The moment I tie my apron around my torso, my head floods with ideas. From the moment I could walk I was in the kitchen, standing on the barstool in front of the stove with my mom, stirring the sauce that would act as the base for the night's dinner. The aromas, sights, and tastes immediately captivated me, instilling a sense of curiosity about food and cooking from an early age. A curiosity that throughout my life has been fostered, explored and furthered through the opportunities I have had in and out of the kitchen. In 7th grade, I had the chance to show my creativity on the Food Networks Chopped Jr, giving me the platform to express my art through the food I create. A competition, where I didn't know what I would be cooking beforehand filled me with excitement, as my art was unplanned and therefore imperfect. The imperfection that comes with the food I make is one of the things I love most about cooking. There are of course times where recipes are essential, but the most enjoyable moments I have in the kitchen are when I am exploring a dish through substitutions and experimental additions. A coconut cream pie I made for one of my teacher's birthdays was elevated when I folded toasted coconut into the custard and replaced heavy cream with its coconut counterpart. It is the changes I make to dishes that make them my own, that makes me fall in love with cooking every moment I am in the kitchen. This love is furthered when I write about and document my food for others to see, expressing my creativity on an open platform while showing how a meal can be beautiful, and how a hobby can be not only fulfilling but transformative.

Healthy habits and long lives start on the dinner table, and they are continued with sustainable eating habits that can be carried on for years to come. Health experts and grandmas alike agree that a well-rounded diet and good food are more important to mental and physical health than exercise alone. Working in a restaurant, and cooking at home since before I could speak has taught me the value of a good meal. From my early years, my mom has been teaching my brothers and me the importance of learning how to cook, as it is essential to creating healthy eating habits as well as fostering a good relationship with food. A point that has been engrained in my outlook on food and health in general, is not only healthy eating and exercise, but sustainable eating. Making the necessary changes and adjustments to be eating healthy, without creating unrealistic or dangerous dieting plans that can potentially endanger one's health. Food is the oldest, and longest-acting medicine used in modern society, as Hippocrates once said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food". Having a healthy relationship with food, and being comfortable in the kitchen can be stepping stones to creating good habits in other aspects of life as well. Eating meals that will give you energy throughout the day, and nourish the body as well as the brain is vital for engaging in a healthy lifestyle. I think that food, in general, is not only what feeds our bodies, but our interactions and relationships as well, which is arguably just as important when thinking about how to live a long and healthy life. The process of making a meal, and knowing what you are putting into your body can be a an enriching and enlightening experience.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion education, or DEI for short, is something that my school district and community at large need desperately. My name is Charlie Basa, and I live in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and I go to Ramapo Highschool in Franklin Lakes. Living in a town with a population comprised of caucasian to POC ratio of 9 to 1, as a biracial person myself has always been a challenge. Growing up half Asian in a school district that very clearly lacks diversity and diversity education, is something that has negatively impacted me and many other students for decades. It has been in many ways debilitating to be the victim of microaggressions and ignorance, and it has been even harder to watch my two brothers go through similar experiences. From a lack of acknowledgment of racism and bigotry from the school's administration in and out of the district to a very commonly shared sentiment of prejudice from students, it was clear to me that I needed to be a part of positive change in any way I could. My brothers, friends, and I joined and helped build an organization aimed at creating systemic change and education reform in the FLOW (Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Wyckoff) district to make sure that others in the future don't face racism, homophobia, and ignorance that so many of us have had to deal with for so long. As the group, FLOW Forward was born, I was immediately determined to see that its mission and call for action were achieved in my time at Ramapo. I and so many others spent and continue to spend hundreds of hours of work sessions and zoom trying to create an environment for all students. As a strategy member, I helped produce presentations with clubs in the district, introducing various topics of DEI to crowds of kids who were genuinely interested in an education that they were not receiving in school. Continuing our efforts to make our voices heard I and many other students, alumni, and parents spoke at several Board of Education meetings to make our frustrations known, and our motives clear. We have been met with resistance by the board, by the administration, and my parents who don't agree with our ideals, yet we continue to fight ignorance with knowledge and foster a path towards a new future. One of the more recent projects that I have helped spearhead was the FLOW Forward newsletter that provides content on various issues and intersectional topics to anyone in the community, and anyone who visits our website. I had the honor of helping write and co-author the may issue of Leaning Forward, focusing on the history of Anti-Asian hate in America. Helping create the piece gave me a chance to voice my pain educationally, while also giving me a chance to talk about the longstanding history of prejudice towards members of my community. I want to see many things happen as I continue to work with FLOW Forward, in my community I hope to see a path towards DEI education and a shift away from the deep-rooted prejudices that have held so much of America in the past. In my country, I hope to see a domino effect take place as I and so many other young people push for progress in our schools, but also in our communities, states, and country at large. I truly believe that ignorance and lack of education are what breeds prejudice and hate, and hopefully, with the work that we are doing, a new dawn of progress will come.

These images were taken during my competition on the Food Network TV show, Chopped Junior, where I had competed for 10,000 dollars at the age of 12. The experience was definitely the most adventurous and nerve-wracking moment of my life so far. One of the pictures includes a wild moment of me using a blowtorch to brown some cheese. Using a blowtorch on national television was definitely a bold move, and I am just glad that my heavily hair-sprayed head did not catch fire.