For as long as I can remember, I was always helping out around my neighborhood, school, and extracurricular clubs. My original intentions were to garner sums of student service learning (SSL) hours, but it became more than that as time passed. Community service for me became a way to slightly expand my every so small world and connect with new people all while having fun and being productive. Moreover, it felt great to know that a single individual like myself can make such a difference. It started as early as elementary school when I volunteered my time to help set up events such as science fairs, movie nights, and school culture days. Looking back at my early years, I did a wide variety of little things here and there such as donating clothes, picking up trash at a nearby creek through a non-profit organization, and tutoring those who needed a little extra help. It picked up further in my junior-high grades when a lot more opportunities to give back to my community presented themselves. I was able to help set up parties and events, and even participated in organizing a grab-and-go at my local church. It was at that point that I started establishing connections with the organizations around me and becoming more aware of all the different chances that I had to do what I had grown to love. More often than not, the high school which I attended originally in Montgomery County Maryland, would send out information through email about ways students can help out around and through local non-profit organizations mainly for student service learning hours. That was also a great benefit since it was required for graduation, but I had ulterior motives. Being a freshman at the time, I didn’t know anybody that well. Yes, I had seen some students around the building, and yes, I had my handful of friends from junior high, but it wasn’t cutting it for me. I knew better than anyone how much people can bond over something that requires collective abilities and teamwork. Giving back to my community became something deeper for me. It grew on me and weaved itself into my personality. I was constantly plugged into my personal and school emails, conscious of when the next SSL opportunity might be. There was a time the summer before my last middle school year. I had registered to help out with the incoming 6th-grade orientation. Approximately 20 other volunteers along with myself were tasked with different roles such as instructing the new students on how to open their lockers, explaining exactly how middle school works, and taking them on a tour of the school. I believe it was some of the most fun I ever had in my community service history. The teacher who was in charge of the event bought us all pizza, and we played card games and socialized to no end. I felt so close to these people to whom I had never spoken before. I had never dug this deep into the idea of community service until now. The act means a lot to me, and I believe it means a lot to others who find themselves indulging in it too. It is more than simply helping out or lending a hand. It can affect what kind of person you are or become. If you are willing to spend some of your time and give back to your community, it becomes a part of your lifestyle and I hope in continuing down this path, I can leave an imprint on this world, no matter how small.

Growing up, I had no concept of mental health and how much it plays a role in the functioning of someone's daily life. I was faintly aware of the more known mental illnesses and their different causes through the health course I took. I have never really pictured myself being someone with a declining mental state as I've never had any past experiences. The first time I was aware that my mental health was deteriorating was towards the second semester of my junior year of high school. This was the time period in which I had contracted COVID-19 and had to be locked up in my room. To further my dismay, my workload from my advanced classes had been piling up. It was extremely stressful and I considered giving up at multiple points. Thankfully I had many friends who kept my spirits high as they were also going through something similar. It is apparent that the struggle to educate people on the importance of mental health has yielded high results as more people are understanding and aware of the different factors that play a role in leading someone to a mental illness or mental disease in chronic cases. Moving forward, although I have never held any prejudiced image of anyone facing some sort of mental crisis, experiencing it firsthand has opened up my view on how quickly someone's life can fall apart due to the decay of their mental health. I have come to realize a multitude of new goals such as bringing more attention to mental health overall to those who are not really aware and more specifically to the ones of students as no real strives have been made. Although resources exist to help, they are not promoted in a manner that would incite someone really struggling to get the attention they deserve.

