If I had one sentence to share with the whole world, I would share this: "To be the best person you can be, be kind, set firm boundaries, and be willing to grow." In order to be a decent human being, individuals must show compassion to all, including themselves, and be willing to grow. The person you are today isn't going to be the same person you are in five years or twenty-five years and by gracefully accepting that change, you are better prepared for whatever may come your way. I feel that kindness is the greatest gift that one can give to another, whether it is expressed by showing compassion towards a pet or sharing a kind word with a lonely soul. However, kindness expressed without boundaries can be taken advantage of by those without so good of a heart. Being kind to all includes being kind to yourself. Setting unmovable boundaries and refusing to budge from them for any reason is how an individual stagnates; this world is ever-changing and requires change, growth, and acceptance in order to keep up. By setting boundaries and having the emotional intelligence to reevaluate these boundaries from time to time, you will grow to be a successful person.

This year I am starting my Master's degree in Thanatology. Thanatology, for those who don't know, is the study of death, dying, and grief. My goal of getting this degree is to be able to provide death education to anyone in search of tools and resources on how to cope with the loss of a loved one or to prepare for their own eventual demise. The main reason I decided to follow this career path is that I have never had a problem discussing death and I want to use that power to help others who may not be so comfortable with the subject. I also admire the grief councilors who worked with me as a child and respect those who face death on a daily basis. My hope is to one day be able to lead group and individual discussions on the topics of death, dying, and grief with individuals from all walks of life to help alleviate some of the fear and taboos surrounding these topics. I believe that everyone's personal and second-hand experiences with death, dying, and grief can be powerful tools in respecting and appreciating life to the fullest and I would love to help others take hold of their emotions and guide them to a happier, healthier existence.

As a Tallahassee local, I have enjoyed serving my community through volunteering since I was old enough to help. When I was in elementary school, I started a campaign to bring donations to the local animal shelter at my church. I stood in front of the whole congregation with a little index card I had written and asked everyone to donate food, blankets, and supplies to help the animals. As I got older, I volunteered walking dogs at the shelter and acted as a DJ for their annual “Tails & Trails” run. I gained valuable life experience volunteering at the fair-trade store Ten Thousand Villages. In college, I continued to serve my community by volunteering for the Early Learning Coalition by organizing donated books and putting together packets for teachers. I enjoyed acting as a tutor for students for whom English was their second language and assisting in a classroom of students with disabilities. Presently, I am currently volunteering as my office’s United Way of the Big Bend coordinator, campaigning and collecting monetary donations to help employed individuals who are struggling to make ends meet. Last year, my small office was able to raise over $1,200 that would go back to our local community by providing funds to education, housing, skills development, health, and mental health resources. I have always enjoyed supporting my community through volunteer work, whether it is through helping our furry four-legged friends or by spending my time and skills to help my neighbors. I would like to think that my actions have increased the quality of life of others during my years of volunteering and I hope I can continue to bring peace and comfort to others throughout my life.

To me, the simple things in life are things that make life the most worth living for and bring me the greatest joy. One activity that fills me with joy is cross-stitching. I love the brightly colored threads and the gorgeous designs you can make with them just by sewing tiny ‘x’ marks repeatedly through fabric. It may not look like a lot up close, but when you stand back and view the cross-stitch piece from further away, you see how much each little ‘x’ works together to create a larger picture, like a single pixel in a photograph. My hobby of cross-stitch fulfils me by showing me the beautiful things that come from the simplest of marks. I enjoy organizing my cross-stitch thread, winding each skein carefully onto bobbins and labeling them for future use. It allows me to unwind my mind after a long day at work and focus on the relaxing repetition that comes from creating order. Organizing my threads brings me peace. I relish posting photos of my progress on my social media accounts and seeing friends and family’s reactions to each new project that I create. I enjoy how on social media, numerous cross-stitchers and embroiders are joined together through their love of crafts and how I get to see so many projects from beginners to experts ranging from funny to breath-taking. Life is filled with rich blues of sadness, bright reds of anger or passion, and cheerful yellows of joy. Each of these moments, like a tiny ‘x’ mark stitched into a canvas, makes up a person’s life. Up close, these tiny moments filled with simple things do not look like much, but when viewed from afar create the beautiful portrait of one’s life.

To me, the act of generosity is the act of giving a gift of oneself to someone in need and not expecting anything in return. Generosity can be expressed through the act of donating time, skills, goods, or money to those in need. I believe that true generosity is selfless and does not require the recipient of ones’ generosity to return the favor and goes hand in hand with being kind. A person may believe that they are being generous by giving someone a favor then demanding one in return, but I disagree. While their initial favor was very kind, the generosity of their actions is tainted by their impure motives. Some examples of true generosity that spring to mind are the act of giving some extra time to help a peer study for a test, helping a friend move, or giving donations to a local food bank. The act of being generous can be as mundane as picking up a dropped item off the ground and returning it to its owner and as grandiose as a wealthy individual donating several million dollars to the charity of their choice. Generosity is not limited by age, ability, or socioeconomic status. Everyone has the capacity to be generous through their ability to be aware of others’ needs and to assist in anyway they can when they are not otherwise obligated to help.

