I never thought I would be the person to dance. Growing up I was always the girl who hid away in social settings or would prefer reading over chatting with the other kids my age, but dance slowly changed that. Latin dancing has become an outlet for me, since the first time my aunt guided my feet on the cold, tile floor of my childhood kitchen. An outlet that removes me from the pressures of being the oldest daughter attempting to make a future for herself or an overwhelmed student with never-ending homework or notes to study. With dancing it provides a sense of peace, from the loud music and lively personalities drifting across the floor to the feeling of just not thinking and instead just letting the music and my dance partner guide my feet. In the beginning, I wouldn’t dare to dance with anyone but my aunt, who originally taught me the basics of bachata and how to stay with the steady thumping of the beat but with time and a lot of practicing in front of my mirror I began to dance with others. The persistence and confidence that is required to learn and understand all the motions of bachata and salsa is beyond description but the community around me made it possible. Dancing with others in a social setting has taught me so much about social awareness, saying how you feel, and learning your boundaries. These skills have been tested in this last year of high school with the ups and downs of friendships to my first break up. The ability to say no to a lead asking me to dance has reflected in my ability to say no to responsibilities that I cannot juggle or simply do not wish to. Being the oldest sister in a family has held a certain sense of having to be the peacemaker or simply the one that holds a family together, so me becoming a people pleaser is only natural. However, dancing has taught me that it is okay to say no and that boundaries must be set for a healthy social interaction or even relationship. Though I haven’t lived for very long in this complex and exhilarating world, I truly think dance should fit into everyone’s life somehow. Dancing has given me a chance to feel alive in a way that can’t be described, it has given me an escape from an endless amount of homework and club president responsibilities. An escape from typical and endlessly typical life is beyond important for well-balanced mental health and simple happiness. Dance has made me feel less weighted by life, and instead happy to be alive and able to experience the freedom that movement and music hold.

I was raised by a community, as many who grew up with very little. That community shaped who I am today. Throughout my life, I learned to understand the power of a community and the importance of helping those around me. This greatly contributed to how I interact with others, from my peers in the classroom to the strangers I encounter. Volunteering was a crucial part of growing up, so much so that I begged my aunt to bring me to volunteering events at the Medical Reserve Corps and various organizations where she volunteered in her limited time off work. Finally, she agreed to bring me to participate, and it happened to be a community cleanup in a low-income neighborhood. This singular community cleanup sparked my interest in making the spaces that we interact with, and even the ones we do not, a more enjoyable place to be—allowing an encouragement for not only community growth but also personal growth. The club that was most foreshadowed by the first-ever community cleanup is the Surfrider Recycling Club. Through three years of leadership in the club, I have grown to have the power and responsibility to advocate for sustainable exchanges within the school and educate others on how climate change is not only affecting us all but specifically minorities. Causing those that are most in harm of the ever-changing environment to be swept under the rug and not seen, this urgent issue is what I hope to combat following my university education in Environmental Engineering. Science and the climate crisis aren’t the only interests that I pursue and work towards, but also the power of literacy. During my junior year of high school, in the peak of a seemingly endless flow of responsibilities to juggle I founded a book club, Biscuits and Books. I created the book club on the principles of building a space for those who have been pushed out of many social scenes to feel a sense of community and comfort. The club principles didn’t stop at the members, but with support, I was able to organize an annual outreach to the local underprivileged elementary school to donate handmade bookmarks for National Literacy Month to act as an incentive for reading. Last year, I organized a school-wide event to make bookmarks with over 40 students participating, creating over 250 bookmarks to donate. Elementary school is where I found my love for reading and learning, so I only wish to give at least one kid who is driven to learn and create change for their future. I hope I have demonstrated my hardworking deminer inside the communities that have given so much to me and the change that I have worked to create for those that are often overlooked. This interest in change and continuous motions to do such makes me a credible individual who is deserving of this scholarship. One thing that I can promise in the wake of receiving the scholarship is that I will work to not only give back but pave opportunities for youth who had a similar upbringing with parents who struggled to make ends meet and only hoped the best for their child. I’ve been given very little in my life, instead most of what I have has been earned not only through working tirelessly in school but also through chances given by strangers. These gifts will not go unappreciated, instead, I will continue to use them as a drive for a future that I wish to craft for myself and those around me and this scholarship would be a stepping stone for that future.