Galileo...Obama...Edison...Gates...Tchantchampo? Could I be the next great person to contribute something major to society? My name is Elias Tchantchampo, and this is exactly the kind of mindset that I have going forward in my academic career. I constantly look for ways to better my community, as well as how to transfer this to a bigger scale. After constantly pondering and researching how to combine my passions and goals to create a suitable passion and career path, I have arrived at my calling. I have been eyeing the intersection between medicine and computer science and hope to pursue something in that area of study. I have a dream worth mentioning. I picture myself in a warm and collaborative environment working with other great minds to try and come up with groundbreaking solutions to some of the world's most challenging medical-related problems. In this dream world, I am financially stable, able to maintain a social life, and remain the compassionate person I am as of now despite all the hardships and tough decisions I know I will be faced with in my journey. My heart jumps at the thought of being able to learn about what I'm interested in and having that information aid me in helping others. I realized this was exactly what healthcare professionals do, and decided that this was going to be my passion, this is where I want to spend my future years. Especially as a high school senior with high expectations and minimal support resources, it has grown increasingly important to be able to able to follow my passions. I hope to attain the highest possible degree that I can and remain a lifelong learner. Similar to the college application process, competition to stand out is steep. If there is something that I believe someone should take away from me, it's my ambition. My ambition and every similar quality allow someone to stay grounded enough that they can set themselves up for success. Everyone knows that the top schools and even the most competitive scholarships are all looking for people with the potential to lead, and people with ambition and vision large and wild enough to drive them to innovate the world. This scholarship will help me achieve my educational goals by aiding in financing my post-secondary education. As I plan to pursue a career in the medical field, medical school is inevitable, and therefore every dollar towards my college cost helps me graduate with minimal debt.

Galileo...Obama...Edison...Gates...Tchantchampo? Could I be the next great person to contribute something major to society? My name is Elias Tchantchampo, and this is exactly the kind of mindset that I have going forward in my academic career. I have bounced around many different high schools and have experienced many different environments. As a result, I constantly look for ways to better my community, as well as how to transfer this to a bigger scale. After constantly pondering and researching how to combine my passions and goals to create a suitable passion and career path, I have arrived at my calling. I have been eyeing the intersection between medicine and computer science and hope to pursue something in that area of study. I have a dream worth mentioning. I picture myself in a warm and collaborative environment working with other great minds to try and come up with groundbreaking solutions to some of the world's most challenging medical-related problems. In this dream world, I am financially stable, able to maintain a social life, and remain the compassionate person I am as of now despite all the hardships and tough decisions I know I will be faced with in my journey. My heart jumps at the thought of being able to learn about what I'm interested in and having that information aid me in helping others. I realized this was exactly what healthcare professionals do, and decided that this was going to be my passion, this is where I want to spend my future years. Especially as a high school senior with high expectations and minimal support resources, it has grown increasingly important to be able to able to follow my passions. I hope to attain the highest possible degree that I can and remain a lifelong learner. Similar to the college application process, competition to stand out is steep. If there is something that I believe someone should take away from me, it's my ambition. My ambition, passion, and vitality are what allow me to stay grounded and set myself up for success. Everyone knows that the top schools and even the most competitive scholarships are all looking for people with the potential to lead, and people with ambition and vision large and wild enough to drive them to innovate the world. I can be categorized as one of those people and this essay has strongly demonstrated that. With the help of this scholarship, a new bright mind will be born.

For as long as I can remember, I was always helping out around my neighborhood, school, and extracurricular clubs. My original intentions were to garner sums of student service learning (SSL) hours, but it became more than that as time passed. Community service for me became a way to slightly expand my every so small world and connect with new people all while having fun and being productive. Moreover, it felt great to know that a single individual can make such a difference. It started as early as elementary school when I volunteered my time to help set up events such as science fairs, movie nights, and school culture days. Looking back at my early years, I did a wide variety of little things here and there such as donating clothes, picking up trash at a nearby creek through a non-profit organization, and tutoring those who needed a little extra help. It picked up further in my junior-high grades when a lot more opportunities to give back to my community presented themselves. I was able to help set up parties and events, and even participated in organizing a grab-and-go at my local church. It was at that point that I started establishing connections with the organizations around me and becoming more aware of all the different chances that I had to do what I had grown to love. More often than not, the high school which I attended originally in Montgomery County Maryland, would send out information through email about ways students can help out around and through local non-profit organizations mainly for student service learning hours. That was also a great benefit since it was required for graduation, but I had ulterior motives. Being a freshman at the time, I didn’t know anybody that well. Yes, I had seen some students around the building, and yes, I had my handful of friends from junior high, but it wasn’t cutting it for me. I knew better than anyone how much people can bond over something that requires collective abilities and teamwork. Giving back to my community became something deeper for me. It grew on me and weaved itself into my personality. I was constantly plugged into my personal and school emails, conscious of when the next SSL opportunity might be. There was a time the summer before my last middle school year. I had registered to help out with the incoming 6th-grade orientation. Approximately 20 other volunteers along with myself were tasked with different roles such as instructing the new students on how to open their lockers, explaining exactly how middle school works, and taking them on a tour of the school. I believe it was some of the most fun I ever had in my community service history. The teacher who was in charge of the event bought us all pizza, and we played card games and socialized to no end. I felt so close to these people to whom I had never spoken to before. I had never dug this deep into the idea of community service until now. The act means a lot to me, and I believe it means a lot to others who find themselves indulging in it too. It is more than simply helping out or lending a hand. It can affect what kind of person you are or become. If you are willing to spend some of your time and give back to your community, it becomes a part of your lifestyle and I hope in continuing down this path, I can leave an imprint on this world, no matter how small.

