Growing up, my family struggled to get ahead when it came to financial problems. For most of my early youth, we spent rationing most of the food that we had gotten, and there were even nights when dinner was not often an option. My father spent a relentless amount of time trying to move up in his sales HVAC company, and my mother worked as a waitress, where her tips were often what put food on the table. This obvious struggle left a mark on my siblings and me, as we saw how hard our parents worked for just the simplest aspects of life such as food, water, and electricity. Most of my friends in my youth never had these struggles which often led to me hiding my private life from them and being embarrassed about our house and financial situation. However, looking back on all of it, I would never change the way that I grew up. The lessons that we learned directly from our parents taught us that there are benefits to going through hard work to achieve what you want in life. My mindset changed from simply wanting the grand things to seeing that there is beauty in the work behind them. I started working at the age of eleven babysitting my younger cousins being paid $2.5 per hour. While it did not pay much, it allowed me to see the struggle of working under poor conditions and how life as an adult might go. I later started working other jobs that paid higher, but through every condition, I learned a new lesson about working through adversity, the value of hard work, and the importance of time management skills. I also took this mindset all of the way through high school, attaining straight A's for almost my entire high school career and a GPA of 4.375. Even though I was made fun of for my obvious lack of nice clothes and accessories such as phones, laptops, and computers, I still worked hard to showcase myself in the academic arena. I was quickly realized as one of the best students in my class and gained many academic achievements such as gaining entry to the Chesapeake Bay Governor's School program and being promoted to Logistics Officer in my Air Force JROTC program. I am currently 2nd in my class and Saludatory for my graduation ceremony. I wholeheartedly believe that growing up in a state of poverty sets a person up for rigorous trial and error and the value of virtues such as humility, patience, and fighting an uphill battle.

Throughout my high school career so far, I have participated in several programs and activities that have taught me many lessons. Volunteering did not only help my community, but it has helped me become a better person. For example, I participate in my high school Air Force JROTC class and in this program, I have volunteered for Color Guards, Honor Guards, Saber Teams, Flag Details, and Concession Stands, all of which I have led and taken the leadership role in. Throughout high school, I have attained over 60 hours of community service. These activities have taught me confidence, versatility, respect, and hard work, as well as my ability to set myself apart from my peers and realize that academic validation is not the only satisfaction there is in high school. I would never be the person that I am today if I never volunteered for these activities to help my local sports games and the attendees. Additionally, volunteering did not only change my outlook on myself and my peers, but it has changed my mind environmentally. I was raised in a community that did not value our environment and the effects that humans have on it. I was granted entry to the Chesapeake Bay Governor's School program which focuses on marine and environmental studies and awareness. It has been through this program that I have realized my responsibility in not only my community environment but our ever-changing global climate. I have participated in roadside cleanups, tree and flower planting, community food drives, water quality testing, and sea and marsh grass counting. Many of these activities have shown me how our environment is not as stable as many in my community would say, and that we as humans need to take care of the only world that we have. In terms of financial reasoning, my family cannot afford to send me to college. Growing up with three other siblings and being historically poor has left my parents with virtually nothing to attribute to my college funds, especially given that my mother's waitress tips were often what put food on the table. I also have not received any scholarship money as of yet which leaves me desperate for any possible money that I could receive. As well as having a low income for all of my youth, I recently have had physical health problems given that I tore my right lateral meniscus, which did indeed require surgery. This problem has left my parents in even more struggle and they are simply too busy paying medical bills to worry about my college funds. I would love to attend a four-year university to achieve a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology to pursue my dream of becoming a Trauma Therapist so that I can spread awareness about mental health and help other teens and young adults have the outlet that I did not have growing up. I would be extremely happy to be awarded this scholarship beyond reason and greatly appreciate your consideration.

I love mathematics. After all, it is a powerful tool for describing and explaining natural phenomena because it provides a language for expressing quantitative relationships and patterns. Many natural phenomena, such as the motion of objects, the behavior of waves, and the growth of populations, can be modeled and predicted using mathematical equations. For example, Newton's laws of motion, which are expressed mathematically, explain how objects move and interact with one another. The behavior of waves can be modeled using mathematical functions such as sine and cosine. Mathematical models of population growth can predict the future size of a population based on factors such as birth rate and death rate. In addition to modeling natural phenomena, mathematics can also help to uncover underlying principles and relationships. For example, the laws of thermodynamics, which govern the behavior of energy in physical systems, are based on mathematical principles such as the conservation of energy and the increase of entropy. Another great example would be the Law of Gravitation. Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion: Johannes Kepler used mathematical equations to describe the motion of the planets around the sun. He discovered that the planets move in elliptical orbits with the sun at one of the foci of the ellipse. He also found that the time it takes for a planet to complete one orbit around the sun is proportional to its distance from the sun raised to the 3/2 power. Without these large mathematical discoveries, we would even know half about the elliptical patterns of our solar system. Overall, mathematics provides a powerful framework for understanding and explaining natural phenomena and has played a crucial role in many scientific breakthroughs and discoveries.

My name is Ethan Kane. I have grown up in one of the most isolated, conservative towns on the east coast of the United States. This town values heritage, tradition, and right-wing values that often hinder personal growth and the introduction of new, fresh ideas, especially ones that could better the community as a whole. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I know first-hand what growing up in a community such as this one can do to a person’s dreams and goals, often simple ones such as just being yourself. Academically, I wish to attend college to pursue a route in psychology to become a trauma therapist. Mental health is an important topic for me, as I have struggled much with my own self-image and emotional control over my high school career, so there is nothing I would love more than to support other community members on their mental health journey. Attaining this level of education would not only allow me to attain my academic and professional goals but also allow me to raise awareness for mental health and create a safer and more accepting community environment. When it comes to this scholarship making a difference, as mentioned before, I do not live in an accepting environment and I will not be receiving any aid from my parents or other relatives. I am striving to get college costs as low as possible, but I fear that many of the scholarships will not be nearly enough. This scholarship would help me attribute money to books, school deposit fees, and the general cost of tuition. Every penny counts when it comes to my higher education, and I will do whatever it takes to achieve my long-term professional goals in life. Even in the face of adversity, I have tried to make this place a better one through community service activities and volunteering for environmental projects. Initially, I attempted at creating a better and more involved community environment by volunteering through my local Air Force JROTC program. I have over 60 hours of community service hours that have been gained over my high school career. Even during the COVID-19 lockdown, I still went out with my program as permitted to serve my community. The program allows students to express their leadership qualities through Leadership Development Requirements (LDRs) such as Color Guards, Honor Guards, Saber Teams, Flag Detail, Christmas caroling, and volunteering at the school convenience store during sports games. It was through these many different activities which I was able to gain confidence, trust in the people I work with, attainable goals for myself, and truly aspire to better myself. The AFJROTC program also offers other volunteer subprograms such as Marksmanship, Academic Challenge, Robotics, and CyberSecurity, all of which I have played crucial leadership roles in. Recently, I was promoted to Logistics Officer, where I was put in charge of the entire inventory of our squadron. During our most recent mass inspection, I was awarded the Top Performer Award, which is the highest award that can be given to a single cadet for my excellence and dedication to my position. It has been through this program that I have learned the importance of putting others before myself and creating a network through my community members.