At first glance, I may seem like a very studious and active learner, with a high GPA and strong academic rigor. I take challenging classes and excel in them. I am involved in my community, actively participate in volunteer service programs and hang out with friends on the weekends. However, if you take a step back, you might also see the struggling, stressed young girl overwhelmed with the idea of figuring out her future. Maintaining mental wellness is necessary to create positive relationships with yourself and others. Being in a positive mental state can greatly affect your perspective and serves as the foundation of positive life experiences. Although sometimes, to prioritize your mental health, you make decisions that may disappoint others, I believe that by putting yourself first, you will have more to give others. I have learned from experience that when you struggle with your mental health, the people around you also suffer. I found myself in negative cycles of depression and self-sabotage, trying to throw myself into school to distract me from the fact that I was so unhappy inside. And although I was trying to conceal my sadness inside, it manifested itself in negative ways in multiple aspects of my life. It caused the relationships with my family to become strained because I was easily irritable and couldn’t express how I was feeling. I was constantly stressed and overwhelmed, but I kept it to myself because I feared being considered weak if I asked for help. When I was reaching a breaking point, I discovered Project 50 through social media sites. It was a program that included doing seven things every day for 50 days. Every day I would wake up before 8 am, make my bed, exercise, cook three meals, read ten pages, spend time on a new hobby, and journal. My goal was to build healthy habits and invest time into my mental well-being. This program helped tremendously. I felt more confident and rediscovered my love for creativity and art. I realized it was okay to ask for help and started talking to professionals about coping mechanisms and repairing relationships with others and more importantly myself. I no longer felt hopeless or the need to criticize myself and was able to trust myself and my ability to pull myself out of difficult situations. I wholeheartedly believe that I would not be here today if I did not take the time to reassess where I was and prioritize my mental and emotional well-being. That further emphasized how important mental health is to have a healthy relationship with yourself. Loving myself allows me to give love to others. I now know that so many people love and care about me; they are one of the biggest reasons I am committed to becoming the best version of myself.

At first glance, I may seem like a very studious and active learner, with a high GPA and strong academic rigor. I take challenging classes and excel in them. I am involved in my community, actively participate in volunteer service programs and hang out with friends on the weekends. However, if you take a step back, you might also see the struggling, stressed young girl overwhelmed with the idea of figuring out her future. I have learned from experience that when you struggle with your mental health, the people around you also suffer. I found myself in negative cycles of depression and self-sabotage, trying to throw myself into school to distract me from the fact that I was so unhappy inside. And although I was trying to conceal my sadness inside, it manifested itself in negative ways in multiple aspects of my life. It caused the relationships with my family to become strained because I was easily irritable and couldn’t express how I was feeling. I was constantly stressed and overwhelmed, but I kept it to myself because I feared being considered weak if I asked for help. I would take challenging classes because I felt that if I achieved a certain GPA or awards, it would finally make me happy. However, that was not the case. When I was reaching a breaking point, I discovered Project 50 through social media sites. It was a program that included doing seven things every day for 50 days. Every day I would wake up before 8 am, make my bed, exercise, cook three meals, read ten pages, spend time on a new hobby, and journal. My goal was to build healthy habits and invest time into my mental well-being. This program helped tremendously. I felt more confident and rediscovered my love for creativity and art. I realized it was okay to ask for help and started talking to professionals about coping mechanisms and repairing relationships with others and more importantly myself. I no longer felt hopeless or the need to criticize myself and was able to trust myself and my ability to pull myself out of difficult situations. I wholeheartedly believe that I would not be here today if I did not take the time to reassess where I was and prioritize my mental and emotional well-being. I didn’t realize how different aspects of my life are intertwined. By taking care of my mental health, I had more energy and motivation to do well in school, to exercise, and even to start cooking nutritious meals for my family and me. Being at my best physically, mentally, and emotionally helps me to stay attentive in class and manage school and extracurriculars. That further emphasized how important mental health is to have a healthy relationship with yourself. Loving myself allows me to give love to others. I now know that so many people in my life love and care about me; they are one of the biggest reasons I am committed to becoming the best version of myself.

“Love you more.” This phrase ended most of my days. Something my older brother would say instead of goodnight, which brought me comfort knowing he was there for me as my source of support and as a role model. In the upcoming months of my brother leaving for college, I felt immense fear and sadness. The image of my brother leaving our driveway is still burned in my memory. I stared out the window, wishing he would turn around and come back but knowing that I could not turn back time and nothing would ever be quite the same. I worried that although he would come home occasionally, we wouldn’t be as close because he now lived so far away. For the first few weeks, I focused on the things I couldn’t do now that my brother had left. I missed getting boba together, going to the gym, and driving around listening to music. But as he started telling me about all the exciting concerts and events he was experiencing, I realized that this was a perfect time for me to explore my interests. I invested more time into my jewelry business, studying marketing strategies and learning how to capture my products in photos to gain consumer attention. As I put more time and energy into my business, I rediscovered my passion for creativity and problem-solving. I felt more confident for the first time in months. I remember one day when I had just released my new collection of jewelry pieces for Valentine’s Day and it sold out in only a few hours. I’ve always been on the shorter side, but on that day, I felt just a little bit taller. After my brother left, I had more time to set personal goals and self-reflect. I realized that I wasn’t as dependent on my brother and was able to enjoy my own company. As I continued to stay disciplined and work towards my goal of having a small business, my relationship with myself shifted. I began to trust myself and my abilities. When I started to trust myself, I was able to progress and tap into my full potential. I felt happy that I had things I could share with him, which motivated me to continue working toward this passion. Whenever I would make a sale or come up with a new idea, I’d call him to celebrate with me, and he would offer me his opinion on the style or design. Then he would tell me about the fun things he was doing. Although these parts of our lives were independent of each other, being able to share our joy and excitement strengthened our relationship. When my brother first left, I felt so sad and lost without him. But this experience pushed me to find a new strength within myself. I discovered that I am resilient and can take a difficult situation and turn it into an opportunity for growth, creativity, and passion. When I spent time doing things I was passionate about, my confidence and happiness grew and brought my brother and me closer together. I know now that the love we experience isn’t determined by physical distance or time spent together. But rather, the relationship we have with ourselves ultimately determines the amount of love we are able to give.

