In the past three years I have come a long way. From an aimless sufferer of depression, to
student, to teacher's assistant, to residency-seeker employed in North Carolina—a state five-hundred
miles away from home—I can say with joy that my journey in life has only just begun. Late? Yes, but I
am unwilling to waste even a moment in lament. Thirsty for an education, all it took was one step into
the unknown—enrolling in Borough of Manhattan Community College—for me to realize my calling
in life was not to stagnate, afraid, but to start my academic career.

 When I was diagnosed with clinical depression at fourteen, I had already relinquished my hope
for an education. Depression had dissolved my will to go to school and created within me apathy and
numbness. I withdrew from school and found myself living a life devoid of fulfillment and passion. As
a teenager, it is easy to take education for granted, but in the back of my mind there was always the
painful curiosity: what-if I had done it differently?

 I lost years of my life to my condition. I filled my time caring for my parents, and briefly
working while I received treatment, but it wasn't enough. Wanting a better life was nothing without
taking action. I enrolled in Borough of Manhattan Community College, and there received an Associate
of Arts—exceeding even my own expectations. It was there that I met amazing professors, and
discovered my passion in philosophy. It was the closest I had come to making sense of the world, and
myself in it, though I had been absent from “life” for so long.

 However, I found more than a passion for philosophy alone. My incredible logic professor, José
Haro, allowed me to be a teaching assistant in my last semester for two sections of introductory logic. I
found that teaching others came naturally when it was a subject I so thoroughly loved learning myself,
and I knew that I couldn't stop at only an Associate's degree. While learning is a fulfilling end in itself,
there is no way to measure the importance of being able to share that knowledge with others—and the
happiness that comes with seeing others succeed.

 Graduating from Borough of Manhattan Community College with honors has left me with a
sense of pride that depression cannot conquer. It is a pride powerful enough to have taken me to North