My family has been in the military in some way or another for generations. Whether on my mother's side where I have family who fought in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War or my great-grandmother who was a nurse during World War II. Then you look at my dad who was in the Navy for twenty-three years, having joined when he was eighteen and retiring when I was ten, becoming Chief when I was around six. Before, he would be on ships as an electrician to places like Egypt and Japan for months. The only way we spoke with him was through a video recorder that my parents would send back and forth to each other, showing us whatever he could from the ship. Thankfully I was young enough not to remember when he was gone, with most of my memories being him picking me up from school when he got off from the base. The only times he was gone after he became chief were what we called ‘duty nights’, where he had to stay overnight on base for work. My mother didn’t like that my dad was in the Navy, mainly due to the area we lived in because of where the base was. When I was eleven my mom wanted to move because she hated the schools around Norfolk that I and my brother would be going to. So, she asked my dad if he could get a different job, which meant retirement from the Navy after twenty-three years of service. My dad agreed to retire and went to look for another job the moment he was out of the Navy. I am attending SUNY: College of Environmental Science and Forestry as a wildlife science major. I am a freshman in college and working hard to stay in school, get the best grades I can, eventually graduate with different service work, new knowledge that can aid me in my career, and meet people who will take me where I want to go. When I graduate, I want to become an ethology wildlife scientist. What does that look like? Simply put, I want to be able to study animal behavior. Animal behavior is not something most people focus on. It is the very start of wildlife science and study, going as far back as Charles Darwin studying animals on the Galapagos Islands. Many know who Jane Goodall is, one of the most famous zoologists ever due to her studies on chimpanzee behavior, dynamics, and social interactions. That kind of work is something I look forward to in my career. I want to do the same studies but with more than just chimps. It’s all I want and all I’m trying to achieve. Right now, I’m staying focused and doing everything I need to keep up my grades and stay in school. That way I can be the wildlife scientist I always wanted to be and make my parents proud of the kid they raised.

My entire life has been focused on animals. Always has been and always will be. Since the first time, I went to Virginia Zoo. I was young, probably four years old, when my parents took me to see the various exotic animals. I don’t remember a lot but what I do remember is the fact that I loved it. I loved looking at every single different animal, learning about what they ate, and seeing them walk around and interact with each other. Out of all the animals though I was completely obsessed with the giraffes. I thought it was so cool that their necks were long, how their tongues were purple, the weird fuzzy antennas coming out of their forehead, and the fact they were covered in spots. According to my family, I refused to leave the landing where you could watch the giraffes from high up. I stayed there for at least an hour just watching them, and when my family tried to pull me away from them I automatically started to sob hysterically. My family tried to reason with me but I didn’t seem to listen as I just wanted to keep watching the giraffes. After that, my life was dedicated to animals. I went to zoo camps, summer camps, science camps, and just about anything that involved working with animals. When I went to zoo camp I got to see what being a zookeeper meant and what working as one was like. I got to see lions up close which both scared me and also made me incredibly happy. After camp, the only thing I could say was that I didn’t want to be a zookeeper, but I wanted to work closely with animals. I watched every single show I could get my hands on that had an animal in it. Every. Single. Show. Whether that be a host that was a dog, the Wild Kratts TV show, a lemur puppet, or a curious monkey. All I could focus on was animals and growing up to eventually work with them. As I kept getting older I focused more on actually finding the path I needed to take to get into wildlife science. I started to try and take more classes in high school that would be focused on the environment and animals in general. I took multiple science classes, including environmental science and zoology. In one of those classes, I built the entire solar system in Minecraft and did my last presentation on the harmful cycle that was both the meat industry and deforestation, including how they fed into each other. I have cared about animals, their habitat, and their fragile ecosystems for years. It has been and always will be my dream to help fix the many issues wildlife face. All I want to do is make that dream a reality.