7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

I consider myself a member of the Boyle Heights and Koreatown community. I joined the Los
Angeles Police Cadet program, serving Boyle Heights, in 2013; the LAPD cadets is an organization
dedicated to improving teens lives and the surrounding community. Boyle Heights is a rough community
where drugs and violence are prevalent, exacerbated by its poverty rate and uneasy tensions with the
police. Initially, I was disinterested in helping this unfamiliar community, but as I connected with
residents I felt compelled to make a difference. For that reason, I participate in community events like
Toys for Tots, "Police Memorial", and "Cinco Puntos Memorial" with the Cadets. For the toy
giveaways, I sacrifice a day every Winter Break to give as sense of relief and joy to needy families. For
community events like "Cinco Puntos Memorial", my presence ensures safety. I also offer insight about
the event and cadets duties. I see myself as a bridge between the LAPD and the predominantly Latino
community, who have a negative history that compromises the polices ability to maintain peace. I,
through the Cadet program, I foster a positive relationship between the police and the community.

Koreatown became an extension of my community back in 2011 when I first joined the
Ambassador School of Global Leadership as a freshman. There, I was introduced to the Gear Up
mentoring program. Through it, I have been able to help this community and its denizens. The goal of
this program is to educate high school students on college requirements to boost college admission rates.
Being a mentor asked us to help peers and meant ceding personal time to educating ourselves for the
benefit of others later on. During my four years as a mentor, I have guided my senior class through
countless seminars about financial aid, college match, and college requirements. It is premature to say
my efforts will actually pay off, but as I look around my classroom full of peers finishing their college
applications, I anticipate that my work will boost college attendance rates.