I have always believed that every person that has ever lived on this earth has made an impact on the world. Whether the impact is made through donating at a church, volunteering at a local shelter, research made at work, or showing understanding to somebody on a bad day, little acts can create a big difference in the world. I know that I can make an impact on the world in many different ways. Although I am still very young, I am lucky enough to have already discovered my passion in life, which I can use to make a difference in the world. Ever since I was in grade school, I have had a passion for helping and teaching others around me. I have personally experienced how great of an impact teachers can make on their students. Teachers don’t only educate students on subjects such as reading and math, but they also teach them about the world and their relationships with other people. Without great teachers to inspire future generations to spread kindness and make a difference, the world won’t get any better. I plan to go to college and major in education so that I can be an elementary school teacher someday. I will make the world a better place by inspiring and caring for children so that they can learn to believe in themselves. In addition to impacting the world through education, I believe that I can make a big difference in the world through my community. I believe that the relationships that exist within communities can create the biggest impact on the world. By connecting with others around you, you can learn things that you never would have imagined. Through community, you can look at the world through another perspective and you can inspire the people closest to you. I have already begun to make a difference in my community through volunteer work. I have spent the last 5 years volunteering at different organizations in my community, including my local church, local library, and the community as a whole through Rise Up Reno. Rise Up Reno is a club dedicated to spreading awareness to young people about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and the importance of making good decisions and helping others. I am very passionate about volunteer work because of the significant impact it has on a large number of people. By volunteering, I work my hardest to make a positive impact on the world. I have also learned that I am impacted by the people I meet when I volunteer. I am inspired by others which helps me to continue to work for others. Although some people may think that spreading kindness and volunteering in the community doesn’t make a difference in the world, I know that it does. Every little act of kindness and each individual that is impacted through volunteer work starts a ripple effect throughout the world. I will continue to send out ripple effects through teaching, volunteering, and being kind to everyone I meet.

Receiving this scholarship will make a big difference in my life because it will bring me one step closer to attending college and achieving my dream job. Although attending college is very expensive, I have always had my goals set on graduating college as an education major and making a difference in the world. I have always had a great passion for teaching and inspiring children to be the best version of themselves. I am interested in pursuing a career in teaching because of the teachers that have inspired me and changed my life for the better. I want to be the teacher and the inspiration that I once had to the future generations that need to to feel loved and supported. I have been personally affected by my teachers and have seen what a significant impact they can have on their students. No matter what might be going on in a child’s life at home, a great teacher at school can make a huge difference in a child’s life. Every child deserves to feel special and supported. Every child deserves to be encouraged to be creative and do great things. When students have great teachers that can help them reach these goals, they will grow up to be better people. These people will help create a better world for us to live in. I want to pursue a career in teaching so that I can support and care for children that need it in order to reach their full potential. I plan to pay this scholarship back in the future by working as hard as I can in college and becoming the best teacher I can. I plan on paying this scholarship back through the inspiration, creativity, and hope for the world that I will instill in the future generations of the world. It seems that almost everybody in the world faces great times of adversity throughout their lives, and I am no different. I have faced adversity throughout my entire life in the form of alcoholism in my family. I have had to deal with and try my best to help my alcoholic father throughout my life. My entire family has felt a lot of pain and dealt with a lot of hardship because of this. Having dealt with alcoholism for so long has only made me more passionate about supporting other children who feel lost and scared of the world because of their home lives. I have pushed myself as hard as I can in school in order to reach my goals so that someday, I can inspire others to do the same.

