It took me 16 years of my life to realize that perspective is what changes any situation or previous understanding. If I have no perspective on a situation, I have no relation to it and therefore do not understand, such principle can be applied to politics, religion, friendships, and even my own moral compass. This realization came about in my Sophomore year History class taught by one of my closest teachers where we learned how to change our perspectives. This teacher used an example to explain his principle, speaking from his own personal experiences in his life; "when my girlfriend became pregnant, rather than telling her how I felt on the idea of a termination of pregnancy, asked her what she wanted to do. I realized that I could not put my own opinion into the discussion because I had no perspective to give. Yes, I was the father, but since I could not go through the process of carrying a child, birthing, and anything else relating to a pregnancy, I had no perspective". I was blown away, never before had this been taught to me, I was taught that there is always some sort of perspective you can have towards a situation and therefore you can have an opinion on it. Specifically, I had been told by my father in the past to play the "devil's advocate" when debating politics just to test people and their knowledge on what they are preaching but I did not realize that I had to truly put myself in the other person's shoes to understand. Growing up in a strict Christian household I did not have very many of my own opinions and, to be frank, thought everything other than what my parents taught me was wrong. After this history class I gained knowledge in knowing that to have a perspective I needed to have a connection to the issue, I cannot claim to understand a pregnant teen's situation while not having gone through the same situation myself. I can have ideas but I have not gained that perspective. This idea has since shifted my ideals in a new direction. Going from a Bible-only Christian brainwashed with my parents teachings to realizing that some topics I have no right to speak on due to my lack of perspective. This has not only helped me connect with the right people in my life to help me continue to grow in this newfound understanding of perspective itself, but I feel as if I have grown. I am no longer my parents copy of information to then pass on to my own children someday, I am my own person with my own moral compass and my own understandings. I know that this all comes with age but I feel privileged and thankful that I got the opportunity to learn this early, before I made any more of a negative impact on people around me. Going in to the future I am going to use this principle in my day to day life. I hope to pass on this ideal to people close to me, informing them of how perspective is everything.

I am a survivor who still struggles with surviving. Many of the events that have taken place in my life have severely affected my self image and mental health in both positive and negative ways. Specifically my struggle with my mental illness has had undoubtedly one of the biggest impacts on my self. Living with Obsessive Compulsive after experiencing trauma has shown me that I am the person I decide to be and no circumstances can force me to change who I am. It took years of counseling behind my parents back to come to terms with who I am but I believe that I am stronger because of it. I can finally say that I am confident. I see the strength in myself that I have used to overcome many trials and I recognize that I deserve great things in my future that I am going to work toward accomplishing. Hopes for my future include sharing my experiences with others and participating in my community to destigmatize mental health. Many students, such as myself, struggle with self acceptance and mental health but are hesitant to seek help due to the stigma surrounding mental health. I personally have dealt with the rejection from family on my mental health and not feeling heard when opening up. This is a cause that I feel is crucial to making our community a better place. With this scholarship I am going to further my education so I will be more able to inform my community on these issues while having the ability to enact change.

I am a survivor who still struggles with surviving. Many of the events that have taken place in my life have severely affected my self image and mental health in both positive and negative ways. Specifically my struggle with my mental illness has had undoubtedly one of the biggest impacts on my self. Living with Obsessive Compulsive after experiencing trauma has shown me that I am the person I decide to be and no circumstances can force me to change who I am. It took years of counseling behind my parents back to come to terms with who I am but I believe that I am stronger because of it. I can finally say that I am confident. I see the strength in myself that I have used to overcome many trials and I recognize that I deserve great things in my future that I am going to work toward accomplishing. Hopes for my future include sharing my experiences with others and participating in my community to destigmatize mental health. Many students, such as myself, struggle with self acceptance and mental health but are hesitant to seek help due to the stigma surrounding mental health. I personally have dealt with the rejection from family on my mental health and not feeling heard when opening up. This is a cause that I feel is crucial to making our community a better place. With this scholarship I am going to further my education so I will be more able to inform my community on these issues while having the ability to enact change.

As a lover of fashion I had to start somewhere, this can be seen in the creative and outlandish outfits I put together in my younger years. I wanted to stand out and I wanted to show my peers that a form of self expression can be seen in what you wear. Through elementary and middle school I spent years dressing in neon, mix matched patterns, and fedoras. Though my outfits and style have shifted I still continue to use my dress to explore my self expression and showing a creative side of myself.