I plan to pursue a degree in environmental engineering because I have always been passionate about environmental sustainability and maintaining the beauty and resources of the land. I believe that engineers are responsible for creating quality infrastructure to provide communities with access to necessary resources. My long-term goal is to work in Native Hawaiian communities to decrease poverty rates and increase rates of higher education. Being of Hawaiian descent has given me many opportunities to connect with my culture and further my interest in environmental science. I plan to use that education to make a positive difference in my local community. Native Hawaiians face many challenges as tourist resorts take over sacred lands, and many have lost their homes due to the high cost of living and limited supply of homes for residents. The exploitation of the Native Hawaiian culture and the increasing tourism industry contribute to the high poverty rates within the state of Hawai’i. Although Native Hawaiians only make up 10% of the state’s population, they account for 51% of the homeless population. High homelessness and poverty rates are the main factors causing lower rates of higher education. By creating better living conditions for Native Hawaiian communities, people will have opportunities to pursue higher education. Going to a school for Native Hawaiians, I was allowed to apply for a STEM internship through the program Project Hokulani. The most impactful part of the internship was the hands-on learning project. This internship gave me in-field experience surveying limu density in the ocean. One of my jobs was to improve a quadrat tool to make it more effective for underwater use. I installed weights and a camera to allow it to stay underwater and photograph the seaweed and organisms for later observation. I could communicate and collaborate with my peers more effectively, which gave me a deeper understanding of what it is like to work with others to build on ideas to find solutions. Through this experience, I witnessed the positive impact of diversity in the workspace. Collaboration becomes more interesting when people come from different places, experiences, and backgrounds. A diverse skillset gained from different experiences is valuable to a team and can bring a unique perspective to a problem. When our group had diversity, we could celebrate our individual qualities, and there was less need for competition. Collaboration and innovation are significant parts of environmental engineering, and having a diverse workplace can help to highlight individual strengths leading the team to their full potential. Diversity efforts create opportunities for people in underrepresented and underprivileged communities. Without efforts to expand diversity in the STEM field, I wouldn’t have as many opportunities to explore my passions because there wouldn’t be organizations like Project Hokulani. I was able to experience first-hand the benefits of diversity because I have the resources to pursue higher education. I am motivated to work towards a career where I can further develop my passion for environmental sustainability while increasing diversity efforts to level out a systemically uneven playing field.

I plan to pursue a degree in environmental engineering because I have always been passionate about environmental sustainability and maintaining the beauty and resources of the land. I believe that engineers are responsible for creating quality infrastructure to provide communities with access to necessary resources. My long-term goal is to work in Native Hawaiian communities to decrease poverty rates and increase rates of higher education. Being of Hawaiian descent has given me many opportunities to connect with my culture and further my interest in environmental science. I plan to use that education to make a positive difference in my local community. Native Hawaiians face many challenges as tourist resorts take over sacred lands, and many have lost their homes due to the high cost of living and limited supply of homes for residents. The exploitation of the Native Hawaiian culture and the increasing tourism industry contribute to the high poverty rates within the state of Hawai’i. Although Native Hawaiians only make up 10% of the state’s population, they account for 51% of the homeless population. High homelessness and poverty rates are the main factors causing lower rates of higher education. By creating better living conditions for Native Hawaiian communities, people will have opportunities to pursue higher education. Going to a school for Native Hawaiians, I was allowed to apply for a STEM internship through the program Project Hokulani. The most impactful part of the internship was the hands-on learning project. This internship gave me in-field experience surveying limu density in the ocean. One of my jobs was to improve a quadrat tool to make it more effective for underwater use. I installed weights and a camera to allow it to stay underwater and photograph the seaweed and organisms for later observation. I could communicate and collaborate with my peers more effectively, which gave me a deeper understanding of what it is like to work with others to build on ideas to find solutions. Through this experience, I witnessed the positive impact of diversity in the workspace. Collaboration becomes more interesting when people come from different places, experiences, and backgrounds. A diverse skillset gained from different experiences is valuable to a team and can bring a unique perspective to a problem. When our group had diversity, we could celebrate our individual qualities, and there was less need for competition. Collaboration and innovation are significant parts of environmental engineering, and having a diverse workplace can help to highlight individual strengths leading the team to their full potential. Diversity efforts create opportunities for people in underrepresented and underprivileged communities. Without efforts to expand diversity in the STEM field, I wouldn’t have as many opportunities to explore my passions because there wouldn’t be organizations like Project Hokulani. I was able to experience first-hand the benefits of diversity because I have the resources to pursue higher education. I am motivated to work towards a career where I can further develop my passion for environmental sustainability while increasing diversity efforts to level out a systemically uneven playing field.