When I was only 4 years old, the thought of going to school terrified me. My older sister loved school and tried to convince me that I would love it too but I couldn’t handle the thought of being away from my family all day long. I got through my half-days of school in kindergarten by scheduling a time every day to call my mom from the principal's office. Graduating into the first grade brought with it the commitment of attending school all day, rather than going home to my mother by lunch time. I cried every day and I doubted that I would make it through the day, let alone the entire school year. I struggled every day until finally, my teacher came up with an idea that changed my life. One day while I was crying to go home, my teacher called me to her desk and began giving me stickers, feather boas, glitter, markers, paper, and tape. She told me that instead of doing the assignment that day, I could spend my time decorating my very own “princess chair”. She told me that I was very special and that I deserved a special chair that I could sit in every day at school. She let me decorate my own special chair and within no time, I began to look forward to going to school every day. I felt supported and loved by my teacher which caused me to put more effort into my assignments. I was encouraged every day to be creative and have fun. My first grade teacher changed my life by changing my attitude. She instilled in me a growth mindset that allowed for me to be creative, learn, grow, and make friends. After I decorated my own special chair in the first grade, I made friends that helped me to enjoy going to school. Ever since this day, I have looked at school as an opportunity rather than something that I had to go to. I am interested in pursuing a career in teaching because of the teachers that have inspired me and changed my life for the better. I want to be the teacher and the inspiration that I once had to the future generations that need to to feel loved and supported. I have been personally affected by my teachers and have seen what a significant impact they can have on their students. No matter what might be going on in a child’s life at home, a great teacher at school can make a huge difference in a child’s life. Every child deserves to feel special and supported. Every child deserves to be encouraged to be creative and do great things. When students have great teachers that can help them reach these goals, we will have better people and a better world to live in. I want to pursue a career in teaching so that I can support and care for children that need it in order to reach their full potential.

Imagine that one day, in the middle of your stressful and chaotic life, you decide to take a vacation that will change your life. This sounds like a dream doesn’t it? Unless this dream turns out to be a nightmare. Instead, imagine that you go on a perfect family vacation to the beaches of Jamaica. Everything goes wonderfully until your family gets split in half on the flight home. One half of your family has a perfect flight and lands on time while the other flight disappears midair. Within mere hours, half of you are dropped off into a world that has moved on half a decade without you and nobody knows where the time went or how you haven’t aged a day. If you have watched the show “Manifest” before, then you should understand this brief introduction to the show. If you haven’t heard of or watched “Manifest” before, then I am here to convince you of why this show is worth clearing out your weekend-and your couch-to binge watch it all. This thrilling show is a mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat during every episode throughout the four seasons. During the first episode, the staring family of the show, the Stone family, is split in half on their flight home. Ben, his son Cal, and his sister Makayla choose to take a later flight home on flight 828. Ben chooses the later flight because he will get money to pay for Cal's hospital bills. Makayla is avoiding her boyfriend-soon to be fiancé if she tells him yes when she gets home-and all the stress back at home. Cal wanted to spend extra time with his dad because although he is only 10, he is only predicted to live a few more months due to his cancer. If this already-thick plot isn’t enough for you, then just wait. The plot thickens quickly when the plane lands and all of the passengers are detained and questioned by police. The 191 passengers on flight 828 are told that their plane has been missing for five and a half years. One of the many problems that the passengers face is the fact that they have only aged a few hours whereas everyone they knew has aged five and a half years without them. The passengers try to fit back into a world that has completely moved on without them. Some of the passengers return to find their family members have died. Others return to spouses that have remarried and kids that have aged almost 6 years without them. As difficult as their lives have quickly become, this is only the beginning. All of the passengers begin to hear a voice in their heads that can predict the future before it happens. These voices that they soon refer to as “callings” begin to feel more like a curse than a blessing when the government tries to experiment on the passengers. Every episode brings with it an entirely new set of questions as biblical references, mythology, and even tarot cards are brought up to explain where the passengers went for five and a half years. There is so much more to say, but without spoiling the show, I can just tell you that this must-see-show is worth clearing out your weekend for. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

