One way in which I try to have a positive impact on the world is by remembering all the beauty it has given us. I use my art to bring awareness, yes, but also to show that better things can come, that there are moments when an amazing song, the perfect sentence, an astronomical view can bring a minute of peace, serenity, and understanding to someone who is having a hard time. I think of these moments and wait for them to appear on their own time when life thinks I truly need it. I'm not greedy with it and I appreciate every sign the world sends my way and I hold onto it for as long as I can.

What my dream life looks like is a home that supports me and my future. I am a well-known author and photographer, I'm stable financially and mentally. My body and mind are healthy, I have a career that I am proud of that is helping others make their own dreams come true, and I have a support system that surrounds themselves around me with only love and protection.

The most helpful piece of financial advice I have ever received was to stay on track with your credit score. You can make one wrong purchase, open up another credit card you can't afford, et. and all of it can go downhill. Keeping a watchful eye on who has access to your hard-earned money or what you're spending it on, is key to everyone's financial situation.

My favorite book would have to be Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen but not just because of the romance. I enjoy it so much because, to me, it really reminds me not to judge a book by its cover, that assumptions really do make an ass out of you and me, it makes me realize that judgmental beings bring Karma to their door. It strives for me to be a better version of myself even to others I may not like all that much. Although I am a lover of romance, very much so in fact that it tends to be the only genre I read nowadays, I also tend to love putting the romance second in a book and look at the underlying message that each one gives, especially with Austen's Pride & Prejudice. I think it makes the reader much more incitem=ful when they can take a message from every book, one that is heart-wrenching and eye-opening, one that actually means something. I just love a book that gives something back to the reader, makes me feel like my time wasn't wasted or that I was given something from the author personally. And that is why I love the book so much.

My name is Hannah Ross, I am about to turn 23 years old, and I am transferring this spring to a four-year university of my choice. I have received my associate's in English Literature but I plan to pursue my higher education in creative writing. My goals include one day showcasing my portraiture photography in a well-known and respected space in order to advocate for minority groups such as Latinx, LGBTQ+, those with disabilities, positive body image, and mental health. I also would one day like to strive to be a well-known author who speaks upon these issues as well through creative writing. To pursue these, I plan to continue my higher education, studying different techniques in order to execute my art well, make connections with those who only want to see me grow, and genuinely be happy for me. In life, all achieve to be is stable. I want a family that loves me for all that I am, I want a career that helps me grow and brings me joy, I want a community that has my back. I hope to be the best version of myself in life. What excites me most about this world is the beauty that it can bring, the love and joy other on this planet can give. Music that has a divine message gives me the energy and hope to continue on no matter how hard it is to be on this Earth. How I plan to give back to others and my community plays into both my art and career. I know that money is not always the answer but it most definitely helps. I want to help my grandmother in any way that I can, may that be financial or other. I want to help her as much as she has helped me throughout my life and education. I don't know where I would be if it weren't for her and her influence in the community we live in. I also want to be a part of alumni programs that strictly give back to the students rather than themselves.

What drives my passion for art is all the traumatic experiences I had been through as a child. I want to be a large advocate for mental health and by doing that, I use my art in poetry and photography, along with the written word, to bring awareness of abusive households and how they can affect children who are becoming adults. How this scholarship will help me pursue this passion is by allowing me to continue on with my higher education in English in order to study different techniques and of those who also use the written word to advocate for mental health awareness, body positivity, LGBTQ+, and other minority groups to bring light to those who had been without it for so long.

My vision is to showcase mental health and society's unrealistic body standards pertaining to women. In the photos I have selected, they are self-portraits taken over the years that all have the same theme involved. They show mental struggle while invoking thoughts and wonder on the subject's facial manners. Life experiences have definitely molded the way my artistic vision is formed. Being in unstable living environments, living with my abusers, and being a child during the 2008 recession and other life tragedies, I try to showcase how family dynamics play a major part in growing as an adult while living in an abusive household with financial struggles. My artistic dreams for the future is to one day be a successful author and showcase my photography in a recognized space that can be viewed by other mental health, positive body image, LGBTQ+, minority group advocates that cannot only see the struggle but also find themselves within my art and work. I wish to bring awareness and hope for those also suffering.

A counselor that had helped me pursue higher education had to be Peral Lopez at Grossmont College. While in the EOPS program, counselor Dr. Pearl Lopez went above and beyond to help me through my anxieties when it came to checking off things on my educational to-do lists, due dates, and transferring to the college of my dreams. This counselor didn't hand me a few pieces of paper and send me on my way like many I had been through before. She had sat down with me, checked in with me, and kept an eye out for me through many semesters while at Grossmont College. Hours I have spent talking to her about my goals, hopes, and dreams when it comes to my higher education, my career, and just life in general. She helped me when my grandfather was ill and dying, she was there for me when I learned to have a learning disorder, she was there for me even after I began transferring to another college. Dr. Pearl Lopez cheered me on when I graduated with my Associate in English Literature. This counselor spoke to me like we were long-time friends and as if she was genuinely concerned for me. I don't know where I would be without Pearl.

Why I am studying creative writing is because I find myself daydreaming and escaping reality where I am put in a better environment than the one I am currently in. Creative writing not only helps with that, but I am able to write thought-provoking, hard-hitting, and sensational worlds where mental health, body positivity, and family dynamics are looked upon with grace. Creative writing is therapeutic and has helped me many times where I had felt lost and not myself. It's helped me grow into a better human being because I am able to put myself in my own characters as if I am manifesting to be these wonderful people I created. It's helped me work on myself and I know it has the same effect on others who enjoy creative writing and reading as I do. Goals, hopes, and dreams for myself are to one day become a successful author who has books that not only helps those struggling in life, but love to escape into their reading for a while. I hope to do this while working in higher education, teaching others about the love of the written word and how powerful it can be. I hope to one day be a professor or an advocate for the writing community. I want to help teach others who love creating worlds and characters of their own as much as I do and how to expertly do that. Within the writing world, I strive to not just be well known but, to be someone remembered as an advocate for mental health, positive body image, and healthy family dynamics. All without making it seem too "Hollywood" or "fake". I want to be in a world of fantasy that talks about real-world problems, I want my characters to have flaws and to work on them as real people do. How I wish to affect others through creative writing is just as I've mentioned before. I want to write eye-opening romance where the romance is second. I want to show that creative writing isn't boring or unintelligent. I want others to know that real-world problems for women can be seen in literature, that not every character, whatever the gender, fits a certain standard. Whether that be personality-wise or by beauty. I want the effect of my writing to make others find themselves within the book and be looked upon with happiness and grace. I want diversity and acknowledgment. I just want others to know that they are seen and heard through my writing.