I have long struggled with mental health challenges, and easily the most prominent of the several issues i struggle with is my Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (otherwise known as OCD). I was diagnosed it as well as GAD and a majot depressive disorder when I was around nine years old. I have been taking medication for my mental health for over half of my life now, but I still struggle with a lot of anxiety and stress. I've been in and out of therapy over the years, but it's only been recently that I've finally found a therapist that I truly feel like I can connect with. I will not say her name for the sake of her privacy, but I'll say that I have been in therapy with her for around a year and a half now. We have worked together on many things, and I believe that being able to go to therapy has saved my life. Even though I am on medications, I still need to utilize a lot of other strategies to get through the day. Some days, weeks, and months are worse than others, of course, but overall my most effective coping skill has been to distract myself by doing something creative. This is usually drawing, writing, or programming. I'm majoring in software engineering, but I've also been an artist and writer for 9 years, and I find great solace in creating stories, characters, and artwork. I want to help support other people dealing with mental health challenges throughout my career, especially those who are neurodivergent and/or disabled. I am autistic, and as such i struggle with executive dysfunction. I want to develop an app to help other disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill people to organize their life. I've been referring to this app in my mind as "Moonlight", because I've noticed that many neurodivergent and disabled folks tend to prefer to get work done in the evenings and are often more productive then (myself included). My plan is for the app to be a task tracker and calendar that incorporates gamification elements. I have many ideas for "Moonlight", but I don't feel anywhere near confident enough in my programming skills to make it yet. I would love to one day, though! I want to show others that I can succeed in spite of my challenges, and to prove everyone who ever disbelieved in me wrong. I want to show the world that people who struggle with mental health are just as capable of success as anyone else.

My personal favorite aspect of Minecraft is- and this may sound odd- creating huge maps of the Minecraft world. Whenever my friends and I start a world, I begin creating maps of it as soon as I possibly can. I create a large wall with item frames, and frame all of the maps I make. It gives me a feeling of satisfaction and control over something virtual, which is something that I don't often feel in real life. I also really like exploring in general; discovering structures such as pirate ships, mineshafts, and ocean monuments fills me with joy. I suppose it's a 'thrill of the hunt' type thing. It always feels nice to have my efforts rewarded with items or even just discovery of something. I also quite like the newer trail ruins, though I haven't really had much of a chance to explore those yet. I've been playing Minecraft on and off periodically since I got my first device that could possibly play it- a Kindle Fire- when I was in fifth grade. I fell in love with the game and, though there are times when I'm not playing it, I have never stopped loving it. I have so many good memories of Minecraft, and it holds a special place in my heart.

As a disabled software engineering student, I believe that I have a unique opportunity to aid others like me who may need more assistance in certain areas of life than their abled peers. As I continue to improve on my programming skills, I see more and more areas of technology which are not as accessible as they should be. A specific improvement that could be made to help disabled people training to work in the tech industry, for example, could be a program that suggests next steps for students based on their current skill in coding. Even though I am still fairly early on in my coding journey, I find that it can be extremely difficult to figure out what I should do "next" when I am coding. I know what I want the program to do, but I often find it difficult to put it into computer-speak. I know that I am certainly not the only one who struggles with this, so I think that some form of AI that guides you in the right direction when you are coding as opposed to giving you the answers, which is, in the long run, more harmful than good.

