I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

At eight years old, I was behind with my reading skills, so my parents decided to get me some help from a family friend, Ms. Flowers. When Ms. Flowers wasn’t helping me with reading, she was teaching me how to cook and cater events on the weekends. Helping her prepare food for her catering jobs sparked my passion for cooking. I wasn’t much help though. I would just ask a lot of questions and mess up the measurements. Ms. Flowers would never get upset with my questions and would tell me that “it’s good to ask questions, especially when you need help.” She encouraged my curiosity with a level of patience that most mothers would envy. I often felt like a burden for asking too many questions, so I would just try to learn by watching her. Eight years later, I found myself working in a culinary program through “After School Matters”, an organization that gives job opportunities to Chicago high school teens. In this program, I developed and cooked different recipes while building teamwork, communication, and leadership skills. At the end of each session, we had a competition between four teams where we would display skills that we had learned throughout the program by hosting a dinner buffet for family, friends, and community members. Each team member was appointed a dish and then the group would come together and present as a whole. The team captains were also tasked with making sure that the team members understood their recipes and helped the members if they were struggling. In my third and last year in the program, I was appointed team captain. I was given the main course, Banh Mi. Have you ever heard of or made Banh Mi before? I hadn’t until Chef Tonie gave me the recipe. Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich that I was expected to have perfected in time for the showcase, but I had no idea where to start. I told myself, “It’s just a sandwich with some stuff on it. How hard can it be?” I had the recipe, but I wasn’t confident in my ability to not mess it up. The first few times I tried to make the sandwich, I burned it. As the team’s leader, I was too embarrassed and overwhelmed to ask for help. I felt like I should've known why things were going wrong and asking for help would reduce the confidence that my team had in me. In the back of my mind, I could hear Ms.Flowers telling me “It’s okay to ask for help.” I wanted to give up, but I was determined not to let the sandwich get the best of me. I turned my mic on and told Chef Tonie that I was having trouble cooking. Chef Tonie and my teammates listened to me rant about all the ways I tried to fix the sandwich. I was cut off by one of my teammates when they realized I had the fire up too high. We paused and started laughing together. I realized that I was so afraid of messing up and having to ask for help, it led me to make avoidable mistakes. I salvaged what I could and restarted the parts that couldn’t be saved. I finished plating just in time for the competition showcase. I learned the importance of asking for help. Asking for help allows me to gain insight from others and build stronger connections with my team. I still overcook the meat, but I no longer feel ashamed about asking for help and I ask questions every chance I get.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

A community service activity that I have participated in that has changed my view on a particular social issue is a service project that I did with my sociology class. The project was centered around educating my school’s community about mental health issues. At first, I thought my teacher was trying to make up a random service project, but as I work with my group and did my research, I realized how important this project could be. My group was tasked with suicidal thoughts and we decided the best way to get our message across was to create a play and perform it for our student body. The play was about a student who struggled with suicidal thoughts after losing his father and failing two of his classes. The student turned to cutting himself as a way of release and one night his mother caught him in the act. His mother decided to take him to see a therapist, so he could get some help. The therapist tells the son and the audience the best ways to cope with grief and depression. After the show, one of my classmates came up to me and told me how much she appreciated the representation she got in the play. She had been looking for a sign to get help and she took the play as her sign. As someone who has been struggling with depression for years, this project put into perspective how many of my peers could also be struggling with depression. I was delighted to reach out to my peers and let them know that it's important to know that they aren’t alone and that they will always have someone who cares about them, even if it’s not as obvious as it may seem. When doing research for the play I found out that suicidal thoughts are very common among teenagers and adolescents and one of the best ways to deal with the symptoms of depression is to talk to someone. My classmate changed my view on these types of assignments. This project showed me that I can help others in a way that no one has ever helped me. This experience has taught me how good it feels truly feels to help others, even if it is just one person. Having a classmate come up to me to talk about her problems showed me that I can help others fight their suicidal thoughts and make a difference in their lives.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. In the future I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

