Music is the gateway to someone's imagination and intention. All music carries an important message that its listers can hold on to for weeks, months, or even a lifetime. A song that has the most important message for me is "Firm Foundation" by Maverick City. The message behind this song is that Jesus Christ is the foundation you need to keep going through life. This song's message is important to me because it helped me bring myself back to Jesus and out of a reckless, depressing episode of my life. This was one of the first songs I heard after deciding I wanted to change my life around and begin going to church again. I was often tempted to make decisions that would have me feeling guilty afterward, but I remembered from this song that Jesus is the foundation I need. I put him before my worldly desires and my whole life turned around. I was making more responsible, well-thought-out decisions and became a better friend. I committed to things I would have never thought id commit to. This song was not the only thing that brought me closer to God, it was a pathway. I now have a burning passion for Christianity that will stay with me for the rest of my life because I remembered, just as it said at the beginning of the song, "Christ is my firm foundation The rock on which I stand" The messages in music can bring someones entire life around and change how they act and reflect.

When I close my eyes, I can not just see my long-term goals but also feel them. Getting my doctorate in social work is my goal. It won't be easy as I have many obstacles I will have to go around to get there and finance is one of them. My parents saved up a bit of money for my college tuition while I was growing up. They wanted me to be able to get an education higher than a high school diploma so they saved up enough for me to get a bachelor's degree. When I realized that the money they have saved for me won't be enough to get me through college, I started researching. I spent my free time watching videos on how to make college less expensive and I've learned ways that I can lessen my student debt when I get into college. The first thing I am doing is applying for scholarships during the summer, especially with summer deadlines. During summer, fewer students are applying for scholarships because they are out spending time with family or enjoying a vacation. With fewer students applying, there is less competition which puts me at a higher chance of earning scholarships. I am also applying for scholarships that offer less money because they typically have fewer students applying as well. If I keep winning scholarships for 500 to 1,000 dollars, they will eventually add up and I can earn more money than I would if I applied for one big scholarship and eliminate some student loans. Ap classes are a great way to help lessen the amount of future debt I will be receiving. If I take enough AP classes, I can earn a good amount of college credits. With enough college credits, I can graduate with my bachelor's a year earlier than if I did not take the AP classes. I can also graduate early by taking classes during the summer. The cost of summer classes is expensive, but it is less than the overall cost of another school year. Finally, I will take an accelerated master's program so I won't have to take a second year to get my master's degree. The cost of an accelerated program could be less than a whole second year in a regular-paced program. Student loans and debt can be a very scary topic, but with dedication, I plan to lessen my future debt because I have a dream to be a social worker and I will strive to make that dream come true.

Being a child in an abusive situation without quick resources to support is worse than being a needle in a haystack. It is worse than being a fish in a sea full of sharks. It's a feeling of true loneliness and disconnection that can't be described in metaphors. It is a life that is worse than death for children and not having someone to confide in makes everything much more difficult. Kids who deal with abuse are told to keep secrets for their protection so they get defensive when someone asks them about their situation. A Child's defensiveness could be seen as stubbornness and a trusted adult might not pick up on that and unknowingly leave the child in a bad situation. Abuse at home is not the only abuse children may face. There are other places children are abused that are not commonly spoken about. Juvenile detention centers are another place where children are at high risk of being abused. Whether it be by the Child's peers or by an adult at the facility, abuse in Juvenile detention centers is on the rise. The justice system holds teens for 48 to 72 hours before their detention hearing and in these hours, they are vulnerable and exposed to many people all at once. This makes a child an easy target and anyone can take advantage. The mental health screening isn't the first thing a child will experience going into the Juvenile detention center, but one of the last. It is a short assessment where a child is screened for drug abuse and suicidal behavior however, sometimes in crowded juvenile detention centers, the screening is rushed. Rushing a mental health screening is not abuse itself, but it also is not going to help advocate for the abused. I am striving to become a social worker so I can work in a juvenile detention center and help advocate for the abuse happening to these children. I am going to help people realize they are not just juveniles and criminals but are also children who have a past that shouldn't determine how we treat them. I am going to speak up when a child feels unsafe around a peer or another adult in the facility and I'm going to fight until that child does not have to be around that person anymore. I won't give up when a child gets defensive because it was how they were raised. I will help them become more comfortable to talk so I can get them the support they need while in the facility. The children deserve to be heard and fought for so that is why I am going to obtain my master's degree in social work to help fight for these kids in juvenile detention centers and encourage others to help me fight for them until we can not fight anymore.

