Currently, I am attending a university pursuing a Pre-Medicine major to become a Neurologist in the future. I chose this educational goal because I want to help people and use my skills of knowledge in the medical field to an advantage. I intend to use my education to cure chronic pain or learn how to manage it without it being damaging to the human body. I don’t like seeing anyone in chronic pain, it breaks my heart. I know about the effects of chronic pain from personal experience. My mother, who has back problems due to a birth defect causing excruciating pain, is a good example. I hated seeing her in pain, and even the medication she takes doesn’t take away all the pain. As a result of seeing my own mother struggling, that’s when I wanted to find a way to help cure chronic pain, not only for her but for other people. The disability I have is not physical, it’s a mental disability. I am on the autism spectrum, I cannot read people’s body language nor do I know how to socialize properly with people. As a result of being on the spectrum, I’m considered to not to be “normal” by human standards. This leads to people treating us very badly when all we want in education system is to be accepted and aided if needed. In the educational world I cannot say “I’m on the spectrum” otherwise people will abandon you, I have to hide it out of fear of people taking away what I worked so hard for. On the good part of being on the spectrum, it has helped me reach academic goals. I have a good memory and particularly really good at anything with science. As a result of having those traits because of being on the spectrum it has aided me into reaching my goals. I went to State FFA contests six times, I got third place out of two-hundred and thirty five people at State FFA Wildlife my senior year of high school, and I got a 3.5 GPA in high school which aided me into getting into college. From what I learned from those experiences, having ASD can be an absolute advantage when it comes to getting an education! Another thought people have is that those who are mentally disabled need to be dependent on someone in order to do their jobs or get an education. This is completely false, we can definitely be independent. Independence means you don’t need to rely on anyone to tell you what to do or forcefully motivate you to do something. Through determination, self-discipline, and knowledge you can reach your goals (whether you’re disabled or not) in high school and college. As long as I have those three characteristics, it will benefit me while I continue to get through college. The education that I am working on to get a degree on will help promote and sustain my ability to live independently. I’ll be proving myself everyday how I can make it through life without having to depend on anyone. Finally, the medical field shows and teaches you that you absolutely can do things and live independently. Sometimes as a physician you might need to work on patients by yourself. It kind of the same concept when it comes to living alone, you need to learn how to live on your own and how to function on your own. It’s an important lesson to learn, do not use a disability as a crutch throughout life.

One of my favorite book-to-film adaptations was “Coraline.” It was truly unique in both the movie and the book, from the events that happened to the message it sent perfectly. They also stuck to the original story from the book which is huge, considering most of the book to film adaptations stray away from the original story and remakes a new plot that doesn’t make any sense. The movie made some of the events a little easier to understand and make it more interesting. Interesting enough, I watched the movie before I read the book. To me the movie made a little more sense when Coraline came back and forth from the real world to the other world rather going to the other world at the end and staying. The movie was definitely more horrifying than the book because of the Beldam’s design, atmosphere, and the Beldam’s voice actress. The book honestly didn’t sound as scary, I personally don’t know it’s because it’s a chapter book or I have read more scarier books. Characters in the book were interesting, but they weren’t as vibrant as the movie was. The voice acting really brought the book to life. The atmosphere in the book is a little boring to me. However the movie did an excellent job of making the atmosphere ethier beautiful, depressing, or terrifying. Another great element about the movies is the color scheme really mattered, where cool colors give a relaxed theme in the other world the real world has a monochrome look to it making it seem more depressing. Now for the plot, the plot is the same for both the book and movie. However they did switch around some scenes in the movie. The lesson learned from the movie was to “Be careful what you wish for.” I feel as if the book didn’t do as excellent of a job as the movie did of conveying the theme. I think it’s because it showed more of what can happen if you wish for the wrong thing to happen and there are consequences for those actions. Another thing about the movie is the awesome music score, the book didn’t have that. The music had a huge impact on how the atmosphere was supposed to feel. There was no pop songs or any other music that didn’t sound out of the blue, it was original music. Finally, why this is my favorite book-film adaptation? The book laid out a story then the movie made it even brighter. The book was good, although the movie was my favorite because it brings everything together and it was more understandable. The beautiful execution of the movie and the writing style of the book made it come alive in its own unique way!

