Some would say that they like going to school to learn and to see their friends. While both of those reasons are true in my case, I also enjoy going to school to see my favorite teacher. I’ve been fortunate to have great teachers throughout high school. They truly care about the students and are able to dedicate time to help us since there is a 9:1 student-teacher ratio and average class size of 15. But there is one teacher in particular who has been exceptional in ways that have impacted me. Everyone calls this teacher “Dr. B.” Going into eleventh grade, I was admittedly nervous to be in Dr. B’s European History class. I had heard repeated stories from other students describing Dr. B as “unapproachable”, “hard”, “strict”, etc. I’m not the type of student to cause trouble in class, but I am someone who thrives when I feel connected to my teacher. Based on what I’d heard, I assumed it was going to be difficult building that connection. My high school is one of the top academic schools in Delaware, so when students say a teacher is hard, it’s usually true. I also have a learning disability, which went undiagnosed until ninth grade, so I need to work extra hard to keep up academically. On the first day of class, Dr. B encouraged us to meet with her if we ever needed help. (That should have been my first clue that maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.) It didn’t take long for me to realize that I needed to take her up on that offer. I met with her and had an honest conversation about history being my weakest subject and I would likely need lots of help. To my surprise, she empathized with me and immediately came up with a plan on how she can help. I walked away from that first meeting with a different perspective on her. From then on, I did not hesitate to meet with her. As the year progressed, our class began working on a lengthy research paper. I’d go to class feeling anxious about this challenging paper. Instead of taking a step back, I chose to take the harder approach because Dr. B pushed me to my potential. I met with her every week to tackle my challenges and she was so patient. No other teacher has ever made me feel as seen as she did. She met me where I was and walked alongside me to achieve the end result. Dr. B encouraged me to always give it my all and inspired me to have a mindset that I can accomplish anything. To this day, I visit Dr B even though I no longer have her as a teacher. I truly admire her. Dr. B is a former college professor and she’s highly intelligent. I feel lucky to have been taught by her. She also has a condition that has left her physically handicapped. I am thankful that I got to see early on who she really is as a teacher and overall as a person whose handicap does not define her. I am also thankful that I didn’t allow the stories from other students hold me back from seeking Dr. B’s help. I now realize that it all starts with me – whether in school or in life. If I want to succeed, I should take the initiative and not worry about what others have said. The perceptions of others do not reflect what my experience will be. Thank you, Dr. B!

My relationship with Jesus has had a significantly positive impact on my faith over the last two years of high school. Throughout my life, I’ve always attended church every Sunday, however it used to be more so going through the motions. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school when I really started paying attention at church, and I really started to look forward to attending every Sunday. What changed my perspective was truly realizing that it was Jesus who carried me through some very rough times. I had been struggling with academics, friendships, and self-esteem. Through prayer, I started becoming stronger. I now turn to God whenever things become difficult, or I need help with a situation as He is my problem solver. This school year, my faith has grown even deeper due to a Kairos retreat that I attended this past November. My experience was life-changing and peace overcame me as the retreat enabled me to personally grow my relationship closer to God and my peers. It was so life-changing that I knew I wanted to return in February as a student leader for the next cohort of retreatants. Each day I attended Mass, prayed, and meditated. I had conversations with God, and I felt that He was hearing me. My faith is a big part of who I am today because God has given me this amazing gift to love others how Jesus would want me to. I am also able to easily forgive others when they do me wrong. I am blessed to have lots of friends from different walks of life and various stages of spirituality. I have friends who practice all types of religion from Christianity to Jewish to non-denominational. Some of my friends attend church regularly, while others can’t remember the last time they stepped foot in church. Regardless, I treat all my friends the same. I love my neighbor just like God commanded of us. I certainly plan to lean on my faith throughout my educational journey by continuing to attend church every weekend while away at college. I will extend invitations for others to join me as I do with my friends now (none of my friends have ever said no to an invitation to church!). Sometimes all it takes is an invitation and it can change a person’s journey. I plan to attend Mount St. Mary’s University and am excited to join clubs involving prayer, bible study, and community service. I would also like to attend any retreats that are similar to Kairos as I know it will strengthen my relationship with God even more. Additionally, every night at college I will continue to pray and read the bible as I do now in order to give me a break from all the stress of academics and being away from home. In college, I will continue to put my faith first to escape the distractions of society. I also plan to use my faith to spread kindness, especially since I will be surrounded by students from all walks of life. I realize that my academic performance in the classroom and my extracurriculars outside of the classroom are gifts from God and I will honor Him for blessing me with the opportunity to receive this education. Lastly, I will also lean on God to protect me and guide my decisions in college. I know that I will be faced with tough situations, but with prayer I will leave it up to God. I know that with God I can persevere through anything.

Mental health has always been very important to me it had definitely shaped my goals, relationships, and my understanding of the world in different ways that it does to some kids. First, I've always struggled with anxiety and some depression but it has gotten better as my high school years went along. Dealing with both of those has made me view things differently such as for my goals. I have always had many goals such as, being able to find the career path that's meant for me and becoming successful in it so I can provide for myself, my current family, and my future family. As well as, improving my faith such as attending mass on my own when I go off to college and doing more bible studies. Another goal I also like to, give to the unfortunate and help out. My mental health has made me set up good goals for myself that will help others and has made me see the good in helping others because when I needed the most help others helped me. So it is sort of like giving back in a sense. For my relationships, my experience with mental health has taught me to always be there for my friends/ family and always check in on them, even if it's a simple " how are you today?" or " how was your day?". That shows that you never know what people are going through and it could make their day better, for my friends if they're having a bad day I've always been the one to ask if they wanted to hang out to take their mind off of things. I feel as if it is important to always have friends you know you can count on to be there for you, as I am that friend to them. Lastly, for my understanding of the world I feel like my mental health has made me view things differently such as how much social media has a negative impact on all of us, how some people really aren't bad people they've just dealt with a lot, and how beautiful God's creation of nature is. When I was dealing with my anxiety and depression I would always put myself down, and during those times was when I needed to see the beauty in the world so I would take walks, go to the beach and just be out in nature. All of that made me really understand how beautiful nature is and how God created it perfectly.