Dinosaurs, some of the most feared and loved creatures by toddlers all across the world. I'm most interesting in evolutionary discoveries. The discovery that dinosaurs were not reptiles, but more likely, birds is incredibly fascinating to me. This is interesting because there is new research being conducted and released in that birds may actually be reptiles when classified from an evolutionary standpoint. I really love the study of this idea because birds and reptiles seem so different today. It is fun to study things that I can't just look up and see a photo or video of. Organisms that are long extinct fascinate me because their influence on today's organisms can be incredibly obvious or very subtle. This is part of the reason I am currently majoring in neuroscience. It's fascinating that creatures evolve into the best forms of themselves and I get to study how that affects their nervous systems.

I'm proud to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community as a young female lesbian, I have faced challenges stemming from my gender and sexuality, yet I still work to educate others about animals and proudly fight for equality. My website is https://5f7ce3f27b007.site123.me/ and my Instagram is @noodleandhenry.

Alligator! Eagle! Frog! Oh my! I love reptiles, amphibians, and birds. My favorite part of traveling is seeing all of the interesting animals that I don't see at home in Texas. (To be fair, I think Texas has the best animals). I've traveled across the US. I've been to Hawaii, Alaska, Florida, Alabama, and many other states. I've also been out of the country 3 times, I've been to Canada, France, and the Caribbean. I love to hike and go on adventures. One of my favorite memories is finding a bunch of baby bunnies while blackberry picking on a camping trip. I've learned a lot about plants, animals, and other wildlife but I think the greatest thing I've learned is to respect nature and work to educate people about it and how to conserve it. I want to be a teleradiologist as a career, with this, I will be able to support and have time for a program where I can educate children and families about both pets and wildlife.

BAM!! The realization hit me. I was in love with studying anatomy. Of everything; reptiles, fish, birds, and humans... especially humans. My goal is to become a teleradiologist. This will allow me to fulfill my dream of studying anatomy and helping people, while still allowing me to have my dream life on a farm with my animals and be able to educate local families about them. The reason this job would be perfect for that is that the first part of it is, "tele" which means from home and through online medicine. With covid, teleradiology is becoming one of the largest radiology fields. The second part of it, "radiology" is the study of xrays, ultrasounds, etc. This will allow me to pursue a career in anatomical studies. The thing that excites me most about this world is how open the possibilities for my future are. I'm excited to try lots of new things and help others in my community. As I previously mentioned, I want to give back to others and my community by running educational programs about animals.

Noodle is a sassy little leopard gecko, but when you give him a fuzzy sock, he'll curl up in it and even fall asleep if you let him. In this photo, he was exploring a new fuzzy sock for a Wintery photoshoot!

Going fishing on a Saturday morning, woodworking, welding, camping, and tubing are all things I get to enjoy with my dad. While these activities are fun and allow us to bond, the most I’ve ever learned from my dad is the significance of perseverance. My dad grew up in a military family, constantly moving as my grandpa was stationed in different places. As a child, teachers looked down on him because he was colorblind, got distracted easily, and didn’t get perfect grades. In his sophomore year of high school, he decided that his life motto was going to become perseverance. He brought his grades up and made it into the University of Texas at Austin. This was a huge feat for him because his teachers from the beginning of high school had little faith in him. After he got a 4-year degree in biology, he went on to attend medical school at the Health and Science center owned by University of Texas in San Antonio. He now works as a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor at a private practice with Fondren Orthopedics. I look up to him because he always has a hardworking attitude and no matter the situation, he works hard to get through it. I have applied the lessons I’ve learned from him in my scholastic goals by studying hard and putting effort into my work, I’ve applied them to my personal goals by not giving up on myself or others. I want to go work in Radiology where I will be able to model a persevering attitude for others so they can be influenced the way I was by my father.

I am currently working on an application to Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. I want to go to this school because I not only like the school, I see myself enjoying an education there. If I had a grant, I could use it to help me pay for this school so I can pursue my education. I want to work as a teleradiologist so I can help people in a medical setting and continue to learn about anatomy and physiology which is one of my greatest passions. A new skill I would like to learn about outside of this is native plants in Texas. I want to be able to help my community and environment by being knowledgeable about native plants that can be planted to help protect our natural land.

For my entire life, I've wanted to work in the medical field. My mom is a pediatric neurologist and my dad is a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor. I look up to them because they get to help people every day. With my passion for anatomy and physiology, I want to get a degree in anatomy or biology. After getting this 4-year degree, I want to attend a medical school where I will get a Ph.D. After this, I want to go into radiology fellowship and residency. My dream job is to be a teleradiologist so I can help my patients and still have time to volunteer in my community.

As a reptile and wildlife lover, the problem that interests me the most with climate change is how it affects reptiles or wild herps in general. As reptiles are cold-blooded and need specific temperatures to survive, even the slightest change can change their entire living situation. Living in Texas means living in an ecosystem with many wild reptiles. From anoles to copperheads, I will strive to work to protect reptiles. In order to work on this problem, I want to spread awareness about how climate change affects these animals. I can do this through a series of public speaking presentations, flyers, and artwork. Another thing I would be willing to do is to help relocate these animals that are struggling because of climate change. I think the most exciting thing about working on this project and finding solutions is that I’ll be able to research what I love (reptiles) and still have a positive effect on my community and ecosystem.

Our world is filled with beauty. This beauty can be found in landscapes, wildlife, humans, architecture, culture, literature, art, and so many other aspects of life. While I would love to capture the beauty of all of these things, there’s no way one could tackle such a great topic while still doing justice to each fascinating category. I want to create a photography collection that captures the beauty of culture, this would bring awareness to different cultures and possibly decrease the presence of negative ethnocentrism in our society. To create a photograph collection that captures the beauty of culture, I would travel the world and immerse myself in a variety of cultures in order to capture the true essence of each culture. This photograph collection would be a constantly flowing and growing work of art. It would start as a collection of my photographs from across the world. This collection would grow as I travel and research cultures. Eventually, I would like to accept submissions from other photographers to increase my range of cultures included. This photograph collection would be presented in a website and possibly become a traveling museum exhibit. Through this creation, I want to show people that cultures everywhere are beautiful. This can help educate others on a variety of cultures to decrease any negative ethnocentrism. It’s important that the world sees my creation because ethnocentrism is becoming an increasingly great problem as social media grows. When people are critical of others because they don’t understand them, they can bring a lot of hatred into our society. By showing people that every culture is beautiful, they may not judge other cultures in such a negative way, and, therefore decrease any negative stigma that certain groups of people have. Also, photographs are a way to create lasting art. Because they can be saved digitally and printed, this photograph collection would strive to educate generations to come. With this lasting legacy, my creation would greatly change the world.