What does being a Pacific Islander attending college mean to me? To give you a concise answer, being a Pacific Islander attending college means pursuing greatness and bringing hope to my family. As I start this new journey, getting this point was not as easy as many thought it would’ve been. Many factors have influenced my decision to go to college, but the three I will be going over in this essay is pride, household income, and personal goals. Being born into a family with Tokelauan and Pohnpeian heritage, the cultural need to strive to make my family proud has always been strong since I was a child. Being a Pacific Islander to me means wearing my culture with pride, even when I'm in a predicament where I may be the only one in a room to show it. Attending college is a milestone that very few in my family have due to the cultural work ethic or to simply stay at home and learn how to clean or cook. However, I hope to be a new light in my family, which means attending and graduating with flying colors. I hope to be someone who shows my family that with hard work, stepping out of the norm can bring opportunities just as rewarding as traditional ones. On top of my desires to break cultural norms, I also come from a low-income background. The prices of college are a huge factor as to why my family were very cautious about me attending. When I turned 18, I wasn’t given a new jacket or jewelry as a gift. Instead, I was given welfare papers. On my 18th birthday, me and my family were more concerned about signing papers and looking for documents instead of singing happy birthday and looking for candles. Being a new adult attending college won’t be easy, but my dreams to become a dentist to give back to my parents are worth the financial struggles that come along with it. Lastly, my dreams of being the first in my family to graduate from college is a huge factor as to why being a Pacific Islander attending college is so much more to me than hoping to better myself. This means bettering myself, my family, and the community. Despite the cautiousness from my family of attending college, the pressure that they have on me is also very apparent. It’s hard to deal with at the moment, but I know that this is also a cultural wish to become something to be proud of. Things such as pride, household income, and personal goals are what pushed me to go to college, even when others were worried. However, something that shines within all of these factors is my cultural background. Being a Pacific Islander makes these choices 10 times more important to me, and that is because I hope to make my family proud. The culture I carry with me everywhere I go is a reminder that I’ll need to work as hard as I can. I may be the first to attend college in my family, but I hope this decision paves the way to where I won’t be the last either. To me, being a Pacific Islander attending college is an honor which I plan to carry out until the end.