High school is often described as one of the hardest periods of life. It’s a time where you’re having to manage both school and a job on top of college prep and helping the family at home. It’s incredibly stressful, yet it is nothing next to the mountainous task that is college-- and even still, nothing compares to actual life working in a career! Personally, I want to be best prepared for my future; whether that be through receiving the best education I can get or through experiencing challenges that allow me to be better prepared for the future. In this way, higher education is important to me so that I can gain life experience that will guide me through my professional and personal relationships. Education is the forefront of college; it’s the reason anyone attempts to go. The reward of a prestigious degree, license, or certificate is reason enough for anyone to feel inclined to further their pursuit of knowledge. I am not an exception to this rule; however, not only do I want to receive a degree that allows me to pursue the field of my choosing, I feel that college education is important to help my development as a good human being. Learning about literature, science, and math are key components to understanding the world around us. There is natural variety in these subjects, too; we can all collectively become better and kinder people the more we know about other cultures, ideas, and ways of thinking. I desire this for myself, and learning more about my world is an exciting aspect of higher education that I look forward to in my future, and I hope I can better my relationships through this avenue. My future will not solely include studying and tests, however; I also value higher education for the real world skills that it teaches you. Managing both a job and school is difficult in high school, but I know that my schoolwork is far more basic than what I will be facing in college and my employment is an easy fast food job that doesn’t take much skill. Through higher education, I hope to learn how to balance far more difficult work; knowing how to manage both a final essay and a project for an important client could be make or break for my career. My future will undoubtedly hold challenges such as this, and I want to do my best to prepare to manage them. My intention in college will be to study environmental sciences and forestry. I am excited about our natural world, and want to do my best to preserve it. I have loved nature my entire life, and dedicating the rest of it to making sure that our ecosystem survives for the next generation is something that I intend to follow through on. There is such an underappreciated beauty in some of the smaller parts of our environment, and I hope I can help them stay around. College will be full of challenges, but that does not mean it will be devoid of opportunities. It is somewhere I intend to grow as a person and to learn how to manage my time and my world. I hold this future experience close to my heart as I continue through high school, and I always attempt to lead myself into the future with a positive attitude.

The idea of a princess is quite the shallow one. Often, they’re portrayed as helpless ‘damsels in distress’ who need a dashing young man to save them from the woes they’ve found themselves in. How refreshing would it be to see a Disney princess who avoids this trope entirely? Wonderfully, in 2009, Disney released The Princess and the Frog starring Anika Noni Rose. This introduced the world to Tiana, a powerful woman with her own dreams and ideas that she followed through on despite the conflict of the film. Tiana exhibits a spirit of motivation, talent, and dedication that I desire to reflect in my own personal life, and as a character, I’m incredibly fond of her. Tiana’s story began by introducing the audience to her love of cooking. Her wide eyes watched her father with glee as he served her his signature gumbo. This love follows her throughout her life, and she develops the dream of one day opening her own restaurant so that she can continue her father’s legacy and create her own. The audience sees this in her dialogue and relationships with other characters, and in the end, Tiana successfully reaches her goal thanks to her determination and help from her friends. In my own life, I have a similar goal to Tiana— I intend to open my own coffee shop once I reach a point in my life where I am financially stable. Tiana’s kindness and cleverness contribute to her success, and her story inspires me to keep moving along this path; to keep saving up and brainstorming even when it looks hopeless. I hope to mirror her qualities and give back to my community in the same way that Tiana does. My coffee shop is a dream that I have, but if I continue working and keep my dream in sight, like Tiana did, I can also be successful. Tiana is an excellently written character who reminds me that I can do anything that I set my mind to. Her spirit and her hardworking nature is something that led her to her achievement, and it's something I can do too. Not to mention— her dress is lovely, and my favorite color is green too. Everyone with a dream can look to Tiana for a source of positive and beautiful inspiration. Disney's creativity helped bring her to life, and created a role model for thousands to look up to as a strong and independent woman.

