If I am being completely honest growing up I hated books. Reading was always a struggle for me in school. Years later, I started high school and I started to develop this admiration for people that could just sit and read a book for a long period of time. My desire to be like that kind of person pushed me to try reading again. Thankfully I pushed myself to pick up reading because I love to read now. The book that I would recommend to everyone in the world to read would be To All The Boys I Loved Before. This book is a young adult romance book. In To All The Boys I Loved Before the main character is named Lara Jean. She is a 16-year-old girl who is obsessed with reading about romance. Once Lara Jean gets a crush, that is so intense, she writes a love letter to the boy confessing her love. She wrote a total of five letters, but for the purpose of this essay, I will be focusing on the two main guys. The first one is Josh who is Lara Jean's sister's boyfriend and Peter a childhood friend. Lara Jean’s letters accidentally get mailed out and she finds out when Peter finds her and tells her that he’s not interested because he just broke up with his girlfriend. Lara Jean explains what happened; which leads them both to come up with a plan to fake date so Peter can make his ex jealous to get her back and Lara Jean does not have to confront Josh about the letter. Both Lara Jean and Peter’s plan start to work. Throughout the book, the two go on fake dates and go to parties to convince everyone that they are truly dating. I really enjoy reading To All The Boys I Loved Before because I am able to see the two main characters Lara Jean and Peter fall in love with each other and they did not know it yet. For instance, seeing their relationship start out as a scheme to seeing them go on a spur-of-a-moment little road trip together. Seeing Lara Jean gets jealous when she finds out that Peter is still in contact with his ex-girlfriend. This book is a perfect depiction of innocent young love.

1. Why do you deserve this scholarship? I deserve this scholarship because I return my shopping cart to the cart holder place instead of just leaving it anywhere. (okay, I do it like 90% of the time.......only if I cannot see a cart holder.) 2. What are your academic and/or career goals? My academic goal is to graduate with my bachelors degree so I can say I am the smartest person in my family every time I get in a debate with a family member. 3. Tell me about a time you’ve overcome an obstacle. I was in an obstacle race with my sister and I had to climb this wall, but i went around it so I could win. In retrospect, I ignored it.

Hi, my name is Dante Orsi, I am a full-time student at Indian river state college and working part-time at an assisted living facility in the memory care unit. Currently, I am working on my bachelor’s degree. My major is public administration with a focus on policymaking and leadership. After my bachelor’s degree, I plan on getting my master’s degree in political science. Most of the goals I have are environmental base: but a few deal with housing and salaries. The cost of housing needs to be lowered in Florida because many working-class citizens cannot afford to pay rent or be able to buy a house. This leads me to my next point hourly wages need to be raised. It is not right that people working forty hours a week are making twenty thousand dollars a year. Twenty thousand a year is not even a survivable wage. Nobody should be making less than forty thousand a year. I would love to work in environmental politics because I have so many ideas to lower our communities carbon footprint. For my environmental goals, I want to implement more eco-friendly changes in the community to help lower the communities carbon footprint. For instance, switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy like solar power or wind turbines. To help with deforestation, I would make every senior plant a tree as a graduation requirement. Parks would have fruit barring trees so families of low-income or homeless people can pick fresh organic produce for free. Buildings would have rooftops filled with trees and gardens to help reduce carbon emissions in the air: this would double as insulation which can reduce heat loss from buildings by up to thirty percent. Making households and restaurants start composting their organic matter to reduce the methane gasses in the landfill. I want to make our future brighter for future generations. My end goal is to create a future where there are less people struggling to make ends meet and help fight against climate change. It Is time that our government needs to change. Our government needs to actually taking care of people Instead of favoring the rich and looking down on the working class. It is crucial that we as a society needs to help combat climate change by making changes to our way of life and it is important that our government make sure this happens by implementing these changes stated previously. This is the legacy I want to leave on this world.

