My goal is to leave college with the knowledge I need to have a successful career in fundraiser event planning. I want to work for existing nonprofits and social enterprises by planning events that raise money, collect physical donations, or raise awareness about the cause that the organization works for. I have always loved the organizational side of event planning and I have a passion for helping people. In high school, I had the opportunity to combine these and it solidified what I picture for my future. Nonprofits do amazing work but funding can be hard. So many are vying for the same government funding making it hard to get what they need. I want to plan events to help nonprofits supplement that funding and give more financial security so they can continue doing the amazing work they do. I am starting toward my goals by joining organizations with a passion for service. Pinehurst is an organization on my campus I joined, and they work toward educating fellow students on different social problems and raising money for them. I recently joined a sorority with a strong value of service so I can get some leadership experience with philanthropy work. Starting to work towards my goals in college will help me find jobs upon graduation because I will have the experience to put on my resume. I will also start building a network of people who have similar passions and similar careers that I can call if I need help. Doing this will make starting my career after college less scary because I will already have the confidence to know I am capable of planning some great events that do some real good. I cannot wait to continue working toward these goals while still in college!

This too shall pass. I heard this when I was struggling with mental health and I didn't see an end in sight. I heard this and it immediately resonated with me. The person who said it elaborated a bit, which amounted to, what you are feeling right now will not be what you feel forever. This made me think about all of the times in my life when I felt overwhelmed, stressed, depressed, etc. I was flooded with memories of rough times I had not thought about in years. It made me realize all of those rough times passed and I moved on. This too shall pass is now what I say to myself whenever I want to give up or run. I am a freshman, so there have been a lot of changes and new stressors. When I feel the stress taking over, I remind myself this will pass. This class will be over in a few months, this assignment will be done soon, just because today I am overwhelmed does not mean I will be forever. I have low impulse control; this makes it hard for me to push through difficult situations because I think about how easy it would be to run away. Telling myself this will pass and the other side will be brighter is what keeps me persevering. Knowing summer will come and I will no longer have to take Spanish gives me the motivation to keep pushing. Knowing I won't be homesick for the rest of my life is what pushes me to find motivation. Knowing the cold weather will pass gives me the motivation to get out of bed. This too shall pass. What you are feeling now isn't what you will feel forever, just keep pushing to come out the other side.

Generosity is knowing what you have and what others don’t. Generosity is not aimless giving, it's knowing what someone else needs and finding a way to help them get it. It does not mean you are the one giving what they need, it means doing what you can to help. Some people do not have money to give away, however, many people have other resources they can help out with. For example, I can get a ton of fruit from my dining hall and bring it into the city and give it to the homeless people. That does not cost me anything outside of the meal plan I am already paying for. Or finding shelters or food programs that can accommodate the person. Generosity does not only apply to the homeless or the less fortunate. Something like offering to give a neighbor a ride when their car is getting fixed is generosity. It's doing a selfless act that the other person needs. I remember when I was eight and I had forgotten my jazz shoes at home. I was panicking because I did not want to get in trouble, but a girl I barely knew saw me and offered me her spare pair. I remembered that every time I looked at her for the next five years of my dance career and it still sticks. Because of her actions, I will forever think about how I was helped when I see other people who need help. Generosity is not hard to do, and it's adaptable to what you are capable of providing. Everyone has received generosity in their life, and some people do not even realize it. Having in the back of your mind an awareness of what others are feeling and thinking about how you could help is generosity.

Living with gratitude is extremely hard in today's day and age because of how materialistic we have become as a society. No matter how much you have, you still want what you do not have. Moving to college and trying to be minimal helped me step away from being materialistic and being more practical. It showed me what society says I need to have a “cute” or “stylish” dorm and made me think about what I want in my dorm. This also made me think more about quality because I do not want to have to rebuy everything I need every year. Buying things that are quality usually makes them more expensive so I pay more attention to the care of that item. For instance, instead of buying a cheap water bottle, I bought a Brita brand water bottle. I did this knowing it was going to be expensive, but it was going to filter the water, which was worth it to me. I have noticed I pay more attention to making sure it is clean and I don’t just throw it around. I like to volunteer with many different organizations. This is an eye-opening experience because you see firsthand the issues some people face. Things like food insecurity, homelessness, and no access to healthcare are something so many people are affected by. I think about this every time I go to the doctor or think about how annoying it is when the air vent is pointed at me. I think about how lucky I am I can go to the doctor when I need to and I have air conditioning for the hot Florida summers. I live every day with gratitude by working toward being minimalist, buying quality products, and volunteering with those who have less.

Like 50% of the world I am an introvert. Nothing revolutionary or shocking, but to me, it is a struggle. It wasn’t until I was in late middle school that I even realized I was an introvert and so I thought there was something wrong with me for all those years. Knowing I am an introvert has made a difference in how I approach life. Before I thought if I didn’t want to go I shouldn’t because I would be miserable. But now I know I often end up having fun when I go to social events. I always thought it would be toxic to force myself to go out, but now I know it is healthy to force myself to go out and try new things. This has been a huge hurdle in college. I am the only person from my county to go to my college. This is normal for many college students but I knew this could end up being a struggle for me if I don’t make a conscious effort to make friends. Bravery is a word some wouldn't call it, but to me it is. While going out and meeting new people is easy and not something to think about for some, for me, it is a huge mental hurdle. I have forced myself to go out and meet people and I am very happy I did. I have joined multiple organizations and met so many cool people. Everyone's struggles are different and no one will feel what you feel about different situations. All this to say what I consider bravery may not be bravery to you. To me meeting people and making so many wonderful friends within my first semester shows me what I can accomplish if I am brave enough to try.

My goal is to leave college with the knowledge I need to have a successful career in fundraiser event planning. I want to work for existing nonprofits and social enterprises by planning events that raise money, collect physical donations, or raise awareness about the cause that the organization works for. I have always loved the organizational side of event planning and I have a passion for helping people. In high school, I had the opportunity to combine these and it solidified what I picture for my future. My specific goals surrounding my career are ambitious. I want to raise $20,000 from a single event, plan an event that has an impact on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and plan an event that raises awareness for a good cause by reaching at least one million people. Ambitious goals but I want to push myself to do as much good as possible. I am starting toward my goals by joining organizations with a passion for service. Pinehurst is an organization on my campus I joined, and they work toward educating fellow students on different social problems and sometimes raising money toward them. Starting to work towards my goals in college will help me find jobs upon graduation because I will have experience to put on my resume. I will also start building a network of people who have similar passions and similar careers that I can call if I need help. Doing this will make starting my career after college less scary because I will already have the confidence to know I am capable of planning some great events. I cannot wait to continue working toward these goals while still in college!

When I was in high school biology I struggled to be able to memorize the details of the different processes. I knew the big picture, but I was fuzzy on the details. One day while walking my dog I decided to start telling him about what I was learning in biology and I stumbled upon the best way for me to study. Lecturing someone else, your pet, or even no one, on what I was learning showed me what I did not quite know versus what I fully understood. It also forces you to have an in-depth knowledge of the topic to be able to “teach” it to someone else. I started taking Spanish in college and quickly realized this was going to be hard. Memorization was never my strong suit and this is not a subject you can lecture on. I tried a hybrid of study styles. I would pick a topic and try to exclusively talk in Spanish about that topic. Whenever I wanted to say a word and could not remember what it meant I would write it down as a word I need to study. Every chapter is a different topic so I would do this for a couple of hours before tests to study. I noticed a huge difference in how easy it was for me to memorize Spanish and a difference in my sentence fluency. Everyone is different, but I have found saying out loud what I am learning helped me commit it to long-term memory. This prevents the cycle of memorizing for a test and then your brain purging it after the test. Studying this way has also forced my mom to learn a lot about the different classes I am taking, but she loves it!

Speaking your mind can be scary, especially around new people. I stay committed to speaking my mind through education and active listening. Speaking your mind is powerful and important to securing a more equitable future for everyone. However, it can be destructive when someone is speaking on something they do not have the authority to do so on. I actively listen to what people are saying so I fully understand their reasons for their stance. This will result in a more profitable conversation because you know their intentions and can speak to validate or rebuttal them. Becoming educated on a topic before freely speaking on it is also important. You do not want to spread false information, get caught making something up, or sound ignorant on a topic. If there is a conversation I find myself in where I do not feel I have the knowledge to speak on, I do not speak. If it is something I want to be educated on I will go and do so. The other aspect of speaking your mind can come on social media. People like to spread awareness about different problems by posting about them on social media. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but if someone posts false information and then others share it, a problem is created. You have to do your due diligence if you want to post information on social media. Whenever I want to share the information I make sure I have fully read the information and have done research to make sure the information is backed. Speaking your mind is important to an equitable future. Sharing your experiences is how we form sustainable solutions. Active listening and educating yourself is how we will ensure the equitable part of an equitable future.