At one point in my life, I wanted to be a teacher. I earned a minor in education at Florida State University and taught English in Taiwan one summer. I loved teaching the students and was rewarded by witnessing the moment when students really understood the lesson. It is hard work with long days in the classroom and long nights grading papers and preparing lesson plans, but I loved it. The main reason I did not follow my dream of becoming a teacher was because of the lack of funding. Teachers are woefully underpaid, and classrooms lack the funding they need to provide meaningful hands-on learning experiences for children. We could improve education immediately by increasing funding for both teacher salaries and for classroom and school resources. Teachers work hard. We expect them to be babysitters, nurses, policemen, tutors, and life coaches for our children. What I mean by that is we expect teachers to watch our children, keep our kids safe, provide a solid education, help those who are struggling succeed, and teach life lessons that children may not be receiving at home. That is a lot to ask of a single person. In an ideal society, teachers would be making the same amount as doctors and lawyers. The unfortunate reality is that some teacher jobs break down to paying less per hour than the same person would make working in the fast-food industry. Due to being criminally underpaid and being asked to pull so much weight, some of the best teachers in the industry and leaving the profession to go work other jobs where they are paid their worth. If teachers were to be compensated what they are truly worth, our society would retain the exceptional teachers. When schools have exceptional teachers who truly care and love what they are doing, learning abounds through meaningful connections between teachers and their students. Another area where increased funding would vastly improve education for today’s children and future generations is through providing resources for schools and classrooms. Today, most teachers pay for most of their classroom supplies out of pocket, on top of their criminally small paychecks. What a wonderful world it would be where children were able to learn in state-of-the-art classrooms and politicians had to have bake sales to fund their campaigns. A child will have a much more meaningful experience in a classroom with new books, markers, and computers than in a classroom with books missing pages and ancient technology that is constantly breaking down. The more roadblocks we place in a child’s path to success, the more we hurt our future. I believe that if we increase the funding for both teachers and their classrooms, we will see an almost immediate positive impact on education. With the appropriate funding, society would be able to remove roadblocks from our children’s path to success. Educators could design classrooms that would ensure student success and an increase to teacher salaries would allow us to retain our outstanding educators.

One of my favorite scientific discoveries is the use of agar in petri dishes. When you study samples in a petri dish, you cannot just place them in the dish because petri dishes are sterile, and your samples will die. To solve this problem, scientists inject them into an agar mixture, which allows the samples to grow and be studied. Prior to the use of agar, all sorts of various gelatins were used, but failed because they either melted too easily or were devoured by gel-loving bacteria/microbes. In the late 1800s, a scientist named Robert Koch ran a lab in Germany dedicated to the study of bacteria and microbiology. Among his employees were Julius Petri, who would invent the petri dish while under Robert Koch’s employment, and a scientist named Walther Hesse. These men struggled to find a gelatin base in which to study their samples that would withstand heat and against samples that like to eat away at the gel. Walther Hesse’s wife, Fannie Hess, happened to work in the lab as an unpaid assistant and suggested that they use agar as a replacement for the gels they had been using. Fannie knew about agar because she had used it in her fruit jellies. She knew from experience that agar allowed jellies to last longer without melting than other gelling agents. Later scientists would come in and refine the agar gel mixture Fannie first suggested, but the original mixture is still the basis for what we use today. This story appeals to me because it shows to me how lessons learned from other disciplines in life can be applied in surprising and useful ways. Without Fannie Hesse being present in the lab, scientists could have struggled for years to find a proper solution to their gelatin problems.

As someone who worked in Customer Service for many years and is now earning her master’s degree, finding a way to relax and take care of my mental health is key. One tip that I use, that sounds almost counterintuitive to relaxing, is to keep a schedule. Keeping a routine is key to helping your body and mind unwind after a long day. I keep a planner of what needs to be accomplished for the day and schedule I plan to get tasks done and what level of importance each item has. Once I have finished with the most important tasks of the day, I know that they are done and can allow myself to unwind without worrying about what still needs to be accomplished. After I have completed the day’s schedule, I have some unscheduled blocks of “me” time where I can unwind in whatever way sounds best to me. I use a variety of methods for unwinding during and after a long day of school and work. During the day, I’ll make a soothing cup of tea and take my 15-minute break and do something I love like look at cute dog photos on the internet or play a mobile game on my phone. In the evenings, I generally take off my shoes and socks, wash my face, and brush my hair to transition from “work mode” to “home mode”. I’ll go for a run on the elliptical or put on a Zumba dance workout video on YouTube. After my workout, I enjoy a warm shower or a relaxing bubble bath. If I still have time in the evening after getting all my coursework and homework assignments done, I’ll unwind with a good book or cross-stitch while the television plays in the background.

The wisest words I’ve ever heard were “Those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter”. Most of my life I’ve constantly worried about what other people thought of me – my actions, my looks, my ability to write and reason. I was concerned that people would make fun of me for the way I dressed and the way I presented myself, so I judged others. It wasn’t until later in life that a friend explained to me that those who care about the petty details shouldn’t matter to you, those who should matter in your life care about the real you. Real friends care if you’ve made it home safely after a party or if you have food in your teeth before an interview, while those who don’t matter say mean things behind your back or judge everything you do. I came to realize how I was distancing others through my own actions and worked to become a better person. I wanted to be a person who mattered to others, rather than the person who was left out for caring too much whether other people would judge me first. After taking this advice to heart, I have now gathered a large group of good people who would give you the shirt off their backs if they thought you needed it because they know that I would do the same.