At eight years old, I was behind with my reading skills, so my parents decided to get me some help from a family friend, Ms. Flowers. When Ms. Flowers wasn’t helping me with reading, she was teaching me how to cook and cater events on the weekends. Helping her prepare food for her catering jobs sparked my passion for cooking. I wasn’t much help though. I would just ask a lot of questions and mess up the measurements. Ms. Flowers would never get upset with my questions and would tell me that “it’s good to ask questions, especially when you need help.” She encouraged my curiosity with a level of patience that most mothers would envy. I often felt like a burden for asking too many questions, so I would just try to learn by watching her. Eight years later, I found myself working in a culinary program through “After School Matters”, an organization that gives job opportunities to Chicago high school teens. In this program, I developed and cooked different recipes while building teamwork, communication, and leadership skills. At the end of each session, we had a competition between four teams where we would display skills that we had learned throughout the program by hosting a dinner buffet for family, friends, and community members. Each team member was appointed a dish and then the group would come together and present as a whole. The team captains were also tasked with making sure that the team members understood their recipes and helped the members if they were struggling. In my third and last year in the program, I was appointed team captain. I was given the main course, Banh Mi. Have you ever heard of or made Banh Mi before? I hadn’t until Chef Tonie gave me the recipe. Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich that I was expected to have perfected in time for the showcase, but I had no idea where to start. I told myself, “It’s just a sandwich with some stuff on it. How hard can it be?” I had the recipe, but I wasn’t confident in my ability to not mess it up. The first few times I tried to make the sandwich, I burned it. As the team’s leader, I was too embarrassed and overwhelmed to ask for help. I felt like I should've known why things were going wrong and asking for help would reduce the confidence that my team had in me. In the back of my mind, I could hear Ms.Flowers telling me “It’s okay to ask for help.” I wanted to give up, but I was determined not to let the sandwich get the best of me. I turned my mic on and told Chef Tonie that I was having trouble cooking. Chef Tonie and my teammates listened to me rant about all the ways I tried to fix the sandwich. I was cut off by one of my teammates when they realized I had the fire up too high. We paused and started laughing together. I realized that I was so afraid of messing up and having to ask for help, it led me to make avoidable mistakes. I salvaged what I could and restarted the parts that couldn’t be saved. I finished plating just in time for the competition showcase. I learned the importance of asking for help. Asking for help allows me to gain insight from others and build stronger connections with my team. I still overcook the meat, but I no longer feel ashamed about asking for help and I ask questions every chance I get.

During a community service activity that I have participated in that has changed my view on a particular social issue is a service project that I did with my sociology class. The project was centered around educating my school’s community about mental health issues. At first I thought my teacher was trying to make up a random service project, but as i work with my group and did my my research, I realized how important this project could be. My group was tasked with suicidal thoughts and we decided the best way to get our message across was to create a play and perform it for our student body. The play was about a student who struggled with suicidal thoughts after losing his father and failing two of his classes. The student turned to cutting himself as a way of release and one night his mother caught him in the act. His mother decided to take him to see a therapist, so he could get some help. The therapist tells the son and the audience the best ways to cope with grief and depression. After the show, one of my classmates came up to me and told me how much she appreciated the representation she got in the play. She had been looking for a sign to get help and she took the play as her sign. As someone who has been struggling with depression for years, this project put into perspective how many of my peers could also be struggling with depression. I was delighted to reach out to my peers and let them know that it's important to know that they aren’t alone and that they will always have someone who cares about them, even if it’s not as obvious as it may seem. When doing research for the play I found out that suicidal thoughts are very common among teenagers and adolescents and one of the best ways to deal with the symptoms of depression is to talk to someone. My classmate changed my view on these type of assignments. This project showed me that I can help others in a way that no one has ever helped me. This experience has taught me how good it feels truly feel to help other, even if it is just one person. Having a classmate come up to me to talk about her problems showed me that I can help others fight their suicidal thoughts and make a difference in their lives.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. In the future I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

