No one would casually go about their day with a broken leg. A physical injury such as this can not be easily hidden or disguised. Anyone attempting to do this would immediately be told by concerned friends and family to go seek medical help and resolve this wound. We can all easily see the value of prioritizing our physical health yet many of us choose to neglect or ignore our mental health. Mental health awareness is essential to helping the individuals in our lives feel safe and reassured that they are not alone in their struggles. Help is always available and no one should be afraid of reaching out in their time of need. Emphasizing on a wide societal scale that maintaining proper mental health is equally as important as maintaining proper physical health is the first step towards helping to alleviate the struggles that many individuals face. Understanding that mental health disorders have the ability to affect all of us equally is essential to creating an environment where our affected loved ones can feel comfortable seeking the help that they may need to live a healthy lifestyle. Growing up surrounded by my family and some of my family friends I have always had a strong sense of service and helping others. My parents and my brothers have always turned their words into actions by doing whatever is needed in order to make others feel included and heard. They always go out of their way to lift others up and help alleviate their struggles. Having them as role models has encouraged me to live my life always helping others. One of the best possible ways to help those that surround us is to focus on improving the societal burdens that impact mental health. Finding solutions to these widespread problems is a personal goal of mine. As I move forward with my own life, my career goal is to one day be employed as an epidemiologist after graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Working as an epidemiologist at a public health department would allow me to be at the forefront of tracking and recording mental health trends and working to pave the way toward constructive solutions in order to combat mental health concerns as they arise. I hope to be able to work in a position where I will be able to implement critical change at the societal level that will lead to less stigma surrounding the open discussion of mental health awareness. While I am confident in my ability to achieve my goals, they do come with a hefty price tag. This scholarship can help serve as the first step in moving onto the next stage of my life so I can positively benefit the overall mental health awareness of my community in a constructive manner.

Ever since I was a child, I have been greatly interested in the legal field. While many of my peers at the time would have shied away from concepts such as public speaking, leadership, and advocation, these ideals have always been key features throughout my life. As time passed, I began to understand more about what being a lawyer actually means. Understanding and interpreting the law and using this information in order to help others instantly sounded like a career that I belonged in. I actively sought out organizations and opportunities that would help me in my journey toward achieving my career goal of becoming a lawyer. Service organizations such as the National Honor Society and Rotary Interact have taught me the importance of helping those in my community and leadership organizations such as student council and FFA have helped to strengthen my communication skills. Alongside my growing interest in law, came my love for science. I constantly put in the effort to challenge myself by pursuing higher-level science courses and devoting much of my time to working with my high school's Science Olympiad team. In order to combine my two passions, my goal is to one day become a Patent Lawyer. Patent law is a field that involves protecting and defending the rights and property of individuals at the forefront of scientific inventions. Using the skills I learned throughout my time in high school, I hope in the future to leave lasting impressions on the field of Patent Law. This career position puts me on the front line of innovation, helping to lead the way for future generations. My educational plans include attending Lyman Briggs at MSU to double major in Biology and Pre-law. After receiving my Bachelor's degree, I will continue on at MSU to attend law school with the goal of becoming a Patent Lawyer. Attending college these days is very expensive and this scholarship would be a tremendous help in achieving my desired degree. My plans include attending Lyman Briggs at MSU to pursue a degree in Biology. After receiving my Bachelor's degree, I will continue on at MSU to attend law school with the goal of becoming a Patent Lawyer. While I am confident in my ability to achieve my goals, they do come with a hefty price tag. This scholarship, in conjunction with my endless work ethic, is the first step in moving into the next stage of my life so I can continue to positively benefit my community in a constructive manner.

