To me, joy means doing something that makes you happy. Something that makes me happy is spending time with my loved ones. Whenever I'm with my loved ones there is never a dull moment. I feel safe and welcome with them. Just the company of my loved ones is enough for me. Another thing that makes me happy is listening to music. Music makes me happy because listening to it helps me relax. There are certain songs I like to listen to because you can feel the emotions of the artist, and it helps me cheer up. Music also lets me bond with my family. When I was younger, my father would show me some of his favorite songs when we would go on drives, so I got a lot of my music taste from him. Now that I'm older and have my license, I go on a lot of drives with my brother. Because of this, he ends up listening to a lot of my music, and it makes me happy whenever I see him listening to a song I showed him.

A time I had to persevere through a difficult situation was during the beginning of the pandemic. Transitioning from traditional to online school was a change for me. Being without my friends for so long was detrimental to my mental health. I felt very alone and stressed about what the future held for me. Eventually, we had the option to go back to school in person, but I decided not to because cases were still very high in my area. I wanted to go back multiple times, but I knew it wasn't worth the risk. I ended up missing out on a lot of my high school experience. However, over time, I was able to adjust to my new life, and I realized that it was actually a convenience for me. With online school, I can work at my own pace. This allows me to absorb what I'm learning better. In addition, I am able to have a job, which has helped teach me how to manage my time. So persevering and deciding to stay virtual gave me opportunities I would not have had with traditional learning.

I don't know what I want my legacy to be. I know what goals I have in life and how to get them, but I'm not too sure about my legacy. However, I do know that I want it to leave a positive impact on the world because I feel like it is my calling to help people. Ever since I was little, I've always felt like it was my responsibility to help the world become a better place. In addition, my mother would always tell me that I was special and destined for great things. These are just a few of the things that made me want to become an anesthesiologist. Not only will this career let me embrace my love for science, but it also allows me to help people for a living. I also want to leave an impact in environmental science. I've felt a connection to the earth, so I want to do what I can to help it. Whether that be spreading awareness about climate change or teaching people how to live sustainable lives, I want to help the earth in some way.

The sentence I would share with the world is, "Losing isn't a failure, it is a learning experience". I would want to share this sentence because it has helped me in multiple aspects of my life. One specific example of this is when I had an orchestra audition. Every year, my school district would have an honors orchestra concert that you have to audition for. This was my first time auditioning for it in high school, so I was very excited. I was also very cocky because I had passed those auditions in middle school. Since I was so cocky, I didn't practice as much as I should have. I thought I had a guaranteed spot and wasn't taking it seriously. So, when audition times came around, I played my piece and I waited for the results. To my surprise, I hadn't passed the audition. This was devastating for me. It changed my entire perspective on who I was as a violinist. I knew I didn't want to experience this again, so I learned from that failure and changed the way that I practiced. I made sure to take it seriously from that day on. Then, a year passed, and it was time for the auditions again. I practiced every day leading up to the audition, and I made sure to listen to the feedback from my teacher. This dedication resulted in me passing my auditions. I'm very happy and proud of myself for getting better, but I also am making sure that I stay humble, and learn from my mistakes. So, I feel like the sentence, "Losing isn't a failure, it is a learning experience", would be very beneficial for other people to hear, since it has helped me so much.

I do multiple things to relax. One thing I like to do is practice on my violin. When I practice on my violin, it is very enjoyable for me. It also makes me very proud of myself, because I get to see how much I've improved over the years. These are just one of the reasons that I enjoy playing the violin. Something I do for my mental health is journaling before I go to sleep. Journaling helps me gather all of my thoughts for the day. If something was bothering me earlier, I can write about that situation and process my emotions. It helps me let go of those negative emotions so I can go to sleep with a clear head. Journaling also lets me plan for the next day. Since I'm writing about my day, it lets me know what I've accomplished and what I still need to do for the week. Doing this helps me to remember to study for a test, or if I have any personal goals I need to work on. So, journaling helps me keep track of my life.

Something that makes me happy is spending time with my loved ones. Whenever I'm with my loved ones, there is never a dull moment. I feel safe and welcome with them. Just the company of my loved ones is enough for me. Another thing that makes me happy is listening to music. This makes me happy because listening to music helps me relax. There are certain songs I listen to because you can feel the emotions of the artist and it helps to cheer me up. Music also lets me bond with my family. When I was younger, my father would show me some of his favorite songs when we would go on drives, so I got a lot of my music taste from him. Now that I'm older and have my license, I go on a lot of drives with my brother. This means that he'll listen to a lot of my music, and it makes me happy whenever I see him listening to a song I showed him.