Galileo...Obama...Edison...Gates...Tchantchampo? Could I be the next great person to contribute something major to society? My name is Elias Tchantchampo, and this is exactly the kind of mindset that I have going forward in my academic career. I constantly look for ways to better my community, as well as how to transfer this to a bigger scale. After constantly pondering and researching how to combine my passions and goals to create a suitable passion and career path, I have arrived at my calling. Biomedical Engineering, although as a high school Junior, I am not required to make such a decision, I find it necessary to convey my passion to top universities. I have a dream worth mentioning. I picture myself in a warm and collaborative environment working with other great minds to try and come up with groundbreaking solutions to some of the world's most challenging medical-related problems. In this dream world, I am financially stable, able to maintain a social life, and remain the compassionate person I am as of now despite all the hardships and tough decisions I know I will be faced with in my journey. My heart jumps at the thought of being able to learn about what I'm interested in and having that information aid me in helping others. I realized this was exactly what healthcare professionals do, and decided that this was going to be my passion, this is where I want to spend my future years. Especially as a high school senior with high expectations and minimal support resources, it has grown increasingly important to be able to able to follow my passions. These are all ambitious plans for the future. What am I doing right now? How do I plan to start making such a difference in my community even though I am just a high school Junior? I've got it taken care of by tutoring younger struggling students and bringing them to a level where they excel, creating a volleyball club since my school is unrepresentative in this category, and also co-founding a biology club for those interested in building a foundation in the science and partaking in research. I am part of several organizations such as Community Youth Advance and The Society of Torch & Laurel which offer lots of opportunities to make a difference in my local community. Hopefully, you have pinpointed what kind of person I am, and are very happy to have this chance for self-reflection.

Galileo...Obama...Edison...Gates...Tchantchampo? Could I be the next great person to contribute something major to society? My name is Elias Tchantchampo, and this is exactly the kind of mindset that I have going forward in my academic career. I constantly look for ways to better my community, as well as how to transfer this to a bigger scale. After constantly pondering and researching how to combine my passions and goals to create a suitable passion and career path, I have arrived at my calling. Biomedical Engineering, although as a high school Junior, I am not required to make such a decision, I find it necessary to convey my passion to top universities. I have a dream worth mentioning. I picture myself in a warm and collaborative environment working with other great minds to try and come up with groundbreaking solutions to some of the world's most challenging medical-related problems. In this dream world, I am financially stable, able to maintain a social life and remain the compassionate person I am as of now despite all the hardships and tough decisions I know I will be faced with in my journey. As a result of following @joelbervell on TikTok, I am fully aware of the obvious racial bias in medicine, and the overall healthcare scenes. In one of his videos, he made a point that brought to light the fact that pulse oximeters don't accurately measure oxygen saturation levels for all skin colors. Moreover, black patients are more than three times as likely to have inaccurate, overestimated oxygen saturation which can put their diagnosis out of whack. This is just one of the many many reasons why it is imperative to increase racial diversity in this field. I am bent on becoming a medical professional, one that can someday advocate and educate racial bias effectively like Joel Bervell. Thousands of people of color die unnecessarily because of the evils of racism aided by the many systems in place to oppress. After learning about this sort of thing, it only fuels my passion even further and I am happy to share that. My original plan was to become an anesthesiologist because of the way they have so much control and oversee operations. I slowly shifted from that as I started becoming interested in technology since the field was growing at a rapid rate. That was when I had the idea to combine the two, and found myself chasing a biomedical degree.