Currently, I am attending a university pursuing a Pre-Medicine major to become a Neurologist in the future. I chose this educational goal because I want to help people and use my skills of knowledge in the medical field to an advantage. I intend to use my education to cure chronic pain or learn how to manage it without it being damaging to the human body. I don’t like seeing anyone in chronic pain, it breaks my heart. I know about the effects of chronic pain from personal experience. My mother, who has back problems due to a birth defect causing excruciating pain, is a good example. I hated seeing her in pain, and even the medication she takes doesn’t take away all the pain. As a result of seeing my own mother struggling, that’s when I wanted to find a way to help cure chronic pain, not only for her but for other people. The disability I have is not physical, it’s a mental disability. I am on the autism spectrum, I cannot read people’s body language nor do I know how to socialize properly with people. As a result of being on the spectrum, I’m considered to not to be “normal” by human standards. This leads to people treating us very badly when all we want in education system is to be accepted and aided if needed. In the educational world I cannot say “I’m on the spectrum” otherwise people will abandon you, I have to hide it out of fear of people taking away what I worked so hard for. On the good part of being on the spectrum, it has helped me reach academic goals. I have a good memory and particularly really good at anything with science. As a result of having those traits because of being on the spectrum it has aided me into reaching my goals. I went to State FFA contests six times, I got third place out of two-hundred and thirty five people at State FFA Wildlife my senior year of high school, and I got a 3.5 GPA in high school which aided me into getting into college. From what I learned from those experiences, having ASD can be an absolute advantage when it comes to getting an education! Another thought people have is that those who are mentally disabled need to be dependent on someone in order to do their jobs or get an education. This is completely false, we can definitely be independent. Independence means you don’t need to rely on anyone to tell you what to do or forcefully motivate you to do something. Through determination, self-discipline, and knowledge you can reach your goals (whether you’re disabled or not) in high school and college. As long as I have those three characteristics, it will benefit me while I continue to get through college. The education that I am working on to get a degree on will help promote and sustain my ability to live independently. I’ll be proving myself everyday how I can make it through life without having to depend on anyone. Finally, the medical field shows and teaches you that you absolutely can do things and live independently. Sometimes as a physician you might need to work on patients by yourself. It kind of the same concept when it comes to living alone, you need to learn how to live on your own and how to function on your own. It’s an important lesson to learn, do not use a disability as a crutch throughout life.

As an autistic person, I am a hard worker and study hard in order to reach my goals in life. I hunger for knowledge everyday, I must learn something otherwise I get bored. I love to learn particularly in the scientific field because everything has science in it, in most types of science it is also proven true until a new discovery or experiment is proven to falsify the scientific point. Another fact about me is I am willing to try new things and be open to new ideas, I am not closed minded and willing to listen. The scholarship will help me not only pay for college but help my family as well. My mother is disabled and unable to work due to a back injury. My father is the only one who’s working in the family, and unfortunately doesn’t make much money. I also have a little sister that is going to college next year. My family is barely making it, we only have enough to pay the bills at home. This is stressing out my family and I, I hate having to see my parents stressed out because of money issues. My parents didn’t go to college and wanted my sister and I to be given the opportunity they didn’t have, getting a higher education! Therefore, any type of aid would be appreciated so much. My family and I would be so thankful! Being on the spectrum can be difficult when it comes to living in an ugly world, people treat you horribly because you are not “normal.” However, I don't see being on the spectrum as a burden, I see it as an advantage! I have a good memory and can specialize in a certain subject because of being hyper-focused. This shaped my goals for my future career. First, the good memory I have can be used for big tests to earn bigger degrees. Where most people struggle with keeping facts in their head for big tests, those on the spectrum can memorize word for word, resulting in passing tests easily. Second, I could use my analytical skills to learn more about leadership skills and to how to socialize properly. People on the spectrum tend to struggle with being social and reading body language. Third, hyper-focused can aid in training future employees because of experience and knowledge. I love to teach or help people what I know about a certain subject especially if it’s something I am interested in. People on the spectrum have certain subjects that they are excellent at, whereas other subjects they aren’t as proficient at. Being disabled can be debilitating, however being the spectrum isn’t. It is an advantage to me, it has helped me reach goals in life it will continue to do so in my future careers.

