Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to help those around me. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them.

I have had several obstacles in my life. But I now see them more as an opportunity to learn resiliency and compassion. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I didn’t have these challenges. These situations have taught me to be an independent thinker and to trust in and believe in myself. Since I was a small child, I had to work hard to not let obstacles define my later success. For example, I had to get speech therapy when, for some reason, I stopped talking in certain places. This was probably my first time having anxiety. Also, I needed to use a wheelchair when I was about 8 years-old. I started having severe leg cramps and ended up at Lurie's Children's Hospital in Chicago. The tendons and ligaments in my legs were not growing at the same rate as my bones. They were being severely stretched, like “stretching a rubber band to the point that it snaps”. To prevent more injury, I needed a wheelchair if I had to walk farther than a city block. My body and emotions went through a lot. I had regular physical therapy at a clinic and then had to continue the therapy at home. For a long time, I was unable to run, jump and play like the other kids at school. That was really hard on me because I was an active kid, and now I was different from my friends. I had to learn to be patient, to work hard at the therapy and to overcome more anxiety. It helped me to learn that my worth as a human being was not based on what my body could or could not do. I am worthy regardless of those things. These things taught me to be more compassionate and patient with other people because you don’t know what hardships they are going through. Then while going through these obstacles, I faced another challenge; the divorce of my parents. This was a really hard time because everything seemed out of my control and scary. That made me more anxious. I witnessed their toxic marriage and unfortunately, they struggled more than you can imagine during the divorce, including one parent having a severe mental health crisis. But I learned to face my fears, to value time with family and l learned just how important life can be. Life is fragile and it is short. I learned to never take life for granted. To summarize, I have overcome many things and learned valuable lessons along the way. I could have allowed these things to put me on a bad path. But I didn’t. Instead, I used those things to drive me to work harder. The kid who once needed a wheelchair now has a varsity letter in cross country and a varsity letter in track. The kid who once wouldn’t speak now has a 3.99 weighted GPA and is a Scholar Athlete. The shy and anxious boy is now a courageous young man who has done a lot for others the last 3 years as class representative on the Student Council. I choose not to dwell on things out of my control. I choose to make my own way in life and set my own path for success.

Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We spent countless hours creating a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them.

Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them.

Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them.

I was influenced to engage in community service by my mother at a young age. When we lived in the Chicago suburbs, she would take me and my older sister to volunteer at a nursing home. I started to learn from a young age how important it is to give back to others. It helps you to be “other” focused instead of focused on “self”. My mother taught me that we are all connected as human beings and that we need to serve others as much as possible. It helps to remain humble and develop gratitude. In middle school, I volunteered to be a Peer Mentor to younger students. But in high school, I really began to understand the impact of community service, as I have been an elected class representative for Student Council for the last 3 years. I have participated in organizing fundraisers for charities and organizations. Student Council also gave me the chance to use my extra time to support my peers and younger students who were struggling due to COVID. I plan to continue engaging in community service during my college career and into my adult life.

I have demonstrated leadership in my school by being a Student Council class representative for 3 years. This enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them. I also worked at an auto detailing facility. As a leader of a team of attendants, I modeled the value of hard work. I valued staying focused on the task at hand and motivating people to move quickly to make the customers satisfied. I thought I was being a good leader. But I learned a valuable lesson. One of my co-workers had a stroke and that challenged me to look at my leadership skills. The stroke left him with speech and physical difficulties. When he worked with me, I didn't give him the opportunity to help with harder things because I made a bad assumption that he would take too long or not understand what to do. I failed to ask him what he wanted to do. Instead, he was assigned “easier” tasks. One time he approached me and we had a long and good conversation. He communicated through his phone. I was surprised and realized that even though he had a stroke, he should be given the chance to work in a way that accommodates him and makes him feel good about himself. I learned that a true leader should never make assumptions about the people they lead. Instead, a true leader looks for the best in people and provides them with opportunities to achieve. I learned to be humble and to apologize for my error. It was a hard lesson learned, but I'm grateful to have learned it.