I want to use my education to help other LGBTQ+ and disabled people who are struggling and facing uncertainty in life. I want people who face challenges similar to my own to never have to feel the way I have about it. I myself am going through a very turbulent period and have been for the last four or so years- possibly even before that. I am a young transmasculine person who has not yet been able to transition due to the disapproval of my parents. I had intended to hide my gender identity from them until the last minute, but I was forced into coming out to them in November 2023. This kickstarted a period of even more stress and depression than I had already faced previously due to dysphoria and feeling that I could not even breathe at home without being judged. Now, I am a student at East Carolina University. I am struggling in paying my dues because my parents are only funding my meal plan. I took out the maximum amount of loans that I could, which is only covering Spring/Fall tuition. Thus, my dorm fees are coming directly out of my bank account, and I can only afford that for so long before I run out of money. At this point in my life, while I am in such desperate need of money in order to escape manipulative and emotionally abusive parents, it is very hard for me to think past anything but the present moment. Sometimes, it is all I can do to get through the day. I love being here at ECU, but my fear is that I will run out of money before I finish my degree, and thus be stuck for the rest of my life at a low-paying dead-end job. This is the very last thing that I want to happen. All I have ever wanted is to have a career that can pay my bills and also be somewhat fulfilling to me, as well as aid others who need it. At the moment, though, my financial worries are an overriding concern that shadows my everyday life. Assuming that I am indeed able to afford to finish my education, I have several ideas for software engineering projects that I believe could be of real use to folks. For example, I have an app which I hope to create one day- Moonlight- which will act as a to-do list and task tracker for disabled and chronically ill people like myself. When your body and mind are often working against you, it can be hard, if not impossible, to get things done without something to keep you on track. I, for one, have found that creating to-do lists and reminders on my phone is one of the only ways I can truly get work done. Moonlight, as an app, would be geared towards not only finishing tasks, but also being kind to yourself. I believe that disabled people such as me deserve an equitable chance to succeed compared to our able-bodied peers, and I want to help make that a reality.

My name- my chosen name, that is- is Ashe Spivey, and I am a biromantic asexual trans man. The LGBTQ+ community has made a huge impact on my life over the past eight or so years. Before I even realized that I was queer and trans, I had many friends who were LGBT or questioning. In fact, I can count on one hand the amount of friends I have who are not queer! I first came to the realization that I was in some way non-cis about four or five years ago now. It has only been recently, however, that my parents forced me to come out to them, and then outed me to the rest of our family without my permission. Friends and found family have been very important to me within the past three years of my life especially. I'll just say it bluntly: without my friends, I would probably not be here. My friends have given me what my family never has: unconditional love and support, non-judgmental feedback, support when I needed it most, and, above all, they believe me when I tell them that something is upsetting me. I don't hate my parents. As a matter of fact, I love them. But despite my unconditional love for them, their love for me hinges on me being straight and cis. I'm still trying to figure out how in the world I'm going to navigate that. I know that I won't be able to deal with an inability to transition, so I'm going to have to figure out a way to transition in which they won't completely drop financial support for me while I still need it. This is why I am in financial need; even though my parents are fairly affluent, I do not trust them to support me financially. Even now, The costs of tuition and boarding are being fronted by me. The only thing that they are helping with financially right now is food. And because my parents are affluent, I am not considered to be 'in financial need' by the FAFSA... but in reality, that's the furthest thing from the truth. As for my major, it's taken me a while to settle on one fully. In high school, I wanted to major in creative writing and minor in some form of art. During most of my time at community college, I wanted to pursue a degree in graphic design. Nowadays, I've finally settled on what I believe would be an amazing career for me: software engineering. It's only been a few years since I began to realize my passion for development, specifically game development and web development. Though I am still very much a beginner at programming, I am extremely passionate about learning how to create software. Now that I'm at university, I'm getting closer and closer to being able to do that. During the current Spring 2024 semester, I'm having to first get a few general education credits out of the way. I unfortunately did not know that I needed these credits until recently, seeing as I switched my intended major. With that being said, I am very excited and very passionate about development, and I look forward to the future!

