My fathers phone rang with the distinctive tone set for my grandfather, shattering the conversational silence created by the blaring TV my parents never turned off. The previous week we had taken him to the hospital for a CAT scan and biopsy; which my parents believed would show nothing as MyChart released a preliminary result which seemed positive. But watching my fathers face we muted the TV and my father put his phone on speaker. "Can you see my computer?" My grandfather asked, referring to a program we had installed that meant my father could see his computer screen from miles away. The software was booted and my father cast his screen onto the TV in front of us. The MyChart alert had changed, now it listed that he had cancer. But not one type, three separate types of lung cancer all at once. The first time my grandfather had lung cancer was in 2000, and after undergoing an experimental method of treatment, he remained in remission until his diagnosis in 2024. He lives in a cancer cluster, even if it's not officially stated as such; as the town was mainly built around industry, particularly a paper mill which you can smell in the air for miles. He lived most of his time in that town and then worked in the paper mill for 41 years. After a course of Keytruda therapy(ironically with the doctor who was treating my grandmothers stage four lung cancer for the past three years), it appeared that his cancer was either inert or in remission. The day my grandfather rang the bell he excitedly sent me a video followed by an image of the omelet he was having to celebrate. But his health continued to deteriorate and he was in and out of the hospital. Back in December, on the scan that was supposed to officially label him as "in remission," they couldn't see the cancer behind the fog of pneumonia coating the inside of his lungs. The pneumonia wouldn't die, maybe the cancer didn't, but he did on March 23, 2025. Although I guess we'll never know for certain, I have no doubt in my mind that his lung cancer was caused by his time at the paper mill. "The smell of money," as my grandfather described the sickening smell when the mill was running, combined with his smoking habits was actually the smell of malignancy and morbidity. This possible link between his environment, built and otherwise would be studied as environmental health, an overarching name and theme of my studies. Although I didn't get into environmental health because of my grandfather, his life's experiences helped verify my interest in the field. I knew for a very long time I was interested in environmental studies and health as separates, but didn't know how they connected until senior year of high school and feel in love with the field. I don't know what part of the environmental health field I'll end up in the future, but I know his memory will keep me dedicated. Although environmental health isn't as patient focused as a position of a nurse or a primary care doctor, we still interact with the community regardless of what aspect of the field you go into. During those years of caregiving for my grandparents as their health deteriorated I picked up skills which will help me in the field wherever I end up; probably someplace clinical now. It “smelled like money” the morning he died and that’s a piece of irony I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

Last summer, I went on the journey of a lifetime. I was granted the opportunity to go to Spain through my school. These ten days abroad taught me more about myself than seventeen-now eighteen years in Ohio did. So when I applied to colleges, I planned to go anywhere but Ohio. Why wouldn't I want to journey in the security of college? But through some rejections and financial troubles I ended up staying in the state- attending Ohio University. Through Ohio University, I was accepted into the Honors Tutorial College, a unique opportunity for research and education. Since I plan on becoming a researcher studying the interplay between global warming and public health, this was hard to beat. Through this career choice, I have to consider the entire world in my decision-making, rather than just the United States. My career choice leads me to see many things wrong in America, some of which I realized when I was in Spain. The first of these is the sense of rugged individualism. In America, I feel it is hard to create a support network since we're all so focused on climbing the economic ladder as fast as we can. Rather than accepting we need help, our health is declining, or situations of the sort; we are expected to push through. Our schools and media focus solely on America, dismissing all issues outside the United States unless they are convenient headlines. One way I would like to change our system is lower-priced healthcare. People shouldn't be forced to set up "GoFundMe's" and go thousands of dollars into debt because something went wrong. We need to cut down on rapacious profits for drug companies. This is a huge undertaking and I couldn't do it alone. To help with this problem, I would campaign for the cause, both for elected officials and petitions. The easiest way to combat this would be to arraign drug companies. However, the more likely course of action would be to find cheaper ways to manufacture these medicines. I would focus on drugs to treat tropical diseases like quinine or tecovirimat. These types of drugs are often dismissed by insurance companies since tropical diseases aren't as common in the United States. However, these diseases can still affect citizens, even if it's just from traveling to high-risk areas. But the field I'm entering studies the movement of mosquitos, and as the world has been heating these mosquitos can live higher north, encompassing nearly all of the United States. These diseases may soon become common, and people shouldn't have to die because they can't pay. Also, by revolutionizing the production of these medicines, it would benefit the world. Many tropical diseases are understudied, so much so that 20 are considered "neglected" and through this research and production, other countries in the line of fire would lose fewer citizens. Overall, individualism can be good, but there's a limit where it starts hurting you and those around you. So please, look around and reach out a hand, someone is likely struggling around you.

Sirens blare outside, maybe miles away but they go towards the direction of the school. My heart races and my breathing speeds up. We were five minutes away from a school shooting during my freshman year of high school. If it hadn't been for the shooter discharging his gun into a toilet as a "test shot" my school would have been on the news. Not in an award-winning way but in the tragic way Robb Elementary or Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are known. During my junior year, I began taking college courses at a nearby high school. In the middle of class one day the fire alarm went off and we all ushered outside. After thirty minutes in the cold, we were evacuated from the school grounds and marched to a nearby school. The entire parking lot was swarmed with police, fire, and bomb squad patrol. A wave of terror went over the students. The officers were armed with guns and bulletproof vests. Everything was on lockdown. They refused to tell the students what was going on and our phone signals were turned off. Luckily this incident ended up fruitless but it reinvigorated the fear of being murdered in school. My peers and I grew up in an age of school shootings-according to Wikipedia, there have been almost 450 school shootings since I was born. These repeated events instilled fear deep inside, mainly not affecting my daily life. But compounded with the events of Junior year these thoughts became much more distressing. I chose to only highlight two incidents in my high school career, but there are plenty more that I leave unaddressed, the first as early as elementary school. I consider myself very lucky not to be a direct victim of a gun-related incident. I have friends and family who've been threatened and shot at-increasingly more commonly in this past year. I have seen children in my neighborhood openly carrying guns- a scene harrowingly reflective of the dystopian novels of my youth. Indirectly I carry scars from my experiences. Although I love learning, I am admittedly scared of college. College is a privilege I am glad to partake in- attending Ohio University in the fall. I am excited about the opportunities opened up by college. Of course, the normal fears of college fill my head; but constantly in the back of my mind I worry for the lives of my peers and I, possibly being in “the wrong place at the wrong time.” After graduation, I plan to major in environmental studies and public health and work with the CDC or NHS. While my work would focus mainly on tropical diseases, health involves treating the whole person, not just the problem. This holistic view of medicine includes aspects like stress and grief that these acts of pointless killing bring about. While my field may not directly link with gun violence, I hope to spread awareness about gun control and advocate for stronger restrictions on guns. Currently, Ohio loosened restrictions on gun purchases and ownership but restricted the movement of law-abiding teenagers and business owners. But I am not particularly involved with organizations related to gun violence right now. I am a member of my high school's tennis and In The Know teams; I volunteer through my school's Key Club, Mid-Ohio Food Bank, and Red Cross Bloodmobile. I hold positions in my school's student council and National Honor Society as well as a part-time job. I consider myself lucky to be involved in the school, rather than gunned down in the halls.