In 2021, it was reported by researchers from Value penguin that the average American household has $6,270 in credit card debt and there is a total of $807 billion dollars in credit card debt. The influence of companies is so powerful, causing large amounts of debt. With these numbers, I firmly believe that behavioral finance is the most important lesson when learning about personal finance. It is crucial we learn marketing schemes that send people into debt but also about how to be responsible with a credit card. Research has shown people are more likely to buy something with a credit card than they would with cash because they view a credit card as endless money and become impulsive with it. Educators and guardians must teach the younger generation to have control of credit cards and also teach them to pay off their credit cards as soon after using them as they can. This will prevent missed payments to help keep interest rates low and credit scores high. Smart marketing schemes can suck gullible people into their trap and make them spend more than they ever intended to. This is especially big on social media seeing as 51 percent of people in the United States make purchases based on what they see on social media from a survey done by Statista Research Department. A lot of consumers online are encouraged to live lives like a celebrity but can't afford it and end up sending themselves into debt or living paycheck to paycheck. Companies also use flattery to influence their consumers by telling them they need this or they deserve the item. if people are not taught ways to avoid this and control it, they will fall victim and end up like many other American families who are struggling with debt.

The 50/30/20 rule is a popular way that people budget however, with popularity comes controversy so there are mixed opinions on if it is a good budgeting skill or not. I believe that teenagers who are living with a guardian should be using this rule, so that is why if I had $1,000, I'd use this skill but I would swap the numbers to make it work with my lifestyle. Instead of 500 dollars on needs, I would use that money on savings. It would go into the savings account that I have so it can help me reach my long-term goal of graduating college with minimum debt. I would but 300 dollars on needs. Filling up gas in my car is seventy-five dollars due to the rise in gas prices and my phone bill is eighty-five dollars. These are two major needs that need to be covered by me. With my remaining one hundred and forty dollars, I would put forty into my school lunch account, spend forty-seven on dog food for my dog, and I would buy school supplies with the remaining money. Finally, for my wants, I would have two hundred dollars. Being able to wind down and do something you love at the end of the day is important so I would use the money to buy mental health books because I enjoy those. $1000 at once is a big responsibility and with this tactic, I'm positive I will be spending my money responsibly.

I feel like I deserve this scholarship because I don't. Nobody deserves scholarships, in fact, scholarships are fake. This scholarship should not be something I deserve instead, it should be something that nobody deserves. Saying you deserve a scholarship sounds very needy, especially when they are fake. My career goal is to be a rodeo clown. Wearing a wig with a bunch of makeup sounds humorous. Additionally, being a rodeo clown is better than working at a club. Being able to walk up to people and say "I work as a rodeo clown" sounds like a dream to me. I would also like to be pied in the face because pie is delicious. A time I overcame an obstacle was when the local pizza shop was closed and would not open until 11. It was so difficult for me to receive this news because lunch ended at 11:05 so there was no way the pizza would arrive in time. I was craving the pizza so bad But has no idea what to do. my stomach kept rumbling and I had no pizza. Instead of continuing to sulk in my seat while hungry, I decided to text my mom asking her to bring me Chick-fil-a instead.

It was 2017 when I received the news that my parents would be separating and we had to move. 2017 was the year I realized I would never live on the same street as my best friend again, I would never be able to sleep in my room again, and I would never be able to call that house my home again. I wish I could say that I just instantly looked at the positives and realized they outweighed the negatives, but that is not how it happened. The weeks leading up to the move were long and dreadful. I had to start throwing away toys that I've had for years and start saying goodbye to my best friend. It was not easy for my mom either trying to find a home for us in such a short amount of time, but when we finally found a house I felt a feeling that I hadn't felt in weeks. I felt hopeful. The feeling of sadness was still there and would remain there for a while, but the feeling that everything would work out eventually started to blossom in my mind. It turned from a field of negativity to a garden of hope. Every time I felt sad about leaving my early life behind in that house, I tried to remind myself that I will have a new room to decorate, a new kitchen to cook in, and a new me to create. almost five years later, it is 2022 and I'm typing this in the front yard of a different house. The optimistic mindset I developed through those years had taught me that change is a new beginning and yes, I had heard that phrase many times before but now, I can live by it and live free.

