“It was a dark and stormy night...” the distressed student began to type on her laptop. Her teacher had given the class a creative writing assignment. Each student had only three minutes to draft a story based on the prompt written on the smartboard. With her fingers hovering over the keyboard and her eyes glued to the clock, her mind spun in wild thoughts. Usually, creative writing was her area to shine, but today was a different story. Maybe a child feared the lightning popping outside his window. Or a hurricane storm was on the verge of growing out of control. What if a dog got stuck in the sewer? So many ideas flooded her mind, but none were good enough to type in the document. The timer slowly counted down; five...four...three...two...one. The sound of typing grew scarce as the timer rang aggressively. The prompt on the smartboard shifted. The students had five minutes to use the phrase, “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys. Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.” Even more confused, the student searches for what the phrase means. She discovers the prompt is a line of lyrics from a song released in 1963 by Peter, Paul, and Mary. The song is titled Puff the Magic Dragon. She chuckles a little as she tries to add those lyrics to her story. What if the lyrics came from a children’s book? She even considered the dragon living in a cave near the shore. Each idea seemed worse than the last. Why a dragon, of all things? How is that supposed to fit into any story told on a rainy night? How was she supposed to combine these storylines? None of them flowed together, or at least to her. The assignment seemed simple to the students around her. All she could hear was the rapid typing coming from the class. She peaked at the students in front of her. Their documents were almost two to three pages long. At the front of the room, Garcia's fingers sped across the keyboard, Wilson bopped his head to NBA YoungBoy lyrics, and Kirsten tried to make sense of her story. The student sat lost in her world, waiting for the next prompt. With little relief, the student adds the final prompt to her story. “Only the most broken people can be leaders,” she starts her last paragraph. The satisfaction that came with ending the story was magnificent. 1,965 words in total: filling up four pages. Before pressing the royal blue submit button in the top right corner of the screen, the student decides to take a refreshing sip of water out of her water bottle. A classmate bumps into the back of her chair, causing the water to spill all over her laptop. The screen turns black, and the student screams in despair. All her work was wasted over a quick sip of water.

Nothing is more intimidating than the blank document staring back at you as you try to come up with some impressive background story to blow away the admissions office of any college. Truthfully, there is no real reason why I enjoy writing. Nothing is more satisfying than stretching my imagination across blank college-ruled notebook paper. At an early age, I had my heart set on becoming a well-established author. During my spare time, I would draft thousands of creative storylines. Whenever we had writing assignments in class, my teachers were astonished by my skill. Some of my teachers strongly encouraged me to participate in creative writing competitions. It took quite some convincing, but I finally entered a creative writing competition. I was surprised when I discovered I came in second place for the entire district. Along with my passion for writing, I enjoyed creating a difference. It wasn't until high school that I realized I could make my skill valuable by enrolling in a Journalism class. Every week students would feature their articles in the county's newspaper. I had three of my articles featured in the newspaper. Throughout my experience in Journalism, I grew fond of reporting. In a way, reporting helped me continue storytelling through real-life situations. By the end of high school, I wanted to major in Journalism or Public Relations Mass Communication. I didn't want to report entertainment and celebrity gossip. I envisioned myself as either an investigative or political journalist. I wanted to be the person to deliver breaking news; tell the world about the events going on around them. I wanted to interview the president of the United States: shake his hand and ask him how he's been. I dreamed of covering live footage of a national crisis. The prices of colleges and universities convinced me otherwise. Tuition and fees alone ranged from $6,000 to $12,000. Not to mention books, housing, transportation, meal plans, etc. I don't want to be driven away from my dreams because of financial reasons. I have applied for several scholarships, none of which have been successful in my favor. I happened to stumble across this scholarship in particular. The scholarship's description was everything that I needed. With the "Alicea Sperstad Rural Writer Scholarship," I can reduce the cost slightly. I can put this money towards my education to further my career as a Journalist. Achieving your dreams is never cheap.

"Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me? Why is my reflection someone I don't know?" Mulan sings as she isolates herself after bringing dishonor to her family. Time and time again, I would have my parents rewind the VHS tape to replay that song. We didn't own a DVD player quite yet at that point. For as long as I can remember, Mulan has been one of my favorite Disney characters. Her heroic actions have molded me as a young adult. The theme of Mulan didn't concentrate on finding "true love" like in other Disney movies. In the beginning scenes of Mulan, we discover that Mulan is not fit to be a "perfect daughter" or a "perfect bride." She fails her test, bringing dishonor to her family. As we all know, Mulan disguises herself as a man and joins the army in place of her father after learning that China is under attack. She worked twice as hard to prove she was just as qualified as anyone else. No matter how difficult the challenge was, Mulan continued to exceed her potential. When Mulan's comrades discover that she is a female, she is relieved of her service and told to go home. When the palace is under attack, Mulan rises to the challenge. She ends up saving the Emperor and the entire country of China. Mulan is a hero in every way possible. She may not have been "perfect," but she did what she felt was right. She risked it all to save her country.