This year, 2023, was by far the craziest year of my life. Between deciding where to attend college, graduating high school, moving cross country and beginning a whole new life as a freshman in college, I had my fair share of new and exciting experiences. I don’t know what song from Taylor Swift's 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album better describes this than “Wonderland.” This is one of my favorite songs from the album and sums up the feelings I had throughout the year. Taylor starts by talking about falling “down a rabbit hole” into Wonderland and how things were “spinning out of control.” I imagine my year as if I too were in Wonderland, where things are crazy and different, but at the same time it’s magical and fun. Taylor said it best when she describes Wonderland as “new and exciting.” My year was also “new and exciting,” including many new changes and exciting experiences. Graduating high school is something that every kid looks forward to when they are young and I was thrilled when I walked across that stage and earned my diploma, especially because I had a plan for my future and I was looking forward to beginning that journey. After graduation, my family moved to Tennessee during the summer and this was very exciting for me. My college, Samford University, is in Alabama, so I was overjoyed to know that my family would be just one state away while I attended school. Starting college was such an incredible experience. I’ve met so many wonderful friends, stepped out of my comfort zone and I love the responsibility that comes with being independent. It began a new chapter in my life and that alone makes it its own little Wonderland that I will live in for four years. What I love about Wonderland is that even though it sounds like everything should be a perfect fairytale, it’s not, which reflects the real world and life. Taylor references the evils of Wonderland by saying “And in the end… we both went mad.” This year has been a memorable and truly amazing year for me, but it wasn’t perfect. Thankfully I can say that I didn’t go “mad,” but there were definitely times I felt sad. Moving away from friends was hard, even if I was excited about what was to come. And while I love college and all the fun it’s brought, it was a hard transition to move away from my family and start a new life that didn’t include them. “Wonderland” is a magical song about experiencing fun new things and sometimes also madness, or in my case sadness. It’s a feeling you get “lost in” and you want it to “last forever.” This past year has been all of those things for me and while I don’t want it to end, I am grateful for all the memories it has brought me and I’m looking forward to the next year ahead.

Growing up my parents always taught me how to manage my money well. I learned about smart money savers such as Dave Ramsey and I have been managing my finances for as long as I have been earning money. As a kid, I would get a monthly allowance that I could put into my bank account. Although spending the cash right away always seemed like a fun idea, I could never justify giving up my hard-earned money. I have kept this attitude still to this day and I now have a real job. I have worked at Chick-fil-A for almost two years now and since then I have received a paycheck every two weeks. When I wake up on payday and see all the money that was added to my account I become excited. However, I always remind myself that I need to budget what I save, spend and give. It would be easy for me to earn my money and right away think I can spend it all because I'll earn more later. However, this is not a good motto to live by and it would make my life a whole lot harder. Instead, when I earn money I look at the money I have and use a budget to determine how much I can spend and what I need to buy. My sister and I love to eat out and although it may not seem like I'm not spending a lot the first time, continually eating out builds up and can cost a lot of money. I try to do everything in my power to enjoy eating out, while still saving money. I use points for the restaurants we visit more often to earn discounts. I avoid buying a soda and will instead drink the free water. But most importantly, I limit myself to the number of times I eat out when I am paying the bill. Another way I manage my finances well is by ensuring I only buy clothes and products I need. I save my money and when the seasons change or I need essential toiletries, then I will buy these. There is always a time and a place to spend money, but it's important I find the right time and place to balance my money and not waste it or even worse run out. As I am preparing to go to college I will need to begin a new budget that includes my meal plan and activities. I will need to know how many meals I can receive each week, in order to have enough to last me the whole semester. I also will need to limit the amount I spend on activities with friends, giving myself a max amount and spending it wisely throughout the semester. Living on my own for the first time at college will be hard, but I know that if I budget my money and spend it wisely this will help make my college experience easier and I can accomplish my goal of graduating debt free.

My dad is my biggest role model and I strive to be like him each day. He is a hard worker, who is self-driven, smart, funny, generous and who has big dreams. He has taught me many life lessons and he pushes me to pursue my dreams. One of my dad's favorite phrases to tell me is "be a leader," he always says, "Be a leader, not a follower, the world already has too many followers." I think about this often and it has helped me to always aim to be a leader. I take Video Production at my school and at the beginning of the year my teacher asked the class which students would be willing to make the school's weekly news videos, which we call Eagle Eye News (EEN). I immediately volunteered because I knew that this would be a great opportunity for me to be a leader. When I became a part of the EEN team I took initiative and I am now the producer of EEN. I get to lead my EEN team every day to make sure that everything is on track to have the video done by the end of the week. This is just one example of how my dad has been a role model for me by teaching me to be a leader. Another way my dad has been my role model is by always telling me to “make good choices.” Making good choices may seem obvious, but I see so many kids at my school making poor choices, and I can almost guarantee they don’t have a parent constantly telling them to “make good choices.” Although it gets repetitive, it is a phrase that has always stuck with me, as I want to make my dad proud and I aspire to be like him. I have made it my mission in life to never make a poor choice that will deeply affect my life forever and my dad has always been there to support me. Finally, my dad has always encouraged and helped me make my dreams come true, pushing me to achieve my goals and become a greater version of myself. I have always loved making videos and movies and I have written a movie that I am currently filming with my friends. A dream of mine has always been to film and edit a short movie to show my family. Throughout my filming, my Dad has asked me if he can make a cameo in my film. Him asking to be in my movie proved to me that he supported it and it pushed me to want to make it better. He has also asked me many times when I would be done, since he is looking forward to watching it. I know that my dad genuinely cares to see me make this dream of mine come true and he is helping me achieve it. There have been many times in my life when my dad has demonstrated that he is a truly great person, that he cares about others and he wants to help individuals succeed. He is my biggest role model and he has helped me to become more like him.