As Paulo Coelho stated, “It’s the simple things in life that are most extraordinary”. To me, the simple things in life are things that make life the most worth living for. One of the most fulfilling hobbies, to me, is cross-stitching. I love the brightly colored threads and the gorgeous designs you can make with them just by sewing tiny ‘x’ marks repeatedly through fabric. It may not look like a lot up close, but when you stand back and view the cross-stitch piece from further away, you see how much each little ‘x’ works together to create a larger picture, like a single pixel in a photograph. My hobby of cross-stitch fulfils me by showing me the beautiful things that come from the simplest of marks. I enjoy organizing my cross-stitch thread, winding each skein carefully onto bobbins and labeling them for future use. It allows me to unwind my mind after a long day at work and focus on the relaxing repetition that comes from creating order. Organizing my threads brings me peace. I relish posting photos of my progress on my social media accounts and seeing friends and family’s reactions to each new project that I create. I enjoy how on social media, numerous cross-stitchers and embroiders are joined together through their love of crafts and how I get to see so many projects from beginners to experts ranging from funny to breath-taking. Life is filled with rich blues of sadness, bright reds of anger or passion, and cheerful yellows of joy. Each of these moments, like a tiny ‘x’ mark stitched into a canvas, makes up a person’s life. Up close, these tiny moments filled with simple things do not look like much, but when viewed from afar create the beautiful portrait of one’s life.

One person I admire from history is a woman named Fannie Hesse. Fannie Hesse is the person who suggested using agar as the sample base in petri dishes, although the credit frequently goes to her husband, Walther Hesse. When you study samples in a petri dish, you cannot just place them in the dish because petri dishes are sterile, and your samples will die. To solve this problem, scientists inject them into an agar mixture, which allows the samples to grow and be studied. Prior to the use of agar, all sorts of various gelatins were used, but failed because they either melted too easily or were devoured by gel-loving bacteria/microbes. In the late 1800s, Fannie Hesse worked as an unpaid assistant in a lab in Germany dedicated to the study of bacteria and microbiology. Among the scientists present in this lab were Robert Koch, considered the father of modern bacteriology; Julius Petri, who would invent the petri dish; and Walther Hesse, Fannie Hesse’s husband. These men struggled to find a gelatin base in which to study their samples that would withstand heat and against samples that like to eat away at the gel. When she heard the problem, Fannie suggested that they use agar as a replacement for the gels they had been using. Fannie knew about agar because she had used it in her fruit jellies and knew from experience that agar allowed jellies to last longer without melting than other gelling agents. Later scientists would refine the agar gel mixture Fannie first suggested, but agar is still the basis for what we use today. Without Fannie Hesse being present in the lab, scientists could have struggled for years to find a proper solution to their gelatin problems.  

My favorite book is “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” by Douglas Adams. Douglas Adams is a British author best known for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series, although “Tea-Time” is the second book in his much lesser known “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” series. The story follows a clueless detective as he tries to resolve a case that involves a mysterious contract with a body count, while Norse gods run amok in modern day England. I adore the absurd nature of the novel and how you cannot help but love the characters, despite none of them being “role-model” material. Douglas Adams is a master of British humor, satirizing the absurdness of everyday life through the most florid language. In one of my favorite scenes in the novel, the author describes the juxtaposition between a battered car entering a well-kept driveway. “A door flopped open, wobbling perilously on its one remaining hinge, and there emerged from the car a pair of the sort of legs which soundtrack editors are unable to see without needing to slap a smoky saxophone solo all over, for reasons which no one besides soundtrack editors has ever been able to understand. In this particular case, however, the saxophone would have been silenced by the proximity of the kazoo which the same soundtrack editor would almost certainly have slapped all over the progress of the vehicle.” I cannot read that scene without laughing every time. When I am looking for escapism and a good laugh, this novel provides it all: ridiculous situations, a classic detective whodunit plot, and a quasi-romantic relationship between an American woman and Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Due to the absurdist twist on the classic detective novel, you are never quite sure what the next page will hold.

If I was handed a $1,000 check right now, I would immediately cry tears of joy and thank everyone involved in this opportunity. Upon recovering from the shock of receiving $1,000, I would then apply the money towards my textbooks and course fees for my upcoming semester at Marian University. I am a self-supporting student, working full time and paying for my graduate courses a little at a time and using whatever financial aid is available to me. At $627 per credit and close to $200 per textbook, I feel that $1,000 would help me out immensely towards reaching my educational goals without breaking the bank. I am presently enrolled in Marian University's Thanatology Master's program. Thanatology is the holistic study of death, dying, and bereavement and I intend to use this degree to help others during one of the most difficult times in their lives. I chose this path of study out of my passion to help others. If I had any money left over from paying for my Summer semester of college, I would then use the funds to pay for my groceries and pay my rent. I wish I could say I was going to use the money to go on an exotic vacation, but a girl has got to eat.

As a Tallahassee local, I have been serving my community since I was old enough to help. When I was in elementary school, I started a campaign to bring donations to the local animal shelter at my church. I stood in front of the whole congregation with a little index card I had written and asked everyone to donate food, blankets, and supplies to help the animals. As I got older, I volunteered walking dogs at the shelter and acted as a DJ for their annual “Tails & Trails” run. I gained valuable life experience volunteering the fair-trade store Ten Thousand Villages. In college, I continued to serve my community by volunteering for the Early Learning Coalition by organizing donated books and putting together packets for teachers. I enjoyed acting as a tutor for students for whom English was their second language and assisting in a classroom of students with disabilities. Presently, I am currently volunteering as my office’s United Way of the Big Bend coordinator, campaigning and collecting monetary donations to help employed individuals who are struggling to make ends meet. Last year, my small office was able to raise over $1,200 that would go back to our local community by providing funds to education, housing, skills development, health, and mental health resources. I have always enjoyed supporting my community, whether it is through helping our furry four-legged friends or by volunteering my time and skills to help my neighbors. I would like to think that my actions have increased the quality of life of others during my years of volunteering and I hope I can continue to bring peace and comfort to others throughout my life.

