My Barbie dream house would be a two-story Victorian home, somewhere warm, but not so warm you would sweat all the time. It would have a wrap-around porch and about two dozen acres of farmland and woods to explore with a small creek in the backyard. It would have a small farm with a few chickens and goats. It would also have a lovely garden next to the house. On the edge of the garden would be a small, but beautiful greenhouse full of beautiful tropical plants that I would be able to look at year-round. Inside it would be full of beautiful houseplants all sitting next to the house's big tall windows. The kitchen would have a big window overlooking the backyard. The dining room would have a long rough edge table with lots of chairs for a big family to sit at. The living room would have a beautiful brick fireplace where stockings would get hung at Christmas time. In one of the bedrooms would be a bay window with pillows and cushions perfect for curling up and reading a good book. Another bedroom would have a king-size four-poster bed with flowy lace hanging from the top of each post. My Barbie dream house is some people's reality and something I plan to work hard to make a reality for myself someday.

My dream version of my future self is someone who is confidently and fearlessly able to change the world for the better whenever she sees fit and without waiting on the approval of others.

It is important to help others because that is a big part of what makes us human. Helping others helps give us valuable connections to people we may not have anything in common with. By helping others we are expanding our horizons and connecting with people from all walks of life. Helping others also helps give you a sense of purpose. Throughout my high school and college career I have spent a lot of time volunteering the hours in my day through a few different means. I have been a volunteer basketball coach, a volunteer Girl Scout leader, an ambassador for the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation, and an ambassador for the Pennsylvania Moose Youth Association. I was able to earn enough volunteer hours in just one year to win the President's Volunteer Service award. I didn't do all of the work for an award though, I did it because it was fun. Volunteering opened new doors for me. It led to opportunities I never would have gotten had I not wanted to help people. I found through volunteer work that I received joy from being able to be a part of something bigger than myself. Through volunteering, I was able to help the school district I graduated from reestablish their struggling girls basketball program starting a the elementary level. I helped run programs for the girls of the district every Saturday over the winter months and helped get the girls active in a winter league for girls their age. It brought me a lot of joy just to see them having fun and eventually succeeding and winning games. By helping these young girls I helped build their confidence and athleticism, hopefully making them healthier and happier girls for the years to come. Additionally, through volunteering with the Girl Scouts, I am helping broaden girls' cultural horizons. The area of girls I work with is very rural and the large majority of the people living there are white. Last year I worked with the girls on a project where I introduced them to my culture, Indigenous American, and took a few of them to a pow-wow at the end of the school year. Many of the girls would have never heard of or experienced something like that otherwise. This year I helped the girls plan their trip to Washington DC. They even planned their own budget and itinerary. So, it is important to help others not just for your own gain, but for the gain of others. It is very fulfilling to see someone learn or succeed in something you taught them. Overall, I would say it is important to help others because helping others spread joy and this world could always use a little more joy.

If I could have everyone in the world read just one book I would have everyone read Fahrenheit 451, not because it is my favorite book, but because it applies to the world we live in today. The first time I read Fahrenheit 451 was in tenth grade English class and let me tell you, I hated it. It was just one more book that our uptight, perfectionist English teacher had us read. However, now that I am in my undergraduate program to become a teacher I found myself wanting to read it again. We were talking about banned books and how some of our more southern states are banning classics, books like To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, Invisible Man, and even Fahrenheit 451. Books that we were required to read in my high school are being banned at other schools across the nation. The main premise of Fahrenheit 451 is that the society the main character lives in expects everyone to be the same and any deviation from societal norms is forbidden. So, the higher-ups of their society decide if people do not know about being different or unique they will stop. Thus the government began banning books. Sounds familiar does it not? Books like Fahrenheit 451, even though it was written 70 years ago, still apply perhaps even more today than in the past to our society. Knowledge is power, individuality is our strength. Without the knowledge held in some of our greatest works of literature, some people may never experience the joy of seeing people like themselves in the literature they read. I would have everyone read this book to help those agreeing with the book bans happening nationwide realize that this dystopia of the 1950s is quickly turning into our reality.

My plans for the future are to graduate with a bachelor's in early childhood education (Pk-4) and special education (Pk-12) this coming May. I would either like to work as a general education teacher, preferably in grades first or second, or as a high school life skills teacher. I would be happy in either placement, however, if I were to choose the special education path I would prefer to work as an aide or para first so I am able to better understand the environment of that specific life skills classroom. I would also like to eventually be a homeowner, and have a little house, a little farm, and a little family. I do not want much in my future, just to be happy and comfortable where I am in life. This scholarship would help me achieve my goals sooner by alleviating some of my loan payments. I have always had a passion for education and teaching young people. Growing up I attended a low-income, very rural school in Western Pennsylvania where I was one of nine students of color in the district. Two more of those nine were my little sisters. Money has not always been a struggle for my family, but in 2020 it turned into one. Three days before "the world shut down" with COVID-19 my childhood home suffered a furnace fire. We did not lose the house, and for that, I am so grateful, but we did lose everything that was a textile in the house. From clothing and bedding to curtains and carpeting, everything that was made of fabric has to be replaced including all of the furniture. The house was deemed "uninhabitable" and we were legally homeless from the months of March through to August. Insurance helped with some of the money, but the issue with insurance money is that we had to pay all of that out of pocket first so things could start being replaced immediately. They also refused to pay to cover a lot of things, like the cost of repainting the entire inside of the house because of smoke and soot damage. The money it took to pay for all of that is still a hole we are digging ourselves out of. I would use this loan to help alleviate some of my student loan debt and hopefully make it more possible for me to complete college and get to where I plan to go in life.

