What happens when a sport that required abundant time, energy, and money for the last nine years suddenly becomes something that could jeopardize the health and wellness of the athlete? For me, what started out as a healthy junior year and volleyball club season ultimately led to me having to put my health before the sport I had grown to love and cherish. Having played volleyball since third grade, the sport had become second nature to my daily life. I dedicated long, hard hours to practices, off-season, strength and conditioning, games, and watching films of teams in the pursuit of becoming a better player and teammate. It wasn’t just what I did. It became a part of who I was. In January of 2023, I received my second concussion while playing in a volleyball tournament. After having already gone through vision therapy and vestibular therapy from a previous concussion, I knew what would be required of me to return to the court. I understood that it would be a tedious process and take up time that I could have been devoting to more enjoyable things. However, when I put my mind to something, I will always give it my all. Due to having this mindset, I immediately started the concussion protocol and rehabilitation to get me back in playing shape. Concussions can have a cumulative effect, so the journey back to 100% was longer and harder than I expected. It felt like a weight I had to carry day in and day out, but I was more than ready for the challenge. After taking a while to reflect on what the sport meant to me and the importance of my overall health and well-being, I realized that I would have to let the sport I loved go to protect my physical well-being. Having made the decision, I took it upon myself to talk to my coach and let him know that even though I wanted to be a part of the team, I needed to put myself first and be my own advocate. The decision was hard to make, but I knew that I had weighed all of the pros and cons and was at peace with my decision. When I make a decision, I always follow through. Little did I know at the time that this would open many new avenues for my future. Since practice and games were no longer taking my time, my schedule freed up tremendously. This in turn allowed me to start working toward my future off the court. By using a hard experience to my gain I have learned many things. I applied and got a job working at a pediatric clinic, which I have always wanted to do. I knew this would benefit me tremendously in the long run to form my journey to become a pediatric nurse. Having gone through this experience, I know I can make difficult decisions on my own, weigh the pros and cons of a situation, and ultimately make the right decision to put my future first. Throughout all of this, it has shown me that I want to pursue a healthcare career. With my experience, I have discovered the role that healthcare workers have in the recovery of people’s health and well-being. It has shown me that it is important to have people in the healthcare field who are serious about making sure others are getting the care that they need. For these reasons, it became quite clear to me that I want to purse a career in healthcare.

Empowerment is people having power and control over their lives. People get the support they need that will be right for them. Empowerment means that people are equal citizens. Empowerment is an important part of people's lives. When people feel empowered they are likely in a better mood, leading to the people around them feeling better. When one person is empowered they can continue to empower others. Empowerment is important to me and my life. It is an important aspect of my life because when I am empowered I am more motivated. When empowerment is active in my life I feel like I can conquer anything and get tasks done. It makes me feel like I can do anything that I set my mind on. Empowerment also makes me feel like I have my life figured out. According to Google, empowerment can be defined as, “The practice of motivating yourself or others to accomplish important goals or objectives. It helps enable people to take initiative, make decisions for themselves, and solve complex problems.” I agree with this, I feel all of these things when empowerment is active in and around me. So, how does empowerment help people to take initiative? When I am empowered it helps me to take initiative because I feel as though I can finish the tasks. After all, those around me believe in me. It helps me to feel like I can start now and finish promptly. How does empowerment help people to make decisions for themselves? Empowerment helps people to make decisions for themselves by reassuring people that they can do it. If they start on the project and make the decision to do it themselves they will have those around them that will continue to support and empower them. Empowerment helps to solve complex problems. It can do this by teamwork and having others continue to empower their team members and those they are working with. It helps because there is a sense of community and the members usually agree. For these reasons, empowerment is used frequently in the workforce. Workspaces use empowerment and the idea of empowerment to provide employees with the resources, authority, opportunity, and motivation to do their work, as well as hold them accountable for their actions. This helps to make employees happier, more productive, and proficient. Empowerment also helps the workspace to have a sense of togetherness. As well, it makes people feel as though they are in this together and have a group of people who feel the same way. For these reasons, empowerment is an important aspect of every situation.

