I have seasonal affective disorder. It affects me the most during the busiest time of my school year, the fall. I am balancing cheerleading, new classes with loads of work, and undiagnosed depression. I have always been scared to go to a professional to get diagnosed because I don't like feeling as if there is something wrong with me. The effects the disorder was having on me were very off-putting for me initially. I began to sleep a lot, eat excessively or not eat enough. I began to distance myself from all my loved ones and friends at school. All I wanted was to be by myself, not only because I had a low social battery but also because I didn't want anyone to know what was going on with me. I was too uncomfortable to ask for help and support because I didn't want to be seen as a burden. To combat depression, I have tried many solutions. Solutions such as purposeful excessive sleeping, disguising my sadness, and joining the wrong crowd were immediate responses which didn’t provide solutions. Throughout the years, I have realized that my plan of action was not the best. My mother required me to see a therapist on two separate occasions for months at a time, as I struggled with thoughts of self-harm. The pain of living and not meeting self-imposed and outside expectations seemed insurmountable. I simply wanted the pain and sadness to end. Although I often had thoughts of self-harm, there was something inside me that kept telling me to hang in there and that there was more in store for me. One of the main solutions that has helped me is creating a solid support circle full of friends, trusted adults who can help me through it and developing my relationship with God. The friends I can hang out with anytime and relax and be myself without the stress and I can vent to them and tell them anything. The trusted adults give me advice from their years of life and advise me on what can help and who I can call on. Doing things that I love also helped me. I turned cheerleading into an escape instead of another stressor. School was still stressful but I made the change to not dread it because I’m able to see all my friends. I’ve learned so many lessons from experiencing mental health challenges. The main one I learned was to never be afraid to ask for help. The people who truly love you and care for you will never view you as a burden. They will do almost anything they can to help you. Even if you have no support system at home or are afraid to ask for help from the people around you, there is a world of opportunities online to receive help. I also learned strategies to help me work through my anxiety and depression. There are times that I need to disconnect or step away from a stressful situation, regroup and come back with a plan to address the concern. I’ve learned that I don’t have to have all the answers, that I will make mistakes, I will fail and I don’t have to be perfect! I’ve learned that I have everything I need within me to accomplish any goal I set for myself. In addition to that, there are so many components of life to be grateful for and to look forward to, and that alone keeps me motivated to keep going!

I have seasonal affective disorder. It affects me the most during the busiest time of my school year, the fall. I am balancing cheerleading, new classes with loads of work, and undiagnosed depression. I have always been scared to go to a professional to get diagnosed because I don't like feeling as if there is something wrong with me. The effects the disorder was having on me were very off-putting for me initially. I began to sleep a lot, eat excessively or not eat enough. I began to distance myself from all my loved ones and friends at school. All I wanted was to be by myself, not only because I had a low social battery but also because I didn't want anyone to know what was going on with me. I was too uncomfortable to ask for help and support because I didn't want to be seen as a burden. To combat depression, I have tried many solutions. Solutions such as purposeful excessive sleeping, disguising my sadness, and joining the wrong crowd were immediate responses which didn’t provide solutions. Throughout the years, I have realized that my plan of action was not the best. My mother required me to see a therapist on two separate occasions for months at a time, as I struggled with thoughts of self-harm. The pain of living and not meeting self-imposed and outside expectations seemed insurmountable. I simply wanted the pain and sadness to end. Although I often had thoughts of self-harm, there was something inside me that kept telling me to hang in there and that there was more in store for me. One of the main solutions that has helped me is creating a solid support circle full of friends, trusted adults who can help me through it and developing my relationship with God. The friends I can hang out with anytime and relax and be myself without the stress and I can vent to them and tell them anything. The trusted adults give me advice from their years of life and advise me on what can help and who I can call on. Doing things that I love also helped me. I turned cheerleading into an escape instead of another stressor. School was still stressful but I made the change to not dread it because I’m able to see all my friends. I’ve learned so many lessons from experiencing mental health challenges. The main one I learned was to never be afraid to ask for help. The people who truly love you and care for you will never view you as a burden. They will do almost anything they can to help you. Even if you have no support system at home or are afraid to ask for help from the people around you, there is a world of opportunities online to receive help. I also learned strategies to help me work through my anxiety and depression. There are times that I need to disconnect or step away from a stressful situation, regroup and come back with a plan to address the concern. I’ve learned that I don’t have to have all the answers, that I will make mistakes, I will fail and I don’t have to be perfect! I’ve learned that I have everything I need within me to accomplish any goal I set for myself. In addition to that, there are so many components of life to be grateful for and to look forward to, and that alone keeps me motivated to keep going!

The world can be a very cruel and mean place. Parents are often scared to allow their children out of the house without them because there is no telling what could happen. In the world we live in, they have every right to feel that way. No one should have to fear about feeling safe in the community they live in. This fear is a part of the reason that I would like to go into the field of criminal justice and/ or criminology. Everyone is not built to stand up to some of the scariest criminals in the world, but I find their past and it's connection to their actions as an adult interesting. This interest in more than just their crimes makes me feel as though I am one of the few fit enough to work in this field. In the field of criminal justice I plan on going into, I will be tasked with bringing these criminals to justice and pulling them off the streets. This will make the world a better place purely based off of the fact that it will create safe environments for people to live in. This feeling of criminals being pulled off of the streets, will make people feel more comfortable in the neighborhoods they live in. Obviously, it is nearly impossible to pull every criminal off of the street, but it is at least a start. I also plan to be heavily invested in the church and it will be needed in the criminal justice field. While I am bringing justice to victim's family members, I plan to possibly go to jail or prison facilities and teach about the goodness of God. My plan for teaching about the goodness of God might be able to sway criminals into a better life, even if they are on the track to never get out of the facility. Even if the criminal cannot get out of jail, there will be another saved soul and I will be proud to have spread the gospel no matter the outcome. They might even go around their facility and continue to spread the word of God that I have spread unto them. In either circumstance, it is a win in my book and a win in the Kingdom of the Lord's. God has saved me on more accounts than I can count on my hands, so it would be an honor to spread his goodness to the people that need it the most.