As a college student, I am a hard worker and study hard in order to reach my goals in life. I hunger for knowledge everyday, I must learn something otherwise I get bored. I love to learn particularly in the scientific field because everything has science in it, in most types of science it is also proven true until a new discovery or experiment is proven to falsify the scientific point. Another fact about me is I am willing to try new things and be open to new ideas, I am not closed minded and willing to listen. Being accountable is incredibly important throughout life, if you don’t hold yourself accountable you are not going anywhere in life. In a social situation, when I know I have done something wrong and it was my fault, I first review the situation to see if it was I who caused the problem. If so I hold myself accountable for the conflict, I then apologize to the person or group of people I wronged. I then discuss why everything fell apart because of me, and I understand why it was my fault for causing the problem in the first place. Then I never do it again. In a personal situation, when I know something is due the next day or there’s a test coming up and I forget to put it on my calendar to remind me of the important dates it falls on me for my mistake. I hold myself accountable because I should have put important dates in my calendar but I didn’t, therefore I must roll with the consequences. Finally I make sure not to make the same mistake next time. Results of making myself accountable for situations that could’ve been prevented because of my mistakes has gotten me far in life. For example, I did two FFA Career Development Events, Range and Wildlife. Both of which required me to study a lot through high school in order to win medals and go to big contests like State FFA Wildlife and Range Contests. As a result of my accountability to study almost every night, sometimes until after midnight, I won medals for Career Development Events and ended up going to six State contests for Wildlife and Range. I even got third place out of two-hundred fifty three people at a Wildife State Contest. Another example, the high school I went to was hard! It took a lot of accountability and discipline to work on so much homework they gave us. I was wanting to just play games. Though, I absolutely refused, because I would have to hold myself accountable for why I didn’t complete my homework. It was my grades that needed to be passing and if I got distracted it would be my fault. Although I could not play games like I wanted, in the end it was worth it! I ended up getting a 3.5 GPA and got accepted into the university I now attend all because of holding myself accountable for what I chose and still choose to do on a daily basis.

Mental health impacts the mind on an everyday basis, whether somebody is happy or sad. Mental health for me hurts my performance and personal life if it's "out of control." I suffer from depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. They control your daily activities and mindset to where it becomes dangerous. Personally, depression inhibits my decision-making process because it makes me feel as if I am worthless and don't have a purpose. As a result of those thoughts I give up on myself, and then I slowly start losing interest in my favorite hobbies. All I want to do is sleep, cry, and ask why was I even born when I would suffer from this horrible condition. Anxiety makes me not hang out with friends or family because at times anxiety attacks come out of nowhere. I don't like showing my emotions to others because I don't want them to worry about me. My anxiety attacks are not always triggered by stress but happen randomly, I was worried that they would think I was crazy. Academically, mental health impacts my work ethic. I am a hard worker and never half do anything. When I am having a bad depression episode, it throws those morals out the window. When I don't turn in my work it lowers my GPA and gets me in trouble with the school teachers, not so much the professors. The horrific reality is that most of my high school teachers didn't realize I was having bad mental health episodes that I couldn't control. On top of depression episodes, I'd have anxiety attacks in class. Most of my school teachers didn't understand that either or refused to understand that and just thought I was acting out. My school also didn't care about mental health, they only cared about academic performance, how can you have a student do academically well when their mental health is compromised? Ever since I moved to college, I have been taking my mental health more seriously. The university I attend provides excellent counseling services and a club that helps with anxiety. My high school did not have good mental health counseling, so I took advantage to get help because I have mental health issues and it would be beneficial to learn how to cope. Attending counseling was the best decision I made, I now know how to deal with my issues by talking about them instead of keeping it inside my head. I also have been taking medication to help balance out the chemicals in my brain, this helps me be mentally in control of my mind and function normally. I have also been using methods I learned in counseling, like meditation to help with my anxiety. When I notice a behavior change, I always talk to my counselor about it to know how to deal with it. Those are the steps I take to keep my mental health in check.