I was 7 years old when I finally gathered the courage to confront my father. We were sitting in the living room on a pleasant evening. I wanted to ask him how, in my mind, he could possibly participate in my life in the way that he did. He didn’t know anything was wrong; he didn’t know the thoughts swarming and buzzing inside of my head, how they were telling me what he was and what everything was and how it was all fake. I told him that I knew his secret. I told him that I knew that he, my mother, my brother, everyone in my life wasn't real. They were shapeshifters who created this world— my entire reality! Created to examine me— an enigma— to figure out how I worked, why I was different from them. I was an alien. I knew this to be correct. I told my father this. Nine years later, I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Pure Obsessional. The path to get to have these words to describe the things that were happening in my head was difficult. I started seeing a therapist when I was 14; my family suspected anxiety, or an eating disorder, as my weight had dropped to 90 pounds. She was the first one to tell me that I had “intrusive thoughts”, and she told me that the vile things my brain convinced me weren’t me. I was more than my thoughts. I could take control of my feelings and I could choose how I let them affect me. I learned that it wasn’t me telling myself to kill my family, it wasn’t my choice to hear these violent words in my head, it wasn’t my inner, evil consciousness wanting to come out every time I felt nervous around the sight of a knife. I learned that I am who I am, and that’s okay; the world’s opinion of me doesn't matter. OCD affects my life in nearly every aspect possible. Before visiting my therapist, I struggled deeply with my relationships in particular, and despite her help, it does still affect me. Often I would sit in my room for hours on end doing nothing but staring at the ceiling, letting my thoughts race. Was I being intrusive with this friend group? Did they want me around, or was I forcing myself into their circle? I wasn’t worth having friends. I was an enigma, an anomaly. I was something to stare at and sneer at. Every conversation was a test of my willpower and skill— one wrong word, one slight sentence out of tone, and my thoughts would collapse in on me, burying me in shame. Now, after treatment, things aren’t as big a daily challenge and struggle as they used to be. I still wonder if I said something wrong to someone; did my opinion change their perception of me? It is far easier to let these questions go, and I appreciate the people who stand by me as I struggle deeply and more intimately now that I know the value of my thoughts. Being able to push through these things allows me to make these connections; I understand that my friends and family are worth so much, and I mean to them as much as they mean to me. The value of a relationship where you can voice yourself authentically is not something that can be measured. My future, like my relationships, is not limited by my OCD. I have self-described lofty goals for my career; I intend on creating games through my graphic design and storytelling skills. Through this avenue, not only can I express myself through creating vibrant worlds and epic tales, but perhaps inspire those suffering similarly or differently to me. During the height of my struggle before seeing a therapist, my primary escape from my racing thoughts was gaming, and the online community of players surrounding the games I’d play. I’d spend hours on end immersed in various strange worlds, playing as a character with a unique story, just to get a break from who I actually was; or at least, that’s how I saw it at the time. My experience with my mental health has helped me realize just how important a good story is; it isn’t an escape from yourself, but a tool to understand what about yourself you love. Being someone else and seeing the world through their eyes contextualizes your own life. It isn’t a way to disown yourself and shed your identity, but instead appreciate who you are— what makes you special that you might share with a video game protagonist, what you want to improve upon yourself that the protagonist does over the course of a story. My goal for my future is to help those who play the games I create come to these conclusions about themselves. I want to improve the lives of those who interact with my art. My struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Pure O, is an integral part of my life, positive or not. The ways in which I view and appreciate the world are different because of it, but that does not mean that they are worth less than others’ stories or make me a terrible person. I intend for my future to include avenues to help better the lives of anyone I can; I know how much consideration can mean.

I want to be using my creative artistic abilities to bring fictional worlds to life through my illustrations.

Many songs have powerful lyrics that I hold close to my heart, but "Yoshi's Island" by Glass Beach remains the closest. The song describes the struggles of a transgender woman not being accepted by her family, but also the joy she finds in herself, and the ways that community brings individuals together to find their own value. Every time I hear the song, I find myself singing along, filled with hope for the future. The song is named after the Nintendo video game, which shares similar themes to the song. Like the song, the game Yoshi's Island has players reunite a stranded child with his family. Glass Beach portrays this story through their lyrics about the song's protagonist, how she "can't fit in right" and her family is "never going to understand". She finds solace, however, in a partner; "we ran out of words to say we're hopelessly lonely". Through her confiding in others, she finds herself, even if her family may not approve of her identity. The conclusion of the song is a powerful guitar stroke, finishing with the line "okay, I won't think about nothing but loving you." The impact of the acceptance from herself and her family, even if it's minor, is such a profound sentiment that I find solace in.

