It always feels good to be ahead of the curve and finish first. The sense of accomplishment that accompanies success is such a high, it's almost incomparable to any other feeling. Throughout my life, I have striven for success in my own personal way. I don't care how much money I make, whether I am the most beautiful, or whether I am more articulate and well rounded than those around me. My definition of success is one that will come from making those around me and, most importantly, myself proud of the person I have become.

I am the daughter of two Greek nationals who moved here in hopes of a better life for their future children. They had four children. I am the second. My mother had us young. She was only 19 years old when she got married and began having children at the age of 20. This wasn’t easy on her or my father, but it’s who she wanted to be. By the age of 25, she had four healthy and beautiful children, and she had achieved her dream. My father was a blacksmith in Greece and an amazing one at that. When he came to the United States, he spoke nearly no English but needed a way to make money and support his rapidly growing family, so he took a job working in a restaurant with other Greeks. While doing this, he taught himself not only English but also Spanish. Despite the fact that my father stopped going to school at only 12 years old, he managed to learn blacksmithing as a trade, leave his home country, and learn two new languages in a completely new home. Somehow, my father managed to leave the restaurant business, find a career blacksmithing, move us to an incredible house and do everything in his power to make sure we wanted for nothing. Though he struggled every step of the way, he made a family and a career, and he achieved his dream.

No matter what you do, people are going to form their own opinions on how you live your life. They will speculate on how you’ve achieved what you have as well as ways that they could have done it so much better. People are quick to say that immigrants are lazy and that women who get married young are stupid and precocious. I am thankful for the lessons that struggling taught me.

My entire life, I have had the same dream. My dream is to be an amazing mother like the one who raised me and a hard worker just like my father. People will say that your dreams change throughout your life, and that’s a valid statement. I don’t think dreams change, but rather, dreams grow and evolve the same as you do. Parents never dream for you to be as successful as they are; they dream for you to more. They dream for you to be the best version of yourself you can possibly be. My success is being the kind of person who will make those around me and myself proud. Only the people who are willing to work toward their dreams are going to achieve them, so that’s what I decided to do.

I am the first person in my family to go to college. I am the first person in my family to graduate from high school with an International Baccalaureate diploma. I am pursuing a nursing degree from a school with a program that can put so many others to shame. I will work for everything I wish to achieve. I am doing this for myself, but more than that, I am doing this for my parents. I am doing this for my future husband and every last one of my children. I am thankful for my parents and for the drive they have instilled in me. I am doing what I can to be the best person I can be, and when the time comes, I will continue my dream to become the best mother I can be. So, despite what anyone will ever think of my dreams and me, I am successful.