I have a lot of goals for the future. The first goal I plan on achieving deals with my academics. I plan on getting a degree in chemistry. I would then go into medical school to pursue a doctorate degree. These goals relate to my career goal, which is to become an anesthesiologist. I chose this career because I've always had a passion for science, and this career allows me to embrace that. I would also be able to help people in the process. I consider my last goal more as a personal one, but some people have chosen to pursue this goal as a career. I plan on helping the environment more when I am older. I am waiting until I'm older to help the environment because sustainable products are expensive. So it would be easier for me to reduce my waste if I had the money to do so. However, there is only so much I can do to help the Earth on my own, so I also hope to influence the government to make more policies that help the Earth.

Giving is important to me because it is how I was raised, and it makes me feel happy to know that I was able to help others. When I was little, I didn't have a lot growing up. I wasn't able to get toys I saw in the store, and I never had what the other kids had. Despite this, I was still taught to share and give to others, even if I didn't have a lot to give. I can remember as a child I would be encouraged to donate my money during the Holidays, even if it amounted to spare change. Now, my family is in a much better place financially. That doesn't stop me from giving back to those less fortunate though. My mother likes to tell me that I have a gift, and that gift was meant to help other people. So I like to do what I can for others whenever they need my help. This includes donating clothes, volunteering, or just helping my friends whenever they need a hand.

I am passionate about multiple things. There are just so many things I want to do to help the world. One of the things I am passionate about is giving back to my community. I think it is important to help others, so I want to do this for my community. I try to give back to my community through volunteering and donating whenever I can. Sometimes I will donate clothes or money. I also plan on becoming an anesthesiologist so that I can help people as my career. It just warms my heart to help people. It aligns with my beliefs, and I believe it gives you good karma. Another thing I am passionate about is making a positive different on the earth. I hope to bring awareness to the effect that we can have on the environment. I've seen how some people just don't care about their impact on the earth, or they don't even know what their actions can cause. So I hope to bring awareness to this and help people change for the better.

A simple pleasure in my life is listening to music. This makes me happy because listening to music helps me relax. There are certain songs I listen to because you can feel the emotions of the artist and it helps to cheer me up. Another simple pleasure I have is reading. Sometimes I'll read physical books, but most of the time I read comics on my phone. I like to do this because it offers me a healthy distraction. Whenever I need to take a break from my school work, I try to read a comic on my phone instead of going on social media. This helps reduce the time I spend on social media, which has helped improve my mental health. Going on social media too much makes it hard for me to stay focused, and used to affect my time management. I would start to feel overwhelmed and stressed because I always felt like I didn't have enough time. Now, since I replaced social media with comics, I'm able to focus better and manage my time effectively.

I have a lot of goals for the future. The first goal I plan on achieving deals with my academics. I plan on getting a degree in chemistry. I would then go into medical school to pursue a doctorate degree. These goals relate to my career goal, which is to become an anesthesiologist. I chose this career because I've always had a passion for science, and this career allows me to embrace that. I would also be able to help people in the process. I consider my last goal more as a personal one, but some people have chosen to pursue this goal as a career. I plan on helping the environment more when I am older. I am waiting until I'm older to help the environment because sustainable products are expensive. So it would be easier for me to reduce my waste if I had the money to do so. However, there is only so much I can do to help the Earth on my own, so I also hope to influence the government to make more policies that help the Earth.

I hope to leave a positive impact on the world. I plan on doing this in multiple ways. The first way I'd like to leave an impact on the world is by becoming an anesthesiologist. If I became an anesthesiologist, I would be able to help people, while also making a career out of it. Then, once I've gained experience and have saved up enough money, I would like to pursue a career in environmental science. Doing this would allow me to learn more about how to take better care of the Earth, as well as teach others how to do the same in the process. Then, after I have accomplished all of my goals, I would like to be a mentor for others. Whether I become a mentor for future doctors, or for future environmental activists, I would like to be able to help them along their journey and provide them with the wisdom I would've accumulated over the years.

