Books shows us different lives and since people shape their minds with experiences, all the different lives we see in books counts as ours. It helps us to develop the skills to understand the world. This is a key element in being emphatic towards other people. It expands your imagination , as a result while setting a goal , you think bigger and set goals which are relatively harder to accomplish. Also in books usually there are many situations happening that you think it can not be true , however, it makes you believe that it is so you act like it in real life because you want to believe it. In my life personally , books effects me so much and I think about it for a really long time after I read it. There are many books that changed my perspective of life.However , I would like to talk about one specific one. Of all the books I've read, none left a bigger impact on me than My Name is Red by Turkish, 2006 Nobel Literature Prize winner author Orhan Pamuk. Although it features a large cast, My Name Is Red is a postmodern novel which tells the story of Black, a failed illustrator who has spent 12 years in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire after falling in love with his cousin Shekure, and being rejected by her. The themes life, death, philosophical puzzles, art, murderers and their victims, love, jealousy, lies, deception, Istanbul, miniature art and many more are all wrapped in a murder mystery in the novel. In addition to that there are thematic and chronological connections between chapters. As a result, when reading this book, I never got bored and read it with a sense of curiosity. Also Each chapter having a different narrator and unexpected voices such as the corpse of the murdered, Satan, a coin and the color red surprised me and gave me different point of views. It made me believe that anything is possible. I would love to read and explore this book with my friends again because the novel is a intriguing murder-mystery that plays with the reader while introducing them to the culture of my ancestors. Having read this book I have been reminded of many of my country's forgotten traditions. Also I could relate to that book’s characters, whose feelings and hopes seemed universal and I believe this novel would inspire similar revelations in many readers.

My community is not just the place I live but also where I feel a connection. No matter how much I want to study abroad, Turkey has always been a huge part of me and I have always wanted to help my people as much as I could. The thing that affected me deeply and made me look at my surroundings with more empathy was a simple drawing from a 9 year old. There is an organization near our house where children between the ages of 0-12 whose parents passed away or who are alive but unable to care for them are raised. In the endless quarantines in 2020, since I have been playing volleyball for a long time, I did not know what to do when my practices were canceled. Therefore, together with my brother, we started to take a walk after every dinner in order to maintain our shape. Every time we went out, we had to listen to my mother talk about how careful we should be due to cars coming out of nowhere. One day after an hour of speech during a walk, we saw the children in that organization outside. They had a supervisor and I was curious and went to him because it didn't feel safe for them to try to spend their time in the middle of the road. The man told me that they have been really inactive due to the gym being closed and they take the kids for a walk every evening. That night, the necessity of having a walking path never left my mind. And in the morning, I sent a letter to our municipality and arranged a meeting. I prepared what I was going to say and went there with great confidence, explaining the situation. They said they would consider my request and a few weeks later I woke up to the sounds of construction. I was so happy to see the machines making a new pavement. When the project was completed, the first thing I did was going back to those children and after getting the necessary permissions, I took them to the garden of my own school by walking on our new sidewalk and taught them how to play volleyball. They liked it very much, and when I went back during visiting hours, a child drew a picture of us playing that day and said that she wants to be a volleyball player in the future. When I saw the effect of a 5-minute interview on a child, I felt the spread of serotonin throughout my body, down to my veins. I always hold this emotional memory in the back of my mind to continue to make a difference. After I get my education, I will do my best to contribute to the world.

I always found amazing the capabilities of living beings and mechanisms that allow the life, development and evolution of organisms. In addition to that, growing up with doctor parents and my admiration for them led me to believe that I would pursue medicine in the future as well. I completed multiple internships observing surgeries and attending to patients. However, that one internship me and my friends did during the summer before 11th grade in a hospital where my friend's mother works had a different effect. We observed communications between a patient and a nurse practitioner, based on minor illness and often engaged in the conversation in the plastic and reconstructive surgery department of the hospital. All my friends were very interested and had a lot of fun. But there was still a lack in me until on our 5th day, a friend of my father's from a medical school recognized me and took me to the lab. I watched with admiration the blood samples were taken and the technicians worked diligently as if they were making art, contributing to health in a way that I never thought of. That was the time when I realized there was more to medicine than clinical interaction. After this internship, which changed my point of view, I started to visit my father's polyclinic more often. As I saw the hardships my father is going through to heal people, and the pain people are suffering from, made me decide that I want to be in backstage of the movie. To investigate the cause of these diseases, to get down to their origin and, if possible, to find a way to prevent them. To further my interest in biology and genetics, my biggest opportunity was my mother, who’s the doctor in charge in the oncology unit. I had the opportunity to work with her group as a volunteer. We went to courses such as painting and music, in which women in our city actively participate as a hobby, to raise awareness of the importance of early diagnosis and made presentations. We took the women who were convinced back to the center and did HPV and cancer screenings. Every night when we do our daily girl-to-girl talk with my mom and she tells me about the cases she encounters, I gasp at the enormity of genetics and I know that besides being a sister, a volleyball player, and a daughter ,I am also a future scientist in making.

