"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5 Though these words were first spoken to the Prophet Jeremiah, God is also speaking them to us. God has called all of us to a special plan that He has made for us, uniquely designed for each one of us individually. Yet in our culture today, human dignity has become almost non-existent. It is no wonder that there are thousands of abortions happening every day, killing thousands of unborn lives. I am the oldest of seven children and, from a young age, I was taught to respect life as it is an incredible gift from God. This year, around Easter time, my parents announced that we were going to have another baby sibling. My mom gets terrible morning sickness through most of her pregnancies and is so ill that she sometimes can't even get out of bed. The amazing thing that I see every time, though, is that she perseveres and still thinks of others before herself, especially the coming baby. I have learned a lot through her example. I have had to take on a lot because of how sick she has been, yet I can show my support for the Pro-life movement in this way by helping the whole family and taking care of my mom. Because of how I was raised, I truly see how precious life is and how evil and corrupt abortion is to take away life from the helpless and innocent lives of the unborn. I have seen that most poor women feel that they have no other choice than to end their unplanned pregnancies because they fear not being supported by others. A few years ago, when I was old enough, I realized that in my small way, I could help these women and their unborn babies. I started volunteering at my local pregnancy center with my younger sisters and some friends. We were there for a few hours in the afternoon, and we would help clean the Center and organize donated baby and maternity clothes. There are also walks for life that I have donated to and supported by walking. There was one time that I stood with some friends outside of an abortion clinic and prayed for the women who were considering an abortion that day and for the unborn children. I have also prayed a Novena where you "adopt" an unborn child and pray for him for nine months, as there are nine months of pregnancy. If you stay faithful in this novena, you will save the baby's life. More recently, I have been a witness to being Pro-life by helping and supporting girls I know who have had unplanned pregnancies. Doing small things for them such as babysitting or simply talking to them shows that I support them no matter what. I may not be able to help the Pro-life movement in great ways, but this quote from Mother Teresa inspired me: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." With this in mind, I plan to further my education and support the Pro-life movement with more passion and love than ever!

The dream version of myself in the future would be a woman who is not afraid to stand up and state her beliefs even when they are rejected by the majority of the world and to believe in myself, and, God willing, that I can become anything I put my head and heart into.

Embarking on this journey from dependency to independence, from my parent's resources to my own, hasn't happened overnight and won't begin the moment I step onto a college campus. My parents taught me many years ago while I was young and wanted a horse, that to buy one, I would need to raise enough money for it. But that was not all. If I owned my horse, I would need to pay for its grain, hay, veterinary bills and farrier visits. Essentially learning from a young age that if I wanted it bad enough, I would need to live fiscally responsibly. My parents taught me from their own experience and I'll never forget sitting on the floor with my mother as we went through all my earnings and divided them into categorized envelopes, 10% here, 20% there. I began with 4 envelopes at the time. Savings, Spending, Tithing and Horse money. After owning my horse for a couple of years and taking on more work to pay for it, my mother took me to open my bank accounts, Checking and Saving. Years later, my father helped me to move my savings account to a bank with a higher interest rate to help me accumulate a little more on my investment. I am grateful for my parent's help in learning spending and saving habits from a young age. I understand the importance of managing finances, though I'm sure there's more to learn as my expenses increase, especially as I am fast approaching the end of my senior year in High School and want very much to go to college. I am a frugal spender and think through every buying decision. I stop and think, "Is this a want or a need", or "Can we make fewer trips, use less gas, and make travel efficient". I think being very intentional and patient has helped me to manage my finances well. As I have been applying to colleges and realizing those that I am interested in attending, are quite expensive. I am looking everywhere I can to raise the money necessary to put myself through. My parents told me again, if you want it, you will need to make it happen. Once again, I will have to pay my way. I would like to teach these financial habits to my children someday because they have truly helped me in the attainment and pursuit of my goals.

