As our society changes, one thing consistently proves itself time and time again: we live in a culture with a disordered addiction to convenience and pleasure. Access to convenience and pleasure is, when harmless, a blessing of our modern society. But once ending the life of the most innocent and defenseless among us for convenience and pleasure's sake is acceptable, you know your culture has become backward and deranged in its pursuits. The question is, how long are we willing to watch millions of unborn children get swallowed up by the backward tide before we have had enough? I still remember the very moment I discovered this reality, such an impact it had on me. It was the evening my mother sat me down and explained simply but factually what abortion was. In other words, she made me come to terms with the unthinkable: the killing of unwanted preborn babies—at the command of their mothers, no less. I was still only a child, but the weight of what she was describing was undeniable to me. I kept asking the question, "Why would anyone think killing tiny, unborn babies is any different from killing you or me?" Sadly, many people have fallen victim to a culture guided by self-interest: comfort, convenience, and unbridled pursuit of pleasure. To further demonstrate this point, one of the types of children targeted with abortion the most are those requiring more care and responsibility to raise: the disabled. Some data, for instance, show that around 67 percent of children with Down syndrome are aborted; as the sister of someone with special needs, this hits close to home for me. It fails to be seen that every human life is worth living and valuable beyond knowing. Nevertheless, the abomination of abortion continues to infect our world. However, after that talk with my mom, I knew we did not have to take it sitting down, and to my rejoicing, many of us are not. Ever since the need arose, people who recognize the inherent dignity of every human life—from the moment of conception (no exception!) to natural death—have worked tirelessly to protect this. They are unafraid to give up their time, comfort, convenience, and more to uphold the truth. For some, this means undertaking major tasks; for others, it will be smaller ones. For myself, it was joining my mom in making donations to pro-life causes, praying for an end to abortion, and standing up for the unborn when questioned by my peers. Recently, I found myself in my first internet debate defending the rights of unborn children conceived in rape. Next steps: get involved in my university’s Collegians for Life chapter and attend the 2022 March for Life (which I could not be more excited about). From the moment my mom introduced abortion to me, it weighed heavily on my heart. I thought of the innumerable children denied their right to life yet who cannot speak up for themselves. It is high time we changed the heart of this culture. As Pope John Paul II said: “America, your very future as a nation depends on your willingness to protect the Right to Life of the most defenseless in your society.” For love for our country and respect for human dignity, do we possess this willingness?

It was a cold November day when one of my worst fears came true: leaving my phone in the most awkward and inconvenient location a sixteen-year-old like me at the time could imagine. I was serving at the altar during a funeral at my church. Part of the service included riding in a car with the funeral home workers to the gravesite. Before going out, I slipped my smartphone into my coat pocket. While back at the church afterward, I tried reaching for it and felt my heart drop: for lo and behold, no phone. I scoured everywhere and found nothing. “The next funeral will be mine,” I thought to myself, believing my fate sealed should I return to my parents phoneless. I frantically told an older gentleman and family friend who also assisted in the service that I could not find my phone. He offered to call it: but alas, it was still on silent! We realized it must have fallen from my pocket and onto the seat of the car I had ridden in—which, of course, was already headed back to the funeral home 45 minutes away. Long story short, we hopped into his car, caught up to our target, got the driver to pull over (just when I thought the situation could not get more uncomfortable), and retrieved my phone from the backseat. And drove back and lived to tell the tale. It was quite awkward. I cringe to this day just thinking about the incident. I allowed myself to succumb to so much fear and discomfort over a small rectangular object that I believed going home without would spell death for me. But this is unsurprising: we place so much value on this pocket-sized technology, and justifiably so. We rely on them heavily to hold information, give directions, entertain us, connect with the people in our lives, and more. As such, just about all of modern society unanimously agrees that access to these features is worth the phone bills we pay today. They go on to impact our everyday activities further. Although I use practically no social media, I cannot say how many times a day I pull out my phone to check my email, the weather, Google, or my reflection on the screen. They have even made it into the flow of our day-to-day conversations. Sentences such as, "Have you tried the new iPhone 11?" or "You should get this app!" are not foreign to my ears. We will even go so far as to put our lives at potential risk for the sake of using our smartphones. I do not mean the possibility of losing them in the backseat of someone else’s car (though I am referring to vehicles!) It is what takes place behind the wheel. We all know that texting while driving claims far too many lives per year. Yet I am guilty of allowing my phone to slightly distract me from the road now and then, as well. My Achilles’ Heel? Spotify and Google Maps. It takes very few seconds to skip a song or check my GPS; however, I confess that it can be tempting to take it further. All this to say, smartphones have become highly valued assets in our modern world. Their existence has, of course, led to many negative consequences in both individual lives and society overall. But with increased responsibility and moderation in their use, their positive effects on our lives would easily crush the potentially negative ones. For starters, we can save ourselves from an early death by not losing them in strangers' cars.

Doesn't it sometimes seem as though the dreams that mean the most to us are often the least easily fulfilled? In my experience, they are always the ones that elicit a "You must be crazy!" sort of response from others. Now, if I had a quarter for every time I heard this one…. I would have a lot of pocket change, but not nearly enough to afford the increasing expenses of making my hard-worked-for educational dreams become a reality. As someone with dreams and aspirations, I live by the saying, “If you are going to do something, do it right.” My academic endeavors are no exception. Out of motivation for a quality education beyond high school, I put my best foot forward in all my studies, with the hope of receiving what I put in and following the path of my calling. Yet I had to learn quickly enough that it is not as simple as putting one of your quarters into a machine in exchange for the long-awaited gumball. Higher education is a long-awaited objective of mine, to say the least. As a lifelong homeschooler, I am no stranger to the struggle of looking for opportunities for development and experience (particularly with a teaching career in mind). Universities open doors to countless opportunities for growth and service, and I am just as eager as ever to enter the classrooms, both as a student and as a student-teacher. Unfortunately, however, gaining such experience is unlike hopping into the department store’s kiddie rides—all you need is a quarter for those. On the other hand, the “Art of Giving Scholarship” is a glimmer of hope. It would help me overcome the great financial difficulty that attending college poses. Otherwise, not even my efforts heretofore can save my dreams from meeting their demise. It takes more than what I have and what I have already given to relieve myself of such burdens. They cannot be wished away merely by tossing a quarter into a fountain. That said, this scholarship would truly go far in preventing the dissipation of my dreams, making my goals achievable! No matter how hard you work, how much you dream, or how much pocket change you have, the cost of higher education can be a roadblock. Still, I hope to see those educational dreams I hold dear to my heart through to the end—my growth, development, and future depend on it. Therefore, this scholarship will offer me something that I place a great value on—the freedom to work toward my goals and discover my potential. It will enable me to become who I am meant to be, prepared to make a positive impact on the world. I will be within reach of my dreams, soon to no longer be just dreams but reality.