Learning is, in every sense of the word, the building blocks of our very existence. There is nothing that we could do as a society to progress, communicate, understand, or even comprehend our own universe without the fundamental skill of learning. That is what is so important about learning; that we must not take it for granted, as it is the key to our perception of the world around us and to continuing forward developing ourselves. Inherently, to progress, there must be an opportunity to learn. When a child is born, they do not understand anything beyond what is necessary for their survival. Even then, it is only what their genetics tells them that they must do that they act on. This, of course, changes as a child grows, as it begins to experience the world; they learn the alphabet, how to pronounce the words of their native language, what the sky and the ground are. Without these incredibly vital first steps, there is no way a child can progress to adulthood without learning. This can be reflected in any stage of life; in a professional career, it could be learning one’s way into an upper management position, a higher salary, or perhaps even a more suitable and comfortable position. There is no station of life in which learning does not benefit oneself, and without the presence of learning, no sort of positive change can occur. Developing skills necessary to continue on a road to success is only possible through learning opportunities. In my own personal life, I intend to reach the highest potential possible in my personal and professional careers. This, of course, is necessary through this progression of skills, all leading back to learning. Also necessary is our understanding of each other, as well as the planet we live on. Personally, I place being a kind and respectful person as my highest priority on a day-to-day basis. This can only be directly implemented through learning. Often, ignorance— disliking and hating someone based on aspects about them that one does not understand— is caused by a lack of knowledge. Simply taking a small amount of time to learn about another person’s ideas, culture, or way of thinking can help both parties to see what they have in common, and that the divide is not as deep as it may appear. Likewise, this can be seen about the Earth; people abuse our natural resources when they do not understand how valuable it is. Simply taking the time to become more educated about the facets of our ecosystem helps those who are ignorant understand our world. It is objectively impossible not to learn. Every day of our lives we learn something new, whether that be something as seemingly inconsequential as a new math problem or as large as an understanding of a new religious system. Learning is ingrained into progression and our world. Each human being, as well as myself, would benefit from a little more learning in our life.

High school is often described as one of the hardest periods of life. It’s a time when you’re having to manage both school and a job on top of college prep and helping the family at home. It’s incredibly stressful, yet it is nothing next to the mountainous task that is college-- and even still, nothing compares to actual life working in a career! Personally, I want to be best prepared for my future; whether that be through receiving the best education I can get or through experiencing challenges that allow me to be better prepared for the future. In this way, higher education is important to me so that I can gain life experience that will guide me through my professional and personal relationships. Education is at the forefront of college; it’s the reason anyone attempts to go. The reward of a prestigious degree, license, or certificate is reason enough for anyone to feel inclined to further their pursuit of knowledge. I am not an exception to this rule; however, not only do I want to receive a degree that allows me to pursue the field of my choosing, I feel that a college education is important to help my development as a good human being. Learning about literature, science, and math are key components to understanding the world around us. There is natural variation in these subjects, too; we can all collectively become better and kinder people the more we know about other cultures, ideas, and ways of thinking. I desire this for myself, and learning more about my world is an exciting aspect of higher education that I look forward to in my future, and I hope I can better my relationships through this avenue. My future will not solely include studying and tests, however; I also value higher education for the real-world skills that it teaches you. Managing both a job and school is difficult in high school, but I know that my schoolwork is far more basic than what I will be facing in college and my employment is an easy fast food job that doesn’t take much skill. Through higher education, I hope to learn how to balance far more difficult work; knowing how to manage both a final essay and a project for an important client could be a make or break for my career. My future will undoubtedly hold challenges such as this, and I want to do my best to prepare to manage them. College will be full of challenges, but that does not mean it will be devoid of opportunities. It is somewhere I intend to grow as a person and learn how to manage my time and my world. I hold this future experience close to my heart as I continue through high school, and I always attempt to lead myself into the future with a positive attitude.

