Often we hear that life is a gift, but a gift does not have value by itself. Rather, the value, the meaning, comes from its exchange. I have been searching for years to understand how we, as humans, assign meaning to the gift of life. Theologists say we are here to worship God. Biologists say our birth is simply a product of the evolutionary requirement for reproduction. Transcendentalists say life is for knowledge and insight into the greater world. To me, the meaning of life lies somewhere at the intersection of these disciplines. Yet, simultaneously, the meaning of life lies outside of it. The father of transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once said, "It's not the destination, it's the journey." Using this line of logic, all of our destinations are one and the same– we are a finite species. So, the meaning of life comes from our unique journeys, especially the memories we have with our loved ones as well as the moments we spend doing what we love. Thus, per this perspective, the meaning of life is to truly enjoy our limited time on this Earth. To me, the meaning of life starts by using knowledge to power our actions to find happiness, love, and ultimate truth. But, the meaning of life is actualized when we are able to develop such a fluid, malleable view of the world that everything we do is filled with meaning. I try to achieve this level of meaning by relentlessly chasing knowledge, committing to being a student of the world and its people, and never settling when it comes to my learning.

Sharing is caring--that was one of the first things I ever learned in school. I was a kindergartener and barely spoke a word of English, but I understood that. Ever since then, I have always made an effort to try to share the good that comes my way, whether that be with sharing the delicious food my mom makes with my friends, sharing what I have learned with mentees, or sharing my love for the world and its people with everyone around me. But, the most critical reason for my commitment to selflessness came from my parents, culture, and my religion. Thus, I am committed to being selfless because I am committed to being a human for, with, and alongside others. Over the years, it has become my mission to be of service to others. One of the ways I have done this is through activism. I started by joining the Bay Area Student Activists (BAStA) organization to fight for causes near and dear to my community in the Bay Area. After some time, I realized there is a need for grassroots work in my city and school. Thus, I founded the Fremont chapter of BAStA, which stands as the first and only city chapter. I also founded the BAStA chapter at my high school. Through this involvement, the incredible teams I have been part of have fought for change. In addition to activism, volunteering is very important to me. I have tutored students from low-income, linguistic minority backgrounds and have fundraised for the American Cancer Society. Each and every one of these opportunities that I have had the privilege of engaging with is rooted in one thing--my commitment to the service of humanity. It is precisely this I hope to continue working towards in my education and future career.

Afghanistan: a land that has been plagued by war for decades now. My parents are both from Afghanistan, and they immigrated to the US during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. From childhood, I have been told the stories of their experience as a refugee, an immigrant, and an American. America: the land of dreamers and hope. America gave my parents the ideal place to come from a war-torn country to raise their future family. It has a strong economy and is a powerful country. My parents went through a lot to reach their current living conditions. Honestly, growing up, I did not appreciate the sacrifices they made for me to have such a comfortable and blessed life. I was too young to be able to comprehend the loss of war and its effects on my family. Now, I have come to terms with my identity. I am proud to say that I am a first-generation Afghan-American. Growing up, I was not really in tune with my Afghan heritage. I did not pay attention to my roots until recently. Since 2001, The War on "Terror'' has terrorized and hurt my people very much. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed, and many of them were innocent civilians who died in the crossfire. Now that America has left Afghanistan, the country is back in square one, with almost all of it in the hands of the Taliban. Amidst all this war and loss, I have come to appreciate the culture and heritage I have been given. My struggle of accepting who I am has made me a fighter. The struggle of my people and family has motivated me to fight for them and others like them. During the pandemic, I became a part of many activism-based organizations that fight for many causes. These organizations include GenerationUp (GENup), Bay Area Student Activists (BAStA), Next Generation Nations (NGN), and Ed100. GENup and Ed100 focus on education and ensuring students get the education they deserve. BAStA mainly fights for community problems as well as ones pertaining to students. Lastly, NGN, a non-profit organization, works for a better future by campaigning for a better world. Through the acceptance of who I am and where I am from, I have excelled in these organizations. I have gone to create the GENup Middle Eastern/ North African (MENA) Caucus to help create a community for my fellow MENA people and educate others about our heritage. Through BAStA, I have learned to fight for other causes and speak out against immorality and injustice. Ed100 has taught me the importance of education through volunteering with them. Lastly, through NGN, I have become a part of the force of students fighting for a better future for everyone. My heritage has taught me many things: to be courageous, to be brave, to fight for what I believe in, and most importantly to be myself. I have finally come to terms with who I truly am, and now, more than ever before, I am fighting for many important causes.

