Sound mental health is the keystone to my life, and it influences how I approach my education, work, and volunteer efforts. As a student in the Honors College at the University of Missouri pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology and an accelerated Master’s in Dietetics, I know that rigorous academic success requires a balanced approach that prioritizes mental wellness. My studies in nutrition have shown me that both physical and mental wellness are essential to a healthy, fulfilling life. Maintaining mental wellness is crucial for me to achieve my goals and contribute positively to my community. During high school, where I graduated summa cum laude, I learned that a proactive focus on mental health allowed me to perform my best academically and personally. Today, as I balance my studies with roles as a Nutrition Assistant at the Mizzou Athletic Training Complex and a Nutrition Associate at University of Missouri Health Care, I am constantly reminded that my effectiveness depends on prioritizing mental health alongside my physical well-being. One core practice that supports my mental wellness is volunteering. I spend time with local food pantries and animal rescues, where I can step outside my academic and professional environments to focus on giving back. Volunteering allows me to connect with people and animals in meaningful ways, which is both grounding and rewarding. By contributing to the welfare of others, I feel a sense of purpose and satisfaction that positively impacts my mental health. For me, mental wellness involves not only managing stress but also fostering compassion and empathy through community service. In my daily routine, I also make space for mindfulness. Practices like journaling and meditation help me stay centered, which is essential as I balance multiple responsibilities. Working at the Mizzou Athletic Training Complex, where I help develop allergen-friendly menus and create informational fliers, has shown me how nutrition impacts mental clarity and mood. I am intentional about maintaining balanced meals and hydration, knowing these habits can prevent energy crashes and support mental resilience. Exercise, which is central to my studies in exercise physiology, is also integral to my mental wellness. Regular physical activity—whether through a workout, a quick run, or even a stretch break during study sessions—helps reduce stress and boosts my energy levels. Exercise, along with spending time outdoors, gives me the mental reset needed to handle challenges and maintain focus. Additionally, I find creative expression through baking. As the founder of Peach Pit Bakery (peachpitbakery.com), a home baking business I started in 2017, I find that developing recipes and designing intricate desserts provides me a creative outlet beyond academics and work. This balance of structured professional responsibilities and creative pursuits brings joy and helps me sustain mental wellness. In my journey to become a registered dietitian, I am committed to mental wellness not only for myself but also for the communities I hope to serve. This scholarship would support my growth, helping me to continue building resilience and well-being as I pursue a career where I can advocate for a holistic approach to health, one that values mental wellness alongside physical health.

Baking and pastry design are everything to me. I love art of all kinds and have created artwork with many mediums before realizing that I wanted to build a career out of baking and designing desserts. Whether it’s cupcakes, candy, cakes with towering and flowering tiers, intricately designed decorated cookies, cake pops, cocoa bombs, or cream puffs, if it’s fun to look at and sweet to eat, it has my undivided attention. While many teenagers are spending time gaming or skateboarding, I spend my time tinkering with recipes and practicing icing piping techniques. I bake when I’m happy, I bake when I’m stressed, and I bake whether I have a consumer for my planned desserts or not. As a young student, my family was very active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch far beyond the kitchen. I am excited to be able to develop a career where I can exhibit my creative culinary ideas and skills. After I realized that I wanted to turn baking and pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. Soon, they were sharing my name with their friends and family. These small orders helped me hone my skills and develop a network of customers. I’ve made desserts and cakes for baby showers, weddings, graduations, retirements, and multitudes of birthdays. During that time, I decided that the next step I needed to take toward my goal was to create an online marketing platform. I settled on a name for my future bakery, Peach Pit Bakery, and began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly, I started gaining followers each day and that was important in helping me create a network of professionals online to bounce ideas and challenges off of, and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. So far I am self-taught, I have spent a multitude of hours watching Youtube videos and online tutorials in an effort to sharpen my skill set. I plan to continue working on my education for the next four years. I am enrolled in the accelerated Master’s coordinated program in dietetics which is well known for its expertise in clinical nutrition. I then plan to take the national Registration Exam for Dietitians to officially become a Registered Dietitian. My sister (also a college student) has Type 1 Diabetes and her diagnosis inspired me to enter the field of nutrition. My ideal career would be opening a bakery that caters to those with special dietary needs, such as those living with diabetes, celiac, or allergies.