The text does state great ideas when it comes to the Millennials-Gen Z generation. None of the ideas are wrong to mention or to think about while reading. Having a broad amount of ideas encourages the reader to think critically and develop a conclusion. However, some of the ideas are debatable and should be brought other reasons as to why it would not be accurate with the Millennials-Gen Z generation. The text once again, does an excellent job of bringing up viewpoints and ideas to be considered. Perhaps most don't think about these ideas, if so the text brings up the viewpoints to be discussed or debated. One of the best concepts it stated was about when is the Millenials-Gen Z generation going to fix the troubles domestically and internationally. Yet, they do not feel the rush to fix anything or they just don't care to help out the world in such a crisis. This is accurate because Millennials-Gen Z said they could change the world, unfortunately, no change has been made. Millennials-Gen Z are polite enough to say that they will do something right and change the world, yet they never do, that disappointing not only the older generation but their generation as well. There is a huge problem with the text, however. One of the main problems is being blunt on concepts and ideas that could sound offensive or hurtful to the audience. Many would understand the disappointment of Millenials-Gen Z not owing up to their words, but it doesn't need to be harsh or offensive. If a text wants to argue its side of the story, being harsh will not make the audience listen, the audience would be offended and not listen because the wording attacked them personally. Some points are disagreeable. Not every Millennial or Gen Z says something and then never does it, although it does rarely occur. Also, they are not always fine the way the world is, they want to make a change but cannot do it without a much larger group of them to stand up to their beliefs most of the time. This text does inspire me to enforce change though. I always wanted to change the world, and the text gives me more motivation to do so. Change may be hard to enforce but it will happen. I wanted to change the way of our healthcare system to help people afford the medical care they need without worrying about the bills. I have also wanted to teach people about the human body and how fragile it is. The human body is very fragile and most people don't even know it. Education is very important in this case to show why it's very fragile and how to take care of the human body.

I am a "nerd" as everyone calls me, and I am not ashamed of it. My brain gets very bored very easily when I have nothing to do, I study and learn about something. The reason why is that I do not want to waste my time doing something that won't be productive or beneficial, I hunger for knowledge. I am also a hard worker, I work very hard for the grades I earn. I struggle to keep up with everyone because some subjects just don't match up with me. However I don't let that get in the way, I study hard and stay up late until everything is done correctly and completely. I make sure nothing is turned in incomplete with little to no effort, responsibility is key to a successful future! The scholarship would help me and my family in so many ways. My mom is disabled and cannot go back to work. My dad is the sole worker in the family and makes only enough to pay the bills at home. My parents also don't have any college experience and want me to go to college to have a career ready for us that will pay well. As a result of this, my parents are very stressed about me paying for college. Sometimes my parents cry about the stress, that breaks my heart because I don't want them to stress out about me paying for college. Unfortunately, I am stressed out as well and wondering how I am going to pay for college. When I did get a job in July it didn't pay much, I had only so much to get books and maybe some groceries if I saved up, it wasn't much. I didn't get very much financial aid so far to help with paying for college and the job I am going to have while attending university may not be enough. The scholarship would help me and my parents not to be so stressed out about money for college. They would have to worry about me going into debt or not going to college because of money issues, nor would have to pour their life saving into paying for college. It would lessen the stress on me as well, I would not have to get a lot of student loans to help pay for college which could potentially destroy my credit or put me into debt. I chose to pursue a degree relating to science because science has something new every day to discover. Science has also been my strong area of school subjects because there was always something to learn about it. This always kept me entertained and interested to learn more about it. Some my extracurricular activities did have natural science or regular science in them, and as a result did well in competitions. So why not put those skills into use, I want to figure out the why and how questions about science to answer others and my curiosity about the universe all relating to science. My goals consist of teaching people about what I find and being sure it is correct to educate the public. People are not always educated about facts about science, therefore it's imperative to teach the public about misinformation and to prove why it's false. I also want to teach future science majors as a lecturer, I would give them the answers as to why events happen and how. I also want to run future Career Development Event contests at my university for FFA competitions in the spring.

