Finances... One of my favorite subjects. As a young person, I consider myself ti be pretty smart with my income as I have been working since the age of 14. This was until I was sucked into the normalities of, you guessed it, student loans! I recently became aware of the financial stupidity of student loans. While I am a little late to knowing this information, I am thankful to know what I now know. Upon graduating high school in 2021, I decided it was necessary and "normal" to take on the burden of student loans. However, a very wise person by the name of Dave Ramsey, informed me of the stupidity of it. Many students believe that taking out student loans is a return on investment. The mindset goes as follows, "I'm going to take out 50k worth of student loans, but this college degree will give me the financial security pay it back pretty soon." Wrong. When I listened to Dave Ramsey's podcasts Borrowed Future, I could not believe I fell victim to the trap of student loans. Truth be told, private lenders have set their interest rate so incredibly high, that many people cannot pay off their student debt for many, many years to come. Thankfully, this enlightenment has created my mindset of cash flowing my education. As I enter my junior year of college (early college graduate), I will only be attending each semester of classes IF I have successfully saved enough for tuition through scholarships and my three part time jobs. Learning this information gives me a stronger motivation to pay back my student loans now rather than later. While this will be a time consuming process, I am doing my best each and everyday through consistency.

As I have been on the hunt for scholarships consistently for the past 2 months, there is only 1 thing I would do with $1,000. Put that money towards my education. I recently became aware of the financial stupidity of student loans. While I am a little late to knowing this information, I am thankful to know what I now know. Upon graduating high school in 2021, I decided it was necessary and "normal" to take on the burden of student loans. However, a very wise person by the name of Dave Ramsey, informed me of the stupidity of it. Many students believe that taking out student loans is a return on investment. The mindset goes as follows, "I'm going to take out 50k worth of student loans, but this college degree will give me the financial security pay it back pretty soon." Wrong. When I listened to Dave Ramsey's podcasts Borrowed Future, I could not believe I fell victim to the trap of student loans. Truth be told, private lenders have set their interest rate so incredibly high, that many people cannot pay off their student debt for many, many years to come. Thankfully, this enlightenment has created my mindset of cash flowing my education. As I enter my junior year of college (early college graduate), I will only be attending each semester of classes IF I have successfully saved enough for tuition through scholarships and my three part time jobs. P.S., I loved this essay prompt :)

I think achievement is a very strong and broad term when it comes defining personal success. Many of us have great achievements both large and small. When asked this question, I often bring myself to answer in a very simple manner. Usually, my go-to answers include, graduating with two associate degrees I earned during high-school, or paying for my college education myself. However, that is not the most honest answer. My greatest achievement to date is surviving and overcoming the victimization of sexual assault. Realizing that this is my first time writing about this subject, I am a little lost for words of continuation. Looking back at the scared, sad and confused 13 year old girl I once was, I can see my achievement of overcoming this trauma within the past 6 years. This was a very long and very hard road. There were days I doubted the power of time and the healing that was yet to come. There was no easy part of this journey. The sentencing portion of this event frustrated me to no end. I could not understand why it was taking two years before this person was sentenced to where he belonged-prison. This process forced me to learn about law enforcement, the judicial system and corrections as such a young age. It was during this time I knew that I could someday help to make our justice system hold to the power it was created for. As I learned more and more about courts, sat through many, many continuance hearings and negotiated a plea bargain with the district attorney, I still felt as if the system was lacking. I felt the personal aspect of pain and lack of closure that many victims feel toward defendants. This experience taught me a lot about myself. It tested my strength... a lot. It taught me patience. It taught me to overcome. It taught me to be there for others who may have experienced similar situations. It taught me to value the relationships I had with my family members. They never turned their backs on me while rumors spread like wildfire. Most importantly, it taught me to rise and overcome. While the trauma of this event knocked my flat on my feet, I slowly pulled myself back up. To this day, I look back on the progress and growth of where I was then, to where I stand now. In the future, I plan to obtain my law degree. This level of education will allow me to practice law, voice my concerns in our justice system and work to create a more functional, straight forward process in many areas of law. I plan to become a leader in wherever I begin my career and I plan to help other women suffering from the victimization of sexual assault. While I hold this achievement and future goal very close to my heart, I also plan to achieve personal goals in the future. I plan to start a family, create an organization to help trauma survivors, and maybe even share my experience to promote awareness for the matter.

