I have had my dog since 2014. Ever since I got her my life has been drastically better. Whenever I came home from school, she would always wait by the front door smiling and waiting to see me. Anytime I am distressed or depressed, she would instinctively know and come over to lay down next to me for company. She is my one constant im life that always brings me joy and gives me the courage to go on. With this scholarship, I will be able to pay for gas and make more trips to see my dog on during the weekends of a college semester as I believe it is extremely important to give your pets as much attention as possible. Your time with your pets is not infinite so you must make the most of it and give your unconditiinally loving companions the best lives you can provide them.

One lesson I found really valuable is to invest early to leave your future more secure. Security is extremely important to me, especially looking at the current rate of inflation. It is important to invest in stocks and/or real estate as their prices will naturally increase over time. With this scholarship, I will invest half of it into an S&P 500 and the other half in growth stocks to create a foundation of potential wealth to growon the side while I focus on my college education and persuing my goal of being a professional musician. Investing will be especially important as a performance major since pay is based on one time gigs and rehersals, rather than a yearly-based salary. It will be important for me to keep adding to these accounts so that they can exponentionally grow and make my life as a musician easier.

Optimism is very important and motivational to me since I am currently a student studying Performance arts in music. Music itself has pushed me through the pandemic and now a potential recession. Hearing the inner harmonies and overlapping melodies of established works motivate me to practice more on my instrument so that one day as a career I provide that same feeling of warmth and unity music gave me. Optimism has also taught me important life lessons to not just improve myself academically, but also in life. It has taught me perseverence and delayed gratification and that in order to achieve my goals, I can't always think critically. Sometimes I need to be proud of my own accomplishments and and be excited where I will end up in the future. This scholarship will help secure my future in college by payimg for musoc materials such as staff paper, valve oil, trumpet exercise books, and music theory books.

My goal is to become a professional musician playing for either the New York Philharmonic Orchestra or the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. I believe music is especially important during distressing times such as now with us currently just finishing the Corona Virus pandemic and now dealing with economic stresses with the Ukraine war. I plan to play music not for entertainment, but for people to stop for a second and enjoy life through melody and harmony.

My favorite artist is phil smith, a famous trumpet. He has such a sweet sound and is extremely versatile, from either quiet and gentle, or bold and vigorous. My favorite scientist is Marie Curie because of her pioneering of radiology and being the first person to receive two Nobel prizes