I am currently studying biomedical engineering, which has recently become a large passion of mine. My core motivators were my skills in mathematics and science, with a bit of money mixed in; but the biggest driver had to be my family. I wanted to be seen as successful. In a family of dropouts, it wasn’t hard, but who likes easy? It had to be fun. I had to be seen as something completely different. Maybe it came from shame, or maybe because I thought I was better than the people I surrounded myself with. Either way, I picked a suitable path to chase the hardest profession I could think of—or Google, for that matter. That path started with civil engineeringengineering. After some time, and more than a few arguments about my selfishness, my motivation shifted toward the desire to help those I could. I took up biomedical engineering after my mother’s neurological disability worsened. In that moment, I realized it was pretty special to me. I could make a change in other people’s lives and truly help them, like I was my own hero.

That is if heroines were kind of lame and obnoxious. I didn’t just want to be seen by the people I looked up to. I wanted to be looked up to by the people who needed someone to help them.