I am a big fan of Zendaya because I greatly admire the way she works hard in many different roles. I began watching Zendaya on Disney Channel when I was very young. On both the shows “Shake It Up” and “K.C. Undercover”, I admired Zendaya's character and the way she made them feel the most relatable to the audience. I have continued to watch Zendaya as she took on bigger roles, such as playing M.J. in the Spider-Man trilogy. Not only do I greatly admire Zendaya's acting ability, but I have also begun to admire the way that she has broadened her skills into the fields of fashion, singing, and activism. Zendaya's courage is inspiring to many people. I feel that Zendaya has had to break through some barriers and has been judged based on her heritage. Zendaya has always embraced her family and her heritage, which is sometimes a difficult thing to do. This can be especially difficult when you are being judged based only on your heritage and not because of everything else that you are. Zendaya has taken on roles in activism and inspired young women everywhere. I plan to go to college and get a higher education so that I can continue to inspire others and empower women the same way that Zendaya does.

When I was only four years old, the thought of going to school terrified me. My older sister loved school and tried to convince me that I would love it too but I couldn’t handle the thought of being away from my family all day long. I got through my half-days of school in kindergarten by scheduling a time every day to call my mom from the principal's office. Graduating into the first grade brought with it the commitment of attending school all day, rather than going home to my mother by lunch time. I cried every day and I doubted that I would make it through the day, let alone the entire school year. I struggled every day until finally, my teacher came up with an idea that changed my life. One day while I was crying to go home, my teacher called me to her desk and began giving me stickers, feather boas, glitter, markers, paper, and tape. She told me that instead of doing the assignment that day, I could spend my time decorating my very own “princess chair”. She told me that I was very special and that I deserved a special chair that I could sit in every day at school. She let me decorate my own special chair and within no time, I began to look forward to going to school every day. I felt supported and loved by my teacher which caused me to put more effort into my assignments. I was encouraged every day to be creative and have fun. My first grade teacher changed my life by changing my attitude. She instilled in me a growth mindset that allowed for me to be creative, learn, grow, and make friends. After I decorated my own special chair in the first grade, I made friends that helped me to enjoy going to school. Ever since this day, I have looked at school as an opportunity rather than something that I had to go to. I am interested in pursuing a career in teaching because of the teachers that have inspired me and changed my life for the better. I want to be the teacher and the inspiration that I once had to the future generations that need to to feel loved and supported. I have been personally affected by my teachers and have seen what a significant impact they can have on their students. The impact that my first grade teacher had on me has inspired me to become a first grade teacher as well. I am passionate about helping kids to be the best they can be by introducing them to new skills such as reading and writing, as well as promoting creativity and the feeling of belonging.

When I was only 8 years old, my sister and I saw the New Super Mario Bros Wii game at the mall. We were very excited to play this game because it was a step up from the Super Mario Bros game we had on our DS’s. We saved up our money and bought this game as soon as we could. I remember the first time we played this game because it was different from any game we had ever played before. Running through each new level was thrilling, especially when we earned enough super coins to learn the secret shortcuts through the levels. We began playing this game for hours at a time, racing to get to each new world. This game holds so many of my favorite memories from my childhood. The most memorable moment from this game for me is when we finally got to World 8. We tried countless times to pass the first level in the final world but we failed. We began to run out of lives and decided to take a break and play all of our favorite levels instead. After many months of playing the other levels, we began to forget about World 8. One day, I told my sister that I would pass the level by myself and she laughed, telling me it was impossible. We both sat down and she watched as I ran full speed, passing the level in my first try. We were both amazed and could not believe that we were past the level that we had been stuck on for months. Once we got past Level 1 in World 8, we flew through every other level until we were at Bowser's final Castle. We assumed that it would be the hardest level that we had ever seen until we got to the halfway point in only 2 minutes. We couldn’t believe how easy the final level was. We easily defeated Bowser and we were ecstatic to finally rescue Princess Peach after all this time. When the princess turned around she revealed that she was actually the evil witch that helped Bowser throughout the game. A few seconds later, Bowser jumped back onto the screen, showing that he had grown so large that he took up over half of the screen. My sister and I were scared and excited to finish the final level because we had never seen anything like this before on our DS games. When we finally passed every level in the game, we were so proud of ourselves. Then we decided to start the game over again because of how much fun we had playing it. This game brings back so many great memories from my childhood and my sister and I will continue to play it as long as we can.

