One characteristic that I value in myself is my perseverance. I have been able to go through life achieving all that I have wanted to and doing this while persevering through hardships. I am an honors student, taking many AP classes while maintaining over a 4.0 GPA, I am president of my school's National Honor Society branch, as well as Student Council president. I am a captain of my soccer team, as well as captain of theater and speech. I have also helped play on our school's unified basketball team for the past four years, a program that allows students with intellectual disabilities who receive special education services the opportunity to play competitive basketball with other schools. These responsibilities make me proud to represent my school and community and pushing through external complications such as the pandemic and my type 1 diabetes make these accomplishments even more meaningful to me. I have always aimed to be a focused and dedicated student and member of the community, and even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I was able to stay involved in our school community. I spread the word for virtual spirit days throughout the beginning of at-home learning in March of 2020, students were able to post pictures of them virtually learning from home dressed up in the theme for that day. I also led the Prom Committee in the spring of 2021 to create a masked and socially distanced prom. I worked tirelessly to speak with vendors and students to help sell tickets, get donations, decorations, food, and chaperones for the event. Despite this process taking extra time, and having to work around many COVID and financial restrictions, the 2021 prom was a success. When I was five years old I was diagnosed with type one diabetes, and I did not let this life-changing news affect how I lived my life. I persevered through the extra steps I need to take daily in my life and continued each day the same as someone whose pancreas makes insulin. I have been able to put this large medical issue aside and still participate in everything that I can to live my best life. I have participated in sports, theater, speech, clubs, and leadership opportunities all without missing a beat. Diabetes is a huge part of my life, and it affects everything that I do, but I always have kept on top of my diabetes so that it did not control me. I persevere through this complication so that I am always able to live my life the way that I want to. Everyone's life has challenges, and the ability to persevere through these challenges, small or large, is a quality that I value in myself. I have always created goals for myself that I have intended to attain no matter what stands in my way, whether that be a pandemic, diabetes, or any other rock that gets thrown in my path. This quality has helped me achieve so much in my life, and this trait is something that I intend to carry with me throughout college and the rest of my life.

When I wrote this piece it was originally for my playwrighting class, but I have decided to take this piece so much further than a grade. When I first began writing about these nameless characters, my vision grew deeper and larger than just a scene. I have grown to love these two characters, and want to give them more of an opportunity than one evening of fights. By placing two problematic characters into a relationship in modern-day New York, I aimed to keep realism ad reliability, and for this reason, did not give the characters names. I wanted everyone who read this to be able to imagine the characters as anyone. This piece is something I have been working on for many months and is something I am proud of and am looking to expand even more in my future. As a young child, I became enthralled with make-believe worlds, I would read two to three books a week, and couldn't wait to see my favorite characters on screen. I would patiently wait for the next book in a series and would record new episodes of a show every week. These are all passions I still enjoy, I read, and once I finish reading immediately go to social media where I can look at the opinions of other people and view the connections that they made. I and am invested in many TV shows and movies and love analyzing the characters, their development, and watching interviews with producers, writers, directors, and cast members to gain a deeper understanding of the vision and meaning behind each artistic decision. These are the types of decisions I hope to one day make, working behind the camera to create a world that people can watch and become invested in.