Through my 19, almost 20 years of life, I have my friends and family to thank for getting me this far. Failure and success. It's what drove me to do better no matter what.

In 8th grade I had a tough time after all of my friends and family saw me stand up in front of multiple people and not have my name called for awards night. I didn't really know what to think and thought what am I doing here? Why out of all the people sitting here? It's me. I was given a letter through the mail that told me I'd be accepting an award. So why am I standing here in front of everyone feeling embarrassed, ashamed and not being given any award? I went home that night feeling unmotivated and not knowing how to move forward. What I was told wasn't in my mind at all. "Don't worry about it, awards don't make a person. It's what they do that dictates the person you are. You become a stronger soul when you're able to bounce back from this and show what you're capable of." I never took the time to thank the person who told me this, but if you see this now, thank you so much for making me see clearer.

To my parents, they've had my back no matter what I've done. I've had the creativity and freedom that allowed me to expand my list of what I wanted to do. I was always supported and had people to teach me if I didn't understand. I still remember spending an entire night with my dad with a clock in his hand trying to teach me how to tell time without the use of a digital one. I also remember a time where I would come home from school and didn't need a nap after such a long day at school. My mom would tell me to go do my homework first before I could go out and play soccer with my friends. That push got me through instead of starting to procrastinate at such an early age. One thing they both preached was to never take things for granted and to be grateful of what I have.

To my friends, it took a lot to get me off my butt in order to do work or projects for school but being able to work along side them made the work interesting to do. It added to the fact that I wasn't alone and I always had a second opinion on things. Also, we all know that when you "forget" to do your homework, friends have your back.. for the most part. Just kidding. They helped me get things done, to focus on the important things. To study when I didn't understand something in class, they made it more simple so that it would make more sense to me. High school was rough, most of my friends were in the IB diploma while I chose a different route. So I was alone for the most part but only in the sense of school work. Outside of classes during free periods, my friends and I never missed a day to just hang out with one another. So I enjoyed my breaks because it was the only time I had a fun time.

Lastly, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart in order to repay something that can't be measured in money. Thank you for lifting me to new heights that I thought couldn't be reached. Thank you for making me, me.