacting with many of my subordinates. I became the Headquarters Commandant in my senior year, allowing me to lead and guide all 8 JROTC teams throughout the year, granting me a greater opportunity to achieve the mission of JROTC. As one of the highest ranking in the Battalion, I now see myself in the same position I feared as a freshman in JROTC, but my job has not yet been completed. While I worked to motivate others to be better citizens, I also broke the ice with my subordinates, allowing them to feel more comfortable with me as a leader they can look up to for guidance. I broke the power barrier and gave cadets the respect they deserved by welcoming them into the program and guiding them to success. As a result, our program has been stronger than when I first entered, with cadets fearlessly putting themselves out there to improve their character. Leadership has been a big part of who I am, but I never saw so much progress happen until I decided to take initiative in JROTC and motivate my cadets to be better citizens. Regardless of the adversities I faced, I made our JROTC environment safe, inclusive, and competitive for cadets to thrive in. I worked relentlessly to strengthen my leadership and interpersonal communication skills so I could utilize them to make our program a better place for people to improve as leaders, followers, and, most importantly, citizens.

I was never proud of my identity; if anything, I was ashamed of it. Being discriminated against by others for being Filipino-American led me to shut out my identity in hopes I´d never be left out by others again. Experiencing constant racial and stereotypical remarks, I left behind my identity as a first-generation Filipino-American as I entered high school. What I never realized, however, was the impact that my identity would have as I slowly accepted it back into my life. Scared of my identity entering high school, it came back to me as I saw others who shared the same passions, struggles, and motivations as I did. My perspective on the world around me changed when I realized that other BIPOC students who struggled with their identities like I did chose to embrace it as their strength and succeed. The world can be cruel to those disadvantaged. However, I realized that I could still work hard and solidify my place in this world as a successful first-generation Filipino-American student with the opportunities granted to me that my parents never had. My identity allowed me to see my strengths and weaknesses, and how I could use my resilience to overcome adversities in a competitive environment. Now, my identity means so much more than a title, and I’m prepared to show others how life-changing it can be.

Imagine leaving Church on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, driving away from the premises and onto the freeway as you ponder what restaurants your family should eat at until you approach the freeway exit and see multiple tents and homeless people begging for spare change for food. That is what I went through, every single week. I felt Guilt, shame, and empathy for those who didn’t have the privileges I had. But I didn’t want to just sit back and watch the problems worsen in front of me: I wanted to make an impact no matter how small it was. Entering my Sophomore year, the idea of homeless people suffering with no resources lingered in the back of my mind. I wanted to come up with a solution, but where and how could I do it? That is when I joined the Elementary Institute of Science, a STEM outreach program in Southeastern San Diego that focused on allowing high school students to develop their leadership and public-speaking skills by addressing community issues and helping introduce STEM to elementary students. I joined their Teen STEAM Cafe, a high school leadership program focusing on creating a solution for a specific topic each year. In my junior year, I was given a chance to help lead the next project on a new issue: homelessness. Thinking back to my experiences, I was motivated to design solutions to reduce the homeless resource disparity in communities and increase the amount of help homeless people can get. So far, I have spent weeks compiling a presentation that was an urgent call to action toward eliminating the resource disparity, and I presented it to the San Diego City Council alongside my team of motivated students who also shared the same aspirations of making changes in our community. I urged the City Council to work towards eliminating the resource disparity in Southeastern San Diego, which could give many homeless people a chance of getting back on their feet. Knowing that I finally took a step towards solving a rampant issue in my community, I wish to expand my efforts by creating a non-profit leadership program for high school students in the future, focusing on allocating resources to homeless people struggling to get back up on their feet and improve their lives.