I am a firm believer that every life experience you have will either crush you or make you grow stronger. And it is our job to see if we can handle what life brings us. Can we hold our ground when things get tough? Can we stick it out through the hard times even if we have to die trying? Can we finish the work we started without giving up? By volunteering to help others, one can find out whether they will get crushed or become stronger in life. Throughout my whole life, I have always loved to help people. I love to make them happy or to see them smile because I did something good for them. One thing that I often struggle with is being afraid of the people I help. I have always been more of an introvert, so my instinct tells me to go hide instead of helping people. This is a personal growth opportunity for me: will I hold my ground and face my fears, or simply cave into them? When I was 13 years old, I helped one of my cousins and her friend run a horse camp for younger girls. Because I was younger, I often felt that I wasn't capable to handle and help the girls in the camp. Yet, through the whole summer, my cousin and friend were supportive and they helped me to see that I was important to these girls, and to them. They were the main reason that I was able to push back my fears and help the girls with confidence. After that, watching the younger girls ride horses for the first time in their lives was well worth it. The fact that I had helped them made it more meaningful. I became more involved in helping others through the schools I attended. When I was in 8th grade, I went to a nursing home to entertain the elderly. I could see the joy on their faces every time I came to see them. Their happiness was well worth the uncomfortable feeling I often got on those occasions. Slowly, as I got older and was able to volunteer more, I realized that I cared more about helping others than how I felt about it. Because of volunteering, I had been able to get past my fears so that I could focus on the other person. I have been able to go on various mission trips, from my hometown to Kentucky, to help the less fortunate: either by repairing houses or repairing the hearts of the people I met there. And every moment has been well worth it! Volunteering can be hard, especially when you are afraid of something or if you expect to be paid for your efforts. But one of the things that I've learned through volunteering is that giving yourself to others is its own reward. Looking into their eyes, you can see that you have given these people an amazing gift. By giving them your time and love without being afraid or being paid for your time, it speaks volumes to them that they are worth more than money or your fears!

Have you ever been asked the question, "What do you plan to do in the future?" or "What do you want to be when you grow up?"? When I was younger, I was always asked those questions, yet I would argue that as a senior in Highschool, I have been asked those questions more than ever. It can be hard and often overwhelming when I am asked questions about my future when I don't necessarily have a plan. But one of the questions I make sure to ask myself is, "What am I doing right now at this moment?" and " How can I help those around me today?". Knowing myself, I need to think of both my future and fully live in the Present. Looking at the most famous people in history, we can see that they became great by slowly becoming the person they were meant to be and by their great actions. They had to ask the question to themselves," What can I do to become stronger or to become a better person?". This is how these famous people grew to become who they were. Looking at it in this way, we can see that these famous individuals became who they were by living every present moment to the fullest and using it to their advantage. As a result, they grew as people and their fame grew. Many of these people will never be forgotten because of who they became. I have studied many things in high school, but one of my favorite classes is History. I love History because I enjoy taking notes and organizing them, and I can write them in a way that will help me to remember the facts and the events from that class. I also really enjoy learning about different people, their cultures, and their stories. Yet the main reason that I enjoy History so much is that I can learn from many people and cultures and what they did in the past. I can learn from their mistakes and their accomplishments and apply them to my life. I also love the subject because I can live through the same stories that happened thousands of years ago. With everything that I have learned from history, I want everyone to be able to have the chance to learn about the things that happened and the important people that lived long ago. So many people can learn the same things that I did by learning something historical. I plan to enjoy my history classes and then tell my friends and family about certain historical events. If I were called to become a teacher, I would most likely teach history and give my students the historical information I was given and hopefully my love for the subject as well!

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always loved the sky. I was constantly amazed at the sunrises in the morning, the deep blue of the sky on a summer afternoon, and the sunsets in the evenings. What was even more amazing to me were the birds. It didn't seem fair that they could fly, and I couldn't! There were so many times that I tried to make myself fly: tying leafy branches to my arms so that they were like feathery wings, cardboard that I would tie to my arms like plane's wings, and I even tried to use a huge tarp when it was windy hoping that it would lift my feet off the ground for just a moment! Even now, as a senior in high school, I love doing fast things, such as ice skating, skiing, and galloping on a horse because in my mind it seems as if I'm flying. Though my appreciation for flying grew when I flew in a commercial jet to travel across the country my dream of flying was mainly inspired by my Dad. When I was only five years old, my Dad became a licensed helicopter pilot. We lived in Florida at the time and his job was to give people tours over the ocean. We were at the airport all the time and my Dad would give us rides in his helicopter; I was always so excited to fly with him! Over the years, being able to be a licensed pilot has slowly become one of my biggest dreams. Now as a senior in high school, I have been looking at the different career paths I can take: Which jobs would provide for me? Which jobs would help people? What kind of job would I love? I have always loved to help people, and over the years, I have done mission work in Kentucky, helped at food Kitchens, volunteered at Pregnancy centers, visited the elderly in nursing homes and I have helped people who have lost a loved one. I have always valued the fact that I can help others who are less fortunate than me. Being able to fly and help people would be unbelievable! One of my dreams if I become a pilot would want to help as a Search and Rescue pilot or to become a commercial pilot. If I can afford lessons, that is a path I want to take, to help those around me. Getting my Pilot's license is one of the main things on my Life Bucket List. Whether I am meant to become a search and Rescue Pilot or if I just take flight lessons, becoming a pilot would impact my life forever!

