Like physical health, mental health plays a critical role in the path our life takes. When we struggle with our mental health, even the smallest tasks can seem insurmountable. It becomes easy to shut down and derail, however like physical health, there are things we can do to help improve and manage our mental health to ensure we function at our fullest potential. I have had many times when my mental health has created barriers to me performing at my best. I am the type who likes to be involved in everything, and I often take on too much at once. This causes me to become overwhelmed, stressed and to feel like things are hopeless at times. This in turn affects my personal life, these feeling and emotions manifest as moodiness and lethargy. I can become short and lash out at my family and friends due to the burden I am feeling. Instead of feeling a push to get things done, I often feel like I just want to do nothing because I don't even know where to start. I know this is not an option though as I have goals and plans for the present and the future and shutting down will not allow me to achieve these goals. I have worked hard to learn how to manage my mental health, and the feelings and emotions that lead me to feeling stalled. I think the most important thing I have learned is to give myself grace. When I get to the point that I feel so overwhelmed I cannot function, I allow myself to feel that for a minute. I allow myself to take a nap or just lay down and watch a show for 30 minutes, but the key point is I cannot stay there. I indulge those feelings and then I get up and tackle things one step at a time. Instead of lashing out at family and friends, I explain to them how I am feeling at the moment, which often leads to them helping me if there is anything they can do. Instead of beating myself up because once again I took on a load to large, I remind myself that the reason I take on all these things is because it brings me joy knowing that I am working towards my goals in life. There are also things I do daily that I feel help improve my mental health. I enjoy running and working out, I spend time with those that I love, I journal my thoughts and feelings. These things help to keep my mental health well day to day and make it so I am better prepared to handle things when they start to feel a little to heavy.

My name is Aralyn Goldsmith, and I am a rising senior at Aztec High School, in Aztec, New Mexico. Growing up, I always enjoyed helping others. Sometimes, I would go help serve at a soup kitchen with my grandmother. Other times, I would beg my mom to give the guy on the corner a couple bucks, because he sure needed it more than we did. Regardless, these small acts of kindness made my heart full. It wasn't until middle school, when I ran for the student council, that I truly discovered my passion for service-oriented leadership. Initiatives like hygiene drives, community cleanups, and visits to the senior center opened my mind and made me realize that it isn't impossible to create change, big or small. Since then, I've stuck with student council, where I was Class President my freshman and sophomore years. While in those positions my main job was to help my fellow underclassmen become acquainted with the uncertainty of high school. I also helped organize a service project where we made handmade toys for the dogs at our local animal shelter, which we donated alongside blankets and food. I was elected as Student Body Secretary my junior year, as well as the First Vice President of the New Mexico Association of Student Councils (NMASC.) On a school and community level, my main focus for this year was to connect our high school students with students at our three elementary schools in town. Since I have younger siblings who attend the schools, I connected with the PTO and paired up big kids with little kids for their field days, holiday celebrations, and field trips. During my tenure with NMASC, I helped organize our statewide leadership conference and camp. I worked with my other officers to promote the state project, which was, and still is, Project Connection. As the First Vice President, my primary job was elections at the annual state conference. My biggest goal for the year was to encourage people to step out of their comfort zones and find a passion for service and leadership the same way I did. I feel I achieved this goal because at our state conference, we had double the amount of presidential candidates than is normal for NMASC, there was also in increase in the number of candidates we had running for other positions as well. Finally, my senior year I am honored to be chosen as the Region 6 Representative for the NMASC, where I serve to represent New Mexico at nation-wide student council meetings and conferences. This year we hosted the National Vision Conference for Student Leaders, in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. At this conference, with over 28 States in attendance, I did my best to provide a warm welcome to other student leaders, some who had never been to this side of the United States before. As the Student Body President-Elect this year, I plan to further everything I've already done and continue to find creative ways to help my school and community. The skills I've learned in student council have prepared me for the world ahead. I have improved my public speaking, organizational skills, confidence, and my quality as a leader has developed beyond what I would have ever thought possible. I plan to get my bachelors degree in Political Science, and go on to obtain my law degree. The expenses of post secondary education, add up quick. This scholarship would be beyond helpful in assisting me in my education, and I would be honored to be chosen as the recipient. Thank you so much for your consideration!