When you pick up writing, you're given the power of creation and expression that holds no limit or boundaries once you begin. For me, I´ve always loved reading books and comic books, being able to immerse myself in a whole world someone has created with so many different elements that can be contained in a paperback has always been a delightful and inspirational experience. Reading about characters and being able to see their struggles, their emotions, ambitions, and much more makes them feel as if they're not fictional but as if they were someone real who you truly understand. Books and comics have always been a motivation for me when it came to unlocking the power of creation for myself and creating my own original characters, stories, and more. I´ve created countless characters, and sometimes I can´t keep up with them all. I´ve written stories to expand my characters more and to bring them to life within my story. Through all of this writing has made me feel like I could create anything if I just pick up a pencil or prop up a laptop, and by letting my imagination flow like a river. Even though I love writing, I wasn´t sure if it would be a good idea to pursue it in college. Just as I´m a writer, I am also an artist; my desire for my college major was to major in art, since I love to draw. Unfortunately, with the rise of AI art and companies wanting to use AI instead of hiring artists out of not wanting to spend money, has have me revise my plans due to me not wanting to take the risk. After that, deciding on a major was becoming hard and a little stressful, honestly. I didn´t know what would be a good fit for me, so I just stayed undecided for a while. It´s my senior year now, so of course, a few months earlier, I was starting to panic because I still was undecided, and I didn´t want to stay that way in college. Even though there´s nothing wrong with being undecided, I know it´s important to have your major figured out by college so you can start taking the classes you need for your major. I had options of theology, philosophy, religious studies, and sociology since I was interested in those things, and I thought it maybe wouldn´t be a bad idea to major in one of them. Yet those options crumbled since they were kinda useless when it came to finding a job. I felt hopeless, I felt like I was useless and lacking skills, and that this was the reason why I couldn´t pick a good major. When all hope was lost, and I felt like I was lost in the dark, a light peered through to dispel the darkness. I ended up deciding to major in English, since my writing and English skills are well. I wanted to be able to enhance my writing and English skills, so I thought majoring in English could help. I felt like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders when I made this decision. Currently, I'm still working towards college, but this time I´m not worried or feeling hopeless. I plan to continue writing in college through my major and will probably pick up a creative writing class. When you feel like there´s no hope for you, just be patient and slow down, for the solution will find you in good time.

In life, we sometimes tend to undermine the power of faith in God. We don´t always fully realize how much it can impact us and do for us until we are put in a situation where relying on faith can benefit us. I have my moments when I doubt my faith or it wavers a bit, but I always push forward and reclaim my trust in God. When I was a child, my faith was okay at most, but I honestly wasn´t interested in it, so as I grew older, around my transition into my teenage years, I sought my faith and God. I wanted to grow and do better through God. So I began discovering my faith and God, which led me to become better. I do have stumbles and challenges here and there, for I am not perfect. A big challenge I faced in my life was around 2023, when my mother was battling cancer and just getting worse day by day. She was in and out of the hospital, she was growing weaker, she was slowly dying. Seeing my mother having to battle with cancer really hurt me, for there was only so much I could do to help her. I would pray to God every night I got to take away her pain and heal her of her cancer. I held on to my faith with an iron grip during these times, for I had hope in God. At some point me my siblings and I were sat down and told there was nothing eft that could be done for my mother, everything had been tried, but she unforntely would pass away in a few days or a few weeks. This news felt like glass shattering. It felt like the world ended upon hearing this. One Saturday after that, I woke up, the sun of the morning peered through my window, my dad came into my room and told me my mom had died. It felt like my heart stopped at those words. We went downstairs to see my mom lying in her medical bed, still, cold to the touch, gone. We all cried that day, seeing my dad cry stung for I had never seen him cry so much in my life or ever, it was new and raw, he´s always been a brave and tough man, but seeing him like this broke my heart. To be honest, I was also upset at God. It felt like all my praying for her was for nothing, as if those nights of praying were just me talking to myself, and that there was no one on the other end listening and intervening on my behalf. I got over being upset with God and accepted my mother's death, but it still hurts, of course. Through all of this, I learned how to keep strong in faith, even when things don´t go right or even when God doesn´t answer all of your prayers. I believe my faith shall help me in my career by keeping strong and willing to push forward even when things get hard, because I know you shouldn´t give up so easily, even if things don´t go your way. After all, you´ll never know what's at the end of the tunnel if you stop moving forward.