During a community service activity that I have participated in that has changed my view on a particular social issue is a service project that I did with my sociology class. The project was centered around educating my school’s community about mental health issues. At first I thought my teacher was trying to make up a random service project, but as i work with my group and did my my research, I realized how important this project could be. My group was tasked with suicidal thoughts and we decided the best way to get our message across was to create a play and perform it for our student body. The play was about a student who struggled with suicidal thoughts after losing his father and failing two of his classes. The student turned to cutting himself as a way of release and one night his mother caught him in the act. His mother decided to take him to see a therapist, so he could get some help. The therapist tells the son and the audience the best ways to cope with grief and depression. After the show, one of my classmates came up to me and told me how much she appreciated the representation she got in the play. She had been looking for a sign to get help and she took the play as her sign. As someone who has been struggling with depression for years, this project put into perspective how many of my peers could also be struggling with depression. I was delighted to reach out to my peers and let them know that it's important to know that they aren’t alone and that they will always have someone who cares about them, even if it’s not as obvious as it may seem. When doing research for the play I found out that suicidal thoughts are very common among teenagers and adolescents and one of the best ways to deal with the symptoms of depression is to talk to someone. My classmate changed my view on these type of assignments. This project showed me that I can help others in a way that no one has ever helped me. This experience has taught me how good it feels truly feel to help other, even if it is just one person. Having a classmate come up to me to talk about her problems showed me that I can help others fight their suicidal thoughts and make a difference in their lives.

At eight years old, I was behind with my reading skills, so my parents decided to get me some help from a family friend, Ms. Flowers. When Ms. Flowers wasn’t helping me with reading, she was teaching me how to cook and cater events on the weekends. Helping her prepare food for her catering jobs sparked my passion for cooking. I wasn’t much help though. I would just ask a lot of questions and mess up the measurements. Ms. Flowers would never get upset with my questions and would tell me that “it’s good to ask questions, especially when you need help.” She encouraged my curiosity with a level of patience that most mothers would envy. I often felt like a burden for asking too many questions, so I would just try to learn by watching her. Eight years later, I found myself working in a culinary program through “After School Matters”, an organization that gives job opportunities to Chicago high school teens. In this program, I developed and cooked different recipes while building teamwork, communication, and leadership skills. At the end of each session, we had a competition between four teams where we would display skills that we had learned throughout the program by hosting a dinner buffet for family, friends, and community members. The team captains were also tasked with making sure that the team members understood their recipes and helped the members if they were struggling. In my third and last year in the program, I was appointed team captain. I was given the main course, Banh Mi. Have you ever heard of or made Banh Mi before? I hadn’t until Chef Tonie gave me the recipe. Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich that I was expected to have perfected in time for the showcase, but I had no idea where to start. I told myself, “It’s just a sandwich with some stuff on it. How hard can it be?” I had the recipe, but I wasn’t confident in my ability to not mess it up. The first few times I tried to make the sandwich, I burned it. As the team’s leader, I was too embarrassed and overwhelmed to ask for help. I felt like I should've known why things were going wrong and asking for help would reduce the confidence that my team had in me. In the back of my mind, I could hear Ms.Flowers telling me “It’s okay to ask for help.” I wanted to give up, but I was determined not to let the sandwich get the best of me. I turned my mic on and told Chef Tonie that I was having trouble cooking. Chef Tonie and my teammates listened to me rant about all the ways I tried to fix the sandwich. I was cut off by one of my teammates when they realized I had the fire up too high. We paused and started laughing together. I realized that I was so afraid of messing up and having to ask for help, it led me to make avoidable mistakes. I salvaged what I could and restarted the parts that couldn’t be saved. I finished plating just in time for the competition showcase. I learned the importance of asking for help. Asking for help allows me to gain insight from others and build stronger connections with my team. I still overcook the meat, but I no longer feel ashamed about asking for help and I ask questions every chance I get.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. In the future I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

