I am a person who makes others feel valued, a person who cares for others, and I am a person who will do anything for anyone. These values make me unique because I love to make sure others people's needs are put before mine even when I am going through a hard time. I would carry everyone's burdens if I had to because I care so much about other people that it hurts me when I see others who are struggling. I plan to give back to my community by becoming a childhood education teacher to teach kids not only the curriculum that needs to be taught but to teach kids how valued they are and how putting in hard work during your academic years will take you far in life. I want to take what my teachers have taught and given to me and bring that to a whole new generation. I am passionate about early childhood education because children are the next generation of what the world will become. I want to make sure students get the proper education and learning skills to succeed in the world. The year is 2023 and a lot has changed over the past ten years in our society. People feel they have to be or portray someone they are not, and look a certain way to be "accepted" into society. People also feel like they have to do certain things to win the approval of others. I want to be a positive influence on students to make sure they understand that you do not have to change the things you do, what you wear, or who you are to make someone else happy or to be able to "fit" in. Childhood education is not easy for any teacher, but every teacher I have talked to says it is the most rewarding job. I want to be a supportive teacher who has their student’s back through anything, whether that be school-related things or what the home life situation looks like for each student. I want to have a positive impact on the community and other schools around the world. When I become a teacher I hope to inspire other people who dream of becoming a teacher and inspire those who are already a teacher worldwide. I want to be different and show some love to kids and other teachers that I will work with to brighten up their day and to show them that I am doing this job for the students and nothing else. I want to dedicate myself to the students not only in my classroom but to the people who are having hard times at school. During school, I loved it when teachers would be personable with me and help me because they truly wanted to see me succeed. I want nothing more than to be that teacher for my students because I care about their success and what kind of person they will become. Other than your parents, teachers have a big influence on how you live your life because you are with that teacher every single day and you pick up on the habits and the different things that the teacher does unknowingly. It is important that you are dedicated to the students with everything you have because the students are always watching. I am passionate about early childhood education because I want to be the change in the classroom for students to grow up to be strong about who they are and to help make their academic careers successful.

The steps that I have taken to get involved in my community were introduced to me in high school. I am currently involved in my school's Hope Squad program and in the HUDDLE program. These clubs and organizations have taught me a lot about why it is important to get involved in my community and how helping the community can bring us together and help the people who need it most. You never know what someone is going through so being able to help your community in any way can have a big impact on someone's life. I am in my school's Hope Squad which is a suicide prevention program that helps students and adults who are struggling with mental health. It is very important that no matter what age you are, if you are struggling, to know that it is ok to get help. I was selected by my peers and staff as someone who felt they could talk to me about whatever they were going through. I have been in this program since ninth grade and I am now a senior. I care for others and what they are going through. I wish I could help everyone here in this world, but I can't. I read something somewhere that said, "One person might not be able to change the world, but you can change the world for one person." I will live by this quote because if I can plant the seeds in someone to get help for themselves, and for them to be well enough to help others who are struggling, then that reward is why I continue to help and volunteer for others. Another way I have become more involved in my community is by being in my school's HUDDLE program. HUDDLE stands for Helping Us Develop Dedication Leadership and Enthusiasm. This program uses groups of high school students to go to different elementary schools to teach students there how to be nice, genuine people and how to love themselves. I have been a part of this program for two years. I continue to be involved because I think teaching young students the importance of these skills is crucial so they can carry them throughout the rest of their lives and use the skills they learn from our program when they need them. It is important for younger students to be educated on topics such as mental health, kindness, and emotions because if the younger students are starting to feel sad and are struggling in school or at home, the skills they learn from us will help them. Knowing that everyone struggles and feels sad sometimes is normal. This is why it is so important to start teaching and providing younger students with resources that they can use when they are feeling this way. If they have the resources and know that people are there for them, then the hope is that they will reach out and ask for help without feeling intimidated or uncomfortable. Getting involved in your communities can be rewarding and incredible knowing your services will be a need for others.

