I started life as a normal, happy-go-lucky kid who laughed in the face of danger and loved to be adventurous. During my seventh grade year, when I was twelve, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I am now twenty and am a junior in college. When I was first diagnosed, I was very devastated and didn't know how I would be able to live my life with purpose. I had very good blood sugar levels at first, always keeping an A1C below 6 or 6.5. However, some of that was thanks to the honeymoon phase that Type 1 Diabetics go through where my pancreas was still producing small amounts of insulin. After a couple of years, I started to pull out of this phase and my sugars started to get worse. It was becoming harder for me to keep my sugar under control. My doctors say part of this was to be expected as teenage hormones also usually increase sugar levels in diabetics. For a few years, I went through periods where my sugar was not great and my doctors said I needed to do something about it or I could be endangering my future. Trying to be someone who is able to balance even a normal life has always been hard, but constantly having to worry about my sugar and what I can eat or drink seems to make life so much harder sometimes. Within the past year, I finally decided to try and get a Dexcom G6 that could be used in association with my T-slim insulin pump. I was so scared to take this step as I thought it would just mean having two devices in my body at all times. Now, several months into having my Dexcom, I can't believe I didn't get it sooner! My sugar has been doing better and I have been able to keep better track of what trends my sugars are showing so that I can prepare for highs or lows. I am still on the road to getting my A1C back down to normal range, but I am for sure heading in the right direction as confirmed by my last doctor visit! As a student in college, where all that anyone usually wants to do is eat and sleep, it can be even harder to manage your diabetes. It was only when I first entered college that I was really able to come to terms with my diabetes and accept that this is the life that I now live. Not only that, but I can make the best out of life with this chronic illness and still strive for all of the goals that I want to reach and surpass. While I do struggle to eat right occasionally, I am weirdly thankful in a way for the constraints on my diet. Staying away from excessive sugar has helped me to become thinner than I was as a child and I know that it will benefit me in the future since many sugary foods are bad for you anyways. In an attempt to help my diabetes even more, I have been motivated to start working out in college and get cardio at least three times a week. I was so proud of myself for this as exercise is a struggle for me. Thanks to this, I did not gain the infamous freshman fifteen that so many people hate. Overall, my life has been a wild ride because of Type 1 Diabetes. Yes, I do wish that a cure would be found, but now I can live with it proudly.

Although I am a Biology Pre-med major, I fell in love with Environmental Science my senior year of high school and am currently taking Environmental Theory and Application at my university. It is true that climate change is among the top five factors that is effecting the environment today. For instance, carbon dioxide (CO2) has reached over 400 ppm in recent years which is higher than it has ever been! This along with the combination of other greenhouse gases, anthropogenic in source, have boosted global temperatures by several degrees on an average. This has numerous cons as it has caused increases in natural disasters such as typhoons, risen oceanic shoreline levels, endangered both species and ecosystems, etc. One might say, "There has to be an easy solution to this" ! Unfortunately, this is not the case. Some believe these issues can be solved by decreasing greenhouse gas production to appropriate and sustainable measures according to population size. This is somewhat of a good idea as the United States, of course, is producing roughly 20% of the global greenhouse gases even though we obtain only about 5% of the world's population. However, it is my strong belief that it is going to be a combination of ideas and practices that helps us to achieve the goal of long-term sustainability. Of course, there is going to be trial and error in coming up with a solution, but there are some policies that should be put in place to ensure that our goal is not impossible to reach. For example, unlike major parts of Europe, the United States is not a huge follower of the precautionary principle. We are a throw-away society that worries about the effects on the environment after the damage has already been done. In order to make progress in the positive direction, a stronger policy should be put into place that requires scientific evidence including segments of trial data to show that actions will not contribute to global or even local climate change. While current companies can make documents such as an Environmental Impact Statement, many companies find ways to sneak through the holes of our weak policies. One idea that I had in mind was to create a more extensive cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions and other sources of pollution that, sometimes understandably, are a necessity to produce for certain projects. While this doesn't directly prevent the production of pollution, it does limit the amounts of pollution that can be produced in a given amount of time and has been at least to some degree successful as exhibited by the current system. It has also come to my attention that issues involving environmental change and policy are largely attributed to one major political party over another in the United States specifically. One thing that must be done is to break this bewildering view by making a policy that, in effect, would call for an unbiased party that can help make environmental decisions without being associated with other political goals. If we do not work together as one people, one nation, one humanity, then there is little hope for future generations and the world we will leave behind.

Coming from a first generation college student, it is hard enough to adjust to college life when you don't know what to expect. Since high school, I have known that I wanted to pursue a career in the medical field for various reasons. However, I somehow found myself alone in my dorm room, crying my eyes out from homesickness after being in school for only one week. Not only am I a first generation college student, but I also come from a very small high school and town where everyone knows who you are. Needless to say, the transition to college life was very rough for me and I thought it would cause me to fail my first semester of college if I did not pull my act together. While this explosion of emotions was raging inside my head, I simultaneously found that as the days went by, I slowly became more adjusted to my new surroundings and rediscovered my passion for medicine along with my drive for achieving the previously thought impossible. Statistically, those deriving from a household in which one or both parents did not graduate college will have a lower income and have less academic opportunity. While this may have been and still is my case, I do not let that factor stop me from striding to the finish line which I currently have placed at graduating college in two years. The nice thing about this invisible finish line I have placed is that it can always be picked up and repositioned. Once I graduate from college, as I know that I will, my next finish line will be to graduate from medical school to become a doctor. These finish lines could arguably be called milestones; However, a finish line allows me to envision reaching and passing a major achievement where I can always start another race. I may not always finish first in each one of these races, but I know that I will always finish. First generation college students must always fight for their positions due to their lack of opportunity but some fail to succeed because of their lack of drive and motivation. I personally have been put through numerous trials and tribulations that tested my capabilities and willingness to sacrifice in order to reach where I am presently. For example, while dashing through the troubles of general life and college, I also combat a chronic disease, Type 1 Diabetes. Mentioning this might scream pity party to some, but I believe this disease pushes me further to overcome my student stereotype. If I keep pushing myself, I know that I can proudly represent those that have experienced rough times or come from low-income households. I am more than a Type 1 Diabetic. I am more than an opportunity determining tax bracket. I am a first generation college student and I'm proud!

Coming from a church background, when I think of art, I often think of music and talented singers. Music is one of the greatest forms of art and I have fallen in love with it over the years. One of my favorite artists/singers would have to be Charlie Puth as I have a similar vocal range to him and I strongly enjoy and envy his rare perfect pitch! Although I aspire to join the field of medicine through the pathway of STEM, music will always be an important part of my life that both inspires and drives me to do my best every day.