Originally born to Nigerian parents, I’ve had the opportunity to experience life internationally, from the US to Switzerland to now Sierra Leone, and I’ve observed firsthand the drastic differences in health and wealth between and within regions. More specifically, I've been struck by the intersections among poverty, ignorance, and disease. These can create a detrimental feedback loop that ruins families and communities through issues such as child mortality. What started for me as a community service opportunity has morphed into an undying passion to contribute my insights into driving down the current under-five death rate in Sierra Leone, currently estimated at 122 deaths per 1,000 live births. Through my volunteering with CHAMPS* and FOCUS1000**, groups that seek to reduce under-five child mortality in Sierra Leone, I've been able to better understand the underlying issues and make my own modest contribution through Social Behavioral Science and community action. These activities have helped highlight both my passion to help, and my relatively limited capacity to make a meaningful difference. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to complete my studies in Economics and Psychology with a lessened financial burden and afford me the increased flexibility to fit in my volunteer work back in Sierra Leone between job experiences and internships over each summer. In both my AP Psychology and AP Microeconomics studies, I was introduced to different elements of the processes behind human decision-making. This was one of the first concrete examples I found of the intersection between economics and psychology and got me thinking about the application to my volunteer experience. I believe that the triad of poverty, ignorance and disease can be tackled by influencing behavior change that helps lift the socioeconomic status of affected families. Through my volunteering, I have not only had the opportunity to visualize concrete examples of interdisciplinary links I have encountered in my studies, but to discover completely new ones. Field workers like Solomon illustrated to me the uses of Health Economics, which focuses on managing and maintaining resources for projects for sustainable implementation. Additionally, the psychological changes needed in the members of communities affected play a huge part. Without them, people begin to accept tragedy as normal due to psychological trauma and become complacent rather than being receptive to solutions. While my worldview has been shaped by my life experiences in diverse cultures and economic contexts, my desire for a college education has been influenced by a passion to instigate change. Although I am fully aware that I cannot single-handedly solve the problems in Sierra Leone or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, I am convinced that college will bring me closer to like-minded professors, colleagues and mentors who will help me further nurture these ideas. Through clubs like 180-degree consulting, I will be able to practice consulting for nonprofits in a guided environment before taking my learnings back to Sierra Leone. In the four years I spend in undergrad, I seek to not only learn practical skills for the workforce but to continue learning to think in new ways. Whether this is by being challenged by new concepts or through discourse on social issues with fellow Columbia students, college is a place where I can foster my passion for learning and develop it into a force for good. * Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance ** Facilitating and Organizing Communities to Unite for Sustainable Development

Due to the opportunities I’ve had to experience life internationally, from the US to Switzerland to now Sierra Leone, I’ve observed firsthand the drastic differences in health and wealth between and within regions. More specifically, I've been struck by the intersections among poverty, ignorance, and disease. These can create a detrimental feedback loop that ruins families and communities through issues such as child mortality. What started for me as a community service opportunity has morphed into an undying passion to contribute my insights into driving down the current under-five death rate in Sierra Leone, currently estimated at 122 deaths per 1,000 live births. Through my volunteering with CHAMPS* and FOCUS1000**, groups that seek to reduce under-five child mortality in Sierra Leone, I've been able to better understand the underlying issues and make my own modest contribution through Social Behavioral Science and community action. These activities have helped highlight both my passion to help, and my relatively limited capacity to make a meaningful difference. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to complete my studies in Economics and Psychology with a lessened financial burden and afford me the increased flexibility to fit in my volunteer work back in Sierra Leone between job experiences and internships over each summer. In both my AP Psychology and AP Microeconomics studies, I was introduced to different elements of the processes behind human decision-making. This was one of the first concrete examples I found of the intersection between economics and psychology and got me thinking about the application to my volunteer experience. I believe that the triad of poverty, ignorance and disease can be tackled by influencing behavior change that helps lift the socioeconomic status of affected families. Through my volunteering, I have not only had the opportunity to visualize concrete examples of interdisciplinary links I have encountered in my studies, but to discover completely new ones. Field workers like Solomon illustrated to me the uses of Health Economics, which focuses on managing and maintaining resources for projects for sustainable implementation. Additionally, the psychological changes needed in the members of communities affected play a huge part. Without them, people begin to accept tragedy as normal due to psychological trauma and become complacent rather than being receptive to solutions. While my worldview has been shaped by my life experiences in diverse cultures and economic contexts, my desire for a college education has been influenced by a passion to instigate change. Although I am fully aware that I cannot single-handedly solve the problems in Sierra Leone or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, I am convinced that college will bring me closer to like-minded professors, colleagues and mentors who will help me further nurture these ideas. Through clubs like 180-degree consulting, I will be able to practice consulting for nonprofits in a guided environment before taking my learnings back to Sierra Leone. In the four years I spend in undergrad, I seek to not only learn practical skills for the workforce but to continue learning to think in new ways. Whether this is by being challenged by new concepts or through discourse on social issues with fellow Columbia students, college is a place where I can foster my passion for learning and develop it into a force for good. * Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance ** Facilitating and Organizing Communities to Unite for Sustainable Development

