As a senior, I would tell my freshman self to stop being so afraid of who you are. As a freshman, I was terrified of people finding out who I truly was. With hiding my sexuality as well as my opinion, I became extremely self-conscience and depressed. I wish that I could have gone back and start expressing my true self and not be so scared of what people would think of me.

Another piece of advice would be to stop letting your fear of others get in the way of what you want. During my first year of high school, I was very athletic and competed very well in both cross country and track. Due to my fear of intimidating others and becoming a larger target for harassment, I ended up not competing to my full potential and lost my motivation for running. I wish that I could have changed this and kept competing how I wanted to, rather than how my teammates wanted me to.

In my high school career, I feel as if I should have attempted to be more assertive. I feel that this would have helped me to stop being extremely shy much sooner. I also wish that I had made more friends in my freshman and sophomore year, because it could have pulled me out of my comfort zone and made me friendlier. One of my biggest accomplishments was going to sectionals for cross country as a freshman. This is the furthest that frosh/soph runners are able to compete, and I am very proud to have gotten third place. I am also very proud to have been presented as the female MVP for the cross country team my freshman year.

After high school, I plan on attending San Joaquin Delta Community College to do my general education classes. After that I plan to transfer to California State University, Fullerton to double major in clinical psychology and fine arts. With this I hope to become a psychologist specializing in art therapy for people with clinical anxiety and suicidal tendencies. I hope to dedicate my career to help better others mentally, even if that means that I do not receive a large paycheck. I also plan on becoming a foster mother because I believe that it is very sad to see how corrupt the system is. With this I hope to help young people who are in the foster care system to succeed and be loved by somebody.