"Miss Ella, my mom got out of jail last night and I am supposed to see her tomorrow," was how I was once greeted at work this summer; I worked at a preschool. The child who told me this was one of the most kind-hearted kids I had ever met, she was only seven years old. I felt my stomach drop and I had never really experienced that sensation before. I have heard people say they "felt their stomach drop" but I never truly understood what that could feel like until this specific moment. I had no idea how to respond but knew that the most important thing I could do was create a safe space for this child and whatever needs she was currently struggling with. I wanted her to know that she could tell me what she felt like sharing but I would never force her to talk about her mom if it was going to be too hard. After what felt like hours of listening to her cry and shut down when speaking about her mother, she finally told me why she was in prison. Neglect. She was in prison for neglecting her children. So this child had not seen her mother for all of the time she was in prison, but also never really interacted with her much before her sentence either. And now she was supposed to be face to face with a woman that she had no idea how to feel about. As kids we are told to love our parents unconditionally but if we aren't shown that from them how are we supposed to reciprocate it? She had gone through this entire process essentially alone and now had strangers telling her she had to see her mother. She told me she felt as though she couldn't trust anybody and wanted me to go with her. Although I couldn't do this, I wondered how I could do something like it in the future. Which then led me to the question of, how many other kids are going through this exact experience, also all by themselves. When it comes to the few available resources, they are hard to access and even harder to navigate. So here I am, a third-year, first-generation college student with plans to go to law school and do just that. I want to work with children with incarcerated parents. I want to be that resource for them so that they don't feel so alone, so scared. Growing up in a big city like Milwaukee, WI, I saw firsthand the over-incarceration rate and how it tore apart our city and families. On top of this, I want to make the law more accessible to people. By creating an exclusionary, elitist group and allowing them a full understanding of the law we are harming those who cannot do the same. I am majoring in Psychology and Legal Studies with minors in Criminal Justice and Public Policy with hopes of attending law school post-graduation with my Bachelor's degree. I want to make the world a better place for our children and those who are excluded from the understanding of the law and therefore, more likely subject to abuse by it. I know I can do just that.

"Miss Ella, my mom got out of jail last night and I am supposed to see her tomorrow," was how I was once greeted at work this summer; I worked at a preschool. The child who told me this was one of the most kind-hearted kids I had ever met, she was only seven years old. I felt my stomach drop and I had never really experienced that sensation before. I have heard people say they "felt their stomach drop" but I never truly understood what that could feel like until this specific moment. I had no idea how to respond but knew that the most important thing I could do was create a safe space for this child and whatever needs she currently struggling with. I wanted her to know that she could tell me what she felt like sharing but I would never force her to talk about her mom if it was going to be too hard. After what felt like hours of listening to her cry and shut down when speaking about her mother, she finally told me why she was in prison. Neglect. She was in prison for neglecting her children. So this child had not seen her mother for all of the time she was in prison, but also never really interacted with her much before her sentence. And now she was supposed to be face to face with a woman that she had no idea how to feel about. As kids we are told to love our parents unconditionally but if we aren't shown that from them how are we supposed to reciprocate it? She had gone through this entire process essentially alone and now had strangers telling her she had to see her mother. She told me she felt as though she couldn't trust anybody and wanted me to go with her. Although I couldn't do this, I wondered how I could do something like it in the future. Which then led me to the question of, how many other kids are going through this exact experience, also all by themselves. What resources do we give children with incarcerated parents? Not many, and of the few that exist they are very difficult to access and navigate. I want to change that. So here I am, a third-year, first-generation college student with plans to go to law school and do just that. I want to work with children with incarcerated parents. I want to be that resource for them so that they don't feel so alone, so scared. Growing up in a big city like Milwaukee, WI, I saw firsthand the over-incarceration rate and how it tore apart our city and families. On top of this, I want to make the law more accessible to people. By creating an exclusionary, elitist group and allowing them a full understanding of the law we are harming those who cannot do the same. I am majoring in Psychology and Legal Studies with minors in Criminal Justice and Public Policy with hopes of attending law school post-graduation with my Bachelor's degree. I want to make the world a better place for our children and those who are excluded from the understanding of the law and therefore, more likely subject to abuse by it. I know I can do just that.