Book-to-film adaptations can help bridge the gap between reading and viewing experiences. When books are adapted into a film, it can help the reader interpret and understand the narrative, character visualization, form and language, and cultural and social context. This can be especially important when the student needs to retain information for a specific reason, such as school. When readers understand what is happening in the story they can better comprehend the book they are reading. While book-to-film adaptations can be great, there are also some downsides to making a book into a movie. When a book is poorly adapted into a movie, it can make understanding the material even harder. For example, if the director doesn’t follow the book, it will only confuse the reader. Book-to-film adaptations can also leave the reader feeling like they don’t remember as much from the book and only remember what happened in the movie. Lastly, it can also have a negative effect because books take longer to read and have more information, whereas movies are only a couple of hours and don’t have as much information. With that information, the book-to-film adaptation that was special to me and helped to bridge the gap between reading and viewing experiences was Wonder. Wonder is a story about a ten-year-old boy named August Pullman who suffers from facial differences. Due to his medical condition, he was home-schooled up until fourth grade. The book encapsulates his first year of school as a fifth-grade student attending Beecher Prep. So, why was Wonder one of my favorite book-to-film adaptations? The movie, Wonder, for the most part, is in sync with the book, making it easier for the reader and the watcher to understand what is going on. One of the ways that they are similar is through the plot progression and the character development. Above all, the movie, Wonder, does a great job of highlighting the powerful display of the character’s emotions and helps to give you a visual view of what was happening in the book. Now, every book-to-film adaptation has its cons. I think the hardest thing for a reader to see in the movie was that they didn’t have as much time to get to know the characters as they did in the book. This made the movie more condensed and made it feel as though only the main points were displayed. With all that being said, I think Wonder was a great example of a book-to-film adaptation. It helped me to understand what the characters went through, instead of just trying to visualize it in my head. The movie helped to give a clear view into what was going on in the book. I think the movie also helped to bring awareness to facial differences and the importance of treating all equally. For these reasons, I think Wonder is a good, well-rounded movie and book.

If my year so far had a soundtrack from the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album I would pick “All You Had to Do Was Stay.” I think “All You Had to Do Was Stay” is a fitting song because I try my hardest to love everyone, even if I don’t get the same in return. No matter how rude the person is, I will always try to find the good in each person. Since I was little, I have always tried my hardest to treat others how I want to be treated in relationships and friendships. For example, the song's second verse says, “And people like me wanna believe you when you say you’ve changed.” This is one of the hardest battles that I have to go through with people I have been in a relationship with. I always believe that people can change for the better. Therefore, I always give people more chances than they deserve because they potentially could have changed. This is a trait of mine that I am trying to work on. Just because people act like they have changed doesn’t mean that they have done the work that is necessary to truly change. Another amazing verse from the song that relates to my life this year is, “Then why’d you have to go and lock me out when I let you in?” This year, I feel like there have been a few instances where friends have pushed me away. When friends decide to up and leave for no reason it can be confusing because we wonder where we went wrong. In the end, sometimes we never did anything wrong they were just trying to protect themselves because they were ultimately afraid of getting hurt. As the song continues we see another line saying, “Here you are now, calling me up, but I don’t know what to say.” I think this exemplifies this year rather well. Sometimes once relationships or friendships have faded they try to come back, but once a bond is broken sometimes there is no way to fix it and you are just left with nothing to say. This can be hard because at some point you did love and care for that person, but in the season you’re in they don’t fit into your life at the moment. Taylor has another verse that portrays this year well. Taylor says, “People like you always want back the love they pushed aside.” One thing that I have found to be true is no one knows what they have until it’s gone. Once that person is out of your life, you can tell if they either had a positive or negative impact on your life as a whole. Usually, once people realize that you truly did have a positive impact they try to get back in contact with you. In the end, this whole album relates to 2024. Overall, I think the most relatable song is “All You Had To Do Was Stay.” The song has a lot of verses that remind you that if the person wanted to stay they would have stayed.

In decades, do you want your children and grandchildren to be able to live a life without having to worry about what will happen to the Earth? For most people, the answer would be yes. Therefore, we first need to learn how to make intentional choices to live sustainably in our day-to-day lives. So, what does it mean to live sustainably? Sustainable living means that you understand how lifestyle choices impact the world that we live in and you are willing to find ways to better the lives of others by taking care of the Earth. However, there are four very easy and simple ways that you can help to reduce the harm that we are putting on the Earth. In my day-to-day life, I try to make sure that I am following these rules and also encouraging those around me to do the same. The first rule is choosing local plant-based foods. This is important to me because this is one of the most effective ways to reduce the wide-ranging impacts of food consumption. As research states, “Agricultural expansion is driving almost 90 percent of global deforestation, while some 25 percent of the global land surface is used for grazing livestock.” This results in the biodiversity and ecosystem services to be tampered with. This is an issue because they help aid the shelter to the local communities, medicine, recreation, spiritual benefits, and economic opportunities. That is why changing to a more plant-based diet can help to aid in the longevity of the Earth. The second and one of the easiest ways to avoid polluting the Earth is to avoid short car trips. It is known that around 95 percent of the world’s transport is still fossil-fuel-powered. The transport sector accounts for around 23 percent of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, instead of making short trips by yourself you can either carpool, use public transportation, walk, or cycle to help reduce emissions and air pollution. The third way you can live sustainably is to think before you buy. This is important because people produce 2.24 billion tonnes of waste annually. Of this waste, only 55 percent is managed in controlled facilities. This is why it is important to change shopping patterns. You can do this by prioritizing what you need and buying products that last longer. This overall helps to reduce the use of high-footprint materials such as plastic, paper, and textiles, reducing waste, and associated emissions. The fourth way and final way that I choose to live a sustainable life is to make simple changes at home and work. Research shows that buildings account for around 21 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions; this is due to electricity, heating, and cooling. Humans can do this by using natural light, changing clothes instead of turning the air up or down, as well as shifting to more sustainable furnishings and energy-efficient appliances. Hence, it is also important to also reduce your carbon footprint. Carbon footprint is measured by the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to a person's consumption of fossil fuels. It is important to reduce your carbon footprint because it is easy and will help others in the future. The greatest thing about reducing your carbon footprint is that you will impact the environment greatly as well as the economy and public health.