Being the oldest in my family, I usually try out new things and experiences first before any of my younger siblings. I get to try out something new and they can learn from my experiences, such as trying a new sport, learning to drive, or simply showing them that standing up for yourself is a good thing. This task as an older sibling can be both exciting and daunting, yet being able to help my siblings in these ways has helped me through my high school years. When I was a ninth grader, I was told that the school that I was going to was no longer offering a Highschool education. My sophomore year was spent plowing the way for a new school, the Highschool that I will be graduating from this Spring. I was one of the oldest students and in the highest grade. That first year was hard, but the experiences and the adventure of starting a new school taught me many lessons in perseverance and determination. It taught me that if I truly want something, I cannot be afraid to go get it! So many people inspired me through high school, but the main person that helped me, and is still helping me, is my best friend and fellow student. She listens to me if I need to talk about things going wrong or she'll tell me when I need to toughen up. She helped me to realize that pushing yourself doesn't always feel great, and how, more often than not, it is painful; yet she showed me also, through her example, that becoming a better person is not about our feelings in life but about what we accomplish in our lives and ourselves. She showed me that being who you are meant to be is more powerful than trying to become someone else that you are not. There is a beautiful quote by Saint Catherine of Sienna, "Be who you are meant to be, and you will set the world on fire!" My friend lives by these words and everyone around her, including myself, wants to become like her because of her compassion toward others. She has given me so many life lessons that I will never forget. I want to inspire the world by living my life to the fullest, standing up for what I believe in and doing something unique. I plan to go to college both for my education and for the formation that I will receive. Once I finish school, I want to work in a career field that is designed to help people. Whether it's serving the poor or if it's helping someone who has had a bad day, I know that whatever I do, I will work my hardest to serve them well! I want to inspire the world by being who I am truly meant to be!

There are so many amazing things that can happen when one participates in any sport, but I would argue that the most important things that happen in a sport are comradery between the team members, physical challenges, and leadership. Learning to be a team player is vital because everyone that you meet has a part to play in life. Learning to work with others, both in sports and in life, will make both your team stronger and you stronger. Working together is an important life skill to have. There are times when getting along with people is hard and working together seems impossible. Sports can help you put other people's abilities into perspective and you will soon realize that you would never be able to get through the sport without that person. Sports also help to make you a better person because you have to push yourself in sports to excel in the skill that it teaches. You have to learn to take criticism from both your coach and teammates with humility and fortitude and not be annoyed or depressed when you get called out on something that you did wrong. Learning to take these tips in sports will help you to take these tips with ease in life. You will become a stronger person if you can take these criticisms in stride and apply them to your everyday life. There are so many ways that you can lead others in a team or a sport. In volleyball, I was the team captain for two years. That was a big leadership role! I had to give pep talks on the court and keep the team's morale up both in games and during practices. Most people think that that is the only way to be a leader in sports, but that's not at all true. I played many years of soccer and basketball and I was not a team captain then. I did not necessarily lead the team with pep talks, but I lead them through my example. I strongly believe that no matter what position or place one is in in a sport, one can always lead. Even on the bench, you can lead by keeping the morale of the team up with encouraging words! Sports are very important to me because they push me. I have to work hard physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Yet in the end, everything pays off, and you are a stronger person. I believe that sports help build up your confidence in who you are as a person. Once you can conquer the tough things in sports, you won't be afraid to be challenged by anything else in your life! You will be a force to be reconded with!

I would have to say that the song that has the most important message for me would be Lauren Daigle's, "You Say". This song gives me strength, fills me with self-worth and inspires me to believe in myself. Self-worth is something that I have found a lot of people struggle with today and oftentimes people suffer quietly. I believe it affects young people as they are growing into adults, sometimes they struggle with fear, stress and anxiety in their friendships because they are not sure of who they are and that they are loved and appreciated. There are so many changes and desires to fit in, be accepted and be loved. "You Say" reminds me that no matter what, I am worth it and I am loved. Listening to this song gives me the strength to conquer any obstacle and encourages me to be who I am meant to be!