I am a senior in high school attempting to improve both my health and environment through a vegan diet while living under a meat eating household. Throughout the last two years I have greatly struggled on and off with my body image and confidence. I went through stages where I attempted to starve myself for days just to fit into a dress that was not anywhere near my size. Since COVID-19 hit I have been forced to self reflect after much time at home in quarantine and I discovered a confidence I have never felt about myself. I realized that I do not need to do high intensity workouts everyday and eat under 1,00 calories to obtain the body type I dreamed about. I have done my own research on what works for my body but also focused on my mental health on the subject, realizing that I am in this body and I am healthy. Since then I have been slowly developing healthy and sustainable habits that have and will continue to positively impact my health overall. Such activities include mindful yoga and getting moving at some point throughout the day. Diet wise I have been a vegetarian, seeing many positive impacts as a result on my body. I have gained more energy throughout the day after I researched the nutrients I need to get from different foods that are not meat. Finally I have reached a place in my life where I am confident in not only my body but my mental state and self image. My goals for the next year include further developing my habits and cutting out some more toxic behaviors that I have held on to, as well as switching to a full vegan diet for environmental impact and my lactose intolerance...if only ice cream were vegan.

As a Christian one of my main focuses in life, as cheesy as it sounds, is showing kindness to those around me. I use this ideal to additionally have goals on improving my community and doing my part in making an impact on the world around me. Through my experience as a member of the Kiwanis Key Club at my High School I have gotten to participate in a number of events with varying responsibilities. After four years of volunteering I can say that there was one event and cause I played a part in that pulled at my heart. Our club focused a couple years on supporting Doernbechers Children's Hospital patients and providing support in their times of need. We did this by making dolls for the children to dress up and decorate to their liking, as well as in person visits to meet some of the patients there. As someone who has a personal connection to Doernbechers through family members being hosted there, I am a fan of their overall mission and what they work to do. The hospital financially supports patients through a number of payment plans that would normally leave families in debt after months of stay and treatments. There are a number of causes I am passionate about and would like to play a more crucial role in supporting but throughout college I want to continue my work with Doernbechers. I want to see more programs put in place for family's struggling to pay for treatment for their children as well as emotional support programs for the parents themselves as the stress of having a sick child consumes their thoughts. A second change I want to see in my community is in schools. As a survivor of sexual assault I got to experience first hand the faults in our school systems when it comes to mental health. I want to work with the community on developing support programs for sexual assault survivors and have a better support system in the schools for seeking out help and legal action. My school did their best with what they had to support me and I have no resentment but I felt my voice was silenced after my trauma and I want to work to make sure no one feels that way. If the community can help to get more people educated on sexual assault and prevention the impact it will have on the community as a whole will be greatly positive. Becoming involved in my community at a young age is one of the best decisions I feel that I have made in my life, it has greatly impacted how I view helping others and the importance of doing your part. Through these next years I plan to do more events but focus now on causes that I am passionate about and could see myself aiding in the mission. With this scholarship you would aid me in my efforts to further develop my involvement in my community and make a more influential impact on the people around me.

Spottie is the only surviving pet of the Smith household after the loss of our other two pets this year. Spottie has had a rough time with her grief but due to COVID we have all gotten to spend a lot more time at home giving her all of the snuggles she deserves (she is much happier). She is sassy and talks back to us quite often when we fail to feed her when she demands. It seems she has found joy through sleeping in awkward spots around the house and accompanying her owners on their trips to the restroom.

I am an environmentalist and as such I want people to see the beauty in the world that is disappearing before our eyes. My vision is to create an exhibit featuring my own oil paintings of famous nature hotspots from around the world as time has passed. Displaying the sites ten to twenty years ago compared to their state now as climate change has risen and crucial elements of nature and our ecosystems are going extinct. The aim of this exhibit will be for people of all backgrounds and beliefs to be able to see the impact their actions have had on the world and the beauty that we claim to appreciate as it is dying. This exhibit I hope would prick the hearts of people who enjoy nature and appreciate history, who will then help to do their part in preserve it. With this goal in mind I want to travel to not only paint and capture these places in their truest form but to also experience different cultures from around the world. I have lived in my own Salem, Oregon bubble my whole life and to be given the opportunity to travel and break free from my own understanding of life is an experience that I believe will shape my perceptions for the better. While traveling I think it would be important to document through social media and my blog my experiences while developing my exhibit in order to inform readers of the cultures outside of their own bubbles as well. I have been a passionate artist all my life from holding home concerts for my parents in my living room as a child to now painting nature. Something as meaningful and impactful as my vision is one of my many goals that I plan to accomplish throughout the next ten years of my life and I hope that you will help give me the opportunity to do so.