I’m naturally a realist, but I’ve learned to look at inconveniences in life as part of an adventure instead of a boring series of obstacles to overcome. Jeannette Walls, the narrator of The Glass Castle, inspired this paradigm shift through her endless optimism and the framing of her memoir, which described a young girl’s life in a highly dysfunctional family. Coming in, I didn’t have high expectations for a glorified autobiography. I’d read biographies before, and although informative I rarely found them stimulating in comparison to absorbing fiction like Percy Jackson or Mike Lupica. However, The Glass Castle went on to overturn several of my expectations and beliefs. For one, the vagueness of the title and description gave me a picture of a completely different story to that which I read. I’d imagined children in a royal family who felt distant from their powerful and busy parents, and a general fall from grace for the whole family as they were exiled for whatever reason, leading to them constantly being on the move. In the end, the book about an American family in which the children felt distant and were constantly on the move, but for far different reasons. This apparent misinterpretation of the story ended up being a reflection of Walls’s world view. To her, her life might as well be what I assumed, as her naivety enabled her to believe her dad’s outlandish excuses for the situations they found themselves in. Her imagination ran rampant as she defined her life how she wanted to experience it. When recounting her family’s nomadic nature, she seemed excited whenever they did “the skedaddle.” I’ve never found appreciating moments universally considered enjoyable difficult, but I couldn’t say the same for welcoming change and challenges, which I naturally hoped would leave me alone and be over as soon as possible. Emulating Walls’s approach to life has enabled me to look forward to the next surprise I’ll encounter rather than shy away from it. Although I was excited when I learned that my family was moving from the US to Switzerland in 2015, I did not look forward to our move out of Switzerland to Sierra Leone in 2020. I was determined to put up with the move for a limited time and hoped we would be leaving as soon as possible. With my new ‘adventure’ perspective, I’m learning to appreciate the value of my time in Sierra Leone. Adapting our family baking business, Chinscook Confectioneries, to a new market resulted in it being more successful here as multiple contracts came through by referrals and word of mouth. Observing firsthand the practical applications of my Social Behavioral Science training for communities affected by child mortality and visiting one of the affected villages to conduct rumor surveillance has provided me with an experience unavailable to me elsewhere. The unavailability of AP or IB programs here led to me starting online school in 11th grade, initially a foreign concept that I now feel has better prepared me for the responsibility of college life. Like detours on a forest trail, these ‘challenges’ are what have enhanced my experience and made it memorable. Like most things, though, Walls’s perspective works best in moderation. Although her positive outlook was generally a good thing, she had a tendency to lie to herself and ignore obvious signs, which can be an easy trap to fall into and an appealing out. By addressing problems that exist but not allowing them ruin my outlook, I am able to take the best parts of her approach and use them to expand my personal growth.

Due to the opportunities I’ve had to experience life internationally, from the US to Switzerland to now Sierra Leone, I’ve observed firsthand the drastic differences in health and wealth between and within regions. More specifically, I've been struck by the intersections among poverty, ignorance, and disease. These can create a detrimental feedback loop that ruins families and communities through issues such as child mortality. What started for me as a community service opportunity has morphed into an undying passion to contribute my insights into driving down the current under-five death rate in Sierra Leone, currently estimated at 122 deaths per 1,000 live births. Through my volunteering with CHAMPS* and FOCUS1000**, groups that seek to reduce under-five child mortality in Sierra Leone, I've been able to better understand the underlying issues and make my own modest contribution through Social Behavioral Science and community action. These activities have helped highlight both my passion to help, and my relatively limited capacity to make a meaningful difference. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to complete my studies in Economics and Psychology with a lessened financial burden and afford me the increased flexibility to fit in my volunteer work back in Sierra Leone between job experiences and internships over each summer. In both my AP Psychology and AP Microeconomics studies, I was introduced to different elements of the processes behind human decision-making. This was one of the first concrete examples I found of the intersection between economics and psychology and got me thinking about the application to my volunteer experience. I believe that the triad of poverty, ignorance and disease can be tackled by influencing behavior change that helps lift the socioeconomic status of affected families. Through my volunteering, I have not only had the opportunity to visualize concrete examples of interdisciplinary links I have encountered in my studies, but to discover completely new ones. Field workers like Solomon illustrated to me the uses of Health Economics, which focuses on managing and maintaining resources for projects for sustainable implementation. Additionally, the psychological changes needed in the members of communities affected play a huge part. Without them, people begin to accept tragedy as normal due to psychological trauma and become complacent rather than being receptive to solutions. While my worldview has been shaped by my life experiences in diverse cultures and economic contexts, my desire for a college education has been influenced by a passion to instigate change. Although I am fully aware that I cannot single-handedly solve the problems in Sierra Leone or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, I am convinced that college will bring me closer to like-minded professors, colleagues and mentors who will help me further nurture these ideas. Through clubs like 180-degree consulting, I will be able to practice consulting for nonprofits in a guided environment before taking my learnings back to Sierra Leone. In the four years I spend in undergrad, I seek to not only learn practical skills for the workforce but to continue learning to think in new ways. Whether this is by being challenged by new concepts or through discourse on social issues with fellow students, college is a place where I can foster my passion for learning and develop it into a force for good. * Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance ** Facilitating and Organizing Communities to Unite for Sustainable Development

