I believe at a core, most people understand that we are all connected as people. I always think of one of my favorite author and folklorist, Joseph Campbell, and the Hero's Journey. As people throughout the world we all have similar ideas of this hero's journey, creation myths, and other belief systems. From reading about these in his books, I began to see a greater connection in the universe, and could understand others no matter how different they were from me, better. I believe there is power and strength to working to better understand the nature of our universe, which not only make us improve as individuals, but helps to improve the collective. As a first generation college student and growing up in a low income background, the world seemed so big and everything seemed so far away. When I would read my mountain of books from the library or watch Youtube on the family computer, I could not believe some places and that they actually existed. I thought it was so big and knew I would love to be like the people in my books, but didn't see how. As I grew older and read more, I began to take advantage of opportunities offered to me since I lived in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. Philadelphia offers free admission to museums for high school students and I began ticking them off one by one and would go after school when I did not have work and look at art. To be quite frank at the time, not a lot of pieces spoke to me, and I was merely interested in aesthetics, and to be frank even more I still am interested in aesthetics and studied some aesthetic philosophy in college. I would read about the art and write down paintings I thought held deeper meaning in my notebook and would go home and google the artists and why they painted, sculpted, or crafted the piece in that way. I became fascinated with art and literature and did my undergraduate degree in it. While studying literature and I have to admit I loved it, I didn't know what I wanted to do with it. Everyone would assume teacher, but I wasn't quite sure if that is what I wanted to do. I have learned a lot about art, literature, poetry, and even took classes in mathematics and biology. I felt more educated, but still felt like something was missing. I job hopped for about two years and then had saved enough means to explore and see the world, whether that was domestic by visiting 37 states or internationally to 11 countries. Exploring the different flora, fauna, paths, and architecture buildings, learning a new language almost fluently, and of course the food. I began to see that not only is it important to read and study the universe, but also go out and enjoy it, ourselves. Once you uncover the wool you cannot go back to being blind as they say. Seeing and experiencing the world is one of the best ways to understand our universe. While exploring especially when I walked parts of the Camino De Santiago, I fell in love with architecture and city planning and have decided to pursue my Master's degree in Urban Planning and Heritage Conservation. Understanding how movement and connectivity in our home environments shapes the way we interact and wanting to employ these planning methods back in the United States where they are slowly but surely building traction. I hope to continue to better my understanding of the nature of our universe through literature, art, philosophy, and of course city planning. The structure of our cities are crucial for a thriving society and creating communities that meet the needs of those who live there to not be in survival mode of getting their needs met, but can then expand into passion projects of studying or giving back. I hope to continue using tools like exploration and breaking bread with people from a variety of backgrounds to just see what people think and understand individual philosophies. My goal in the future is to write literature and see what secrets of the universe being on the creator side of art will hold for me. All should try to understand what they can, but it does take some means to do so. It took years of working, living in my car, and other sacrifices to be able to have traveled to the places that I have traveled. Sitting in that gratitude of the opportunity to do so is another key idea to keep in mind. While understanding the nature of our universe is important, gratitude that we have the ability to think about the universe and not where will our next meal will come from, can I make rent this month, I'm getting old and can't do physical labor anymore what will happen, is a blessing and when seeking to understand the nature of the universe, I believe it is important to use the understanding to build better systems that allow more people to understand. Moving away from the scarcity mindset of if I tell or help others then I will not have a lot anymore, but recognizing there is abundance in the universe and that we can share and still maintain what we have and if not grow. That is the main importance I believe to bettering our understanding, is getting to a point to alleviate the barriers that block other from opportunities to expand and better their understanding. Whether that is giving back money or maybe giving back via time and effort to alleviate certain tasks. At the core of understanding I believe must come pillars of compassion, empathy, community, gratitude, and service. To use these ideas to guide in understanding takes the individualism out of the path and shows that to go far one must go with others. I hope to grow in more of understanding and to keep these pillars at the forefront of my education and career.

