A few years back, renowned Japanese illustrator Harukawa said, “The grandest stories of the world are always created in little rooms.” As I remember my days of youth when I wandered into an all-too-familiar Filipino artifact museum, I find truth in this claim. For context, our small Filipino community in Kansas is connected to a building called The Filipino Cultural Center. Our museum isn’t all that big, but the size hardly matters; it's the stories inside that do. There is a certain pictorial in the museum titled "When America Came to the Philippines,” which studied American influences in Filipino culture and visually showed our ancestors and the old land going through “Americanization.” The weight is heavy, however, the founders of this cultural center deemed it necessary to preserve these events when they placed it inside a glass box in 1995. Establishing a historical exhibit to create a cultural, historical, and scientific impact on the newer generations of Filipinos in Kansas was their goal back then and still is right now. In this way, the grief, sorrow, happiness, and celebration will be preserved in our memories instead of becoming grains of sand being washed away by waves into nothingness. I often think of the founder’s ambition to preserve our ancestors' history for generations to come. Moreover, I also think of the sacrifices, tears, and physical and mental burdens our ancestors pushed through to create the best foundation possible for their future families to reach greater and greater heights in this land of opportunity. This includes my own family as well. My mother works long, strenuous shifts as a physical therapist, and my father works as a stocker at Sam’s Club in the late hours of the night, and comes home as late as 2 in the morning. Describing them as hard workers is a major understatement. I see my parents as ambitious heroes who give their all for the sake of their children, all out of love and their dream of seeing my little brother and me grow. It is only natural that I do the same for them as I charge headstrong into the next chapter of my life. By achieving my long-term goal of becoming a pediatric nurse, I’ll be able to create the financially stable future my parents wanted for me. Moreover, my nursing education will allow me to aid in the nurture and health of every child in the U.S. This scholarship will allow me to cover a fraction of the costs for classes dedicated to my major in nursing at university. I know that university alone, with dorm costs, textbooks, credit hours, and technology is a hefty price. It’s an even heftier price when you add one of the best medical schools for nursing in the U.S. on top of that. I’m aware of the guts, grit, and determination I will need to have to stomp through to overcome these challenges. Hence the reason why I’m applying for this scholarship. With this money, I will use it to cover a good portion of my costs for my courses, dorms, and technological needs at university. Lightening this financial burden for me and my family with this scholarship money will make my family’s dream and my dream of becoming a pediatric nurse more accessible. With this money, I can continue my education persistently and head-strongly. These are common traits most Filipinos are known for, and because of that, I’m proud to be Pinoy.