"Miss Ella, my mom got out of jail last night and I am supposed to see her tomorrow," was how I was once greeted at work this summer; I worked at a preschool. The child who told me this was one of the most kind-hearted kids I had ever met, she was only seven years old. I felt my stomach drop and I had never really experienced that sensation before. I have heard people say they "felt their stomach drop" but I never really understood what that could feel like until this specific moment. I had no idea how to respond but knew that the most important thing I could do was create a safe space for this child and whatever needs she currently struggling with. I wanted her to know that she could tell me what she felt like sharing but I would never force her to talk about her mom if it was going to be too hard. After what felt like hours of listening to her cry and shut down when speaking about her mother, she finally told me why she was in prison. Neglect. She was in prison for neglecting her children. So this child had not seen her mother for all of the time she was in prison, but also never really interacted with her much before her sentence either. And now she was supposed to be face to face with a woman that she had no idea how to feel about. As kids we are told to love our parents unconditionally but if we aren't shown that from them how are we supposed to reciprocate it? She had gone through this entire process essentially alone and now had strangers telling her she had to see her mother. She told me she felt as though she couldn't trust anybody and wanted me to go with her. Although I couldn't do this, I wondered how I could do something like it in the future. Which then led me to the question of, how many other kids are going through this exact experience, also all by themselves. So here I am, a third-year, first-generation college student with plans to go to law school and do just that. I want to work with children with incarcerated parents. I want to be that resource for them so that they don't feel so alone, so scared. Growing up in a big city like Milwaukee, WI, I saw firsthand the over-incarceration rate and how it tore apart our city and families. On top of this, I want to make the law more accessible to people. By creating an exclusionary, elitist group and allowing them a full understanding of the law we are harming those who cannot do the same. I am majoring in Psychology and Legal Studies with minors in Criminal Justice and Public Policy with hopes of attending law school post-graduation with my Bachelor's degree. I want to make the world a better place for our children and those who are excluded from the understanding of the law and therefore, more likely subject to abuse by it. I know I can do just that.

Have you ever asked your mom to pick a favorite kid? Or asked your teacher to pick their favorite student? This is sort of how I feel when I try to pick my favorite Taylor Swift song, specifically when trying to pick my favorite song from her album "1989". This is the album that I would always listen to with my best friend in high school when we would drive anywhere together. After getting incredibly sick, she had to move across the country to California to get the medical attention she needed. Our favorite song was always "I Know Places" and we would scream it with the windows down. However, when you listen to the album straight through, the song "I Know Places" is directly followed by Swift's song "Clean". These songs have both held a special place in my heart ever since. The song "I Know Places" has such meaningful lyrics and a catchy beat, making this song an easy favorite for me. It talks about trusting somebody and being with them no matter what is at stake. As long as you are with the right person nothing too bad can happen. I always felt this way when I was hanging out with my friend. As long as the two of us were together, there was nothing too big to take on. Now that I am older and can look further at the meaning of the lyrics, the song means ten times more than it used to. The song "Clean" is another song off of this album that means the world to me. This song is about growing and having to move on from something that once was the most important thing in your life. My favorite line in the song is "Just because your clean, don't mean you don't miss it" at the end of the bridge. This is one of the most gut-wrenching lines in the song but also one of the most meaningful. Sometimes when we have to give something up or lose it, we know deep down it is for the better. However, that doesn't make it any easier. Watching my best friend move across the country was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but I knew she needed to leave. It was selfish of me to want her to stay. There was nothing I could do here that was going to be enough for her, she needed medical attention that only a few people in the world could offer her and they happened to be on the other side of the country. So while I cannot pick a favorite song from Taylor Swift's album "1989" I can pick my top two. These songs will always hold the most special place in my heart and I know when I am having a hard time or struggling with something, I can put on my headphones and listen to "I Know Places" or "Clean" and forget everything negative I am dealing with for a couple of minutes.

