I come from a small town in northern Illinois and have gone to the same church my whole life. As a result, I have made good friends and godly relationships. I have also been volunteering at both the tech team for Sunday worship and the Awana program. Many of the ways God has helped me throughout my life include temptations and relationships. He has been my guiding hand throughout my life. There are many temptations that God has helped me avoid. These have included being dishonest, watching porn, and stealing. There have been a few times where the temptations have been so strong that the only way I have avoided them is by fully trusting in God. When I do sin, as it is unavoidable on this earth, I have confidence in my trust in God that by confessing my sins to him I will be forgiven. God has also helped me in my relationships both in the church and in my daily life. I try to have relationships that follow God’s standards, even if I'm the only one who does. I have many relationships where it is obvious that they are not Christians however, that has allowed me to have some deep and meaningful conversations with them about God. Even topics that aren't directly tied to God have applications for his standards. Through my church relationships, he has helped grow my faith in him and my knowledge of his word. It has also allowed me to have some very good friends who have encouraged me and have had good discussions with me. I believe that some of the most important things for a career are your interests and being reliable and honest. Both of those attributes are important to have in both the career world as well as the spiritual. Being reliable means you have self-discipline and care about others. Honesty is important as you are following God’s 9th commandment to not bear false witness. It is both rude and a sin to lie about things. Of course, there are small exceptions due to our sinful world, such as being robbed at your house and being asked if there are others there. In general, I believe that following God’s commandments allows for better experiences throughout your career. From my own experience, having the courage to stand for what you believe in, even if it is considered something small by the world, is more important than compromising your beliefs and values.

There are a variety of different reasons I decided to pursue a higher education. They are my father's recommendation and my uncle’s college experience as well as the fields I want to get into. I am currently in the last semester of my Associate's in Computer Security and will be transferring in the fall to pursue a Bachelor’s in Marine Biology. Through this degree, I hope to be able to start finding even more scholarships and jobs that help me get closer to my overall goal of a doctorate in some form of biology. My father recommended that I go to college as it helps open doors for different jobs. One thing he said to me was, “I was very interested in etymology but never had guidance to get into college. No recommendations on how to get scholarships or grants. With the internet available you can look up as many as you can think of and I recommend you go for it.” That has helped me tremendously in looking for scholarships as I am not just relying on the school I choose to have good scholarships. He has also supported me in chasing down what I want to do instead of pressuring me to only go for a high-paying career. The way my uncle’s experience has motivated me is by the jobs and opportunities he has gotten. When I was unsure of what I wanted to do I was sort of following in my uncle’s footsteps by going into the computer field. Through his college, connections, and jobs he has gotten a good career in network security. His lead has allowed me to see the benefits of going to college and how working hard at bettering yourself can result in a good career. He has also given me good advice regarding looking for internships and jobs that allow me to gain experience. Finally, the specific science field I am pursuing through college is Marine Biology. I would like to be able to combine my current experience in computers with my interest in marine biology and go into bioinformatics or even be able to create databases for my use. I enjoy nature as a whole but fish and the underwater world have so many unique features. I am very nervous and excited to start this fall as people keep telling me that biology is hard. However, I believe that if you put effort into something you will achieve some form of success. It may not be exactly what you planned but in many ways it may be even better.

I will be transferring from Mchenry County College as of this spring with an Associate in computer security. Starting this fall I will begin my Bachelor's degree in marine biology. Protecting the oceans Is protecting the biggest environment with the greatest amount of variety. The different critters and creatures that spark inspiration for both horror and awe traverse the ocean floor with a variety of different forms of amazing movement. I have not had the chance to dive down with them but I hope to do so through my college. I plan to use my degree as a stepping stone to get into the conservation of sea creatures or as a researcher helping to determine what needs to be done. Specifically, I hope to take what I have learned in my associates and combine it with future and greater knowledge of the ocean to create a database based on the many kinds of data that gets collected. For example, I would like to create a database for genetic information and a database for general knowledge of the different creatures. Living in Illinois, I haven't experienced the ocean other than trips to Florida or California. However, I believe that has allowed me to see a small gap in online information. That is a central website or database that takes scientific information about the sea and the creatures in it and has both layman’s terms as well as the scientific. This database would help people who are essentially disconnected from the ocean to learn more about the many different species in the ocean. Hopefully, that results in people generally taking better care of what goes into lakes and rivers. In pursuit of this idea, I have been taking some SQL and coding classes so that I can start testing different concepts. Overall, I want to help protect the ocean because of the many implications it has on everything else. Dirty coastlines do not look good and are unhealthy for both people and animals. Unhealthy fish results in the breakdown of food chains and people’s food and lifestyles. Lastly, it creates a lower amount of biodiversity to explore as creatures get pushed out by different factors. There are many different ways I have heard about helping or conserving the ocean. However, the one thing I think is severely lacking is a reason for those ideas. They exist in the scientific realm however getting that across to thousands of people who don't specialize in the field is very difficult. Hopefully, as a result of the information boom that is the internet people can create resources that can better inform people about the reasons and ideas in the conservation world.

I learned of this profession from my uncle. He works in cybersecurity and looks for vulnerabilities in programs, and he has to test programs to make sure they are sound. It all sounds rather interesting that he can use his mind to protect the programs and safe guard programs against cyber threats. My dream job would be to work at a credit card company, insurance company, or a big retail store online to protect their data. I am the best candidate for the scholarship because I have a really sharp mind where I can remember things and implement them. I remember how things work, and I like learning more about the interworking of the network and programs. I am excited for my classes that are coming up, and I want to pursue more education, so I can begin my career in this exciting technical field. A scholarship would help tremendously to lighten the burden of student debt in the end and help me achieve my dream job and goals.