Living on a college campus is a weird experience. You are living where you learn and learning where you live, there is no separation. You see people doing homework while eating dinner and now even doing class from their dorm. Without this separation, you can forget how important it is to take a break. College requires more outside of the classroom work than high school, so you have more homework. The trade-off is you spend less time in the classroom on a day-to-day basis. With all the time I have outside of class I try to divide it between time for school and time for me. When I am working on homework and projects I try to stay out of my room. I will go to the library, the student center, or the great lawn on campus. This keeps my living separate from my school. When I am not doing school work I stay away from the library and the student center. I will meet friends at the cafe or one of the many green spaces on campus. If I just want to spend some time by myself to watch TV or do a hobby I will hang out in my room. I have found it extremely helpful to force this separation because if I did not I would stay up all night working on homework and trying to get ahead. However, going at 100% at all times will cause burnout. I try to keep a healthy relationship with homework and try to keep my dorm as a comfortable relaxing environment to prevent going through burnout. Forcing myself to make a schedule that includes time for me, homework, and friends has made a huge difference in my mental health and how I view school.

When I was a senior in high school I had the opportunity to be a lead planner on a fundraising event. It was a color run 5k that raised money for a local charity that helps disabled veterans get a trained service animal. An amazing cause and a fun event. Through planning this event I learned so much about the event planning process. How to host large numbers of people and stay organized. How to ask for help and delegate. So many transferable skills that I will use for the rest of my working life. This experience highlighted a passion I have for helping people. Once this event was done I felt I needed to find a new cause to work for. I wanted to spend the rest of my life working toward helping others. I am now pursuing a degree in social entrepreneurship which will educate me on all the social problems around the world and give me a collaborative space to talk through solutions. This will prepare me to confidently enter the conversation when I graduate. I hope upon graduation I can find an organization, or two or three, that I can plan events for. Events to raise money, physical donations, or just awareness so the organizations can continue to do the amazing work they do. I hope I can use my skills and love of event planning to make an impact on different social issues. I hope I never lose my passion.

I grew up playing outside, and I may be the last generation to do that. Letting your imagination run wild is part of being a kid and playing in nature offers a space where you make your own play. You aren't bound to the rules and restrictions of the toy you are using, you can freely play. This play gave me an appreciation of nature from a young age. I knew whenever I was bored I could go create my own world in nature and occupy myself for hours. As I grew up the play turned into stress relief. When I was stressed I would go sit outside and listen to nature, watch the animals, and breathe the fresh air. It was an escape that was always there, even when my phone was dead or the wifi was out, nature was there. I am lucky to go to a school where they value having green space and know the importance of nature on mental health. Being surrounded by nature amplifies the issues surrounding the environment. The amount of trash in the ocean, chemicals in crops, and deforestation happening is ruining the livability of Earth. They will not get to enjoy the freedom of play and tranquil affects nature can have because there will be no nature left. Thankfully, I am not the only person who has noticed this trend. There are movements across the world working toward saving the environment. That is how I appreciate nature, by living a more intentional and sustainable life. Changing things about my everyday life that help save the environment makes me appreciate nature even more. Educating myself on what the movements are about and how I can be a part of them. This is how I show my appreciation to nature.

To me, the meaning of life is to leave it better than I found it. I want to leave this world knowing I gave everything I had to make it a more equitable and accepting place for everyone. I want to work to create change that will outlast me. I am working to achieve this by educating myself on the biggest social and environmental problems we are facing and collaborating to come up with sustainable solutions. This is just how I find meaning. The meaning of life is different for everyone. You need to find what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning. What makes you so excited you could scream it from the rooftops. Everyone has a different idea of what they are meant to do. Which means. you get to decide what the meaning of your life is. This difference is what makes life so exciting. You will meet such a diverse group of people, not just by ethnicity and gender, but by who they are on the inside. You may encounter people similar to you in values and goals, but no one will be you. You will also encounter people who have vastly different values and goals. These people are not wrong, they are just living their own meaning to life. No one will live life the way you do, and that is what makes it so beautiful.

When I was shopping for decorations for my dorm I was not finding much that I liked so I turned to making decorations. It started with a headboard. I wanted something with texture and different shades of green. This was hard to find and hard to find within my budget. So I decided I was going to crochet one, this also meant I had to learn to crochet. I quickly learned and loved it. I ended up crocheting a beautiful headboard for a fraction of the cost, and it looks exactly the way I wanted. This led me to try embroidery. I found a kit online and decided to try it. It was definitely not easy but after some practice, I fell in love. I am now on a mission to embroider everything I can. Crafting has always been my favorite hobby, especially ones that can keep my hands occupied for long periods of time. When I realized I was starting to develop binge eating tendencies I knew I needed to change something before it became an eating disorder. As a way to prevent episodes of binging I would crochet, knit, paint, and now embroider when I am watching TV and need something to do with my hands. What started as a coping mechanism has turned into something I love to do. Now, whenever I get the chance I find some project to start working on and I try to incorporate a new skill to learn so my creativity never runs dry.

Thinking about how excited I am for my future is what gets me out of bed in the morning. Thinking about all the goals I want to achieve gives me fuel. These goals also give me the drive to educate myself as much as I can on the issues I want to impact. Researching social issues and listening to those affected is how I have started educating myself. There are steps I can start taking now to ensure I can achieve everything I want in my future and those give me fuel. I am done sitting around waiting for my future to happen, I am making it happen. You are never too young to start working toward everything you want. I want to be a fundraising event planner with the goal to raise money to help organizations do the amazing work they do. To be successful in such an industry you have to be educated on the issues you want to impact. You also have to have some experience and connections to be a successful event planner. These are things I can start working toward, planning events while in college and meeting people who have similar passions. So, why wait when I can start working towards my future now. Taking little steps every day to better prepare myself for a successful future gives me fuel.

Time causes change. Whatever you are feeling right in this moment will pass. Motivation will come again, your bangs will grow out, and you will not feel heartbroken forever. In the span of one year, you can graduate high school and move away from home. All of that change in one year. I always try to put things into perspective. Even when someone needs encouragement for something positive. Say they are nervous about a date, I try to remind them you never know if you do not try. Encouraging people is about showing them support. Showing them they are not alone in whatever they are going through. I always validate their feelings about whatever they are going through. No one wants to feel minimized when they are going through something. If they are nervous I remind them that being nervous is normal. If they are sad I remind them that being sad is normal. Everyone goes through different emotions and they are all normal. At the end of the day the nerves will pass, the sadness will pass, and new things will come. I always encourage forward-thinking. What you are feeling right now will become a memory, but for now, it is what you are feeling and that is okay. Let time do what it will.

I know what it feels like to have your feelings minimized. When others make you feel bad for making a big deal out of something not important to them. While this is a feeling that sucks, oftentimes the other person does not even realize they are doing it. In an effort to avoid falling in that boat I have been learning to work on active listening. If you are listening with the intention to hear what the other person is saying and not focusing on what you are going to say next, you can better empathize. When a friend is having a struggle that seems trivial to me I ask them to talk to me about what they are feeling. This helps me learn what I can do to help them. Empathizing with strangers is a different ball game. It is hard to empathize with people you do not know, especially when they are going through something you have never been through. I take the same approach, I try to learn as much as I can. I also try to think about the things I might go through that a stranger may not understand. I try to think about how I would feel if someone who did not understand minimized my experience. This makes it easier to remove my feelings from the situation and focus on them. It is not easy to empathize with others. It is an extremely selfless act that requires you to intentionally listen. I am not perfect at it, but I am always making a conscious effort, and that is what counts.

Creativity is something people tend to lose as they grow up. They become adults with jobs and there is no time for creativity. For me, however, creativity has always been an outlet. When I am stressed, nervous, or sad I do something to get my creativity flowing. Doing something like painting, crocheting, knitting, or embroidering gives my hands something to do and my brain something to focus on. It is relaxing and helps me work through emotions without doing something irrational. Using my free time to work on creative ventures has also helped me figure out my style. Creating pieces to decorate my dorm has allowed me to discover parts of who I am. I have learned I love being able to make my space look exactly how I picture, and it feels more like home. It gives me the freedom to experiment with different ideas, and if I do not like it I can paint over it or unravel it. I can explore who I am through my creativity. Learning new crafting skills can be frustrating. To feel like you know what to do but just cannot make your hands do it is annoying. But forcing myself to keep trying has taught me I am capable of doing hard things. Persevering through a difficult situation can oftentimes result in a fruitful reward. If I can teach myself how to knit, I can learn basic Spanish vocabulary. The confidence I gain when I complete a project I never thought I would be able to do is huge. I have the confidence to know I am capable of learning new things, and perseverance to keep trying, because of all the creative ventures I have taught myself.

Knowing you are enough is confidence. Everyone struggles with confidence at some point in their life and I am so grateful to be entering a time where I am confident in who I am and I know there is nothing wrong with me because I do not look like all the other girls. My confidence started growing when I moved to college. Getting away from my hometown changed me. I joined clubs and met people who did not know who I was. I could be whoever I wanted to and that would be their first impression of me. They don’t have preconceptions about who I am because they know my family or friends, they only know me, by the way, I chose to present myself. The idea of you are who you say you are is an idea I am working on. I liked who I was in high school, but I know I could be more authentic. Sometimes I have to remind myself I am allowed to change. I am allowed to be a different person. I can post something on Instagram that people from my high school would not expect from me without being fake. I am changing, not hiding. I am not a fraud because my style changed, I am entering my twenties. I am entering a time where you are expected to reinvent yourself and that is okay. Confidence is hard when you are in the transition between teens and young adult, but reminding myself I can be who I want to help build confidence. This means being allowed to introduce yourself the way you want to and reinvent yourself however many times you want. I am most confident when I am who I want to be so I will never stop being me.