One person I admire from history is a woman named Fannie Hesse. Fannie Hesse is the person who suggested using agar as the sample base in petri dishes, although the credit frequently goes to her husband, Walther Hesse. When you study samples in a petri dish, you cannot just place them in the dish because petri dishes are sterile, and your samples will die. To solve this problem, scientists inject them into an agar mixture, which allows the samples to grow and be studied. Prior to the use of agar, all sorts of various gelatins were used, but failed because they either melted too easily or were devoured by gel-loving bacteria/microbes. In the late 1800s, Fannie Hesse worked as an unpaid assistant in a lab in Germany dedicated to the study of bacteria and microbiology. Among the scientists present in this lab were Robert Koch, considered the father of modern bacteriology; Julius Petri, who would invent the petri dish; and Walther Hesse, Fannie Hesse’s husband. These men struggled to find a gelatin base in which to study their samples that would withstand heat and against samples that like to eat away at the gel. When she heard the problem, Fannie suggested that they use agar as a replacement for the gels they had been using. Fannie knew about agar because she had used it in her fruit jellies and knew from experience that agar allowed jellies to last longer without melting than other gelling agents. Later scientists would refine the agar gel mixture Fannie first suggested, but agar is still the basis for what we use today. Without Fannie Hesse being present in the lab, scientists could have struggled for years to find a proper solution to their gelatin problems.

My goal is to assist those struggling with all the aspects related to death, dying, and grief. I was accepted to Marian University’s Master of Science degree in Thanatology (the comprehensive study of how people perceive and process death and grief) to help me pursue this goal. I desire to assist those struggling along a path filled with grief and death with dignity, compassion, and a deeper understanding of what they are going through. I chose to major in Thanatology for the opportunity to learn more about the way a person’s culture, religion, and upbringing play a role in the grieving process so that I may better understand and provide aid in their time of need. I believe that this degree will allow me to understand how to provide support and compassion to grieving members within my community. In the long term, I wish to seek employment as a bereavement coordinator helping families create advanced life-directives, make funeral arrangements, and assist with navigating the legal and spiritual aspects of death. I, like many people, have experienced my share of grief and death and it has shaped me in ways I never imagined. The loss of close friends has encouraged me to live, learn, and to help others so that they can receive the same love, care, and support that I received when grieving. Due to experiencing the first loss of a family friend at a very young age, I grew up in a household where the topics of death or grief was never considered taboo. I find that many people fear death because it is a topic surrounded stigmas and by misconceptions. I desire to learn and educate individuals to allay their fears and help fix any misconceptions they may have about death and dying. If I can make the process of death and grief easier for another soul, I will have accomplished something great. I first heard the term “Thanatology” when I was an undergraduate student and had no clue what to expect when I arrived for my first day of class. I enjoyed discovering new information about how different cultures handle death and was moved by how many wonderful people there are out there to assist in preserving the lives we have and help us maintain dignity after death. The course made me feel closer to my fellow humans than ever before because it illuminated the helpers in the world. I wished to carry on their torch and provide compassion and support to those in need. In my life I have dealt with the passing of several loved ones, including an older close family friend who passed away in Hospice care and the sudden, unexpected passing of a close friend from suicide. During these points in my life there were individuals who were able to answer my questions, consul me, and help make arrangements for all circumstances related to the individual’s death. Although I did not recognize their impact at the time, these individuals helped everything run smoothly from behind the scenes and provided comfort when I needed it the most. I would like to be that guide for others. My background as a coordinator in both customer service and education fields have given me the organizational skills to succeed in such a field, while my own life experiences have allowed me to empathize with others dealing with loss and making end of life preparations. I believe this degree will assist me in having the interpersonal and professional skills that I would require for such a career of helping others.

One of my favorite hobbies is cross-stitching. Cross-stitching is the art of creating designs by repeatedly threading embroidery floss through porous fabric to create tiny ‘x’ shapes and it has been around for hundreds of years. As one friend described it to me, cross-stitching is the old form of pixel art (which is the art primarily found in classic video games). I adore it because this hobby brings people and pixels together to create something beautiful. I love the design of cross-stitching because an ‘x’ is such a simple shape, you think almost nothing of it. However, when that ‘x’ repeated hundreds or thousands of times and in a variety of vibrant colors, you can see a gorgeous image emerge. Think of a photograph. When you squint at it, you can see that it is made up of tiny dots. The photo doesn’t look very complicated when you can only see a couple of the dots that make up the image, but when you stand back and look at all the dots together, they form a whole photograph and your breath is taken away. That is how I feel about cross-stitching. When I look at my project, I see the ‘x’ I am working on, but when I step back, I start to see the image emerge. I also love how accessible cross-stitching is both as an art form and as something that brings groups of people together. The only tools you need are fabric, thread, a needle, and the patience to create a repeated ‘x’ pattern. On Facebook there are numerous groups dedicated to cross-stitching. In these groups, you can easily see the members come from all walks of life, all different countries, and help each other with questions related to this fantastic hobby. Due to how accessible this art form is, no matter where you are in the world, you can find someone practicing this art form. For example, when I was in Taiwan, I walked into a shop and was able to buy a cross-stitch kit of a popular Japanese character. Later, when I was looking into moving to a new city within the United States, the first thing I looked up was a local cross-stitch group that met at a café a few times a month. Cross-stitching also allows me to unwind and feel like I am accomplishing something. Since the process cross-stitching is extremely repetitive, I can allow my mind to wander as I stitch or put on a funny movie or TV show. Sometimes, I will listen to an audiobook and just let the words rush over me. With every stitch, I feel a tiny bit more accomplished because I have created one more pixel in a larger picture. I don’t feel guilty for spending time cross-stitching because I can physically see where my time has been spent, instead of losing several hours mindlessly scrolling through social media. Overall, I think cross-stitch is a fantastic hobby and I think everyone should try it once.

