If I could start a business with my deceased sibling, I would start a non-profit in his name. My little brother Jacob, who passed away at age 9, had severe cerebral palsy which made doing everyday life events harder for him. It pained me to see the things he wouldn’t be able to do because of his disability forcing him to be in a wheelchair. The amount of money family’s needs to buy special equipment for kids with disabilities is just unfair. To see my little brother go through so much heart ache simply because he couldn’t do what the other kids his age could do made me passionate about fixing the system. But there’s only so much a 10-year-old girl can do. I always dreamed that one day my brother and I could share an experience together for the first time and not be set back by boundaries. I then made a point to always look for hope in the future, that someday we could make it possible. The first piece of equipment we were able to obtain for my brother was a special bicycle built specifically for kids with cerebral palsy and made it easier not only for them to ride, but for someone else to assist. We only got this equipment after saving up for 8 years, he didn’t even get the chance to ride it before he passed. It completely baffled me to see just how corrupt the system is. To see that big companies take interest in helping to make specialized equipment, but only for those who can afford it. One thing that stuck out to me was how it took so long to save up for something as simple as a bicycle, when there is more advanced equipment such as pool chairs, beach chairs, or even ski chairs. How is it that families with kids who have disabilities could afford to purchase these chairs to potentially only use them on one family vacation a year if that. I then began dreaming of plans to start a non-profit organization that would help families obtain specialized equipment for special events such as family vacations. Because to me having those once in a lifetime moment shouldn’t just be for those without disabilities but often are limited to that due to lack of equipment. Even though by then my brother passed, I wanted to give another family what I always envisioned for my brother and I’s future. While I haven’t been able to start this organization yet, I’ve never let myself forget about it. I’ve kept myself accountable to understanding that if it were easy, it could have been done by now, but I’m only one person and one person needs time to make change. I plan on studying finance in business as one of my majors, to get one more step closer to opening what I call Jacob’s wish. Every achievement until it opens will be a milestone I take in his honor.

The arts have been apart of my life for as long as I can remember. My mom used to take an hour out of everyday and would dedicate it to learning the arts. Some days it would be music, other days it would be painting, sometimes it was theatre, but my favorite days was centered around dance. Just being able to express everything I could think of through movement changed the way I grew up. I believe it's something from my childhood that I think about almost everyday, I think about the person it helped shape me to be. I've always been drawn to the arts, whether it was through literal art or music, but dance was my favorite form. Dance drew me in from the start and had me locked in a chokehold that even my parents couldn't refuse, so they started putting me in dance classes. In my first class I knew just how much growing up with the arts would be important to who I would become today. With the support from my parents I kept diving deeper into this new world of expression and art. It helped give me a new way of looking at life, appreciating even the smallest and simplest things, and it also helped challenge me to think outside the box. Learning about the arts as a child helped me later in life to find what I'm most passionate about. Understanding that being deemed creative doesn't have to be a bad thing, but can be almost like a superpower to the world. While my main calling was to dance, I've found my other passion to be through film. Using multiple forms of art to create something visually spectacular has become my new fond creative friend. And so I find myself once again looking towards the arts, wanting to soak up every ounce of knowledge I can to remain ever changing and growing. In almost any circumstance nowadays, I always use a creative focus to try and make everything I do enjoyable, because to me growing up learning the arts made the rest of the world seem gray. It makes me want to give others the same feeling I have when doing my work. Which is why I've found such enjoyment in film because of the way to reaches audiences. Maybe somewhere out there right now is someone who has the same feelings as me and will feel connected to a piece of work I make. This is what I feel art should be about, making vital connections through pieces of work. Whether that work is art, music, dance, clothing, film, you name it and it will have some form of art to it. Cause what people don't realize is that art is all around us, so with the right motivators in peoples lives the more people will find expression through art.