There’s a picture of me, when I was much younger, standing in front of a faux travel poster for Europa. Smiling at the camera, you can almost tell this was my dream. Europa is a Jovian moon, meaning one of the largest four moons of Jupiter. It is expected to be one of approximately five moons with the possibility of life on its surface in the solar system, or rather the liquid oceans underneath the icy crust. At the time it was ambiguous, however, we now know it’s fatally radioactive. After health issues arose, my opportunity to go to space was taken away; NASA doesn’t allow astronauts with scoliosis. Even though I don’t reach for the stars anymore, my role model is Katherine Johnson. Katherine Johnson, who is now Katherine Goebel, was born in 1918 in West Virginia. Katherine was a genius, particularly in mathematics, graduating high school at fourteen and graduating college summa cum laude at eighteen with a bachelor’s degree in French and Mathematics. Originally she was a teacher but in 1952 she heard about NACA- which became NASA. At the time they were hiring African American women to solve math problems- called computers. Eventually, she was promoted and calculated the actual data of the John Glenn orbit and landing. She’s my role model because of all she overcame. Growing up and working in the South, she was heavily discriminated against. Although her choice of school was limited, she was a genius. Forced to travel to access a high school that could support her, her family upended their lives to support her. When she went to West Virginia State University, a historically black college- she was supported however it was still segregated. She couldn’t continue into the graduate program until the opportunity was opened for her. Her struggle for education showed the right to an education that I have. I plan on going to college and she played an influential role in me doing so. She convinced me to sign up for advanced math, like calculus in high school, and advanced sciences like Advanced Placement Physics I. But she didn’t just affect me. She was influential enough to have a movie made of her and her colleagues, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn lives. This movie changed my life by showing me that people in the deepest of discrimination still have a chance to be successful. At the time, I used this movie to motivate me to do advanced math but now it has a different meaning. I understand that I come from a privileged background but in the current political climate where LGBTQ+ and women’s reproductive rights are stripped away every day, it’s hard to stay positive. Seeing how these amazing women, my role models, overcame their discrimination and were extremely successful convinces me to keep fighting. One day our efforts will be shown in a positive light, even if that isn't currently. One day the oppressors will regret messing with the oppressed. We will rise, and if "Hidden Figures" and Katherine Johnson taught me anything, we will go to the moon and back.

I have lied on every mental health test I’ve ever taken. When I was presented with the first test when I was ten my mother watched over my shoulder. “Are you sure that’s true?” She’d ask when I marked a three or a four. Under her questioning gaze, I erased and lessened my answer. Every test after- she watched over my shoulder, and it got to a point where I would simply lie. Mindlessly circling ones, I was hiding parts of me. Truthfully I was hiding my issues from myself as well. What I didn’t know at the time however is that mental health issues run in my family. Since I’ve lied, I don’t know what diagnosis or struggles I have. For a while, I had an eating disorder much like anorexia. I hid my eating disorder for quite some time, even from myself. But eventually, a doctor caught on and forced me to gain weight, making other health problems I to be worse. I still have flare up’s and struggle with those thoughts but my coping mechanisms have improved. Instead of restricting food when I feel sick/the urge I have a set of safe foods I can force myself to eat. This way I can deal with my thoughts/urges without giving into old behavior patterns. Academic pressure plays a huge part in my life. This stress becomes unbearable, particularly in the winter months when classes change and put more expectations on students. I struggle with balancing my life, I focus mainly on actions I think will have a lasting impact; like academics and my job. I base my self-esteem and livelihood on academic success, and when that falls through, I end up in a dark space. As of writing this, it’s been a few weeks since being rejected from my dream college. This hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. I have been apathetic for the past three to four years, or I thought I was, but when that decision came out I lost all motivation. Since I based my entire academic success on this decision, using phrases like “you’re doing this for Hopkins” in the late nights and early mornings when I wanted nothing less than to go to school, showed me my efforts were fruitless. I have spent a lot of time processing and changing my line of thought. I was accepted into the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College(HTC). This is a highly competitive program, only 111 students were accepted this year. Instead of focusing on my “loss;” I have been focusing on the opportunities through the HTC. I still struggle with comparing and disappointment from my rejection but spending my time changing my thought process has helped me continue with my schooling. I still haven’t taken a mental health test honestly. However in transparency, I’ve taken mental health tests off of the internet and answered truly, however since they aren’t graded or controlled by a doctor, it doesn’t make a difference. I have an ingrained stigma against mental health, which I’m not proud of, which prohibits me from answering truly. Recently I started the process of accessing mental health care. This is ridiculously difficult and expensive, even with insurance. Mental health care should be taken seriously, but since it’s so inaccessible, people need to find their coping mechanisms to thrive.

