By far the person who has helped me the most as far as education goes is my mother. As the criteria to the scholarship implies, I grew up with only her after my father passed away from lung cancer when I was only 3, and she was amazing at doing it on her own. She always encouraged us to try new things, to experiment, whatever. I remember numerous times her going to buy my brother and I those silly scientific experiment kits from Walmart or JoAnn's or wherever it was, but those helped me to understand my passion for science and experimentation. More than that, she pushes me to be the best version of myself possible. In kindergarten, I received a letter inviting me to go and participate in the Magnet Program at Fox Hills Elementary, a solid 20 minute drive away from my house and friends. I was concerned, obviously, as a 6 year old really doesn't want to move away from his friends to go to school with a bunch of kids that are likely smarter than him, but my mom jumped on the opportunity. I remember her saying "Casey, if you don't do hard things like this, you'll never grow," and that sentiment has stuck with me for my whole life. So yes, I went and did the gifted and talented program for 6 years, yes it was quite the drive, yes I was far away from my friends in my neighborhood, but it was absolutely worth it. I made friends there and had experiences that I'll never be able to forget, all because my mom pushed me to do it. More recently, now that I'm a high school senior, my mom is pushing me harder than ever to get ready for college. She and I had a deal over the summer where I would apply for one scholarship a day in exchange for some sort of reward. While I've not gotten said reward yet, applying for the scholarships themselves is all the reward I really need. It takes some of the stress of paying for college off of her and I and the rest of my family members, and it makes me feel so much more accomplished and ready for this next phase of my life. In short, I adore my mother for pushing me. She's been a driving force behind everything school related I've done for a very, very long time, and I wouldn't trade anything for her influence. She helps me to be better in every way I can think of, and I'm so grateful she put the effort into helping me to become the best version of myself I could possibly be.

Ever since I was around the age of 2 or 3, I've always liked knowing the reasons thing work the way they do. Obviously, this is a rather obvious thing for a toddler to wonder, but I've carried that innate curiosity with me for my whole life, and from my point of view there's no subject that will answer that question for you better than chemistry can. Whether it's reviewing how we breathe or how trees grow so tall or how acid can dissolve stuff as quickly as it does, chemistry is far and away the subject for me. Chemistry has been a lifelong love for me, from the first time my uncle poured salt on a snail (much to my chagrin) to the first time I was actually able to take a chemistry class in 10th grade, even to now where I've taken 3 straight years and loved every moment of it. Chemistry captures my interest like no other, and it has so many practical applications that one would never really think of without knowing a lot about it beforehand. Things like chemical forensics, chemical electronics, the very chemicals used to make the plastic screen protector covering the words you're reading right now, all of them come from years of chemists and their innovations. Science is beyond important to us and our society as well. Without those previously mentioned fields of study, we would not be anywhere near where we are today, without much of our fancy technology or even the most basic of things like clean water and good food. Chemistry plays into all the other subjects so well that I feel it's somewhat of a hinge point for all of science to be based off of. Without our chemistry, not only would humanity not be where it is now, we likely wouldn't have even left our hunter gatherer lifestyle of millennia ago. Chemistry isn't a "dead subject" like some people would believe either. It's constantly evolving, with more uses and compounds (and on occasion even elements) coming to light year after year. With all the open ends out there in the field, it's a wonder to me how people can go into anything BUT chemistry, but alas to each their own I guess. Personally, chemistry ignites a passion in me that little else can replicate and I'm thrilled beyond measure to have the opportunity to study it in the future with the help of scholarships like this one.

Ever since I was around the age of 2 or 3, I've always liked knowing the reasons thing work the way they do. Obviously, this is a rather obvious thing for a toddler to wonder, but I've carried that innate curiosity with me for my whole life, and from my point of view there's no subject that will answer that question for you better than chemistry can. Whether it's reviewing how we breathe or how trees grow so tall or how acid can dissolve stuff as quickly as it does, chemistry is far and away the subject for me. Chemistry has been a lifelong love for me, from the first time my uncle poured salt on a snail (much to my chagrin) to the first time I was actually able to take a chemistry class in 10th grade, even to now where I've taken 3 straight years and loved every moment of it. Chemistry captures my interest like no other, and it has so many practical applications that one would never really think of without knowing a lot about it beforehand. Things like chemical forensics, chemical electronics, the very chemicals used to make the plastic screen protector covering the words you're reading right now, all of them come from years of chemists and their innovations. Science is beyond important to us and our society as well. Without those previously mentioned fields of study, we would not be anywhere near where we are today, without much of our fancy technology or even the most basic of things like clean water and good food. Chemistry plays into all the other subjects so well that I feel it's somewhat of a hinge point for all of science to be based off of. Without our chemistry, not only would humanity not be where it is now, we likely wouldn't have even left our hunter gatherer lifestyle of millennia ago. Chemistry isn't a "dead subject" like some people would believe either. It's constantly evolving, with more uses and compounds (and on occasion even elements) coming to light year after year. With all the open ends out there in the field, it's a wonder to me how people can go into anything BUT chemistry, but alas to each their own I guess. Personally, chemistry ignites a passion in me that little else can replicate and I'm thrilled beyond measure to have the opportunity to study it in the future with the help of scholarships like this one.