In a perfect world, I would be able to solve every social issue, but to be influential I want to spend this time in my life focusing on the inaccessibility of mental health care resources, especially for children. Something that stuck with me when I was younger was the lack of people I felt like I could talk to. This feeling of not having somebody to turn to or trust with my feelings and emotions was a burden, a burden that no child should have to carry with them. The lack of mental health care in the United States is a social issue that affects too many people, and children take on a large amount of harm because of this absence. I am currently in my second year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying psychology and legal studies. I have taken a focus to child development as well as the problems that children face during critical development years when certain needs are not met. When children are missing out on important relationships and security in their early childhood years, they are being set up to face many more challenges as they grow up. This is where I want to make a difference. I want to go into pediatric therapy and work with children who may not have the relationships that most children should have as they are growing up. However, there is a path I have to follow in order to be able to make the degree of difference I not only want to but know I can. After finishing up my four years at the University of Wisconsin, I plan to get my doctorate degree in developmental psychology and become a therapist working with young children. While I know it might be a few years until I can begin working directly with children as a therapist, right now I am focusing on getting involved in the community and working with children in a different sense. I have been volunteering at an elementary school every week and getting more comfortable in my own skin as an influential person in a childs life. Growing up, I was a competitive dancer and worked a lot with the younger children at my dance studio. Dance was very influential in my life in the best and worst ways. As a young girl growing up in the dance industry, there is always somebody that can leap higher than you, turn longer than you, or ultimately is just all around better than you. This really takes a toll on mental health, especially as a young girl who is already going through difficulties trying to navigate a world that isn't fair. But in a more positive light, it allowed me to step up and try to offer comfort and reliability to other young girls at my studio going through exactly what I went through. So while I can only do so much right now such as volunteer and step up where I am needed. I will one day make a real difference in the mental health world. With plans to open up my own practice that doesn't have special requirements to see a therapist. There will always be a place for children to come ad have a safe place to discuss anything that may be weighing on them and know that there will be someone there to listen and offer any type of help they could possibly need.

During transition into the college lifestyle I have wondered endlessly what truly makes me happy. Is it doing well in a class? Is it getting everything on my to-do list completed? This question haunted me. I was in college, these are supposed to be the best four years of your life. I felt like I had to be doing something wrong. After a lot of contemplating and feeling like I would never enjoy the experience, it clicked. I was stopping myself from being myself; therefore, stopping myself from being truly happy. Now, I know how it sounds. Most people would say, helping others or volunteering. And while both of those things bring me immense amounts of joy and I love doing both of those, it is not selfish to put yourself first. This was one of the hardest lessons I have ever had to learn. I have spent my entire life putting other people before myself, or doing what I thought they would want me to do. I was trying to make everybody around me happy, even though that meant making myself unhappy. Even though this realization clicked, it didn't mean I became happy overnight. I still held onto the belief that I had to make everyone around me happy. It took a lot of confidence to realize that what they thought didn't mean anything if I couldn't make myself happy. I slowly began dressing in a way that felt like me, reading the things I enjoyed, and doing hobbies that I enjoyed. It took a while to get here, but I am happier than I have ever been.

I think one of the best ways to help people is to simply be there for them and listen. As minuscule as that may sound it really does go a long way. There are many times where people need help but are unsure about what they really need. A great place to start is presence. A lot of times people just need somebody to be there for them, to hear them out. If somebody builds up emotion and keeps it inside for too long, it is bound to spiral out of control. Being present and there for somebody is always an incredible starting place in terms of help. If all they need is to be listened to, you can be there. However, if there is something more they may need, they can let you know without feeling pressured to tell you exactly what is wrong. One thing that I have found comfort in, and try reciprocate to others, is being in charge of my feelings. A very personal experience I had while helping somebody was when I sat down with my best friend during the hardest moment in her life. She had jus dealt with a very traumatic interaction and needed somebody to let out her feelings to. I was there. I sat, listened, and comforted her while she explained the situation. She said it was more helpful than she could have imagined. I know there are times where more will need to be done in order to help people, but listening is always a great place to start. There are so many people who feel as though they don't deserve to be heard or like they troubles are too small but that is never the case. While listening and presence won't solve everything it an amazing way to help.

