I believe mental health is very important because often the battle with mental health is fought alone. Individuals need to ensure that their mental health is secure in order to properly deal with any other matter. College is a very new and eye-opening experience for students. And without the right mindset, the college experience can be suffocating for those who are unprepared for the new experiences and responsibilities. I think one thing people severely underestimate is how harsh the transition can be when graduating from high school and moving to college. For roughly the first eighteen years of your life, everything is taken care of. You follow the same routine of going to school, coming home, and moving on to the next grade. In middle school, you may join a sport or a club. And in high school, you may get your license or get a job. But still year by year the routine is modified and yet still manageable with the support of parents, friends, and even school faculty. But upon entering college, no matter how much your parents may have attempted to prepare you for the new environment, as a student you must still contend with the fact that every decision you now make is yours alone and there is no one there to hold you accountable. There is no one to remind you to show up for class. The friends you make will not always have the same schedule as you, and the only one who can guarantee you will even get in next semester is you alone. Combine these issues with the fact that you now have to figure out how to afford three meals a day, and college can quickly become a very stressful place. Mental health is not always considered on college campuses and universities and students tend to have to sacrifice their mental well-being in the hopes of earning a degree. In my own experience, I have found that I was not as prepared as I thought I was to face these challenges. Mental health has remained a major issue for me in these last two years, and I have begun to practice setting time away from my studies and social life to unwind and relax. This is the key to mental wellness that I believe many students are not aware of. We are not meant to be able to juggle ten different things all at once which college often calls for us to do. We must give ourselves a break at least once a week to ensure we stay mentally prepared for the challenges that await us on campus and in our daily affairs. This subject is not spoken of enough on our college campuses and I believe colleges and universities have an obligation to speak out on mental health matters as they become more prevalent in today's society.

I hate commercials. I hate most types of advertising practices. I think the digital marketing techniques that have been utilized by individuals and corporations in the last few years have single-handedly destroyed the internet. Advertising in itself is not bad. The ads are bad. How can a multi-billion dollar company attempt to make an advertisement that is supposed to feel relatable to a working-class individual? Why do fragrance commercials think hiring a celebrity to pose with an exotic animal is going to make me want to buy the scent? And most importantly, why do advertisers think that the more that they show the ad, the more willing the consumer will be to buy the product? To me, the answers to these questions are quite simple. I think digital marketing is experiencing an imbalance. I think that advertisers and agencies in this digital economy have focused solely on ensuring that their product has reached a large audience and have neglected to ensure the good quality of the ads. This is why people hate ads. This is why I have chosen to pursue a career in this field. I don't think people will ever "love" ads. But I think with my ideas, they can find ads useful, and they will find them interesting. A good ad only needs to be seen once. The consumer will make their decision then. Seeing a product multiple times rarely changes someone's mind about it. This is why first impressions are everything, especially in digital marketing. In this field, my first main goal is to become a creative director. I want to lead from the inception of the advert. I come from a working-class family, so I am confident that my ideas would achieve relatability while maintaining effectiveness. In truth, I want to introduce people to a different type of advertising. When people watch my ads, I want them to feel as though they are watching a movie. An emotional movie that's less than a minute long. When they view digital image ads on sights, like Instagram or Twitter, I want people to feel as though they are viewing a piece of art. One of the best examples of this is "The Most Interesting Man in the World" commercials for Dos Equis. Not only did you want to be this man, but you also looked forward to hearing his fictional stories. It was arguably one of the best ad campaigns ever and helped the beer company soar in sales, at a time when similar companies were experiencing adversity. I think this type of marketing could benefit the digital advertising space. My goal as a creative director in digital marketing would be to bring as much of this talent into the digital world as possible. I want people to forget the "Skip Ad" button even exists. To do this, I will need help funding my education. I believe I am the right candidate for this scholarship because I am confident that given the best opportunity, I can make my mark in the digital marketing industry, and raise the standard of good advertising.

I I think the ability to translate languages using simple devices and apps in seconds is an extraordinary technological advancement. Before, the ability to communicate with people of other nationalities with different languages was extremely difficult and often required interpreters. But now, simple applications like Google Translate make communication viable. I used to work in retail at a very large store that benefited a diverse community. The people who regularly shopped there came from various backgrounds and cultures. I once had a customer come up to me who only spoke Spanish. She appeared to be wondering about an item but I had no idea what she may have wanted. Perhaps 100 years ago it would have been impossible for us to understand one another. But due to today's technology, I was able to simply pull out my phone, open Google Translate, and translate Spanish to English. I had the customer, speak into the phone in her native tongue, and then have google read back to me what she said in English. I could understand what she was looking for, and help her in a matter of minutes. I think this is an impressive technological feat. I can go anywhere in the world now, and be confident in my ability to communicate with everyone. There are even devices meant solely for translating languages that are affordable. I don't think globalization could have ever been possible without the use of this type of technology. While interpreters may still be preferred, especially in diplomatic relations where time is of the essence, it won't be long before you can speak to someone and understand them just as if they were speaking your language.