Education has become a very important piece of society. When we think of education, many of us find this to be a challenging, possibly boring, tedious thing to complete in our day and age. This sparks the question of, "Why do so many of us choose to pursue an education?" As someone who is and has been dedicated to the structure and system of education, I will say I have many reasons as to what drives my passion towards education. As a child, I grasped the importance of truly learning, rather than skimming a course lesson, and the difference between excelling, and passing. Throughout my educational career, I have held onto these values throughout the many different educational opportunities endured. Education is something the entire world strives to enrich, yet something so many of us dread, find difficult, and want to see an improvement to the educational systems. Personally, I am passionate towards my education as it gives me light. It gives me hope that I can be a part of improving society and making a change in the world we see today. Throughout my years of education I have listened to my peers and teachers repeat over and over the importance of making a difference. I believe that an education is a pathway allowing myself to learn about many aspects and apply my knowledge throughout my career in the long run. I also strive to better myself through the pursuit of an education. As a self funded college student, I have struggled to make ends meet for my education. I have stood up for myself in many situations, and I have had to undergo a tremendous amount of stress knowing that someday I will be able to say that I got an education for myself, because I pushed myself, and I did it with passion and determination. As I am writing my essay, I think back to my previous semester of college. I remember many of my classmates who would skip class on a weekly basis, fail to complete assignments, and simply not understand the opportunity they are encountering in their current life. At the time, I could not understand how my fellow students could choose to attend college without the dedication and passion towards their education and career entailed. As I think about these students, I am understanding that not everyone has a passion towards education. Each day, I aim to focus on my goals and be thankful for the opportunity and ability to be where I am today, knowing that my path is in progress.

Art has been a very important part of my passions. In elementary school, I became fascinated with the limitless creation art offered. I would often mix together different paint colors, splatter paint and simply try different techniques to find what looked the most unintentionally intentional. As I got older, I encountered a mentally traumatic situation. I decided to utilize art as a way to express myself when I felt as if I was trapped and unable to write out my feelings. So, I purchased a sketching book, pencils and a putty eraser and got to work. I felt as if this was a very calming and therapeutic thing I could focus on. To promote a positive impact of art throughout society, I posted some of my artistic creations to an influencer board known as Pinterest. I hope that at least one of the things I drew and wrote will ease someone else's mind, comfort them, or inspire them. While I do not consider myself to be a very naturally artistic person, I want to promote others to utilize art as an outlet of expression rather than the just the beauty of artwork itself.

My favorite book would have to be Cheaper By The Dozen, written by Ernestine Gibreth Carey. This is a book my mom read to my sisters and I during my 7th grade year of homeschooling. My mom enforced the importance of reading throughout our entire childhood education. She would always say that reading would take us much further in life than the average person may be. This book really hit home for me. I grew up in a household of 6, or, half a dozen. That was our family joke- cheaper by the half dozen. I remember the importance of time management, family relationship, and peer obedience demonstrated throughout our time of reading. I also remember the shock of how different society was back in the day. It was like teleporting back in time while we were reading. I have kept several of the values learned from this book. I keep myself on time efficient, strict schedule, I am obedient and respectful of my peers, and I try to maintain and improve the relationships between my 3 sisters and I. While there are so many great books out there, Cheaper By The Dozen may always be my favorite.

Education has become a very important piece of society. When we think of education, many of us find this to be a challenging, possibly boring, tedious thing to complete in our day and age. This sparks the question of, "Why do so many of us choose to pursue an education?" As someone who is and has been dedicated to the structure and system of education, I will say I have many reasons as to what drives my passion towards education. As a child, I grasped the importance of truly learning, rather than skimming a course lesson, and the difference between excelling, and passing. Throughout my educational career, I have held onto these values throughout the many different educational opportunities endured. Education is something the entire world strives to enrich, yet something so many of us dread, find difficult, and want to see an improvement to the educational systems. Personally, I am passionate towards my education as it gives me light. It gives me hope that I can be a part of improving society and making a change in the world we see today. Throughout my years of education I have listened to my peers and teachers repeat over and over the importance of making a difference. I believe that an education is a pathway allowing myself to learn about many aspects and apply my knowledge throughout my career in the long run. I also strive to better myself through the pursuit of an education. As a self funded college student, I have struggled to make ends meet for my education. I have stood up for myself in many situations, and I have had to undergo a tremendous amount of stress knowing that someday I will be able to say that I got an education for myself, because I pushed myself, and I did it with passion and determination. As I am writing my essay, I think back to my previous semester of college. I remember many of my classmates who would skip class on a weekly basis, fail to complete assignments, and simply not understand the opportunity they are encountering in their current life. At the time, I could not understand how my fellow students could choose to attend college without the dedication and passion towards their education and career entailed. As I think about these students, I am understanding that not everyone has a passion towards education. Each day, I aim to focus on my goals and be thankful for the opportunity and ability to be where I am today, knowing that my path is in progress.