During a community service activity that I have participated in that has changed my view on a particular social issue is a service project that I did with my sociology class. The project was centered around educating my school’s community about mental health issues. At first I thought my teacher was trying to make up a random service project, but as i work with my group and did my my research, I realized how important this project could be. My group was tasked with suicidal thoughts and we decided the best way to get our message across was to create a play and perform it for our student body. The play was about a student who struggled with suicidal thoughts after losing his father and failing two of his classes. The student turned to cutting himself as a way of release and one night his mother caught him in the act. His mother decided to take him to see a therapist, so he could get some help. The therapist tells the son and the audience the best ways to cope with grief and depression. After the show, one of my classmates came up to me and told me how much she appreciated the representation she got in the play. She had been looking for a sign to get help and she took the play as her sign. As someone who has been struggling with depression for years, this project put into perspective how many of my peers could also be struggling with depression. I was delighted to reach out to my peers and let them know that it's important to know that they aren’t alone and that they will always have someone who cares about them, even if it’s not as obvious as it may seem. When doing research for the play I found out that suicidal thoughts are very common among teenagers and adolescents and one of the best ways to deal with the symptoms of depression is to talk to someone. My classmate changed my view on these type of assignments. This project showed me that I can help others in a way that no one has ever helped me. This experience has taught me how good it feels truly feel to help other, even if it is just one person. Having a classmate come up to me to talk about her problems showed me that I can help others fight their suicidal thoughts and make a difference in their lives.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. In the future I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

During a community service activity that I have participated in that has changed my view on a particular social issue is a service project that I did with my sociology class. The project was centered around educating my school’s community about mental health issues. At first I thought my teacher was trying to make up a random service project, but as i work with my group and did my my research, I realized how important this project could be. My group was tasked with suicidal thoughts and we decided the best way to get our message across was to create a play and perform it for our student body. The play was about a student who struggled with suicidal thoughts after losing his father and failing two of his classes. The student turned to cutting himself as a way of release and one night his mother caught him in the act. His mother decided to take him to see a therapist, so he could get some help. The therapist tells the son and the audience the best ways to cope with grief and depression. After the show, one of my classmates came up to me and told me how much she appreciated the representation she got in the play. She had been looking for a sign to get help and she took the play as her sign. As someone who has been struggling with depression for years, this project put into perspective how many of my peers could also be struggling with depression. I was delighted to reach out to my peers and let them know that it's important to know that they aren’t alone and that they will always have someone who cares about them, even if it’s not as obvious as it may seem. When doing research for the play I found out that suicidal thoughts are very common among teenagers and adolescents and one of the best ways to deal with the symptoms of depression is to talk to someone. My classmate changed my view on these type of assignments. This project showed me that I can help others in a way that no one has ever helped me. This experience has taught me how good it feels truly feel to help other, even if it is just one person. Having a classmate come up to me to talk about her problems showed me that I can help others fight their suicidal thoughts and make a difference in their lives.

A community service activity that I have participated in that has changed my view on a particular social issue is a service project that I did with my sociology class. The project was centered around educating my school’s community about mental health issues. At first, I thought my teacher was trying to make up a random service project, but as I work with my group and did my research, I realized how important this project could be. My group was tasked with suicidal thoughts and we decided the best way to get our message across was to create a play and perform it for our student body. The play was about a student who struggled with suicidal thoughts after losing his father and failing two of his classes. The student turned to cutting himself as a way of release and one night his mother caught him in the act. His mother decided to take him to see a therapist, so he could get some help. The therapist tells the son and the audience the best ways to cope with grief and depression. After the show, one of my classmates came up to me and told me how much she appreciated the representation she got in the play. She had been looking for a sign to get help and she took the play as her sign. As someone who has been struggling with depression for years, this project put into perspective how many of my peers could also be struggling with depression. I was delighted to reach out to my peers and let them know that it's important to know that they aren’t alone and that they will always have someone who cares about them, even if it’s not as obvious as it may seem. When doing research for the play I found out that suicidal thoughts are very common among teenagers and adolescents and one of the best ways to deal with the symptoms of depression is to talk to someone. My classmate changed my view on these types of assignments. This project showed me that I can help others in a way that no one has ever helped me. This experience has taught me how good it feels truly to help others, even if it is just one person. Having a classmate come up to me to talk about her problems showed me that I can help others fight their suicidal thoughts and make a difference in their lives.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choose to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to the environment. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for the next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. In the future I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. If I had the resources to fulfill my dream, this course would be open to everyone, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementary and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