Ever since I was a child, I have been greatly interested in the legal field. While many of my peers at the time would have shied away from concepts such as public speaking, leadership, and advocation, these ideals have always been key features throughout my life. As time passed, I began to understand more about what being a lawyer actually means. Understanding and interpreting the law and using this information in order to help others instantly sounded like a career that I belonged in. I actively sought out organizations and opportunities that would help me in my journey toward achieving my career goal of becoming a lawyer. Service organizations such as the National Honor Society and Rotary Interact have taught me the importance of helping those in my community and leadership organizations such as student council and FFA have helped to strengthen my communication skills. Alongside my growing interest in law, came my love for science. I constantly put in the effort to challenge myself by pursuing higher-level science courses and devoting much of my time to working with my high school's Science Olympiad team. In order to combine my two passions, my goal is to one day become a Patent Lawyer. Patent law is a field that involves protecting and defending the rights and property of individuals at the forefront of scientific inventions. Using the skills I learned throughout my time in high school, I hope in the future to leave lasting impressions on the field of Patent Law. This career position puts me on the front line of innovation, helping to lead the way for future generations. My educational plans include attending Lyman Briggs at MSU to double major in Biology and Poltical Science. After receiving my Bachelor's degree, I will continue on at MSU to attend law school with the goal of becoming a Patent Lawyer. While I am confident in my ability to achieve my goals, they do come with a hefty price tag. This scholarship, in conjunction with my endless work ethic, is the first step in moving into the next stage of my life so I can continue to positively benefit my community in a constructive manner. I feel that there are many invaluable lesssons that can be taken from our history. Similarly to Ryan Herich, I have also always been a huge fan of learning about history and culture and I would love to be able to incoperate my passion into my future career. Regardless of the intended career field, I believe that having a solid foundation of these core ideas is essential to being a well-rounded individual. Moving forward with my education as a political science student, I would be honored to continue to positivly impact the world with the assistance of the Ryan T. Herich Memorial Scholarship.

Growing up surrounded by my family and some of my family friends I have always had a strong sense of service and helping others. My parents and my brothers have always turned their words into actions by doing whatever is needed in order to make others feel included and heard. They always go out of their way to lift others up and help alleviate their struggles. Having them as role models has encouraged me to live my life always helping others. One of the most impactful community service activities that I participated in would be anonymously purchasing Christmas gifts for local children in need. The holidays are a highly difficult time for families that are experiencing financial hardship and being able to lessen the load while making a child's dreams come true is an incredible feeling. Every child should have the opportunity to have a happy childhood without worrying about stressful financial difficulties and being able to facilitate that dream has made a lasting impact on my life. This experience has taught me that the greatest joy in life is found in selfless service in order to better those around you. Another instance in which I feel I learned an invaluable lesson from a community service activity would be when I helped to coordinate donating Thanksgiving food baskets for local families in need. This was a project where I was placed in a position of power in order to direct the other volunteers that were working alongside me. This experience showed me the value of leadership skills and to always prioritize peace, cooperation, and communication which lead to a productive environment in which everyone can feel heard. Bringing these skills with me wherever I may go is important to be not just a leader, but a member of something bigger than myself. One of the qualities I believe that I possess that will help me greatly in completing a college education is my determination. Some students are naturally smart in most subjects and have therefore never truly understood what it is like to struggle with something. This creates problems as those students enter college and are no longer able to naturally understand everything that they encounter. As someone who has genuinely struggled with certain topics in school before, I already know what it is like to struggle and how to overcome it. My determination and perseverance to do well have allowed me to graduate as my class valedictorian and it is a skill that I plan to carry with me for life. My ideal career would be as an epidemiologist. Being an epidemiologist would allow me to not only protect my community from potentially unexpected disasters but also help to impact the world on a wider scale. After obtaining my bachelor's degree in Biology, I plan to continue my education at MSU with a master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This education will allow me to begin a long career working at the front lines of health crises and paving the wave for the next generation of innovative public health scientists. Community service is something that has tremendous meaning to me and is a value that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. In conclusion, being awarded this scholarship would be a tremendous help in allowing me to one day be able to fully realize my goals with a college degree.

Growing up surrounded by my family and some of my family friends I have always had a strong sense of service and helping others. My parents and my brothers have always turned their words into actions by doing whatever is needed in order to make others feel included and heard. They always go out of their way to lift others up and help alleviate their struggles. Having them as role models has encouraged me to live my life always helping others. One of the most impactful community service activities that I participated in would be anonymously purchasing Christmas gifts for local children in need. The holidays are a highly difficult time for families that are experiencing financial hardship and being able to lessen the load while making a child's dreams come true is an incredible feeling. Every child should have the opportunity to have a happy childhood without worrying about stressful financial difficulties and being able to facilitate that dream has made a lasting impact on my life. This experience has taught me that the greatest joy in life is found in selfless service in order to better those around you. Another one of the most important community service activities that I have participated in took place during a leadership conference I attended in Washington D.C. At this conference, around 250 volunteers including myself worked together to prepare hundreds of meals that would be given out to local residents in need. This event taught me the importance of teamwork and how the genuine actions of many can have a monumental impact on hundreds of lives. A large group of students who barely knew each other were happily volunteering their time to help strangers in a community they did not belong to. Out of everything that I learned during that week, I can safely say that learning how to use the energy from those around you to inspire positive change in a group setting is a lesson that I will carry with me. One of the qualities I believe that I possess that will help me greatly in completing a college education is my determination. Some students are naturally smart in most subjects and have therefore never truly understood what it is like to struggle with something. This creates problems as those students enter college and are no longer able to naturally understand everything that they encounter. As someone who has genuinely struggled with certain topics in school before, I already know what it is like to struggle and how to overcome it. My determination and perseverance to do well have allowed me to graduate as my class valedictorian and it is a skill that I plan to carry with me for life. My ideal career would be as an epidemiologist. Being an epidemiologist would allow me to not only protect my community from potentially unexpected disasters but also help to impact the world on a wider scale. After obtaining my bachelor's degree in Biology, I plan to continue my education at MSU with a master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This education will allow me to begin a long career working at the front lines of health crises and paving the wave for the next generation of innovative public health scientists. Community service is something that has tremendous meaning to me and is a value that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. In conclusion, being awarded this scholarship would be a tremendous help in allowing me to one day be able to fully realize my goals with a college degree.