As a young man, I received mental health care myself. When my mother noticed increasing anxiety, she got me into counseling. It helped me to have a safe place to share my thoughts and feelings. Both of my parents work in mental health. So I am aware of the ways that counseling can help improve the quality of lives for people. I know that there is often distrust of mental health professionals in communities of color. I want to break that cycle of distrust, as I am a person of color myself. My utopian vision for optimal mental health for the community would include free access to mental health care for everyone, starting in elementary school. Children should be taught from a young age that there is no shame in taking care of your mental health, just like there is no shame in going to the doctor when you are sick. Mental health care can help people have their voice heard. They can express how their experiences with affected them. They can then learn to be their own advocates for social change and justice. Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them. One big way that I want to help people struggling with mental health is by being a pharmacist. I want to combine my love of math, science and biology with the ability to help people get access to medication that they may need.

I live with gratitude by not letting the obstacles I faced define me. I have had several obstacles in my life. But I now see them as an opportunity to learn resiliency and compassion. These situations have taught me to be an independent thinker. Since I was a kid, I had to work hard to not let obstacles define me and to appreciate what I have. For example, I had to get speech therapy when, for some reason, I stopped talking in certain places. This was probably my first time having anxiety. Also, I needed to use a wheelchair when I was about 8 years-old. I started having severe leg cramps and ended up at a Children's Hospital. The tendons and ligaments in my legs were not growing at the same rate as my bones. They were being severely stretched, like “stretching a rubber band to the point that it snaps”. To prevent more injury, I needed a wheelchair if I had to walk farther than a city block. My body and emotions went through a lot. I had regular physical therapy at a clinic and then had to continue the therapy at home. For a long time, I was unable to run, jump and play like the other kids at school. That was really hard on me because I was an active kid, and now I was different from my friends. I had to learn to be patient, to work hard at the therapy and to overcome more anxiety. It helped me to learn gratitude and to appreciate everything despite those things. These things taught me to be more compassionate and patient with other people because you don’t know what hardships they are going through. To me, that is gratitude.

I am brave and live boldly because I am an independent BIPOC (Black and Mexican) and I break out of any boxes that people might try to put me in. I am just myself and shatter people’s preconceived stereotypes of who they think I am or should be. I'm brave because I respect my own thoughts, feelings, values and experiences when making decisions for myself. It also means that I value the experiences of people older than me and that I can humble myself to seek out their suggestions and feedback. I live boldly because I look at all sides and all angles of a situation, as I take time to reflect on how any decision or action might impact my overall well-being and the well-being of others around me. Independence means that I can then trust myself to decide or take an action based on my values, weighing all the pros and cons of a decision or action. Independence also means that I accept the consequences of those actions and decisions, whether good, bad or indifferent. Being independent has impacted me because I don’t follow the crowd. For example, I am a “Scholar Athlete” who serves on the Student Council. What this means is that I love all aspects of myself. I love that I am athletic. But that’s only one part of me. Being independent means, you give time and attention to all parts of oneself. I am also a “scholar” with a 3.99 weighted GPA. I have taken many AP classes and I love learning. I also enjoy serving, so I am on Student Council. For me, being independent is honoring all parts of myself, regardless of what others might think. I am just me.

My passion is to make a difference in many people's lives. I've always enjoyed helping others because I enjoy seeing other people grow and prosper. My main collegiate goal is to push myself academically in order to grow and develop into an individual who will make a difference in the lives of others. I hope to work in the field of medicine. I have a dream of becoming a pharmacist. I love math, science and biology. I believe that becoming a pharmacist will be a wonderful way for me to help people in need. I am applying to several different school that have a solid curriculum to help me prepare for this medical field. I want to be able to reach as many lives as possible and help people treat their illness and have a better quality of life.