I am an environmentalist and as such I want people to see the beauty in the world that is disappearing before our eyes. My vision is to create an exhibit featuring my own oil paintings of famous nature hotspots from around the world as time has passed. Displaying the sites ten to twenty years ago compared to their state now as climate change has risen and crucial elements of nature and our ecosystems are going extinct. The aim of this exhibit will be for people of all backgrounds and beliefs to be able to see the impact their actions have had on the world and the beauty that we claim to appreciate as it is dying. This exhibit I hope would prick the hearts of people who enjoy nature and appreciate history, who will then help to do their part in preserve it. I have been a passionate artist all my life from holding home concerts for my parents in my living room as a child to now painting nature. Something as meaningful and impactful as my vision is one of my many goals that I plan to accomplish throughout the next ten years of my life and I hope that you will help give me the opportunity to do so.

High school has been the most challenging four years of my life as of yet and through my ups and downs I have almost reached the other side. Struggling through sexual assault, obsessive compulsive, and stress has allowed me to grow in ways I never thought I would have to. I had to grow up a lot younger than some of my peers as a result of my trauma and the cards that I have been dealt but I believe that because of it all I am a stronger person. Even when I was at my lowest I found ways to motivate myself to continue perusing my goals because even after it all I knew that my one goal was to not let these things in my life define me. I decided I would not be deprived of the life I wanted for myself because of uncontrollable circumstances. A crucial part of my life that was impacted by these events was my career goals and aspirations. Throughout elementary and middle school I received a note in my yearbook from beloved teachers who, looking back, all said the same thing with the common note saying that I will “accomplish great things” and that they “can see me doing big things”. Now I do not doubt that these comments are often said to students, it was not until recently that I realized what that means to me. One of my main goals in life is to make the people in my life proud, accomplishing all of the hopes and dreams that have been planned as I grew up. Going into high school I focused on the big question “What do you want to do with your life?”. I went through many different phases, shooting for small career paths with no risk. Being a senior in quarantine and first hand experiencing the world and where I fit into it, I reevaluated my goals and decided I owe it to myself to aim higher. Since 2019 I have been working in a personal injury Law Office filing paperwork and learning about the justice system. I spent a lot of time reading cases and learning about the terrible things people go through which aided in reshaping my goals in my life. I want to help people. I want to make an impact on people’s lives. These are the ideals I want to be a part of my career and all that I do from now on. In the past I have done my part in a number of community service programs, being a member of the Kiwanis Key Club for four years but the personal connection is what I lacked. I realized that just showing up to events was not enough anymore, I need to do something that is going to change the community as a whole for the better. With these ideals in mind I am going to pursue a career in politics, where I hope I can aid in community projects to fight climate change, a subject I am very passionate about since my classes in Environmental Studies, as well as aiding in restoring the justice system to truly help people again. Scholarships such as yours are the first step to accomplishing my life goals so I can receive an education that will prepare me to be a person who is aiming for change and knows how to get there. To quote the Lorax, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not”. My goals are high and to some seem unattainable but with my passion and personal connection to these policies I believe that my contributions could promote change. All it takes is a few passionate and hardworking people to create change and I am going to be one of them, not only to make the people in my life proud but more importantly, myself.

Throughout elementary and middle school I received a note in my yearbook from beloved teachers who, looking back, all said the same thing with the common note saying that I will “accomplish great things” and that they “can see me doing big things”. Now I do not doubt that these comments are often said to students, it was not until recently that I realized what that means to me. One of my main goals in life is to make the people in my life proud, accomplishing all of the hopes and dreams that have been planned as I grew up. Going into high school I focused on the big question “What do you want to do with your life?”. I went through many different phases, shooting for small career paths with no risk. Being a senior in quarantine and first hand experiencing the world and where I fit into it, I reevaluated my goals and decided I owe it to myself to aim higher. Since 2019 I have been working in a personal injury Law Office filing paperwork and learning about the justice system. I spent a lot of time reading cases and learning about the terrible things people go through which aided in reshaping my goals in my life. I want to help people. I want to make an impact on people’s lives. These are the ideals I want to be a part of my career and all that I do from now on. In the past I have done my part in a number of community service programs, being a member of the Kiwanis Key Club for four years but the personal connection is what I lacked. I realized that just showing up to events was not enough anymore, I need to do something that is going to change the community as a whole for the better. With these ideals in mind I am going to pursue a career in politics, where I hope I can aid in community projects to fight climate change, a subject I am very passionate about since my classes in Environmental Studies, as well as aiding in restoring the justice system to truly help people again. Scholarships such as yours are the first step to accomplishing my life goals so I can receive an education that will prepare me to be a person who is aiming for change and knows how to get there. To quote the Lorax, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not”. My goals are high and to some seem unattainable but with my passion and personal connection to these policies I believe that my contributions could promote change. All it takes is a few passionate and hardworking people to create change and I am going to be one of them, not only to make the people in my life proud but more importantly, myself.