As the environment continues to deteriorate, it will take professionals in every field of science, from meteorology to geology to biology to reverse the damage. My own goals lie in the conservation of endangered animals. Many threatened species play crucial roles in the health and survival of ecosystems central to the health of our planet, such as the jaguar and tapir in the Amazon; others are instrumental in sustaining food systems that keep humanity alive, such as the honeybee. When these species disappear, whole environments can collapse, as demonstrated when the sea otter was almost eradicated from the Pacific. The sea urchins they ate exploded in population, destroying an ecosystem which countless other species relied upon. If action is not taken, we very well may find ourselves in the position of the starving fish in those urchin barrens, struggling to survive as our whole world collapses around us. Without honeybees, we will starve; without the jaguars and tapirs, one of our most vital sources of oxygen, the Amazon Rainforest, will whither. For the survival of our species, we must fight to save our planet, and all creatures that call it home. For me, saving the planet involves bringing species back from the brink of extinction. I hope to for the Species Survival Plan, an international effort to preserve endangered animals via captive breeding. I have always adored zoos and the outdoors alike, and supporting the former will allow me to play my part in saving the latter. That is why I am studying conservation biology, that is why I have worked incredibly hard in school, and that is why I have the dreams that I do. The SSP identifies animals that are a good genetic match and facilitates their transfer between institutions so they can produce offspring with a mate that best rebuilds the population of their species without compromising the health or genetic diversity of their kind. I want to help threatened species survive for generations to come by improving their captive welfare in ways that will increase breeding success, and by helping the SSP accomplish its goals of rebuilding their populations so they can hopefully return to the wild someday. Our world is facing a grimly uncertain future, but there are lights in the darkness, and I hope to help one of those lights shine a little brighter. My community service ambitions are varied. On an international level, it is my hope to conduct research on communities on the Amazon River that are dependent on balanced ecology. I hope to serve these communities by collecting the information necessary for their natural surroundings to thrive. Nationally, I hope to someday be well-regarded enough in my field to serve on boards with mission statements that value species survival. Locally, my community service ambitions will always center back where they started: at a local library. My town has no youth center, so the public library fills that role. It is a haven for low-income kids, especially in the summer. In 2022, my best friend and I signed up to help with the summer reading program. Many of the kids came because it was free and the only thing available to them. Those kids were there all day, from the first activity to the library closing. I learned a great deal about seeing the world from a different perspective that summer. Without volunteers dedicating their time to others, so many people would be left behind and so many communities would falter. As my Grandma Cleo taught me, to build a brighter future, we must be generous with our time and resources.

Music provides a sense of belonging unlike any other high school activity. So while I am continually inspired and moved by the music I create, I want to write about what music activities in high school do for kids beyond just artistic expression. Not every freshman student is equipped for the social structure of high school, and I was one of those kids. For so many students, music is the "soft place to land" that they can't find anywhere else in the school. For me, band was structured socialization; it taught me how to interact with my peers to not only achieve a common goal, but also to have fun, lead, and make new friends. I devote hours upon hours each week to it, and it is absolutely a labor of love. I adore playing the trumpet, but what is more important to me is the tight-knit musical community that I belong to. It is within that community that I hope I have made a positive impact. Band relies heavily on student leadership, with so many students under the oversight of one teacher. Seniors are often asked to lead their sections in the absence of the director, and this year that duty fell to me. I was entrusted with overseeing the entire brass section, numbering over two dozen students, half of whom are freshmen. I remember being young and unsure at that age. In my district, eighth graders have opportunities to interact with the high school band in preparation their freshman year. Due to the pandemic, I did not have that experience. I went in completely blind, and trumpet upperclassmen were a great source of comfort and guidance for me. I knew that I wanted to be that for this years’ freshmen. I try to be there for them, both as an instructor and as an older-sister figure. I am always there to answer questions, and lend them equipment and advice whenever they need it. It makes me so incredibly happy when they feel confident enough to smile at me in the hallways or confess how much they love being in band. I am also deeply proud of the fact that this is the first year no brass player has dropped the class. While I cannot take full credit, I hope that I played a role. Band is an incredible community, and I am so honored to continue this tradition of leadership.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved nature. The summers of my childhood were spent catching bugs in my backyard and exploring the Black Hills with my siblings. Having a university in my hometown brought many opportunities to explore science further. Each year, when the students left and the population halved overnight, university doors opened for local students. I attended science camp on campus twice during middle school. As I grew older, my passion for science became a potential career path, and my love of animals drove me to pursue biology. Finding new opportunities that could quench my thirst for more science would mean I would need to look beyond my hometown. I wanted hands-on experience with animals, either in a zoo or in the field - even if I had no idea what that would entail. It was this drive that led me to stay at Wolf Ridge, an environmental learning center and sleepaway camp deep in the woods of Northern Minnesota, when I was fifteen. The idea of helping with an actual research project, banding wild songbirds as part of a population survey, was everything I could ask for. I had never stayed so far away from my family before, and that simple fact, combined with my social anxiety, made the whole prospect terrifying. To quell my anxiety, I resolved to focus on the science. However, I shocked myself and somehow made friends and found that doing what I loved was much more enjoyable with other people who loved it, too. When the week came to an end, I found that I missed them as much as the science. The next summer, I hoped to have the same experience at Cedar Point, a biological research station affiliated with the University of Nebraska. There was bird banding, but also opportunities to work with reptiles, collect wild fish, catch insects and spiders, and do radio telemetry - all of the things I loved and dreamt of doing - and the chance to make more friends who shared my interests. But that was not what happened. I found it much harder to relate to the other teenagers in my camp, many of whom had been there before and had established friendships. I found that I spent much of my time alone. While it was challenging at times, the science sparked something in me, even more than my experiences at Wolf Ridge had, and it solidified what I had suspected for a long time: this was what I wanted to do with my life. What I found at Cedar Point felt right, and for the first time I could actually see myself in the adults working with us. Ultimately, both camps defined me. Wolf Ridge pushed me out of my shell and Cedar Point pushed me towards my future. Just last week I had the opportunity to attend a lecture presented by Dr. Jane Goodall where she highlighted the delicate balance of nature. This is what makes me passionate about science – we have only a finite amount of natural resources, and they all affect each other. All living things are connected. Sometimes this is between teenagers at a camp in the Minnesota woods, or it may be between a girl and the turtle she’s tagging on the shores of Lake McConaughy. Learning as much as we can about our natural world is the first step. Sharing what we learn about the interdependence of all living things is how we can best conserve nature, and I believe this will be my life’s work.