As a young Black man, I received mental health care myself. When my mother noticed increasing anxiety, she got me into counseling. It helped me to have a safe place to share my thoughts and feelings. But she had a hard time finding a Black male therapist for me to see. I really want to see more Black counselors in the field. Both of my parents work in mental health. So I am aware of the ways that counseling can help improve the quality of lives for the Black people. I know that there is often distrust of mental health professionals in communities of color. I want to break that cycle of distrust. My utopian vision for optimal mental health for the Black community would include free access to mental health care for everyone, starting in elementary school. Children should be taught from a young age that there is no shame in taking care of your mental health, just like there is no shame in going to the doctor when you are sick. Mental health care can help Black people have their voice heard. They can express how their experience with racism affected them. They can then learn to be their own advocates for social change and justice.

Being patient is very important to me because I learned from first hand experience how not being patient can negatively impact someone. I worked at an auto detailing facility. As a leader of a team of attendants, I modeled the value of hard work and taking pride in a job well done. I valued staying focused on the task at hand and motivating people to move quickly to make the customers satisfied. I thought I was being a good leader. But I learned a valuable lesson on patience. One of my co-workers had a stroke and that challenged me to look at my leadership skills. The stroke left him with speech and physical difficulties. When he worked with me, I didn't give him the opportunity to help with harder things because I made a bad assumption that he would take too long or not understand what to do. I failed to ask him what he wanted to do. Instead, he was assigned “easier” tasks. One time he approached me and we had a long and good conversation. He communicated through his phone. I was surprised and realized that even though he had a stroke, he should be given the chance to work in a way that accommodates him and makes him feel good about himself. I learned that a true leader must be patient and should never make assumptions about the people they lead. Instead, a true leader looks for the best in people and provides them with opportunities to achieve. I learned to be humble and to apologize for my error. It was a hard lesson learned, but I'm grateful to have learned it. I am not much more patient and understanding with people.

I want people to remember me as a person who was kind, giving and compassionate. I think that this is a very important legacy to leave because these are good character traits to teach younger children. I want my legacy to be one of giving back to the community. We are all connected to one another, and serving others gives us a sense of purpose in life. I was influenced to engage in community service by my mother at a young age. When we lived in the Chicago suburbs, she would take me and my older sister to volunteer at a nursing home. I started to learn from a young age how important it is to give back to others. It helps you to be “other” focused instead of focused on “self”. My mother taught me that we are all connected as human beings and that we need to serve others as much as possible. It helps to remain humble and develop gratitude. In middle school, I volunteered to be a Peer Mentor to younger students. But in high school, I really began to understand the impact of community service, as I have been an elected class representative for Student Council for the last 3 years. I have participated in organizing fundraisers for charities and organizations. Student Council also gave me the chance to use my extra time to support my peers and younger students who were struggling due to COVID. I plan to continue engaging in community service during my college career and into my adult life.