In my life, I have acted as a mentor many times. I have led Girl Scouts, taught classes, trained coworkers, and have helped friends during tough times. In each of these instances, I inspire to pass on the tools to help others navigate their own journey of success and failures. As the famous saying goes, “Give a man and fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. I hope that through my mentorships I have and will continue to give my students and trainees the skills for success. Despite the wide variety of mentorships I have had, I have always wanted my students, scouts, co-workers, and friends to know how to navigate difficult situations/problems they encountered. In Girl Scouts, I would teach the campers the importance of sharing and what to do in situations where they encountered others who did not wish to share. At work, I taught my coworkers where to find the answers to questions they had about technology and teach clients to use the resources available to them. Despite the different nature of these teachings, I hope that a few of these Girl Scouts, coworkers, and clients walked away knowing a little bit more than before and were able to put their knowledge to good use.

Our world is precious, and we only get one. It is our job as residents of planet Earth to do our part to take good care of our planet for ourselves and for future generations. The three steps I stand by to make the world a better place are “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. The first step I take to help make a positive impact on our planet is to reduce the amount of waste I generate. I try to look for items without a lot of plastic packing since plastic takes so long to break down. When I go to the grocery store, I try to remember my reusable bags or ask for paper bags during my checkout. When I do come home with plastic bags, I try to bring them back to the store for recycling or reuse them by putting them in my suitcase as an extra layer of protection to my clothes from my sunscreen or shampoo. This brings me to my second step: reusing items. I had no idea how much waste buying fast fashion clothes created until a few years ago. Ever since reading an article about how much clothing is thrown away annually, I try to purchase from thrift stores or swap clothes with friends to give them another life. When my clothes eventually get too worn to thrift, I reuse the fabric in pillows, quilts, or by making stuffed animals. Although recycling isn’t the solution we all hoped it would be, since the process generates carbon dioxide that gets released into the atmosphere, I still do my part to make sure my metal cans, paper goods, and plastic bottles end up in the recycling bin instead of the trash. We only have one world, let us do everything in our power to protect it!

At one point in my life, I wanted to be a teacher. I earned a minor in education at Florida State University and taught English in Taiwan one summer. I loved teaching the students and was rewarded by witnessing the moment when students really understood the lesson. It is hard work with long days in the classroom and long nights grading papers and preparing lesson plans, but I loved it. The main reason I did not follow my dream of becoming a teacher was because of the lack of funding. Teachers are woefully underpaid, and classrooms lack the funding they need to provide meaningful hands-on learning experiences for children. We could improve education immediately by increasing funding for both teacher salaries and for classroom and school resources. Teachers work hard. We expect them to be babysitters, nurses, policemen, tutors, and life coaches for our children. What I mean by that is we expect teachers to watch our children, keep our kids safe, provide a solid education, help those who are struggling succeed, and teach life lessons that children may not be receiving at home. That is a lot to ask of a single person. In an ideal society, teachers would be making the same amount as doctors and lawyers. The unfortunate reality is that some teacher jobs break down to paying less per hour than the same person would make working in the fast-food industry. Due to being criminally underpaid and being asked to pull so much weight, some of the best teachers in the industry and leaving the profession to go work other jobs where they are paid their worth. If teachers were to be compensated what they are truly worth, our society would retain the exceptional teachers. When schools have exceptional teachers who truly care and love what they are doing, learning abounds through meaningful connections between teachers and their students. Another area where increased funding would vastly improve education for today’s children and future generations is through providing resources for schools and classrooms. Today, most teachers pay for most of their classroom supplies out of pocket, on top of their criminally small paychecks. What a wonderful world it would be where children were able to learn in state-of-the-art classrooms and politicians had to have bake sales to fund their campaigns. A child will have a much more meaningful experience in a classroom with new books, markers, and computers than in a classroom with books missing pages and ancient technology that is constantly breaking down. The more roadblocks we place in a child’s path to success, the more we hurt our future. I believe that if we increase the funding for both teachers and their classrooms, we will see an almost immediate positive impact on education. With the appropriate funding, society would be able to remove roadblocks from our children’s path to success. Educators could design classrooms that would ensure student success and an increase to teacher salaries would allow us to retain our outstanding educators.