Education has become a very important piece of society. When we think of education, many of us find this to be a challenging, possibly boring, tedious thing to complete in our day and age. This sparks the question of, "Why do so many of us choose to pursue an education?" As someone who is and has been dedicated to the structure and system of education, I will say I have many reasons as to what drives my passion towards education. As a child, I grasped the importance of truly learning, rather than skimming a course lesson, and the difference between excelling, and passing. Throughout my educational career, I have held onto these values throughout the many different educational opportunities endured. Education is something the entire world strives to enrich, yet something so many of us dread, find difficult, and want to see an improvement to the educational systems. Personally, I am passionate towards my education as it gives me light. It gives me hope that I can be a part of improving society and making a change in the world we see today. Throughout my years of education I have listened to my peers and teachers repeat over and over the importance of making a difference. I believe that an education is a pathway allowing myself to learn about many aspects and apply my knowledge throughout my career in the long run. I also strive to better myself through the pursuit of an education. As a self funded college student, I have struggled to make ends meet for my education. I have stood up for myself in many situations, and I have had to undergo a tremendous amount of stress knowing that someday I will be able to say that I got an education for myself, because I pushed myself, and I did it with passion and determination. As I am writing my essay, I think back to my previous semester of college. I remember many of my classmates who would skip class on a weekly basis, fail to complete assignments, and simply not understand the opportunity they are encountering in their current life. At the time, I could not understand how my fellow students could choose to attend college without the dedication and passion towards their education and career entailed. As I think about these students, I am understanding that not everyone has a passion towards education. Each day, I aim to focus on my goals and be thankful for the opportunity and ability to be where I am today, knowing that my path is in progress.

Volunteering in the equine industry has taught me a lot about myself, others, responsibility, and a strong work ethic. Growing up, I attended the local horseback riding competition circuit. In order to perform well during my competitions, I spent many afternoons with my horse aiming to improve our speed, ground work routine, and relationship. The horseback riding shows were mainly composed of volunteers. I did not realize what an impact the service of volunteer work could have in such a small community. Due to my appreciation, I decided to also give back to those who had helped me have a successful competition for many, many weekends. To begin, I wanted to create vouchers for volunteers as a big thankyou to everyone willing to spend their weekends in the horse complex. These vouchers included small gift cards to coffee shops, a free hat, cash, and even small decor items. The horse council and I decided this was a very rewarding way to spend a small amount of the money from our treasury, since of course, we could not perform without the amazing volunteers. Next, I decided to help with the volunteer work where I could. My favorite part of volunteering was helping the younger assisted riders through the competition patterns. These children were not quite mature enough to control their own horse, therefore someone had to step up to help them and their horse through these patterns. That job is tiring! I also enjoyed seeing many of the parents big smiles as they recorded their child’s ride with an ear to ear grin. It felt good to help out and give back where it was possible. I remember being the young horseback rider who could not ride a horse yet by myself. I also helped with the concessions stands at these shows. The riding schedule did not line up well enough to help out with the concessions during the show, so I would help by gathering groceries or preparing foods such as hot dogs, hamburgers, chilly, etc. My family has also impacted me in service volunteering. My mom helps as much as she can. She. often heads up the registration booth, accounts for each riders times, and maintains a lot of the leg work for the horse council. I believe she is a strong factor of my strong work ethic and enjoyment of volunteering. I plan to continue and advance my volunteer work as I go throughout my college education.

As a hometown veterinary assistant, I am very passionate towards animals. I grew up on a farm, caring for cats, dogs, horses, goats, and many typical farm animals, and even untypical such as ball pythons and chinchillas. Animals have been a huge part of my upbringing and career. At the age of 14, I applied to work at a local boarding and grooming kennel. I worked there until I was 17 and got hired to work a local veterinarian clinic. These experiences allowed to me to see the good and bad around animals and their well-being. I have to say there is nothing marks rewarding than the opportunity to help animals from a medicinal standpoint, especially at such a young age. Animal advocacy is not very widespread. During my time in high school, I worked to create a foundation for law enforcement animals. This program aimed to provide law enforcement agencies with the needed funding in hopes of proper care and treatment of the canines. This idea sparked when a local law enforcement canine had to suffer from a limp leg due to the cost of its treatment.