Writing is important to me personally because it lets me express my emotions, thoughts, and feelings on a piece of paper whenever I want to. Whether I am writing a paper for school, writing down my thoughts throughout the day, or writing down how my week has been. Being able to write gives me peace and clarity. I have always preferred writing over typing things out. I love that when I type it improves my handwriting and how fast I can write. Writing is a way to stay organized with your thoughts and to look back on those thoughts whenever you need to be reminded of something or to look back to understand something I prefer to write rather than type things out for school because I can retain the information of the content I am learning faster and can be organized without having to worry about my work saving. If I were to type this on a school computer, there is a risk that my work might not save which would mean I would have to do it all over again. Being able to write forces me to stay focused and make sure that everything is spelled right. If I were to write on any other page online, most likely than not, the spelling checks on that website would correct my mistakes for me. When I write on a piece of paper I have to fix the mistakes myself which makes me a better writer when I choose to write online. Another reason why I love writing so much is that I do daily devotionals which are little excerpts from the Bible and you interpret what the text means to you, how you will do what the Bible is telling you to do, and write down a prayer for that day or for that week. Writing lets me "talk" as much as I want and as fast as I want so I don´t lose my train of thought like I would if I was typing because I am not a fast typer and lose my thoughts easily. I love writing down my thoughts on daily devotionals because it is a stress reliever for me. Not only with writing down daily devotionals, but when I am having a rough day or need to vent I will take a sheet of paper out and write my thoughts down on a piece of paper. When I am angry this calms me down, when I am worried this helps me to relax, and when I am feeling down, it makes me feel a little better knowing that if I ever need to look at the sheet of paper again, I can remember what I was struggling with and to think to myself if this happens again how I can attack and look at the situation in a more positive way.

I believe educating and mentoring the youth is important because pretty soon these young students are going to hear things that are simply not true either about the world or themselves. These students need to be taught not only that education is important but also need to be taught that everyone here on this earth is important and no one should be telling you otherwise. The media is reaching younger students year after year, and I want to be a mentor for the students so they know the positive and negative effects the media can have on themselves, the world, and their communities. Students like to be engaged and excited about the things they do in a classroom. I want to create a safe and friendly environment for students where they can express themselves and be themselves while still following the class rules. It is important to make a classroom space feel like home and have a lot of elements in the room to keep the students focused. I want to have fun colorful decorations in the classroom and have activities that keep the student engaged in learning. I would have rugs on the carpet to change up where the students are sitting so they are not in their chairs the whole school day. If the class, as a whole, needed a little mental break, I would give them a couple of minutes to talk to their friends and make sure that their needs are met. I want to have a positive impact on the community and other schools around the world. When I become a teacher I hope to inspire other people who dream of becoming a teacher and I hope to inspire those who are already a teacher around the world. I want to be different and show some love to kids and other teachers that I will work with to brighten up their day and to show them that I am doing this job for the students and nothing else. I want to dedicate myself to the students not only in my classroom but to the people who are having hard times at school. During school, I loved it when teachers would be personable with me and help me because they truly wanted to see me succeed. I want nothing more than to be that teacher for my students because I care about their success and what kind of person they will become. Other than your parents, teachers have a big influence on how you live your life because you are with that teacher every single day and you pick up on the habits and the different things that the teacher does unknowingly. It is important that you are dedicated to the students with everything you have because the students are always watching. I am passionate about early childhood education because I want to be the change in the classroom for students to grow up to be strong about who they are and to help make their academic careers successful.

As I aspire to pursue a degree in education because I want to inspire the students I teach to become independent people who can do anything they put their minds to. I hope to teach them why it is important to love yourself along with being kind to others. I will teach the curriculum that I am required to teach, but also make sure that each student is doing ok mentally and physically. I plan to create a safe and structured place for students to learn and grow with their education and with themselves as a person to be able to go through life knowing that they are enough and that no matter what anyone says, they always have a place in the world and that they can do anything they strive to achieve. I will teach the basic curriculum that will need to be taught by the state, but I will also incorporate how to be a nice person. There is so much negativity in this world that sometimes the positives are overlooked. There are genuine and kind people who do nice things and who see the good in every situation. I want to insure that these students will look at every day with positivity and happiness because soon they are going to be filled with the media and news that will report on the world and the current events that are happening that day in age. The media will be filled with lies and not true statements from their own peers and fake news. These students will start to feed in and they will start to believe the lies that the media and news stations convey. I am passionate about not only teaching these students the curriculum that is needed to be taught to them but also teaching them the importance of how to go about daily life because as a high school student, I have always wanted a teacher to emphasize the importance of our own self-worth and that there is more to this world than feeding into lies that others tell you that are not true. I want to make sure that these students know that they are so loved by their parents and friends.

A characteristic I value in myself is my ability to listen to other people when they need someone to talk to. Being able to hear what other people are going through or being able to be the person for someone who wants to talk about their accomplishments or something successful that happened to them is always super rewarding and makes my heart joyful. I am in my school's program called Hope Squad. This program is a suicide prevention club that helps students who are struggling with mental health and depression. It is an honor to be chosen for this club because every student in the club gets nominated by their peers from our school for being someone they feel they can talk to if they are going through any hard time or struggling in any way. Hope Squad has monthly meetings and we get trained on how to approach and talk to students who are dealing with mental health or depression. Our advisor for Hope Squad always emphasizes that we need to let the student talk about their feelings and not talk over them or immediately interrupt them when they ask for help. Knowing this and hearing my advisor say this a lot has made me stop and realize that I need to do this for all students and adults because it's important to let others talk so they feel valued and appreciated. I feel that this quality I have will help my journey throughout life because people will come to me when they need someone to talk to and because they know that I will take what they have to say to heart so they can express how they are truly feeling. I want to keep this quality because I want to be there for people and help them grow as a person and show them that whatever they are going through good or bad, it will all work out and no matter what happens there are people willing to help and see you succeed. I hope when the people I talk to see that I am willing to listen and be a mentor for them, that they too will give other people that same support when their friends or people that they come across need someone to talk to if they are going through rough times throughout their life. I need to remember that I am going to have hard times too and I need to find people like myself to be a support for me in different stages of my life.