I am a young Black man who has an educational goal is to become a pharmacist. I want to help other people and I think pharmacy is one way to do it, especially since I enjoy science. I have had several obstacles in my life. But I now see them more as an opportunity to learn resiliency and compassion. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I didn’t have these challenges. These situations have taught me to be an independent thinker and to trust in and believe in myself. Since I was a small child, I had to work hard to not let obstacles define my later success. For example, I had to get speech therapy when, for some reason, I stopped talking in certain places. This was probably my first time having anxiety. Also, I needed to use a wheelchair when I was about 8 years-old. I started having severe leg cramps and ended up at Lurie's Children's Hospital in Chicago. The tendons and ligaments in my legs were not growing at the same rate as my bones. They were being severely stretched, like “stretching a rubber band to the point that it snaps”. To prevent more injury, I needed a wheelchair if I had to walk farther than a city block. My body and emotions went through a lot. I had regular physical therapy at a clinic and then had to continue the therapy at home. For a long time, I was unable to run, jump and play like the other kids at school. That was really hard on me because I was an active kid, and now I was different from my friends. I had to learn to be patient, to work hard at the therapy and to overcome more anxiety. It helped me to learn that my worth as a human being was not based on what my body could or could not do. I am worthy regardless of those things. These things taught me to be more compassionate and patient with other people because you don’t know what hardships they are going through. Then while going through these obstacles, I faced another challenge; the divorce of my parents. This was a really hard time because everything seemed out of my control and scary. That made me more anxious. I witnessed their toxic marriage and unfortunately, they struggled more than you can imagine during the divorce, including one parent having a severe mental health crisis. But I learned to face my fears, to value time with family and l learned just how important life can be. Life is fragile and it is short. I learned to never take life for granted. To summarize, I have overcome many things and learned valuable lessons along the way. I could have allowed these things to put me on a bad path. But I didn’t. Instead, I used those things to drive me to work harder. The kid who once needed a wheelchair now has a varsity letter in cross country and a varsity letter in track. The kid who once wouldn’t speak now has a 3.99 weighted GPA and is a Scholar Athlete. The shy and anxious boy is now a courageous young man who has done a lot for others the last 3 years as class representative on the Student Council. I choose not to dwell on things out of my control. I choose to make my own way in life and set my own path for success.

My best skill is helping others. They way that I am improving it is to find more ways to volunteer. Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them. I am always looking for new ways to improve myself and my ability to help others.

My favorite way to help people to to serve on Student Council. Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them.

I have always been interested in business and entrepreneurship because I am someone who likes to follow my own dreams and implement plans. I have had two paid employment positions in high school. In one position, I worked for someone who owned his own restaurant. I enjoyed learning from him. He brought his own ideas and creativity to his restaurant and made it his own. I like the freedom and control that comes with being your own boss. You are able to plan and run something the way you think is best based on your own thoughts and experiences. In my other position, I worked for a chain company and the managers had no freedom to make changes, even though they knew the changes would benefit the company. Right now, I am taking AP Microeconomics. It is fascinating to learn about the way individuals and businesses make financial decisions. Next semester I will take AP Macroeconomics. In that class, I will learn more about the ways in which financial decisions impact various countries around the world.

Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them.

I hope that my impact is to help people not feel alone during this pandemic. Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them.

I try to have a positive impact on the world by my involvement in Student Council. Being a Student Council class representative for 3 years has enabled me to be active in my community. We organize fundraisers for charities and organizations. We sponsored Common Ground, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to spread awareness about mental health to teenagers and young adults. Mental health has been a significant topic because of the COVID pandemic and how it negatively impacted students. We created a committee whose purpose was to look out for the well-being of students. As student leaders, it’s our responsibility to make our high school a safe place. Our committee designed outreach efforts, such as The Daily Dose. We would send out texts of positive quotes or images before the start of every school day so that students who signed up would have their ‘daily dose’ of positivity every morning. Students could react to the text with a thumbs up or laughing emoji. Seeing students comment back with a positive reaction makes me feel amazing. It motivates me because I know that I could be making someone’s day a little better by helping students to know that they are not alone. We also did “buddy system” with a local elementary school. We would have video calls with 5th graders. We wanted to help the younger students because we understand how hard it is going through the pandemic this young. I believe being active in the community positively impacts others by improving their mental health and showing that there are people who care about them.

I stay true to myself by being "independent". I am a BIPOC (Black and Mexican) and I break out of boxes that people try to put me in. I am just myself and shatter people’s preconceived stereotypes of who they think I am or should be. This makes me true to myself. I respect my own thoughts, feelings, and experiences when making decisions. But I also value the experiences of people older than me and that I can humble myself to seek out their suggestions. Others may not seek out advice for fear of being judged. But I remain true to myself by letting those fears go. Being true to myself also means that I look at all sides and angles of a situation, as I reflect on how any decision or action might impact my overall well-being and the well-being of others around me. I can then trust myself to decide or take an action based on my values, weighing all the pros and cons of a decision. I also accept the consequences of those actions and decisions, whether good, bad or indifferent. Being true to myself means that I don’t "follow the crowd". For example, I am a “Scholar Athlete” who serves on the Student Council. This means that I love all aspects of myself. I love that I am athletic. But that’s only one part of me. Being true to oneself is also giving time and attention to all parts of oneself. I am also a “scholar” with a 3.99 weighted GPA. I have taken many AP classes and I love learning. I also enjoy serving, so I am on Student Council. For me, being true to myself is honoring all parts of myself, regardless of what others might think. I am just me.

