If my year had a soundtrack, Clean (Taylor's Version) would be on it. Usually for any Taylor Swift release, I would stay up until midnight to make sure I was one of the first fans to listen to whatever new release Taylor put out. Unfortunately, my six-year-old German Shepard Kaiser passed away on October 26, 2023, just three days after my birthday. My father was the most devastated, considering that Kaiser was another son for him, and news about his passing would not get to me until I had returned from a school-sponsored trip to watch our girl's volleyball team compete in Charlotte, North Carolina (I live in Raleigh, which is about a two and a half hour trip). No one told me anything; the only thing on my mind the entire day was 1989 (Taylor's Version). Her previous re-release, RED, became my favorite album by her, so I was excited to see what 1989 (Taylor's Version) would bring about. Of course, when I got home and saw my lifeless pet on the couch, surrounded by family and friends, I forgot about every single thing that day. After we buried Kaiser in our backyard and our family started to leave, our household of five suddenly became four: My father and mother, my older dog Scooby, and of course me. Everyone fell asleep before midnight, and even if I had stayed up past midnight, I would not have remembered about the album at all. The next day was just another school day, so to school I went. I did not even last the whole day, I had to leave as fast as possible. Although Kaiser was just a dog to many, he was family to us. Fast-forward a couple of hours and more family is comforting us in our living room, again. My dad asked me to go pick up some food for our family. I brought Scooby, our older dog, with me in my Suburban. Each time I go on a drive, I have to have music playing, no matter how long the drive can be. As I open up Apple Music on my iPhone, I see a new album was added to my library. "1989 (Taylor's Version)" the album reads. After everything that had happened the night before, I had completely forgotten about this re-release. My drive was going to be quite a long one, but not long enough to listen to every song on the album, so I would listen to some of the first songs, but ultimately skip them after certain parts of the song. Finally, I get to track thirteen (what a coincidence); I start to cry a little bit. Clean has always been a favorite song of mine, and I had been waiting for this re-recording of it for the longest time. As Scooby sat beside me, I listened to the lyrics and realized that they reflected what was happening in my life at that time. Although the song is about a breakup, I was personally drawn to the chorus. "The rain came pouring down, gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean." To me, these lyrics fit the situation I was in perfectly. One day, we won't feel the pain that the passing of Kaiser brought to us, and we will finally be clean. This song truly helped me overcome the death of our beloved dog Kaiser, and every time I listen to it, I just remember how it was Kaiser and me who stayed up and listened to Midnights, on that midnight in October.

My father has worked incredibly hard to open his company, J&J Carrillo Construction LLC., and he literally is the definition of "hard-working". Although I work with my dad, I am not a full-time employee and barely a part-time employee at that. I focus on school, church, and tending to repairs or remodeling our home may need, and I just don't work with my dad enough to be considered an "employee". Every single time my father and I talk, he will never fail to say "God first, and family second." Looking at my dad just amazes me. Leaving Mexico at the age of eighteen, and having me, his first-born and only child, at nineteen made him feel complete for once in his life. Fast forward seventeen years, I am talking to him about how I am unsure about pursing a career in architecture. We are both sitting in the car outside our local Planet Fitness thinking about how to not fail my future. My dad simply tells me to pray. He can not tell me what I have to study, and I can not study something I know I do not want to do. I just remember him calmly telling me that he believed in me. I play the Sims 4 and occasionally use websites like HomeStyler to create houses. He tells me he has seen my creations, and that potential is there. I am also an artist. I enjoy painting, sketching, coloring, or just doodling. Not too long ago, my dad showed me a TikTok account he follows of this young man who is also pursing a career in architecture. My dad tells me to watch closely, and I do so. This young man can design his blueprint and draw a rough design of how the outcome would look. I was astonished for two reasons: the sheer talent this young man had, and my dad's notice in my likings. He told me that I could be able to use my artistic ability in an architecture career, which I knew I could, but just hearing him say it out loud sparked motivation in me. After graduating from my very small, private school, I either plan to attend a local college or community college and help my dad with his company. I am sure that God has laid out a path for me in architecture and civil-engineering. The reason I am applying for scholarships is to lessen how much my father would have to spend on my degree. I am lucky to have someone like my dad in my life, someone who has taught me to never give up. Watching him grow his business from the bottom to what he is now has pushed me into going to college. Although I don't plan to work with my dad forever, I do want to help him with his company after my college years. I plan to get a general contracting license to help my dad exponentially, and also my uncle who also has his own company. Basically, I want to pay my dad back with my college years. I do not want him to ever worry about me and my future, rather he know that I would be the first Carrillo to attend and graduate from college.