What is a story, happy or otherwise, that you remember that you feel made you into the person you are today?

“I guess the story that my father told me that was his life story and how he grew up in Mexico. He told me he grew up on a farm with like eight other siblings and not as wealthy as people here in the states. He grew up pretty poor and in a small town that no one has even heard of or seen that maybe has 300 to 600 people at most in the hills and mountains. The way he described his story of growing up inspired me to do something better with my life because of what he has given me in my life, like being able to drive a car and go out to eat.  He had to make most of his own food and get his own milk in the morning, and that is what inspired me to be a better man.”

Do you value your successes or failures more? Why?

“I value my failures more because it makes me grow as a man and as a person to become something even greater, to learn from that lesson or that failure, to surpass that and overcome it to become wiser and more intelligent from that experience.

Is there something that you feel you were meant to do or be?

“I always felt like, since my dad has grown his own business into something higher, that I have to make it even higher than he has and help him with it, and that is what I am trying to hope for through Darlington. Better education since he wanted me to go here and to go to a good school so I can learn more about business.”

If you could watch everything that happened in your life until now, would you enjoy it?

“Uh, yeah probably.”

What drives you to do better at something?

“To see other people’s success, since I want to be successful just like them or higher. I see it through media, Instagram, YouTube, etc. I see [people’s] success through the types of jobs they have, the types of cars they have, what they can afford, what their vacations are like, and I envision myself doing the exact same thing. I have to work harder for what I want or even greater.”

If karma was coming back to you, would it help or hurt you?

“ Um, help me since I feel like I am at least a good person to everybody around me that’s family, friends, and the people in my community. I feel like I’ve helped everyone in any way possible, so I would think that karma would help me.”

What do you want most out of life?

“To make my family proud.”

What have you given up on?

“ I feel like [I] haven’t given up on anything yet, but I guess one thing would be maybe working a little harder on my academics because I feel like maybe I could do more than just one AP class, but, just because [I am] not taking [an] AP class does not mean [I am] not successful, just that [I am] working at a different pace than others.”