As a young student my family was very active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the community diversity luncheon during Black History Month and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch far beyond the kitchen. As a result, when I was considering clubs to join in high school, I specifically leaned toward organizations that had a foundation in community service. I wanted to make sure I chose an organization to volunteer with that was meaningful and dear to me. Food service is something that I had experience with and hope to eventually make a career of, so I sought out the Ozark Food Pantry near my home to contribute my time to. I was immediately welcomed by the existing volunteers and taught about the remarkable outreach this pantry accomplishes on a weekly basis. At the pantry, I helped stock the bread and pastry sections with donated goods. Before volunteering at the food pantry, I was not aware of how many individuals in my community needed assistance and I found myself looking forward to being there. It was very gratifying and humbling to help. I was so impressed with the impact that the food pantry was having that after I completed my service hours, I decided to continue volunteering there regularly. Later, as an upperclassman and now NHS Treasurer, I was energized to return to the food pantry and bring along new members. As a group we have returned several times. My volunteer experience at the Ozark Food Pantry has educated me on the importance of food programs in the lives of so many individuals in my community and allowed me to see the topic of hunger as a crucial need. I have decided to attend the University of Missouri to obtain a degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Management. My intentions are to open my own bakery. Based on my time as a volunteer at the food pantry and the knowledge I gained, I have been inspired to facilitate a program at my future bakery in which I produce an additional 10% of each prepared item to donate to a food program such as a school weekend backpack program or food pantry. This will help ensure that my bakery is a pillar in my community and to make sure I am giving back and sharing my experiences as a volunteer with my staff and customers.

As a young student, my family was active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch beyond the kitchen. In those kitchens I realized that I have a passion for hospitality and decided to pursue an education and career in the food service industry. I have been inspired to become a small business owner and I plan to design and build a bakery. After I decided to turn pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. I then decided that the next step should be to create a marketing platform. I began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly I started gaining followers each day and this was important in helping me create a network of professionals to bounce challenges off of and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. I knew that experience in kitchens that were larger than my home kitchen would be beneficial to achieving my goal. So, when choosing community projects to volunteer in, I put an emphasis on organizations that needed aid relating to hospitality and food services. As a Junior in high school I began volunteering my time at the Ozark Food Pantry in my town. In addition to volunteering at the food pantry, I donated my time making baked goods for my local Diversity Luncheon held to honor Black History Month. Last year, I baked, decorated, and donated 700 cupcakes for the luncheon desserts. This project was both an honor to participate in and a lesson in high volume food preparation. With the satisfaction of using my passion to give back to the community, suddenly the idea of simply opening a bakery began to evolve into the idea of a bakery that serves the community in more ways than just satisfying my customers’ sweet teeth. I began to consider incorporating a community service aspect into my business model and have decided that when I open my bakery, I will plan to bake an extra 10% of all of my products for donations to my food pantry or a weekend school backpack food program. I will attend University of Missouri-Columbia this fall to obtain a degree in Hospitality Management and a minor in Business. Then I plan to earn a certificate in Baking and Pastry Arts at a culinary school. While I have taken many steps so far to achieve my goal, I feel strongly that a formal education in the Hospitality and Business areas will help ensure that I have the foundation to grow my young business into a respected and long standing pillar in my community.

I am especially interested in French cuisine and pastry arts and I plan to pursue a career in the culinary arts. Specifically, I aspire to be a small business owner with my own bakery. My mom also has a deep love for cooking and often had Julia Child’s television shows on at our house. We would later visit Julia’s personal kitchen on display at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. It’s an experience I will never forget, and Julia Child has become one of my greatest inspirations. I think you will be surprised to learn my admiration for Julia has less to do with her cooking accomplishments and more about how she chose to live her life. Julia and I have many things in common. Julia found education to be of very high importance, and so do I. Many people don’t know that she didn’t learn to cook until she was well into her 30’s. She attended Smith College and earned a degree in History and later became a research assistant for the Secret Intelligence division at the Office of Strategic Services. Julia would later go on to earn ten honorary doctorate degrees from various academic institutions. Another common interest that Julia had, that I share, is a desire to be active and athletic. Julia was 6’2” tall and a star basketball player in high school and college. She also enjoyed tennis and golf. I have been a member of the soccer and track and field teams at my high school, and I also enjoy playing tennis. Later, Julia would go on to say that being active helped her to be able to eat the indulgent foods she enjoyed cooking, like butter and a good steak, without guilt. I certainly can’t argue with that logic, and I would be excited to ask her about other strategies that she took regarding self-care. Julia possessed traits that I aspire to possess myself. If I had the chance to meet her, I would ask her about how she persevered through events in her life that were challenging. She published many books, but her first one took nine years to finish! This is the kind of tenacity that I hope to have when considering my future goals. Julia had a quality about her that never allowed her to even consider giving up, we could all use a lesson in that. Another admirable trait that Julia Child had is her concern for philanthropy. She famously donated her kitchen to her Alma Mater, Smith College. Julia also created the Julia Child Foundation which offers grants to non-profit organizations that help increase the impact of non-profit, food related causes. Giving back to my community through food service is something that I hope to incorporate into my business plan as a future small business owner. Undoubtedly, Julia would have so many answers for me about my baking endeavors, but also great lessons about a happy life in general.

