What is your most memorable childhood experience? | I think one of my most memorable experiences would have to be when I broke my arm at five years old. I was a very adventurous child, always exploring around, and caring more for the excitement of the moment than the possible danger. I was by myself one afternoon and decided I would slide down the playground slide sitting sideways on the rail instead of down the middle like I was supposed to. I remember the slide being monstrous at the time; you could see the entire apartment complex from the top. I fell off towards the top of the slide, and I can remember the feeling of falling so vividly. I hit the ground, picked myself up and saw my arm at a ninety degree angle. I was super-scared and immediately started crying. I walked back home and knocked on the door. My dad opened the door, put me in the car and drove me to the hospital. |
What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | The immediate family member I would consider myself closest to is my mother. She is a very smart, strong, hardworking woman. The love she has for me and my brother is truly unconditional. She is always working on something; she is the type of person that hates movies because she feels she is wasting too much time that could be spent being productive. She would come home from a twelve hour shift and immediately start cooking for us and cleaning. I admire how active she is, and the work ethic has definitely rubbed-off on her children. |
What character traits do you admire in an individual? | The two I would pick are generosity and commitment. I would hope that an individual would be generous and caring to one another. We are all composed of different experiences, from different cultures with different values. The only person we can truly understand is ourselves, and sometimes we don't even understand why we made a certain decision, so it is important we be generous to others and not judge or criticize them. On top of being generous and sincere, I very much admire when someone shows commitment towards a goal. It is so inspiring to see and especially work with others full of ambition. I feel that if everyone could have the basic character trait of generosity and was committed toward working towards achieving their dreams, the world would be a much better place. |
What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | My life is always filled with laughter. I love comedy, listening to standup comedy at work and watching comedy movies. |
If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | Definitely the moon. I love the idea of going to space and because of the field I am in, it could be a possibility! As far as traveling on earth, I am convinced I will see every part of the world I want to see by the end my twenties. I have already seen twenty countries and I only started traveling internationally in college. The rest of my family has only seen the country they are from and this one, so what I am doing is pretty foreign to them. Some of them think I am crazy; most of them admire me for it. I have even convinced my brother and cousin to go on their own international trips, my cousin went to France and my brother went to Japan. I have been fortunate enough to make a good amount of money with my scholarships, business ventures and engineering internships, and have no debt. I figured using some of that money to see the world and fill my life with exciting adventures would be worth it. |
When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I would like them to value their family and strive to make their wildest dreams come true. Motivation to succeed is very important. I love being around people who are motivated to succeed in whatever they do. I want them to make their time on this earth as enjoyable as possible and they should know that a lot of sacrifices were made, both by my generation and my parents’ generation, to put us where we are in society. We have come a long way in a short amount of time. |