Over lunch with Saori Tejada, a freshman Psycho-Bio major at the University of California, Los Angeles, calmly shares her study schedule for midterms. At the age of seven, Saori Tejada was the communicator and translator to help with her parents’ work. She would interpret text messages and set appointments for their house cleaning jobs. When she was a mere six years old she was helping them clean homes. Throughout her young life she found herself more in the role of an adult than a child, a role she accepted without complaint or thinking it should be different. Helping her parents, dealing with her own emotional and physical health became a challenge for Saori as she entered high school. Life stresses never changed, yet Saori found her own voice through education. “Education was my liberation… It was there for me”, opening new doors for her in high school when she joined the International Baccalaureate program. She “came to acknowledge her own power” knowing she would work to never be completely dependent on someone else. After graduating with a 4.45 G.P.A., she now is pursuing dream to become an emergency room physician. Whether her journey continues to inspire her in a direct path or leads in a new direction Saori is sure to be empowered to be her own person, confident in herself and always willing to lend a hand to others in need. Education truly has set her free to be her best self.