We as a society can help people who struggle with mental health if we put the time and effort into educating others. A practical solution I have for helping more people that struggle with their mental health is allowing questions to be asked and then finding an answer. This seems really simple or even feels like we are already doing this, but we are not. Not in the way I believe will help others. An example of this not happening is If an adult breaks down in public people around them will think they are acting childish and if a child is having one, they are acting like a brat. There will be stares and whispers, and even questions, but everyone will ignore it in the end and go back to what they were doing. The way I want curiosity to work and benefit other people is by encouraging questions from people, especially children. Going up to somebody and simply saying "I know I am a stranger, but I would like to know if there's anything I can do to help." can do a lot. If the person is wanting help, they can teach someone how they can help them in crisis moments. If a child is asking questions along the lines of "Why is that person crying?" or witnessing someone having a sensory meltdown, A parent or someone who knows the child can stop and explain the situation in a way someone that age can understand. You can not move a car without wheels just like how you can't help create a solution to mental health if you don't understand it. If we take the time to educate others, we can make mental health less of a struggle.

Walking through those doors at 7:00 Monday through Friday with my head held high is a challenge that I can not always complete. Being a teenager in this world today is like a test. The only thing any teenage girl wants to do is fit in. They turn themselves into copies and pastes of the popular girl just so they can survive their school years. I used to be a copy of the popular girls. I talked how they talked and did whatever they wanted until I realized I was like their little puppet. They shined bright and I did too, but not in the way I wanted. I sat and watched them bully people and didn't say anything for the longest until they started pouring their negativity onto a sweet girl from my second period. I realized then that this isn't what I wanted. I could shine just as bright, maybe even brighter on my own. It took everything in me to confront my friends about their behavior and they did not take it kindly at all. After that day, I was no longer one of their little puppets, I was my own person. It took me a while to find interests and hobbies I genuinely liked again, but once I did I felt blossomed. The popular girls still hate me years later and they probably always will but I believe every time I walk through those doors, head held high or not, I am still practicing bravery because I made it. I had the bravery to defend a student and stand up for my values, I had the bravery to drop close friends that weren't right for me, and I still have the bravery to walk into that school every day and remember my values and my worth.

"Fix your face, or I will fix it for you. You have nothing to be crying about." A common phrase I heard from my father growing up. I was constantly told that I was dramatic or a drama queen whenever I cried about anything. My emotions were seen as a burden to other people and I was not told it is ok to be sad but rather, to get over it. My pre-teen years are when my parent's method of parenting turned into a nightmare for me. 2017 is the year my mother told me we lost the house and had to move but my father would not be moving with us. The home I had learned how to walk in was just taken away from me. In a matter of minutes, my biggest struggle went from if I wanted grape or strawberry jelly on my sandwich, to where am I going to live now. After the move, I eventually adjusted since I got to stay in the same school, but after that day I was never the same. My mother tried her best to talk to me but communication just wasn't something either of us properly grew up with. I fell into a dark depression at the age of twelve. I didn't know I was depressed because I had no idea what depression was I just knew there was this horrible feeling inside of me that would not go away. I started to act out in school and say awful things to people who did not deserve it. I disrespected my school counselor because I felt like she was not there for me and she was bad at her job. I insulted my old neighborhood best friend because she didn't have to move as I did. I bullied a 4th grader because he had both his parents to love him in the same house and I did not. This all could have been prevented if I would have been able to talk to that counselor, my mom, or even my friend but I couldn't because I did not know how to communicate. three years later every Thursday at three, I sit in an office with my therapist. It took me years to realize I was depressed. Going through everything I went through and not knowing how to voice that I was not ok damaged me and I'm just learning how to fix it. Although it was terrifying, it gave me a new view of mental health in today's world. It opened my eyes to generational trauma and how I have to be the end of it. I have to help teach my nieces, nephews, and cousins that crying is ok and sadness is a normal emotion. Hiding emotions is something that has been passed down from ancestor to ancestor until it eventually got to my parents. I always thought my parents did not care but that's absolutely not the case. I've grown to learn my parents do care about me and love me so much, but they can't communicate it like how my friend's parents do because they weren't raised like that. They were not raised around healthy coping skills or normal emotions but rather in the cold, emotionless, 1970s where mental health was a joke. I went through traumatic experiences and communication skills would have helped make that less traumatizing for me, My relationships were ruined because I did not know how to say "I'm sad please help me." or even "I'm sorry." I want to make sure nobody in my family has to experience what I did. I want them to be able to cry and say why they are crying without being told to fix their face. I want to be the end of my family's generational trauma.