Growing up I never considered myself pursuing an education in STEM let alone geology. If you were to ask me five years ago, when I was a highschool freshman, what field I were to choose had I been forced to pick a STEM major, I would have told you malacology or mycology: the study of mollusks and the study of fungi respectively. Both are subjects that greatly enamored me and at the time, but neither are subjects I could have seen myself pursuing. In truth, I had my heart set on becoming an animator. I wanted to tell stories through art and share my passion through the screen. Ultimately, I got scared. I did not want to ruin my passion for art by giving myself to the harsh and grueling animation studios that often chewed up artists and took advantage of them, leaving them with nothing but distain for the industry. Without the prospect of animation, I was lost. It was my senior year of highschool, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. I decided to turn to my other passions, but nothing quite seemed to click. Eventually my mother suggested geology. It was not something I previously considered but the more I thought about it the more it appealed to me. Geology is a field that would require me to be outside, it has many applications in conservation and sustainability, and most importantly it was a field I could actually see myself enjoying. My short-term goals, as of now, are improving my GPA and my understanding of chemistry and calculus. I struggled greatly in both of those classes last year. While I did pass it was very difficult and I cannot say I truly understand the subjects. I also intend on working on my time management skills. I have never had the best time management, but it only got worse when I started college, and it greatly hurt my grades. My long-term goals are a bit more abstract as they are less tangible. The most obvious goal is to complete my education. if I want to pursue a career in geology I have to first complete my education in geology. From there I see myself going into paleontology. Since starting college, I have discovered how much I enjoy that branch of geology specifically as it ties in my current field of study with my previous interests in biology. I am Aroace. Oftentimes my own identity in the LGBTQ community is not taken seriously. It is often seen as lesser and my relationships are often considered less important to the romantic relationships my peers form. I am a rather private person, and most people do not know I am queer until I tell them. This tends to keep my professional and educational relationships free of tension and prejudice bit it also results in me feeling isolated from my peers and friends as we have very different views on what a relationship constitutes and the different types of relationships one can have. While my place in the LGBTQ community may not have a direct impact on my future career and my current goals, it does impact how I interact with my peers and my interpersonal relationships. This scholarship will help me pay for housing and tuition so I can continue my education. It will aid in my efforts to pursue a career in geology and hopefully a career focusing on paleontology. I greatly look forward to expanding my knowledge and experience (especially in chemistry and calculus) as well as finding friends with whom I can form meaningful relationships.

The history of science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) as a whole has been long and convoluted, from Aristotle's eels to modern innovations that improve the lives of those around the world. STEM has become both more broad over its history and more specific, starting as philosophy to natural philosophy to science to every specialized field that it is now, and every nuanced name and differentiation along the way. Throughout it all, math has been an important and critical way of giving the abstract nature of the natural world a way to be described and to give it function and use in the endeavors of mankind. Calculus is critical to the growth of STEM as our understanding of the world around us grows. As humanity's understanding of the world grows more complex, we need more complex ways of describing it, which is exactly what calculus provides. Calculus is the cornerstone to nearly every STEM field. Calculus is, quite literally, the 'M' in STEM. Without calculus STEM would not be able to surpass 17th century innovations when it was developed by Issac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. To say, though, that calculus would not have been developed had these two scientists not done so would be absurd, as elements of calculus had been in use for hundreds of years before hand. Calculus was simply the next step in our understanding and subsequential description of the natural world. In my own fields of geology and geophysics, calculus is incredibly important in determining the age of specimens and the movement of the earth. Calculus allows geologists to use radioisotope and carbon dating, model tectonic movement, understand the convection of the planet's mantel, and record changes in Earth's magnetic field. For any field of science calculus plays a role in, that science too plays a role in geology and the geosciences. Calculus is important in geophysics, hydrology, paleontology, geochemistry, minerology, and every other geoscience field. Calculus has proven to be fundamental to the development of STEM and to its continued growth. In the future, calculus will become the foundation to more complex types of math that will further describe the natural world and expand our understanding of it. STEM, too, will continue to grow as our understanding grows. And as my own understanding of calculus grows, so will my own knowledge of my field until I am making my own research and discoveries in the field of geology.