As a young student, my family was active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch beyond the kitchen. In those kitchens I realized that I have a passion for hospitality and decided to pursue an education and career in the food service industry. I have been inspired to become a small business owner and I plan to design and build a bakery. After I decided to turn pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. I then decided that the next step should be to create a marketing platform. I began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly I started gaining followers each day and this was important in helping me create a network of professionals to bounce challenges off of and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. I knew that experience in kitchens that were larger than my home kitchen would be beneficial to achieving my goal. So, when choosing community projects to volunteer in, I put an emphasis on organizations that needed aid relating to hospitality and food services. As a Junior in high school I began volunteering my time at the Ozark Food Pantry in my town. In addition to volunteering at the food pantry, I donated my time making baked goods for my local Diversity Luncheon held to honor Black History Month. Last year, I baked, decorated, and donated 700 cupcakes for the luncheon desserts. This project was both an honor to participate in and a lesson in high volume food preparation. With the satisfaction of using my passion to give back to the community, suddenly the idea of simply opening a bakery began to evolve into the idea of a bakery that serves the community in more ways than just satisfying my customers’ sweet teeth. I began to consider incorporating a community service aspect into my business model and have decided that when I open my bakery, I will plan to bake an extra 10% of all of my products for donations to my food pantry or a weekend school backpack food program. I will attend University of Missouri-Columbia this fall to obtain a degree in Hospitality Management and a minor in Business. Then I plan to earn a certificate in Baking and Pastry Arts at a culinary school. While I have taken many steps so far to achieve my goal, I feel strongly that a formal education in the Hospitality and Business areas will help ensure that I have the foundation to grow my young business into a respected and long standing pillar in my community.

As a young student, my family was active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch beyond the kitchen. In those kitchens I realized that I have a passion for hospitality and decided to pursue an education and career in the food service industry. I have been inspired to become a small business owner and I plan to design and build a bakery. After I decided to turn pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. I then decided that the next step should be to create a marketing platform. I began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly I started gaining followers each day and this was important in helping me create a network of professionals to bounce challenges off of and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. I knew that experience in kitchens that were larger than my home kitchen would be beneficial to achieving my goal. So, when choosing community projects to volunteer in, I put an emphasis on organizations that needed aid relating to hospitality and food services. As a Junior in high school I began volunteering my time at the Ozark Food Pantry in my town. In addition to volunteering at the food pantry, I donated my time making baked goods for my local Diversity Luncheon held to honor Black History Month. Last year, I baked, decorated, and donated 700 cupcakes for the luncheon desserts. This project was both an honor to participate in and a lesson in high volume food preparation. With the satisfaction of using my passion to give back to the community, suddenly the idea of simply opening a bakery began to evolve into the idea of a bakery that serves the community in more ways than just satisfying my customers’ sweet teeth. I began to consider incorporating a community service aspect into my business model and have decided that when I open my bakery, I will plan to bake an extra 10% of all of my products for donations to my food pantry or a weekend school backpack food program. I will attend University of Missouri-Columbia this fall to obtain a degree in Hospitality Management and a minor in Business. Then I plan to earn a certificate in Baking and Pastry Arts at a culinary school. While I have taken many steps so far to achieve my goal, I feel strongly that a formal education in the Hospitality and Business areas will help ensure that I have the foundation to grow my young business into a respected and long standing pillar in my community.