Less than three years ago, the world was gripped by a fear that locked people inside their homes, closed down businesses, and separated us all. This global fear that I am talking about is the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic shook nations and destroyed lives leaving many impacts that can still be felt today. In the middle of the pandemic, with so much uncertainty and fear circulating, one of the major places that many individuals turned to for a sense of security was the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control, and our public health officials. These individuals were given the monumental tasks of reassuring the public, tracking the virus, and searching for a cure. This is the part that hooked my attention around three years ago. Being in a position where I would be given the power to actively play an invaluable role in saving the lives of millions instantly stood out to me as something that I needed to be a part of one day. The field of science that I plan to influence one day is the field of Epidemiology. Epidemiologists are scientists who focus on studying public health concerns such as diseases and searching for solutions to those problems. After obtaining my bachelor's degree in Biology, I plan to continue my education at MSU with a master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This education will allow me to begin a long career working at the front lines of health crises and paving the wave for the next generation of innovative public health scientists. When the next pandemic, natural disaster, or alarming health trend arises in our society, I plan to be one of the leading individuals actively searching for a solution to the problem that will not only save lives but prevent future crises from occurring. One of the qualities I believe that I possess that will help me greatly in completing a college education is my determination. Some students are naturally smart in most subjects and have therefore never truly understood what it is like to struggle with something. This creates problems as those students enter college and are no longer able to naturally understand everything that they encounter. As someone who has genuinely struggled with certain topics in school before, I already know what it is like to struggle and how to overcome it. My determination and perseverance to do well have allowed me to graduate as my class valedictorian and it is a skill that I plan to carry with me for life.

One of the most rewarding service activities that I have been involved with would be purchasing Christmas gifts for local families in need. As an FFA chapter officer at my high school, one of our primary responsibilities is continually developing new service opportunities. Myself, as well as my fellow chapter officers, decided that year we were going to allocate the money that was made during our annual FFA fundraiser to a new project where our upperclassmen FFA members would be given the responsibility of purchasing presents for a local child in our community who was identified as in-need by our school's social worker. The child then filled out a questionnaire that asked them for information such as their favorite color or toy and then the informational sheet was handed out to an FFA member. Participants were given a budget of one hundred dollars which allowed us to purchase multiple items for each child. I began looking at online catalogs in order to find the best possible present for this child. The students who were participating in this service activity went on a group shopping trip in which we selected what gifts we wanted to purchase. After purchasing the gifts for the children, we wrapped them as a group and prepared them to be delivered around our community. While the gift-giving was left anonymous, I can safely say that this was the most impactful community service activity that I have participated in. The holidays are a highly difficult time for families that are experiencing financial hardship and being able to lessen the load while making a child's dreams come true is an incredible feeling. Every child should have the opportunity to have a happy childhood without worrying about stressful financial difficulties and being able to facilitate that dream has made a lasting impact on my life. Community service is something that has tremendous meaning to me and is a value that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. An impactful community service project that I have had the honor to be a part of for the past three years would be the FFA Living to Serve Phonathon. This fundraiser helps to raise money for the local area Thumb Breadbasket Food Bank and disaster relief fund. On top of this, some of the extra money raised from this fundraiser is used to purchase Christmas gifts and Thanksgiving food baskets for local families in need. Being a part of this fundraiser and being able to help with the purchase and delivery of many of these additional service projects has always been tremendously rewarding to be able to help my community in a variety of different ways. Small acts of kindness build into greater movements and by helping with this fundraiser I have impacted the lives of dozens of people in my community. This experience has taught me that the greatest joy in life is found in selfless service in order to better those around you, a lesson that I will bring with me in order to always positively benefit my community.

