Gael Padilla, a sophomore at UPA and first-time journalism student, speaks two languages: Spanish and English. He prefers to speak English and explains that he speaks Spanish only when he needs to communicate with his mom or his family. Family motivates Padilla: he wants to make his parents proud and in turn aspires to be successful and serve as a role model for his brother and sister, who he gets along with well but occasionally gets annoyed by. In the friendship arena, he considers himself to be funny and values goofiness, loyalty and kindness in others because he aims for a fun and faithful friendship rather than a boring one with rude people. For Padilla’s first year of journalism, he wishes to speak on racism more, not only for those who have been mostly affected but for everyone as he believes no one deserves that type of hate.