Growing up yearning to be the perfect doll-like humans I saw on television wasn't easy. Sitting back looking at people double my age, perfect stomachs, the type of thighs that don't double in size when you sit cause me to look down on myself. Because I didn't have the same rock-hard abs or ginormous arms as people twice my age, it caused my mental health to drain. I started avoiding mirrors and taking pictures because," who would want to see this fat slob nobody". I knew I couldn't stay like this forever. This feeling of emptiness would come in waves. Some days I would feel like I'm on top of the world and others I would feel as if the world didn't know I existed. This illness affected how I behaved, interacted with others, and even my eating patterns. One day I snapped. I knew that something must change. I knew that all I had to do was sacrifice just a little bit and I could finally stop being a ¨ nobody ¨ and finally look like the perfect airbrushed dolls I've been seeing my whole life. So I decided to start exercising and went on a strict diet. I made a deal with myself that I would stop exercising and dieting until I had reached my dream body. This deal seemed great before I knew the person I had made it with. I hadn't made it with the devil, but someone worse, my own soul. Deep down my soul wouldn't let me stop because it knew how important being ¨perfect¨ was to me, even if it killed me, which it almost did. Being on this strict diet and doing regular heavy workouts caused my body to shut down. Although I had lost 15 pounds in about 30 days, my energy level was at an all-time low. My body looked the best it ever had, but my brain had suffered from it. After trying not eating, eating healthily, exercising, deep down I knew that nothing would work. Eventually I came to realize that there was nothing wrong with my body. I was healthy and that's all that matters. I came to realize that the people you see on Instagram, TikTok, TV, Snapchat don't need to dictate your life. Just because they have millions of followers does not mean you have to look like them to be loved. You need to love yourself and, as long as you do nothing, you will be able to tear me back down. As long as I love myself, I'll still be able to see that little kid who wanted to be perfect but never fell into the same mindset that kid had. I know that everybody is different and those differences should be celebrated. Nobody should be perfect because it's impossible. Anybody who strives to be perfect will end up drawing like I almost did because being perfect means different things to different people. Going through this journey all by myself taught me to love myself and love others as they come. You shouldn't have to change for anybody because someone out there will love you for you.

Growing up in a community where everybody needs some form of help, selflessness is a quality that has been instilled in me from a very young age. Being selfless not only gives me a sense of fulfillment but also uplifts the people around me as well. Whether it's something as small as opening the door for someone or something larger like donating to the homeless, being selfless is a virtue I commonly find myself exuding.  A common issue that I seem to gravitate to is mental health. Having bad mental health can consume a person's well-being and trap them in this dark, eerie pit that seems endless while the world leaves them behind. This is especially true in my life because I have lost several friends to drug abuse and mental health problems. The most substantial example of this is when my best friend Ashley fell into her mental health. Ashley is a first-generation immigrant with a very large family. Although she loved her family, she felt as if she was getting lost in the chaos. Drowning in this deep hole of invisibility, she turned to drugs and alcohol to feel something. These drugs caused her to change. Her grades started slipping, she started lashing out, and she became mentally unstable. She was no longer Ashley; she was a drug-driven lost soul. At one point, I had been informed that Ashley no longer wanted to live, and that's when I realized I must provide support to her.  Although Ashley had changed, my love for her did not. It ached my soul having to see Ashley in this state. I just knew I had to help her, and that's what I did. I provided Ashley with a space to voice her opinion and acted as someone she could confide in. Through the severe mental comfort I gave to Ashley by making sure she was seen, she was finally able to return to her bright, youthful, and loving self. Being able to save my very own friend from going down the wrong path has taught me something. Everybody needs someone to see them. So often luminescent souls can get lost because they have nobody willing to see them shine. Knowing this, I decided to become the person to see them, to hear them, to watch their bright soul shine.  One way I make people feel seen and make a lasting impact is by working with a local organization that feeds families to cure food insecurities. Food insecurities can make people feel unseen and worthless, just like Ashley had because of her family. This plague can cause people to act out and not be themselves. Working with Blessings in a Backpack, I am able to make people feel seen by providing food to people and writing encouraging notes to them.  Throughout my acts of selflessness, I have come to realize being selfless doesn't mean just helping someone; it means creating a sense of love and community. I have also created a loving community, whether it was coaching a youth soccer team or volunteering at an elderly home, I have been selfless to make sure everybody feels seen and loved.  Through this scholarship, it is my passion to continue to exude the qualities Michael Rudometkin stood for and to ensure that everybody has a person that sees them. With this scholarship, I hope to pursue a career in the government to ensure my impact lasts longer than I do and to help people jump over any barrier that ties them down!

