Hackworth-Rhodes STEM Scholarship

I am the youngest child of four in a family of six. I don't like a lot of attention and prefer to be in the background. I’m witty and I tend to be the voice of reason. I like good jokes and love puns. I enjoy bike riding, quiet time, and long walks listening to music. I believe that being kind should not be a random act, but what you should live by daily. I love art and illustration and was confident that I would focus solely on art in college, but an experience last Summer changed my direction. Last Summer I was able to participate in an internship at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens (ABG). I was placed in the orchid care facility. Taking care of orchids was far easier than conducting tours and I learned how delicate plants respond to the environment, light and sound, what are the best conditions for growth, and what are the best soil conditions. This was the spark that helped me decide that I wanted to pursue a degree in biology. Every Spring, my mom starts her gardening in multiple pots around the house; she would try to engage us in gardening all the time with little success. This year when she asked me my thoughts, I shared what I had learned at the ABG about plant care and how she was not exposing certain plants to enough light and overwatering others. I was very excited to show off my skills and I could tell it made her happy. By studying biology in college with a focus on botany, I will be able to participate in research that will help with the development and understanding of plant life. It is important to find ways to protect plants from the destruction of natural disasters and people. We take so much from the earth and abuse plant life in ways that it is a wonder that we haven’t destroyed the earth and created a level of air pollution that we can not recover from. I believe plant conversation is important as well as plant research and reproduction. If we are to solve hunger issues globally, we must dedicate resources to science, to understand plant reproduction in order to recover from the destructiveness of wildfires, diseases, or other natural elements. As a Botanist, I will engage in research with a focus on plant care and reproduction so that we can combat hunger and global warming; the more plant life there is, the closer we can become to stabilizing the levels of 02 in the air. I will not give up on my love of art and illustration and will find ways to merge the two on some level.