Leadership meanings are different for everyone. Nobody has the same definition or meaning as to what leadership is. Leadership in my own words is defined as "A type of sportsmanship to which a person is leading a team of people to success or to a goal to be completed efficiently." This is the definition of leadership because leadership itself is technically sportsmanship, it shows how to be a strong leader to guide a team who which may not be qualified to do a certain job. When leadership is shown through communication and demonstration of a goal that needs to be accomplished, the team is more likely to be successful to reach the goal. For example, jobs need good leaders to train newcomer employees to do a specific job. If the training staff are not very good leaders and don't communicate effectively, it leads to chaos then everything falls apart because of poor leadership. Leadership also expands the brain to how to lead or train people to succeed. I'll give a personal example, I was once an introvert and was stuck in a very small shell. Once I entered high school, I became a part of the Speech & Debate organization and FFA. These two organizations helped me come out of my shell, I was taught how to communicate effectively to prove a point and how to lead a team to success. When I was in my Senior year of high school, I was able to teach 2 teams for FFA Career Development Events (CDEs) that happened in the spring. Since was good at Wildlife Management and Range CDEs, I was able to teach everyone effectively including my new agriscience teacher who did not have prior experience with those particular types of CDEs. The shy introverted girl that was there before was gone. Thanks to Leadership, I'll be ready to lead others to success in my career path and develop their brains through leadership. What schools don't tend to talk about is leadership being used in the real world. Leadership is mandatory in the real world, without leadership, you can't learn to communicate effectively to a partner or run a business properly. Many failing businesses do not have a leader to help communicate/lead others or train new employees. Whereas successful businesses have excellent leadership skills that keep the business running smoothly. Therefore, leadership is essential in any field people go into, because leadership shows more about a business or team. Lastly, why leadership is important because it's the key to success. Success doesn't happen with little to no effort put into a team of people. The team may not be qualified how to lead others and will assume they are doing right when they are doing everything wrong because of a lack of communication and a lack of a leader. This results in goals being disrupted and incomplete, causing frustration among the group. When there is leadership going on in the team, the team gets done with the project more effectively trans are not stressed out about the project meeting the deadline.

The dream house I dream of building will be located in the country, where lots of wildlife will roam and no neighbors will be in sight. It will also have a pond or a little river on the property, filled with native aquatic life. There will also be native trees like hackberry and elm. A lot of native grasses will be prevalent such as switchgrass and buffalograss. The dream house will be in an area where hills and plateaus will be visible for a great view outside into the world. The dream house will look like a simple brick mansion with a roof that has asphalt shingles, nothing too fancy. It will help insulate the house in winter when it gets cold and will have less damage when hail storms are common in the spring. It will be two stories tall each story having its unique rooms. It will have some large windows but most would be facing the front of the home for bigger rooms such as the entryway and living room, while smaller windows would be on the sides and back of the home for smaller rooms such as bedrooms and bathrooms. The front of the dream house will have a balcony that can be accessed through a sliding glass door. All doors will be wood polished to look nice, and the front and back door leading outside will have an eyehole to look out. The bigger features of the dream house will be 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a large kitchen, and a large living room. The dream house must have a basement because severe weather is very common in our area! A large carport will be built onto the dreamhouse on the right side to put vehicles and tools in. This will also protect vehicles from becoming damaged by severe weather and tools from getting stolen. A greenhouse will be built on the left side, which will be used to grow produce. In the backyard, there will be a large pool with a hot tub a few feet away. The backyard will be enclosed by a fence, and have a fire pit and an outdoor bar, good for social activities outside. The special features on the inside are very unique. A chandelier and two-way staircase will be found in the entrance at the front of the dreamhouse. A game room for indoor activities that will have a big screen tv with a console to play games on. A pool table and air hockey table will be available to play if online games are not available. If anybody is thirsty, there's going to be a refrigerator specifically for drinks. A cat room would be excellent for my cats, it will consist of cat trees, cat tunnels, and anything that my cats would love. Lastly, a research room will aid in keeping everything that is researched in that specific area instead of being mixed in with the business paper. Research requires lots of keeping information so this would help immensely.