I can pinpoint the first time that I let anxiety take over my thoughts. When I was only five years old, I remember saying something to my family that I began to worry that they would think was crazy and weird. As soon as I said what I had said, I began to think “I wonder if they are thinking about what I said” which quickly escalated to, “I wonder if they are thinking about me thinking about what I said” and this stream of useless anxiety continued. I was worried that I would be judged and I was worried that they knew that I was thinking about it. Writing this out, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but anxiety usually doesn’t. Beginning on my first day of kindergarten, the first days (and sometimes the first month) of school have been extremely difficult for me. I struggled with this every year of elementary school until, finally, I knew that there was nothing to worry about. I would cry all day long because I was desperate to go back home to my mom so that I would be safe. When I was in the first grade, my anxiety was so bad that I would sit in class crying and refuse to participate in the lessons. One day while I was crying to go home, my teacher called me to her desk and began giving me stickers, feather boas, glitter, markers, paper, and tape. She told me that instead of doing the assignment that day, I could spend my time decorating my very own “princess chair”. She told me that I was very special and that I deserved a special chair that I could sit in every day at school. She let me decorate my own special chair and within no time, I began to look forward to going to school every day. This teacher had a huge impact on my life for two reasons. First, she made it possible for me to enjoy going to school because she made me feel safe, supported, and special. Second, she was the first person who taught me ways to cope with anxiety and to get past it, rather than letting it control me. Pursuing a college degree is important to me because I want to become an elementary school teacher and inspire students the way that I have been inspired. I want to help children to understand that anxiety is a real thing and that mental health is very important. I believe that teaching people about these problems and helping them to find solutions at a young age will be beneficial to their lives and their happiness.

My parents began bringing me to church when I was only four years old. We went to church on an irregular basis until it seemed like we only went on the Holidays. When I was eight years old, I began asking my dad every Saturday if we could go to church the next day. For many weeks, the answer was that we were too busy. Finally, one weekend my dad told me that my love of God and my desire to go to church had inspired him. After that day, we began going to church almost every weekend. I loved that I had inspired my dad to dig deeper into his faith, even though it had started as simple as going to church every week. I have always believed in God and I truly want to grow closer to Him and glorify him in every way that I can. My relationship with God stayed the same for most of my life. I have no doubt in my mind that God exists and that He is the one and only God of this world. Despite the difficulties I have gone through in my life, I never let myself end my relationship with God because of how much I trust him. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with alcoholism and abuse in my family throughout my entire life. The problems continued to get worse throughout my high school years until the police had to get involved and my family was separated from the problem. I had never felt so separated from God until the months after this happened. I was not mad at God but I let my fear overpower me and I struggled to talk to Him and hear His voice. I hated the way our relationship had changed and although I couldn’t hear Him, I did my best to continue going to church every Sunday. I did not want to give up on God because I know that He will never give up on me. A couple months ago I began to hear God's voice again with the help of a new friend of mine. I began watching videos and reading books that help me to understand more about God and who He created me to be. I plan to dig deeper into my faith and work on creating a closer relationship with God than I have ever have before. I plan to attend college as an education major because I aspire to be a teacher someday. I want to use the experiences and obstacles that God has given me to teach and guide others on their journey to God.