I have never had a crush. I have never had a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend, or any sort of partner at all. My experiences are better defined by the ones that I lack. I am AroAce. Being LGBTQ may confuse many people who don't know much about the queer experience or what it means to be LGBTQ, but being asexual or aromantic confuses even more people. At one point I had to describe what asexuality was to a friend. Despite meaning well, she was incredibly confused knowing how different our experiences differed, even going as far as to ask me how I live without sex. Her life revolved so much around sex and her experience with it that the idea that someone lives without it and in avoidance to it was alien and confusing to her. She meant well but it really highlights how little people consider the absence of something considered so fundamental to the human experience. Today's society seems to only ever revolve around sex and love which makes it disorienting and alienating when you do not care or even avoid such things. Even being in the LGBTQ community I find it difficult to belong. It is such an inclusive space but even so, it revolves around sex and attraction and experiences I have never had and never will experience. In my life, I have only ever met two other people who identify as aromantic or asexual, one of which realized she was asexual after I told her about my own experiences with my sexuality. My other friend, who is AroAce, and I have only grown closer thanks to our experiences. We are considering a lavender marriage or at least a queer platonic relationship. We want to live without the nagging and pressure of everyday society to get married or have children or find a partner. Count on your hands how many gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer characters you have seen in popular media, be it a book, movie, show, or game. You’ve run out of fingers, haven't you? Now try writing them down on a piece of paper. The list just keeps going does it not? Wikipedia lists 27 aromantic characters and 96 asexual characters in popular media and many of those are repeat characters who are both asexual and aromantic. In just Wikipedia’s list of gay characters, in television alone, from letters A-D, there are 164 characters. There is incredibly little representation for Aspec people in media and when there is, I often find people going against that character’s sexuality or romantic identity in art, writing, or even arguing that a character is not asexual or aromantic in the canon material. It's frustrating and even more alienating. It should not be a genuine surprise when I find a single paragraph about asexuality in my psychology textbook. I should not feel so alienated from the community that claimed to include me. I should not be afraid to tell my family that I do not want to have sex because of the confusion most people feel when faced with the opposite of their own experiences. My AroAce experience is accepting that I may never be truly seen or accepted by those around me, but even with all these feelings of loneliness and alienation I would not revoke or abandon my identity for anything. I am AroAce and I wouldn't want to be anything else.

I love Minecraft. I love it’s biomes and I love the mooshrooms. I love the sense of uncanny wonder that the Netherworld gives off and the never ending cave systems. I love being able to build and create giant castles on the sides of even bigger mountains and love building moving redstone robots. But even more than any of this, I love that Minecraft has a multiplayer mode. Minecraft can add whatever mobs and monsters, whatever blocks and biomes, whatever gameplay and settings it wants, but it will never beat being able to experience all of this and more with my friends and family. Multiplayer Minecraft connects hundreds of thousands of people across the world. Despite borders, despite political tensions between nations, despite language barriers, despite everything, Minecraft is able to connect all these different people through their love of creation and wonder. Hundreds of people who don’t know each other are able to come together and build huge constructions and impressive feats. It allows people to make friends and acquaintances that they never would have been able to meet otherwise. Multiplayer brings people together and I think that it is not only beautiful but that it also shows humanity at its best despite the miseries and tragedies of reality. Not only do I love multiplayer Minecraft because it brings people together worldwide but it also brings me and my little brother closer. Growing up I loved Minecraft. But having no siblings at the time and nobody to play with, Minecraft lost some of the magic that makes it great. But when my little brother was born, I finally had someone to share my passion for Minecraft. As he got older, I got to teach him how to play Minecraft and even as we’ve gotten older, Minecraft has only continued to bring us closer. Even after I move out and leave for college Minecraft, I feel, will still keep me and my little brother close. Minecraft has been an integral part of my childhood and I am so grateful that I have been able to share it with my brother as well. I am so glad that Minecraft has been able to connect thousands and will continue to do so, hopefully, long into the future.