The Met Gala is an annual fundraising gala to benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. The Gala is referred to as one of the world’s most prestigious and glamorous fashion events. It is an honor to be invited to the Met Gala. The Gala is held annually and many attendees are displayed on the cover and pages of Vogue. Each year the gala has a specific theme; this theme sets the tone for the formal attire of the night. After knowing the theme, guests must curate their costumes to fit the specific theme. Throughout the years, the Met Gala has evolved and improved. Due to the wide range of themes, it is hard to pick one specific theme that is the greatest. However, I am ever drawn to the 2018 Met Gala theme. In 2018, it was required that you dress as something “Catholic” or relating to the Catholic faith. I was drawn to this specific theme because it felt like many of the celebrities truly took their time to make their outfits exquisite. Overall, I felt like every attendee was put together in a rather modest and respectful way. Now, for my personal favorites and least favorites for females who attended the 2018 Met Gala. The female that was best dressed was Ariana Grande. Ariana Grande represented herself very well at the 2018 Met Gala. In the picture, Grande is wearing Vera Wang. Her dress came to a slight corset at the top and had baby angels all over it. Her makeup was rather subtle and complimented her outfit rather well. Grande added a nude bow to tie the outfit together for an extra kick. I wasn’t a huge fan of Greta Gerwig’s 2018 Met Gala outfit. Gerwig was dressed in Wearing The Row. Her outfit consisted of a nun-like “dress.” I didn’t feel like this fit because there wasn’t much to the outfit. She didn’t pair it with any added accessory, which I feel was needed for this specific look. Male-wise, I felt Chadwick Boseman showed out for the 2018 Met Gala. Boseman was wearing Versace. This outfit has accents of gold detailing. I felt as though it was a very fitting outfit for the theme. He kept it elegant and put together. I also really liked his shoes which matched the outfit. The extra pop of gold with the shoes was a great addition. Now, my least favorite male outfit was the Migos outfit. I felt like they could've pulled off a good outfit, but I felt like their outfits didn’t fit the theme. The Migos wore Atelier Versace and their suits were a mix of colors. I felt as though the suits didn’t resemble anything Catholic whatsoever. While it is hard to pick from so many different themes, I felt like the 2018 theme was a well-thought-out theme. I feel like it was a modest yet put-together theme. For the most part, many celebrities were on the theme and kept it simple yet elegant. In the end, the Met Gala is a prestigious and glamorous fashion event that encapsulates the celebrities' styles.

Netflix isn't just a good way to spend a peaceful night in the house with some popcorn, but it is also a good way to educate yourself on things that happen worldwide. There are so many different opportunities to watch shows and movies that are bound to fit everyone's wants and needs. My fan favorite right now is called Fool Me Once. Fool Me Once will keep you on the end of your seat wondering what will happen next. It has an amazing twist that you never saw coming. It is one of those movies you feel like you can't stop watching, no matter what time. The show is about a woman whose husband got murdered, but everything changes when she thinks that she has spotted her so-called “dead husband” on the nanny camera. This is just the beginning of the story that unfolds throughout the show. Although the ending leads you to believe there won’t be any episodes, you will feel as though you are satisfied with the ending, even if you didn’t expect it. As stated on the Internet, “The character Sami I thought was well acted and constructed, so special mention to him. The final twists and the solution were really good I thought and it was something I didn't even come close to getting. It answered all questions which is what you need with a mini-series.” In the show, Sami Kierce is the officer who investigates the main character’s husband's death. In the beginning, it felt as if Kierce might be on the opposing side of Maya and trying to get her into trouble, but Kierce’s character proves to be genuine towards the end of the show. We see this when he appears at the hospital with the main character's daughter while she is having her baby. This is important because we see through everything Kierce remained in her life since she was a baby. The greatest highlight of Kierce’s story is when we see that he has become a totally new man. Kierce went through ups and downs throughout the show, but in the end, he prevailed and created a life that he was happy to live. He is now a recovering alcoholic with a traumatic backstory involving the murder of his ex-fiance, as well as undergoing an undiagnosed and life-threatening medical condition, an impending wedding, and a baby on the way. Throughout all of this, we see Kierce continue to fight even when it is hard. I feel like this show wasn’t just a good watch, but it also felt like I had a personal connection with the characters at the end of the show.