I aspire to one day have the ability to make mental health care more accessible around the world. If I became a millionaire, I would donate my time and money to provide access to mental health care, especially in rural areas that already do not have enough resources. I hope to be able to execute multiple non-profit organizations to build mental health care establishments to provide in-person and online counseling and therapy sessions for free. Each person who comes will be offered five free sessions each month, with mental health hotlines open 24/7. I also want to be able to provide opportunities for other like-minded people to volunteer in places that lack these much-needed resources, making mental care accessible and affordable. Mental health care should be accessible for everyone. We all have stressful, everyday worries, and we should always feel that they matter. Many factors keep people from seeking mental health care, even when they are struggling mentally. Whether it is a lack of resources, access, or simply awareness of what types of care are available, it is always disheartening to know that those needs are widely going unfulfilled. It is important to take care of our mental health, so we can live a quality and fulfilling life. We should always strive to lift each other when we fall, let people know that they matter, and that we care for them.

You never truly appreciate someone until they're gone. In twenty-twenty three, my life changed in an unfortunate way. I found out my mother had cancer. I was saddened and worried, but I was a little hopeful since we live in an age of vast medicine and technology. There would be nights when she had to stay in the hospital away from home for a few nights, and she would be in and out of the hospital a lot. It would kill me to see her in pain and getting weaker and weaker as the weeks continued. I remember one day when she came home from the hospital, my dad had helped her out of the car into her wheelchair. My heart broke when I saw her; she could barely walk at all and was very skinny and weak. As days passed, my dad sat me and my siblings down and told us that there was nothing left that could be done for my mother; she was going to die, they said she could pass away some days from now or a few weeks from now, but it would happen, and there was nothing left to do to stop it. After that, my mom stayed in a hospital bed downstairs in our home, so in her last days, she could be in the care of her family and so she could be surrounded by us and comfortable. In her final days, my mother was frail; she couldn't move at all, and she couldn´t speak. She could still hear us, though, from what my dad said, so we would talk when we could. Watching some you love weaken and slowly pass away before you is truly one of the hardest things to bear and witness. One Saturday morning, as the light peered through my window, I woke up thinking it would be a regular Saturday morning, but I was wrong. My dad walked into my room and told me my mom had passed away in the night. We went downstairs, and there lay my mom in her bed, still as a statue, unmoving, cold to the touch. My dad had wept understandingly, so, for he had lost his wife, the love of his life, whom he wished he could spend eternity with. In all my life, I've seen my dad cry so much; I don´t think I´ve seen him cry at all in all the years I've been alive. Witnessing your dad cry for the first time in front of you is a different kind of pain, for they always act tough and manly, yet seeing my dad break down hurt. For some reason that day, I didn´t cry like everyone else, not cause her death didn´t affect me, but because it didn´t truly hit me yet. At her funeral cried way more than I thought I would, because the true realization that this would be the last time iI would see my mother before burying her in the ground for eternal rest hit me. It´s been two years since my mother's death, and my life has been alright, but things have changed since then. Since then, my dad has been a single father and has been having to raise me and my siblings by himself, with the help of my family, thankfully. Losing my mother has made me gain a greater appreciation for life, for you don´t know when your time will come or when something major can change your life, and also a drive to work harder towards my education and future.

I am someone who wants to pursue her dreams and goals in life without being held back by the chains of limitation and fear. I´m currently seventeen and will be eighteen next year. I am a senior in high school, and with being a senior comes the weight of expectations of life and the future. You're held up with worry and stress about applying for colleges, figuring out how to pay for higher education, making those around you proud, and much more. Unfortunately, these worries currently plague me. I come from a family of three siblings and one parent. In twenty-twenty-three, my mother sadly passed after battling with cancer, my father was left widowed and had to transition to life of being a single parent. My mom always had a dream for me to pursue higher education after high school and get a successful job. I want to be able to make her dream continue by going to college after high school. Even though the thought of pursuing higher education sounds pleasing at first, it becomes a little challenging when it comes down to having to pay for college. Thankfully, things like scholarships, loans, grants, and FAFSA exist to give you a helping hand. Honestly, I am nervous about my life after high school. I´m nervous about having to leave the comfort zone of my home to go live on a college campus and having to be in a new environment. I tend to overthink sometimes and worry if things won´t work out for me, but I know in the end things will work out in some way, shape, or form, and God will be by my side to help me and encourage me. Even though my doubts and fears may shadow my mind, there is always light to cast the darkness away. I believe pursuing higher education after college is good because it allows you to gain new knowledge and experiences that you may not have been able to get if you didn´t pursue it. Even though I am honestly a little undecided on my major, I have listed down some options that interest me: sociology, journalism, philosophy, religious studies, and human resources. With whatever my degree might be, I want to use it in order to pursue a successful and fulfilling life and to work a good job that could help me in doing so. So the present may sometimes feel bleak or overwhelming, but know that the future is always bright and filled with opportunity.