Leadership is very important in life, it gives you guidance and responsibility throughout your journey. I once was very shy and introverted, I had no interest in leadership. I wanted somebody else to lead me because I thought I couldn't do it. That changed when I got into a couple of high school organizations, I was forced out of my comfort zone. It was at that moment that I realized, I could demonstrate leadership skills. One of the organizations that I joined was Future Farmers of America (FFA). Not many females join this organization, but I had an interest in this particular organization, so for my benefit, I joined it. In this particular organization, you MUST have good leadership skills. You teach other students involved in the organization about careers in Agriculture and Natural Science, teach students how to be a leader, teach students how to do Careers Development Events (CDEs) and Leadership Development Events (LDEs) effectively, and how to be a role model for others. I did mostly CDEs and was skillful when I did the competitions, when my ag teacher saw this he wanted me to teach the younger kids how to do the CDEs correctly and with full effort. When I did teach them, that was my first step in leadership. Then I became a Chapter FFA officer for the next 2 years of high school. This was way out of my comfort zone, I was very anxious to be an officer because it required lots of communication and teamwork. I somehow got past the anxiousness and did all that required me to be a leader. As part of being an officer, I was partially training teams for the upcoming CDEs. It wasn't until my Senior year of high school when I got to full-on train teams, I got to teach a team of Wildlife Management CDE and Range & Pastures CDE. I even got to teach my new ag teacher about all of this because he had no prior experience with these CDEs. FFA has taught me a lot about leadership and why it's so important. Before I didn't understand what leadership was used for. Now, I understand why it's so important for not only jobs but for everyday interactions with people. In the upcoming future, leadership skills will help me to accomplish anything. I want to use those leadership skills to communicate effectively with people and teach people why communication is important while showing leadership. Most do not communicate well, therefore leading to problems with friendships and relationships. Communication is very important for showing leadership skills because nobody has mind-reading magic, you must tell or ask when you need something done. I will also use leadership skills when I am working in teams. In the future, I might be working with people who know more than I do or don't know anything. A leader must make sure everyone is on the same page and knows what they are doing, if they do not know what they are doing they can mess the project up or hurt themselves. This is why teaching others about information is so important particularly if it's a group project that everyone must know the concepts. Lastly, I will use my leadership to direct and guide people in life. Many need some direction to their goals from someone willing to guide a person through the harsh times of their life. Nobody knows everything about the universe or how it works, however, the person who has gone through a certain situation may have answers to the unknown if a person doesn't understand.

Eating healthy is very important because your health will not only benefit from the nutrients but your life expectancy doubles. The human body needs certain nutrients to function properly, when the body is missing macronutrients that require the human body to function, it causes you to feel unwell. Nutrition aids major organs or muscles to help function correctly and efficiently. For example, iron is needed to develop red blood cells that carry mostly nutrients and oxygen to supply tissues and muscles to keep you alive. As a result of getting all the necessary nutrients, your life expectancy doubles. Another reason why it's important to eat healthily is that almost 40% of Americans are obese or overweight. Most Americans that are obese don't eat healthily and eat mostly junk food. Being overweight or obese can cause a variety of health problems including Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), or worse, cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular Disease is known to kill more Americans than cancer or stroke. Cardiovascular Disease is dangerous because it can be undetectable and usually the first symptom of the disease is sudden death. Cardiovascular Disease and Obesity can be avoided if a person eats healthier and watches their portions. I started trying to eat healthy last year because I wanted to lose as much weight as possible. I made a plan to not eat sugar for as long as possible, if so in small amounts. Stay away from high-calorie fatty foods and foods that have preservatives in them such as deli meats. Most above all I needed to watch my portions of what I eat. I would not over the amount of calorie intake per day, if I did I would work it off by walking in school or being outside. Mentally, when I started eating healthy last because I wanted to lose lots of weight I could see good results. I started to feel better, I had lots of energy to burn and did not feel tired. I also did not crave more sugar and fatty food because I avoided certain foods. My mind was more focused and open rather than feeling tired. I also noticed how my mental health was improving, I felt happy and energetic when I woke up every morning. Physically, I started to become more flexible than I ever was before, I wasn't like that in almost 6 years. I also started to look better, I could fit into clothes that I couldn't fit in before. My headaches went away and I didn't feel my head trying to explode. I could run faster without running out of breath and walk for long distances without stopping for breath. Lastly, my joints didn't hurt from carrying my weight. As a result of eating healthy, I went from 262 pounds to 210 pounds I will continue to do it. All for the good of making my body happy and healthy. As long as you are eating healthy and watching your portions you can reach your goal of keeping your body happy.

