Hi, my name is Gerardo Leal and I am seeking to achieve further education past high school and go into a four-year university. I am currently a senior in high school and taking dual credits while in high school. I have always had a passion for marine life and I chose the perfect state to be from. I am striving to make a difference in the South Puget Sound community and want to aid our marine life. Currently, there is a disease out in our waters making our sea stars vulnerable and breaking them down to leave them defenseless against harmful bacteria. This disease is the sea star wasting syndrome. This disease has almost entirely wiped out many sea stars and I want to be able to help them out. One of my main goals for my education is to get a chance to look into this disease and try to help out our defenseless sea star. One of my other main goals for my future is to be able to come up with solutions to the questions that will come up in the future. The marine environment isn't perfect at the moment due to many controversial things like climate change, C02 emissions, and global warming. So by being able to further my education in the science field and more particularly marine biology, I want to be able to come up with solutions to current problems that might be a bigger problem later in the future. This is because I know that with time our technology will not stay the same but rather it will improve. With the improved technology that can aid the marine environment, it will need to be used properly to be effective. The way it can be used properly is if someone who is dedicated to the marine field proposes a solution to the problem.