My name is Yeschua Genova. I am a first-generation Filipino-American senior at Morse High School. I love weightlifting, playing video games, and working on math. I will pursue a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California Berkeley, and hopefully a Master's in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University while in the Air Force reserves. In the future, I aim to make STEM fields more inclusive and help first-generation students achieve their dreams of being the first in their families to go to college. During my four years in high school, I strived to be on top of my academics with a 4.41 WGPA while earning and maintaining leadership positions in various extracurriculars. I have been a part of our school’s Army JROTC, working diligently until I became the Battalion Headquarters Commandant, overseeing our 8 teams and preparing them for future competitions with other schools. I have also been the Security and Intelligence Officer, reinforcing the safety and security of over 200 cadets. I also worked with the Elementary Institute of Science, a STEM outreach program based in Southeastern San Diego with the intent of helping young children find their voices in STEM. From there I worked as a Lab Assistant, introducing elementary students to STEM concepts which taught me how to be a better leader and mentor for younger children with growing aspirations. Furthermore, I am also the Co-President of our school’s engineering club, aiming to spread the vision of engineering throughout our school and influence students to take on a path in STEM. As a first-generation student, I also joined First Generation Scholars, a San Diego-based program that focuses on guiding first-generation students through college applications and helping them write essays and personal statements. Through this program, I got accepted into prestigious schools like UCSD and UC Berkeley, inspiring my vision to help others do the same. With my STEM experience and leadership skills, I hope to guide people ranging from young children to high school students to achieve their goals as the first in their families to graduate from college. To achieve this, my charity’s mission would be to ensure that first-generation children and high schoolers grow up with a clear vision of what they want to do in the future, whether it be STEM or social sciences. I would serve the parents who never got a chance to attend college but want their growing children to graduate from higher education. I would have first-generation high school and college students volunteer to guide children in STEM projects and experiments, cultivating these young minds to be bright and prosperous. The charity would also help introduce these high schoolers to the college application process and provide resources to first-generation college students unfamiliar with the college lifestyle. This charity would also be based in low-income parts of San Diego, specifically the Southeastern part where not many people have access to proper college preparation programs or STEM-based experiences. As the founder of this charity, I would ensure every student with a bright future gets the opportunities their parents never had, and that these students would eventually be successful and inspired to help others in need of higher education in STEM.

STEM wasn’t always my passion at first. If anything, I aspired to dive into social sciences and humanities. This sprouted from my strengths in social sciences rather than STEM, as I saw myself performing exceptionally in history and English classes compared to my math and science courses. Regardless of how better I did in my social sciences than in STEM, a feeling deep down in my heart told me that STEM was truly my passion and future. Upon joining my school’s engineering club in my Sophomore year, I was introduced to various forms of engineering. The club’s cabinet was passionate about spreading the vision of engineering throughout my high school, which inspired me to look more into what it was like to be an engineer. Moving forward through high school, I constantly involved myself in STEM-related extracurriculars and classes, reinforcing my aspirations to be a future engineer. Because my strengths naturally did not reside in math, technology, and especially engineering, I worked harder to understand these concepts and be more familiar with them. While I became the Secretary and eventually the Co-President of my engineering club, I also collaborated with our JROTC robotics team to enhance our engineering experiences and spread the influence of STEM around our high school. Being that I was still learning the ins and outs of engineering, I applied to and got accepted to UCSD’s COSMOS program in the Engineering Design & Control of Kinetic Sculptures Cluster. I expanded my engineering experience and knowledge by constructing 3D Printed/Cut Pendulum Clocks and coded/precisely engineered roller coasters. My path to STEM was set in stone when I took a field trip to one of Solar Turbine’s facilities where I saw many engineers work on the engineering of plane turbines and more. The experience was eye-opening as I finally decided what I wanted to be in the future, a mechanical engineer who would work on planes and jets. As a first-generation Filipino-American student, I knew that there were not many other people who weren’t able to pursue their dreams like I have been doing. While I wanted to be the first in my family to graduate from college, I also wanted to play a big role in engineering companies as a person of color. I wanted to impact the STEM field as a Filipino-American by increasing the diversity in areas such as mechanical engineering. I want to set an example for other Filipino-Americans who see themselves struggling to achieve their dreams as a person of color, by showing them that we are stronger and capable of pursuing our aspirations no matter what obstacle is in our way. With my goals in mind, not only will I be the first in my family to graduate, but I’ll also strive to inspire other first-generation people of color to step out of their boundaries and achieve greatness.