I would describe myself as a lifelong learner. For much of my life, I had the traditional school experience, it was only after I earned my bachelor’s degree that I took a break from education to work. When I was little, like most kids, I went to elementary school, followed by middle school, and high school. After high school I decided to earn my Associate of Arts degree at Tallahassee Community College then transfer into Florida State University. The community college and the university had a deal where if you graduated from one, you were automatically admitted into the other. Entering community college was a good experience for me because it lessened the shock of going from K-12, where there were always adults looking after me, then suddenly entering the world of college where I was treated like an adult and expected to perform as one. I struggled academically in community college but was able to pull my act together and make good grades at FSU. I was able to graduate Magna Cum Laude with my bachelor’s degree in English Literature at Florida State University in 2013. While I was at TCC I started working as an intern at a company called Homes.com and was later hired on full-time. I worked there for close to eight years before getting a job as an Administrative Assistant in Florida State University’s Department of Statistics. As an employee of the University, I had the opportunity to take up to two free classes per semester if the courses took place outside of my work hours. I wish I could say that I took that opportunity, but I did not want to aimlessly take classes as a non-degree seeking student and there was not a major that really spoke to me. Fast forward to Fall 2021. As with every new Fall semester, I started thinking about going back to school again to take classes but was torn by my desire to work towards some unknown degree or just take random classes like French, Art, or Religion. My mother, who also works on campus in a different department than me, recently dealt with the loss of two of her graduate students and two of her pets at home. She was struggling with the grief, and I wanted to find some way to help. I was doing some research online when I came across Marian University’s entirely online Thanatology MS program. I had taken a Thanatology course back at Tallahassee Community College and found the study of various practices related to grief, dying, and death to be fascinating. I suddenly found a Master’s program that appealed to me and I could take outside of my full-time work schedule. My goal has always been to help people and I feel that this degree will give me the opportunity to give back to my community in a way that many people cannot. My goal is to help give those struggling with grief some closure. As a lifelong learner, I am truly excited to be back in school again. It felt good to be signing up for courses and ordering my textbooks again. It makes me feel like I am part of something bigger than myself and that by being a part of this, I can better myself and the world around me with my new knowledge.

The world is facing a deadly issue that grows each day and that is not widely discussed – antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are drugs administered to you by a doctor to help your body fight bacteria that causes infection. With the advent of antibiotics, people were significantly less likely to die infections, which was especially useful in conjunction with surgeries. These drugs were considered a miracle because those dying from simple infections could now live. As these drugs were more frequently prescribed and taken, they stopped working as effectively as bacteria within the human body started gaining resistance. This meant that new antibiotics had to be created. At first it was easy and cheap to create new antibiotic drugs, however as the antibiotic resistance has grown, it has become more difficult and expensive for companies to create them. Today, antibiotic resistance is on the rise with less antibiotics being produced to replace them. Often, antibiotics are prescribed in cases where they are not necessary or effective. That would not be so bad, except each time a person takes antibiotics, their body grows more resistant to their effects and will eventually stop responding to the drugs. Additionally, antibiotics are frequently fed to farm-raised livestock and fish to fatten the animals up. These drugs end up in our food and cause us to gain more resistance. With antibiotic drug resistance on the rise and the creation of new drugs on the decrease, society is in for a major issue. Soon simple hip-replacement surgeries will no longer be an option if there is nothing to stop infection afterwards. We could help this issue by giving drug companies more funding/incentives to create new antibiotics, take actions to decrease the use of antibiotics in farm stock, and only prescribe antibiotics on an as-needed basis.

One of my favorite scientific discoveries is the use of agar in petri dishes. When you study samples in a petri dish, you cannot just place them in the dish because petri dishes are sterile, and your samples will die. To solve this problem, scientists inject them into an agar mixture, which allows the samples to grow and be studied. Prior to the use of agar, all sorts of various gelatins were used, but failed because they either melted too easily or were devoured by gel-loving bacteria/microbes. In the late 1800s, a scientist named Robert Koch ran a lab in Germany dedicated to the study of bacteria and microbiology. Among his employees were Julius Petri, who would invent the petri dish while under Robert Koch’s employment, and a scientist named Walther Hesse. These men struggled to find a gelatin base in which to study their samples that would withstand heat and against samples that like to eat away at the gel. Walther Hesse’s wife, Fannie Hess, happened to work in the lab as an unpaid assistant and suggested that they use agar as a replacement for the gels they had been using. Fannie knew about agar because she had used it in her fruit jellies. She knew from experience that agar allowed jellies to last longer without melting than other gelling agents. Later scientists would come in and refine the agar gel mixture Fannie first suggested, but the original mixture is still the basis for what we use today. This story appeals to me because it shows to me how lessons learned from other disciplines in life can be applied in surprising and useful ways. Without Fannie Hesse being present in the lab, scientists could have struggled for years to find a proper solution to their gelatin problems.

The most helpful piece of financial advice I ever received was two parts: one, to earn good grads so I could get scholarships to help cover the cost of college and, two, to avoid taking out student loans, if possible. By earning good grades and being awarded scholarships like Bright Futures, I was able to graduate with my degree without the weight of debt and interest on my shoulders. It was the best gift anyone could have given me. I understand that most people cannot follow the same path I did, but with perseverance and a little bit of hard work, college does not have to be the beginning of life-long debt. My advice to others would be to apply to as many scholarships as you can. As one of my high school advisors said, “You can find scholarships for just about anything!”. Research the schools you plan on applying for and see if they offer any scholarships specific to that school. Also, check and see if there is a scholarship for something that is unique to you. Do you have a specific heritage that you are proud of, or do you play a specific sport? There is most likely someone out there who will pay you for it! Secondly, find someone who understands the ins and outs of student loans and get them to explain it to you before you sign anything. When I was in college, student loans were advertised everywhere with incentives to sign up such as “no payments during school” and it seemed like free money. Many of my friends ended up in debt because none of us really understood what interest rates were or what we were signing up to take this money.

