"Give Warmth. Give Color. Give Sparkle. Get $100,000"

Hey everyone! I'm Mercedes Herrera and like maybe most of you I'm scared for my life for junior year. No joke, I'm terrified but I guess I should talk about at least some useful information other than my phobia of grades, homework, ACTS, and anything else related to school. I'm sorry if I tend to steer off topic, it happens sometimes.

I'm sixteen years old and I turn seventeen on September 24 which is a month away so I will be expecting at least a greeting! I'm a hundred percent filipino and because I am often mistaken as being korean, chinese, or anything other type of asian besides filipino I find it necessary to point it out. Before I moved to Palatine, I lived in a small suburb called Hanover Park where I spent 13 wonderful years in a Catholic school with a very close knit group of friends. As you can imagine moving to a different neighborhood was a big obstacle in my life. I had some difficulties getting used to it but I was able to overcome it and meet many amazing people along the way. I love being active and food. I have to be constantly moving which is part of the reason why I play, have played, or at least tried to play almost every sport. I like to rest and nap too which I believe is an action. I mean napping is a verb right? Food, what to say about food? I love any kind and I will try any kind. True story, I'm fearless when it comes to food. I can not, however, cook to save me. When I get to be in college I plan to live off microwaveable and fast foods which is probably really bad for you. Education is very important to me. I always try the best that I can but I have a big flaw of being a procrastinator when it comes to homework or papers or projects, which is also very bad. I'm trying to improve, trust me. I can listen to music my whole life. I personally like the 90s music. Backstreet boys N*SYNC will always have my heart but I can listen to anything as long as it sounds good to my ears. I'm a complex but simple person if that makes any sense. The slogan, "Give Warmth. Give Color. Give Sparkle. Get $100,000" describes me almost perfectly. Plus, it came from an aeropostle ad and I like shopping there.

GIVE WARMTH. Family and friends are number one to me. They give me the strength to be myself and be proud of how I came to be the kind of person I am. I live with both my parents and my 8 year old runt of a brother who I love dearly. Not only am I close with my immediate family but also with my extended family and it is huge and constantly growing. We come as a pack, literally, and I love it. We like to party and just be with each other. I love meeting new people and making new friends even if we are just acquaintances. My very best friends have always helped me regain sanity especially when it comes to school and I don't know where I would be without them in my life. I do whatever I can to make my family and friends happy. I give smiles, help, compliments, anything. My family and friends are the light.

GIVE COLOR. I'd like to think I'm a very colorful person. If you can remember my poem freshman year Mrs. Gerber and Kaitlin Fanning about how I'm like a crayon box you'll understand. Like a crayon box I come in different colors, well, different traits. I'm random. I'm quirky. I'm happy. I'm chill. I'm stubborn. I'm funny. I'm angry. I'm boring. I'm loud. I'm quiet. I'm hardworking. I'm Mercedes. You can figure out the colors if you really want to, don't feel like doing that.

GIVE SPARKLE. I like to shine and be happy and make other people happy. I live life to the fullest (sounds cliche, I know but it's true) and make every moment of my life count. I've always been the type of person to try and make everyone satisfied. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but you could almost always see a smile on my face. Don't get creeped out, I'm just a smiley person.

GET $100,000. When you get to know me it's like winning $100,000, simple as that. =)