I recently read a quote that said, “if your dreams do not scare you then they are not big enough.” However, my dreams have always been big and have never scared me. I am currently in school working on my bachelor’s degree. My academic goal is to finish my bachelor’s degree in public administration and continue my education by getting my master’s degree in political science. After I finish my master’s degree, I want a career in government. I am interested in running for local government and eventually running for senator or governor of Florida. I want to create change that will benefit people. Most of the goals I have are environmental base: but a few deal with housing and salaries. The cost of housing needs to be lowered in Florida because many working-class citizens cannot afford to pay rent or be able to buy a house. This leads me to my next point hourly wages need to be raised. It is not right that people working forty hours a week are making twenty thousand dollars a year. Twenty thousand a year is not even a survivable wage. Nobody should be making less than forty thousand a year. For my environmental goals, I want to implement more eco-friendly changes in the community to help lower the communities carbon footprint. For instance, switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy like solar power or wind turbines. To help with deforestation, I would make every senior plant a tree as a graduation requirement. Parks would have fruit barring trees so families of low-income or homeless people can pick fresh organic produce for free. Buildings would have rooftops filled with trees and gardens to help reduce carbon emissions in the air: this would double as insulation which can reduce heat loss from buildings by up to thirty percent. Making households and restaurants start composting their organic matter to reduce the methane gasses in the landfill. I want to make our future brighter for future generations. I have seen the working class give up on hoping that our government will help them. In reality, the government only cares about the people that help fund their campaign and turns a blind eye to corruption. I see countless amounts of people believe that change will never happen. The reason why I want to change our government system; is because not many people are willing to make the change. I read a quote that said, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not." I am firm believer that if you want to see change happen: you are going to have to do it yourself.

Over the past couple of years, I have witnessed men treat women as if they are second-class citizens because of their sex. It is baffling that we live in a society where men can treat women a certain way. For example, I recently saw a video that had gotten popular over social media; it was an older man trying to take pictures of the young woman’s butt. The young woman approached him and asked him politely to stop taking pictures of her. The older man began berating her by calling her sexual slurs because of how she dressed. The sense of entitlement this man had was outlandish because men believe they can act this way towards women. Men believe they can do whatever and say whatever to women because they know that a women will not fight back. It is vile that we as a society blame women constantly for the way men behave. In the public school system, women are not allowed to show their shoulders in fear that the girls will distract the boys from their education. We should teach men that women are human beings and not sexual objects. Why do we punish girls by making them cover up when the problem has to do with the boys acting immature? We need to start teaching young men how to treat young women the proper way. A study was done on how high school boys and girls defined consent. The young boys would say, “it is how she dresses or acts.” when the high school girls said, “consent is being okay with the encounter before, middle, and after.” These young men do not understand the meaning of consent. We need to change the narrative from punishing women to making men accountable for their actions and wrongdoings.

Hi, my name is Dante Orsi, I am a full-time student at Indian river state college and working part-time at an assisted living facility in the memory care unit. Currently, I am working on my bachelor’s degree. My major is public administration with a focus on policymaking and leadership. After my bachelor’s degree, I plan on getting my master’s degree in political science. Two years ago, I thought I had my life planned out on where I wanted to go to college and what I wanted to study. Well during that time, in high school, I joined the gay-straight alliance club. I thought that it would be a perfect opportunity for my college application. After joining the club I ran for president I quickly realized that this was more than just a club for the LGBTQ+ students, this was a safe place for them to express themselves without having any fear of repercussion. At that moment, I knew I needed to create change in our school to help make these students feel more comfortable. I came up with the idea to have gender-neutral bathrooms in our school. I thought this would be easy since our bathrooms are single-use only. We had two boy bathrooms and two girl bathrooms I planned to take one boy and one girl bathroom and turn it gender-neutral for the students who are non-conforming to typical gender stereotypes. What I did not realize was the amount of pushback I would get from staff in the school. Sadly I graduated and was not able to fulfill my dream of creating a gender-neutral bathroom; however, this made me want to change my major from health science to political science. Deciding to join my high school's gay-straight alliance club made me open my eyes to what I am truly passionate about and that is making a positive impact in my community. Getting into politics is not as simple as it sounds. There is a method to run a good quality campaign. That is why I want to further my education and learn how to run a proper campaign. I have countless beneficial goals that I would want to achieve in my political career. For example, I want to make housing affordable again as well as make sure people can have livable wages with any type of job they have. I want to implement more eco-friendly changes in the community to help lower the communities carbon footprint by making every senior plant a tree as a graduation requirement. Along with investing in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind turbines. Not to mention start making every household composting to lower the amount of methane gas in our landfills. I believe, that in order to make a greater impact in this world, I would have to start with creating changes within myself and reflecting those changes outward towards society.