Loss -- is something that takes a great toll on every human, especially the loss of a loved one. In the past 1.5 years, the pandemic has shown us a lot of loss -- lives, homes, and much more. Honestly, these past two years have been emotionally exhausting. Each time you turn on the news, there is more about loss. Unfortunately, the media sometimes trivializes and makes each loss into a statistic. My grandmother from my father's side always told me to never become a statistic, and she encouraged me to make sure and strive for what I believe in, no matter how impossible it may seem. I lost both of my grandmothers in the span of the past two years. Growing up, I only had my two grandmas; both of my grandpas had passed away a long time before I was born. Although I was one of their youngest grandchildren, I was lucky enough to have created an inseparable bond with both of them. Since one of them lived in Europe due to the Afghan diaspora, I got to know my grandmother, who lived near me, much better. My grandma who lived here in California with my family was Saleha Sharifzada, her name meaning virtuous person. In Afghan culture, you call your grandma: Bebe Jan (meaning beloved grandma), and I always did. My Bebe Jan was a strong woman, who had endured a lot to make sure her three kids would have good lives. She became a teacher early on in Afghanistan and married in her twenties. After bearing three children, she became a single mom. My grandpa left her with three kids to raise by herself. She worked all day to be able to provide for my dad and his siblings. Growing up, she always told me stories about her life in Afghanistan. She told me how she was wronged and often questioned because of her religion and gender. Most importantly, these stories taught me to be strong like her. She always fought for what she believed in and encouraged my sister and me to also stand up for what we believe in. I like to think that her stories and influence led me to become an activist today. Through my activism work, I keep her image alive in my mind and hope to continue this with my future progeny. I am super passionate about advocating for student rights and Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) rights as well, especially Afghan rights. As my grandmother always told me stories about Afghanistan, I would love to do my part in helping my grandma's country. Because of my passion, I have gone to lead the GENup MENA Caucus and the Bay Area Student Activist (BAStA) organization in my school and city. Through my work, I have overcome my loss and incorporated my feelings and work into this important cause. I hope through this work I can always keep her image alive. Even though she is not here with me, I can always feel her presence when I conduct activism.

When I think about the future, I think of (a hopefully successful) lawyer or politician who is fulfilling all of her childhood dreams. But, above all else, central to that image is a woman who never forgot where she and her immigrant family came from, the dreams and aspirations of her ancestors, and the stories that make her, well, her. I am a proud first-generation Muslim Afghan-American. Growing up, I heard many stories about my parents’ homeland from them, especially the wars that demolished the country and hurt, almost irreparably, its people. I never understood how people around the world could allow these horrors to occur. As I grew up, I began to see more coverage of Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East and Southwest Asia in the news and other forms of media. However, many of these stories focused on the harsh-present day reality with very little contextualization of the complexities that contributed to them. As such, I began reading about history, global relations, and sociopolitics and was fascinated by the repeating themes I kept seeing. With time, I became more and more inclined to become a changemaker and do my part in fighting against misrepresentation, hate, and violence. Thus, the motivation for me to pursue higher education is to help uplift the voices and communities that have been historically disenfranchised and marginalized. I joined several different initiatives to begin this journey. Last year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, I sat on my bed wondering what I could possibly do in such a dark and unpredictable time. Committed to finding some sort of relief, I opened up the world of social media to see what was out there. At first, I stumbled upon a post about a student leader academy organized by a non-profit organization called Ed100. I did more research and found other student-led organizations, including but not limited to Generation Up (GENup), Bay Area Student Activists (BAStA), Next Generation Nations (NGN). The missions of these groups spoke to me -- I had finally found a way to give back to my community and others in just the way I had hoped for. At first, I started small. At the end of my freshman year, I joined the local city chapters of GENup and NGN. Simultaneously, I realized that my city did not have a BAStA chapter. So, I took the initiative to start my own city’s BAStA chapter, called Fremont BAStA. Throughout my sophomore year, I worked hard to get our group’s name out there and get us involved in initiatives that mattered to us and our communities, such as implementing ethnic studies in high school curricula, pushing for climate change policy, and reforming the student resource officer (SRO) program. I realized that I am very passionate about giving myself and others a voice and agency to talk about and stand up for prominent issues. After a year of all these extracurriculars, I have only expanded my involvement and have come to realize that I can instigate change at some level, one small step at a time. I still have a long way to go until I reach that image I described at the beginning. But, each day, I get closer to becoming her and achieving my goals, dreams, and aspirations. I look forward to doing even more during my time at university. To me, getting involved and pushing myself to do more for those around me is success.