As Paulo Coelho stated, “It’s the simple things in life that are most extraordinary”. To me, the simple things in life are things that make life the most worth living for. One of the most fulfilling simple pleasures to me is cross-stitching. I love the brightly colored threads and the gorgeous designs you can make with them just by sewing tiny ‘x’ marks repeatedly through fabric. It may not look like a lot up close, but when you stand back and view the cross-stitch piece from further away, you see how much each little ‘x’ works together to create a larger picture, like a single pixel in a photograph. My hobby of cross-stitch fulfils me by showing me the beautiful things that come from the simplest of marks. I enjoy organizing my cross-stitch thread, winding each skein carefully onto bobbins and labeling them for future use. It allows me to unwind my mind after a long day at work and focus on the relaxing repetition that comes from creating order. Organizing my threads brings me peace. I relish posting photos of my progress on my social media accounts and seeing friends and family’s reactions to each new project that I create. I enjoy how on social media, numerous cross-stitchers and embroiders are joined together through their love of crafts and how I get to see so many projects from beginners to experts ranging from funny to breath-taking. Life is filled with rich blues of sadness, bright reds of anger or passion, and cheerful yellows of joy. Each of these moments, like a tiny ‘x’ mark stitched into a canvas, makes up a person’s life. Up close, these tiny moments filled with simple things do not look like much, but when viewed from afar create the beautiful portrait of one’s life.

My favorite book is “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” by Douglas Adams. Douglas Adams is a British author best known for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series, although “Tea-Time” is the second book in his much lesser known “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” series. The story follows a clueless detective as he tries to resolve a case that involves a mysterious contract with a body count, while Norse gods run amok in modern day England. I adore the absurd nature of the novel and how you cannot help but love the characters, despite none of them being “role-model” material. Douglas Adams is a master of British humor, satirizing the absurdness of everyday life through the most florid language. In one of my favorite scenes in the novel, the author describes the juxtaposition between a battered car entering a well-kept driveway. “A door flopped open, wobbling perilously on its one remaining hinge, and there emerged from the car a pair of the sort of legs which soundtrack editors are unable to see without needing to slap a smoky saxophone solo all over, for reasons which no one besides soundtrack editors has ever been able to understand. In this particular case, however, the saxophone would have been silenced by the proximity of the kazoo which the same soundtrack editor would almost certainly have slapped all over the progress of the vehicle.” I cannot read that scene without laughing every time. When I am looking for escapism and a good laugh, this novel provides it all: ridiculous situations, a classic detective whodunit plot, and a quasi-romantic relationship between an American woman and Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Due to the absurdist twist on the classic detective novel, you are never quite sure what the next page will hold.

As someone who has struggled with her mental health for years, the most helpful solution to me was knowing what resources were available to me and where I could find them. When I worked in a large customer service company, my mental health deteriorated due to the constant stream of frustrated and often negative clients I had to interact with daily. I knew my doctor could help, but I was not sure what other resources I had. A few years later, I started working at a local University and the very first day I walked in, I walked past three different signs advertising where to go and what do when you were struggling. It was fantastic that the University included additional information regarding what programs and resources were available during my new employee training and further reinforced at various University-wide events and emails. Knowing that these resources were available to me made me feel like I was not alone in this fight. One practical solution that our society could offer to those who struggle with mental health is by funding more programs that provide free/inexpensive counseling to everyone. Knowing that there is someone there to listen, even if you are not seeking advice, is a powerful tool. By making therapy free/inexpensive to those who need it and making it widely known that these resources are available would provide a world of difference to those in need. By having the resources available and making them readily known, we reinforce that therapy is not something to be ashamed of, but rather an opportunity to learn more about yourself and grow as an individual.

One of the most important and difficult life lessons I have learned is to take ownership of my own actions. When I was growing up, my parents would often encourage me to use them as an excuse whenever I wanted to get out of an activity with a group of friends or classmates. In turn, they frequently used each other as excuses to get out of work and social functions. I grew up thinking it was normal to blame my problems on others or use them as scapegoats to get out of uncomfortable situations. Often, I found that these led to even more uncomfortable situations when someone I had avoided interacting with spoke to the people I had used as scapegoats. It was not until I moved out on my own that I began to understand the power in taking responsibility for my own actions. As a rule, people hate confrontation and will do anything to avoid it. Refusing to take responsibility for ones’ actions falls into this category, along with refusing to have uncomfortable conversations with others about areas where they need improvement. My first roommate left a note in a non-stick cooking pot stating that I needed to use wooden utensils with it to prevent it from being scratched. My initial reaction was to pretend I had not seen the note because I did not want to take responsibility for having been the person to have made a mistake and scratched the pot by using metal utensils to make pasta. My second response was to get angry that my roommate did not speak to me directly about this matter. I realized how that situation made me feel and tried to see the situation from her perspective. It must be frustrating to deal with a young kid who was living outside of her parents’ house for the first time. I took what I learned from this situation and decided that I would try to avoid making the same mistakes again. Another time, I was speaking with a friend about their new boyfriend, and I mentioned that I did not believe the boyfriend was a good influence on them, not expecting my words to be repeated. The next day the boyfriend confronted me regarding what I had said about him. I realized in that moment I had two options: I could lie and make everyone look terrible or I could tell the truth and take ownership of my actions. I told him the truth and gave him examples of why I felt the way I did. It was uncomfortable and for a while the boyfriend strongly disliked me. A few years later I discovered that everything I thought was the boyfriend’s influence on my friend I realized was my friend’s own flaws and now I am closer to the now-former boyfriend than to my friend. We bonded through honest hard talks. He knows that if he asks me a question now, I will tell the truth and own my mistakes. That makes him trust me more than he ever could have if I had made the “easy” decision and lied. Learning to own my own decisions, even when I am clearly at fault will serve me well for the rest of my life. I go forward knowing that there will be difficult discussions and times where lying would seem easier but lead to more difficult paths down the road. I feel that I am a stronger person for being able to say, “This was my choice”, even if it was not the correct choice.