I stare at the 2nd-grade math worksheet, with tears in my eyes, as my parents constantly get frustrated at my inability to comprehend it. My parents never graduated college, with my dad choosing to drop out of college to start a family with my mother. After moving to the United States from the Philippines to give birth to me, my parents wanted me to have the best opportunities to succeed. But how could they help me be a scholarly student when their highest education level is a high school diploma from a less developed country? They couldn’t. All they could do was be supportive while I started from scratch and fought to pursue higher education without knowing how it worked. As a high school freshman, my mind constantly wandered as I wasn’t sure where I wanted to end up after graduating. Did I want to go to college? Did I want to enlist in the military? All I knew was that I had to work towards being the most successful in my family, but I stood clueless not knowing how to achieve that. My passion for pursuing higher education remained stagnant until my Sophomore year when my World History teacher constantly emphasized the importance of higher education and pushed me to be the best-performing student I could be. From there I realized that although my parents weren’t around to guide me in pursuing higher learning at universities, other students and teachers were there to guide me as I constantly refine myself to prepare for college. To prepare for higher education outside of high school and pursue a path my parents could never take, I enrolled in STEM AP classes and boosted my GPA. I joined my school's engineering club, becoming the secretary and eventually the Co-President. I saw myself striving to be the best cadet in our Army JROTC, becoming the Security and Intelligence Officer in my Junior year who would supervise the safety of 200 JROTC cadets. Becoming the Headquarters Commandant my senior year, I watched over and guided the Battalion’s 8 teams to victory in Brigade competitions. I constantly improved as a diligent student, ensuring that I strived to be the best version of myself for college. Through the struggles of maintaining straight A’s and leadership positions, I strengthened my academic prowess, leadership ability, and dedication to be the first in my family to graduate from college. I was ready. Ready for college. But what I didn’t expect was how I never really knew my way around a college application, reflecting on my parent’s lack of knowledge of these things. Luckily, I was given the opportunity to join First Generation Scholars, which helped first-generation students navigate a college application for the first time and refine their essays for submission. I was granted an Advisor who gave me one-on-one meetings to work on my college applications. With the help of First Gen, I filled out and perfected my short essays to submit, while also preparing for college by learning ways to balance my life as a student-athlete leader. After being accepted into multiple colleges like UCSD and UC Berkeley, I realize how ready I am to move on from high school and be a college student, even though my parents couldn’t properly help me through this journey. Regardless of what I experienced, I aspire to be the future parent who will guide my children through high school and into college.

My name is Yeschua Genova. I grew up in Southeastern San Diego and am a first-generation Filipino-American high school student. As I prepare for a military career in the reserves, I reflect on a younger version of myself, bidding emotional goodbyes to an older brother heading to Navy RTC and an older sister leaving for Army BCT, not realizing how much I would later admire them for starting anew in the military while supporting my parents and me along the way. Growing up, I looked up to my siblings, as they guided me through hardships and motivated me to be a better person. Although I rarely saw my brother due to his active duty in the Navy, his commitment to physical fitness inspired me to take on new hobbies like working out, and his diligence in the Navy ultimately influenced my pursuit of a military future. Entering high school, I joined my school’s Army JROTC to strengthen my leadership, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. Although I was apprehensive about the sudden transition from an isolated, post-quarantine lifestyle to a structured and disciplined environment, I worked diligently for four years, climbing the ranks and assuming various leadership positions until I became the Battalion Headquarters Commandant and was ranked as a Major in my fourth year. This role allowed me to lead all eight teams within our Battalion, setting them up for success in competitions, while I also helped lead our Battalion in the Veterans Day Parade and the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade. With my aim of serving my country in mind, I aspired to “Seek the mantle of leadership and stand prepared to uphold the Constitution and the American way of Life,” as stated in the JROTC Cadet Creed, which prepared me for my future service. Preparing for my service to my country was no easy task, as I realized I needed to engage in extracurricular activities beyond JROTC to become the best version of myself. With a passion for engineering, I joined my school’s engineering club in my sophomore year and later held leadership positions as secretary and co-president. I also joined our JROTC’s Youth Physical Fitness (Raiders) team that same year and later became the Varsity Executive Officer, helping lead our team to win multiple awards in our Brigade’s Cadet Challenge. Additionally, I became a Lab Assistant at the Elementary Institute of Science, enhancing my leadership skills as I mentored and served as a role model for young children. I introduced these kids to STEM by helping them find their voices in Science, Coding, and Engineering concepts. While there are many more extracurricular activities I haven’t mentioned, I focused on becoming the best version of myself during high school in order to serve my country. Though my siblings initially inspired me to pursue a military career, my passion for STEM and service to my country grew significantly throughout high school as I became involved in JROTC and various extracurriculars. After four years of striving to be the best student, athlete, and cadet I could be, I now see myself in a few months pursuing higher education at UC Berkeley as a mechanical engineer while serving in the Air Force as a reservist with the Aerospace Propulsion AFSC, an opportunity to serve and give back to my country for enabling my success in a competitive world.

