The elderly are often a forgotten part of society, in many ways their voices get lost in our day of instant communications through technology that most of them do not know how to use well. They often struggle to move from place to place due to a wide variety of ailments. Within my community there is a vary small population of elderly people, so what I do is turn to help those closest to me, my grandparents. On my mom's side of the family my grandfather passed away several years before I was born and my grandma has been a widow for over twenty years now. This has presented so many unforeseen challenges in her life, living alone, struggling with depression and loneliness, continuing to work for years after most people retire from the workforce, and aging in general which is difficult for many people. In order to help her combat these challenges after moving to college, we now life in the same state, and I have been able to make efforts to be with her more than ever before in my life. I go and drive to her home where we spend time together, whether its helping her organize things in her pantry, carrying boxes or furniture or anything that is too heavy for her to lift, watching sports with her (we are both huge fans of sports), getting food with her, or just talking and being there together. So many people feel alone in our day, especially those who are physically distanced at times from their loved ones. But in making these special efforts to be with her I have grown to understand her and how she feels more, and help bring more light into her life.

Much of my life revolves around the running world. I have been a runner for years, throughout high school and junior high in competition and now in college to keep myself in shape and release the stress that comes from attending college. The Nike AlphaFly shoe has revolutionized the running world to the point that it was banned from professional competitions, including the Tokyo Olympics. In 2019 Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge wore them in his record breaking 1:59:40 marathon, many professional runners won races at several distances in the shoes and seemed to create a competitive advantage for Nike sponsored runners. After the ban Nike had to go back to the drawing board for their flagship shoe and developed the Nike VaporFly, which much like its sister shoe has been worn by many victors. The AlphaFly has 3 carbon fiber plates contained within the sole of the shoe which along with a revolutionary midsole design that allow it to increase running efficiency by 4%, which over the course of a marathon is a lot of energy that the runner is conserving. World Athletics responded by banning any shoe with more than 1 carbon fiber plate and their midsole height can't be more than 40mm. Yet Nike is still crushing the competition with their VaporFlys. These advances fascinate me and inspire me to keep running, even though I don't have the shoes they are showing me what more is possible for me to do in my own running career. Just recently I decided to run my first marathon in 2023 due to athletes that have been helped in their own careers by these shoes.

Education is the ultimate path for a better tomorrow, that path more than just individual, it is a collective pursuit of knowledge and growth. The current education system benefits students who fit a certain mold, but at the same time can cause impediments to other students growth and learning. In order to change this we will likely need a complete overhaul of the education system, however that takes time and thousands of people to come together, there are much smaller changes that we can implement now that can make a lasting impact. One specific change that I would make is not necessarily a change across all schools because it already exists in some. Many schools across the country are defunding their music and fine arts programs in efforts to save their budgets. This has been occurring across the country since the early 2000s. In my life music has played an extremely important role in creating a community, pushing myself out of my comfort zone, giving me a place to free myself from some of the stressors of my core classes, and exposing me to new ideas that pushed me to grow mentally as well. While the benefits of music education likely won't be the same for all students just like math or english impacts different students in different ways, it cannot be denied that students whose minds are still developing would benefit from exposure to and participation in music. My high school required students to fulfill a certain number of what they called "fine arts" credits in order to graduate in an effort to help us become more well rounded, better understanding, and better overall students. As the world continues to change many are moving towards creating a student that is hyper focused on getting high test scores and focusing solely on academics, which by all accounts are very important, but what do those really show? For instance take my family as an example, my sister is very intelligent but has always struggled in a traditional testing environment, because of this she did not do great on her ACT and was rejected by her dream university 5 times before she got in. On the other hand I tend to succeed in a traditional testing environment and got in to the same university the first try with similar if not worse grades. Since this time the university has shifted to a more wholistic approach to admissions and asks students about things like participation in music programs, sports, student councils, and other extracurricular activities. Supporting music programs will help students become better educated not in terms of testing but rather in the true sense of the word, which does not only draw meaning from math and english courses but also music, the arts, and even sports.