My community is not just the place I live but also where I feel a connection. No matter how much I want to study abroad, Turkey has always been a huge part of me and I have always wanted to help my people as much as I could. The thing that affected me deeply and made me look at my surroundings with more empathy was a simple drawing from a 9-year-old. There is an organization near our house where children between the ages of 0-12 whose parents passed away or who are alive but unable to care for them are raised. In the endless quarantines in 2020, since I have been playing volleyball for a long time, I did not know what to do when my practices were canceled. Therefore, together with my brother, we started to take a walk after every dinner to maintain our shape. Every time we went out, we had to listen to my mother talk about how careful we should be due to cars coming out of nowhere. One day after an hour of speech during a walk, we saw the children in that organization outside. They had a supervisor and I was curious and went to him because it didn't feel safe for them to try to spend their time in the middle of the road. The man told me that they have been really inactive due to the gym being closed and they take the kids for a walk every evening. That night, the necessity of having a walking path never left my mind. And in the morning, I sent a letter to our municipality and arranged a meeting. I prepared what I was going to say and went there with great confidence, explaining the situation. They said they would consider my request and a few weeks later I woke up to the sounds of construction. I was so happy to see the machines making new pavement. When the project was completed, the first thing I did was going back to those children and after getting the necessary permissions, I took them to the garden of my own school by walking on our new sidewalk and taught them how to play volleyball. They liked it very much, and when I went back during visiting hours, a child drew a picture of us playing that day and said that she wants to be a volleyball player in the future. When I saw the effect of a 5-minute interview on a child, I felt the spread of serotonin throughout my body, down to my veins. I always hold this emotional memory in the back of my mind to continue to make a difference.

I always found amazing the capabilities of living beings and the mechanisms that allow life. But how can we know so little about something that's happening inside our bodies and controls our entire lives? Questions like this fuel my passion for exploring the medical field. Growing up with parents who are doctors and my admiration for them led me to believe that I would pursue a future in medicine as well. During high school, I completed multiple internships; observing surgeries and attending to patients. However, one internship me and my friends did during the summer before 11th grade had a different effect. We were in the plastic and reconstructive surgery department of the hospital where we observed communication between nurse practitioners and their patients. All my friends were very interested and had a lot of fun but inside me, there was still a feeling of incomplete satisfaction. On our 5th day, a friend of my father's from a medical school recognized me and took me to the lab. I watched with admiration as blood samples were taken and the technicians worked diligently contributing to health in a way that I never thought of. At that moment, I realized there was more to medicine than clinical interaction and the discontented biology nerd in my brain disappeared immediately. After that internship, I started to visit my father's polyclinic more often. As I saw the hardships my father went through to heal people, and the pain people are suffering from, it made me decide that I wanted to be someone helping behind the scenes. Investigating the cause of these diseases, getting down to their origin and finding a way to prevent them. To further my interest in biology and genetics, my biggest opportunity was with my mother, who’s the doctor in charge of an oncology unit. I had the opportunity to work as a volunteer helping my mom with presentations at a local center within our city. These presentations helped to raise awareness and the importance of early diagnosis for HPV and other cancers that affect women. After the presentation, attendees would make an appointment for a screening. Every night during our girl-to-girl talk my mom would tell me about the cases she encountered. I gasp at the enormity of genetics and I know that besides being a daughter, a sister, and a volleyball player, I am also a future scientist in the making.

Of all the books I've read, none left a bigger impact on me than My Name is Red by Turkish, 2006 Nobel Literature Prize winner author Orhan Pamuk. Although it features a large cast, My Name Is Red is a postmodern novel which tells the story of Black, a failed illustrator who has spent 12 years in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire after falling in love with his cousin Shekure, and being rejected by her. The themes life, death, philosophical puzzles, art, murderers and their victims, love, jealousy, lies, deception, Istanbul, miniature art and many more are all wrapped in a murder mystery in the novel. In addition to that there are thematic and chronological connections between chapters. As a result, when reading this book, I never got bored and read it with a sense of curiosity. Also Each chapter having a different narrator and unexpected voices such as the corpse of the murdered, Satan, a coin and the color red surprised me and gave me different point of views. I would love to read and explore this book with my class again because the novel is a intriguing murder-mystery that plays with the reader while introducing them to the culture of my ancestors. Having read this book I have been reminded of many of my country's forgotten traditions. Also I could relate to that book’s characters, whose feelings and hopes seemed universal and I believe this novel would inspire similar revelations in many readers and leaves a mark in their life.