It is important to have diverse representation in STEM careers because it lets others know that despite being a certain skin color, you can still pursue any career you want. Diversity also helps the advancement of society. Having diverse representation in STEM brings people that have diverse backgrounds, and that come from different communities. This allows people to address the issues happening in their community. Without diversity, the people in that field wouldn't have known about that issue, because they wouldn't have come from that community. In addition, diversity helps address the discrimination that minorities have to deal with. As an African American, I am well aware of the disadvantages that minorities have to face. Because of red-lining, minorities are often denied access to well-paying jobs, which in turn prevents them from getting a quality education. Not only does this affect them, but it will affect their children, creating a cycle of generational poverty. However, when people make an active effort to have more diverse representation, it increases the amount of opportunities available to minorities. Diverse representation gives African Americans a chance for better careers and education opportunities. This also helps their children, because it allows them to see people that look like them in positions of power. Diverse representation inspires children to not worry about their skin color and to pursue the careers that they want. Not only does this help end generational poverty, but it provides even more diversity and representation for future generations. Growing up, science used to be one of my favorite classes in school. I thought it was fascinating to know how the world worked, and I admired the scientists who were able to make these discoveries. However, most of those scientists never looked like me. They were usually white men, whereas I am an African American women. This affected who I thought could be a scientist. When I imagined what a scientist would look like, they weren't typically African American, and they certainly weren't a women. But as I got older and was able to learn more about the world, I realized that there were plenty of black scientists. A lot of them were women as well. This helped me realize that you didn't have to be a certain race, or a certain gender to pursue a career. It inspired me so much, that I decided to have a career in the STEM field as anesthesiologist. So diversity in STEM in so important to me because it shows others that it doesn't matter what you look like. As long as you work hard, you can pursue any career you want.

The most inspiring book I've read is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This book changed me in multiple ways. I like this book so much because it doesn't follow the conventional story line of most books I've read. In the book, it focuses on a boy in search of treasure. Though that is the story line in the beginning, it slowly changes. As the boy grows, what he wants out of life changes multiple times. Throughout the story he learns more about his life and what his dreams are. Eventually, he finds the treasure he was looking for, but it wasn't until he had matured and realized what he wanted out of life. The book was very philosophical, which I liked because it left me with a new outlook on life. It inspired me to stop hesitating and to go after my dreams. The book also taught that even if I stray from my intended path, it doesn't mean it's too late to start following my dreams.

1. I deserve this scholarship because I plan on making big changes in the world. 2. My career goal is to become an anesthesiologist. 3. A time I overcame an obstacle was during an honor orchestra audition. The previous year, I had not made the audition, and it really damage my self-esteem. However, instead of looking at this like a failure, I took it as a learning opportunity. After that, I made sure to dedicate time to practicing, which led to me passing my audition this year.

I think the best way to live a long, healthy life is to love your body. Loving yourself is good for your emotional health, and it encourages you to want to care of yourself. Taking care of yourself can include exercising or eating healthy. Loving yourself can also encourage you to take care of your mental health. You can do that through meditation or journaling. I think loving yourself is the best way because it is what helps me to live a healthy life. I don't take care of my body because others say it's what I should do, but because I enjoy taking care of myself. I especially like to do yoga. It helps me connect with myself, but also allows me to build muscle in body. Loving myself has also helped my emotional health. Whenever I look in the mirror, I'm happy to see myself. I don't point out my flaws, I just enjoy looking at the body I was given. It wasn't until I started loving myself that I enjoyed taking care of my body.

A turnaround story from my life that I'm proud of involves an orchestra audition. Every year, my school district will have an honors orchestra concert that you have to audition for. This was my first time auditioning for it in high school, so I was very excited. I was also very cocky, because I had passed those auditions in middle school. Since I was so cocky, I didn't practice as much as I should have. I thought I had a guaranteed spot and wasn't taking it seriously. So, when audition times came around, I played my piece and I waited for the results. To my surprise I hadn't passed the audition. This was devastating for me. It changed my entire perspective on who I was as a violinist. I knew I didn't want to experience this failure again, so I changed the way I practiced. I made sure to take it seriously from that day on. This year, it was time for the auditions again. I practiced every day leading up to the audition, and I made sure to listen to the feedback from my teacher. This dedication resulted in me passing my auditions. I'm very happy and proud of myself for getting better, but I also am making sure that I stay humble, so I don't repeat history.

I practice self-care in multiple ways. One thing I like to do is practice on my violin. When I practice on my violin, it is very relaxing for me. It also makes me very proud of myself, because I get to see how much I've improved over the years. These are just one of the reasons that I enjoy playing the violin. Another thing I do for self-care is journaling before I go to sleep. Journaling helps me gather all of my thoughts for the day. If something was bothering me earlier, then I can write about those emotions, and it helps me process that situation. It helps me let go of those negative emotions so I can go to sleep with a clear head. Journaling also lets me plan ahead for the next day. Since I'm writing about my day, it lets me know what I've accomplished and what I still need to do for the week. Doing this helps me to remember to study for a test, or if I have any personal goals I need to work on. So, journaling helps me keep track of my life.