In pictures, I look perfectly average, in a way most people do. I don’t have any visible differences, I dress based on clothes sold in stores, and I’m shaped by pop culture like everyone. In a crowd I wouldn’t stick out but in speaking with me you would start to see little quirks and traits. Physically I look average, some acne scars, freckles, and moles speckle my body, except for my back. On my back, there is a foot-long pale pink scar running along my spine. Gifted to me by my surgeon, my scar is actually a combination of two separate surgeries less than three years apart, fusing ten vertebrae together. While any major surgery has a learning curve, for my first surgery it was particularly steep. I had my first surgery on March Fifth, 2020, right before the first COVID-19 lockdown. One of the first things I remember after waking up from surgery is a news story about spiking cases in my area; I was rushed out of the hospital to clear beds. But after a rough recovery involving drug interactions, virtual appointments, and limited exercise I was back under the knife less than three years later. Overall, my spinal fusion doesn’t affect my daily life, but at this point, I’ve had time to figure out my limitations. Personality-wise, I often come across as stoic and serious but I’m often quite humorous. Even my friends struggle to determine when I’m joking. My sense of humor is situational and often darker which can lead to awkward conversations. I’m a very hard worker, so many people think I can’t have fun. But a common thread I have with all the other applicants is the desire to change the world for the better. Living through COVID-19 and growing up in a world degraded by global warming, I realized the importance of research and knowledge. From these experiences, I am going to college for environmental healthcare. While this is not a fully developed field, it often requires a medical or doctorate. Therefore I will be in university for a very extended time, racking up debt, which will be insurmountable without help. Eventually, I will work with the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) or National Health Service(NHS) as a researcher researching the link between global warming and the transmission of tropical diseases. Most of my position will take place either in the field or in a lab. Through my position, I hope to help my community avoid another COVID-19-like scenario. I plan to continue volunteering but through my career path, I will help more people more substantially.

Looking at the meticulously organized spreadsheet on my computer screen, I was quickly struck by the realization that my merit scholarships and offered financial aid wouldn’t cover much. After years of late nights and early mornings, skipping social affairs to focus on school, my decision to attend college was debilitating. Many of the colleges on my list expected my parents to pay between ten to fifty percent of their yearly income in addition to my loans. This is an impossible amount for my parents and I to pay. Living through COVID-19 and growing up in a world degraded by global warming, I realized the importance of research and knowledge. From these experiences, I am going to college for environmental healthcare. While this is not a fully developed field, it often requires a medical or doctorate. Therefore I will be in university for a very extended time, racking up debt, which will be insurmountable without help. Eventually, I will work with the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) or National Health Service(NHS) as a researcher researching the link between global warming and the transmission of tropical diseases. Most of my position will take place either in the field or in a lab. Without financial help, I may have to reconsider my dreams. Without funding, I will likely have to carry more than one part-time job to get by; while going into tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. The more I can focus on my education, the better outcome my education will have. Overall, I would be a good candidate for this scholarship based on my work ethic and reliability. My work ethic is to be rivaled. In my freshman year, I struggled with time management between being involved with the marching band and my classes. The year ended and my GPA wasn't up to my standards. After quitting the band, I threw myself into school to make up for that year. Taking forty-six direct college credits in two years with an additional eleven from Advanced Placement Classes. I went from having a weighted 3.5 in freshman year to a 4.557 as of the fall of my senior year. While taking these courses I got involved in extracurricular activities and had a part-time job. Once I got into my college classes, I only received "A’s". I had no late assignments for the entirety of my sophomore-senior years thus far. Multiple colleges have already seen my potential. As of writing this essay, I was accepted into sixteen schools but forced to reconsider my dreams based on finances. With the help of your scholarship, I will retake my dreams and change the world.

On paper, I go to Grove City High School, but I spend little of my time there. Most days I spend less than an hour there! In my junior year, I began attending the Accelerated Learning Center(ALC). The ALC has actual college professors come and teach at Central Crossing High School, giving us a taste of a college experience before graduating. Taking up half the school day, last year I took three classes at Grove City but this year I’m only taking one. This made choosing a high school teacher difficult, not only because of the ALC but the years I did attend high school were during the original COVID-19 lockdown. I think my most influential teachers are truthfully my ALC teachers. An instructor I had, Mrs. Ogrodowski strengthened my understanding of grammar and general English. Mrs. Ogrodowski taught Composition I and II and pushed me to write my best every time. Mrs. Ogrodowski’s tough grading pushed me to do my best on every assignment. She would grade discussion boards like many teachers graded essays. Nit-picking every word, and marking whole papers in red ink, my grades were falling. In grading me harshly, my writing skills drastically increased. I ended the class with an "A" and her grading helped me receive scholarships. One day, the fire alarm went off. After standing outside in the cold for thirty minutes we were evacuated from the school grounds. We had been standing on the backside of the school, with a police car driving on the sidewalks against the school, keeping us away. Rounding the corner, the front parking lot was swarmed with police, fire, and bomb squad patrol; a wave of terror went over the students. The officers were armed with guns and bulletproof vests. Ushered into the nearby trade school, everything was on lockdown. They refused to tell the students the situation and telecommunication was shut down. That day I saw leadership skills in my instructor. She put me in charge of the headcount. She helped students find their teachers as we huddled in the hallway. When she finally sat down she assessed our emotions. Trying to deal with our anxieties, and protecting my classmate from harassment for a medical device, I pointed out that we didn’t know what was going on. She looked us in the eyes and we had a quick discussion since she couldn’t directly tell me. That day a bomb threat was called in on the school. It seemed credible, coming from an anonymous phone number. While it ended up coming up fruitless, this event changed my life. She pushed me to do my best, not just try to, on every assignment. This ideology transfers over into daily life as well. Every day I try my hardest even though some days it’s harder than others. Her leadership skills helped me in my position on the student council. While nothing as drastic as a bomb threat occurred under my charge, we had issues with lost merchandise. Using her technique I handled the situation responsibly and calmed those around me. While I will walk across the stage at the graduation of Grove City High School, my most formative experiences and friendships were formed at Central Crossing.