Cambridge defines fulfillment as “a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction,” with the considerable assistance of wisdom to achieve such. My desires, knowledge, and experiences have led me to define fulfillment as what I hope to achieve in my professional career. Growing up, I always saw my parents work for companies and businesses that made their lives miserable. They were the workers that large organizations and companies relied on to keep their businesses profitable but without a care for the physical or mental health of the workers. Even though my parents tried to hide their pain, I could see how hard they worked only for the ends to meet. They gave up their hopes of a career that made them happy for a future that could make my sister and me happy. I am beyond grateful for all that they sacrificed for us. With gratitude, I will repurpose that pain to create the life they deserve. I plan to be fulfilled in my career and life in general, to ensure that my parent’s wishes and the pain of so many years do not equate to nothing. My parents aren’t the only ones who have experienced this dread and unfulfillment, it is beyond common in the world in which we live. Many parents take all means necessary to create a life in which their child can excel. With this knowledge, I am mindful of how I treat others. I always try to give my utmost respect to all whom I interact with because I will never know the extent of one’s pain or sacrifice. Exposure to this pain and sacrifice affects how I view my possible career paths and general education. The education and resources I have earned and the ones that have been given are gifts that I treasure. Even by including the highly selective Medical and Health Specialty Program that is partnered with the local Medical School. The program has taught me the importance of caring for others on a level only science could supply. The activities, volunteer experience, and community involvement could be found to stem from my passion and knowledge for change. However, I will use the gifts I have acquired to help others and find people who can mentor me into becoming the most fulfilled and supportive version of myself. Not only to improve my own life but also to those who helped me along the way especially those who were never given the chance to share their capabilities, like my parents. Fulfillment is beyond what I find enough for myself, but it is what is enough for the world that I wish to be a part of and change. The fulfillment I aim for will strengthen the communities that I value those that I see the value of, and the opportunities of the communities I will find in my academic future.

Pride Fest has always been one of my favorite celebrations of the year, growing up. In Norfolk, VA Pride Fest is filled with local vendors, performers, artists, and food trucks. A few years ago, during a Pride Fest that I visited with my mom a booth of a local church caught our eye. In the year prior we had been a part of a large church that promised to spread love and care to others, but when one sermon proved otherwise, especially towards LGBTQIA+ individuals we soon left the congregation. The church at the festival was one of the most soul-comforting communities we could've ever found. The church was founded to give everyone a place to be guided and protected from the harsh world that surrounds us all. What made the church different was that they didn't only say the kind words but acted upon them. Upon joining the church, my family has only been comforted by the community that has been created by the preacher. The preacher identifies as a part of the gay community and this identification and openness to his congregation helps to create an environment that allows everyone to feel the freedom to express themselves within the church. The preacher is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community which has truly shaped how I wish to be a part of activism. Activism from the church and especially the preacher has illustrated to me the importance of performing actions that prove your desire for change instead of only speaking of it. Through this representation, I have found the utmost motivation to work to support my community and those who are underrepresented within Hampton Roads and beyond. With the church I have cooked 14+ meals for families that are battling hard times, designed and set up with the church at Pridegfest to spread nonjudgementful love and care while giving bags of essentials to the public. Even outside of the church I have proven my activism, I have a certain passion for the protection of the environment and the sustainability of the public and communities as a whole. Through being president of my local Surfrider Sustainability club and my school's garden/4H club I have been gifted the privilege of organizing community cleanups and events to support our local wildlife. Another way I have illustrated my passion for community is by being a long-term volunteer at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens by volunteering with the horticulture team and through special events that provide a safe space for the youth of Hampton Roads. Another way of reflecting on my preacher's admirable actions for creating a community that is built for those who are often left behind or misled is by creating my book club. During junior year I organized, planned, and created a community of individuals that reflected my personality and hobbies. My book club was built on creating a space for people to express themselves as their most intelligent and book-loving selves without the societal pressures of finding more "popular" hobbies as being more appealable. Everyone is a place somewhere in this world and building a place for those who share something within yourself and protecting them is a part of what makes activism, especially for those who often are unable to find someone to loung their voices. Growing up the church was not seen as a safe place for LGBTQIA+ communities, even if it still isn't widely supported as such the preacher of my church is someone who truly earns my respect for sculpting the next generation of local activists.

