Last summer, my mother was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and a variety of digestional issues. This led to a complete overhaul of her diet and a myriad of life changes. She is now gluten, dairy, and sugar-free, and is constantly on the search for something new and sustainable she can eat. Unfortunately, a lot of these foods, even if they meet the requirements of her dietary restrictions, are still extremely processed, unhealthy, and expensive. I have witnessed my mother cry over the stress of changing her diet after 60 years of eating like an average American. What I have grown to discover is that the problem lies in our local corporate grocery stores, where "fast food" is disguised as DIY, at-home meal kits. The abundance of unhealthy yet seemingly addicting food within our supermarkets is maddening as it grows each year in popularity and marketability, while our produce sections and delis continue to shrink. Customers like my mom are forced to go to local health food stores or farmers' markets with very few options and far too expensive ones at that. The issue is that the manufactured overproduced and unhealthy food is cheap, accessible, and easy to make, while the healthier alternative is upwards of five times more expensive. It is extremely difficult to break out of the traditional eating pattern of the American diet, and it is almost impossible to escape from the latest and greatest potato chip or batch of ice cream. Humans need food to sustain energy throughout their busy lives, not to be wasted in short bursts of energy only to be burned out in the body with no nutritional purpose. Changing this cycle and reducing our carbon footprint starts in our backyards, where we can plant seeds and invest in our soil to produce easily accessible fruits and vegetables. Whether at home, in our kitchens, or in our refrigerators, we get to decide what products we consume and how we prepare them; and in our local farms and businesses, to support one another and rebuild the community around local cuisine. All three balance one another, and if everyone can chip in, it's not too late to reverse the effects of the over-production of food, which only harms our environment, our economy, and our bodies. We as humans deserve to treat our bodies with respect, as our ancestors once did, in order to sustain a better future for generations to come. For example, my backyard doesn't have any spots to create a garden. My town naturally has very rough and dry clay-like dirt. This isn't sustainable for many crops, so I started growing my own plants out of buckets using bags of better soil. I've grown tomatoes, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, basil, sunflowers, and more, and plan on continuing to grow more and more each year. My favorite part of gardening is the final product, when I can disperse what I've grown to my friends and family and proudly say, "I grew that". Everyone should have a garden, and everyone should share with their community to better our diets and plates around the globe.

There are several individuals in my life that have inspired me and encouraged me to change over time; including many friends, teachers, and family members. But the one person in my life that has sharpened me, challenged me to grow, and overall has made me a better person is my mom. Growing up, I faced many insecurities and anxieties about myself and lacked the confidence to express my voice in any form of conversation, let alone public speaking. As I experienced these issues, my mom was always there for me, guiding me through the challenges in my life and making up for the confidence that I lacked. To this day, whenever something important or stressful happens in my life, I always go to my mom to get her advice or opinions on the situation. I find that doing so always leads me in the right direction for making choices and solving problems. She is someone that I can always trust, which in turn has made me a more trustworthy and loyal person. There are also many ways in which my mom has challenged me to grow and change, including joining my high school's mock trial team during my freshman year of high school. This was the first club or activity I had ever been a part of, and to say that I was terrified when I was asked to play the role of a witness during my first year would be an understatement. I agreed to try it out, not knowing that four years later I would be our team's lead lawyer. Through trials about a roller coaster accident, or a drug overdose, I managed to develop long-lasting friendships and skills in self-confidence that stick with me to this day. My school's mock trial team never even succeeded in winning a trial despite all of the hard work and effort we put into each case, but the valuable lessons and growth I achieved across my four years of competing and becoming a leader in the club were all the rewards I needed. After graduating and leaving the mock trial team behind, my mom continues to inspire me as I am now in college to become a teacher and, hopefully, someday lead my school's mock trial team. My goal in doing so is to help kids who went through the same experiences as I did. I am not always the most outgoing person, and sometimes it's still hard for me to “break out of my shell” but seeing my mom's extroverted personality or recalling the times in which I put on a character to fight to win a trial often makes me want to be more outgoing and confident as well. Without my mom, and the experiences I encountered within mock trial, I am sure my life would be very different and I would not be the person I am today.

Since I was 8 years old, I have struggled with a variety of anxiety-related issues, including physical tics, panic attacks, social anxiety, and body dysmorphia. Many of these issues stem from being in the closet and never feeling comfortable expressing my truest self. "I can't be gay," was a thought that crossed my mind every day from the ages of 13 to 18. Now, as an out and proud 21-year-old, I look back at my past amazed at how far I've come. The thought of coming out and disappointing my family and friends heightened my already naturally anxious mind. I felt trapped in my own body, and I was extremely self-conscious. I felt like there was no one I could trust, so I built wall on top of wall to avoid letting my guard down and revealing all of the struggles I was facing internally. I felt alone. I constantly ran away from these feelings, finding any distraction to ease my mind and numb the anxiety for the time being. I kept running and running until I hit a halt. The COVID-19 pandemic, occurring in my senior year of high school, forced me to sit inside all day and think about what I had really been running from. What was I so afraid of? It wasn't until the coronavirus lockdown that I was finally able to confront my feelings head-on. My experience of coming out wasn't easy, but it did lead towards a new path in my life, starting therapy. After finally coming clean about the issues I had dealt with alone for my entire life, I started attending weekly therapy sessions, where I finally got the help I needed. No longer did I have to suffer in silence, I could finally speak my mind and begin living as my authentic self. This was a difficult process, but two years later, I now find myself in a loving, committed relationship, with a supportive family and unit of friends, and the ability to express my truest self. The road to get to where I am now was hard, but I can finally say that I’ve made it and that I truly love myself. Another major support throughout my life as I dealt with these issues has been my teachers, who have influenced my career choice to become a teacher myself. Throughout my life, I have had countless experiences with teachers that over time, made me realize that my path in life would be to become a teacher myself. The role a teacher serves in a child or teenager’s life is severely underappreciated, and all teachers deserve far more recognition and credit than they currently receive. That is why my educational goals are to become an educator. Being able to give back to so many individuals and help shape the lives of your students is an incredibly important role to fill, and I have personally had many great teachers that have been able to do so successfully. No matter what grade I decide to teach after finishing my college education, I can rest assured that I will be satisfied and truly happy in the career that I have chosen. I wish to teach in order to make a difference in this world and to take part in shaping the youth of our nation for years to come. One day, I will have students like me; scared, alone, anxious, and doubtful. I wish to uplift those students each and every day, so they don't have to suffer alone as I once did.