I was 7 years old when I finally gathered the courage to confront my father. We were sitting in the living room on a pleasant evening. I wanted to ask him how, in my mind, he could possibly participate in my life in the way that he did. He didn’t know anything was wrong; he didn’t know the thoughts swarming and buzzing inside of my head, how they were telling me what he was and what everything was and how it was all fake. I told him that I knew his secret. I told him that I knew that he, my mother, my brother, everyone in my life weren’t real. They were shapeshifters who created this world— my entire reality! Created to examine me— an enigma— to figure out how I worked, why I was different from them. I was an alien. I knew this to be correct. I told my father this. Nine years later, I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Pure Obsessional. The path to get to have these words to describe the things that were happening in my head was difficult. I started seeing a therapist when I was 14; my family suspected anxiety, or an eating disorder, as my weight had dropped to 90 pounds. She was the first one to tell me that I had “intrusive thoughts”, and she told me that the vile things my brain convinced me weren’t me. I was more than my thoughts. I could take control of my feelings and I could choose how I let them affect me. I learned that it wasn’t me telling myself to kill my family, it wasn’t my choice to hear these violent words in my head, it wasn’t my inner, evil consciousness wanting to come out every time I felt nervous around the sight of a knife. I learned that I am who I am, and that’s okay; the world’s opinion of me doesn't matter. OCD affects my life in nearly every aspect possible. Before visiting my therapist, I struggled deeply with my relationships in particular, and despite her help, it does still affect me. Often I would sit in my room for hours on end doing nothing but staring at the ceiling, letting my thoughts race. Was I being intrusive with this friend group? Did they want me around, or was I forcing myself into their circle? I wasn’t worth having friends. I was an enigma, an anomaly. I was something to stare at and sneer at. Every conversation was a test of my willpower and skill— one wrong word, one slight sentence out of tone, and my thoughts would collapse in on me, burying me in shame. Now, after treatment, things aren’t as big a daily challenge and struggle as they used to be. I still wonder if I said something wrong to someone; did my opinion change their perception of me? It is far easier to let these questions go, and I appreciate the people who stand by me as I struggle deeply and more intimately now that I know the value of my thoughts. Being able to push through these things allows me to make these connections; I understand that my friends and family are worth so much, and I mean to them as much as they mean to me. The value of a relationship where you can voice yourself authentically is not something that can be measured. My future, like my relationships, is not limited by my OCD. I have self-described lofty goals for my career; I intend on creating games through my graphic design and storytelling skills. Through this avenue, not only can I express myself through creating vibrant worlds and epic tales, but perhaps inspire those suffering similarly or differently to me. During the height of my struggle before seeing a therapist, my primary escape from my racing thoughts was gaming, and the online community of players surrounding the games I’d play. I’d spend hours on end immersed in various strange worlds, playing as a character with a unique story, just to get a break from who I actually was; or at least, that’s how I saw it at the time. My experience with my mental health has helped me realize just how important a good story is; it isn’t an escape from yourself, but a tool to understand what about yourself you love. Being someone else and seeing the world through their eyes contextualizes your own life. It isn’t a way to disown yourself and shed your identity, but instead appreciate who you are— what makes you special that you might share with a video game protagonist, what you want to improve upon yourself that the protagonist does over the course of a story. My goal for my future is to help those who play the games I create come to these conclusions about themselves. I want to improve the lives of those who interact with my art. My struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Pure O, is an integral part of my life, positive or not. The ways in which I view and appreciate the world are different because of it, but that does not mean that they are worth less than others’ stories or make me a terrible person. I intend for my future to include avenues to help better the lives of anyone I can; I know how much consideration can mean.