I never knew I would meet a teacher who would have an impact on me until the junior year of high school. Throughout school, up until my Junior year, I’ve met a few teachers whom I've grown to admire and value, but none like this one. I am now a rising senior, so my experiences with this teacher aren't far in the past. During my first semester of junior year in high school, my first block class was English 3 Honors. English was a subject for me that was usually easy and decent to me, especially since I love to write and read. My teacher was a man named Mr.Gebhardt, he was a man in his 40s-50s who was funny, an amazing teacher, and a knowledgeable man. During class, he would sometimes tell us a story from his life, which would revolve around being funny and relatable or containing a life lesson. He would always give my class little drops of knowledge that would add some wisdom to our lives. A few minutes before class ended and after we finished our work for the day, I would always go up to him and chat with him for a few minutes about my interests or something random. He would always listen and give well responses dealing with the topic at hand. One thing I would talk to him about constantly is Orthodox Christianity or Christianity in general. At the time and still today, I'm interested in converting to Orthodox Christianity from Baptist. I would talk to him about things revolving around Orthodox Christianity, such as icons, practices, and beliefs. He would always listen and influence my interest positively. Two times before in the class, we had two essays where we could talk about a subject of our choice, one essay was just an essay where we could discuss a topic of our choice, and the other was an argumentative essay. Both essays I talked about a topic that revolved around Orthodox Christianity. I got a good grade on both of those essays, and Mr.Gebhardt gave good feedback, of course. One day in class, he gave me an Eastern Orthodox Christian prayer book that he happened to have. I was very thankful for it and thankful that I was blessed with a teacher as kind as Mr. Gebhardt, who was kind enough to gift me with something of his own. I still have the prayer book to this day, and I still use it as it is helpful to my journey of Orthodoxy. At the end of the semester, around Christmas time, I wrote him a letter speaking of my admiration and liking for him. Once school started back after Christmas break ended, he gave me a card with a short but meaningful response to my letter. Even though I didn’t have his class anymore, I would still visit his class to chat with him a little before going to class. Mr. Gebhardt is a teacher I will always remember and admire, but also be thankful fr being able to have had in my life to look up to. He has taught me to pursue my passions and interests in life and to keep looking and moving even when life gets hard because there's so much out there for you.

