Saying COVID-19 has wreaked havoc over 2020 would be an understatement. The biggest understatement of the decade, no the century. My family has all been affected in different ways. I myself haven't had it, but my sister did. She is okay now, but she was so sick for about three weeks. It has been a few months now, and she says she still struggles with breathing now and then. My husband is lucky enough to be in the military, so his job was secure. He's worked the entire time, minus the two weeks we spent in quarantine. We had the Rhinovirus, the common cold. That was the worst of it for us. Other than all activities for toddlers being shut down, my children's birthday having to be canceled, and our trips to see family back home needing to be rescheduled, we've been fine through the pandemic. The one thing I've learned about myself is that I can hand;e just about any situation, even during a pandemic. Life still goes on; you adjust and keep pushing through. No one knows exactly what to do, so all we can do is try. Something I have learned about others is that they are selfish. If something is not directly affecting them, they choose not to care. Too many times, I have seen people complain about a simple mask and swear never to wear, just for them to contract COVID-19. Thining of others is not a difficult thing to do. The world seemed to get a handle on the virus, but the US has not. We didn't stop traveling or gathering or just simply washing their hands more. This experience has shown me that a simple act of kindness can turn around a day. Offering to grab someone's groceries, so they avoid the store is priceless. Working together as a community helps tremendously. If we could take the community effort and put it forth throughout the country, we'd be much better off.

My role model has always been my older cousin, Jessica. I've never told her this. I figured I'd put too much pressure on her or maybe freak her out. Growing up, she seemed like the perfect student and the perfect daughter. Now, I know nothing to the contrary. We were never very close, to begin with. Of course, we'd spent time together over the year, had some sleepovers, and attended birthday parties, but she was always an unattainable person like a celebrity in my head. I was still so nervous around her, but I wanted to be just like her. Jessica is just a few years older than I am, two or three years, I believe. My mom would speak with my aunt over the phone and comment on how she was doing in school; it was always straight A's. Of course, it was straight A's. It's Jessica, what else did you expect from her? I told myself, "If Jess can get good grades, then so can I!" It was never a competition or me seeing her as a rival; she was this person I wanted to be on the same level as an intellectual. Saying that always made me laugh. What made her an intellectual in my mind when I had no idea what it meant at the time is beyond me. I just know she made me want to apply myself to be the very best I could. She had me reaching for the stars only by being a regular kid. While in high school, she read a short story or something I had written, she liked it. She told me I should keep at it. That, right there, is all I needed to hear. This unattainable person told me to keep writing. She probably wouldn't even remember this, but it has stuck with me for nearly 15 years. It meant the world to me. It still does. Over the years, we grew further apart, if that's even possible. She went off to college while I slowly gave up writing. While I was getting married, she was graduating from nursing school. It made me sad watching her live her dreams while I was too scared even to take a step towards mine. I told myself it was too late for me. I have two children now; I couldn't start even if I wanted to. And man, did I want to. She landed her dream job, and I congratulated her, mentioned something about it being too late for me. She told me, "it's never too late to work towards your dreams," and suddenly, I remembered writing. For some reason, I stopped writing. I thought about my dreams, to work in a publishing house, to be a novelist, to even be an English teacher one day—someone to inspire writing in children. With her words slamming around in my head, college no longer seemed like an impossibility. It was now the very first step of my dreams. After a few short words, not even a full conversation, she ignited a passion I had long forgotten. I love to write.

Publishing Editor

I am presently working on completing my first degree in marketing. I plan on using my marketing degree to improve my knowledge of the business side of writing. I would use this grant to learn the skill of professional writing. Once I have obtained this degree, I will continue to get a bachelor's degree in English and creative writing. With these degrees, I plan on publishing novels; I hope to teach high school students the love of writing, just as my high school teachers did for me. My pursuit is to write novels like those I read as a child that made me fall in love with reading and writing. I hope to teach the younger generation the power and passion behind the hand. Writing, though often disregarded, is a crucial skill to learn. If I can provoke even one student's devotion to writing, I will have fulfilled one of my many dreams. This award would provide me with the ability to take another course without worrying about the cost. Not having to think about payment plans would allow me to focus on my studies. This grant would help alleviate my financial burden and let me be a better student and a less overwhelmed mother and wife.