To me, the act of generosity is the act of giving a gift of oneself to someone in need and not expecting anything in return. Generosity can be expressed through the act of donating time, skills, goods, or money to those in need. I believe that true generosity is selfless and does not require the recipient of ones’ generosity to return the favor and goes hand in hand with being kind. A person may believe that they are being generous by giving someone a favor then demanding one in return, but I disagree. While their initial favor was very kind, the generosity of their actions is tainted by their impure motives. Some examples of true generosity that spring to mind are the act of giving some extra time to help a peer study for a test, helping a friend move, or giving donations to a local food bank. The act of being generous can be as mundane as picking up a dropped item off the ground and returning it to its owner and as grandiose as a wealthy individual donating several million dollars to the charity of their choice. Generosity is not limited by age, ability, or socioeconomic status. Everyone has the capacity to be generous through their ability to be aware of others’ needs and to assist in anyway they can when they are not otherwise obligated to help.

“You’re too young to be this neurotic”, my father once told me. I was in high school at the time and already had many years of dealing with anxiety, panic attacks, and a constant worry. Unfortunately, I was raised in a household that did not fully understand mental illness and therefore ignored it. I did my best to hide my feelings from my parents because I knew it would upset them. The first panic attack that I can remember happened in middle school. By high school, I had a few years of struggling with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. I assumed this was just what the average teenager dealt with and did my best to “radiate positivity”. If you asked any of my friends from back then, I doubt they would realize how much I struggled. I saw people who had it worse than me and thought that meant that I should not share my burdens with others. As a result, my relationships with my friends and family deteriorated. I was always trying to put on a happy face, but inside I was struggling and withdrawing from my peers. When I was in college, I started seeing my first therapist. I did not tell my parents, but she started my life-long journey to help me gather the tools I needed to unpack my burdens and recognize when something was not right. Shortly after college, a friend committed suicide. He had so slowly and quietly shut everyone out of his life that we never even realized it until he was gone. It was his death that taught me the value of life. I saw how his death left a shattered, ragged hole in the world where he had once shown so brilliantly. After he passed, I reconnected with old friends and worked to strengthen the bonds of family. I swore that no matter how bad things got, I would never commit suicide myself because I did not wish to inflict that same pain I had experienced upon my loved ones. I also swore that I would do everything in my power to keep others from following that same path. A few years passed and my mental health deteriorated to the lowest point it had ever been. I sought a new therapist and the very first thing she asked me, after introductions, was if I wanted to be on medication. I was hesitant towards the idea and wanted to seek tools through knowledge for fixing my problems, not through medications. I did not really explore my feelings towards medications at the time, but I just knew that I wanted to avoid it if possible. My therapist was very insistent that I be put on medication and that immediately made me distrust her, with that distrust growing each time she pushed to get me to try medication. It was not a good match and it made me distrust therapists for a few years. I quit going and tried to limp along with the few tools my therapists had recommended that were not medicine related. When Covid-19 hit, I started struggling daily with my mental health. I reached out to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offered through my job and spoke to a counselor who referred to me by my first name and gave me tools to work through my struggles. Unfortunately, the EAP could only offer five counseling sessions to anyone before he had to recommend me to a full-time therapist. I felt easier about this transition when my EAP therapist said, “I know of someone who I think would be a good fit for you”. Upon meeting my new therapist, I instantly felt like she was a much better fit for me than any of the previous people I had spoken to. She taught me tools, listened to my struggles, and gently suggested medicine in addition to the coping strategies and tips to recognize an incoming panic attack and deescalate it. I was struggling and was desperate for relief. Since I trusted this therapist and she made the decision to take medication my own choice, I decided to give it a chance. When I really thought about why I had not sought medicine earlier, I realized it was because I thought medicine was a sign of weakness; that it somehow made me less than others because I needed to rely on store bought happiness. I spoke with my doctor, and she started me an antidepression medication. I kept a diary during this time and immediately saw the huge impact that this tiny daily pill made in my world. I was able to start recognizing when I was in situations that made me panicky. I could remember to apply the coping strategies that I had been taught. I was less angry and frustrated because I could understand where my emotions were coming from. Without this huge amount of anxiety and depression taking up so much of my thought space, I was able to spend more time doing the things I loved like reading and reconnecting with friends. My relationship with my family vastly improved because I was able to be honest and set boundaries and stand up for myself. This year I decided to go back to school and found a master’s program in Thanatology. Thanatology is the study of death, dying, and the practices associated with it (such as religion, counseling, planning, etc.). My goal is to be a guide to those with struggling with grief to find peace. My journey with mental health has allowed me to understand that the human mind is not always logical. I have learned to be patient and be more understanding to the emotions of those around me. I have learned that medicine is not evil and that lying to yourself gets you nowhere. I want to pass on what I have learned and will continue to learn in my own mental health journey to others.