As a young student, my family was active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch beyond the kitchen. In those kitchens I realized that I have a passion for hospitality and decided to pursue an education and career in the food service industry. I have been inspired to become a small business owner and I plan to design and build a bakery. After I decided to turn pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. I then decided that the next step should be to create a marketing platform. I began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly I started gaining followers each day and this was important in helping me create a network of professionals to bounce challenges off of and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. I knew that experience in kitchens that were larger than my home kitchen would be beneficial to achieving my goal. So, when choosing community projects to volunteer in, I put an emphasis on organizations that needed aid relating to hospitality and food services. As a Junior in high school I began volunteering my time at the Ozark Food Pantry in my town. In addition to volunteering at the food pantry, I donated my time making baked goods for my local Diversity Luncheon held to honor Black History Month. Last year, I baked, decorated, and donated 700 cupcakes for the luncheon desserts. This project was both an honor to participate in and a lesson in high volume food preparation. With the satisfaction of using my passion to give back to the community, suddenly the idea of simply opening a bakery began to evolve into the idea of a bakery that serves the community in more ways than just satisfying my customers’ sweet teeth. I began to consider incorporating a community service aspect into my business model and have decided that when I open my bakery, I will plan to bake an extra 10% of all of my products for donations to my food pantry or a weekend school backpack food program. I will attend University of Missouri-Columbia this fall to obtain a degree in Hospitality Management and a minor in Business. Then I plan to earn a certificate in Baking and Pastry Arts at a culinary school. While I have taken many steps so far to achieve my goal, I feel strongly that a formal education in the Hospitality and Business areas will help ensure that I have the foundation to grow my young business into a respected and long standing pillar in my community.

As a young student, my family was active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch beyond the kitchen. In those kitchens I realized that I have a passion for hospitality and decided to pursue an education and career in the food service industry. I have been inspired to become a small business owner and I plan to design and build a bakery. After I decided to turn pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. I then decided that the next step should be to create a marketing platform. I began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly I started gaining followers each day and this was important in helping me create a network of professionals to bounce challenges off of and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. I knew that experience in kitchens that were larger than my home kitchen would be beneficial to achieving my goal. So, when choosing community projects to volunteer in, I put an emphasis on organizations that needed aid relating to hospitality and food services. As a Junior in high school I began volunteering my time at the Ozark Food Pantry in my town. In addition to volunteering at the food pantry, I donated my time making baked goods for my local Diversity Luncheon held to honor Black History Month. Last year, I baked, decorated, and donated 700 cupcakes for the luncheon desserts. This project was both an honor to participate in and a lesson in high volume food preparation. With the satisfaction of using my passion to give back to the community, suddenly the idea of simply opening a bakery began to evolve into the idea of a bakery that serves the community in more ways than just satisfying my customers’ sweet teeth. I began to consider incorporating a community service aspect into my business model and have decided that when I open my bakery, I will plan to bake an extra 10% of all of my products for donations to my food pantry or a weekend school backpack food program. I will attend University of Missouri-Columbia this fall to obtain a degree in Hospitality Management and a minor in Business. Then I plan to earn a certificate in Baking and Pastry Arts at a culinary school. While I have taken many steps so far to achieve my goal, I feel strongly that a formal education in the Hospitality and Business areas will help ensure that I have the foundation to grow my young business into a respected and long standing pillar in my community.

As a young student, my family was active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch beyond the kitchen. In those kitchens I realized that I have a passion for hospitality and decided to pursue an education and career in the food service industry. I have been inspired to become a small business owner and I plan to design and build a bakery. After I decided to turn pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. I then decided that the next step should be to create a marketing platform. I began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly I started gaining followers each day and this was important in helping me create a network of professionals to bounce challenges off of and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. I knew that experience in kitchens that were larger than my home kitchen would be beneficial to achieving my goal. So, when choosing community projects to volunteer in, I put an emphasis on organizations that needed aid relating to hospitality and food services. As a Junior in high school I began volunteering my time at the Ozark Food Pantry in my town. In addition to volunteering at the food pantry, I donated my time making baked goods for my local Diversity Luncheon held to honor Black History Month. Last year, I baked, decorated, and donated 700 cupcakes for the luncheon desserts. This project was both an honor to participate in and a lesson in high volume food preparation. With the satisfaction of using my passion to give back to the community, suddenly the idea of simply opening a bakery began to evolve into the idea of a bakery that serves the community in more ways than just satisfying my customers’ sweet teeth. I began to consider incorporating a community service aspect into my business model and have decided that when I open my bakery, I will plan to bake an extra 10% of all of my products for donations to my food pantry or a weekend school backpack food program. I will attend University of Missouri-Columbia this fall to obtain a degree in Hospitality Management and a minor in Business. Then I plan to earn a certificate in Baking and Pastry Arts at a culinary school. While I have taken many steps so far to achieve my goal, I feel strongly that a formal education in the Hospitality and Business areas will help ensure that I have the foundation to grow my young business into a respected and long standing pillar in my community.