As a first-generation Filipino-American student, my parents sacrificed their dreams to ensure I could fulfill mine. Moving to the United States while I was still in the womb, my parents wanted me to have a better life in the States than I would in the Philippines. Growing up my parents always pushed me to be the best student, the smartest and brightest in the family because they knew at some point in my life I would realize the hardships they went through so I could take on opportunities they never had in the Philippines. Many sacrifices were made in our family, as my parents worked relentlessly in their jobs for almost 20 years to support me while sending my two siblings to the military so I could move out of an apartment and into a house, resulting in an epiphany about my family's efforts to ensure I could follow the path to be the most successful in my family. I was motivated to be the first in my family to go to college, so I took on AP classes, leadership positions in AJROTC and my engineering club, summer programs, and community service to make me a perfect candidate for universities. My passion for Mechanical Engineering grew as the years passed, and I knew what I wanted to do after high school. I wanted to pursue higher education in engineering not only to make my family proud knowing their sacrifices weren’t in vain, but also so I could support my future children in achieving their passions in higher education, something my family struggled to do as no one completed college. I am thankful for what my parents did for me, as I can finally pursue my dreams in UC Berkeley’s Mechanical Engineering major and set my future up for success.

I never grew up gifted nor reflected any potential to be great. Instead, I began at the foundation, with nothing to build on. Although I had a lingering goal of being a mechanical engineer in the future with a happy ending, I started my journey overweight and undisciplined, not knowing if I'd be able to live a successful life. I was depressed, and hopeless, thinking that I would never amount to anything good in my life. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, my struggles reached new extremes. As I gained more weight, destroyed my self-esteem, and lost motivation to take care of myself, it felt like I hit rock bottom. But people who hit rock bottom have two choices: stay there, or move up. I chose to touch the sky for my family, friends, and most importantly, myself. Instead of spending hours each day glued to my PS5 and my phone, I discovered new lifestyle changes to solidify my rise to glory. I took on weightlifting and calisthenic hobbies to transform my body and shed the excess weight that held me back, a lifestyle that I would continue living as I grew up. I also challenged myself with advanced algebra and learned the basics of investing in the stock market. I knew I wanted to be something great in life and explore my passions in STEM, so I worked to break each obstacle that stood in the way of me achieving my future aspirations. In return, I became more refined with every pushup I did, every pound I lost, and every hour I studied. My newfound hobbies helped me leave behind a cold and unforgiving past in middle school, and enter high school with a disciplined, motivated, and courageous attitude. As I take on leadership positions as the Headquarters Commandant in JROTC, Co-President of our school’s engineering club, and extracurriculars in outside organizations that let me help my community, I realize how different I am compared to when I started my journey. I learned to maintain a great work ethic for my academics, which propelled me to the top 20 in my class of 300+ students. I learned to cultivate a competitive growth mindset that led me to join and lead a JROTC team with the most rigorous athletic conditioning in our school. What makes me a strong person is not my achievements, but my persistence, resilience, courage, and determination to push through rock bottom and rise to the top, allowing me to define my success and achieve a lot through aspects of my life. This allowed me to achieve something great through hardships, as I emerged as a new person after being tired of constantly seeing myself as a failure. Being accepted into UC Berkeley in the Mechanical Engineering major and UCSD in the Aerospace Engineering major, I'm eager to apply these newfound skills in higher education and pursue my goal in STEM, specifically as a Mechanical Engineer.

