Gabriel Espirito Santo

My name is Gabriel Espírito Santo and I am a senior at Union High School. Life throughout my school years has always been nerve-racking and a struggle. I didn’t know why I was struggling with all my work and it was so frustrating to me that I would give up on learning. I was diagnosed in third grade with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when my teacher called me stupid. My parents took me to a specialist to be tested and since then I have learned some ways to cope with most of the struggles. While living with ADHD, energy sometimes fuels me, but mental chaos overwhelms me. I was put on a 504 plan throughout school and it has helped me tremendously with my chaos. I have learned to focus more, stay on tasks, and take often breaks to complete assignments and I'm currently still working on being more organized, even though I know where all my things are. I’d always assumed I was terrible at living a normal life and that everything moves too fast. It’s one reason why I fidget and get frustrated. I have pushed myself to strive and I have been on the Honor Roll several times. I’m currently a member of The National Society of High School Scholars. I never thought I would ever reach this level, but it's a great accomplishment for me. Even though having ADHD makes it a struggle to focus and learn, it drives me to succeed every day. The only times I have full concentration is when I’m learning about something that highly interests me. My ADHD will always make learning a struggle but I’m driven to succeed in my future endeavors. It wasn't until my junior year in high school that I knew what I wanted to study in college. As a high schooler, I could tell I wasn’t going to college and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) was a career I found that fascinates me. I was always good at math and science, so engineering made sense or HVAC technician.