My name is Alexa Waleff and I am indigenous. I am Anishinaabe, Navajo, and Seneca all on my mom's side. I have been practicing my culture through food, dance, and traditional clothing since birth and I am incredibly grateful to have the privilege to be raised with my culture, unlike the previous generations before me. I am also a double major in Early Childhood and Special Education at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. In my university, of roughly 10,000, I am one of 15 indigenous students and one of 9 indigenous females. In my major, I am one of one. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania I did not have any role models, outside of my family, who looked like me. Going to a small rural public school I did not even have any teachers of color. I plan to positively impact the world through my career by giving those little girls like me someone to look up to. Representation is so important in schools, in early childhood especially. One of the ways I can positively impact the world is by starting with my students. In my courses, something we have talked about is the idea of "windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors", This concept has always stuck with me because it was something I did not have growing up. In literature, windows are formed when a student can "look into" the world of someone not like them through the book they are reading. Mirrors are formed when a student can see a part of themself in the book. Finally, sliding glass doors are formed when a student can be transported into a book and feel empathy and compassion for the characters. As a future educator, I believe in the power of change through education. As a passionate reader, I have experienced firsthand the power of life-changing book. As a child, the books that would have changed my life were books with girls like me in them. I plan to change the world through my career by starting small. By being a teacher who is proud of her culture and proud to represent her culture in a classroom, I am breaking the cycle of assimilation done to my people in schools for generations. School as an idea was not always safe for my people, and sometimes it still isn't. I want to make my classroom and by association the school district, I will be in a safe welcoming place for all of the children who walk through the hall. I hope to give children enough windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors to be compassionate and fulfilled human beings who venture off into the real world feeling represented, feeling like they matter.

American author Kenneth Blanchard said, "The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority." As a future educator, I believe that to be true as well. What makes me a leader is having the ability to guide, influence, and steer others down the right path. My name is Alexa Waleff and from a young age, I have always found myself falling into positions of leadership, especially when it comes to leadership in the form of education. When I was in elementary school I first found my passion for leadership through the method of education. In elementary school I got very into crafting and fiber arts, entering craft shows and competitions. Because of that, I was asked to teach a class on felting to kids, 18 and under at a crafting event. Now, being a fifth grader (10 years old) at the time, the thought of teaching teenagers terrified me. That meant I was "in charge" of high schoolers, some of whom could drive, this idea was very intimidating to a ten-year-old. However, I persevered and my first class went off without a hitch. I got great reviews through the webpage of the event and even made a little bit of money. The following year they asked me to return and teach the same class, this time however to adults. So, eleven-year-old me packed her bags, prepared her instruction sheets, gathered her supplies and prepared to teach a class of adults. Looking back now I remember having a couple of class members who clearly doubted me at the beginning, but by the end, everyone was successful in their felting endeavors and I was successful in leading a class full of people 2-6 times my age. Currently, I am going into my senior year of college studying early childhood and special education; I can look back at that fondly as my first true leadership experience. That experience so early on in life got me hooked on the idea of educating and being a leader. Looking at my life now I can really feel for ten-year-old me. Currently, I coach girls' basketball which again means leading high schoolers. Leaders are those who influence, those who guide, and those who light the way. At the age of just 18 years old, fresh out of high school myself, I started coaching for the team I just graduated from. For the past three years, I have had to test my leadership skills in ways I would have never imagined, as a coach. There are leadership qualities everyone sees in coaches, thinking on your feet, planning, multitasking, and representing your team well. Then there is what no one sees consoling the injured player in the locker room, answering questions about life I am still figuring out myself, and being the mandated reporter and shoulder to cry on when a player was sexually assaulted. What makes me a leader is being human. What makes me a leader is having the ability to know that those I am influencing, coaching, teaching, and impacting are human too. What makes me a leader is not the positions or titles I was given, but what I chose to do with them.

I am pursuing a career in education because education is the only way we can progress as a society. By educating we can create a better future for the lives of the generations after us. I have wanted to teach since I was in high school because I was inspired by the efforts of the educators who came before me. They always tried to make the upcoming generation better than the last. I believe that is my job as a future teacher, to guide the children I interact with on the right path. Children are our future. I specifically want to teach in low-income/high-poverty districts because I grew up in one. Sometimes, in those districts, a teacher is the only good adult children see. I want to be that example for those kids. Education is not by any means the most glamorous job and we all know it is not the highest paying, but it gives me an outlet to create the type of change I want to see in the world. Another reason I am looking to pursue education is because I like to learn. I am always looking for something new to research or educate myself Through my past few years of working with children I have found that sometimes we learn the most from kids. From their kindness and natural way of caring for others despite differences, differences they may not even notice yet, to their carefree nature. Teachers have a unique opportunity to impact the lives of so many young people, but sometimes the kids are the ones making the real impact on us. This scholarship will help me accomplish my education goals by giving me the opportunity to complete my education. My university raised their tuition so I had to take out a bigger loan. I applied for scholarships while I was still in high school and was hoping I would have enough to cover most of my tuition so I would be almost debt-free. With my university raising tuition again scholarships would give me the opportunity to take some money off the loans I have had to take out. I am a double major student, pursuing two degrees in education (Early Childhood PK-4 and Special Ed PK-12), so I do not have enough time to work enough to fund all of my tuition myself. I am also commuting 35 minutes to my university this year to try and save even more in the long run. This scholarship would mean I would be able to take out a smaller loan and be in a better place for my future so I can focus more time and energy on impacting the lives of the children I am working with. Thank you for giving out this generous opportunity and I am so sorry for your loss.