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My best friend and I grew up in church together, 15 days apart. We went through the highest highs and lowest lows together. She is my everything, like my sister.

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I went to day camp every summer since 1st grade. The leaders I had as well as the friends I made every year shaped me to who I am today.

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Our first family camping trip was in 2018. Every year after that, our family would go camping together. on top of that, we would take long road trips. the longest we drove was to Yellowstone, where we were able to see the stars right above our heads! We take many family trips with my friend's family. We also grew up in church together, and we have been through a lot together. I love every road trip we take because it always brings us together, especially through traumatic experiences. Nothing too crazy, just enough for us to laugh about it in the future!
familial capital: I learned so much through my family and we got to know our cultural backgrounds during our hikes and activities together as well.

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For as long as I can remember, I was always fascinated by cameras and taking photos. I started taking photos more professionally in middle school, taking photos for yearbooks as well as social media. I take pictures mainly for memories. just to look back on them in the future!

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I tried out for volleyball in 4th grade. I didn't have much time to be on the team, but I did join the practice team and it was a lot of fun! I joined my school team every year after that. Even now, volleyball is a fun sport for me to play and destress. I love playing with my friends, as well as meeting and playing with new friends!

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I started managing the boy's volleyball at my high school in 2020. Every season managing for this group was amazing and valuable. I learned a lot about leadership and formed many lifelong friendships!
social capital: some of these boys have supported me through some highest of highs and lowest of lows of my life.

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after getting my associate degree, I hope to start nursing school. My mom is a nurse, and I grew up being around her field of work. I became more fascinated after watching some medical shows and would like to pursue it in real life.
some helpful advice from an article:
get enough rest
be proactive
be kind

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maybe it's still early, but this song sums up my relationship currently :)

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I mentioned I took many pictures for fun. In the future, I would love to pursue photography as a passion as well as a job. I would take photos of sporting events, weddings, special events, as well as fun, creative photoshoots. Finding connections and networking in this way has always been fascinating to me, and I would love to learn more when I get the time to.

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Mindfulness!

I learned the importance of taking a few minutes to just breathe for my mental health. Just taking a moment in my busy life to stop and think will help me make more coherent choices and helps me be more productive overall. When I have a lot of assignments due or when I have a packed schedule, I will force myself to take a breath and stop for a few minutes to gather myself. I found that by doing so, I stop stressing about the things I didn’t do and start focusing on doing one thing at a time. My advice is if you feel overwhelmed or don’t know where to start, to just take a breather and cross off one thing at a time.

Group work!

I realized how important it is to work with other people. Yes, I can do work by myself, but I found it helpful to bounce ideas off my team, and it overall made our work better. I also learned that I like working with visuals to see a bigger picture. Working together helped me find my strengths while working, which helps me become a better student. My advice to others is writing down or drawing things out to visualize what needs to be done. It might be helpful to see it out rather than just thinking about it and forgetting something. I also advise working with other peers to see if you are missing something, or just helping each other out.

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Code-switching

I realized code-switching was a really common thing most people do. Many people do it because they want to fit in. I personally pride myself on being myself authentically. However, I realized I would be more censored in certain situations, for example at work. I wouldn’t have the same deep conversations with my manager as I would a best friend. I would still be myself, but be more censored. I hadn’t realized how many people would switch up their entire personality to try and fit in somewhere. It was interesting to learn about why people code-switch in different situations. There is so much fear in not fitting in that people change their morals sometimes just to fit in. An important thing I was reminded of was that there is always a place where you belong. This doesn’t require you to change who you are. Just be patient and you will find a place you belong.

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My current academic goal is to go into nursing, while pursuing social media (specifically photography & videography) on the side. I grew up helping my mom out while she was a nurse sometimes and it always intrigued me, and I recently realized that is something I would like to do as well. Also from a young age, I was always fascinated by cameras and physical/digital memories through photography. I started uploading some of my work online and always found it fulfilling so I want to keep pursuing my passion. I have similar goals since I started this semester, but my passions have grown a bit more throughout this semester. I am more motivated to pursue what I want. I finished a lot of my requirements for my GED, and would like to keep working towards that in the upcoming semesters. Throughout this semester, I learned how relaxing college life can be if I am on top of my work. It doesn’t take much to do work and study but I have to be diligent in working first, then having fun later. There are also so many support systems on campus, such as the writing center. I am not the best at writing essays, so I tried out the writing center. At first, I used it because it was a requirement in my English class, but I found that appointment very helpful so I went back. I thought college would have been hard and boring, but I found that there are very fun parts of college, including some professors and different activities.