Mental health is nothing to take lightly! For myself, mental health was a struggle every day. It impacted my personality and the people around me wherever I went. Depression and anxiety are huge culprits in this situation. I have suffered these since the 6th grade and still am. The worst years were the 6th grade and Junior year of high school. How has mental health influenced my beliefs? I first believed I was invincible against any type of mental health disorder, I felt as if I shouldn't worry about my health. Another belief I had was all people were crazy if they had mental health disorders and should be avoided. All these beliefs were invalid once I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I was struggling to get out of bed and control my actions. Depression made me have difficulties with my attitude because I was angry or sad all the time. It was at this time I realized I was not invincible towards any mental health issue nor people were psycho because they couldn't control themselves due to the condition. They just needed help, as I did. We may not be invincible against mental health problems but it can be treated. How has mental health influenced my relationships? My relationships with my family and friends are different but were both affected in the same way when the mental health issues started showing their ugly side. My family was very understanding and got me to help in the form of anti-depressants because our family has a history of depression. Although, they too saw my bad side. I got angry at them for no reason or locked myself in my bedroom away from my family to try to deal with my depression and anxiety. When my family understood the problem, people around me didn't. They avoided me, they didn't want to be around me, I felt hurt and angry because of the mental illness I couldn't control. Therefore, I try to hide it when it comes to social interaction with anyone. It does work for the most part, but sometimes it doesn't and I have to live with it. How did it influence my career aspirations? I had no vision of goals for any career, I thought mental health would control everything about my performance for future goals. A lightbulb came into my head when I thought "I should do something I would enjoy, that way no mental health issues would be a problem." I thought about radiology and wildlife biology because both are interesting and I loved learning about both of them. Radiology had good pay, although I am not good with seeing blood or broken bones, as a result, could be problematic to my mental health. Therefore it would have to be Wildlife biology I pursue, not only would it provide interesting information I love to learn about, I would be outside and that helps my mental health better. So to help reach my career goals, I had to do what my mind could tolerate and not endure that would make my mental health worse. Sometimes I just gotta push through, life is going to be hard, I just gotta keep pushing until the goal is reached.

Mental health is nothing to take lightly! For myself, mental health was a struggle everyday. It impacted my personality and people around me wherever I went. Depression and anxiety are a huge culprit into this situation. I have suffered these since the 6th grade and still am. The worst years being the 6th grade and Junior year of high school. How has mental health influenced my beliefs? I first believed I was invincible against any type of mental health disorder, I felt as if I shouldn't worry about my health. Another belief I had was all people were crazy if they had mental health disorders and should be avoided. All these beliefs where invalid once I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I was struggling to get out of bed and control my actions. Depression made me have a difficulties with my attitude, because I was angry or sad all the time. It was at this time I realized I was not invincible towards any mental health issue nor people were psycho because they couldn't control themselves due to the condition. They just needed help, like I did. We may not invincible against mental health problems but it can be treated. How has mental health influenced my relationships? The relationships with my family and friends are different, but were both effected in the same way when the mental health issues started showing its' ugly side. My family was very understanding and got me help in the form of anti-depressants because our family has a history of depression. Although, they too saw my bad side. I got angry at them for no reason or locked myself in my bedroom away from my family to try to deal with my depression and anxiety. When my family understood the problem, people around me didn't. They avoided me, they didn't want to be around me, I felt hurt and angry because of the mental illness I couldn't control. Therefore, I try to hide it when it come to social interaction with anyone. It does work for the most part, but sometimes it doesn't and I have to live with it. How did it influence my career aspirations? I had no vision of goals for any career, I thought mental health would control everything about my preformance for future goals. A lightbulb came in my head when I thought "I should do something I would enjoy, that way no mental health issues would be a problem." I thought about radiology and wildlife biology because both are interesting and I loved learning about both of them. Radiology had good pay, although I am not good with seeing blood or broken bones, as a result could be problematic to my mental health. Therefore it would have to be Wildlife biology I pursue, not only would it provide interesting information I love to learn about, I would be outside and that helps my mental health be better. So to help reach my career goals, I had to do what my mind could tolerate and not endure that would make my mental health worse. In the mental health industry, I have had mostly negative experiences. I have tried to seek help through counseling, but our school doesn't have good counseling services. I feel as if they don't care or just don't know how to help. Therefore, I have not been able to seek help until I start college this August. They have good counseling services that are avalible to all students on campus. I am happy that I'll finally be getting some help!

