The life-changing capability of community service has played a role in many different stages of my development. In regards to advocacy, STEM, and the arts, community service has taken me from a spectator to an initiator of change. For me, its importance lies in the growth I have experienced as a result. My most meaningful community service project was the work I did with Sunrise Fredrick. This group focuses on youth volunteers and young activists fighting against climate change within our communities. I helped plan and participated in a peaceful protest in downtown Fredrick, my hometown. We created signs, organized speeches, and prepared pathways. It gave me insight into a whole new side of our community. Before that, I had only engaged with politics in a theoretical sense. Volunteering with Sunrise Fredrick exposed me to the intimate labor of change. That walk changed me. I was finally able to do something with everything I had learned, finally able to be a part of something greater than myself. Movements for change are still a significant part of my life. They affect not just how and from whom I learn, but where I choose to spend my time and money. More than an educated citizen, I am an activist. Walking with Sunrise Fredrick that Saturday gave me the courage to say that about myself. One of my lifelong goals is to understand multiple perspectives and to be better equipped on how to communicate with others. I approach this goal through community service and engagement and am currently involved in multiple service projects. Kumon is an afterschool program for children to bolster their skills in reading and math. I volunteer there 1-2 times a week. It helps me build bonds with children in middle and elementary school. Kumon does so much work to help children catch up or move forward in their education, which develops a better society for all. Letters for Destiny is a nonprofit that focuses on writing letters to children currently in the hospital. Bringing joy to those who are sick or otherwise unable to do that for themselves is one of the things I am most proud of. The final, Sunrise Frederick, is what I discussed above. It is a grassroots advocacy group that focuses on environmentalism specifically from the youth perspective. With this group, I have talked to legislators, participated in peaceful demonstrations, and learned what it means to take activism offline. As a major in bioengineering, I plan to pursue genetic and bioengineering research. As a minority within STEM, I understand the negative effects of a lack of diversity, especially when it comes to developing new medical devices. A lack of representation means many current materials work differently on black patients. My life’s goal is to fight this injustice and pioneer a future where biotechnology can be used to aid everyone equally. Through the exploration of genetic data using new technology, I can engineer a future where a mutation does not mean a death sentence and a different skin color does not mean inferior care. It is important to fight for equality for the same reason it is important to participate in community service. By paying attention and giving back to those around you, one can build a better world, growing mentally and spiritually along the way.

I, in so many ways, have committed myself to the fight for social justice and equity for my people. At my high school, the black community is slim. As a black person looking to see people like me in everything I do, I play a leadership role in multiple predominantly black extracurriculars. One of these is the Black Student Association. I served as secretary from the fall of 2021 to the spring of 2023. I have facilitated group discussions on black history and legacy, as well as advocating for the establishment of an African American Studies course which was successful. Another I hold near and dear to my heart is the Step Team. The Urbana Step Team has been a consistent part of my life since the beginning of my sophomore year. Step is the extracurricular I devote most of my time and energy. The sense of community and togetherness I feel there is unmatched. Last year, the team gave me stability and a sense of home. Currently, I help teach new steps to our entire teams as well as create new routines as our Captain. Fundraising, organizing, and outreach are also a part of my duties as a returning member. We work to highlight and spread African-American rhythm and dance throughout the community. I have also coordinated and participated in community events centering on black history and civic participation in my primarily white hometown, including devising and distributing a pamphlet informing black voters which candidates had aligned themselves with discriminatory legislation. Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Frederick, a local black fraternity, has labeled me a Recognized Scholar since 2016. Recognized Scholars show consistent academic success, and stand as pillars of black excellence. One of my strengths lies within social justice work. I am keenly aware of local politics, so when elections for the Board of Education were taking place in November, I researched the candidates. Two of them are attempting to destabilize the hard work that activists and leaders have done to bring more perspective into the school system. The awareness that America has major flaws is deemed unpatriotic. Social studies that stress how racial differences affect us today are unnecessary. One of them states this on her platform’s website “I will work to ensure that diversity and inclusion…are not the focus of our children’s education” Upon seeing this I was scared, both for the future of my education and my safety. My county has recently seen an uptick in anti-black activity, with non-black students consistently being exposed for saying the N-word to derogatory slurs being written on the bathroom walls of the middle school near my home. As I’ve grown, I’ve become increasingly aware of the pervasive, almost ubiquitous nature of racism. One always thinks, not in my home, not in my town, but I have been shown time and time again that this sort of behavior is all around me. Watching it move into my local government frightens me. In response to this, I have taken actions of my own. I applied to be on the Racial Equity Committee in my county and was chosen. I currently work with teachers, administrators, students, and parents to fight for racial equity in my school system. We have already created a Racial Equity Policy that has been implemented within our county and hope to turn it into official regulation. I don’t want to stand idly by while those who don’t understand the importance of such education make decisions for me. I want to be a part of those decisions, preventing much-needed awareness from leaving the educational atmosphere. I have been a victim of the folly of such uneducated teachers. It damaged my life and trust in the school system, as well as contributed to the school-to-prison pipeline. There’s still so much work to be done to ensure the safety and liberation of the black community. Most importantly, I would like to prevent the erasure of that work. I want to see a future that builds on what we have learned, not one that takes away from it.

I took an AP Computer Science class last year. Despite my success, I was picked on by the teacher. I always talked too much or too loud, was never on task, and couldn't seem to get things right. He would come up behind me and mock the way I was speaking in conversations or put what I was doing on blast to the entire class. Through all of this, I maintained an A in the course and was consistently ahead of the majority of the class. I would finish 2-3 days of assignments in 1, but on those other days he would label me "off-task". I was one of 2 black girls in that 30-person class. That spring semester lit a fire under me. I worked to get my work done more efficiently than ever, resulting in a 4 on that AP exam and college credit. By the end of that class, that same teacher said I showed promise. He even encouraged me to take future coding classes, even though it was something I wasn't actively trying to pursue. If I had to repeat it all over again, I can't say that there is anything I would change. I felt like I had proved something, to both him and myself. That it didn't matter how much I talked, it didn't matter if he moved my friends to a different side of the classroom, I was someone that couldn't be ignored. I refuse, in all aspects of my life, to be ignored. Whether that's in science or politics or art, I know I bring value to every room I enter, and every conversation I am in. My goal in life is to never let go of that truth. To illuminate it to those who can't see the world's future. As I’ve grown, I’ve become increasingly aware of the pervasive, almost ubiquitous nature of racism. One always thinks, not in my home, not in my town, but I have been shown time and time again that this sort of behavior is all around me. In response to this, I have taken actions of my own. I applied to be on the Racial Equity Committee in my county and was chosen. I currently work with teachers, administrators, students, and parents to fight for racial equity in my school system. We have already created a Racial Equity Policy that has been implemented within our county and hope to turn it into official regulations. I don’t want to stand idly by while those who don’t understand the importance of such education make decisions for me. I want to be a part of those decisions, preventing much-needed awareness from leaving the educational atmosphere. I have been a victim of the folly of such uneducated teachers. It damaged my life and trust in the school system, as well as contributed to the school-to-prison pipeline. There’s still so much work to be done to ensure the safety and liberation of the black community. Most importantly, I would like to prevent the erasure of that work. I want to see a future that builds on what we have learned, not one that takes away from it.