I have lied on every mental health test I’ve ever taken. When I was presented with the first test when I was ten my mother watched over my shoulder. “Are you sure that’s true?” She’d ask when I marked a three or a four. Under her questioning gaze, I erased and lessened my response. Every test, she watched over my shoulder, and it got to a point where I would simply lie. Mindlessly circling ones, I was hiding parts of me. Truthfully I was hiding my issues from myself as well. What I didn’t know at the time was that mental health issues run in my family. Both of my parents have mental health struggles. I knew about some issues, but in recent years I've learned more. Both sides of my lineage, particularly my mother’s side, struggle with addiction. While neither of my parents dealt with addiction, close relatives like grandparents, uncles, and cousins have. Those tests should be invalid, but they're taken as testimony since the doctors don't know the answers are untrue. I don’t know what diagnosis I may have. For a period, I had an eating disorder much like anorexia. I hid my eating disorder for quite some time, even from myself. But eventually, a doctor caught on and forced me to gain weight, making other health problems I have worse. Academic pressure plays a huge part in my life. This stress becomes unbearable, particularly in the winter months when classes change and put more expectations on students. With an expectation for perfection, school is a perfect place for mental issues to fester. As of writing this, it’s been a few weeks since being rejected from my dream college. This hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. I have been apathetic for the past three to four years, or I thought I was, but when that decision came out I lost all motivation. I based my entire academic success on this decision, using phrases like “you’re doing this for Hopkins” in the late nights and early mornings when I wanted nothing less than to do homework or go to school. My mental health journey is much less tumultuous than those of my peers. This is a privilege I aim to remember when speaking with people. Through this acknowledgment, I aim to give people space to talk. Oftentimes, by asking questions like, "How are you feeling right now" instead of "How are you;" there's a deeper understanding of their state of mind. Mental health affects all relationships, but in familial or close relationships it involves itself. In these relationships, I try to learn what the other person needs. No disorder or circumstance affects two people the same way; meaning the support they need is likely different. Understanding what comforts rather than further aggravates their issues are important to our interpersonal relationships. Through dealing with my problems, watching my family and friends fight theirs, and watching the aftermath of a classmate's suicide I learned the importance of mental health. While I have my aforementioned issues with internalized stigma, I am working on opening up and dismantling stigma. I believe mental health care is for everyone and should be more accessible. I wrote and delivered a speech on why schools should offer mental health days. While my career choice isn't directly linked to mental health, my field does involve public health and environmental studies. While these seem unrelated, physical health is linked with mental health. Overall, mental health lurks in every aspect of our life. If we don't address it, our overall well-being decreases. Trauma can't be undone, but there's always a possibility tomorrow.

Standing up for the unprotected, I study the interplay between climate change and tropical diseases, hoping to leave a positive mark on the world.

There’s a picture of me, when I was much younger, standing in front of a faux travel poster for Europa. Smiling at the camera, you can almost tell this was my dream. Europa is a Jovian moon, meaning one of the largest four moons of Jupiter. It is expected to be one of approximately five moons with the possibility of life on its surface in the solar system, or rather the liquid oceans underneath the icy crust. At the time it was ambiguous, however, we now know it’s fatally radioactive. After health issues arose, my opportunity to go to space was taken away; NASA doesn’t allow astronauts with scoliosis. The movie that shaped my life was “Hidden Figures.” “Hidden Figures” is a dramatic biography about three African American mathematicians working for NASA; Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson(Gobels), and Dorothy Vaughn. These women were high achievers put in a system that discriminated against them. In school, they were forced to take classes in segregated schools but ended up securing jobs at NASA. Within NASA, they were further discriminated against. They were forced to be in separate facilities, holding replaceable jobs, even though they were irreplaceable people. Confined to a colored computer section, they fought for their success. Mary Jackson had the mind of an engineer but couldn’t get that education. Luckily, she held a temporary position with the heat shield engineers. Her boss recommended she take courses to become a full-time engineer. But these lectures had to be taken at either Virginia University or a local high school, both of which were white schools. She appealed to the local court and convinced the judge to grant her permission to take the courses at a local high school. She became the first African American engineer working for NASA. Katherine Johnson was a mathematical whiz. She was selected from the computers to assist the space group force through analytic geometry. At first, she was extremely discriminated against in her new position, with a coffee pot solely for her and the nearest colored bathroom half a mile away. She quickly showed those white men her prowess and eventually they respected her. She even calculated the landing location and go/no-go of the rocket. Dorothy Vaughn did the job of a supervisor but wasn’t given the title or pay. After asking for months to be granted the position, she saw that some workers were installing an early computer called the International Business Machines (IBM). Understanding her job would likely be taken from her; she used a book from the local library to learn how to program the computer. She was promoted to supervisor of the IBM team and became a leader in IBM programming, appearing in textbooks. This move changed my life by showing me that people in the deepest of discrimination still have a chance to be successful. At the time, I used this movie to motivate me to do advanced math but now it has a different meaning. I understand that I come from a privileged background but in the current political climate where LGBTQ+ and women’s reproductive rights are stripped away every day, it’s hard to stay positive. Seeing how these amazing women, my role models, overcame their discrimination and were extremely successful convinces me to keep fighting. One day our efforts will be shown in a positive light, even if that isn't currently. One day the oppressors will regret messing with the oppressed. We will rise, and if "Hidden Figures" taught me anything, we will go to the moon and back.

I would like to preface this composition by explaining I have no connection to ministry. I am not a religious individual, but faith doesn’t seem to be a limiting factor for this scholarship. Despite this understanding, I wanted to preface this in case. At first, volunteering through the Mid-Ohio Food Bank was simply for consideration for NJHS. However, after volunteering, I was struck with an understanding that I needed to volunteer. In return for all the help I was given as a child, I wanted to pay the community back. Aiming to work in environmental studies and healthcare when I get older, I understand the importance of respecting the area and people around us. Soon I started volunteering at a nearby art studio. The owner of this studio ran lessons and summer camps, mainly for children. Through volunteering, I promoted art to young children. I helped clean and organize the supplies so the kids would have more time for art and less for cleaning. The joy on their faces when they had completed projects to show their parents was heartwarming. I wish those children took a love of art out into the world and enriched their creativity. During 2020-2022, I did not volunteer as much as I would have liked because my grandmother has stage four lung cancer. However, in 2022 I started volunteering and getting involved again. While I was involved with Key Club in my first year at high school, I rejoined in 2022. I became involved with the student council, in the 2021-2022 school year, I was the junior class secretary but in my senior year, I was a committee chair. I also joined my school's Tennis and In The Know teams while carrying a part-time job. Through student council, my high school hosted the first Ohio Association of Student Leaders (OASL) conference since the initial COVID-19 lockdown. This was a huge, and stressful, honor placed on our student council. To plan more effectively, tasks were distributed into committees; I was put in charge of merchandising. With this position came responsibilities. I was in charge of all money transactions, choosing merchandise, and prices. When the store wasn’t open, the money boxes were on my person- organized and counted. On the first day of the conference, awards were given out for various accomplishments. Unaware of what was to come, I exited the assembly early to set the store up. A name that sounded somewhat similar to mine blasted over the loudspeakers in the auditorium and a huge swell of applause followed. I found out after the fact, that my advisors nominated me for an all-around award for my efforts and the state board chose me as a recipient partially related to volunteering. I hope the attendees continue being leaders in their communities, and stay engaged and connected. I have continued volunteering with the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and volunteer every time the Red Cross Bloodmobile comes to my school. Overall, I’m involved in my community hoping that someone will benefit from my endeavors.