The dream version of myself is a strong intellectual person who will spread information and awareness of the importance of environmental management and wildlife management.

Mental health may not matter to a lot of people, but it does for me mental health is just as important as your physical health. I suffer from depression a sinister, sneaky, and scary condition many do not see until it reveals its’ ugly face. Depression is absolutely nothing to play with. I have been fighting with this ugly condition since the 6th grade. I have seen what happens if you don’t care about my mental health getting out of hand about two times while I am blocking it from getting in my way. 6th grade is when it initially started, I had no idea it was depression until I thought about it one day about the symptoms. I was not taking care of myself at all, had no interest in doing my favorite activities, and I had angry outbursts for seemingly no reason. I got some help and started taking antidepressants. When I felt better a few years later I stopped taking it, then it showed its' ugly face again in my Junior year of high school. I lost one of my cats, one dog, and an uncle all less than five months apart. Instead of being angry, I was sad all the time, I had nightmares every time I slept for about 2 weeks straight, and the other symptoms were showing too but I didn't care. I was so done with living with a broken heart, but thankfully I got back on my antidepressants and I was back on track. Thankfully I am ok now and certainly better mentally. This is why I believe mental health is so important to me because if you don't know any of the symptoms of mental illness or don't care to get help, it's a silent killer. Getting help for anything that is a personality change or even if your seeing things is a must. It could detect something very serious problems with your head and will able you to get help. I never want to get to a point where I was severely mentally ill ever again. To keep my mental health in check, I have developed ways to keep it in control. One is losing weight and being outdoors. It made me happy and aided my road to recovery. Second, is drawing, it relaxes me and helps me expand my imagination. Third is listening to music that releases my anxiety and helps me get through the day. The last one I haven't done yet but I plan on doing soon, counseling is going to be a must. I need to learn how to cope with things and deal with them where I am not having problems like I was.

Dyslexia was always a pain, I was always struggling to read a book or even do a simple math problem. This caused so much trouble not only with myself but with teachers as well. Some teachers were very patient with me and aided in walking me through the problems, others were rude to me and treated me as if I were an alien. I never understood what was wrong with me, I was just trying my best to get past the day without any problems. I decided to just deal with the problems by myself at school because nobody besides some teachers and my parents wanted to help me. I started using methods my special education teacher and mother taught me to use. I was then reading a lot easier, but for math, I still struggled. It was high school before I got a good math teacher, he taught me how to look at certain details to figure out the problem. He was patient and taught excellently. When I got to my Junior and Senior levels of high school I was doing dual credit classes relating to reading and science, I was making good grades, and even though I have trouble reading I passed through them with ease. Just a little help from kind people helped me through my disability! I plan on furthering my education by learning to overcome those same obstacles and to keep pushing further to succeed in my future. My disability has taught me there are going to be some things you just need to deal with and push through. I must learn about every single detail like math problems, because college will question everything about knowledge from what a person paid attention to! I must also pass my classes with the utmost best performance that I can give. It will be hard at times but I can do it, just like dealing with my disability! Slacking in class means you are not trying hard enough when you have plenty of resources! The career field that I am exploring right now is Wildlife Biology. Wildlife Biology by definition means "the study of wildlife (plants and animals) and the relationships between them." It's with Natural Sciences, which means it ties into the environment we live in. In order to balance wildlife populations without harming the environment, we must take the appropriate action to help humanely restore the environment. For example, if there is animal damage from White-Tailed Deer we must reduce the population lawfully and humanely because we can only hunt these animals at certain times of the year and transporting the animal to a different territory may be too expensive so it's good to consider everything before taking action. If I can get a Doctorate, I would be so happy! I want to be a professor to teach students how to spread awareness and consider the environment can be fragile if proper actions are not taken. I want to accomplish teaching people about how important wildlife is to our daily lives and what can humans do to help the environment each day. I also want to run CDEs (Career Development Events) for 4-H and FFA about natural sciences such as wildlife. I want to make contests that are tough to teach people who are going into the field how important it is to pay attention to details. I also want to learn more, I hunger for knowledge. I cannot just stay in my bedroom watching YouTube all day, I need to learn something to keep me from getting bored or becoming lazy.