Less than three years ago, the world was gripped by a fear that locked people inside their homes, closed down businesses, and separated us all. This global fear that I am talking about is the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic shook nations and destroyed lives leaving many impacts that can still be felt today. In the middle of the pandemic, with so much uncertainty and fear circulating, one of the major places that many individuals turned to for a sense of security was the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control, and our public health officials. These individuals were given the monumental tasks of reassuring the public, tracking the virus, and searching for a cure. This is the part that hooked my attention around three years ago. Being in a position where I would be given the power to actively play an invaluable role in saving the lives of millions instantly stood out to me as something that I needed to be a part of one day. The field of science that I plan to influence one day is the field of Epidemiology. Epidemiologists are scientists who focus on studying public health concerns such as diseases and searching for solutions to those problems. After obtaining my bachelor's degree in Biology, I plan to continue my education at MSU with a master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This education will allow me to begin a long career working at the front lines of health crises and paving the wave for the next generation of innovative public health scientists. When the next pandemic, natural disaster, or alarming health trend arises in our society, I plan to be one of the leading individuals actively searching for a solution to the problem that will not only save lives but prevent future crises from occurring. My ideal career would be as an epidemiologist. Being an epidemiologist would allow me to not only protect my community from potentially unexpected disasters but also help to impact the world on a wider scale. After obtaining my bachelor's degree in Biology, I plan to continue my education at MSU with a master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This education will allow me to begin a long career working at the front lines of health crises and paving the wave for the next generation of innovative public health scientists. I believe that I would be a worthy recipient of this scholarship due to my unending commitment to lifelong learning. In order for humans to feel fulfilled and satisfied with themselves they need to continue to evolve their existing pool of knowledge. This scholarship would allow me to be able to apply the determination and passion that I have for continuous learning in my own life. This scholarship would be a valuable step toward my future in order to ensure that my goals will be adequately met.

For the past 4 years I have been dedicated to constantly working to improve both myself and the community I grew up in. Throughout my time at Laker High School, I have participated in a vast array of different activities both for extra-curricular programs and in order to benefit my community. In relation to work experience, I have been employed at a local Caseville business, Lakeland Outfitters. Having spent my past summer working at this small camping store, I have gained invaluable lessons not just about working public service jobs but about our community as well. Being able to spend time with members of our community as well as other small business owners and leaders, such as my boss Kristen Zagorski, has genuinely helped to enhance my perspective on what it means to be a pillar of my community. Outside of work history, I have also participated in several community service projects for the clubs and organizations I am involved in such as FFA, Rotary Interact, and the National Honor Society. Being the president of the Laker FFA chapter has allowed me a unique opportunity to be at the frontlines of coordinating service projects to help improve the lives of individuals in my community. Purchasing and delivering Christmas gifts to children in need and coordinating the delivery of produce boxes during Thanksgiving are some of the projects that I have helped to facilitate while working with the FFA. Rotary Interact has also allowed me to help my community through Polio vaccine fundraising with our Purple Pinky Day and creating tie blankets for the Bad Axe Safe Place. The National Honor Society has opened the door to several other community services activities such as helping with Thumb Breadbasket food drives, the Pigeon chamber of commerce town lighting ceremony, and the Cross Lutheran middle school Robotics competition. My extracurricular activities have also opened the door to various leadership and academic activities and competitions. Being an FFA member for 5 years has exposed me to multiple agricultural-based leadership contests. Parliamentary Procedure, in which participants are tested on their ability to run a meeting in accordance with parliamentary law, and Agricultural Communication, where groups are judged on their ability to communicate the ideas expressed in a press conference in a visual medium, are two that especially stand out to me as they are both focused on competition with an emphasis on teamwork. For the past 2 years, I have also been lucky enough to be the Laker yearbook editor. This position has allowed me to put my creative talents as well as my leadership skills to use in a way that encapsulates school spirit. The other major extracurricular that I have been involved in for the past 4 years would be Science Olympiad. This organization is an opportunity for me to use my passion for science in a competitive setting with a focus on expanding my knowledge in challenging fields. Attending college these days is very expensive and this scholarship would be a tremendous help in achieving my desired degree. My plans include attending Lyman Briggs at MSU to pursue a degree in Biology. After receiving my Bachelor's degree, I will continue on at MSU to attend law school with the goal of becoming a Patent Lawyer. While I am confident in my ability to achieve my goals, they do come with a hefty price tag. This scholarship, in conjunction with my endless work ethic, is the first step in moving into the next stage of my life so I can continue to positively benefit my community in a constructive manner.