It was up to my dad to pick out my name. All that mattered was that it had to start with a D. Just like my other siblings, Darlene, Damian and Dianed. He knew he wanted to name me either Marisa or Larisa, so he decided to just throw a D in there. Shortly after my father discovered that in spanish dar-isa means to bring and give laughter. My name is from a latino culture, which means so much to me. The older I am getting I am learning how well my name fits me.

Everytime I tell someone my name they either pronounce it wrong or tell me how unique it is. It never processed to me how important my name was til one person told me. No one important, not a family member, not a friend, not a boyfriend, but a stranger. He told me how my name just rolled off his tongue so easily, he told me, "it's incredibly unique, just like you, it would stand out in the world just like you". Every since that day I have decided that I wanna do something that means something. I do not want to be like others and hide away. I wanna stand out, I wanna be somebody.

As a college student I wouldn't say that our typical classes are my strengths. I am not a math genius, or a historian. However, I am a people's person. Working with others and just interacting with people is not only my favorite thing to do, but I faithfully enjoy doing it. Life is not always your best friend. It throws things at you that makes most of us want to run and hide. As a little kid I had a couple of friends who were depressed. I was always the person that they would call and talk to about their problems. I spent school nights on the phone with my bestfriend til 2 o'clock in the morning making sure she wasn't going to make a horrible mistake. No one deserves to feel like they are alone, because you never are.

A key thing I focused on when talking to people about their problems was distraction. After they let out all their feelings it's time to move on from them. Things happens, and you cannot always go back and fix it. All you can do sometimes is move on. Something I try to do whenever I am down is to smile and laugh. My laugh isn't the cutest of laughs, but it does makes others join in. Laughter is almost as addictive as a drug, it takes you away from everything. Use laughter to drive away those demons of despair.

Til this day my father tells me that I worry about others way too much and not enough about myself. In my opinion, life's too short to be selfish. For the rest of my life I wanna be involved with our society. I want to do something that is going to help us, I want to make an impact. I want to be able to shine a ray of sunshine to this world. I have such a strong desire for success, I am willing to do anything to achieve it. Just like that stranger told me, a name like mine is meant to stand out. My name is the identification of my true character.