I have always been passionate about teaching young people everything they need to know in order to be successful in the future. I believe that early childhood education is one of the most crucial times in a person's life. Due to the way that children’s brains develop, there are specific times in every person's life when they are the most affected by what they learn and experience. It is important to teach children what they need to know in ways that engage, excite, and inspire them. As a teacher, I hope to get my students excited about learning and doing new things every day. I have volunteered as a Sunday school teacher at my church for multiple years and I have learned that the best way to keep children engaged in the lesson is to start off with a fun activity or conversation. By doing this, the children have time to get comfortable with their environment and the people around them. I have found that centering the activity around learning about the students' lives and preferences is very helpful in getting to know them better and discovering their learning styles in the classroom. Depending on the age of the student, small projects are often a helpful way to engage students in learning. Children are often more excited about learning and trying new things when they feel that they can use their creativity to make a difference. At some point in every student's life, they ask the question “When am I ever going to use this?” or “Why do I need to know this?”. I will answer these questions and motivate my students to learn by connecting lessons to their daily lives and the world around them. When students feel like they can make a difference in the world through what they learn, they are more motivated to try new things. I will also encourage students to be creative by offering prizes such as toys or stickers. In addition to this, I will work to create a meaningful relationship with my students so that they can feel encouraged by me. I will also incorporate educational and creative games into my lessons. Finally, I will teach in ways that reach all different types of learning styles. I will encourage my students to engage and participate in every lesson by allowing them to have time to get up and move, have brain breaks, and have choices to be creative throughout each day. Overall, I will encourage my students have a fun while learning.

I have been listening to Taylor Swift's music since I was about 4 years old. Swift is a huge inspiration to my sister and I because of how determined she is to do the right thing and inspire others. Throughout every obstacle she faces, she works hard to overcome difficulties and stay true to herself. Swift’s music is very relatable to many different people. She has a variety of music styles ranging from country and pop, to indie and folk music. Swift’s music has played a very big role in my life and helped me to discover who I am and who I want to be. It is well known that Swift has a lot of music that has to do with breakups and the sadness, pain, and anger that follows. I have always tried my best to be an independent woman like Taylor Swift. I have only had one boyfriend in my life, but unfortunately, that relationship ended up with him cheating on me. This occurred a few months before I got to go to the Eras Tour. This was a very difficult time for me and Swift’s music truly got me through this difficult time. Although I have always enjoyed singing along to her songs “Should’ve Said No”, “Picture to Burn”, and “Babe”, I had never related to them the way that I did after my breakup. These three songs and many others that Swift has written got me through this breakup and convinced me that I deserved much better than someone who thought it was okay to cheat on me. Swift’s music allowed me to get through all of my emotions by being sad, angry, powerful, and even happy. I listened to all of her music after my breakup and throughout the beginning of the summer. Unfortunately, we were not able to buy tickets to Swift’s Kansas City concert due to the problems with Ticketmaster. We decided that we would not let this stop us. We bought our outfits, made friendship bracelets, and got ready to tailgate outside of the stadium. We were very lucky when one week before her concert, we quickly registered to buy last minute tickets through the stadium, and got them. My sister and I were completely overjoyed that we would finally get to see Taylor Swift in Concert. The Eras Tour was amazing and seeing Swift in person, as well and listening to all of her songs, has made a huge impact on my life. The Eras Tour and Swift’s music has helped me discover how strong and resilient I am.

My favorite Spider-Man actor is Tobey Maguire. I feel that he truly brought Spider-Man to life through the storyline he created and the villains he fought. He went above and beyond in allowing for the audience to relate to Spider-Man. Although Spider-Man is a superhero, Maguire related his character to the audience by showing his struggles and his feelings, as well as the way he fought to overcome obstacles in every scene. There is a deeper plot line to the Spider Man movies that goes beyond Peter Parker becoming a superhero. First, he must deal with the loss and confusion of losing his parents. Although they passed away when he was a child, Maguire portrays the struggle Parker feels when his Uncle Ben treats him as a son. Very soon after Parker becomes Spider-Man, he loses his uncle Ben. Despite the significant loss and pain that Parker faces, he still fights to be a hero and save the world. Finally, I believe that Maguire portrays Spider-Man in the best way due to the way he handles his set of villains and friends throughout the series. When Parker learns that his first villain, the Green Goblin, is actually his best friend Harry’s father, he does everything he can to convince him to stop being a villain. Parker risks his own life as he avoids the wrath of the Green Goblin because he doesn’t want to hurt him. Unfortunately, the Green Goblin ends up killing himself by accident. Parker does everything he can to support Harry, even when Harry follows in his fathers footsteps to become the New Goblin and fight Spider- Man. Parker is very relatable to the audience in the way that he never gives up and shows his unending selflessness to protect his family and friends.