My name is Ashe Spivey, and I was born with a VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect). My defect is around 4mm in diameter, so it is a medium size. It has stayed this size my entire life, and my cardiologist doubts that it will ever close without surgery. Throughout my life, I have struggled with this for many reasons- and not the least of these is the fact that my mother chose to quit her dream job in order to stay home and help take care of me during my vulnerable early days. This is something that I still feel guilty about to this day, despite the fact that no one has ever tried to make me feel as though I was at fault. I worry that, even from the beginning of my life, I was destined to be a burden to others, and that there isn't anything I can do to make it up to them. After all, it's not like I can change the way I was born; nor can I go back in time and try to convince my mother to keep her job... though none of this stops me from feeling the guilt I feel whenever the topic comes to mind. Aside from feeling like a burden to my family, my VSD has also affected my athletic and physical abilities. Since childhood, I have tired quite easily when exercising, and this has only continued to get worse as I have grown up. I have extreme difficulty attempting to complete any kind of exercise, especially running, as my heart simply cannot keep up. It pounds very hard against my chest after even around 20-30 seconds of running, and I struggle mightily just to breathe. Sometimes, even walking can be a struggle- the longer I walk, the harder it gets, and the more often I need to take breaks. Going up even small flights of stairs is difficult, and often causes me to feel pain and weakness in my legs in addition to shortness of breath. Finally, I struggle with chronic fatigue. This is a symptom that I have dealt with for a long time, but it has increased in severity over the past 5 or so years. It was far less noticeable in my childhood. Near the middle of my high school career, though, I noticed that my body was far more sluggish than usual. I had to take frequent naps, sometimes even during class time, just to get through the day. It's been a bit better over the past 2 years, but it's still almost unbearable. Even getting out of bed can feel like a herculean task at times. Thank you for your kind consideration of my application.

My name is Ashe Spivey, and I am a neurodivergent disabled trans man whose dream job is to become a game developer and designer. I also have an interest in web design and UI/UX. I am a highly motivated and hardworking young person who is determined to succeed in both life and career, despite a difficult familial situation and financial issues. I am pursuing degrees in both software engineering and graphic design. I have a strong passion for creating and making, and this is something that shows in every aspect of my life. I love to write, to draw, to sing. Creating, for me, is as essential as breathing. It is central to who I am as a person. I decided to pursue software engineering because it will not only allow me to tell stories in the form of games, but also allow me another method of expressing myself. I am a firm believer that code is a creative endeavor, and it is another thing that gives me purpose in life. A recent project that I have been working on, which is at a more conceptual stage at the moment, is Moonlight- a task tracker and day planner designed for disabled and chronically ill people. It is very important to me to try my best to help other people who are in a similar situation to me, as I know how soul-crushing and lonely it is. I hope that one day, no one will have to endure this pain.

My name is Ashe, and I first became interested in computer science through, ironically, art. For a long time now (since the beginning of sixth grade), I've been enamored with telling stories through both drawings and short stories. This passion eventually led me to the idea that perhaps, one day, I could make my own game to tell the story that I had been writing for years. My passion for game development began there. Though the initial interest period was fairly short-lived due to my lack of skill, not to mention lack of time, the passion festered slowly over the next two years until it showed in full force all over again near the beginning of 2023. I'm really not sure exactly what sparked it, but I poured myself into self-study of HTML and CSS, and then started to learn Python from there. Though I'm still a beginner at programming, I have a strong passion for the craft, and a thirst to learn more. My dream job is, as you may have guessed, to work as a game designer and developer. I want to be a sort of jack-of-all-trades. I have a burning want, a need even, to create and tell stories. I'm passionate about programming, but I'm also passionate about writing and design! I want to work for a game company and pour my heart and soul into my work. I want to be as helpful as I possibly can for a team, and I want to help in any way needed. In my future career, I hope that I can be someone who is not a big boss or CEO, but a team player who works with their colleagues to achieve great things. I don't want to watch and observe others doing work; I want to be in the trenches, fighting to create something truly special. I feel that I am the best candidate for this scholarship because of my passion for what I do, but also because I am in a unique financial state. As a queer person who was forced to come out to their family, I face a difficult scenario in which I have two choices. I can either be myself but lose the financial support of my family, or live a miserable lie yet keep their financial support. Because of my parents' "expected family contribution"- of which I am seeing nowhere near the "expected" amount- I am not eligible for many forms of aid. I am currently in the process of applying for an independent status, but life is going to be a long, uphill battle, and I will need financial support to achieve my goals. Thank you for your kind consideration of my application.