The quality I value most about myself is my independence. I am an independent BIPOC (Black and Mexican) because I break out of any boxes that people might try to put me in. I am just myself and shatter people’s preconceived stereotypes of who they think I am or should be. This characteristic will help me in my life's journey, as I will not allow anything or anyone deter me in reaching my goals. Independence means that I respect my own thoughts, feelings, values and experiences when making decisions for myself. It also means that I value the experiences of people older than me and that I can humble myself to seek out their suggestions and feedback. Independence means that I look at all sides and all angles of a situation, as I take time to reflect on how any decision or action might impact my overall well-being and the well-being of others around me. Independence means that I can then trust myself to decide or take an action based on my values, weighing all the pros and cons of a decision or action. Independence also means that I accept the consequences of those actions and decisions, whether good, bad or indifferent. Being independent has impacted me because I don’t follow the crowd. For example, I am a “Scholar Athlete” who serves on the Student Council. What this means is that I love all aspects of myself. I love that I am athletic. But that’s only one part of me. Being independent means, you give time and attention to all parts of oneself. I am also a “scholar” with a 3.99 weighted GPA. I have taken many AP classes and I love learning. I also enjoy serving, so I am on Student Council. For me, being independent is honoring all parts of myself, regardless of what others might think. I am just me.

I find it important to live within your means and to do everything in your reach to live debt free. I have worked two part time jobs while in high school and have learned the value to money. I was laid off of my job due to COVID-19. A huge lesson that I learned is the importance of opening up a saving account and to begin saving for things you want, including emergencies. I have also seen my step-father, with whom I live, be laid off. This impacted our family finances. Another big lesson that I learned was how to budget. My mother taught me how to write all expenses down, look at income bringing in and income going out. If we don't use a budget, we won't be able to know what we can and cannot afford. My mother also had college debt to pay off. She taught me how important it is to be wise with your money. That is the reason that I am working so hard to obtain scholarships, both academic and athletic. I want t be as debt free as possible when I graduate from college. That way I can use my income to actually help make a difference in the world, such as donating money to charities and engaging in mission work. These things are harder to do when in debt. I am working hard at making good financial decisions.

I am an independent BIPOC (Black and Mexican) because I break out of any boxes that people might try to put me in. I am just myself and shatter people’s preconceived stereotypes of who they think I am or should be. Independence means that I respect my own thoughts, feelings, values and experiences when making decisions for myself. It also means that I value the experiences of people older than me and that I can humble myself to seek out their suggestions and feedback. Independence means that I look at all sides and all angles of a situation, as I take time to reflect on how any decision or action might impact my overall well-being and the well-being of others around me. Independence means that I can then trust myself to decide or take an action based on my values, weighing all the pros and cons of a decision or action. Independence also means that I accept the consequences of those actions and decisions, whether good, bad or indifferent. Being independent has impacted me because I don’t follow the crowd. For example, I am a “Scholar Athlete” who serves on the Student Council. What this means is that I love all aspects of myself. I love that I am athletic. But that’s only one part of me. Being independent means, you give time and attention to all parts of oneself. I am also a “scholar” with a 3.99 weighted GPA. I have taken many AP classes and I love learning. I also enjoy serving, so I am on Student Council. For me, being independent is honoring all parts of myself, regardless of what others might think. I am just me.