I've heard you speak a couple different times in public.

You spoke at Big Table.

- I did.

I've heard you speak about an onward mentality.

Can you speak about that?

What does that mean?

Onward mentality?

- Yes.

So, the biggest thing for me that needs to be considered for all young people is that no matter what major that you choose, no matter what your career path you're perceiving in life, you really just have to keep going no matter what.

For me, when I started off, after middle school, going into high school, into the Marine Corps junior ROTC, I was doing that mentality of this is ridiculous.

Why am I, why am I not where I want to be?

But I didn't figure out how to do that until junior, my junior year of high school where I was like, I need to stop complaining.

There's a lot of people that didn't have, don't have as much as I do.

I'm very lucky to be not just here in school, but here in the United States.

My family came here from the Philippines directly and I'm the first generation immigrant in my family to ever be here in Peoria and do education here in the United States.

And I wouldn't be here if they didn't teach me how to continue pushing past all the obstacles and the adversities and the struggles that my youth provided me.

- Yeah.