As a young student, my family was active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch beyond the kitchen. In those kitchens I realized that I have a passion for hospitality and decided to pursue an education and career in the food service industry. I have been inspired to become a small business owner and I plan to design and build a bakery. After I decided to turn pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. I then decided that the next step should be to create a marketing platform. I began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly I started gaining followers each day and this was important in helping me create a network of professionals to bounce challenges off of and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. I knew that experience in kitchens that were larger than my home kitchen would be beneficial to achieving my goal. So, when choosing community projects to volunteer in, I put an emphasis on organizations that needed aid relating to hospitality and food services. As a Junior in high school I began volunteering my time at the Ozark Food Pantry in my town. In addition to volunteering at the food pantry, I donated my time making baked goods for my local Diversity Luncheon held to honor Black History Month. Last year, I baked, decorated, and donated 700 cupcakes for the luncheon desserts. This project was both an honor to participate in and a lesson in high volume food preparation. With the satisfaction of using my passion to give back to the community, suddenly the idea of simply opening a bakery began to evolve into the idea of a bakery that serves the community in more ways than just satisfying my customers’ sweet teeth. I began to consider incorporating a community service aspect into my business model and have decided that when I open my bakery, I will plan to bake an extra 10% of all of my products for donations to my food pantry or a weekend school backpack food program. I will attend University of Missouri-Columbia this fall to obtain a degree in Hospitality Management and a minor in Business. Then I plan to earn a certificate in Baking and Pastry Arts at a culinary school. While I have taken many steps so far to achieve my goal, I feel strongly that a formal education in the Hospitality and Business areas will help ensure that I have the foundation to grow my young business into a respected and long standing pillar in my community.

Baking and pastry design are everything to me. I love art of all kinds and have created artwork with many mediums before realizing that I wanted to build a career out of baking and designing desserts. Whether it’s cupcakes, candy, cakes with towering and flowering tiers, intricately designed decorated cookies, cake pops, cocoa bombs, or cream puffs, if it’s fun to look at and sweet to eat, it has my undivided attention. While many teenagers are spending time gaming or skateboarding, I spend my time tinkering with recipes and practicing icing piping techniques. I bake when I’m happy, I bake when I’m stressed, and I bake whether I have a consumer for my planned desserts or not. As a young student, my family was very active in our community on various hospitality and cooking committees. Cooking Thanksgiving meals at church, volunteering to make desserts at the Community Diversity Luncheon during Black History Month, and donating baked goods for community fundraisers has taught me so many lessons about life and relationships that stretch far beyond the kitchen. It was in those kitchens as a volunteer that I realized that I have a passion for hospitality and decided to pursue an education and career in the food service industry. I am excited to be able to develop a career where I can exhibit my creative culinary ideas and skills. I decided that gaining experience in kitchens that were larger than my home kitchen would be beneficial to achieving my goal of opening a successful bakery. So, when choosing community projects to volunteer in, I put a high emphasis on organizations that needed aid relating to hospitality and food services. This allowed me to both serve the public and gain valuable experience with the organization of food service. I plan to attend college to earn a degree in Hospitality Management and Business. This will help me be as prepared as possible when I design and open my own bakery. After I realized that I wanted to turn baking and pastry arts into a career path, I thought a good first step to accomplish my goal would be making and selling items to friends and family. Soon, they were sharing my name with their friends and family. These small orders helped me hone my skills and develop a network of customers. I’ve made desserts and cakes for baby showers, weddings, graduations, retirements, and multitudes of birthdays. During that time, I decided that the next step I needed to take toward my goal was to create an online marketing platform. I settled on a name for my future bakery, Peach Pit Bakery, and began to establish a social media footprint. Excitingly, I started gaining followers each day and that was important in helping me create a network of professionals online to bounce ideas and challenges off of, and to look to for inspiration. You can view some of my cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peachpitbakery/ or https://www.facebook.com/peachpitbakery on Facebook. With the satisfaction of using my passion to give back to the community, suddenly the idea of simply opening a bakery began to evolve into the idea of a bakery that serves the community in more ways than just satisfying my customer’s sweet tooth. I began to consider the thought of incorporating a community service aspect into my business model and have now decided that when I finally meet my goal of having my own bakery, I will intentionally plan to bake an extra 10% of all of my products for donations to my local food pantry and to a weekend backpack food program at the elementary school in my town. I plan to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management with an emphasis in Food and Beverage Management, and a minor in Business. After I graduate, I plan to obtain a certificate in Baking and Pastry Arts at a culinary school. While I have taken many steps so far to achieve my goal, I feel strongly that a formal education in the Hospitality and Business areas will help ensure that I have the foundation to grow my young business into a respected and long standing pillar in my community, but it’s my love and passion for baking and cake design that I know will hep my business thrive.