Education is important to me because I grew up learning that it either wasn't important at all or it was the most important thing ever. Neither of my parents has a college degree, and my mother had to drop out of high school when life became too rough for someone her age to thrive. My father worked labor jobs my entire life, either in the fields or driving. My grandpa lived the same way. My grandma also worked in the fields before becoming a teacher. This is quite the stereotype in Mexican families, but it is also true. I never wanted the life they had, not because it wasn't a good life, or because they were unhappy, I just expected more for myself, and I knew they expected more of me too. I am the eldest of 5 younger siblings and being the eldest, along with being a girl, I was constantly under scrutinization and pressure to be perfect. I was expected to look after my siblings, cook, clean, and be a great influence, while my brother, only a year younger, faced none of these expectations. While this is also common in Mexican families, it wasn't what I wanted. So I decided I would go to college, I would become a nurse, and I would be successful all on my own. This is pretty scary, considering my mother is a stay-at-home mom and I had no one to really lead me on the right path to university. Moreover, women going to college and establishing a life for themselves without a man is still quite controversial in some parts of society. My father is a firm believer in the bible, and therefore, I should be a stay-at-home mother like my own. While this might work for some women, it doesn't for me. Achieving a higher education and a job where I can provide for myself and the life I want is my biggest dream in life, and I will do everything to make sure it will happen. That being said, I am attending a nursing program at a great university next year, and I am 100% sure that I will achieve this dream. I have done well throughout my high school career, and can only hope I will do okay throughout my university years. I know I have the drive and overall need to get an education, and with a good work ethic, I think I will become everything I want and achieve happiness, which is the true meaning of success.

When I graduate high school, which will be in just a few weeks!!! I want to join a nursing program and become a nurse. Specifically, I want to be an oncology nurse. Now if you asked me why I could say because I’ve had family members who have battled cancer, some victorious, and others who can now only live in our memories. That would be a reasonable asnwer, maybe evoke a connection from my audience seeing as that is something so many people have to experience, and it is technically true, but I’d simply be lying if I said that was my only reason. I don’t really know all the reasons I want to be a nurse, particularly one focused on oncology, but I have since I was younger. I’ve always known I wanted to help others, it is to this day one of my biggest joys to bring smiles to others. With research, I’ve learned the dangers and the importance of oncology nurses. Their jobs are not exactly easy, not exactly safe, and definitely not something anyone could do, but they are 100% inspiring. While I understand the obstacles, and I understand that going through medical school, work, and dealing with my financial status will be extremely challenging, it has never really deterred me from pursuing nursing. It never stopped me from researching random medical facts when I should be doing homework or sleeping, or from taking classes in high school that will eventually lead me to medical school. I’ve tried considering other occupations, but none really fit me like I feel nursing fits me. Nursing isn’t exactly a fun job, especially when focused in oncology, but being one of the many nurses who work every day to better the lives of others is my dream. Nursing will allow me to be there for and assist my neighbors, grocery store clerks, old waiters or waitresses, past teachers, future friends, and all the people of my community. I believe hospitals rest at the center of each community because while they can represent a place of sickness and death, it also represents all the people in that community who have fought through something and survived. People who work in the medical field are civil servants, meaning when I become a nurse, I get to serve the people, I get to bring bad news, yes, but also hope, which is the best thing you could possibly give anyone or any place, and the one thing I want to do with my life.

My parents never got to live out their dream careers, or their dream lives. Life threw them a lot of curveballs, and because of it, they became stuck. My father never got to go to college and become a pilot as he dreamed, and my mother never got to graduate high school. Despite this, they are hardworking and still obtained as stable a life as they could for themselves and me and my siblings. I think growing up with parents like this allowed me to see that I didn't need to go to college, get an education, and then a fancy job to make a life for myself. More importantly, I saw that I wanted to anyways. My parents don't know anything about going to college, financial aid, or becoming America's idea of "success," which has left me to fend for myself when it came to beginning the college-bound process. College applications, FAFSA, tests, figuring out where I want to go and how I will make that happen were all up to me. I'm not going to lie, this was all quite hard, but I definitely feel more prepared because of it. Despite what I felt at the time, I wasn't going in blind, I was just having to learn things for myself. Learning to be your own helping hand and becoming more independent in your ventures and thinking is definitely a key to success, and deciding to go to college has definitely helped me to achieve a taste of that. I think that so long as I am choosing things for myself, and making them happen, I will be achieving success. I come from a long line of agricultural workers, truck drivers, and dropouts, but I also come from a long line of people who are content with how their lives turned out, which is some form of success. I am choosing to go to focus on my studies, attend a university, and join a nursing program. All of this has already been set in motion. I will be attending a university in San Francisco next year, in a nursing program, I have been dreaming of for years. I plan to finish my BSN there, get myself a nice apartment to share with my cats and sister, and become a nurse at a great hospital. So if 20 years down the road, I am a nurse living in my dream city, with a stable income that provides for all my needs, and my cats happy and cared for, then I deem that success.

I was raised by less than perfect parents who didn't value education, let alone that of my siblings or mine. So growing up, being late, missing school days, and falling behind in my work didn't seem like that big of a deal, it was simply normal. It wasn't until I was put into the foster system at age 10 that I began to see that I could have dreams. My mother was too depressed and had too many responsibilities looking after all 7 kids to go to college or work a job, and my father drove trucks for a living, oftentimes keeping him on the road and away from our family. Neither of them had a college degree, so it was just expected that I wouldn't either. In no way am I ashamed of my family's lack of education; that's just the way it is. I come from generations of laborers, field workers, and high school or college dropouts. Even if I do end up working in the fields like all my family before me has, I just want to make them all proud. In my foster home though, I was surrounded by people who expected me to go far in life. The idea of going to college and becoming a nurse seemed more and more realistic. Now I live with my grandma, who has very high hopes for me, and I've done everything I can to get a good high school education and prepare myself for college. I joined AVID, a program that prepares high school students for college which pushed me to take AP and college classes, and I do as much as I feel I can handle in school. The more I learn about college the more I want to go, and the more I work towards that goal. I've actually just been accepted into my dream school and dream nursing program, and this scholarship will allow me to attend that school and put all of my focus into my academics without having to work too much to make ends meet. This money could go towards my textbooks, food, living, or my tuition in general, allowing me to become a nurse and give back to the community that has supported me. Maybe even one day I will be able to give out my own scholarships to low-income aspiring nurses, which will mean I have come full circle.

I grew up with parents who weren't meant to be parents, and that's okay. They weren't really good at taking care of me and my siblings, but we survived. I mean it is what it is, right? Whenever I see my parents, my 5 little siblings and I live with our grandmother, it's pretty weird, and sometimes when I'm feeling bold, I'll say this. My parents don't like to admit they weren't the best, or that they might have failed as parents, so they excuse all of their excuses and tell me I should be thankful they raised me to be tough and able to take care of myself in this awful world. These words are the most unwise words I've ever heard, which also makes them the wisest. Instead of accepting their excuses and being ever so grateful like my parents wanted, I took the opportunity to do the opposite of what they were saying. I became more thoughtful, emersed myself in school, helped my grandma take care of my siblings and became mentally stronger and more prepared for the world. I let my guard down and learned to depend on the people around me; and for the first time in my life, I allowed myself to look at the world through rose-colored glasses. Letting myself become more vulnerable allowed me to find my personality and my dream of becoming a nurse. Ignoring my parents' advice to toughen up and fight against the world, and instead learning to find reasons to fight FOR the world was the best thing that ever happened to me.