I am 26 years old and still living with my parents and many people don’t understand why, but for me, I’ve been through some struggles that I had to overcome in order to become who I am now.

My father always told me, “As a Latina, you must work three-times harder than the privileged white person. If you want to achieve your dreams, work hard until you get what you want.”

Ever since I was eight, I knew I was different.

I had just moved to a new school and things were different for me. I didn’t fit in. I was bullied constantly because I didn’t dress, speak or act like everyone else.

In elementary school I stood out but for the wrong reasons; I was an outcast, a loner, as many would call it.

Middle school and high school weren’t all that different for me, but one thing that kept me going through those tough teenage years was my faith.

Believing that there is a God taking care of me and watching over me gave me hope and peace every day.

After high school, I attended Cal State Dominguez Hills for one semester, but things unraveled for me when I struggled to pay my fees and bills. I dropped out of school after the first semester, and found a job nearly one year later.

Balancing having a job, paying bills and being a unique individual is hard because in our society we are taught to dress, think and act similarly.

Most jobs require relative work experience before hiring and if you don’t have it, you are forever trapped in a whirlwind of disappointments; unless you learn to make a name for yourself.

As a journalism student, I’ve learned that to make a name for myself, I must be willing to learn and grow as an individual.

I can only hope that someday, somewhere, someone might notice my work as an individual and realize that I am worth so much more than what I have been told.

After many years of having average jobs that have required physical labor, I learned that in order to stand out in our society you have to fight for what you want.

Which is exactly what I am doing now.

I’m a college student who knows the value of hard work, something I wouldn’t have known had it not been for all those struggles I had.

I wouldn’t appreciate what I have now if it weren’t for all those little moments in my life which required me to be brave and strong, and to persevere through the storm.