I believe that Anime, Manga, Webtoons, K-Dramas, Manhwa, and Animated Shows have had the greatest influence on my life and who I stand as a person today, and I am overjoyed at the fact that there is a scholarship like this. I have been watching anime since I was 6 years old, but it was not until I landed on Haikyuu that my whole perspective shifted. Something about Haikyuu clicked and resonated with me, and since then I realized that I am the easily inspired kind of person. Because of Haikyuu, I learned to play volleyball and quickly fell in love with the sport. I made lots of friends who were also Haikyuu and general anime fans. Since my school did not have a volleyball club, I decided to create one and it still remains a place where others who share the same passion can come and have fun.

Still fresh in my mind as if it happened a week's radius from today. The shutting down of everything left and right. People dropping like fleas because of some unknown virus. A pandemic that struck so fast and hit so hard that people had no idea how to react. My very own life transformed into something I could never really get used to. That fateful day in March when all students were issued to stay home because there was some kind of sickness circulating. Little did everyone know that it was the last time they were gazing up the classroom walls filled with posters and textbooks that remedied an ideal learning environment. This section of the year 2020 is important to me not for personal reasons, but because of the devastating impact, it had on the lives of many others. Those whose aspirations and dreams were robbed from under them by an unforeseen virus. Those whose loved ones fought for air and took their last breath way too soon. Those who worked tirelessly under strict conditions to relieve some of the pain of worry. It is a moment in 2020 that should be remembered in a heavy tone. Current inflation rates are so severe they are being compared to times surrounding the great depression. In all consideration, who knows how deep the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will last. Nevertheless, It's not all strife and gloom. This time has been crucial in self-reflection and has served as a turning point in my life positively in terms of academics and figuring myself out. I'm sure no one had any idea how long we were going to be in quarantine as the weeks turned into months. I did not think much of it at first, but I realized that pre-quarantine, I focused on my routine of getting up in the morning, school, extracurriculars, and work. I had become mindless almost in my daily endeavors. I cannot begin to imagine the vast amount of things I have learned since. The time management, organization, and life skills I picked up. I became familiar with software and productivity tools such as Notion that I cannot wait to try out when the 2021-2022 school year begins. Just for reference, I put this into practice my sophomore year of high school and was able to get straight A's completely online. I picked up skateboarding, filmmaking, bullet journaling, fitness, and most importantly my passion for internal medicine. For once I felt like I was bettering myself and this was all thanks to the time made by COVID-19. This is not to disregard the havoc that it wreaked on the world and the many who lost their lives, but I cannot neglect the hours I spent doing things I loved while also getting an education from a safe location.

In the waning days of my final middle school year, I was offered an amazing opportunity. I had the chance to take an exam that would allow me to go to a prestigious and highly selective middle school. I wanted to make my parents proud and also be able to attend this school to further challenge myself. I got researching and studying right away, and found the material itself not difficult to grasp, but more of a test of brain processing ability. No matter, I persevered and set up a schedule to study at least an hour every day after the completion of my homework leading up to the test date. My dad had also been a big part of the process and helped me with mastering and familiarizing myself with the assessment, or so I thought. Come test day, I had a nice breakfast and was feeling confident in my knowledge. The four-part exam was exactly as I made it out to be, and I struggled a lot backed up to the thin wall of foundation that I had developed. Results came in about a month later, and sadly I was not accepted. Not only was it a blow to me mentally, I know that my parents, who had helped me get to the level that I was, was also heartbroken at the fact that despite all the effort put in, but it also turns out I’m not good enough. It hit me hard that I won’t be able to go to the school that I worked so diligently to try and get into and soon after fell into a state of disinterest. It was as if I had lost all purpose for being, and I slowly distanced myself from my family, tried to do things that I’d loved, but still couldn’t cope with. The thoughts and invalidation invaded my mind time and time again. I thought to myself, that I was going to the same middle school as all my friends, and it wasn't that great. It did make me feel a little bit better, but I still felt like it would have been great if I got in and chose not to go considering how hard I studying in the first place. Subsequently, I took some time to reflect and try to move on at the suggestion of my peers. They told me things like I was worth more than a test, and are plenty smart. It did make me feel better and eventually, I got wrapped up in activities and clubs and forgot about the ordeal altogether. Every time I have a major academic failure, I think back to this time and how I am a diverse and interesting human who is not defined by any paper and pencil test. As I go into my final high school years, I carry with me this knowledge and prioritize my mental health over any sort of academic activity, and I am not defined by the expectations o