The legacy I will leave will be the change in how Americans live their day-to-day lives now. Picture this….a world where future generations can live with clean water, renewable energy, and not worrying about consuming toxic chemicals into their bodies. I recently became interested in political science and knowing that I could make a positive impact on this country pushes me to make this dream a reality. I really dream of the day I can run for local office and work my way up the chain. I have big ambitions for making changes that would help everyone. For instance, I would implement that parks would have fruit barring trees so families of low income or homeless people can pick fresh organic produce for free. Business would have roof top gardens to help with reducing carbon emissions in the air. Making households and restaurants start composting their organic matter to reduce the methane gasses in the dump. This is what my legacy will be, creating a greener future for generations to come.

My name is Danté Orsi. I am made up of many characteristics. I am a Son, a Brother, a Friend. I am Creative, Artistic, Imaginative. I am Confident, Sexy, Powerful. I am Hardheaded, Ambitious, Determined. I am Emotional, Sensitive, Empathetic. I am one of a Kind, my own Person, Unique. I am Attracted to Women, Men, Everyone. I am an Alley, an Activist, Open-Minded. I am a Painter, Gardener, Ceramists. I am Eco Conscious, Climate Fighter, Zero Waste. I am a Runner, a Swimmer, a Yogi. I am human. I am me.

My mother motivates me daily. Now I know what you are thinking, “wow this kid is choosing his mother to write about…how original.” Yes, and what about it. Growing up I always knew my mom struggled with money, but never fully comprehended it until now that I am an a adult. Seeing my mom struggle financially till this day by work three jobs just to make ends meet lights a fire underneath me to get a good education and achieve my dreams in this world. Seeing the struggles and sacrifices she had to go through in life makes me want to become finically successful so one day I can take care of her as she did to me growing up. I want to be able to take that burden off of her shoulders so she can retire some day and live the rest of her life to the fullest.

Over the past couple of years, I have witnessed men treat women as if they are second-class citizens because of their sex. It is baffling that we live in a society where men can treat women a certain way. For example, I recently saw a video that had gotten popular over social media; it was an older man trying to take pictures of the young woman’s butt because she had shorts on that day. The young woman approached him and asked him politely to stop taking pictures of her. The older man began berating her by calling her sexual slurs because of how she dressed. The sense of entitlement this man had was outlandish because men believe they can act this way towards women. Men are typically bigger and stronger than women. As a result, they know men think they can do whatever and say whatever to women because they know that women will not fight back. It is vile that we as a society blame women constantly for the way men behave. Moreover, In the public school system, women are not allowed to show their shoulders in fear that the girls will distract the boys from their education. We should teach men that women are human beings and not sexual objects for them to drool over. Why do we as a society punish the girls by making them cover up when the problem has to do with the boys acting immature? We need to start teaching young men how to treat young women the proper way. A study was done on how high school boys and girls defined consent. The young boys would say, “it is how she dresses or acts.” when the high school girls said, “consent is being okay with the encounter before, middle, and after.” These young men do not understand the meaning of consent. They grow up thinking it is okay to catcall women on the street because of the way she is dressed. We need to change the narrative from punishing women to making men accountable for their actions and wrongdoings.