What Inspires me to get involved in my community are the people. Here, where I live, the people are friendly, kind, and always willing to help. My town is a safe place where people will be accepted no matter what they believe, wear, or do throughout their lives. Every time I volunteer with my community, I never regret it because the joy that I see from the people who are our guests always fills my heart. Being able to serve them the way Christ has served us is an important goal. . I have worked to influence change in my community by always having a smile on my face, by looking and being approachable to others who may have never been to a particular event, and by being able to listen to what others have to say. . It is important because people want to feel welcomed into events and feel like they are a part of their community. . There are some communities that host events but they do not make the people attending feel comfortable or take the time to help them get involved with the activities that may be happening with the event. My community is not only the people who come to the hosted events, but also the people that I go to school with every single day. I have worked to influence change in my school community by always trying to be aware of how people are acting and how people are feeling throughout the school day. I am in my school's Hope Squad where peer-to-peer students had to nominate other students to be eligible to be in the club. I was nominated by my friends and some people that I did not know because they felt I am a person who can be trusted to talk to about anything. Hope Squad is a suicide prevention club that seeks out individuals who are struggling with mental health and depression. We have in-school meetings and train often to be prepared to help with any situation given by not only students but teachers too. Being in this club has really changed my perspective on how to go about school and be engaged in student life to make sure no one is struggling. I am also in my school's Huddle program which stands for Helping Us Develop Dedication Leadership and Enthusiasm. This program has about 100 students who split into groups of four to go to different elementary schools in our district. We teach younger kids skills and techniques on how to deal with mental health issues and things they may be struggling with, along with showing them why it is so important to be kind. Another topic we hit is the importance of not doing drugs and alcohol. We teach the kids all of these things not to scare them, but to make sure they are aware that the feelings they have are normal and that there is help anywhere you go in life within your community from people like your mom, dad, teachers, ministers, counselors, etc. I try to get involved with as much as I can in school. I am inspired and work hard to influence change in my community every day because it is important for me to be a role model and to try to get other people involved in their community. The people you meet and the friendships that form from being involved will be a connection you share with your family and friends for a lifetime.

The song that has the most importance to me is a song called ´´I Thank God´´ by Maverick City. This song holds a special place in my heart because of the words the song has in it. My favorite words from this song are ´´He picked me up and he turned me around, placed my feet on the solid ground´´. This is my favorite line out of the whole song because it shows how much God truly cares about us wanting to do everything in his power to pick us up when we are feeling weak, tired, and confused about what our purpose is supposed to be on this earth and what God has in store for us while we are here on this earth. I say this song holds a special place in my heart because over the summer I went to a CIY Move conference in Maryland where we learned what it truly means to be a disciple of God and to do Kingdom work to glorify him and all that He has done for us. Before every sermon, we got to worship with everyone who went to the conference and the band performing there sang ´´ I Thank God´´ it was such a powerful moment because people got out of their seats to go find people they didn´t know to worship God together. All churches from all over the world get to come to these events to grow stronger together with their faith and their own relationships with Christ. My church had special moves to this song to make worshipping more entertaining and to just be our true selves and represent us as a church. The experience was just amazing and something you won´t get anywhere else. Worshipping with the people you love is incredible.

Hardships that I faced throughout high school were trying to fit in, trying to make others like me, and making sure I was keeping my grades up. I am only going to talk about one of those topics today because there is too much to say about all of the other topics. I am still a student in high school dealing with some of these hardships, but through my years of experience and time, I have learned to approach these hardships in a manner that is easy for me to understand to help me realize that all you can do is your best and be yourself and people will come around to know who you truly are and be there for you know matter what. I have always struggled with trying to make sure my grades were as good as I would hope they would be. I still am a student who likes to get everything done early so I won´t have homework that night or over the weekend, I am a student who likes to take notes, and a student that studies to make sure I receive the grade that I want on that test to have an A in the class. As I made sure to keep preparing for tests and to do my homework, I somehow rarely ever got a one hundred on any tests. School doesn't come easy for me like most people who are in advanced classes and have great athletic abilities. I was so caught up in trying to be the people who were athletic and who were really smart in honors classes that I forgot that I was my own person too. It shouldn't matter if I´m not in honors classes or not on any sports teams because I am different and not like other people in my school. I have realized this for the past three years now that I am a senior working to make me better as a person to do my very best to keep my grades up the same way I started out preparing and studying my freshman year. while also making sure that I am my own person and I don have to be someone that I am not. Now that I have realized what it means to be my own person in my senior year of high school. I want to make my four years of college the best they can be and start fresh with being my own person and knowing my own identity. Of course, there are going to be days when things get hard and I want to quit, but everyone has those days. I just have to look back on my high school years and remember what I told myself my senior year after realizing the importance of being my own person while still making sure that myself is my true self and not bits and pieces of someone's own identity. The hardships that I have been through and the hardships I am going to face will strengthen me as a person and make me stronger than I am today.