Looking at the meticulously organized spreadsheet on my computer screen, I was quickly struck by the realization that my merit scholarships and offered financial aid wouldn’t cover much. After years of late nights and early mornings, skipping social affairs to focus on school, my decision to attend college was debilitating. Many of the colleges on my list expected my parents to pay between ten to fifty percent of their yearly income in addition to my loans. This is an impossible amount for my parents and I to pay. Living through COVID-19 and growing up in a world degraded by global warming, I realized the importance of research and knowledge. From these experiences, I am going to college for environmental healthcare. While this is not a fully developed field, it often requires a medical or doctorate. Therefore I will be in university for a very extended time, racking up debt, which will be insurmountable without help. Eventually, I will work with the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) or National Health Service(NHS) as a researcher researching the link between global warming and the transmission of tropical diseases. Most of my position will take place either in the field or in a lab. Without financial help, I may have to reconsider my dreams. Without funding, I will likely have to carry more than one part-time job to get by; while going into tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. The more I can focus on my education, the better outcome my education will have. Overall, I would be a good candidate for this scholarship based on my work ethic and reliability. My work ethic is to be rivaled. In my freshman year, I struggled with time management between being involved with the marching band and my classes. The year ended and my GPA wasn't up to my standards. After quitting the band, I threw myself into school to make up for that year. Taking forty-six direct college credits in two years with an additional eleven from Advanced Placement Classes. I went from having a weighted 3.5 in freshman year to a 4.557 as of the fall of my senior year. While taking these courses I got involved in extracurricular activities and had a part-time job. Once I got into my college classes, I only received "A’s". I had no late assignments for the entirety of my sophomore-senior years thus far. Multiple colleges have already seen my potential. As of writing this essay, I was accepted into sixteen schools but forced to reconsider my dreams based on finances. With the help of your scholarship, I will retake my dreams and change the world.

Growing up in suburbia, I both had everything and very little at my fingertips. While it gives opportunities for relationships and stores within reach, the reach is warped by limitations around you. In my juvenescence, all of my friends lived in a much more affluent part of town. My childhood best friend lived an hour's walk away along bustling streets. Most of the stores were a half an hour's walk along an exit to the freeway. But I am grateful for the opportunities afforded to me living in suburbia. For a long time, I didn’t feel a sense of belonging in the community around me. My neighborhood is made up of older, either retired or wishing to be retired, individuals. Until I was about eight years old, no other children lived in my neighborhood. To be upfront, I still do not feel a sense of community in my neighborhood. But I found other places to belong and feel appreciated. I made friends with students from other schools who resided outside of Grove City and felt more attached to them. I met my best friend this way, we took college courses together. Our personalities meshed perfectly and everything about them piqued my interest. Community is not fully based on your location, albeit that may be part of it. In my experience, so much importance is put on your neighbors and living near family members. But neighborhoods are ever changing and family relationships aren’t guaranteed to be favorable. The people and opportunities that you select to be around you affect your daily life. I choose to talk to my friends and they choose to converse with me. This choice is infinitely more important to me than a forced interaction based on proximity. For me, choice is the main driving force behind a community. Even within families and neighborhoods, people often prefer to enrich their relationships with certain members more than others. This choice goes the other way as well, by refusing interactions or disregarding people as well. A community is a group of people who profoundly care and promote each other's well-being and rely on each other. Community is an ever-changing word, for example, an infant will rely on their parents. Their familial relationships would be all-encompassing. However, as they get older they rely on themselves. My community is composed of my family and neighbors, and more importantly, my acquired relationships like my friends. Community isn’t a box drawn on a map, it’s the way your relationships bloom and grow like flowers in a garden. You get to choose who you allow into your garden and who you weed out.

When I was younger I was an avid reader; reading entire "Books you need to read before you die” lists in a few weeks. So the first book that came to mind is "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. In the political environment evolving while I wrote this, it seemed fitting for this to be my chosen book. However, I wanted to highlight a book you won't find on any of the aforementioned lists. I wish everyone would read “The Bridge” by Bill Konigsberg. "The Bridge" addresses mental health issues, particularly teenage suicidal ideation. It shows the aftermath of the two protagonists' deaths on those around them in four different circumstances. The novel is written between the protagonists: Aaron and Tillie. This dual-narrator allows more people to identify with the story; I identified more with Aaron than Tillie. I first found this book in 2021, dealing with the COVID-19 lockdowns and a bandmate's suicide. During this time my mental health was suffering in the aftermath of my grandmother's stage four squamous cell lung cancer diagnosis. Mental health is often put on the back burner. But in my experience, teenage mental health is disregarded tenfold. Our issues are dismissed, blaming it on our irresponsibility and age, allowing problems to grow and fester. The basis of this book is the acceptance of mental health issues. While Tillie was more open about her ideation, Aaron hid his. In the first story, Tillie commits suicide while Aaron lives with the fallout. He spirals, dealing with the worsening of his mental health and the guilt about Tillie dying. After a breakdown in class, his closest classmates explained they had no idea how he was feeling. This scene exemplifies the fact we don't know how anyone truly feels; leading to the importance of checking in on each other. In the second story, Aaron kills himself while Tillie complains to her mother about her attempt. Her mother and psychiatrist endeavored to institutionalize her after she refused additional treatment. This story shows the importance of accepting help. Even though Tillie made her issues known, not all treatments work for all people. Tillie needed to be open to trying new treatments. Overall, reading "The Bridge" gave me an insight into mental health and suicidal ideation in a mildly invasive way. I walked away from this book a changed person, and come back to it whenever I'm struggling.