My dream is to leave college with the knowledge I need to have a successful career in fundraising event planning. I want to work for existing nonprofit and social enterprises by planning events that raise money, collect physical donations, or raise awareness about the cause that the organization works for. I have always loved the organizational side of event planning and I have a passion for helping people. In high school, I had the opportunity to combine these and solidified what I picture for my future. My specific goals surrounding my career are ambitious. I want to raise $20,000 from a single event, plan an event that has an impact on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and plan an event that raises awareness for a good cause by reaching at least one million people. Ambitious goals but I want to push myself to do as much good as possible. I am starting toward my goals by joining organizations with a passion for service. Pinehurst is an organization on my campus I joined, and they work toward educating fellow students on different social problems and sometimes raising money toward them. Starting to work towards my dreams in college will help me find jobs upon graduation because I will have the experience to put on my resume. I will also start building a network of people who have similar passions and similar careers that I can call if I need help. Doing this will make starting my career after college less scary because I will already have the confidence to know I am capable of planning some great events. I cannot wait to continue working toward these goals while still in college!

My bucket list is broken into two sections: travel goals and career goals. My best friend and I want to travel to all fifty states and go to a different national park in each. We started planning out our travels by splitting up the country. She wants to be a teacher so we are planning to go to a couple of states every summer while she is on break. We have started researching the different national parks and recently bought a scratch-off map to track our progress. We have planned a trip for this summer to go to parks in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. We are so excited for this trip and the start of our bucket list travels! My career goal is to be a fundraising event planner for nonprofits. One of my goals is to raise $20,000 in one event, one is to work with ten different nonprofits, one goal is to plan an event that helps impact the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the list goes on. These goals are meant to keep me inspired and continue to plan creative events. I have started toward these goals by starting to plan some small-scale events in college to gain experience. I have also joined some organizations on campus with a service component to gain more experience and meet some other people with a passion for service. I am young, so these goals could change, but I have a passion for service and I love to travel so these goals make me excited for the future.

When I was a senior in high school I worked with an organization called K9 Partners for Patriots. They train service animals for disabled veterans who otherwise cannot get the accommodations they need. I was the lead planner for a 5k color run event where all of the proceeds went toward this organization. The event hosted over two hundred runners and over twenty sponsors. Fifty student volunteers helped make every aspect of this event go off without a hitch. It was truly a fantastic event, fun for families, and for a good cause. The hours spent on this event neared the fifty mark, but I would have planned for one hundred hours to make this event happen. Every detail needed to be thought out, from the color of the table cloths to the warm-up playlist. This was my favorite part, planning all the little details. Thinking of the things people may not notice right away, but make all the difference in the professionalism of the event. When all was said and done, $8,000 was raised for an amazing cause, and it is an event I aspire to top in the future. This event was a turning point for me in regards to my passion for service. I had always loved helping people and planning events, but this event gave me more direction. I have a passion for veterans and advocating for them, I also love animals and believe they can be helpful to people with disabilities. My dream is to be an event planner for nonprofits and charitable organizations, with the goal to raise money to help them carry out the amazing work they do. I would love to focus on veteran-based organizations but I want to help as many people as I can. There is something so inspiring seeing people who have had a rough time be so joyful about life. I remember meeting one of the veterans K9 Partners for Patriots helps and thinking how could someone who has been denied help at every turn still be so positive. In the end, he was able to be given a service animal, but he was so vehemently grateful, which blew my mind. The service animal was providing a service he needed to be able to live a full life, he should not have to hope he gets that help. It should be guaranteed to veterans, let alone every person, to receive the help they need. This organization opened my eyes to this disparity. I hope to be able to spend summers interning for them, and hopefully plan another fundraising event or two for them. Everyone deserves to receive the accommodations they need to live the same fulfilling life everyone else gets, and to think the men and women who serve our country are not receiving that treatment is disheartening. I want to be part of what changes that.

I hate change and always have. I never moved growing up, hated sleepovers, and never spent more than one week away from home. There is nothing wrong with disliking change, however, it does present an obstacle when you have to move. Moving to college was extremely hard, and I knew it would be. Forcing myself to go out and meet people has always been hard but I was determined to change that. Making friends was way harder than I expected when starting college. Seemingly instantly people made their friend groups and that was it. The idea of going to socials in my hall made me anxious, but I always regretted it because I wanted to meet people so desperately. I would always tell myself I would go to the next one but never did. One day I got an email about a student organization called Pinehurst. Pinehurst works to educate and work toward social change. I decided to go to the mixer they were having because I am extremely passionate about helping people and I thought this would be a good place to meet people like me. I remember crying afterward because I was so happy. I forced myself to go out and meet people, and I met some amazing people with whom I will be friends for the rest of my life. I spent the rest of the semester forcing myself to go to everything I could. It was difficult at first but eventually became my favorite part of the day. Meeting new people became fun and exciting. High school me would be so proud to see how far I have come and how involved I am on campus. I am so excited for the next three years because I put in the effort to find where I belong.

My college has an organization called Pinehurst. Pinehurst is an organization dedicated to educating and acting toward change for social problems. We can come together as students and talk about what issues we see around us and in the news and discuss how we can make an impact. This gives me hope for the future. Previous generations did not like to talk about controversies because it was taboo. Talking about the politics behind social issues was unheard of. However, today’s generations are not afraid to dissect the issue and talk about politics. They are also willing to listen to others' viewpoints and have an open mind. While it is not a universal law, most young people these days are much more open to others' viewpoints. You still have the ones who believe what they believe and there is no changing their mind, but they have slowly become the minority. This openness allows for conversations happening between people from all backgrounds. Having a diverse group equals more diverse solutions and has a greater likelihood of helping the most people. There is no shortage of crises facing the younger generations. Every day we hear about how climate change will end us before our children grow up and aquifers are drying up at unprecedented rates. Through all of this, we still hear young people having conversations. Trying to come up with innovative solutions that can fix one problem without contributing to another. You have probably heard a young person talking about how the old people ruined the Earth and now it is on us to fix it if we want a future. This is true, and while the older generations did not know what they were doing, they did ruin a majority of the environment. Despite this, young people still have a passion and a hunger to fix not only the environment but to change social norms to be more accepting of all people and their ideas. The idea of sustainable brands was mocked for being too hippy just ten years ago, but now they are taking the market by storm. Fast fashion is seeing backlash no one has ever heard of. I attribute this to the unsilenceable voices of young people. Social media gives people a place to share what they are noticing and amplify the voices of others. They can educate themselves and others on the pressing issues and collaborate toward a solution. Pinehurst is just one organization on one college campus, however, the message it sends is what gives me hope. Young generations will talk about what needs to be done without any stigmas or taboos getting in the way. The moment the world can openly talk and work together to solve problems, the moment we as human beings start to repair the damage that has been done. The conversations happening between young people are just the start of a revolution.

5th and 6th grade were rough years due to a diagnosis I received. I had been a competitive dancer for a few years, and in general a dancer my whole life. It was my outlet, where I could let out all my frustrations, well as much as a 5th grader could have. Dance came to a sudden and devastating end when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is not a difficult diagnosis to control, however, I had a severe case. At the time I fell in the range of Hashimoto's disease, but over time I got it under control enough for it to be less severe. I remember coming home from school one day in tears over the thought of having to go to dance. I sat and begged my mom to let me stay home because I was exhausted. She was very shocked because I had previously loved going to dance. This pattern of always being tired and not wanting to go to dance continued for a few weeks, and my mom grew concerned about why her 5th grader was always exhausted. This prompted her to take me to the doctor and after some quick blood work, it was obvious what was going on. While no one wants to be diagnosed with anything, this ended up being good for me. Hypothyroidism occurs when your thyroid gland cannot produce as much of the hormone as you need. This can result in being extremely tired, fatigued, and sometimes depressed. I was able to get on some medication to help my body create hormones it could not on its own. However, I still had to quit dance. My doctor told me it would take a few months for the medication to kick in, and even then I may never get back to where I was. Over about seven months I started to feel better, but any attempt to work dance back into my routine just made me feel miserable all over again. My thyroid levels were extremely unstable for a few years, so it was recommended I find something else for an extracurricular. By the time I realized my dance career was indeed over I was in 6th grade and that was my entire identity. Of course, it felt like the world was falling apart and there was no hope. However, as devastating as it was, I am grateful it happened because I learned you never have one passion. It forced me to try new things and hobbies that I would not have tried if I continued dancing. I now have tons of hobbies from crafting to sports to cooking. I learned to be patient and to give myself time to learn new things. Patience is a skill that has been and will continue to be useful in the future. An example is when I was learning how to make cheesecake. I must have tried ten times and the top kept cracking. It felt like no matter what I did it would never work the way I wanted. However, I did not give up. I did some research and tried something new and it worked. I remember being so excited that my perseverance and patience worked, and that experience has stuck with me ever since. Whatever new skills I want or need to know to be successful in my field I know I am capable of learning. This attribute gives me hope to know that whatever I face in the future I am capable of accomplishing as long as I am kind to myself and trust the process.