Everyone needs an exceptional leader. This is not a myth, false, or made-up. This is a fact. Growing up in modern-day society, I have never truly had a strong leader. Through political discourse or the disconnect between me and my father, I've never been led in the right direction. This problem is not only isolated to me but affects everyone across the globe. So many of our youth don't have anybody to help guide them or anyone to trust. Not only is our youth in disarray, so are many adults in society. In modern day, political discourse in the United States has been larger and more violent than ever. Just last week there was a rally for President Trump, which led to an anti-Trump protest. Like Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," but as of right now, the whole nation is homeless. Kids are going hungry, adults have violent disagreements with the government, and everybody has lost hope and sight of a good future. I plan to change this by being the leader that brings the nation together. If the government is the rule of the people, then that means if I rule the government, I should be able to fix the problems with the people, right? This is the ideology I will follow to solve the problems in the world. When I become a leader in the government, my impact will reach more than my inner circle. My impact will be nationwide. Through policy and collaboration, my impact will not only have a positive impact on the world but will have a positive impact on the world. When I'm able to change the world and lead people to become better leaders, the world will never go back to hard times as it is now. Being able to hold an office and be the voice of the people will prompt them to be better leaders. To speak out more, to find peaceful ways to resolve problems, to listen to people, and to make the world a better place. Being a great leader creates a ripple effect and creates even more great leaders. So what am I doing now to accomplish my goals of being able to lead people and make good changes? Currently, I serve on the executive board of my county's student council as their secretary. In this position, I collaborate with my community to exchange information. Gaining skills such as collaboration in this role will help me become a better leader in the future so that I can effectively adhere to what the people want. So often, in today's society, people are upset with the nation's leader because they feel as if their interests aren't being accurately represented. When I become leader, I will plan to change this injustice so that our nation can be an equitable place. Additionally, I am starting to research public policy. Laws make up our nation and regulate how people can and can't act. By gaining knowledge of public policy, this is setting me up to be an effective leader, because I would be able to formulate policies that can help everybody and bring the nation together. Being a leader isn't about what you want. It's about what the people want and how you can achieve that. Being a leader requires you to bring people together, and that's exactly what I plan to do!

When I first heard the term “food insecurity” I pictured far away places, where children went to bed with empty stomachs and parents rationed meals. It never occurred to me that food insecurity could be living right next door, quietly dictating the lives of classmates and families I saw every day. That realization hit hard during fifth grade, when I volunteered at a local food pantry and saw some of my best friends in that line. The same people I was learning to multiply with had been starving while having a smile on their face. The problem wasn’t “somewhere else” It was right here, in my community. I knew I couldn’t look away. That’s how I found Blessings in a Backpack; a non-profit dedicated to fighting food insecurity by sending kids home with bags of nourishing food every weekend. The organization’s mission is simple. Make sure children who rely on school meals don’t go hungry when the lunch room is closed. The simplicity of the idea is what makes it powerful and caught my attention. I signed up to help, not knowing what to expect, but was determined to do my part and make my community better so that no one had to go hungry when the last bell rings. My first morning packing bags was unlike anything I’d done before. There was a vibrant energy in the room as volunteers moved down the line, stuffing backpacks with soup, canned veggies, granola bars, and little notes of love. As I filled bag after bag, the statistics about hunger in my community turned into something I can change. Being able to see the bags the volunteers had packed moved me because I now realized how large food insecurity is. Suddenly, the problem felt both vast and sadly personal. What amazed me most was how fast a sense of community formed among the volunteers. We weren’t just packing food; we were building a spotlight for kids who might get lost in the system. I learned that hunger doesn’t discriminate. It touches families going through job loss, illness, divorce anyone can find themselves in need. Blessings in a Backpack doesn’t ask questions or judge. We just show up and help. I also began organizing food drives at my school, rallying classmates to donate snacks and funds. At first, kids were skeptical; high school students aren’t always happy to give up their time or allowances. But when I shared what I’d seen and what I’d learned, something changed. People wanted to help. They just needed to see how close to home the need really was. Working with Blessings in a Backpack has changed me. I’m more aware, more grateful, and more determined to make a difference. Food insecurity is a huge problem, but I’ve learned that even small actions—one backpack, one can of soup, one caring conversation—can send a butterfly effect out to create real change. Every bag I pack is a promise: you are not forgotten, and you are not alone. And as long as there are kids in my community who need that promise, I’ll keep showing up—backpack in hand, hope in my heart. This is our community and we can't afford to forget about people who need help!

Why are people with so-called "unique" backgrounds swiftly dismissed as outsiders? Could it be that some fear the unknown? That they fear change? Well, in my case, it was that some people haven't had experiences with people different from them. Coming into sixth grade, fresh from elementary school, I started to take the sport of soccer seriously. Up to this point, I had been playing soccer all my life. Playing soccer was my outlet. When playing, I didn't have to contemplate any challenge I was facing. Although my escape had all changed when I started taking the sport seriously. Going from a local non-traveling team to a travel team that plays competitively all over the East Coast caused a major change in my life. This was one of the first times I had faced adversity. Not only did I face it for one of the first times in my life, I faced it alone. When I started playing in this new team, I knew none of the other players. From their perspective, I was a new outsider who randomly appeared on the team. From the start, they excelled and ostracized me just because of my background. All the other players on the team had been attending a wealthy private school, while I had been attending a normal public school. I was also one of the only colored people on a predominantly white team. Because of these differences, they had not given me the benefit of the doubt and treated me like an intruder rather than a teammate. To overcome their treatment, I had done the only thing I knew how to do. I had to prove I was worthy of their respect by outplaying them on the field. This mindset was given to me by my late grandfather, PopPop. He had always taught me to earn people's respect; I needed to prove I deserved it. PopPop's philosophy is exactly what I used to fuel my efforts to get better and to be accepted into this new team. Through a long, hard year of training and playing with this new team, I had finally become an irreplaceable member. Winning tournaments and getting trophies with the team was astonishing. Through this journey of working hard, I have not only learned how to overcome adversity, but I have also learned what hard work meant. Life is never going to be kind to you, so you must work hard and be tougher than life itself. Reflecting on this experience, I came to realize that I needed to teach the youth how to overcome challenges just as I have. To do this, I became a coach of the same sport that taught me to overcome adversity. When coaching, I taught five- and six-year-olds to not only play soccer but to also learn how to talk to and treat others and to overcome challenges. Coaching these young children had become a full-circle moment for me because I was coaching the type of athletes I would want to have on my new team. Facing adversity is not a skill that just appears. Facing adversity needs to be taught. People must be open-minded because you never know what joyous moments might come from accepting new people.