People terrify me; not all individual people, but the idea of humanity is horrifying. Humankind does horrendous actions (and wonderful things). Since I was a young child I identified as an introvert. When I found the Myers-Briggs test in sixth grade, it identified me as an INFJ- introverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging. Every year since, I’ve retaken the test and received the same results, including my most recent test in January. Being introverted, involvement in my community was difficult pre-COVID but has compounded in recent years. I had a justified reason to be scared of people, and this mentality writhed its way into my everyday life. Even now, I’m terrified of big groups of people, which made organizing a statewide convention difficult. My high school hosted the first Ohio Association of Student Leaders (OASL) conference since the initial COVID-19 lockdown. This was a huge, and stressful, honor placed on our student council. To plan more effectively, tasks were distributed into committees; I was put in charge of merchandising. With this position came responsibilities. I was in charge of all money transactions, choosing merchandise, and prices. When the store wasn’t open, the money boxes were on my person- organized and counted. On the first day of the conference, awards were given out for various accomplishments. Unaware of what was to come, I exited the assembly early to set the store up. A name that sounded somewhat similar to mine blasted over the loudspeakers in the auditorium and a huge swell of applause followed. I found out after the fact, that my advisors nominated me for a volunteering award for my efforts and the state board chose me as a recipient. Ironically, I received this award even though I wasn’t selected for the National Honor Society the year prior because I didn’t have enough volunteer hours. This year, I decided to get more involved in my community both in and out of school. Particularly since I was planning on moving out for college, I wanted to make the most of senior year. In school, I continued with the tennis team and student council, rejoined Key Club, and joined In The Know. In the prior year of student council, I was mainly just a member. I didn’t do anything outside of school and did nothing within. Planning the convention was a huge step for me, but I got involved in other ways as well, helping choose activities for pep rallies, and going to homecoming. In rejoining Key Club I helped those in the community around me. Within the school, we cleaned all the windows and the outside of lockers, a place often neglected. We made neck pillows for a local assisted living community. Out of school I did volunteer work with the Red Cross Bloodmobile and the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, and got a job at Plato’s Closet. My volunteer work showed the brighter side of humanity. Overall, these experiences helped shape me into the person I am today. In no way did my introversion or anxieties disappear but I now know the importance of involvement.

The day I first went to tennis practice it was ninety degrees Fahrenheit with full sun. We ran through drill after drill: ladders, laps, lunges, and then we started practice! It was an hour and a half of pain and regret. I had dabbled in tennis when I was a child when my best friend roped me into taking lessons with her. But I had long forgotten these skills by my junior year of high school when I tried out so when I trudged onto the courts I was uncoordinated and unfit. I was convinced to try out for the high school team by a different friend just so she would have someone to talk to during matches, and I wanted to get healthy in the years during COVID. I thought of quitting, everyone else there had true talent. Even the freshmen with no experience were better than me. I was out of breath after one set of ladders and couldn’t hit a ball straight. I felt like a failure. In an act of spite, I stuck with it. A year later I got to play my first and only varsity match, and I won! In an extra layer of irony, my partner was my friend that convinced me to join the team. Tennis helped get me out of a very dark time in my life. Tennis showed me the importance of involvement. Many days, I woke up and felt like there was no point in getting up, let alone playing tennis. But I forced myself because I wanted to be there for my team. I went to all but two practices and all the home matches. It also taught me perseverance both on a large scale and small. In terms of large scale, I forced myself to stick with tennis. I thought my skills weren’t at the level to be a member of the team, but my coaches saw an opportunity. On a small scale, I tried to play every point like it was the most important point of my life. I ran for every ball, even if I knew I couldn’t make it. In my senior year, I led my teammates through ladders and laps that I despised before. I won quite a few matches through a backhand into the back corner or straight down the middle. Not only did I become more physically healthy I also became mentally healthy. Tennis helped develop my communication skills. I only played doubles throughout my time in tennis and in doubles a key point in communication with your partner. Tennis allowed me to expand my skills and develop mechanisms to cope with hardship. Tennis showed me the importance of balance. Before joining tennis, my life focused exclusively on school. Joining tennis showed me the importance of involvement; after joining tennis I also got a job and started getting involved with more extracurricular activities. While school is still the center of my life, tennis showed me time management. The skills I gained from tennis will help me achieve great things. This school year, my high school hosted a statewide conference of student leaders(OASL) and I was in charge of merchandise. I used my time management, balance, and coping skills while planning and executing this conference. Proving my skills learned during my experiences with tennis transfer into the "real world."

We are often bombarded with news of celebrities being extremely irresponsible like Kylie Jenner on a three-minute flight, convincing us our choices don’t matter. Billionaires typically have the highest carbon footprint out of all the population. According to National Public Radio, “some of the world’s richest billionaires each emit…more than 1 million times the amount(metric tonnes of carbon dioxide) emitted by 90% of people.” It is a slippery slope toward environmental apathy. But as someone who’s attending college partially for environmental studies and taking an Environmental Science Safety and Health class at Columbus State Community College, sustainability is critical to me. I attempt to lessen my carbon footprint in all aspects of my daily life. But little steps from many people could snowball into something bigger. Think of the environment as a coin jar. That jar can only hold so many coins. If each person limits the number of coins they add to the jar, particularly those responsible for the most coins added, then the jar will fill slower. If there’s technology to remove coins from the jar then the jar can exist for longer. Using this analogy, if each person limits their emissions both through direct and virtual production, then the Earth can sustain all life for longer. If everyone tries to lessen their carbon footprint, the whole planet’s footprint decreases. Many ways I combat global warming aren’t huge thought-out actions, but small everyday choices. When I applied for my job, I looked for walkable distances. Seeing the negative effects of fast fashion, I mainly buy secondhand clothing. In stores, avoid excess plastic packaging, and try to eat less meat. I only do dishes and laundry when there’s enough to have a full load to lessen water waste. One of my favorite hobbies is knitting, and when I knit I choose yarns with at least 20% natural fiber, like wool, or cotton. I try to choose clothes in the same regard, with a consideration of their lasting environmental impacts. I prefer animal and natural fibers because they decompose over time, while plastics like polyester and viscose stay in the environment. However, I know I contribute to global warming. I go to three different schools, and I have at least a twenty-minute drive to school each day which is inherently polluting. However, there isn’t bussing so the impact falls on me. I drive a gas car, I often take notes in paper notebooks, and I buy prepackaged, fast foods when I’m running behind. In general, it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the doom and gloom of environmental media coverage. However, making small changes in your own life and voting for politicians with the environment in mind can make a difference. Works Cited: Archie, Ayana. “Investments of 125 Billionaires Have the Same Carbon Footprint as France, Study Finds.” NPR, 9 Nov. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/11/09/1135446721/billionaires-carbon-dioxide-emissions#:~:text=13% 2C%202022%2C%20in%20Kemmerer%2C%20Wyo. Accessed 12 Mar. 2023.