As someone who has only mildly dabbled in online gaming, and generally not even the truly popular ones, I can say that the gaming forums have a massive impact on social interaction, online and in real life. I'm the kind of person who will pick up slang to use ironically and then slowly start using it more and more until it just becomes something I say. More and more at school, I hear things like sus or "hitting the griddy" which I think is a Fortnite one but again, I'm not sure. People will just use these words with no concept of how cringe (hey, there's another one) they might sound in real life or out of context. Now, this is not to say that it's necessarily a bad thing that the internet is having this effect, it's just simply important to know that it is. Another important part of the forums beyond how it affects our language and perception of those around us is the stereotypes it can apply to the members of certain communities. Many people know that the common term for PewDiePie's fanbase is the "12 year old army", but these stereotypes exist everywhere. People who play League of Legends, for instance, are often regarded as unwashing savages, whereas people who play Halo are stuck in the past and need to move on to bigger and better games like Call of Duty. These stereotypes matter a lot, and make online gaming what it is for better and worse. Sometimes there are games that you can tell are toxic from the people you know that play them in real life, and that can help you know to stay away from them. However, sometimes you yourself are pigeonholed in real life because of the things you choose to play online and that is generally not a good thing. In conclusion, online gaming has had quite the impact on our day to day conversations and interactions with people. Be it the introduction of new and sometimes incomprehensible slang to the way that we think of our fellow humans around us, I would say that some social norms have definitely been bucked in the gaming world, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's important to always be evolving our language to suit the times we live in, (we really don't need to say thy or "Ye Olde" instead of the anymore) and as mentioned certain perceptions can even be helpful to those around us. All in all, I would say that online gaming's impact on real life interaction has probably not been as entirely negative as some would believe, and it's an important milestone of our world today.

I feel that persistence is the most important quality that I or anyone could have. Persistence means never giving up, no matter what, and it's something I've always admired. It's portrayed in many ways in the media, be it how Spider Man always gets back up or how evil never stops trying, how the Little Engine That Could just had to push a little bit harder than she thought she could or how people will never stop fighting for their rights. Persistence incorporates all these thoughts and more and that's why I admire it so much. Firstly, I want to cover my own view of persistence. If you haven't checked my profile yet, I've taken many a hard class and still (hopefully, we'll see about next year) maintained a 4.0 GPA. This obviously is no easy task. It takes a lot of keeping yourself up to date on assignment due dates, requirements, time requirements, and more. Persistence helps immeasurably with goals like this. I personally believe that anyone can do anything if they're willing to apply themselves to the best of their ability, which sometimes is better than they could have ever dreamed of. Persistence also helps me in some of the more trivial things in life, like video games or reading books or working my retail job next to my house. When a level is too challenging or I despise a character but enjoy the story or we're swarmed with customers I just remind myself of how much I value persistence and push through the hard times to get back to the good. As I said in the introduction, I feel like persistence is a lifelong characteristic that helps anyone and everyone who is willing to apply it to their life, and I'm no different. Currently, I'm using my persistence to apply for scholarships like this one, keep up on online classes, and prep myself for my rigorous senior year class schedule. After high school though, I see persistence becoming even more prevalent as I intend to go into chemistry, one of the more notoriously difficult majors with classes like Organic Chemistry that have nearly 50% dropout rates. Persistence is going to carry me through my college experience as well as the world abroad, as I'll never stop looking to better myself and obtain the best education I possibly can. In conclusion, persistence helps in more ways than anyone, including me, knows. Without it, the world definitely wouldn't be here today, as the great heroes we look up to would have given up at the first spot of hardship. I, on the other hand, look up to these heroes and the ways they stood up to persecution, George Washington against the British, Abe Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. at different times about racism, Amelia Earhart proving that women could fly just as well as men could, and so so much more. I've always valued persistence in myself and others and that is why I believe it's the most valuable quality anyone could have.