I had always wanted to take care of houseplants but couldn’t make the jump to get one. I was afraid that I would kill the plants as soon as I came into contact with them. In the spring of 2020, my brother decided to start a garden in our backyard and asked me to help him. We went to get supplies from our local nursery. As I was eyeing the houseplants, my brother asked if I wanted one. I took home two plants that day and now I take care of around thirty-two houseplants and help my brother with his garden every spring. This led me to choosing to major in environmental science. Taking care of houseplants and helping my brother with his garden helped me realize how much I appreciate our environment and want to learn more about it. I’m uncertain about the specific career path that I want to go down, but I do know that I want to do something related to environmentology. Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences is vast enough for me to explore several interdisciplinary fields without me feeling pressured to stick to just one. Being able to do research alongside faculty and graduate students in their first year is my dream. I’m particularly interested in conservation and plan on doing research in the field as soon as possible. I would like to do research centered on the long-term global effect of over-harvesting. In the future, I want to help improve & preserve the best of nature for next generations. I believe that focusing on sustainability has the potential to not only improve the condition of the environment, but also improve the quality of people's lives globally. In the future I want to create a course about gardening and would be called “How to be a Good Gardener 101”. This course would open to everyone one, but I want to focus on the underfunded elementry and middle schools in my community. There is a lack of focus on educating the younger generations about where the food we eat comes from and how it grows. I want to help combat this. This will be a hands-on curriculum to bring people outside and appreciate their environment. Students would learn how to be self-sufficient. The course would explain why gardening can be a vital life skill, the importance of different types of soil and fertilizers, the easiest produce to grow, and why it is crucial to eat with the seasons.

At eight years old, I was behind with my reading skills, so my parents decided to get me some help from a family friend, Ms. Flowers. When Ms. Flowers wasn’t helping me with reading, she was teaching me how to cook and cater events on the weekends. Helping her prepare food for her catering jobs sparked my passion for cooking. I wasn’t much help though. I would just ask a lot of questions and mess up the measurements. Ms. Flowers would never get upset with my questions and would tell me that “it’s good to ask questions, especially when you need help.” She encouraged my curiosity with a level of patience that most mothers would envy. I often felt like a burden for asking too many questions, so I would just try to learn by watching her. In the summer of 2022, I found myself working in a culinary program through “After School Matters”, an organization that gives job opportunities to Chicago high school teens. In this program, I developed and cooked different recipes while building teamwork, communication, and leadership skills. At the end of each session, we had a competition between four teams where we would display skills that we had learned throughout the program by hosting a dinner buffet for family, friends, and community members. Each team member was appointed a dish and then the group would come together and present as a whole. The team captains were also tasked with making sure that the team members understood their recipes and helped the members if they were struggling. In my third and last year in the program, I was appointed team captain. I was given the main course, Banh Mi. Have you ever heard of or made Banh Mi before? Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich that I was expected to have perfected in time for the showcase, but I had no idea where to start. I told myself, “It’s just a sandwich with some stuff on it. How hard can it be?” I had the recipe, but I wasn’t confident in my ability to not mess it up. The first few times I tried to make the sandwich, I burned it. As the team’s leader, I was too embarrassed and overwhelmed to ask for help. I felt like I should've known why things were going wrong and asking for help would reduce the confidence that my team had in me. In the back of my mind, I could hear Ms.Flowers telling me “It’s okay to ask for help.” I wanted to give up, but I was determined not to let the sandwich get the best of me. I turned my mic on and told Chef Tonie that I was having trouble cooking. Chef Tonie and my teammates listened to me rant about all the ways I tried to fix the sandwich. I was cut off by one of my teammates when they realized I had the fire up too high. We paused and started laughing together. I realized that I was so afraid of messing up and having to ask for help, it led me to make avoidable mistakes. I salvaged what I could and restarted the parts that couldn’t be saved. I finished plating just in time for the competition showcase. I learned the importance of asking for help. Asking for help allows me to gain insight from others and build stronger connections with my team. I still overcook the meat, but I no longer feel ashamed about asking for help and I ask questions every chance I get.