I wish we lived in a world where feminism wasn’t necessary. I wish from the time everyone was born the world would look at them for what they can do, rather than who they’re assigned to be. I wish the gender scripts were removed and there wouldn’t be “man’s work” or “women’s work.” But sadly, not only are we not there, I believe we are regressing into gender inequity. Through lawmakers' efforts to take away the option to control our bodies the necessity for feminism is shown. The shining example of this was when the court overturned the constitutional right to privacy and reproductive freedom in the infamous Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we are seeing the flurry of lawmakers not only banning abortion but adding jail time for those involved. In addition, there is a nationwide movement to ban transgender individuals from getting gender-affirming care. I identify as a transgender-inclusive feminist. To me, feminism is the mentality and attempt to level the playing field between all genders. It goes against the ingrained cultural androcentrism forced on every aspect of our lives. Feminism isn’t just giving women more chances, or being “man-hating.” In actuality, feminism would help men as well because when we even the playing field, men have more opportunities as well. When stigma is drawn away from men doing “pink collar jobs” like cosmetology or teaching they have a wider range of careers to choose from. While I always had an innate understanding that everyone should be judged based on their ideas, the word feminism was rarely used around me and when it was, it was often in a derogatory manner. It’s not that I didn’t believe in the ideals of feminism, I didn’t understand feminism to realize how much our goals aligned. This all changed when I read “Full Frontal Feminism” by Jessica Valenti. This book was just the start, and I would argue it’s mainly basic Feminism 101, with strong takes that seem more personal opinions than informational. But in researching and reading more books, I realized that feminism is not only necessary but a crucial part of society. I had many powerful women in my life, but none told me they identified as a feminist. Many of the women around me spoke most adamantly against it. Until recently, I had never heard someone in my life utter, “I am a feminist” or even say it with their actions. But recently I had an older male teacher who embodied many of the main aspects of feminism. I don’t know if he identified as a feminist, but the fact the teacher believed in equality in a playing field that favors him, gave me hope. Sadly, I haven't made it to any protests for the overturning of Roe v Wade but not for lack of trying. In my own life, I refuse to go to college in a state(other than Ohio) that is restricting women's rights. I passed on scholarship offers because, in my right mind, I couldn’t support states and organizations that want to strip so much away from us. In my school, I promote the rights of students, especially female-identifying students in a school and community where hatred spreads like wildfire among specific groups of people. One small way I support them is by leaving quarters in feminine hygiene dispensers because no menstruating person should be burdened by period poverty. Often feminist acts aren’t big shows, but rather small everyday choices that promote equality and compassion.

We are often bombarded with news of celebrities being extremely irresponsible, like Kylie Jenner on a three-minute flight, convincing us our choices don’t matter. Billionaires typically have the highest carbon footprint out of all the population. According to National Public Radio, “some of the world’s richest billionaires each emit…more than 1 million times the amount(metric tonnes of carbon dioxide) emitted by 90% of people.” It is a slippery slope toward environmental apathy. Truthfully, compared to the ultrarich, a normal citizen doesn’t have that substantial of an impact but anything helps in the fight against global warming. As someone who’s attending college partially for environmental studies and taking an Environmental Science Safety and Health class at Columbus State Community College, sustainability is critical to me. I make an effort to lessen my carbon footprint in all aspects of my daily life and little steps from many people could snowball into something bigger. Many ways I combat global warming aren’t huge thought-out actions, many are small everyday choices. Like walking to work, mainly buying secondhand clothing, avoiding excess plastic packaging, and trying to eat less meat. I only do dishes and laundry when there’s enough to have a full load to lessen water waste. One of my hobbies is knitting, and when I knit I choose yarn with at least 20% natural fibre, like wool, or cotton. I try to choose clothes in the same regard, with a consideration of their lasting environmental impacts. However, I know I contribute to global warming. I go to three different schools, and I have at least a twenty-minute drive to school each day which is inherently polluting. However, there isn’t bussing so the impact falls on me. I drive a gas car, I often take notes in paper notebooks, and I buy prepackaged, fast foods when I’m running behind. One of the best ways to combat climate change would be lobbying for policy change. While a single person can make a difference, widespread change must come from an individual in power. What citizens can do is vote for politicians with the environment in mind. People should advocate for change around them, even through promoting recycling or composting in their friend groups. One of the initiatives to promote is replacing our unsustainable, nonrenewable energy sources with renewable energy sources like solar, wind, or water. Solar energy is unlimited, at least until the sun dies, and drives all natural cycles on earth. Solar energy is the starting place of all energy on earth driving wind and water power which are infinitely reusable. Another initiative should be reinstating the power of the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) after the West Virginia v. EPA decision. This decision was evaluating what could and couldn’t be controlled by the Clean Air Act. This decision made it so the EPA can’t put limits on emissions or make power plants move from nonrenewable and polluting fossil fuels to renewable energy. While the EPA has other routes to combat climate change, this puts a huge buffer in its power. In general, it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the doom and gloom of environmental media coverage. However, making small changes in your own life and voting for politicians with the environment in mind can make a difference. Works Cited: Archie, Ayana. “Investments of 125 Billionaires Have the Same Carbon Footprint as France, Study Finds.” NPR, 9 Nov. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/11/09/1135446721/billionaires-carbon-dioxide-emissions#:~:text=13% 2C%202022%2C%20in%20Kemmerer%2C%20Wyo. Accessed 12 Mar. 2023.