I joined the Gay-Straight Alliance club my junior year of high school and decided to run for President. My initial thought was this would be such an amazing opportunity to put on my college resume. However, as soon as I began running the meetings, I got to meet different students. After meeting these students and seeing how different they are from one another, I wanted this club to be more than a safe space for kids to be themselves. I dreamed of this club to create change in our school. Over the summer break, I was brainstorming ideas for the upcoming year for the club. I came across an article that talked about gender-neutral bathrooms. I thought that would be a great idea to do for the club. I began this project, there were countless roadblocks in the way of getting these bathrooms to become gender-neutral. Even though this has been extremely difficult to get the conversation started with the principal: a great leader never gives up. There was this quote I recently saw it said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.” this is why it is so important; for me to get this project done because I know nothing is going to change if someone does not care.

Being patient is one of the most important aspects of life. A wise man once said, “you need to find someone who waits and listens before striking. -Bumi. ” This quote speaks volumes when it comes to being patient. It is explaining that in life you cannot just go full force the majority of the time. Then that is how someone creates tunnel vision for themselves. With tunnel vision, it becomes difficult to see other options and opinions that can be beneficial to yourself. However, when someone is able to take a moment to step back and take into consideration all the options they are more likely to have a better outcome than someone who just jumped in with no thought. Life is all about when to listen to your surroundings and when to strike at opportunities. The key to life though is knowing when it is time to strike or to wait and listen.

In March of 2020, I received an email from my school stating that spring break has been extended by one week due to an increase of covid cases . One week turned into two. I received another email from my school stating, "For the rest of the year, all students will be remote learning." Not only did my school life change. My work life changed as well my job closed down for a couple of months. My entire world changed going from seven in the morning to nine at night because of school and work. This pandemic was one of the best things that had happened to me because I went from high stress always on the go schedule to relaxing and hanging out with family more. My new schedule would consist of waking up a little later to start some school work, go on runs, and play board games with my family more. This pandemic has helped me realize that I need to take breaks more and not neglect my mental and physical health.

To help myself keep a growth mindset, listen and watch other people. To elaborate, I watch people's actions and how they react to situations and listen to how they talk about themselves and others around them. I will observe and take into consideration what I would like to use in my everyday life and what not to use in my life. For instance, now that I am more grown-up, I see how my parents react to situations with my younger sibling and see how short-tempered they can get. By seeing them react this way it makes me not want to treat my future kids like they do or my friends and family as well. Analyzing my parent's behavior allows me to grow as an individual and not make the same mistakes they did. Furthermore, when my friends come to me and tell me that I did something wrong such as hurting their feelings. I try my best to listen to them, rethink my actions and see how I can improve on them. For example, my friend came to me and expressed how I hurt their feelings when I made a joke about them. I first took a mental step back to think about my actions to see from their point of view. I presumed to apologize for my actions and made a mental note to not joke about that topic again. The old me would have brushed that off and not paid attention to it; however, I have been working on myself to listen to my friends and family more.

“Treat others how you want to be treated.” Yes, this is a simple quote and everyone has heard it. However, people should think about it more. In the 20 years of being alive, I have learned about laws being created and passed that affect people based on their gender, race, and sexual orientation. For example, just recently the state of Texas passed an anti-abortion law. To clarify, there are 180 members total for house representative and senate for Texas and 132 of those members are men. These men are creating laws on topics that have nothing to do with themselves. Continuing on, Florida just recently passed a law stating trans women are not allowed to participate in sports. There are two senators, 27 house representatives, and not one of them is a trans person. These representatives are creating laws on topics they do not understand or know about. People in power are pushing their belief system on everyone in the state and do not care how this has a negative effect on the people. So my question is what if this was reversed. What if men had laws that go against their reproductive system? What if cis-gender people were not allowed to play sports? Correspondingly, not only do government officials treat people as less than so do normal people as well. For example, people of two different races will bring up racial slurs into an argument to being the other person down because their skin tone is a different shade. Most humans tend to treat people differently when they do not look the same as you and me. We as humans need to treat others how we would want to be treated.