There is no such thing as a job meant for women or men. This needs to be addressed. When I was applying for colleges I wanted to be a biology major. When I would tour schools they loved to tell me how they do not have many women in their science majors. I don’t know what they wanted me to say, but my first thought was why? Why are you bragging that you do not have many women in science? They always accompanied this comment with a cheesy smile, as if that would make me feel like I could be groundbreaking if I went there. Instead, I wondered what they were doing that pushed women away, why were women interested in science not attending this school? When I found the college for me I was elated, they seemed to have a fair distribution of gender across all majors. Women were not shying away from science or business because there were other women doing it. This is empowering. Seeing people like you doing what you want to do. When you ask girls who inspires them, typically they say a woman. They look up to people like Kamala Harris, Michele Obama, Marie Curie, even Greta Thunberg. But this is exactly how we empower women. By giving them someone who did what they wanted to do. Don’t get me wrong I believe all women should be breaking glass ceilings, but not all women have the confidence to do so. Showing them it is possible could make all the difference. To make sure this happens we need to stop telling young girls the statistics. They need to stop hearing how few women in certain fields there are because it is not empowering. It is worrying. You start to think why there are not many women in that field and most girls come to the conclusion they shouldn’t try since there is not a guarantee they can. Instead, we need to be highlighting the skills and traits they possess that would make them great candidates for such fields. Science does not care about your gender, it matters if you have a passion for it, can you think critically, can you be creative, those are the traits that matter. This does not just apply to academia, it can apply to sports as well. Instead of saying no woman has ever made it into the NFL, start telling them what they have to do to make it to the NFL. Highlight the qualities they possess or need to work on to be on the same level. For the most part, there is a female counterpart for professional sports, but not for kids. Until you enter middle school most sports are co-ed. Many girls can get discouraged this way. They see the boys on the team who are getting praised for what they do, yet when a girl says she plays sports people wonder why she is not in dance. This needs to stop. Stop telling girls there are different sports for different genders. Anyone can play soccer, football, hockey, basketball, they just have to want to. Highlight the skills girls possess that will make them good at such sports, empower them. Whether it is sports or academia we need to be telling girls all the skills they have that will make them great at what they want to do. We need to stop telling them how few women do what they want to do, but inspire them to use what they have to go far in what they want to do. We need to empower them.

Educational equity is the foundation of equity across the board. For the world to become a more equal place, underrepresented communities need the educational opportunities their counterparts get. How can we expect to see people of color and women in political power if they are not being given the same educational opportunities? Students in underrepresented communities and impoverished areas deserve the same access to higher education. Higher education is necessary for people who want to work in politics, health care, and education. People in power within politics should be a reflection of the demographics they are serving, therefore more women and people of color need to be in power. The amount of inequity that exists in health care is astronomical. Hiring more women and people of color who can be in the field and help advocate for such inequities is crucial. However, it all comes back to education. Underrepresented communities need to be given the same access to good education as their counterparts. By the same conclusion, if we want legislation that equally treats people, we need diverse people behind the creation of legislation. If we want to see studies on diverse groups of people, we need to get more diversity into health care. If we want kids to grow up not seeing a barrier based on their race, ethnicity, or gender, they need to see themselves in high-caliber careers. Educational inequity is something we should all stand for because it impacts inequity across the board.

The best way to live a long and healthy life is to seek out what makes you happy. You have heard this before but I am going to hit it again, happiness is the key to life. Today people are spending fifty to sixty years in the workforce. That is the vast majority of someone's life span. If people are spending this time in a job they are not passionate about they are wasting their life. There is a direct correlation between someone's mental state and their physical health. If you spend fifty years stressed, mad at your job and miserable in life, your physical health will suffer. The best fix for this is to find what you are passionate about in life and make it your career. We are in a day and age where people are making six figures dancing for one minute on social media, where people can live a comfortable life selling handmade dog collars on Etsy, and where there is no such thing as a weird job if it makes you happy. This also means it is never too late to try something new. So many careers these days do not require a formal degree. So if you hate your job, quit, start over. If you are happy with your job your mental health is great, which means your physical health is not suffering. Of course, this needs to be paired with eating well and exercising. However, your mental health will trump all. The key to living a long life is to find what you are passionate about and make it your job, because a mentally healthy person is a healthy person.

I experienced the end of my high school career in COVID times. This also means when I was fortunate enough to be President of my high school National Honors Society, it was during COVID. The entire mission of the club is to allow the members to engage and volunteer within our community. This proved to be very difficult seeing as nonprofits and community partners did not want to risk COVID exposure, and some of our members didn’t either. This turned out to be a blessing because I learned how to be creative with community engagement and how to tailor it to specific audiences. I want to work in the nonprofit industry when I graduate, so this showed me it is possible to engage in trying times. I also gained and strengthened my communication skills, especially because more communication was being required to do events than pre-COVID. I now feel more confident and determined to work in the nonprofit industry after experiencing it during COVID, and thriving despite it.

While in high school I was given the opportunity to be the President of my high school's National Honors Society. While at first I was so elated to be able to make an impact on my community through this club, I was terrified of what my friends would think. I was worried they were going to look at me as their boss and be nervous to be real in front of me, for fear if they violated the club's rules I would kick them out. They quickly realized I was still the same person, and I still cared a ton about them. What I did not expect was my brother's reaction. I have a twin brother who was a member of the club and he completely rejected my position. While this club was not the be-all and end-all, I did have some power over the members. When we would go to events to volunteer I was in charge of the members and telling them what to do. This type of power rubbed my brother the wrong way. He did not want me telling him what to do, so he did not listen. He acted like the rules did not apply to him because everything I did was just to be mean to him. He then got his friends in on it and told them they did not have to listen to me because I was his sister. This was extremely frustrating and challenging, especially when we were at events and I needed him to listen. I talked extensively with my chapter advisor and we knew this needed to change. The club as a whole was losing respect because of his actions. So we sat him down and asked him what was going on. I explained to him my actions were not to hurt him but to help control the situation. When I am in charge of seventy-five people at an event, I need all seventy-five to do what I ask or the whole event will be a disaster. This was extremely helpful to the situation because he got to hear my intentions and motivations. He turned it around and started to listen and respect me when at club functions. I knew this wouldn’t fix the whole problem because there were still many members that were exhibiting the same behaviors. So I organized a town hall, where disgruntled members could come and ask questions directly to me. My role consisted of many different things and I was constantly busy. This resulted in a gap between myself and the members. Many felt they did not even know me. This town hall gave them the chance to talk directly to me and hear from me. They got to inform me of the things they did not like about the club and air their grievances. This was so helpful because it resulted in real change. We were able to implement some new processes within the club that made members' life easier and honestly ours too. There was almost an immediate turnaround in morale. Members were willing and happy to go to events and help. I felt so proud I was able to work with the members to create a club that better served everyone. These events taught me what it means to be a good leader, and how to be a better leader in the future.

You have no idea what someone has been through, what their struggles have been, or if they have any disabilities. You cannot expect someone to think, act, and feel the way you do. You need to be patient with those around you so you can better understand them. When you meet new friends it takes a little while to get used to each other. You are patient with the new friend as you learn all of their quirks. You are required to extend this courtesy to those you meet in everyday life. You are required to not judge at first glance and make assumptions that they may not live up to. This concept is so important because without it you will fail to make connections with people in everyday life, which is a hallmark of mankind. Humans thrive off of social connections, so being patient enough to figure out how you will connect with new people is important. I am not an extrovert, I tend to make assumptions and move on. Being in college opened my eyes to the unique and diverse world around me that I had yet to take advantage of. I have met some truly great people because I took the time to listen to what they had to say before making final judgments. Giving new people time to show me who they are and having the patience to allow that. I value all of the new relationships in my life more than I would have before because I took the time to listen and learn, and that is why patience is important to me.

I am excited to think about all the possibilities my future holds, and that is how I keep a growth mindset. I have ambitious goals for my future, I know the different benchmarks I want to hit while in college, and I know there are certain things I have to do to hit those benchmarks. My ultimate goal is to open a nonprofit that helps homeless veterans. I know I need to establish myself in the nonprofit industry before I graduate. When looking for opportunities that would achieve this, I found a work-study position with my college’s office of nonprofit leadership. I applied and was offered the job. I knew this would be a great learning opportunity, networking opportunity, and a stepping stone to get me where I want to be. I also know the nonprofit industry is not the most lucrative industry, which is fine, but I will be graduating with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. I know I need to start taking steps now to ensure this debt doesn’t cripple me. I have been smart with my savings and with my money. I have been aggressively applying for scholarships to help lower the loan debt number because this is what will help my future. These are just two examples of how I continue to force myself to grow. I know to have a successful career in the industry I want to be in, I need to start learning now. I need to start establishing myself now and preparing financially for graduation. When I think about the future I am excited to see someone who used her college years to grow into a financially independent and capable entrepreneur.

