In the three years I have spent as an undergraduate student at the University of Florida, I have exceeded my expectations, expanded my knowledge, and grew through my opportunities. During my first year, my goal was to learn about all the clubs, organizations, and how to study and manage my workload as a student. After compiling a list of all these resources, I could not wait any longer so I started getting involved with Medigators and Psychology Club. Medigators led me to network with Dr. Amanda Janner, who awarded me the opportunity to continue my early middle school study as my honors thesis. Together, we began collecting a literature review to build up sufficient material to explain the history of color psychology and the gaps in literature we hoped to investigate.

Throughout my second year, we continued working on this study as I grew my involvements in other labs such as FLOAT lab and the Inpatient Internship research experience. I gained experience in the field of neuropsychology falling more in love with my dream career and my goals. The FLOAT Lab helped me understand psychometrics, scoring, and the interpretation of those scores. The Inpatient Internship experience allowed me to grow in research by taking on data collection, analysis, and reporting at a university-level. My experience had been limited to middle and high school experience; thus, their willingness to provide me with more and more teachings helped me burgeon in the research area. Additionally, my coursework became enlightening. I had taking classes on specialty areas that made me love psychology further. Chemistry was also a field I ventured into and it showed me the interconnects of social sciences with physical sciences. As an international scholar, during the holiday season, I traveled to different countries gaining my cultural awareness. In Mexico, I visited their parks full of wildlife, natural wonders, and traditional dances/decorations. In Spain, I learned about their history, food, and religious Christmas traditions form locals. 

Towards the end of my second year, my mentor, Dr. Takahiro Soda, asked me if I would like his sponsorship in the University Scholars Research Program. I, happily, said yes and we developed a new study where we hope to investigate the different evaluation tools, population demographics, and interventions used by ASD clinics to devise better strategies of diagnosis reducing wait times and increasing early intervention access. My honors thesis continued developing and we were ready to ask Dr. Joseph Gullet if he would be interested in collaborating with us. He, then, brought along Dr. Chien-Te Wu as well to be our EEG specialist. Lastly, Dr. Brian Odegaard agreed to collaborate with us and be our psychological representative and my committee chair. 

Beginning my third year, I have received approval from the Institutional Review Board for my honors thesis and started the development of materials, the recruitment process, and the drafting of my thesis. Dr. Soda and I have submitted another IRB proposal for that study as well for which we have developed the materials. Furthermore, we are finalizing the draft of our team's publication for the research completed during the Inpatient Internship. 

All these opportunities have sparked and fed my love for my career, research, and education. I am saddened that my undergraduate time is shortened, but I am confident in my possibilities venturing towards the future because of all the skills, techniques, and knowledge that I have gained through my undergraduate journey. During my time in the International Scholars Program, I learned that psychological research methods vary greatly by cultural norms, which deepened my appreciation for adapting assessments to diverse populations. My travels and research collaborations taught me that health disparities and diagnostic criteria differ across countries, emphasizing the importance of culturally sensitive neuropsychological tools. This experience expanded my horizon and led me to observe the world through a more multicultural lens, a new strength acquired through the opportunities of the ISP program. Every individual needs to be observed from a whole perspective within their culture and how their journey led to new cultures as well as their adaptation to that new environment, which will help strengthen my ability to help their rehabilitation. 

Lastly, courses like Cognitive Psychology and Spanish for the Health Professions helped me see how brain-behavior relationships intersect with cultural background, which I now explore in my research on autism and color perception. As I pursue my PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology, I plan to integrate the cultural awareness I developed through international travel into patient-centered assessments, ensuring my research accounts for cultural nuances in cognition and emotion. 

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To the University of Florida, thank you for the opportunity to be a student here and learn from all your resources. 

To my mentors, organizations, and all those who guided me on my journey, I am forever grateful for the knowledge and experience I take with me in my next adventure.