I understand there is a difference between death and losing the consciousness of a loved one but both are torturous in different ways. But I believe both of these losses should be considered losses since they result in the removal of an individual from another's life. Both death and memory loss are horrific situations and should be treated with respect. Death is a unique, horrid type of tragedy, because they are removed from your physical life, but not your mind. They leave a gaping hole in your heart and your life. Your memories of them last, making death all the more tragic. But I would argue dementia is a like type of tragedy. While death is absolutely tragic, the removal is final and absolute, dementia is a slow removal. While their body still exists their mind is failing. Their personality is stripped from them, so your memories of them are warped since they’re no longer themselves for the time they remain. My grandmother is suffering from vascular dementia. This was found after she fell off of her porch in the snow in 2021, breaking her hip. She was admitted to the hospital where she had emergency surgery, making her wheelchair-bound which over time morphed into walker bound. But while she was in the hospital they found stage four lung cancer that had metastasized into her brain. They discovered her dementia during her radiation treatment for her brain cancer. For the past two years, I’ve watched her undergo many treatments for her cancer as her mental state begins to slip. Recently she had a fall, which broke a vertebra in her back. While in the hospital her dementia began rapidly overtaking her. She doesn’t know where she is, who’s around her, or why she’s there, and she is disconnected from reality by seeing things that aren’t there. Dementia is a unique type of tragedy, my grandmother knows something’s wrong but she can’t remember what it is. Dementia takes not only the memories but the personality as well. My grandmother has sunk into herself. She has lost friends both in death and emotional distance, but she can’t remember that they’ve either passed or lost contact. She is stuck in the world which is her house, striving for the outside world but unable to remember it. Her days are filled with watching the same tv shows, my grandfather puts on for her to watch, unable to remember the last time she watched it. Recently, filled with rage at the lack of control over her life. I joke about my memory quite frequently, and I’ve done so for quite some time. I can’t remember much from before I was twelve years old. But through watching my grandmother lose her memories I realize how much of a blessing mine are. Even though I don’t actively remember my younger years, those memories likely still exist, they’re just inaccessible. Memories shape who we are, and when we are stripped of control, the world is more and more frightening. Watching her shrink away slowly and then rapidly collapse in on herself is frightening. My confidence and livelihood are almost exclusively based on my academics which rely on memory, and I can’t imagine this being taken away from me. These experiences drove me to live my life to its fullest. I figure the fuller life I live the more memories I can lose before losing as much of myself. Much of my life thus far has been focused on school, but I’m beginning to make an effort to become more involved. I have started volunteering more, going to school events, and engaging more with people in my life. I have been a side character in my own life, and I’m trying to step out of the shadow to live a fuller life. While this is still an ongoing situation, so I haven’t found the full lesson yet I’m sure I will come out of this experience with a wider consideration of humankind. I understand people may not consider my grandmother's journey with dementia a loss of the type asked for in this scholarship. However, I hope that you can widen your definition of loss to understand death is not the only loss that affects you.

Being a high school student in college can be very scary at times. You’re alone, in an unfamiliar environment with new power balances, without the structure you’ve lived through for the past ten years. The only way I’ve made it through this experience is through my perseverance. As a junior in high school, I began taking college classes, but my path wasn’t paved with “A’s” and academic achievements. When I was younger I was never considered for advanced classes. I struggled immensely with school from a very young age I didn’t see in my peers. I had to learn how to study in elementary school not to get an A, but to simply pass. In fifth grade, I joined Mathletes as math was my worst subject. I hated “Mathletes” and the fact I was getting up early to do things that came so easily to my classmates. But over time, and with the help of a wonderful teacher I did well on the state's standardized tests. In sixth grade, I was recommended for accelerated classes. I still went to Mathletes and stayed late after school for help. My teacher helped prepare me for algebra and I was recommended to take high school math in seventh grade. My high school experience was plagued by COVID-19 and struggles. I had to deal with lockdown while recovering from spinal surgery. I had to catch up to my peers quickly, meaning I didn’t have time to heal before restarting school. I struggled with my classes and had to rely on my perseverance to get through. My grades weren’t quite what I wanted them to be so I started taking accelerated classes to try to increase my GPA. I took AP classes while school fluctuated between being in-person and virtual. I had to be in charge of my education to pass, and thrive. I will have taken 43 college credits by the time I graduate, and right now I have all A’s. In my junior year, I joined my school's tennis team. After spending a few practices around my fellow players, I thought of quitting. Everyone there was so skilled and I seemed out of place. Barely able to hit a ball straight, I felt like a failure. In an act of spite, I stuck with tennis. This became one of my best experiences through high school and it only occurred from perseverance. I went to every practice, putting every effort into improving. In my senior year, only my second year playing, I got to play a varsity match. I got awards for my leadership and reliability in both years of being on the team. Perseverance is an extremely important life skill. Whether it be through a job or life, things are destined to be chaotic and go against you. Being able to know when to continue and when to wave the white flag is important so you don’t give up too soon. But it is important to know when to walk away so you aren’t stuck in a toxic situation. Perseverance is needed in every aspect of life, and developing this skill early will help me later in life.

When looking back on my own life, failures and problems come to mind much faster than successes and solutions. While I can attribute this to my perfectionism that plagues all minutes of my life, I believe this is simply a part of human nature. Coming into this, I wondered what in my life could be considered “hardship” when so many other people have had appalling things done to them and occur around them. In our society, there’s a tendency to dismiss our own problems and feelings because “someone has it worse.” I believe this ideology needs to be overturned, simply put, only one person in the world has it the worst at any given time and everyone needs help sometimes. As a young child around the age of four, my parents and grandparents took me to a gymnastics show at St. Johns Arena. I can’t remember any of that show, but walking out from the show we went into the Ohio State University ice rink. I watched these people skate and begged my parents to let me try. Giving in, they rented a pair of skates for me and my grandfather, and I bounded out on the ice. I immediately fell over, but I also fell in love. From that time on I begged my parents to sign me up for lessons and allow me to skate. Soon I began going skating many times a week and watching famous skaters and routines on the television for fun. I took a break from ice skating in fifth grade, trying out a few new sports. But in sixth grade, my flexibility started decreasing. At first, I didn’t think anything of it, since I wasn’t stretching during skating, but then my back started hurting. Soon after I was diagnosed with scoliosis. At first, my orthopedic surgeon scoffed at my problem. Pushing any treatment further away. This started a chain reaction of doctors dismissing and ignoring my pain. I was put in a fiberglass back brace trying to prevent my spine from curving more. The brace worsened my pain which spiraled into me developing an eating disorder- never given a name but similar to anorexia. When a doctor finally treated my eating disorder, I gained around twenty pounds in two months, which made my brace no longer fit and insurance wouldn’t cover another until the turn of the year. Eventually, after a year and a half, I was taken out of my brace, but I ended up needing my first spinal surgery in March 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my recovery was unusual. I had bad reactions to pain medications after I was sent home but overall my recovery went well. But less than a year post-operation, my pain began spiking again. I was dismissed by doctors until it got unbearable and I was scheduled for a second surgery in December 2022. Ice skating was something that brought me joy, but I’ve been unable to since my surgeries. This affects the way I view other people in positions of power, specifically doctors. I trust science and I believe in medicine, vaccines work and medical care should be a guaranteed right. But through my experiences, I am a bit distrustful of doctors. This is part of why I want to go into medicine. However, I want to do medicine on the research side. I believe the quality of life needs to be a focus of medicine. I want any patient who takes part in, or is treated with the result of my research to feel comfortable voicing their pain and experiences without being dismissed.