Higher education can open doors in terms of job opportunities for people. To me it is a place where you can explore all that makes you who you are and discover your niche in the world. I have never known what I wanted to do with my life. None of the typical careers seemed to fit. While in high school I discovered my passion is helping others and planning events. I was the most involved and excited when I was planning a volunteer activity or a fundraising event through my high school's chapter of the National Honors Society. There are so many avenues I could go with this passion and I want to use college to gain more experience with nonprofit event planning and further grow my leadership skills. Throughout my high school career, I learned, improved and demonstrated many leadership qualities through the several leadership positions I held. I was nominated for -- and won -- a Hernando County Chamber of Commerce scholarship based on the leadership I exhibited throughout high school. I am thankful for the communication and management skills I acquired during my tenures as president, vice president and secretary of various clubs and organizations, including the National Honor Society, Beta Club and Thespians Honor Society. I hope to develop personally and professionally in college and seek opportunities to be a leader. I intend to utilize my time in college to learn more about the world around me and what my place in it should be. My high school experience with theatre taught me responsibility, especially because I had leadership positions. I was responsible for the cast and crew, and if I messed up, it messed up the show. I developed strong organization and communication skills. I also worked with the finances of our school theatre program and chapter of the National Honors Society. I figured out what we wanted to accomplish and how much it would cost. I then determined how much fundraising we needed. I communicated with potential sponsors and ensured they were satisfied with how their money benefits them. That is where I found my love for the business side of an organization. Which brings me to my passion, I want to create, build and run a nonprofit that helps veterans who have returned home from service and help them acclimate back into American society. I also want to help get homeless veterans off the street by giving them a place to stay and programs to help make them independent. I want to build more than a shelter. I want to design an organization that helps veterans find jobs and housing and gives them a support system while doing it. Ambitious goal, yes. And I strongly believe this is an urgent need that must be addressed. I am researching nonprofits to intern with during my summers so I can gain more practical experience with working in a nonprofit organization. I have even started researching business plans and the seed of a loose plan for my nonprofit. I am an ambitious person and am a hard-working and avid learner. I did as much as I could in high school to gain real leadership and semi-professional experience and I am going to continue that drive into college. My passion is helping others, and now specifically veterans. I believe pursuing a higher education could give me more leadership skills, responsibility, and grow my knowledge of the business side of opening a nonprofit. This is what I want to do with my life and finally feeling like I have a future is an incredible feeling of excitement.

When I was in 8th grade I had suicidal thoughts and depression. It started as a way to get attention from my parents because of the way my twin brother was treating me, but over time became real. When my parents found out they took me to my first therapist. Her name is Joann and she asked me a million questions at my first visit. Everything from what is your favorite color to what is the most annoying thing your brother does. At my second appointment she asked to detail the types of things he does to me and what my parents do about it. I explained this one incident where it was midnight and I was asleep, he had just gotten out of the shower and wanted to see if I was awake so he cracked the door open and I told him to go away because I was trying to sleep. He had just taken a hour long shower with music on full blast so I was annoyed. He then came in and sat in my chair and laughed when I told him to leave. He would do this nearly every night, and this is just one of the things he would do. So she asked what I did. Usually I just ignored him and he would get bored and leave, but not this night. I plugged my ear and screamed bloody murder. My parents came rushing in thinking someone was actually hurting me, and then when I explained what happened yelled at me for screaming. This was the moment I knew they were never going to take my side. Now don’t get me wrong I love my parents and they love me, but they never punish him for anything. My therapist had my mom join me one day and asked her about it and my mom deflected and said we were here to help me. Then when the therapist told my mom he most likely has some type of personality disorder and he needs to see someone, not me, my mom again deflected. From that day forward my therapist told me it wasn’t going to get better until he matures or they start punishing him so she was going to work on coping tactics with me. He matured about a year later and we have a great relationship now, but it still bothers me that my mom did nothing when the therapist told her too. That whole experience taught me to only worry about myself and I can only control what I do. I cannot let what other people do bother me that much or life will always suck. The biggest revelation came when I stopped listening to him when he talked about my body. He was a revolving door of your fat and your stupid comment, mind you I have better grades then him, so I know he says it to make himself feel better. When I stopped listening I felt so happy and confident. I am not a pretty positive person and I love being able to share that with my friends. I have one friend who insists she is overweight. She is a D2 soccer player who also works out everyday, she is not fat, but because I am constantly telling her to speak better about herself I have noticed she isn’t as self deprecating. At first she thought it was stupid and I was being too positive but she eventually came around and I can tell she is much happier. I am not unrealistic though, I know people have bad days every once in a while, but waking up every morning and hating the way you look is never okay. I have never been a religious person so my beliefs are more mood based. If you manifest it, it will happen. Every morning I wake up and say today will be a good day if I make it one. Laying in bed all day will not help make it a good day, I need to do something to make it happen. That has made a dramatic impact on my life and my mental state. Me being happier has made my family life better and being around friends more fun. I am not blaming my entire depression on my brother because it isn’t entirely his fault. There were definitely days I was being over dramatic and making a big problem out of something that wasn’t, which doesn’t help my mental health. But taking yourself out of harmful situations so you can see the whole picture and do some self actualization is a huge step. In the future I want to open a nonprofit that helps get veterans back on their feet. So many come out of the service with no support system and they deserve better. These are people who dropped everything to protect our country and they come home and cannot get the services they need to live a happy life, especially the ones that come home disabled. They need a positive support system so they can reintegrate and start living life again. I have always had a soft spot for veterans because I have seen the statistics and I find it saddening that people who serve our country can’t get the help they need. One day I hope to help people change their lives in a positive way. I hope to use my experience to help people find their happiness and reach their full potential. Not everyone's happiness looks the same and that can make it hard for people to find, but I want to support the people that need it. The support my therapist gave me changed the outcome of my life in ways she will never know and I want to be that for our veterans.

I have a twin brother who is a soccer player and has been our entire lives. That meant spending many weekends at soccer tournaments, games, and parties. Before I was old enough to stay home alone I was dragged to everything. For a couple years I was the only girl my age, none of the others were even close in age, so most of the time I would get stuck with the parents because the boys did not want to play with me. Every year we would go on these camping trips with ten families, all soccer players and their families. This was even worse because it was an entire uninterrupted weekend of me being bored and wishing I could do anything else. One year two of the boys on the soccer team, who were also twins, came to me and offered to play volleyball. It had been three and a half years of being alone at this point, I was ten years old, and I was so excited. The three of us took our bikes and rode to the volleyball courts and played for hours. The rest of the trip the three of us did everything together. Byron and Bryce are their names and they got a lot of flak for offering to play with me. The other boys thought it was lame and they were weird for hanging out with me. Mind you a couple days previous they were all thick as thieves, with no question in their mind that they were cool. So obviously at the time it meant a lot to me because I had some fun back in my weekends. My dad was their soccer coach so he let me sit on the player's side so we could talk and I eventually started going to soccer practices to help coach the boys. I started getting excited for the soccer tournaments and vacations because we would get to play together. The other boys didn't like that we were friends, and I felt bad for being the cause of that, but Byron and Bryce kept saying they don’t want to be friends with people who could exclude someone just because she is a girl. I was going to a high school where I didn’t know anyone. None of the girls from my middle school were going to high school with me, but Byron and Bryce were. On the first day of school we met up and started hanging out even more. We were close before high school but during freshman year we became inseparable. Now on our camping trips and vacations, which became just our two families over the years, my brother was the odd one out. We never left him out but he definitely felt it, we had inside jokes and knew each other secrets, so naturally he felt left out. These two boys saw me unhappy and ostracized, came to me and turned it all around. If they hadn’t said something to me the years of boring weekends could have gone on forever. We still go on a couple vacations a year with them and I am always so grateful for the friendship we have. I have told them many times how that one trip changed everything and they always say they would not have it any other way. These two ten year old boys offering to play with me gave me life long friends, and we have been there for each other ever since. I am eternally grateful to the kindness they showed me, and continue to show me as we become adults.