Can you imagine a world where children of all ethnicities and backgrounds had an equal chance at an education? This is far from our current world and almost impossible to obtain this ideal society. Through the iconic story of Malala, I am aware that not all children especially young girls have an equal opportunity at education. There are a wide array of obstacles and issues such as "increasing tuition, lack of government funds, lack of resources, poor conditions, and many other factors" that all make this fight harder. I work as a personal tutor therefore I have experience working one-on-one with students who struggle a bit in their usual classes, and it is apparent that not all students are learning at the same pace. Speaking from personal experience, the county I used to live in was way better equipped and funded compared to where I currently reside and it has a direct impact on my ability to learn. One solution I propose in the quest to better education for future generations is to increase the means for engagement. When you think about it, there is not much you can do to the current system in terms of trying to make everything fair. If we implement different means of engagement that encourage students to learn no matter what their circumstances are, the results become the same. It's another way of saying to make do with what you have. To further explain, the greatest challenge students face is being interested. It is extremely difficult trying to pay attention to something that does not interest you, but when the right connections are made by the educator, then that eases the concern. It has always been my mission to promote education by assisting my peers with their coursework and by tutoring younger students in my community. As time goes by and my resources expand, I hope to have the means to continue to promote higher education and make it accessible to those in my home country of Togo who have not gotten the same chances as me.

It was 2012, and I had just returned from the infamous land of poverty: Africa. My story of immigration may very well be one of the most interesting and complex ones which is also another reason I stand as the intricate persona I am today. It has been one of the greatest influences in my life and has molded me in ways no other experience could compare. It all starts in the year 2005 in Laurel MD, where I was born. My parents had just immigrated to the United States chasing the iconic "American Dream" and trying to make a better life for themselves and their newly created family. Previous to me, it had just been my parents and my brother who had been born two years prior. They were struggling to try to find part-time jobs to put food on the table. The complications of not speaking English and not possessing higher education degrees came into play two years after they had me when my sister was born. We were barely holding up for another rough month till my parents were faced with the tough choice of sending us back to their homeland of Togo, Africa. I was hardly the age of three when my whole world was turned upside down. The day we landed in this seemingly foreign land remains a strong memory as I remember the crowd of family and relatives greeting us as if we were revered leaders and a feast of foods unknown to black American kids. This was just the beginning of the five-year stay with our grandmother who was now charged with our care. It was me along with my brother and sister against going to school, getting accustomed to the new foods, and learning a new language (French is the main language spoken in Togo). We had no idea how long we were staying and heard vague responses on phone calls from our parents overseas when we tried to ask. I did not think of the experience as some kind of punishment or a terrible predicament, but as a chance to experience a different kind of life that many other children of immigrant parents did not get to. From a young age, I developed an understanding, compassionate, and empathetic attitude towards those around me. With my newly formed character plus the bonus of being able to speak fluent French, our mom made the trip to tell us that it was time to finally come back. It was early November in the year 2021, we said very climatic goodbyes to all our uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, and most importantly grandma which we have not seen till this present day. It was round two of cultural shock and hardships. I am grateful to have had such an amazing 2nd-grade teacher who brought my broken English which I remembered since I was three to fluency. We reinstituted ourselves in a better environment and situation allowing for me and my siblings to thrive academically, and athletically. I have always been a curious person dumbfounded by the freedoms of passions you can choose from here in the U.S. It was not until recently which I landed on the medical route which piqued my interest more than any other career path. I thought back to my years in Africa and how so much was done for me to be able to live a moderate life, and want to reciprocate that energy in order people's lives. This scholarship is just the thing I needed in this stage of my endeavors to keep going.

Galileo...Obama...Edison...Gates...Tchantchampo? Could I be the next great person to contribute something major to society? My name is Elias Tchantchampo, and this is exactly the kind of mindset that I have going forward in my academic career. I constantly look for ways to better my community, as well as how to transfer this to a bigger scale. After constantly pondering and researching how to combine my passions and goals to create a suitable passion and career path, I have arrived at my calling. Biomedical Engineering, although as a high school Junior, I am not required to make such a decision, I find it necessary to convey my passion to top universities. I have a dream worth mentioning. I picture myself in a warm and collaborative environment working with other great minds to try and come up with groundbreaking solutions to some of the world's most challenging medical-related problems. In this dream world, I am financially stable, able to maintain a social life and remain the compassionate person I am as of now despite all the hardships and tough decisions I know I will be faced with in my journey. My heart jumps at the thought of being able to learn about what I'm interested in and having that information aid me in helping others. I realized this was exactly what healthcare professionals do, and decided that this was going to be my passion, this is where I want my heart to be. These are all ambitious plans for the future. What am I doing right now? How do I plan to start making such a difference in my community even though I am just a high school Junior? I've got it taken care of with tutoring younger struggling students and bringing them to a level where they excel, creating a volleyball club since my school is unrepresentative in this category, and also co-founding a biology club for those interested in building a foundation in the science and partaking in research. I am part of several organizations such as Community Youth Advance and The Society of Torch & Laurel which offer lots of opportunities to make a difference in my local community. Hopefully, you have pinpointed what kind of person I am, and are very happy to have this chance of self-reflection.

