Have you ever been in an environment with lots of light and noise? Imagine Times Square in New York City at night. Cars are honking, billboards are flashing, crowds of people are talking. That is what a classroom can feel like for me. It’s hard to concentrate, and I can get overwhelmed and frustrated easily. Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. I don't know if I like having ADHD and dyslexia. Most people probably aren’t impartial to their disabilities, but I am. People tell me “ADHD is a superpower,” but I’m not convinced. Yes, it has its perks sometimes. My ADHD allows me to get hyperfocused, which helps me be creative with my artwork, but my dyslexia makes writing very difficult. I often feel like I lag behind others. No matter how smart or knowledgeable I am in a subject, my disabilities are always hurdles for me to overcome. I may know what the test is about; I studied for weeks and am the best in the class, but I can't focus enough to put the information on paper, and having dyslexia just compounds the issue. This inability to communicate my thoughts has made me constantly feel like I need to prove myself. I need to do better because of these drawbacks. I have been on medication for ADHD since the beginning, and that truly helps me focus. But that is another issue, I feel like I am cheating with my meds, that it’s not me that is doing so well; it’s the me with my meds. On the other hand, having these disabilities has led me to grow as a person, such as by advocating for myself regarding accommodations in the classroom. In high school, I often saw students with IEPs who did not want a separate setting or extended time on tests. I would always wonder why. I always asked for my accommodations to set myself up to do my best. Feeling this conflict between the good and bad with my disabilities pushes me to prove that I can be successful at architecture and will be an architect in the future. You could say my disabilities are what motivated me to pursue higher education. I want to help show other people who might doubt me that, yeah, I do have disabilities, but I am also a high achieving, almost 4.0 GPA architecture student who is not ever going to slow down. I may take medication to help, but at the end of my journey it was all of me that succeeded, not just the “me with my meds.” Like my mind works at 100 miles per hour, I’ll work 100% to become an architect. I know I have disabilities, and I still don’t know if I like them, but I do know that they are a part of me and a big part of why I am who I am today. Like Dylan, I am proud of what I have accomplished and want others to know that even with disabilities, you can achieve your dreams, making me a good candidate for this scholarship. Receiving this scholarship would help me take one step closer to my dream of becoming an architect.

The first time that I heard Chappell Roan was at her NPR Tiny Desk concert. After hearing her songs "Casual" and "Red Wine Supernova," I fell in love with her voice and lyrics, and that was before I even listened to the original songs instead of the more slowed down and less upbeat covers she did with NPR’s Tiny Desk concert. One thing I love about her is that even as a music star, Chappell Roan still acts human. She isn’t perfect and doesn’t pretend to be. How Chappell Roan makes it known that she is not and will never be perfect reminds me how I'm not perfect. I have my ups and downs with navigating school and work, just like she has her ups and downs navigating the music industry. I should not expect perfection out of myself if I don’t expect perfection out of someone I admire. Her songs may be what many people know her for, and as much as I love her songs like "Femininomenon," "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl," and "My Kink is Karma," there is so much more to her than her songs. I love how she expresses herself via her makeup or her clothing. She has such bright and energetic energy, which is incredibly evident in all she does. Her almost carefree nature has influenced me to explore myself via my clothing. In the last few years since I heard her songs, I have become a lot more open to trying new styles, and I've started not to care as much about what others think about what I am wearing because it's not for them; it's for me. Much like her music, she may get criticism about her songs, but she doesn't care. She doesn't do it for anyone else; she does it for herself, and that's what I love about her.