I started my first job in July of 2020. I work at a one woman hair salon, one chair, meaning my boss is the only person who runs the salon. I was hired as an assistant to wash hair, clean, secretarial stuff. I have known my boss since third grade so I jumped at the opportunity to work with her and I have learned so much from her and the clients and will carry those lessons throughout the rest of my life. My boss, Michele, is a 4’9” Italian, who could talk literally all day, therefore I end up listening to her all day. Sometimes it is just small talk, but with the clients she has had for a while it is much deeper. She will help them talk through whatever is going on in their life and provide whatever wisdom she can depart from her own experience. Michele has not had the easiest of lives. She has a messy family life, had a really rough 20’s, and has had so many health issues it is alarming. I don’t want to talk too much about it because it is not my life but her story has really impacted how I see the world. My entire childhood was spent getting good grades so I got into the best middle school and best high school, and eventually the best college. I surrounded myself with people who had similar ambitions and was not really great about academically diversifying my friends group. I remember thinking people who didn’t aspire to go to college were not smart or would end up homeless. Once I hit high school my eyes were opened to how different everyone is. I had friends who were smart but didn’t want college and I thought, to each their own. But I fully understood what it meant to have your own path when I heard more about my boss's story. She is incredibly smart, top of her class smart, but she had a passion for hair. She started beauty school before she was out of high school and has not stopped since. She has a highly successful business and she did not need college to do it. That does not make her less smart or deserving of success, it makes her innovative and original. Michele has given me all sorts of advice for my arsenal like how to deal with divorce, custody battles, cancer, death of family and friends, and how to get back on your feet when life knocks you down. Michele is resilient. The most powerful thing is she is not at all a pessimist. She does not hate the world for the hand she has been dealt, she is grateful for the good moments and grateful she has been able to get through the bad ones. Michele has made me a more positive person and a stronger person. She has made me realize we can be pushed harder than we thought and just when you think you cannot take anymore, you just need to give it one more push. I have not been through anything like she has, but because of her I know I will be able to handle future situations with grace, kindness, and humility. My goal is to open my own nonprofit that helps veterans get back on their feet when they return home or hit hardship. These are people who have served our country and cannot get the resources they need to succeed. Hearing about how she built her business from the bottom up is inspiring. I was able to see how she makes good customer relationships, how she professionally communicates on the phone, the amount of work and attention to detail it takes to run a business, how to efficiently mulit-task, and so much more. She has told the story of how she had to pivot her salon model when it wasn’t working and she had to make it up as she went. She had to leap in, be brave, and work at it until it sticks. That was very inspiring for me to hear about, and makes me more confident when it comes to my goals. I have also built a great relationship with her, so I know she will always be there for me to talk to or get advice from. Michele is one of a kind, she does everything for everyone around her all while wearing 4-inch platforms. If that is not something to aspire to, I don’t know what is.

My all-time favorite movie is “Guardians of the Galaxy!” It kind of started as a joke because it was the first Marvel movie I ever really understood from beginning to end, but the more I rewatched it, I realized I do actually like this movie. I love how different it is from the rest of the Marvel movies, I love the rest of them, but I like how Guardians is about all of the characters combined, not just highlighting one. We get to see origin stories for six different characters all in one, whereas with Iron Man it’s three entire movies just about him. It starts to feel redundant, I like the breath of fresh air that “Guardians of the Galaxy” gave. I also love the creativity that the writers showed when naming the characters, planets, and other space terms. Most of the other Marvel movies took place primarily on earth so it’s nothing super new in exciting, but guardians takes place exclusively in space so it’s cool to see how they imagined the galaxy. It’s hard to get bored when you’re seeing something you’ve never seen or heard of before. I’ve always loved being able to create my own world and come up with whatever I wanted, so I love the creativity in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” I also feel it’s worth mentioning that all of the Marvel movies do connect, even before we knew “Endgame” was going to happen the writers and producers were planning for it. I love watching the movies and looking for a little Easter eggs that connect them. Overall “Guardians of the Galaxy” is my favorite movie because it was the first Marvel movie I ever really understood, it covers the origin stories of multiple characters, and displays a lot of creativity.

Entrepreneurship is taking an idea and making it a reality. Having the ability to see the end goal, realizing the steps to get there, and pivoting if necessary. Entrepreneurship has always interested me because two people can have similar visions for an almost identical company, yet have completely different outcomes. The difference is attributed to everything from their personalities to the environment they were raised in, and I find it so cool to see how these differences play out. Most people start with an idea that they believe will help society, whether it be making people's lives more efficient or helping people be more sustainable, they all want to help. My vision is a little bit more straightforward. I want to open a nonprofit organization that helps veterans who have returned home from service with little to no support system get their bearings back and thrive in society. I also want to open a shelter that takes in strays and connects them with veterans who need extra love in their lives and families looking to give an animal a forever home. This idea came about in February when I was the lead planner on a color run 5k that raised $6,000 for K9 Partners for Patriots, which trains service animals for veterans. I got to see firsthand the good they do for the veterans who need help and cannot get it from the government. I decided to mix it with a business plan I had seen in a different local charity where they help homeless people get back on their feet by giving them the tools they need to get a job, find a home, and/or pursue higher education. The nonprofit I want to start would take in veterans who are homeless or need help finding a job and housing, give them the education and tools they need to get a job, and eventually help them find their own home. So many veterans return home with no support system to help them acclimate to society and I believe just a little bit of help can go a long way. The animals come into play when a veteran is faced with PTSD or other nervous disorders. Research has shown emotional support animals can go a long way in the healing process for people with these disorders. I have always loved animals, especially dogs. I live in a pretty suburban area and there are constantly dogs walking around. Most of them are chipped or have collars so we can usually return them to their owners pretty quickly. I try my best to catch every stray dog, especially since I am in Florida and it is really hot most of the year, and I give them water and treats. These animals just want love and someone to love and I think they would make great emotional support animals. Of course, I am not naïve as to the amount of work this will require. Training a dog is no joke especially one that is supposed to provide a service but that is what I am hoping to use college to learn. I will be studying business management so I can secure all aspects of the business side, and I am hoping to be able to complete at least two internships at shelters so I can learn more about owning a shelter. I am confident my experience in college will help get me closer to making my dream a reality. This will be no easy task, but it is my dream.

A legacy is a gift. It is something you won’t know you have left behind, you have to hope you did. It means doing something worth remembering. It is a lesson that future generations will benefit from and thus change the fate of the world. To me, a legacy is a way to keep the memory of someone incredible alive, and you use their good actions or lessons to do so. You are unforgettable in life and death. A legacy is different from infamous because people who live in infamy did something wrong to earn that title. It is the difference between how we remember Hitler and Princess Diana. Both passed, both lived very studied lives, yet both remembered vastly differently. We learn different lessons from each: from Diana, we learn courage and self-worth, from Hitler we learn not to hold prejudices or discriminate. Each powerful but Hitler lives in infamy for the horrors while Diana left a beautiful legacy. Everyone is different, so every legacy is different. Not all legacies will affect or inspire everyone. Athletes will look up to the career of other athletes while performers will look up to past performers. These are more specific legacies, which does not make them less important, but they will affect fewer people. That is the cool thing though because less known people can still be remembered. Some legacies seem to disappear as time goes on. People who would have left a legacy in the 1800s may not be remembered today. If there is nothing on record to remember them by, and/or people stop talking about that person, then they will be forgotten. If it weren’t for the musical “Hamilton”, no one would know the names of Hercules Mulligan or John Laurens. Hamilton writing about them in his letters carried their names through history. Legacies are only as strong as the people that carry them on. Legacies are not always attached to people either. Events and inanimate objects can hold legacies. For example, we will always remember 9/11 and the Titanic sinking. These events leave a legacy because we learned from them. We learned how to rebuild after a devastating loss and how not to build a cruise ship. Now we have hundreds of cruise lines and a slew of laws to help prevent future terror attacks. Our latest event to leave a legacy would be COVID-19. We learned how resilient we are, how to quarantine, and why it’s important, we learned how future politicians should handle a similar situation. The point is we learned something, and that is what makes it last. Trust me no one is forgetting the Covid pandemic anytime soon. In my opinion, events and inanimate objects cannot live in infamy because you cannot blame them for a disaster. You cannot blame the holocaust, you blame the person(s), Hitler, and the Nazis. All legacies are valuable because they all teach us something. A common trait is a mistake someone made that we can now avoid repeating. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it! (George Santayana-1905). It is the truth that if we do not remember why the horrible things happened how are we supposed to stop a similar event in the future? That is why the study of history is so important, and that is why it is important children and teens are taught the highlight reel of history. Everyone needs to be informed so everyone can make informed decisions. I hope to leave a legacy of kindness and respect. I hope when people remember me they picture someone who respected everyone and was kind to everyone. It is not easy to do this, especially when they have differing views from you but I feel it is incredibly important we start teaching others to be tolerant of everyone. I do not need everyone to remember me, I do not want fame, I just want to inspire someone. Just one person who does something good because of me.