Around the start of the nationwide quarantine that occurred in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found out that our grandmother was diagnosed with dementia. Although having no correlation, it further dampened the mood of the deadly season. As a prospective healthcare professional, I had no idea what the mental illness was and decided to look into it a bit. Our lovely grandmother who used to be the most active one around our home, cooking, cleaning, and indulging in laughter, now spent the majority of her time in her own space. She carried a blank and distracted expression that weighed heavy on all our hearts. It was as if we lost a key pillar in our lives. As a result of her experience with this mental health, I realized that many others can be suffering from uncontrollable mental devastations that not only affect them but also their loved ones. I launched a behavioral sciences survey with the help of my school which gathered data from my fellow peers on those who were aware of their diminishing mental health. We realized that there was a downward trend in direct effect of being isolated and embarking on academic duties alone and in a virtual format. I published my findings and the thoughts that my student sample shared and presented it to the higher-ups at my school. I asked if they can please take into consideration the hardships that some might be going through and push for the utilization of therapy in order to keep their mental health strong. This was an eye-opening experience for them as they thanked me and I felt as though I had helped even if it was in this little way.

Now that I think about it, my burning passion for STEM was unmatched from an early age. My eyes lit, a wide grin, and a focused gaze as I was in a world of my own. Ideas flowing, plans being carried out, prototypes being tested, and competitions being won. This was the kind of environment I thrived in and the place filled with similar minds that brought out the best in me. I was a student that loved math and loved to bring my ideas to life, so I decided to try out the Stem Car Challenge when I was in fourth grade. We were a group of 5 including me, and we designed a plastic car that reached a max distance of about 50 meters aided by a slight ramp incline. This carried us to nationals that took place in Baltimore which we ended up placing first, and from that point on, I was hooked. The Kid Wind Challenge was next, we placed pretty high, and the Egg Drop challenge followed. Innovative and creative abilities were tested during these events and being the competitive person I was, this only made me more ecstatic. I looked for the next opportunities to take part in STEM competitions going forward. It's not until recently that I discovered Gitanjali Rao. Gitanjali is a 15-year-old Engineer and Inventor known for her groundbreaking water filter called the Tethys. She remains my biggest inspiration as I look for ways to make a difference in my community. One of the biggest hurdles in my journey is first identifying a problem in my area that I might have the ability to solve through the use of STEM. One of the things that Gintanjali stresses, is the fact that anyone regardless of age has the ability to make a difference and give back to their community. This is the reason why I continue to educate myself and get involved in hopes of one day creating something that benefits my community as a whole. Some ideas that I have noted in my brainstorming phase are creating an afterschool club or program to maybe pass down some similar teachings of the engineering design process to younger students so they can go out into their areas and try to aid in solving those problems. Another one would be creating an application that helps people in my neighborhood keep track of who is near them. Our neighborhood is very sizable to the point where it is hard to connect. As I go forward, my STEM background has played a role in my open mindset, which allows me to constantly look for things that might need a bit of tweaking to further enhance their performance to the benefit of others.

