My name is Ellie Scurlock. I am 17 years old and am interested in pursuing a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture. I attribute my interests to my upbringing as I attended an art and nature-based Waldorf charter school from 1st-8th grade. I also grew up in an outdoorsy and creative family. I have been a driven and high-achieving student all throughout my high school career. Recently I attended a Botany/Horticulture class at my high school. In this class, we did a section on landscape architecture and city design. I loved learning about rain gardens, the urban heat effect, and about all the elements of our school's architecture that make it more efficient and eco-friendly. I also really enjoyed learning about were green walls in London that help with smog and biodiversity, and the supertrees in Singapore. I was intrigued by the subject and realized that I want to be a part of this. As I said, I have been immersed in nature and art my entire life, and I hope to put this experience to use by creating beautiful, green, community spaces. Another element I plan to integrate into my future career is advocacy for the houseless population. I have done approximately 150 hours of volunteer work at a local organization that aids our homeless youth, and in 10th grade, I wrote a call to action/research paper on my city's policies regarding the homeless population for my honors English class. I plan to make this part of my career in the green industry by participating in or designing a tiny home project and making it a personal mission to eliminate hostile architecture in our cities. This is something I believe is not only cruel and unusual punishment but is contributing to the number of homeless camps and litter we are facing. I believe that by doing this we can not only help the environment, but we can give people safe housing that is beautiful and sustainable. Specifically, I am referring to my local area; however, I know this is a much larger problem than what I've seen firsthand in my small town. While this is a fairly new aspiration, I am not going after this on a whim. Unfortunately, I cannot control when inspiration strikes and for me, it came a little late. The pieces I needed to have a love for the green industry have always been in me, whether it be my upbringing, my love for nature and plants, or my passion for the environment and those within it. I believe I can do great things in the future and all I need is a little help to get there. I have proven to be a good and hard-working student, my current GPA is 3.814. Not only this but I know that my passion for this industry will give me the strength and motivation to do very well throughout the rest of my education and training for this career. All this combined is why I believe I am a good candidate for your scholarship. Thank you for your time and consideration.