The world can be a very cruel and mean place. Parents are often scared to allow their children out of the house without them because there is no telling what could happen. In the world we live in, they have every right to feel that way. No one should have to fear about feeling safe in the community they live in. This fear is a part of the reason that I would like to go into the field of criminal justice and/ or criminology. Everyone is not built to stand up to some of the scariest criminals in the world, but I find their past and its connection to their actions as an adult interesting. This interest in more than just their crimes makes me feel as though I am one of the few fit enough to work in this field. In the field of criminal justice, I plan on going into, I will be tasked with bringing these criminals to justice and pulling them off the streets. This will make the world a better place purely based on the fact that it will create safe environments for people to live in. This feeling of criminals being pulled off of the streets will make people feel more comfortable in the neighborhoods they live in. It is nearly impossible to pull every criminal off of the street, but it is at least a start. I also plan to be heavily invested in the church and it will be needed in the criminal justice field. While I am bringing justice to victim's family members, I plan to possibly go to jail or prison facilities and teach about the goodness of God. My plan for teaching about the goodness of God might be able to sway criminals into a better life, even if they are on the track to never get out of the facility. Even if the criminal cannot get out of jail, there will be another saved soul and I will be proud to have spread the gospel no matter the outcome. They might even go around their facility and continue to spread the word of God that I have spread unto them. In either circumstance, it is a win in my book and a win in the Kingdom of the Lord. God has saved me on more accounts than I can count on my hands, so it would be an honor to spread his goodness to the people who need it the most.

The world can be a very cruel and mean place. Parents are often scared to allow their children out of the house without them because there is no telling what could happen. In the world we live in, they have every right to feel that way. No one should have to fear about feeling safe in the community they live in. This fear is a part of the reason that I would like to go into the field of criminal justice and/ or criminology. Everyone is not built to stand up to some of the scariest criminals in the world, but I find their past and it's connection to their actions as an adult interesting. This interest in more than just their crimes makes me feel as though I am one of the few fit enough to work in this field. In the field of criminal justice I plan on going into, I will be tasked with bringing these criminals to justice and pulling them off the streets. This will make the world a better place purely based off of the fact that it will create safe environments for people to live in. This feeling of criminals being pulled off of the streets, will make people feel more comfortable in the neighborhoods they live in. Obviously, it is nearly impossible to pull every criminal off of the street, but it is at least a start. I also plan to be heavily invested in the church and it will be needed in the criminal justice field. While I am bringing justice to victim's family members, I plan to possibly go to jail or prison facilities and teach about the goodness of God. My plan for teaching about the goodness of God might be able to sway criminals into a better life, even if they are on the track to never get out of the facility. Even if the criminal cannot get out of jail, there will be another saved soul and I will be proud to have spread the gospel no matter the outcome. They might even go around their facility and continue to spread the word of God that I have spread unto them. In either circumstance, it is a win in my book and a win in the Kingdom of the Lord's. God has saved me on more accounts than I can count on my hands, so it would be an honor to spread his goodness to the people that need it the most.

Criminology and forensic science have been an interest of mine for quite some time. From a very young age, I used to be highly intrigued as my mother and I would watch the ID channel on television. I vouched to be like the detectives on the television, solving the crimes and bringing people to justice. Many people cannot comprehend when I try to explain how fascinating the minds of criminals are and how often, their connection to their childhood traumas causes them to act in harmful ways toward others. Taking a psychology class showed me more in-depth how certain events in one's life can lead to certain behavioral choices and the belief that there is nothing wrong with these choices. This class only fueled my fire for criminology even more. With every episode of any criminal justice or crime-solving show I watched, I felt increasingly worse for the victims and their families. All the pain and suffering they were put through with the series of events was something I would never wish on my worst enemy. These moments and realizations led me to my interest in criminal justice in addition to my already fueled interest in the mind of a criminal. This cause has pushed me to want to enter the minds of criminals and solve cases to bring families justice for their loved ones who have suffered heinous crimes. Growing up as a child in the gifted program, I am also very used to challenges and puzzles. Solving crimes to me is like solving one big puzzle building the evidence piece by piece and for a good cause. For me, it's also not just about solving the puzzle though, it's about creating safer communities for people across the country. No one deserves to live in fear of a serial killer, or someone else capable of committing horrifying crimes. There is also so much to explore in the world of criminology or forensic science. There are so many fields that can fall under the umbrella such as law, psychology, and sociology which are all equally interesting. All fields come together to solve crimes as well. This field is the true epitome of teamwork. The suspect's and criminal's actions seem to tear everybody apart but the actions of solving the crimes bring people together from all over the world for one purpose. The purpose in question? The fight for justice and a safer world.