I for one, used to be the type of those young individuals when asked “What do you want to be in the future?” might look around anxiously, and play around with my fingers pretending to be thinking, and then ultimately just say “I don’t know.” From early on, I’ve always tried exploring my options and do plenty of research in a diverse base of careers to see which one might fit me the best. I was undecided for a very long time because I knew that when I settled on a career path, I wanted it to be something that I had a strong passion for that way I knew that I could only put my best foot forward throughout the whole journey. It was not until recently that I discovered my passion for microbiology and medical sciences. I realized that I excelled in math and science courses and that it came very naturally to me mainly because of the fact that I genuinely enjoyed learning about the subjects. They were engaging and fun, and I did everything I could to make sure I understood each lesson fully and expanded on my knowledge when I had the chance. I plan to pursue the highest degree possible and am constantly looking to challenge myself academically to inspire others in my class to do the same. I am very proud of myself in the sense that I have already accomplished a lot in my middle and high school years and hope to transfer my work ethic in pursuing higher education. My parents in all honesty have been my biggest motivation when it comes to academics. They have raised me in a way that I am self-fueling in my ambitions and have the drive to carry myself in a mature way. Another huge influence in my career and the educational world is all the amazing friends and classmates I have had throughout my years. It is hard for me to say whether I would be at my current level if it wasn't for all the extremely gifted and brilliant classmates I have had in the past. I am an extremely competitive person meaning I strive for the highest possible grade, the most challenging classes, and sit at the top of the class, but the same goes for everyone else. We established an environment of constant rivalry for who can get the better grade, we also helped those who might have been struggling knowing that we were all in this together. This along with my passion for the medical field, I started gaining a basic understanding of anatomy, biology, and biology. I joined clubs, volunteered, and plan to intern the summer after my junior year. I do this all for one purpose and one purpose only. To not see people all over the world suffer as much, even if I can make a small difference in my community, I am willing to spend the time and perfect my craft to the point where people find warmth in healthcare providers. I want to thank my mother who has been a keystone in my life. I call her my first friend and my biggest fan. She always makes sure I am intact and moving steadily in my path to success and always wagers herself when I am in need of assistance. I have explored a wide range of doctor specialties but ultimately ended up on anesthesiology since it seemed the most compatible with my current knowledge. With this in mind, I hope you found some part of you empathizing with my story.

For as long as I can remember, I was always helping out around my neighborhood, school, and extracurricular clubs. My original intentions were to garner sums of student service learning (SSL) hours, but it became more than that as time passed. Community service for me became a way to slightly expand my every so small world and connect with new people all while having fun and being productive. Moreover, it felt great to know that a single individual like myself can make such a difference. It started as early as elementary school when I volunteered my time to help set up events such as science fairs, movie nights, and school culture days. Looking back at my early years, I did a wide variety of little things here and there such as donating clothes, picking up trash at a nearby creek through a non-profit organization, and tutoring those who needed a little extra help. It picked up further in my junior-high grades when a lot more opportunities to give back to my community presented themselves. I was able to help set up parties and events, and even participated in organizing a grab-and-go at my local church. It was at that point that I started establishing connections with the organizations around me and becoming more aware of all the different chances that I had to do what I had grown to love. More often than not, the high school which I attended originally in Montgomery County Maryland, would send out information through email about ways students can help out around and through local non-profit organizations mainly for student service learning hours. That was also a great benefit since it was required for graduation, but I had ulterior motives. Being a freshman at the time, I didn’t really know anybody that well. Yes, I had seen some students around the building, and yes, I had my handful of friends from junior-high, but it wasn’t really cutting it for me. I wanted to get to know the school on a more personal and fundamental level including staff and teachers. This was when I had the idea to use community service as a means to both offer my efforts, and also get to know more people. I did this through, can food drives, book fairs, tutoring, helping paint for the drama club, and setting up events. I knew better than anyone how much people can bond over something that requires collective abilities and teamwork. Giving back to my community became something deeper for me. It grew on me and weaved itself into my personality. I was constantly plugged into my personal and school emails, conscious of when the next SSL opportunity might be. There was a time the summer before my last middle school year. I had registered to help out with the incoming 6th-grade orientation. Approximately 20 other volunteers along with myself were tasked with different roles such as instructing the new students on how to open their lockers, explaining exactly how middle school works, and taking them on a tour of the school. I believe it was some of the most fun I ever had in my community service history. The teacher who was in charge of the event bought us all pizza, we played card games and socialized to no ends. I felt so close to these people to whom I had never spoken to before. I had never dug this deep on the idea of community service until now. Evidently, the act means a lot to me, and I believe it means a lot to others who find themselves indulging in it too. It is more than simply helping out or lending a hand. It can affect what kind of person you are or become. If you are willing to spend some of your time and give back to your community, it tells a lot about a person’s true self. It becomes a part of your lifestyle and I hope in continuing down this path, I can leave my imprint on this world, no matter how small.