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is possibly the most tragic yet beautifully written shows I have ever watched in my life. If you haven’t already watched the show, then I am going to tell you every single reason as to why you need to take the weekend off to watch this show. I do not exaggerate when I say you need to take the weekend off to watch this show, especially if you know absolutely nothing about it. I went into this series without reading the books it was adapted from or even knowing what it was about, and I wish I could relive that experience again of seeing it for the first time. I think about this show at least once a week just because of how much it destroyed me. The first thing you are told before every single episode in the amazing theme song, sung my Neil Patrick Harris, is that this show will ruin your day just because of how sad it is. In your mind you probably think that it is exaggerating and it won’t be as sad as it says it will be. You would be very very wrong in this aspect. The first episode starts with three kids, a nerdy brother with glasses, a very intelligent sister, and then a serrated teeth baby that can chomp through rocks. For the first minute or so, you get to know these kids and who they are before their family accountant tells them that their parents are dead, they died in a house fire, oh and yes now they are orphans and need to be taken to their Uncle Count Olaf. This happens in the first five minutes!! You watch these kids go to their now burned down house, pick up burned belongings, and just have to process everything as fast as possible because now they have to go on the trolley to their uncle's place! THEN, when they get to their uncle’s place they find a deteriorating mansion and a awful homeowner to boot. Count Olaf treats these kids like they are nothing and clearly only wants them around to take their inheritance. It takes about an episode before they are able to leave the awful place and go to another Guardian who really likes reptiles. I do not want to tell you anything else that happens story wise because saying anything else will absolutely spoil it. Beside the story, there is a dark sense of humor throughout it that makes you chuckle even when these awful things are happening to these poor kids. The acting of the kids constantly being the only people to actually have some common sense and seeing right through the trickery and deceit is hilarious but also incredibly sad because almost no one else believes them. It is downright depressing how these kids have to suffer loss after loss while uncovering the mystery of how their parents died in the fire in the first place, how the fire started, while also trying to navigate the world they live in that is constantly putting them down. Pair that with the sets that look straight out of a book, the stellar cast of actors throughout the entire series and the amazing characters we meet in each episode, and you have a amazing, beautiful show that should be studied. I implore you to take the weekend to watch this show, cry, laugh, and try and figure out the mystery right along side these siblings.

When thinking about three characters to face a new threat in Hawkins so many people come to mind. Taking Mike, Dustin, and Eddie to go up against this new threat with their close bond, knowledge of monsters, smarts, wit, and strength would be very useful. Having Joyce, Hopper, and Eleven go up against this creature as a family who can help and support each other with power, strength, and wisdom would usually be the perfect combination. But there is a secret trio that no one would possibly think of as the absolute powerhouse they are. I propose the perfect trio to be Eleven, Kali, and Steve. The obvious choice when it comes to pure power against the upside down is Eleven. She is one of the most powerful kids that were experimented on, being on par at times with Vecna/One who Papa thought was the most powerful of all the kids. Her sheer amount of power and strength can make it easy to go against any kind of threat. The only big weakness she has is her confidence in herself and constantly loosing her power due to that. After she was able to finally close the gate, kill the monsters, all her power seemed to get spent. On top of that, she personally believed that her powers were gone and she was lost. Which is why, in this trio you need to have Kali with her. In the second season, Eleven strengthened her powers after being with Kali, someone Eleven personally thought of as a sister. Similarly, Kali cared about her like a little sibling and even says that she feels like she has a sister now when eleven spends the night with Kali. The emotional support that Eleven was given, the power she accessed to close the gate was found when she was with Kali. Kali is incredibly powerful herself and has little trouble using it. She is so sure of herself that the worry of their being a mind block that Eleven goes through all the time is not an issue with Kali. The only issue with all that is that Kali is incredibly murderous. Eleven doesn’t like murder as much as Kali, so you need someone to balance her out and keep watch over the two like a mom. Steve cares about his kids more than anything, will do anything for them and wants to make sure each of them are safe. We don’t always see that with him and Eleven but he still cares about her and only wants the best for her. In the Fandom Wiki Kali is listed as around 20-21 in season two, and Steve is 19 in the latest season. This means she would be about 23-24, so he wouldn’t see her as a kid but someone who cares about Eleven like he does. He would keep her in check in trying to use Eleven in any way and also be able to use his strength to protect them as much as possible. With these three characters combined, with Eleven having a massive support system in Steve and Kali, with Kali having illusionary powers to pair with Elevens mind power, Steve making sure that Eleven isn’t taken advantage of, and Eleven being able to have Kali to help her use her powers. All of that combined makes for the perfect trio of power, strength, and strategy then nothing could stop them. Granted if there the whole crew with them or even one more person than the group would be even stronger, but just by themselves they are strong. Together they are unstoppable.