I grew up in an underprivileged background and my childhood experiences made me know that when I develop the means in my life, I would use them to give back. Whether that was time, money, or my skills and talents, As I have grown into my career and am now about to return to school for my master's, I currently give back in a variety of ways. When I can, I try to donate to causes I believe in, but I mainly give back via my time and skillset.  I am in Vietnam as a summer associate with an organization whose mission is to help build and redesign rural pharmacies to ensure better access to authentic medicine since many places in Vietnam are dealing with an epidemic of fake medicine being distributed. We would visit various locations to collaborate with local pharmacists, aiming to enhance their inventory and empower them to effectively serve their communities. We are also currently working on having pharmacists and physicians on hand to decrease the time it takes for someone living in the rural countryside. I used my skills in planning and outreach to help this organization get better safety graphics for its rural workers and point out potential hazards that could pose a threat to worker and client safety.  Access to all opportunities is extremely important to me, especially in low-income rural and urban communities. Everyone should have access to see a doctor, buy locally grown food, get an education, and have economic opportunities. It is what guides me to work for companies that do good and volunteer with organizations and nonprofits that are doing work on projects I am interested in. Whether it's participating in a cleanup in my home city of Philadelphia, installing solar panels for a local farmer in Spain, or getting rid of an invasive tree species at a farm in the south of France, I am passionate about access and giving back my time to projects I believe in because small projects and small changes are where the momentum builds. I am currently going back for my Master's in Urban Planning and Heritage Conservation because I want to promote walkability, accessibility, and placemaking in municipalities that see low rates of graduation, doctor visits, and food desserts. Urban planning is the center of towns, and heritage conservation is what keeps towns unique, and I want my career to involve working with domestic and international communities to promote access to my planning. Whether that's working with a non-profit that helps rural businesses get grants for a much-needed renovation, working with a municipality to put in a bus stop or a bike lane, helping a local friend group save a park, or putting a park in to give a town needed green and outdoor recreation space,.  I want my work in planning to revolve around people and the community. If we build places for people, businesses will flourish, communities can grow, and accessibility will increase if we take the appropriate measures. I hope my past and future work in planning and accessibility leads to making places better than they were before for all those who live there, and I hope giving back at the local level in this way will leave a positive impact on the world.

"I can't believe they let women do this stuff" was a phrase I heard quite often when I worked as a seasonal chainsaw technician. I heard this from both men and women. Sometimes with the emotion of being impressed behind it, mostly surprise, and sometimes a hint of harsh judgment. This was not the first time I had been in a male-dominated field; in my undergrad, I minored in computer science, and there were only five girls in my class. Post-undergrad, I realized that I wanted to take a different career path from English and computer science. While traveling abroad, I realized how isolated we were in the U.S.A. and how our towns don't make sense for community, health and wellness, families, individuals, or the environment. I decided while hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain that I wanted to create better connected towns using alternative transport methods besides cars, and when developing towns, think about walkability, third spaces for people to socialize, and creating spaces that are accessible and safe.  I currently work in parks and recreation, and making sure that the parks are spaces where everyone can recreate and enjoy themselves is my top priority. One suggestion we are currently working on came from a mother who explained that her favorite park doesn't have an accessible paved walking path that her stroller is able to go over without being too bumpy or a wheel getting stuck. We are working on a Parks and Recreation Open Space Plan and are asking families, individuals, the large university student population, and visitors the question, "What do you want to see from these parks over the next 10 years?". The PROS project is a meaningful project for me to work on because, as I depart from my current professional position to go back to graduate school, it helps inspire me to stay on track.  I want to go into urban planning and historic preservation to create meaningful places over sprawl and to create places that make sense for all who live in a town. Protected parks for children that are located conveniently in squares near cafes for parents to sit and chat while facing and ensuring their children are safe. Areas for picnics for couples and friends. Streets that the car, cyclist, runner, and walker can share safely amongst each other. I want to make places that make sense for people and make people not feel so isolated when they arrive at home, but rather can come home from work, relax for a bit, and take a stroll into town for an after-work treat or to get their mind off work stress. While most of my work, I assume now, will be based in the States, I have studied and learned globally and want to continue on a global path and give lectures about walkability and the new era of planning, building design, and historic preservation at different universities and work on helping not just my peers but the next generation of planners to give everyone a great town to live in.