The struggles I, as a gardener, have faced numerous amounts of obstacles in my years of trying to grow my produce. Let’s get down and dirty with the soil. Florida has very sandy soil, so there are not many nutrients for growing produce. I have had to buy soil; from lows countless times, began composting my organic food scraps, and even collected horse manure. Digging a hole, placing horse manure in, then transplanting your seedling makes all the difference I have had plants flourish using this technique. After achieving this healthy strong plant there were still some issues that came along. I began to recognize some plants were not producing as well as others even though seeing rich green color in my plants. It became clear to me that I needed more color to attract the pollinators. I did some research and came across many different types of flowers to plant such as lavender, foxglove, and comfrey. Even though I had many struggles beginning a garden I enjoyed learning along the way by trial and error.

Over the past year, I have seen the increasing dangers of plastic pollution and how plastic is destroying our ecosystem. As a result, I decided that It was my duty to help this earth any way I could. Starting where everyone goes first for information: the internet. I began researching numerous ways I can begin my journey to help combat climate change. Upon my discovery I found about this movement called zero waste living. Despite the name of this movement it talks about minimizing a person’s waste as little as possible. An average person creates 4.5 pounds of waste a day and this is impacting the environment severely. So I decided to change my way of life and try my best to be as zero waste as possible. I began by reducing my plastic straw waste by asking for no straw every time I went to a restaurant. Which led me to switch from a plastic toothbrush to a bamboo toothbrush which is bio-degradable. I began my garden to grow my fruit and vegetables in my backyard and by doing that I planted flowers that bees loved to help pollinate. Since I started a garden this led me to create my compost which helps prevent the build-up of methane gasses in the dump due to the fact organic produce cannot breakdown properly. I changed my diet as well, cutting out fish. Overfishing is hurting the environment by killing so many marine life and destroying coral reefs as well. Seeing these awful monstrosities that have greatly affected the environment and the people in it, has inspired me to fight for this cause and to work to create a better life for our future generations.

PLASTIC POLLUTION!!!!! When I become an influential figure I want to be known for my love for the environment. My all-time goal is to become a politician and help fight against climate change by creating laws that help prevent carbon emission and restrict the production of plastic products. Over the past year I have seen the increasing dangers of plastic pollution and how plastic is destroying our ecosystem. When plastic breaks apart into tiny pieces, animals eat them and the micro-plastics work their way up the food chain and causes health issues to the animals and the environment around us. We as humans unknowingly consume micro plastics every day and are completely unaware of the harms to our overall health. Studies have shown that micro-plastics are already in the bodies of our unborn children. Seeing these awful monstrosities that have greatly affected the environment and the people in it, has inspired me to fight for this cause and to work to create a better life for our future generations.

What I love about myself is my drive and ambition to work hard. Throughout the years my friends have always praised me for being able to work a job while pursuing an education at Indian River State College and Fort Pierce Central High School. It was a consistent challenge to balance work and school life; however, I always pushed myself to achieve greatness. I was in dual enrollment which means I was a High school student taking college level classes and graduated high school with my Associates degree in health science. This was the hardest tasks I had to do in my life adjusting to college classes while still in high school. Taking on such an abundance of responsibilities definitely had its challenges along the way. However, these challenges helped me discover my potential and allowed my ambition and drive to shine through.

By practicing self-care I recently started to journal. The reason why I started was to have an outlet. I have an issue with talking out my problems with people because I feel uncomfortable talking about my emotions so I bottle everything up and I get to a certain point to where I want to blow up at people. So by journaling I can release what is on my mind and slowly help myself be comfortable with my feels in hopes it will help me open up to people in my life.