Growing up I was a dancer. At the age of three, my mom put me in classes and I loved it. In fifth grade, I was asked to join my studio’s competition team. I was ecstatic because that meant I was good enough to compete against other dancers. About halfway through the year, I realized I hated it. I was exhausted all the time and had full-blown tantrums when it was time to get ready for dance. All I wanted to do was go home from school and go to bed. My mom did not know what to think because her happy child, who loved dancing a few months ago, cried at the sight of jazz shoes. She took me to a couple of doctors thinking it was a sleep problem. My pediatrician recommended the endocrinologist, thinking it may be a hormone problem. I got blood work done and it said I had severe hypothyroidism, which means my thyroid gland was not producing nearly the amount I needed. My doctor said I was lucky because my symptoms are mild compared to how low my levels were. I remember thinking nothing about this is mild. I am eleven years old and I have to sleep 12-14 hours a night to have enough energy to make it through school, let alone dance. My mom did not let me quit dancing because it was competition season, so if I left they would have to respace all the dances I was in, and that was not fair to the other dancers. I finished out the year on medication and was feeling better. Sixth-grade hit and I felt like a whole new person. I decided to continue dancing and felt great for the first couple of months. Then all of a sudden I started feeling tired again. We went back to the doctor with new blood work, and she said my levels are even lower, and it looks like my body is resistant to the medication. She put me on a new one but said it would take over a month to start working. I was a dramatic kid and I remember thinking why me. I have found something I love to do but I cannot because my body will not let me. My twin brother has been playing soccer his entire life and he did not develop hypothyroidism. So why me? I was angry for a long time. I was back to sleeping 12-14 hour nights and being exhausted at dance. I stuck it out through the end of the competition season and did not return the next year. I loved dance so much and I was so heartbroken I could not continue that I did not dance for a long time. Seventh grade was really difficult for me. I was having suicidal thoughts and had to see multiple therapists. I was just so done being tired all the time so we switched endocrinologists and the instant change was insane. This doctor said the medication I was on was not doing anything because it was in milligrams meant for babies. She upped the dosage and almost overnight I felt a change. I felt like I was awake for the first time in months. Now I need to work on getting back to me and fixing my mental health. Over the next four months, I slowly stopped going to different therapists until I was done. I started sleeping normal hours and dancing in my room again. The hardest part was the fear. I was terrified to get involved in any kind of extracurricular because what if it happened again? I thought the only thing my body would let me do was to go to school then come home and lay down. My health started to deteriorate because I was not moving, I was scared too. I thought any sort of exertion would make me tired again. I gained a ton of weight and messed up my spine and neck from laying down so much. I was terrified of my future and thought I was going to have to live with my parents forever. We went back to the doctor for a check-up and my mom explained the situation. I remember the endocrinologist laughing because that was the craziest thing she had ever heard. She showed me the medication dosage chart and what my levels were compared to a functioning gland. She told me nothing I could do would make the medication stop. It stops all on its own when it thinks I no longer need it. That just scared me more because how does a pill know when I need it and when I do not? In the end, I got a great biology lesson and a little more peace of mind. It has now been seven and a half years since I was diagnosed and I am better but not all the way. I have a long way to go before my levels are completely normal again. I still wake up some mornings and think today is the day it stops. This whole battle has taught me patience and calmness. I know that good things take time and one day I may be completely better and maybe I will not, but I need to be grateful I live in an age where I have access to the medication I need. I have learned to be calm because when I start freaking out I can convince myself of things that are not true. I can make myself believe the medication is not working when in reality it is. These have also expanded to other parts of my life. I have more calmness about my future. I know that I am going to end up exactly where I need to be and I have the strength to do exactly what I want to do. It is such a freeing feeling to no longer be afraid of my future but ready to take on the adventure.

Our communities are a representation of us. We are the people who live there, so it is up to us to make sure we like what we see. Think of helping the community as a domino effect because 1 small act can inspire 10 more and so on. You give the homeless man $10, he can now buy shoes for a job interview. He is now back on his feet and can start contributing back to the community. The people behind you who saw you give the man money, are inspired by your good deed, so they decide to help clean up a park. The children at the park think it is cool people are cleaning up and now they want to do it as well. Everything you do for your community impacts the people who live there. Imagine if no one ever picks up the trash or donates their old clothes, then the community would fall apart. The community needs the people who live there to maintain itself, just like the people need the community to have a home. It is a symbiotic relationship that can only be maintained if both parties are maintaining it. I am the President of my high school's National Honors Society, and through my leadership, we have planned many events to help our community. We held a trunk or treat during COVID that hosted over 300 kids, planned a color run 5k that raised $6000 for veterans, many car washes for different charities, including a horse rescue ranch and a children's advocacy center, we offered free tutoring during quarantine to kids who were doing school at home and their parents did not have the skills to help, we did a toy drive for Christmas and gather over 100 toys to give to the local children's hospital, and we still have three months left. We do not just help we get people involved. We have 109 members in our club who come to these events, our 5k had 200 runners, our car washes are held all over the city, and all of this means that our community knows who we are and what we do and every year our numbers go up. Every year we wash more cars and host more runners, which means every year we are raising more money to help improve the community we live in. Money being raised for shelters gets people off the street and back on their feet, then they can start contributing to our society. Raising money for veterans helps them acclimate and get the resources they need to be a beneficial member of society. No one grows up thinking they want to be poor or unproductive, and many times these people need someone to give them that support so they can get the life they want. I have worked very hard in the past couple of years to help out my community and that led me to the career I want. I want to own a non-profit that helps veterans get back on their feet as well as help other charities and non-profits raise the money they need to do the work they do through event planning. I enjoy event planning, especially when you get to help the people that need it most, so that was an easy decision. Owning a non-profit is not something I know a ton about, but I am eager to learn. especially once I decided whom I wanted to help. In February 2021 I helped plan my second 5k, and for this one, we chose a charity that trains service animals for disabled veterans. Until then I did not realize the number of veterans who come home with no support system or help. A representative came to one of our meetings to show us the statistics and photos and put it all into perspective. These are people who served our country when others did not want to, yet they cannot get the resources they need to live a safe and fulfilling life. I had known for a couple of months I wanted serving others to be my career, but I did not know to what capacity. I want helping veterans to be my career and I am already taking steps to make that happen. I have already begun financial planning to be able to start my non-profit straight out of college. I have done a ton of future planning, I have started looking into where I want my non-profit to be located and how I want to structure it. Most importantly, I have begun researching every step of how to start one, from buying the space and permits to advertising. Throughout my college career, I am hoping to complete at least one, ideally two or three, internships at different non-profits. I want to see what it is really like on the inside, and hopefully, learn about the things you cannot plan for or the forgotten little things. We also recently worked with a shelter in our area that takes in homeless men and gives them the resources they need to get back on their feet. Through working with them I learned about how they take these people who have nowhere to go and give them the tools they need to get a job, further their education if wanted, and eventually get out on their own. I want to follow a structure similar to this but with veterans of any gender. I think it is so innovative to not only take in these people but give them the tools they need to succeed on their own, so they never have to come back. I have done many things to help my community so far and I am ecstatic to continue this passion into my future. Helping your community is not just the right thing to do, but it is what keeps communities moving. The kindness of others makes all the difference in our communities.

I am currently working on learning how to plan fundraiser events and learning how to communicate more clearly and effectively with those around me. My dream is to open a non-profit or a non-profit event planning business. I love helping people and animals and non-profits do some incredible things. One of the most prohibiting factors for non-profits is having the money to do what they do. I want to help them by planning fundraising events that are fun for the whole family and will hopefully bring in a lot of money. I am president of my high school’s National Honors Society so I am constantly working on all aspects of different events giving me an inside view of just how to make events incredible. I was recently a lead planner on a color run 5k that raised $6,000 for an organization that trains service animals for veterans. That is triple what past years races have brought in. I have learned so much through this event and I am super excited to continue working on different events to keep growing that knowledge. I am also excited to be a part of the Bonner service program at my college which gives me the opportunity to do tons of service but also get some leadership positions and experience, continuing my learning about non-profits and how they work. The second thing I have been working on is my communication skills. I have always been an introvert so I knew being able to talk to people could hinder me in the future. I got a job a couple months ago at a small hair salon which forces me to talk to all the clients. I have learned so much about how to talk to people and how to make them feel happy and comfortable. This could seriously help me in the future when it comes to trying to get sponsors for events and talking to people who come to my events. I am hoping to do a work study in college so I can continue to work on communication skills. This grant could help make college more affordable for me. I am currently enrolled at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. I chose this school because of its small atmosphere, low student to faculty rate, and its really great business and MBA program. I love this school, the only problem is it is a private school meaning it is really expensive. My parents keep telling me they don’t want costs to stop me from going to my dream school but they cannot afford it. I have a twin brother also so they will be helping to pay for two college tuitions. I have been looking into loans but working with non-profits is not very lucrative and that is what I really want to do, so the less debt I am in the better. This grant could make achieving my career goals less stressful and make college more affordable.