Hospitality is the first thing I notice about a place. How are the people treated? What are the amenities offered? As someone who worked directly in a customer service department throughout high school and college, I know how you make a guest feel will dictate how likely they are to come back. Even now, working in local government as a parks and recreation professional, it's important to make the public feel heard and take their opinion into account when planning events, figuring out the newest playground addition, and making sure it aligns with what the public wants. With my passion for hospitality and creating a welcoming environment, especially in the field of tourism, I decided to go back for my master's in urban planning and historic preservation in Los Angeles to ensure that to experience hospitality, people don't have to travel too far but can go down their main street and find it. I would use this scholarship to help with tuition as I am putting myself through graduate school and will be moving across the country to pursue my dream program.  My passion for hospitality and working in customer service-oriented jobs has inspired me to want to develop my own hospitality company in the future. I want to improve walkability and create not only a hospitable business within my business walls but also in the surrounding area. With my background in parks and recreation, when I start my business, I want to designate part of the outside area for recreation for picnics, hammocks, socializing, and creating a third space for people. My current experience in planning events like Easter egg hunts, food and music festivals, concerts, and more would carry over into my business, and I would create a community space that not only benefits my clients but the public as well. I want to make the U.S.A. more tourist friendly, not only to international tourists but also to domestic tourists, in the form of alternative transportation options between towns for those who don't have a vehicle or might not want to take their car. Having bed and breakfasts with a cafe attached that anybody can use to do work or socialize will create positive impacts on the communities they are in by allowing people to recreate and make events that are within walkable distance. Stronger socialization spaces in communities create stronger communities where there is less crime, more opportunities, and, most importantly, more happiness.  My previous experience within the hospitality field and my future in planning and historic preservation are not on the conventional hospitality track, but both are crucial in creating not only hospitable businesses but hospitable towns for both locals and visitors.

Chaos. Trouble. Getting into a sticky situation. These are all traits that I love in a show and two of my favorite shows that I would have loved to see a crossover with is Suite Life of Zach and Cody and Even Stevens. The episode would be called Triple Trouble. The storyline that would bring them together is Steve and Eileen, Louis' parents would have to travel to Boston either for the mom's political career or the dad has a work trip and must go there. They end up staying at the Tipton Hotel, where Ren is immediately befriended by London and Maddie. In the episode a side storyline would be Ren doing a report on the Tipton hotel and its workers like Esteban and Mr. Mosbey for her news show the "Wombat Report". The main story line would be Louis walking in on Zach and Cody in the middle of one of their mayhem schemes, probably trying to mess with Mr. Mosbey. I can see Louis popping his head in the middle of them both and giving a suggestion "Like you need to hit him with the water gun from here". The idea would work and they would effectively annoy Mr. Mosbey and run away. This is where the introductions would happen and then cue the montage of them causing mayhem going back and forth between that storyline and Ren's report with London and Maddie that keeps getting hindered by the three boys. Eventually though the boys mess with the wrong guest accidentally when they meant to spray Ren but ended up spraying a very muscular man in a suit with a crew of other tough men in suits. They turn around and do the neck move where they take their thumb and say you're done. The rest of the episode is the boys hiding from the group of men trying to find them and trying to hide the fact from their parents. When the parents who have met each other by now by Steven and Eileen loving Carey's performance, want to know why they don't want to go to dinner, which because the men that are looking for them are there as well. Eventually it culminates with them being forced to go into the restaurant for dinner and face away from the group of men. They make it almost through the dinner scott free, but at the last minute one of them sneezes really loud and the man they hit turns around to say bless you. He realizes who they are and they surround the boys, with their parents, sister and friends confused. They try to explain it was an accident but the group is not having it. When they close their eyes to prepare for the beat down they just get splashed with water. With the man saying how do you like that? They take being drenched in water and then the group leaves with the three boys sitting at the table saying "we deserved that". The episode would end with Louis and his family leaving and the parents saying bye to Carey. London and Maddie saying bye to Ren and the boys saying bye to each other with the promises to cause mayhem again. They take their water gun out one last night to spray Mr. Mosbey and then run away. Show ends.