Even after eighteen long years, I am still unsure of who I am, but with effort, I can try and describe the world as I see it. Most of my journey was bound together by spines of glue and thread. The author’s world became my escape from the lonely reality of being disconnected from others my age. Fiction allowed me an escape from the constant academic and social pressures and dove into other’s journeys. I read at my own pace, with frequent breaks to take bites of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich my mom packed for me every night before school. She assumed I would be eating that sandwich with the new friends I was making and had no idea I was eating it by myself, away from the new monsters I was trying to escape. Those monsters were soon to be described as social anxiety. Slowly, I found people who found the same joy and relief in books, and they became my companions, slowly but surely. Those with whom I could share my love and adoration for literature stayed beside me while others fell away. After so much time having to find a little comfort by myself in books, I experienced pure happiness when I was able to share the little moments I adored in the pages with others my age. Those moments mean more than words can describe. My courage to build a community for those who sat at the lunch table with their noses in a book soon began to flourish with my strength against my anxiety. So, I formed my high school book club, Biscuits and Books, with the hope of finding those who needed somewhere to bond with others about books. The club gave me the ability to connect, a skill I developed late, but allowed my ideal self to emerge. I learned to gather and lead a diverse group towards a common goal, to connect with those who had not found their voices, as I found mine through reading. I founded the club to help others find the escape and comfort I only found in stories for such a long time. I built a special community through my club and communities bring people together. They piece a simple person back together in a way that benefits not just the person, but those around her. Biscuits and Books helped rebuild me. So, I found people to share my literacy and social expeditions, inside and outside of the pages. Those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches my mom made became the biscuits I baked for my friends, the friends I always secretly wished for while I was escaping the loneliness of growing up, amongst the pages. Even after spending so much time fighting back against the monsters that could only be felt and seen in my mind, I was able to truly build a small community around me that helped comfort me in my darkest times. Mental health is something I continue to share information about and activism on for others to understand that the conditions are not made up, but real problems that can be debilitating. Just like all my favorite novels, and as cliche as it may seem, you can’t judge a book by its cover. At the end of the day, no one truly knows what is panning out in someone else’s mind, the troubles or even the joys so treating everyone with the same amount of concern and respect is crucial in understanding the cruciallness of mental health and caring for those around us.

"The pituitary gland of the brain is impossible," I told my peers. That was my very least favorite unit of anatomy. I was given the amazing opportunity to take anatomy at a local medical school through the Medical and Health Specialty Program I am a part of at my high school. In this four-year program I have thrived in environments I did not know would be possible, including in a cadaver lab that I studied the human body, every day during my junior year. Beyond the science field I also deeply enjoy literature, not simply the novels that are required in my courses but the books that call me from the art on their covers. My passion for books inspired me, causing me to found my very own community within my school for the students that found comfort inside books. I founded a book club, Biscuits, and Books, as a way to bring people together and create a community. The clubs that I fill my limited free time with are very important to me, but beyond the recycling club, book club, garden club, school newspaper, and literacy magazine I find comfort in the outdoors with dirt, bugs, and plants. I always hated the bugs in the dirt. Every summer I traveled to my grandma's house in the deep hills of Kentucky, and it was there that I found a certain passion for helping others. When I would help maintain the garden of my grandma's home there was always an immense amount of little critters that would crawl around and hide in the dirt. I always despised the way they moved and how fast they were, but as I grew up and took a special interest in science and biology I learned that those creepy, little critters are very important for maintaining everything we love. So I want to be more like the bugs, not in a way of digging in dirt but in a way to help those around me and cause a positive ripple effect in my community. So through my future career in Environmental Science and STEM, I hope to create plans and execute the plans to make a more sustainable world that protects those that make a difference. The differences that we take for granted, from all the help of the millions of oysters in our waterways to the small earthworms assist in keeping the nitrogen cycle going. Science was not always my favorite subject, but my closest aunt paved the way for me to discover the fascinating sides of it. My aunt is a woman of many talents, she pursues an incredibly impressive job at the National Science Foundation while still having so many hobbies that make her happy, and at the same time volunteers every month. So when she visited and would help me understand my homework in a way that no one else could explain it to me because she understood how I thought. Now that I am older and have found the best ways to memorize the elements in chemistry or the landmarks on the human skeleton, our connection has become different. My aunt is not only the person who guides me beyond the classroom and homework, she inspires me to do what I love and pursue the friendships that I believe I would best thrive in. She is a woman I admire beyond words could describe and she is the woman that I hope to be one day, a woman who isn't afraid to be her truest self and create a positive impact in the many communities that she resides in.