I have always known that music is how I will help people. When I was younger, my mom would bring me to Barnes and Noble and I would sing and dance on the children's stage, attracting a crowd of curious parents whom I was more than happy to entertain. All this being said, helping people through music is something that was inspired by my siblings. I have been writing music since the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to express my feelings and connect with others. I have found that my music has allowed me to connect with people in a way that I had never experienced before. I will touch on this in more detail later, but this connection, making people feel understood, is what keeps me on my path. I partake in many extracurricular activities, I am part of the Songwriters Tour Group which traveled to LA and played at Hotel Cafe and Tiny Room Studios. I am part of a Sketch Comedy group, I organize gigs for the songwriters at Interlochen, I volunteer as a contemporary music assistant, and I volunteer as an instructor/music director at Broadway Bounds summer theater camp every year to teach the next generation of creatives. I also attended GRAMMYCamplast summer, run by the Grammy Foundation, where we learned all about the business and how to co-write, run a band, and negotiate fair deals. These experiences have brought me the opportunity to connect with so many wonderful people and hear their stories. As an artist, work is interesting but very fulfilling. One of the best parts of my job as an artist is being able to talk to so many different people about their lives. I love being able to connect on such a personal level with people through my music. I often work gigs that I book myself, such as performing at bars and restaurants for a fair of about $150 each. I also volunteer at many different places, including MSVMA (for choir festivals), Interlochen Arts Academy (Managing gigs for singer-songwriters, organizing community events for contemporary musicians, and running peer-to-peer songwriting sessions), and my dad's bar (for larger events with music), as well as volunteering during the summer at Imlay City High School teaching acting, singing, dance, and songwriting to the next generation of artists in the local area. As I mentioned before, helping people feel seen and heard through my music is my calling, I know it. After I played one of my songs “Ugly Dress” at Kresge Auditorium in our show with Grammy Winning Artist Patrice Rushen, a young girl came up to me teary-eyed and said that she felt the same way. She felt like she wouldn’t be enough no matter how she tried, but when I sang the heartfelt lyrics about feeling ugly and similar sentiments, she could feel heard. She felt less alone and she said that if everybody felt ugly and insufficient then at least we all have something in common. That stuck with me and I use it as motivation for every song and every performance I do now. Reaching people and helping them process, helping them feel less alone is what I have to do for the rest of my life. This scholarship would provide me with the funding that I need to achieve my dreams and continue my mission of helping people heal through music.