I love to create things. Ever since I was little, I’ve loved baking, sewing, writing, and pretty much any other creative venture that I could find the materials to try. The one thing I was never any good at, though, was drawing. I still tried, of course, but most of my drawings came out awkward and shaky and simply…not good. I decided to accept that I would never be any good at drawing, because I didn’t have my own style and all of my drawings ended up looking like a terrible rendition of PowerPoint clip art. Because of this, it's hard to believe that drawing ended up becoming the only outlet that allowed me to successfully process my emotions after the death of my mother in high school. I started out just mindlessly doodling misshapen palm trees in my school notebook when I had too much on my mind to focus. Soon, though, my drawings began to coincide more with the music I was listening to in order to put words to feelings that I couldn't. I'd doodle a teardrop and scribble some lyrics from Coldplay's "Fix You," which then progressed into drawing tears running down cartoon faces and incorporating the lyrics into the drawing. I finally began to develop my own style, and my drawings started to come from a place of hope and imagination rather than grief. I began drawing on whatever I could get my hands on; flower pots, picture frames, and especially shoes. I wasn't someone with a ton of friends in high school, but I started to become known for my custom drawn Vans. People would stop me in the hall to tell me how cool they were, or to ask when I was planning on doing another pair. I even managed to sell some to my classmates. I enjoy drawing because it gives me an outlet to process and express my emotions and experiences that nothing else can. It's opened doors for me and given me things I never would have even dreamed of just a few short years ago. The most important thing it's given me, though, is hope. My love of art and drawing motivated me to apply to a university in San Francisco, and I'm so excited to say that I got in and plan to transfer there in the fall. Today, I'm working on improving my digital art in order to open the door for opportunities in graphic design. I also hope to be able to start selling my custom-drawn shoes and other items sometime this year, and to take advantage of the incredible art scene around my new school. As the cost of both art materials and of tuition and housing are so expensive, it would be an incredible honor to receive this scholarship to help me afford to continue pursuing this dream.

Changing the world may sound like a massive feat, but I believe that making a positive impact on it is much simpler than many people think. When I first started thinking about how to answer this question, my mind immediately went to the more grand gestures; service projects, fundraisers, etc. I decided to take a minute to think about it while I took a walk to the fridge. When I opened the door and saw the leftover cake pops I made for a friend the other day, and it dawned on me. I found my answer, and it's a lot more mundane than I though it would be. I try to make a positive impact on the world by baking for my friends and family. When someone's sad and I don't know what to do, I bake something for them to make them feel a little less bad. If I know that someone would feel guilty about me baking something just for them, I'll bake something I know they like and tell them I made way too much and desperately need someone to take some off my hands. I've started making a list of what everyone likes best and what I know they dislike, because I've realized that many of my friends and family are too polite to make specific requests. One thing I've realized that both my family and friends really like is cake pops, so I've started making them a lot. The other day when I was bringing some to a friend, they commented that I must really like cake pops since I make them so often. The funny thing is, though, I don't actually like cake pops at all.