"Success is never found. Failure is never fatal. courage is the only thing." -Winston Churchill. In the 6th grade, I found myself sitting in the auditorium of my middle school during my 5th-period gym class. Behind the curtain on the auditorium stage was a rectangular pink slip, featuring the quote above in a spiraling font. Regardless of a few misspellings and later discovering that the quote may have not even been credited to Winston Churchhill, I picked up the slip, threw it in my back pocket, and have carried it with me ever since. It was my yearbook quote, is pinned to a poster on my wall, and runs through my mind each day. The three themes of each sentence of the quote have stuck with me in unique ways, and almost foreshadowed the path my life would take going forward after discovering it that day. "Success is never found" has continued to ring true for me throughout my high school career and now into my college years. Success has never come naturally to me, and I've had to work hard to achieve success in every aspect of my life, whether academic, athletic, extracurricular, etc. Success is never found, it is earned, and those who are deserving of it will find it when they least expect it. "Failure is never fatal" is the part of the quote that I often spread to others the most. After coming to this realization myself, every choice, decision, and action became far simpler. "Failure" can't kill you, it could only make you stronger and smarter in the future. In fact, I truly don't believe that failure is something to be feared, as so many people do, because in my perspective " failure" only produces new opportunities. "Courage is the only thing" reflects my personal life immensely. Throughout my life, I have had to either be courageous or suffer, and thankfully, in part from this quote, I have chosen courage. Being a closeted bisexual teenager suffering from anxiety and physical tics, I truly never believed that I would be able to express myself authentically. It wasn't until this past year when I did the most courageous thing I had ever done, came out, and sought out help for my mental health, that I truly understood what it meant to be courageous. Courage is the only thing, it is the only way to survive in this world if you want to stay adrift.

My art has always been music. From the ages of two on, I have always had a knack for percussion, a sect of musical talent that runs in my family. The older I got, the more I discovered how much music meant for me in my creative expression. A large portion of my life was spend in the closet, which resulted in me shielding my true self in fear of judgement. Getting up on stage, however, whether it was a performing a solo piece or with a group ensemble, made me feel truly alive and able to express my art, like the work I had prepared for was being blasted out to an audience of thousands, even if it was truly a few dozen parents. Being able to represent my community in something that I was good at meant the world to me, and for those few minutes of performing, I could just be myself. The most meaningful extracurricular activity I ever have been a part of was my high school marching band. I was, and still am, extremely proud to have been a part of my school's band and to have held the leadership positions of a music section leader and treasurer. Having a common goal with those around me to improve the show taught me how to work well with others and make effective decisions. Experiencing the hard work and dedication that the students, parents, and directors had put into the band was incredibly powerful to me and taught me many valuable lessons in teamwork and dedication. As a treasurer and music section leader, I learned many important skills from the individuals around me each season, and I now know that music can teach all of us skills in leadership, commitment, responsibility, and sometimes even when to have fun. I have also learned how to be a positive role model for others and how to lead well through my experience in the marching band, which will help me in my future career. I plan on becoming a teacher of English, where I will implement music in my classroom each day. Music is a valuable resource and a universal language that inspires even those who don't consider themselves to be musically inclined. Music is an agent of change, and through expressing myself creatively through music, I was able to finally come out of my shell, a message I hope to spread this message to generations to come.

Throughout my life, I have had countless experiences with teachers that overtime, made me realize that my path in life would be to become a teacher myself. The role a teacher serves in a child or teenager’s life is severely underappreciated, and all teachers deserve far more recognition and credit than they currently receive. That is why my educational goals are to become an educator. I feel that being a teacher is one of, if not the most, rewarding jobs that someone can obtain. Being able to give back to so many individuals and help shape the lives of your students is an incredibly important role to fill, and I have personally had many great teachers that have been able to do so successfully. I feel that this job requires patience and compassion, and is something that I hope to develop and grow towards in the next four years of my college experience. I attend Centenary University where I study Education in English, grades K-12. I have had a particularly strong bond with my English classes and English teachers in the past, and reading is one of my favorite past times. No matter what grade I decided to teach after finishing my college education, I can rest assured that I will be satisfied and truly happy in the career that I have chosen. I wish to teach in order to make a difference in this world and to take part in shaping the youth of our nation for years to come.

My favorite artist is Toni Morrison. With each sentence, she inspired a nation, a nation that has evolved in unprecedented ways throughout her lifetime. Although she has passed, her work will exceed her existence on Earth and continue to prosper in the minds of youth across the globe for centuries to come. Toni Morrison is an inspiration to humanity.