I have been incredibly lucky because I do not personally know anyone who has passed because of this virus. I know plenty of people who got the virus, but thankfully they all recovered. I actually got quarantined by my school in December because someone in one of my classes tested positive. All things considered quarantine was not that bad, my school is doing hybrid learning so that when someone gets quarantined they can still attend classes, so I just signed into the zooms for my classes and it was fine. I watch the news and 400,000 deaths is the number that is repeated. I cannot even fathom how many people are friends, family, and/or loved ones of the 400,000. My mom already worked from home, but my dads company went completely virtual which is weird. We had to set up a janky office for him just so that he could work. My twin brother and I had so much of our senior year cancelled as had the entire nation. It is weird not having a senior trip, homecoming, pep rallies, and we are not sure about prom yet. To say the only effect on me is that my senior year looks different makes me incredibly lucky, but my family took quarantine very seriously. Myself and my dad were the ones who did the shopping because my mom and brother are immunocompromised. When we got home we stripped in the garage and took a shower immediately. We used so much hand sanitizer and spray sanitizer on anything and everything that can be touched we managed to escape the virus. So how did it affect me? I have never in my life had to think about death, I have never had a family member die, I’ve never been to a funeral, I’ve never dealt with death. When I watch T.V. shows or movies where someone dies I do not find it that sad because I know that person is not actually dead, just the character. I am 18 years old and I have no idea how to handle death. I talked a lot with my parents and grandparents about death because I wanted to be ready. I wanted to learn coping skills for death so that I can be as prepared as possible. I learned death is not as scary as it seems because it is often mercy on someone. My grandparents told me that when they are old and suffering because they can no longer do anything for themselves, and they are on one hundred medications just to keep them breathing they want to be let go. They want to give their bodies a break and just go peacefully. They also believe in heaven so that probably gives them more peace about death. My parents are too young to think about death so they talked more about what to do if one of them gets very sick. They want to fight for life until they cannot but once they cannot fight anymore they want to be let go. That was very hard to hear, it was hard to picture my parents so sick they want to die. But I understand it. They want a life not a hospital bed for an indefinite amount of time. What did I learn about the World? The world is very selfish and people can be horrible. I am not the biggest fan of masks but if the CDC said it can slow the spread of a deadly virus why in the world would you not wear one? People were making selfish decisions, putting their own comfort over people's lives. I work in a small hair salon as an assistant and these ladies love to talk. One lady told me a story about how her family decided to do a reunion in August and everyone attending got tested first. Even after that they all stayed 6 feet apart and wore a mask to be as safe as possible. Well one of the uncles attended this event even though he knew he had COVID-19. He ended up getting almost everyone sick including some elderly people who almost died because of him. He knew he was sick with a highly contagious disease but did not care because he wanted to go eat food and talk to people. These people were his family and he was okay infecting them. I hear stories just like this one all the time, people who know they have the virus and go into public anyway. How can we expect to get rid of this virus when there are people in the world doing this? It is selfish and honestly stupid. The world is a big place with 7.6 billion people on it, if we want any hope of saving the population people need to stop going out and spreading the virus. But we all know they won’t stop because some people just do not get it. On the bright side I have also learned how resilient I can be and the world can be. We faced a total shut down, with millions unemployed, and millions losing their way of life, but we survived. We came out with more technology to make connecting from a distance easier. We fought for issues we believed in because who wants to save a population that is intolerant. We watched one of the most controversial elections ever. There were threats of World War III, and Civil War II. And to round it all out we tried to impeach a president, twice. This was not an easy year for anyone, and 20 years in the future when they are teaching it in school no one is going to believe all that could happen in one year, but it did and we survived. We are resilient, strong, compassionate, and determined. I learned the world will always bounce back when people work together to fix it.

At the beginning of my senior year of high school I made a new friend. Our last names were close in the alphabet and because my school had us doing assigned seats by last name, due to COVID, we sat together in 2 of my 4 classes. We quickly became friends, we had the same interest, same sense of humor, and a couple mutual friends, so it was easy. The only thing that majorly differed between the two of us was work ethic. We sat together in 2 AP classes, which are harder classes and require more effort. I have always been a good student, I have always had to work for my A’s, they did not come as naturally as it did for others. Because of that I have learned some great study habits and have developed a good work ethic. She, on the other hand, has never really taken higher classes, these were her first AP classes and it showed. She quickly fell behind because she did not prioritize homework and studying so she always had missing assignments and bad test grades. Well I did not really care what she was getting, especially because she was showing no signs of wanting to do better, no signs she was trying to study more or do the homework, then she started to complain. She started complaining about how much homework she gets from these classes, how hard the tests are, how quick the teachers move, basically anything that would take the blame of her bad grades off of her. I ignored it at first and would just change the subject, but that was not working because I could tell she just wanted me to agree with her. Then she just kept saying how I would never understand how she feels because school comes naturally to me, which it did not. I never agreed with her, just listened and then one day I just could not take the complaining anymore so I told her exactly what I thought. I told her that I have A’s because I study for the test, I do not have any zeros in the grade book because I do the homework, I do not feel like the teacher is going too fast because I pay attention and do not sleep through the class. She just stared at me and I told her she needs to stop blaming other people for her grades, I told her how A’s do not come naturally to me, I work for them. She looked a little shocked and then I told her if she really wants better grades she needs to do the homework and study for tests. She said she was sorry for complaining and asked if I could help her study because she never really learned how to study. I was so excited and immediately said yes, I felt bad for going off on her but she learned something, and more importantly wanted to fix it. So what did I learn from this? First you are solely responsible for you. You cannot depend on others to do everything for you, or expect it to just come naturally, and most importantly you cannot blame others for your shortcomings. My entire life my mom and dad have done everything I needed help with or could not do. One day my mom gave me a list of scholarships she found on my counties education website and wanted me to apply to, well I had already applied to all but two and I was working on the essays for those two. She seemed surprised, but proud, I knew I needed to start being more responsible for myself, but I also knew that if I needed help they would be there to answer any questions. I have always been independent in my thoughts and ideas and I have always liked to be alone to do things for myself, but the second they got hard I would pass it on that way it would not be my fault if it did not work. I have stopped doing that, instead I ask for help when something is hard so that next time I encounter something like I know what to do. Second, I learned that I complain about the most first world problems ever and I need to be more considerate and grateful for what I have. So my mom forgot to get my favorite chips when she went to the store, well we have tons of other food in the house that I need to be grateful I have access to whenever I want. I need to stop taking things like that for granted. I know it is cliché to say but I just always think to myself, is this something that people in third world countries wish they had access to or could do? If yes, stop complaining because the way I see it you are pretty lucky. I need to be more grateful and more responsible for myself. My friend made me realize not everyone is taught the skills they need to succeed, not everyone has the same opportunities I have, and I am very lucky my parents helped to teach me my work ethic and study skills. This event made me look at my life and the way I behave with things outside of school and made me realize I am going to be on my own in a couple months, so I need to start taking more responsibility for myself and learning how to do difficult things instead of just giving up. I even made a list of all the things I want to know or know how to do before I go to college, so I can be as prepared as possible. I am ecstatic to go to college and I am confident because of how much I have learned in just a few short months.

At the end of 9th grade I realized I had a crush on a girl I sat next to in two of my classes. I spent months denying it because I've had boyfriends before so there is no way I could be gay. I spent that entire summer hiding in my room watching way too much Netflix because I overthink everything and I knew if I saw one of my friends I would want to talk about it, but I wasn’t really ready yet. I decided to watch the DC superhero shows : Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl. I started with Supergirl and quickly decided I really liked it. Right when I started to forget my crush my favorite character came out as gay, and just to pile on the confusion this character had the same name as my crush, which at the time really threw my overthinking into overdrive. I went back, started the show over, and paid super close attention to everything this character said and did. I studied her, trying to find the signs that made her gay, hoping to find something that would point to me being gay. Obviously this was a faulty venture given she was a character on TV and who knows if the writers even thought of her as gay until they started that story line. I know this sounds ridiculous but seeing how uncertain she was when she first came out and watching her deny the feelings she had and then come to terms with them made me realize you do not always know right away. You always hear people say you are born gay and that person has always known they are gay but I can honestly say I hadn’t the slightest clue until I met my crush. This character made me realize you do not have to know right away, you can take your time and think about it. Especially when you do not grow up knowing, it hits a little harder. Knowing this fact about me changed the way I go about my day and changed my outlook on life in ways I didn’t believe possible. However, there is always bad with the good. When I first started telling my friends that I liked girls I didn’t really know what to expect so I started with the people I knew would be super accepting. A problem arose when I told the third person who was probably my number one best friend at the time. She was very supportive and played it off like it was no big deal which is what I wanted so I was super appreciative of that. But about a month later I went to tell a mutual friend of ours and she said she already knew because my best friend had told her. I was really angry because that was not her story to tell but what made it worse is she thought I liked her, and she thought that is why I told her I was gay. I was so angry and distrusting of everyone that I didn't come out to anyone else for a year. When I more or less got over the whole incident I went and told her how angry I was and how she was wrong. Straight people do not like every single person in the opposite gender, and it is the same for gay people. Just because she was a girl does not mean I liked her and she just wasn’t getting it. She just kept saying “your gay and I’m a girl so obviously you like me”, and I honestly had no idea what to do. I decided to slowly phase her out of my life because I didn’t want to continue being friends with someone who thought that of me. I had to just forget it, I can’t hide being gay because I had one bad experience when I was a teenager, if that were how everyone did it no one would ever come out again. So I decided to forget her and keep moving forward. So how did this character help make me who I am today, well there is no way I would have come out if it weren’t for her. She made me realize not everyone has the same experience. Not everyone has known since birth they are gay and not everyone is able to accept it as who they are immediately. I always felt so much shame for not knowing what my sexuality was but after watching her experience I knew it was okay to be confused. I have always thrived in leadership positions because I am crazy organized and love challenges. After being elected president of my high schools national honors society I was able to further those skills and really find what I am good at. I want to own my own non-profit event planning business. Niche career, I know, but I love helping people and I love event planning and that is what I want to do. I am 100% confident in who I am today. I am no longer dressing to fit in or posting what everyone else is so I look normal, I am being 100% me, and this is the happiest and most excited for the future I have ever been. That is all thanks to my favorite Supergirl character Alex Danvers.