In a 2006 study, Swedish physician Hans Rosling measured ignorance with a unique test— he gave students 5 pairs of countries, one European and one Asian, and asked them to pick which had double the infant mortality rate of the other. The student’s answers were abysmal. If at random, answers were to be chosen, hypothetically the correct answer would be chosen 2.5 times. The students performed far worse than the random control, choosing countries with preconceived ideas of wealth and humanity. This, throughout all facets of life, is the idea that needs to be changed most across the world; ignorance, and the variety of ways it seeps into and corrupts our everyday life. At the beginning of an individual’s life, ignorance is not something that is inherently found, but it is something that teaches humanity how to treat others. As a child, an individual does not possess opinions on anyone— any individual, group, or place. This changes as they age. In the subtle ways that children are taught and learn about the world, oftentimes entire cultures or regions of the world are left out, leaving someone with only vague notions of those who are different from them. Social isolation with only those similar to an individual leads to not only lesser enrichment for those individuals, but fear of others, which can lead to violence and hatred when groups finally do interact. The world should not be a hostile place like this. Society’s ignorance about other cultures and ideas is unwarranted, and even if unintentional, needs to be changed so that life and relationships are positively maintained. Life is incredibly fragile. Impossibly high numbers of people perish every year; this is expected, and it is the cycle of life. How many of these people, however, died because they did not receive help from their community? How many people lie alone on the streets each night because they are financially devastated, and how could they have been helped? Society tends to turn a blind eye to those suffering. They’re ignorant, whether that be direct in refusing to help someone who needs it, or indirect in seeking financial gain from items that could help those in need. The world needs to pay attention to these people— to aid them in receiving housing, healthcare, or food. Shedding ignorance would save countless lives, and changing the notion of assistance to be less ignorant would be massively beneficial. Beyond physical health, ignorance also affects individuals’ mental health and their inward opinions about themselves. Seeing members of a community mock ideas, religions, sexual orientations, genders, or races indirectly is something that cannot be shaken. Regardless if a joke or comment is not made about a specific individual, when someone makes light of the mere existence or qualities of a minority, every member is included. This can cause massive harm to ideas about the self; someone is likely to think less of themself for being in a minority if they’ve heard repeated comments about how those people are evil, disgusting, or hilarious. These comments always tie back into simple ignorance; misunderstanding of others and the length of cruelty society is willing to go to. Ultimately, ideas of ignorance are present in far too many aspects of life. Ideally, in a few years, the experiment conducted by Hans Rosling could be repeated with full accuracy. Changing the amount of ignorance that humanity experiences would improve health, happiness, and hostility for everyone involved— and it is crucial for those changes to be made.

The idea of a princess is quite a shallow one. Often, they’re portrayed as helpless "damsels in distress" who need a dashing young man to save them from the woes they’ve found themselves in. How refreshing would it be to see a Disney princess who avoids this trope entirely? Wonderfully, in 2009, Disney released The Princess and the Frog starring Anika Noni Rose. This introduced the world to Tiana, a powerful woman with her own dreams and ideas that she followed through on despite the conflict of the film. Tiana exhibits a spirit of motivation, talent, and dedication that I desire to reflect in my own personal life, and as a character, I’m incredibly fond of her. Tiana’s story began by introducing the audience to her love of cooking. Her wide eyes watched her father with glee as he served her his signature gumbo. This love follows her throughout her life, and she develops the dream of one day opening her own restaurant so that she can continue her father’s legacy and create her own. The audience sees this in her dialogue and relationships with other characters, and in the end, Tiana successfully reaches her goal thanks to her determination and help from her friends. In my own life, I have a similar goal to Tiana's— I intend to open my own coffee shop once I reach a point in my life where I am financially stable. Tiana’s kindness and cleverness contribute to her success, and her story inspires me to keep moving along this path; to keep saving up and brainstorming even when it looks hopeless. I hope to mirror her qualities and give back to my community in the same way that Tiana does. My coffee shop is a dream that I have, but if I continue working and keep my dream in sight as Tiana did, I can also be successful. Tiana is an excellently written character who reminds me that I can do anything that I set my mind to. Her spirit and her hardworking nature are something that led her to her achievement, and it's something I can do too. Not to mention— her dress is lovely, and my favorite color is green too. Everyone with a dream can look to Tiana for a source of positive and beautiful inspiration.