One of the organizations I got involved with towards the end of first semester was Refuge-UC. I heard about the group from my biology teacher who posted the application on his canvas page. It was a very new group and the purpose of the organization was to mentor refugee students at Aiken High School. My first mentoring session I was paired with three female seniors who had moved here from various countries in Africa. As a senior, they were getting ready to apply to college (something I had recently gone through) but the whole process didn't feel the same. They lacked knowledge about the application timeline and were unfamiliar with most of the schools and programs. I did my best to guide them using my prior experiences but in the process I learned so much about various cultures and was deeply inspired by their drive and passion for learning. Throughout my time at Aiken, there were some particular moments that stuck out to me and ultimately have influenced my future goals. 1) One of my mentees was married and was deterred from pursuing engineering because it's a "man's job" according to her husband. 2) Some students were missing class because they accompanied their family members to doctor appointments as translators and for comfort. 3) Dance has a really powerful ability to bring together different groups of people. My experience has definitely showed me that I want to do more than just mentoring by serving this community and group of people in other ways. Right now I'm working on developing Refugee Health Literacy modules with another mentor so that we can make an impact in the healthcare field we're both so passionate about. Next year, I'll be serving as the Mentee Chair for Refuge-UC and I'm excited to see where this new opportunity takes me.