Christianity is a religion and lifestyle that I will always hold true to. It has shaped my mindset, values, and self. My beliefs and faith in Christianity have taught me many things in my life and continue to teach me today as I continue down the road of life. Even though I have faced trials and tribulations on the way, I will always stay true to my faith. For as Jesus said, “But he who endures till the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:13. Growing up, I believed in God, I went to church, but I never had a true relationship with God or a true understanding of all God is and all that revolves around him. I grew up Baptist, and it wasn’t bad. I experienced being baptized and the whole church experience. I made sure to pray over my meals, but I never really prayed anytime else as a kid. I never worried about the effects and consequences of my sins or the usual worries of a usual Christian. Over time, at some point around 2021, I started becoming more aware of my relationship with God and how it is important and fundamental. I started reading the bible, which I had never really done until then, and I started prioritizing praying and repentance. I wanted to grow closer to God, but I was unaware of the traps and temptations the enemy would put in my way. As Saint Paisios of Mount Athos said, “the devil does not hunt after those who are lost; he hunts after those who are aware, those who are close to God.” On my journey, I fell many times into sin, but I continued to push forward. Fast forward to 2023, things were good until around September. My mom was struggling with cancer and slowly getting worse. She would be in and out of the hospital, getting weaker, losing mobility, and other functions. I incorporated her in my prayers, asking God to heal her of this. Even though this unfortunate thing was happening in my life, there was something else that occurred this year, which isn’t sad, I discovered Orthodox Christianity. It started with me discovering and listening to a Greek Orthodox Christian hymn called Agni Panthene, composed in Greek by Saint Nectarios of Aegina in the late 19th Century. I enjoyed this chant, so I listened to some more, then I started to like Orthodox Christianity as a whole, and began to dive deeper into Orthodoxy. Orthodox Christianity was different and new from my Protestant denomination of Baptist, and I was fond of this wonderful discovery. I began wanting to convert, but unfortunately, even today, I haven’t yet converted due to not having the time and not having an Orthodox Church where I live, but I still plan to convert one day. September 16, 2023, is when my life hit an ufronate point. I woke up that morning, and my dad came into my room and told me my mom had passed away. Time felt like it stopped in that moment. We went downstairs, there she was, her lifeless body lying on the hospital bed we got for her to help her be comfortable in the house in her final days. It was the first time I saw a lifeless body outside of a funeral. Everyone sobbed and cried, felt the grief and remorse in this moment, but not me, for some reason. I think it’s because the reality that my mother was gone didn’t hit me that day but it did fully hit at her funeral because that’s when I truly wept and the felt the grief, pain, and sadness everyone felt, for it would be the last time I would see my mom before she was buried. The day she died, I thought to myself, “Why did God let her die? Why didn’t he alleviate her of this sickness? I prayed for her so many nights, so what happened? Did my prayers go unanswered?” I questioned but did not doubt him, my faith didn’t extinguish. Consider the words of St.Iganity Brianchaninov, “Crumbling and anger during sorrows and difficulties is a rejection of the cross.” The months after the passing of my mother weren’t too bad; the grief went away in good time, and normality was returned to our household. I continued to have faith, no matter the curves in the road, and I continued to seek Orthodox Christianity as well. My journey in faith and belief in God has made me have a liking for religion and theology, I find interest in learning more about Orthodox Christianity's history and theology. I want to be able to have the opportunity to learn and grow more in education, and this scholarship would help with that. Once I finish high school, I want to pursue my desired major. My mother was a counselor at a high school, but she also dealt with helping people with scholarships and college. One of her dreams for me was to go to college, and I want to fulfill this dream by doing such. College will help me learn and grow academically and personally. Even though I’m not sure on what I want to major I have options I have considered of picking. Going to college will allow me to explore all the options the college I attend offers. At some point after college, I want to be able to find a job that suits my degree and chosen major. College and my future are important to me. I want to be able to succeed in accomplishing my goals, and I hope to do so with the help of this scholarship. Pursuing education and striving to learn more will always be important to me. My faith and my religion will play a major part in my life and who I am. I’m thankful to be able to participate in this scholarship, and I hope to be able to win in order to pursue my goals of college and education.

The movie that had the most impact on me was Tron: Legacy. Tron Legacy is a movie about Sam, the son of a famous video game developer, Kevin Flynn, who has mysteriously disappeared for years. Sam is drawn to his father’s arcade by a mysterious signal, which leads him to be transported to the cyberworld called “the Grid”. He ends up meeting his father here, who is the creator of this world, but also has been trapped here for 20 years. Sam also meets Quorra, who is a computer programmer and a fearless warrior, whom his father created. All three of them seek to escape the grid, but doing so comes with challenges. Sam faces the challenges of overcoming his struggles with his father's legacy, but also faces Clu. Clu is a malicious program that looks like the younger version of Sam’s father, Kevin, who seeks to invade the real world. In the end, Quorra and Sam escape together to the real world, unforntely, Sam’s father, Kevin, could not escape with them, for he sacrificed himself to save them. Even though this movie came out in 2010, I didn’t see it at the time, as me being three years old. When I watched this movie a year ago, it fascinated me and pulled me into the world of Tron. I enjoyed the cyber and neo-minimalist style of Tron: Legacy when it came to the Grid. The colors of the programs, which signify their allegiance/origin, drew me in as well, for it was an interesting concept to me. Blue and white represent programs loyal to users, while orange and red represent programs' allegiance with Clu or the Grid. Tron Legacy as a whole is an amazing concept of a digital world where programs have sides, one being good and one being evil. Tron: Legacy led me to watch the first Tron movie, “Tron”, made in 1982, and the animated series “Tron: Uprising, which aired in 2012. Tron: Legacy is a movie that shows how technology has the potential to be good and evil, but also finding one's place in the world. Even though I have stated my favour and love for Tron: Legacy, it’s more than just a movie for me. Tron is an outlet of inspiration and creativity for me, it has impacted me to take inspiration from its creative and original storyline to use in my own ways, especially with me being an artist. I have tried to make my own stories based on the concept of Tron, but my work will never beat the original, of course. Tron: Legacy will be the movie I will always remember for its impact on my creativity and interests, but also the movie I will always rewatch.