Community is a place to come together to share moments in your life that are special to you and to share moments in your life that are troubling. I live in a community with people who are actually willing and interested in the things that I have to say to them. My community is eager to get to know me better and the other people within my community. In any event that is hosted on our town square, so many people come and always have smiles on their faces. The community that I live in is truly one of a kind and I wouldn´t trade it for any other place in the world. Community is only a place where you can come together and share experiences and hardships together, but a place to make memories together and create long-lasting friendships to remember for when you´re older and onto other things in the next chapter of your life, or for when you are still in the community and experiencing new things. It is so important to get involved in your community so you can be there for people who need someone to talk to at events that are hosted or be that person for someone who looks lonely on a daily basis and just needs someone to talk to. The actions you do and take within your community are noticed and will not be forgotten whether they be good or bad. I not only am privileged to have a community in my hometown, but I have a community in my school. I go to school five days a week for seven hours a day. As I spend so much time there, I like to invest my time in clubs that will impact our school community and our community outside of school. I am involved in my High Schools Hope Squad program. Hope Squad is a suicide prevention club that helps students within our schools who are struggling with mental health and depression. Students have to be nominated by peers within the school to be eligible to be in the club. I was fortunate enough to be nominated by my friends and other peers who see me as a person they could trust with something that they need to talk about. This is super important because the interactions we have with teachers are different from the conversations we have with students. Having students talk to people who are struggling is more effective than if a teacher would try to talk to them because students relate to other students more because they go through the same things that they do. When students talk to teachers they restrict what they truly want to say because teachers can sometimes be intimidating and hard to understand. I am so proud that I am in this club because it not only impacts my school community but my community outside of school. I am also in my school's huddle program with about one hundred students who split off into four groups going to different elementary schools around the community to spread information about mental health, substances that shouldn´t be used, gratitude, ETC. A community is a place to come together to share moments that are special and to share moments that aren´t going so well. A community is like a family. We all have to work together to make sure everyone is doing ok and to make sure we pick each other up when things are getting hard. you can create life-lasting friendships from communities that will have an impact on your life forever.

I am passionate about early childhood education because children are the next generation of what the world will become. I want to make sure children get the proper education and learning skills to succeed in the world. The year is 2022 and a lot has changed over the past ten years of society. People feel they have to be or portray someone they are not, look a certain way to be " accepted" into society, and people feel like they have to do certain things to win the approval of others. I want to be an influence on the children to make sure they understand that you do not have to change the things you do, what you wear, or who you are to make someone else happy or to be able to "fit" in. Childhood education is not easy for any teacher, but every teacher I have talked to said it is the most rewarding job. I want to be a supportive teacher who has their student’s backs through anything, whether that be school-related things or what the home life situation looks like for each student. Children like to be engaged and excited about the things they do in a classroom. I want to create a safe and friendly environment for the children where they can express themselves and be themselves while still following the class rules. It is important to make a classroom space feel like home and have a lot of elements in the room to keep the children focused. I would have fun colorful decorations that are appropriate and are approved by the school board to have hanging in my classroom. I would have rugs on the carpet to change up where the children are sitting so they are not in their chairs the whole school day. If the class as a whole needed a little mental break, I would give them a couple of minutes to talk to their friends and make sure that their needs are put before mine. I want to have a positive impact on the community and other schools around the world. When I become a teacher I hope to inspire other people who dream of becoming a teacher and I hope to inspire those who are already a teacher all over the world. I want to be different and show some love to kids and other teachers that I will work with to brighten up their day and to show them that I am doing this job for the children and nothing else. I want to dedicate myself to the children not only in my classroom but to the people who are having hard times at school. During school, I loved it when teachers would be personable with me and help me because they truly wanted to see me succeed. I want nothing more than to be that teacher for the children, because I care about their success and what kind of person they will become. Other than your parents, teachers have a big influence on how you live your life because once you are with that teacher every single day, you pick up on the habits and the different things that the teacher does un-knowingly. It is important you are dedicated to the children with everything you have because the students are always watching. I am passionate about early childhood education because I want to be the change in the classroom and for the children to grow up to be strong about who they are and about their academic careers to be successful.