Throughout my entire life I relied on dance as a way to deal with my mental health and put my mind at ease. With dance and mental health awareness being two of my biggest passions, my biggest artistic ambition is to open a dance studio in hopes of creating a safe, nonjudgmental space for people to use dance as a way to help better their mental health. I have seen dance turn into a toxic, and to be brutally honest, hostile art form throughout my time as a competitive dancer. So my hopes with opening this dance studio one day is to blossom it into everything I always wanted dance to be growing up. A loving, uplifting, and safe space for people to express their emotions rather than bottling everything up inside. With my psychology degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison, I will be able to understand the basis of how people think and why they do some of the things that they do. This will help me create a safe space in this dance studio where people are able to feel at home be vulnerable enough to create art expressing their emotions. This scholarship will help me lower my student loans and by doing that I will able to open this dance studio sooner and not have to worry about debt from school being the only place I spend my money. It is so important for people to have accessible resources for mental health that do not cost hundreds of dollars are almost impossible to obtain. This dance studio will be an easily accessible place for people to come and seek help for their mental health. This dream has been an important one of mine that I hold close to my heart and forever will. It would mean the world to me to watch this dream turn into a reality and with the help of this scholarship it would be even closer to happening.

I almost quit dance when I was 13. I had one of the most heartless people I had ever met as my coach. When I was four I started taking dance classes at my local recreation department. I instantly fell in love with the art and began taking as many classes as possible. A few years later my teacher came up to me and my mom after one of my classes and asked if I wanted to work with her and begin competing. I was so excited and honored because she had picked three girls from all of her classes and decided to start her own dance company. However, it was not as glamorous as it sounded. She quickly became very hateful toward the other two girls and me. But I just thought that was how competitive dance worked. The teachers and coaches had to be mean if you wanted to win. As I grew up, her comments and actions became much more harmful. She started to watch everything we did from the things we posted on social media, to the foods that we were consuming. It very quickly got out of hand and was very toxic. But again, I just thought that was how it worked in the "dance world". If I loved the art and wanted to win, this was the price to pay. On my 13th birthday, I watched her walk into the studio with a present, and a bag of candy. This was all placed in the area where I would put my shoes and bag before class. But when I walked over towards these gifts, I realized that the gift bag had somebody else's name on it and the candy was all peanut butter. Some people might not understand the significance of the candy, but my little sister has a severe anaphylaxis reaction if she consumes or even touches any type of nut. This act of selfishness and heartlessness was the last one I could take. It was one thing to put up with her toxicity but once she tried to hurt my sister there was no going back. So I confronted her and told her how upset I was after all of these years. The next day, she blocked everybody at the studio and just left. My mom ended up taking over sole ownership and has built this studio into something beautiful and a safe place for dancers in the Milwaukee area. I now work with some of the most amazing teachers who have helped me bring back the passion that I had lost for this amazing art and grow into the best version of myself inside and out of the studio. I think a lot about how different my life would have been if I had walked away from dance when I was younger. Although I endured a lot at a very young age, I took so much away from all of it. If I would have walked away I would have never met my current teachers who are two of the most talented dancers I have ever met and I would have never been able to begin teaching myself. Three years ago, I was able to begin teaching the pre-ballet class at my studio and I cannot even put into words how much better it has made my life. It gives me a place to share my passion with the next generation of dancers who are beyond eager to learn. Dance has taught me so much and I am so thankful to have something so beautiful that I am so passionate about.