“When I was younger no one ever told me that they were proud of me or that I was doing a good job, so I worked extra hard just to hear those words from my parents or anyone. After a ton of fail attempts, I stopped trying because it seemed pointless, so when I started high school I did not care much about school. Sometime in my sophomore year, I realized that I could be happy even if no one ever said those things to me; all I wanted was to genuinely smile again, so somewhere inside me I found the motivation to put effort in everything I did once more because that is what makes me happy. Throughout high school, I met many teachers who believed in me and helped me find the confidence in myself that I had lost. The best advice I could ever give is to be yourself and learn to love who you are, move past the voice in your head that tells you are not good enough because you are and you deserve every good thing coming your way.”