Throughout my life, my dad has had a steady career working for the Union Pacific Railroad. Throughout all of elementary school and middle school, my mom was a stay at home mom. My dad made enough money for us to be considered middle class. A lot of things changed when I got to high school. My dad has been a struggling alcoholic my entire life and in the middle of my high school career, a lot of things happened that caused my family to separate from my dad. This was a big change for many aspects of my family's life. This also caused a significant change to our financial life. I have learned a lot about finance throughout my life and have learned from my parents and teachers good and bad financial habits. Around the same time that our finances changed, I was enrolled in a class at my high school called “Personal Finance“. Throughout the class we watched videos by Dave Ramsey and learned how to be financially wise. I have learned that making smart financial decisions is 80 percent behavior and only 20 percent head knowledge. Being disciplined and setting rules and goals for yourself is the key to financial success. There are many things you can learn and do that will make it possible for you to stay away from debt and earn money for your future. There are different systems you can use when it comes to budgeting that will help you to keep track of your money each month so that none of it is wasted. Making solid plans for savings and investments is another way to make your money work for you. In addition to this, using cash to make purchases rather than a credit or debit card will save you money. You can make better deals by paying in cash. You will also save yourself from wasting your money on unnecessary purchases due to that fact that you will feel more pain and loss when you spend the cash you earned as opposed to how you feel when you swipe or tap a plastic card. I plan on using my knowledge about finances to have a better future. I know that although the world makes it seem like you can’t get through life without credit card debt, it is possible. I can get through college without going into student loan debt by getting scholarships, financial aid, and working my way through college. After college, I plan on buying used cars and creating a financial budget that will allow me to save and earn money to give myself and my family a steady financial future. The most important advice that I took away from Dave Ramsey is that it is never too late to start budgeting, saving, and creating a financial plan.

The greatest achievement that I have made in my life so far has been pushing through adversity and living with the struggle of addiction in my family. My father has been a struggling alcoholic since before I was born. He was a good and loving father throughout my life but unfortunately, he has always struggled with addiction. As time went on, his addiction continued to get worse. This got to the point that I spent most of my free time sitting next to him and helping him, rather than working on my school work or my athletics. I found ways to get to school early and spent all of my free time at school working on my homework and planning for my future. Although my family has faced a lot of challenges and felt a lot of pain, we have all done our best to get through the tough times together. I feel that I have had to support and protect my family much more than I should have had to at such a young age. Although this is true, I do not regret the choices I have made. The choices I have had to make to protect and help my family have made me who I am today. I am glad for the circumstances I have faced because they have taught me how to work hard and achieve my goals. My greatest achievement so far has been getting through the addiction in my family and succeeding in many other aspects of my life. Although I didn’t always have a lot of time to work on schoolwork at home, I have maintained a 4.0 GPA or above throughout all of middle school and high school. I have taken some college courses throughout my high school career as well as maintaining leadership positions in my school. I have held leadership positions in Student Council, Rise Up Reno, and Marching Band throughout all of high school. Each challenge that I have faced has taught me that I am stronger than I thought I could be. I have learned that I can achieve great things by working hard and following my passion. Furthermore, I have discovered a passion for supporting and helping others. I have decided to further my education at college so that I can help young people to reach their full potential and achieve great things, despite the circumstances they may face. In the future, I hope to continue to make great achievements for myself and help those around me. I hope to become a teacher and inspire others to work as hard as they can to achieve great things.