One thing you wouldn’t know about me from looking at my profile is my love for business. I always knew from a young age I would want to do something in the business field. I remember when I was younger, I opened a pet food store for my dogs at my house and pretended to sell food to my dogs in my kitchen. When I first started my high school career at Clinton High School, I told myself I was going to adventure out of my comfort zone and see if other career paths would interest me. I took the Health Sciences class at the Clinton Technical School, and although I enjoyed the class, I knew the business route was the way I wanted to go. My Fundamentals of Business teacher and my Advanced Marketing teacher has made me more than excited for my future in the business field. The hardest challenge I had to face was when I broke my arm. I had broke my arm in half and had to relearn how to use my arm and regain muscle. This injury prevented me from doing competitive dance that year and made me repeat a year of dance instead of leveling up. This was really hard for me because dance is my outlet and helps with my ADHD and my anxiety, but this has taught me that I’m capable of doing many things, no matter how hard life might get. One thing I take pride in about myself is my height. I grew up getting bullied for always being taller than everyone in my class. I am 5”10 I’ve started to embrace it more than hate it because it makes me stand out and I’ve learned to let it give me confidence, rather than hating it. As I’ve gotten older, many people tell me they wish they had my height and those comments make me feel special because I’ve always gotten criticized for how tall I was. My favorite way to give back to my community and is by tutoring kindergartners every morning. I’m so blessed to be able to work with such wonderful kids and help them grow and make new memories with them. I work with a different group everyday with different subjects and those kids are so excited to work with me in the mornings. This is my favorite part of my day and I would recommend more high schoolers do this through their school. I’ve learned so much from this experience and I would choose this in every lifetime.

When I was in the 3rd grade, I fell during a P.E. class and suffered from a bad arm injury. Both my radius and ulna bones broke in half. Six months after it healed, I fell at recess and re-broke it in half again, only this time it was much worse, and I ended up getting surgery. I had to relearn how to use my arm again and rebuild its strength. I was also in competitive dance at this time, and dance was my outlet. It helped with my ADHD and my anxiety disorder, and it let me express my emotions in so many ways. This injury set me back a year, preventing me from leveling up at my dance studio, and when I broke my arm again, I sat in a chair at my dance studio watching my classes, wishing I could be dancing with my friends. That was my breaking point. Breaking my arm has altered my life forever. My wrist doesn’t move normally as it used to, and muscles in my arm don’t get stronger anymore. Not being in dance for that time period negatively affected my mental health as well. Breaking my arm has taught me that, no matter how hard my life may get, it will get better and that I can still achieve things even with restrictions. I now know that I’m stronger than I thought and I can use my story to help others. My goal for the future is to continue to help others. I always knew I wanted to do something in business and marketing. I have decided I want to go into real estate and help people find not only their forever homes, but also home that are functional for people with disabilities. I want everyone to be able to live in a comfortable home that is suitable for any condition. When I was younger, parts of my house were inaccessible with a broken arm like the staircase because the railing was on the side of my broken arm. I want to be able to sell houses that are good for any scenario and let people feel like they’re rich in life with new and happy memories in a few and safe environment. I know real estate can be difficult, but I am determined to learn everything I need to know. No matter how hard it will be, I know I can make my dream come true by getting my real estate license and my business degree and make other people’s dreams come true too.

The movie that had the greatest impact on me is The Man in the Moon. The main character, Dani (14), meets the son of a family friend, Court (17), who initially dislike each other. After spending time together, Dani soon starts to fall in love with Court, but Court says he is too old for her. Dani changes herself to seem older for him but Court’s feelings don’t change. Soon Court meets Dani’s older sister, Maureen (17) who he soon falls in love with. Dani finds out and becomes upset and refuses to speak to them. Court ends up passing away in a brutal tractor accident, leaving Dani devastated and guilt stricken because he died with her being mad at him and never getting the chance to make amends. This impacted me many in many ways. It taught me not to take things for granted, to live in the moment, and to enjoy the little things in life. The movie opened my eyes to the importance of forgiveness because you never know when it’ll be the last time you’ll talk to them. Forgiveness isn’t just important to the other person, but for yourself. Dani was so quick to grow up for Court but by rushing it, she lost her innocence and had to grow up quickly. I also learned that there are many ways to deal with conflict and it helped me grow as a person. I tend to carry a lot of anger and this movie taught me to handle situations that can prevent anger and to fix a situation before things get left unsaid and fill me with regret. I feel like this coming of age movie is perfect for teenagers because it explains the authenticity of relationships, the hard switch from childhood to adulthood, and how small things can make big impacts with family and friend relationships. One of the themes that stuck with me is the beauty in shared grief of the sisters and how it brought them closer. Maureen and Dani have very different personalities and interests. But by them both falling in love with Court, they realized how alike they are. This taught me that everyone can find common ground when it feels like there isn’t any. The Man in the Moon showed me that growing up isn’t about rushing into adulthood, but about learning from the moments that shape who you become. Dani’s experience reminded me that maturity comes from understanding my emotions, valuing the people in my life, and learning how to let go of anger before it turns into regret. I’ve started to see growing up not as losing my childhood, but as gaining empathy and perspective.