English was my worst subject ever. Growing up, whenever my English teacher said that we were having a quiz, I’d beg my mom to let me stay at home. Well, here I am sitting in my dorm in the United States applying to scholarships for college. So, how did I get here? An agency came to my school in my sophomore year and changed my point of view. We were sitting in English class, of course, when our principal came and told us to go to the conference room. There was a presentation about a 3 week summer camp opportunity at the University of California. My friends and I, who had never left Turkey, were enchanted, but we were aware that the cost might be a barrier. We were absolutely crushed when we got the news that we wouldn’t be able to go due to the currency . Having the idea already stuck in my head I started to think of ways to achieve my dream. I chose to attend college in the US to get a better education because in my country there is no future for my dream major. Especially in my field (biology) there are schools that give the best research opportunities. I always found amazing the capabilities of living beings and the mechanisms that allow life. Growing up with parents who are doctors and my admiration for them led me to believe that I would pursue a future in medicine as well. During high school, I completed multiple internships; observing surgeries and attending to patients. However, one internship me and my friends did during the summer before 11th grade had a different effect. On our 5th day, a friend of my father's from medical school recognized me and took me to the lab. I watched with admiration as blood samples were taken and the technicians worked diligently contributing to health in a way that I never thought of. At that moment, I realized there was more to medicine than clinical interaction. It made me decide that I wanted to be someone helping behind the scenes. Investigating the cause of these diseases, getting down to their origin and finding a way to prevent them. To further my interest in biology and genetics, my biggest opportunity was with my mother, who’s the doctor in charge of an oncology unit. Every night during our girl to girl talk my mom would tell me about the cases she encountered. I gasp at the enormity of genetics and I know that besides being a daughter, a sister, a volleyball player,I am also a future scientist in the making. But the fact that my family earns Turkish lira and 1 dollar being equal to 20 Turkish lira makes it harder than most of the students. Winning this scholarship will be the start of my biology dream.

Turkey is not just the place I live but where I feel connected and I try to help my people as much as I could. There is an orphanage near our house where children whose parents passed away or who are unable to care for them are raised. In the endless quarantine during 2020, my volleyball practices were canceled which left me wondering what to do with myself. My brother and I started to take a walk after dinner in order to stay in shape. Every time we went out, we had to listen to my mother’s warning about being careful of cars since there wasn’t a sidewalk for us to walk on. One day, during our walk, we saw the children from that orphanage outside. They had a supervisor with them and I approached him because it didn't feel safe for the children to be on the road. The man told me that they had been really inactive due to the gym being closed so they take the kids for a walk every evening. That night, the necessity of having a walking path never left my mind. In the morning, I sent a letter to our municipality and arranged a meeting. I prepared what I was going to say and felt confident I could explain the situation. They said they would consider my request. A few weeks later I woke up to the sounds of construction. The machines were making a new sidewalk! When the project was completed, the first thing I did was go back to the orphanage to see the children. After getting the necessary permissions, I took a small group to the garden at my school walking on our new sidewalk. I taught them how to play volleyball. When I went back during visiting hours, a girl drew a picture of us playing that day. She said that she wanted to be a volleyball player in the future. When I saw the effect of a 5-minute interview, I felt the spread of serotonin throughout my body, down to my veins. I always hold this emotional memory in the back of my mind to continue to make a difference. I am looking forward to going to the countries and cities that I've been dreaming of in the future and helping the community by adding some values from myself while learning something from their culture as well. g

I always found amazing the capabilities of living beings and the mechanisms that allow life. But how can we know so little about something that's happening inside our body and controls our entire lives? Questions like this fuel my passion for exploring the medical field. Growing up with parents who are doctors and my admiration for them led me to believe that I would pursue a future in medicine as well. During high school, I completed multiple internships; observing surgeries and attending to patients. However, one internship me and my friends did during the summer before 11th grade had a different effect. We were in the plastic and reconstructive surgery department of the hospital where we observed communication between nurse practitioners and their patients. All my friends were very interested and had a lot of fun but inside me there was still a feeling of incomplete satisfaction. On our 5th day, a friend of my father's from medical school recognized me and took me to the lab. I watched with admiration as blood samples were taken and the technicians worked diligently contributing to health in a way that I never thought of. At that moment, I realized there was more to medicine than clinical interaction and the discontented biology nerd in my brain disappeared immediately. After that internship, I started to visit my father's polyclinic more often. As I saw the hardships my father went through to heal people and the pain people are suffering from, it made me decide that I wanted to be someone helping behind the scenes. Investigating the cause of these diseases, getting down to their origin and finding a way to prevent them. To further my interest in biology and genetics, my biggest opportunity was with my mother, who’s the doctor in charge of an oncology unit. I had the opportunity to work as a volunteer helping my mom with presentations at a local center within our city. These presentations helped to raise awareness and the importance of early diagnosis for HPV and other cancers that affect women. After the presentation, attendees would make an appointment for a screening. Every night during our girl to girl talk my mom would tell me about the cases she encountered. I gasp at the enormity of genetics and I know that besides being a daughter, a sister, a volleyball player,I am also a future scientist in the making.