Although I faced various challenges throughout high school, one scenario that threatened my academic status and also my life was when I got pneumonia. Upon contracting Pneumonia in the 10th grade, all my grades dropped to Fs and I was too weak to function physically, becoming bedridden in the process. As my academic performance declined, I struggled to stay motivated and lost the ability to engage in physical activities. Mentally, I felt the urge to give up, but my heart wouldn't allow it. Upon the realization of my dire situation, I pushed my body to get better before it was too late regardless of the pain and suffering I felt. In two weeks, I strived to create habits that would heal my body and make me a better person after the recovery. I refined my eating habits and prioritized proteins and vitamins to speed my recovery. I stimulated my immune system by incorporating lighter workouts in the process. I practiced Advanced Math, English, and History concepts, stayed on top of my assignments at home, and communicated with my teachers whenever I needed help. As I fully recovered, my grades returned to A's, and I emerged stronger and more resilient. This vulnerable experience taught me I was more patient with myself than I thought, and that I was courageous enough to push through life-threatening infections. After this, I utilized this skill to overcome my fear of failing and set me on a successful academic and physical path, solidifying my success as a student-athlete in high school. Resilience has majorly shaped my purpose in life as a STEM-oriented person, but one other factor that has influenced my purpose is my Filipino-American identity. Growing up as a Filipino-American wasn’t a great experience, especially in middle school where many kids who were also people of color, made fun of my nationality and characterized me with various Asian stereotypes. However, entering high school, my insecurity about being Filipino-American dissipated as I met other Filipino-American and Asian-American students who encountered the same discrimination issues I faced as a child. With my passion centered around STEM, especially mechanical engineering, I surrounded myself with Filipino-Americans who aspired to do many things in STEM. From computer science to nursing, to civil engineering, I became more comfortable with my identity, as I shared not only the same experiences with Filipino-Americans but also their passions. Because of this, I decided to explore my culture, something I refused to do as a child because of how ashamed I was to be Filipino. I decided to try out for our school’s Tinikling dance team, an experience I will never forget as it led me to be more passionate about my identity. As I explored my identity as a Filipino-American, I saw myself growing not only interpersonally but also in critical-thinking processes. I found myself starting to relate my identity with my future career as a Mechanical Engineer, as I knew I would stand out as a first-generation Filipino-American who decided to push my boundaries and pursue my dreams. Being more open-minded about my identity allowed me to expand my purpose as a future mechanical engineer to be a proud Filipino-American mechanical engineer, with the hopes of influencing young people to embrace their identities and relate them to their future careers.

Although I was unsure about who I wanted to be in the future, I still knew I had a passion for STEM - specifically mechanical engineering - which grew stronger as I gained engineering experience in UCSD COSMOS’s Engineering Design cluster, and my school’s engineering club as the Co-President. These factors built a path for me to pursue, one that dives deep into the broad concept of mechanical engineering. After a life-changing field trip to Solar Turbines, A Caterpillar Company, I knew my future would reside in this workplace as a Lead Mechanical Engineer working on ground-breaking plane turbines, but I also knew that I would have to work hard towards being a student who is a perfect candidate for the Mechanical Engineering major in universities. Living in Southeastern San Diego, there is a disparity in the involvement of people in STEM, especially children who are unsure of who they want to be in the future. Being someone who relates to their issues, I wanted to give back to the community for nurturing me to be a STEM-oriented and diligent student. I joined the Elementary Institute of Science organization, a Southeastern San Diego STEM organization that helps kids of all ages find their voice in STEM. It aids the disadvantaged San Diego community by offering stem-related resources and raising future leaders. I became a lab assistant for EIS during the summer of my sophomore year for two weeks, working 40 hours a week to assist children in finding their voice in STEM by exposing them to STEM-related experiments and information. I had a passion for STEM and I wanted children of all ages to experience that passion, even if they realized STEM was not their forte, it still meant a lot to me that these children of our future could easily narrow down what they wanted to do as they grew up. Furthermore, I also participated in another program provided by the Elementary Institute of Science, called STEAM Café. It is a leadership program that focuses on a different issue per year, allowing us students to take the initiative to find solutions to the issue and present them to the San Diego City Council. In 2024, I was tasked with finding issues that enhanced the homelessness issue in Southeastern San Diego and Downtown San Diego, and with a growing passion to help my community, I discovered that there was a disparity in community resources provided to the homeless. I compiled a presentation for the San Diego City Council urging them to allocate more resources to support homeless individuals, particularly in Southeastern San Diego. Through being a Lab Assistant and Public Advocate, I became inspired by the constant feeling to help others, which shaped me to be a better public speaker, and deepened my sense of compassion and selflessness. I learned that I was willing to do anything to make a difference in my community and had the power to do so through my innate leadership ability. Through the struggles of formulating a speech and presenting it to council members, I understood the real world and how its problems won't fix themselves. This reinforced my commitment to service and community engagement, motivating me to continue volunteering and helping others discover their voice in STEM. As I pursue higher education, I am more driven than ever to use my voice and help others who are bound by their financial burdens and those who are uncertain about their futures.