I believe that I began to notice an effect on my mental health during Covid. However, unlike a lot of my peers, not right at the beginning. When we first were sent home from school, I was okay with it. I had been way overstretching myself with extracurriculars, and the break was really nice. Then still, when we weren’t allowed back, I was happy. I like my family, and we had recently gotten a puppy, so I was required to go outside on walks every day. I enjoyed not doing anything, and found online school work to be easy. I spent the summer going to the gym with my mom and watching Criminal Minds. However, in the fall, school started again. I knew that I would not learn anything online, so I went in person. I don’t know if I would have fared better online, but I was not happy in school. All of my friends were online, and I would go whole days without speaking to anyone. At some points, I would even be the only person in my classes. I was incredibly unhappy. That spring, I asked my parents to get me a therapist, and she diagnosed me with depression. I would have thought that when life started to go back to normal, my symptoms would clear up and I would return to life with the same passion and desire to fill up all of my free time. However, this was not the case. I lost interest in many of my activities, I lost the desire to do try on school assignments, and I found myself turning down invitations from my friends because the idea of getting up off the couch was unfathomable. I felt like I was losing my friends and they were annoyed with me all the time, because I was so unreliable. It was at this point I was diagnosed with social anxiety. This put a name to something I had been feeling my entire life. I have always struggled with making friends. I have said that I just struggle in social situations, because I don’t understand what to say or that I’m just really awkward. However, when I told people about my social anxiety, every person (including my mother) said that it made a lot of sense. Or, in some cases, were astounded that I didn’t already know that, because they definitely did. Now, while it still relatively new, it is nice to know that when I think that my friends all hate me because I made a comment they didn’t laugh at, it might just be in my head. These struggles are something that I have to live with. I have many friends who struggle with the mental health as well, and I always try to help them as best I can. This is one of the reasons that I want to go into the field of psychology. I want to know how to help people when they are struggling. I want to be a person who you can trust to lead you in the right direction and help you live a happy life - because I know what it’s like to feel like that isn’t possible. This is how I want to help other people who struggle with their mental health.

I believe that I began to notice an effect on my mental health during Covid. However, unlike a lot of my peers, not right at the beginning. When we first were sent home from school, I was okay with it. I had been way overstretching myself with extracurriculars, and the break was really nice. Then still, when we weren’t allowed back, I was happy. I like my family, and we had recently gotten a puppy, so I was required to go outside on walks every day. I enjoyed not doing anything, and found online school work to be easy. I spent the summer going to the gym with my mom and watching Criminal Minds. However, in the fall, school started again. I knew that I would not learn anything online, so I went in person. I don’t know if I would have fared better online, but I was not happy in school. All of my friends were online, and I would go whole days without speaking to anyone. At some points, I would even be the only person in my classes. I was incredibly unhappy. That spring, I asked my parents to get me a therapist, and she diagnosed me with depression. I would have thought that when life started to go back to normal, my symptoms would clear up and I would return to life with the same passion and desire to fill up all of my free time. However, this was not the case. I lost interest in many of my activities, I lost the desire to do try on school assignments, and I found myself turning down invitations from my friends because the idea of getting up off the couch was unfathomable. I felt like I was losing my friends and they were annoyed with me all the time, because I was so unreliable. It was at this point I was diagnosed with social anxiety. This put a name to something I had been feeling my entire life. I have always struggled with making friends. I have said that I just struggle in social situations, because I don’t understand what to say or that I’m just really awkward. However, when I told people about my social anxiety, every person (including my mother) said that it made a lot of sense. Or, in some cases, were astounded that I didn’t already know that, because they definitely did. Now, while it still relatively new, it is nice to know that when I think that my friends all hate me because I made a comment they didn’t laugh at, it might just be in my head. These struggles are something that I have to live with. I have many friends who struggle with the mental health as well, and I always try to help them as best I can. This is one of the reasons that I want to go into the field of psychology. I want to know how to help people when they are struggling. I want to be a person who you can trust to lead you in the right direction and help you live a happy life - because I know what it’s like to feel like that isn’t possible. This is how I want to help other people who struggle with their mental health.

I joined my local fire department when I was a freshman in high school. My friend was joining, and wanted someone to do it with her. I am always up for new experiences, so despite knowing nothing about being a firefighter, I also joined. I love being a part of the department and this community. However, this isn’t why I have stuck with and become so committed to the fire department. My continued involvement has stemmed from the joy I get from helping my community. Because I am a junior in my department, I am not allowed in the burning buildings or to make judgment calls on medical calls. However, I am still able to help. I remember on my first ever medical call, I was tasked with holding a neck brace and being a runner in case the EMTs needed anything from the ambulance. This wasn’t a very major job, but it also wasn’t what made me feel important and gave me that sense of caring. Instead, it was the comfort I was able to provide to the family. Sometimes I think that responders can get wrapped up in the patient and ignore everything else. While this is often necessary, because it is the patient who needs the medical attention, it means that family or friends nearby can be left anxious and confused. Being able to provide these people comfort and a bit of explanation as to what is happening in a situation is something I greatly enjoy. Further than this, my department also gives to the community in other ways. One of my favorite traditions we have is the Santa comes to town event. I used to go to this when I was a kid, and the flashing lights and getting to sit on Santa’s lap was so magical to me. Now, I am able to be apart of this magic. I ride down on the fire truck with Santa on top, and I get to help hand out the little gift bags we give to each child. The most meaningful part of this to me, however, is not the main event. My favorite part is when Santa and some of his elves (us juniors) drive around to low income families to deliver gifts to their children. I am fortunate to have a mom and dad who were able to give me gifts every year, but I know that not everyone is able to do that. That I get to be apart of bringing these children joy during the holidays is something I look forward to each year. The fire department has become such an important part of my life. It is somewhere where I am the most comfortable, and where every person I met is someone is someone I wanted to know better. Above all, however, it brings meaning to my life.

I joined my local fire department when I was a freshman in high school. My friend was joining, and wanted someone to do it with her. I am always up for new experiences, so despite knowing nothing about being a firefighter, I also joined. I love being a part of the department and this community. This experience has allowed me to understand how important helping people is to me - and this is one of the reasons why I have such an interest in psychology. I like to think that I am a person who is able to stay calm under pressure, which makes me a good resource in emergency situations, which are common in both a fire department and psychology as a profession. However, what fuels my love for psychology specifically has to do with how psychological emergencies are typically internal. They are not something which can be visually assessed and externally medically diagnosed. It requires much more complicated processes to understand a person's inner thoughts. In college, I am mainly interested in exploring the topic of psychology. I have been interested in the topic of psychology for a long time. I remember researching psychology jobs my freshman year of high school, and was fascinated by forensic psychology. My goals have become a bit different from then, but to the same effect - I am currently in my third year of psychology classes. My favorite class during my partially online Sophomore year was my psychology class, and, because the library was closed, I even had my psychology teacher sneak a book about psychopaths out of the library for me. Psychology is so interesting to me because I like to understand how people work. I like to be able to understand the motivations behind people's actions. However, I don't think I would enjoy being a clinical psychologist. Instead, I want to also pursue a pre-med track during my bachelor's degree, and then attend medical school to become a psychiatrist. The practice of psychiatry involves the interaction of disorders in the body, and involves complex treatment techniques and medicines. It is a very complex job, but it is the complexity that fascinates me. Further than this, I am the kind of person who wants security. My dad was the same way in this, and always says that he became an architect because it was a secure job. However, he would have loved to own his own business like my grandpa. I don’t want this kind of settling in my life. However, I also want to go to school for something that I can get a job in. This means that psychiatry makes a lot of sense. I am fascinated by psychology, but a major in psychology doesn’t give the kind of secure job I want. However, going to medical school would give me this certainty that I desire.