Due to the opportunities I’ve had to experience life internationally, from the US to Switzerland to now Sierra Leone, I’ve observed firsthand the drastic differences in health and wealth between and within regions. More specifically, I've been struck by the intersections among poverty, ignorance, and disease. These can create a detrimental feedback loop that ruins families and communities through issues such as child mortality. What started for me as a community service opportunity has morphed into an undying passion to contribute my insights into driving down the current under-five death rate in Sierra Leone, currently estimated at 122 deaths per 1,000 live births. Through my volunteering with CHAMPS* and FOCUS1000**, groups that seek to reduce under-five child mortality in Sierra Leone, I've been able to better understand the underlying issues and make my own modest contribution through Social Behavioral Science and community action. These activities have helped highlight both my passion to help, and my relatively limited capacity to make a meaningful difference. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to complete my studies in Economics and Psychology with a lessened financial burden and afford me the increased flexibility to fit in my volunteer work back in Sierra Leone between job experiences and internships over each summer. In both my AP Psychology and AP Microeconomics studies, I was introduced to different elements of the processes behind human decision-making. This was one of the first concrete examples I found of the intersection between economics and psychology and got me thinking about the application to my volunteer experience. I believe that the triad of poverty, ignorance and disease can be tackled by influencing behavior change that helps lift the socioeconomic status of affected families. Through my volunteering, I have not only had the opportunity to visualize concrete examples of interdisciplinary links I have encountered in my studies, but to discover completely new ones. Field workers like Solomon illustrated to me the uses of Health Economics, which focuses on managing and maintaining resources for projects for sustainable implementation. Additionally, the psychological changes needed in the members of communities affected play a huge part. Without them, people begin to accept tragedy as normal due to psychological trauma and become complacent rather than being receptive to solutions. While my worldview has been shaped by my life experiences in diverse cultures and economic contexts, my desire for a college education has been influenced by a passion to instigate change. Although I am fully aware that I cannot single-handedly solve the problems in Sierra Leone or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, I am convinced that college will bring me closer to like-minded professors, colleagues and mentors who will help me further nurture these ideas. Through clubs like 180-degree consulting, I will be able to practice consulting for nonprofits in a guided environment before taking my learnings back to Sierra Leone. In the four years I spend in undergrad at Columbia, I seek to not only learn practical skills for the workforce but to continue learning to think in new ways. Whether this is by being challenged by new concepts or through discourse on social issues with fellow students, college is a place where I can foster my passion for learning and develop it into a force for good. * Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance ** Facilitating and Organizing Communities to Unite for Sustainable Development

Due to the opportunities I’ve had to experience life internationally, from the US to Switzerland to now Sierra Leone, I’ve observed firsthand the drastic differences in health and wealth between and within regions. More specifically, I've been struck by the intersections among poverty, ignorance, and disease. These can create a detrimental feedback loop that ruins families and communities through issues such as child mortality. What started for me as a community service opportunity has morphed into an undying passion to contribute my insights into driving down the current under-five death rate in Sierra Leone, currently estimated at 122 deaths per 1,000 live births. Through my volunteering with CHAMPS* and FOCUS1000**, groups that seek to reduce under-five child mortality in Sierra Leone, I've been able to better understand the underlying issues and make my own modest contribution through Social Behavioral Science and community action. These activities have helped highlight both my passion to help, and my relatively limited capacity to make a meaningful difference. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to complete my studies in Economics and Psychology with a lessened financial burden and afford me the increased flexibility to fit in my volunteer work back in Sierra Leone between job experiences and internships over each summer. In both my AP Psychology and AP Microeconomics studies, I was introduced to different elements of the processes behind human decision-making. This was one of the first concrete examples I found of the intersection between economics and psychology and got me thinking about the application to my volunteer experience. I believe that the triad of poverty, ignorance and disease can be tackled by influencing behavior change that helps lift the socioeconomic status of affected families. Through my volunteering, I have not only had the opportunity to visualize concrete examples of interdisciplinary links I have encountered in my studies, but to discover completely new ones. Field workers like Solomon illustrated to me the uses of Health Economics, which focuses on managing and maintaining resources for projects for sustainable implementation. Additionally, the psychological changes needed in the members of communities affected play a huge part. Without them, people begin to accept tragedy as normal due to psychological trauma and become complacent rather than being receptive to solutions. While my worldview has been shaped by my life experiences in diverse cultures and economic contexts, my desire for a college education has been influenced by a passion to instigate change. Although I am fully aware that I cannot single-handedly solve the problems in Sierra Leone or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, I am convinced that college will bring me closer to like-minded professors, colleagues and mentors who will help me further nurture these ideas. Through clubs like 180-degree consulting, I will be able to practice consulting for nonprofits in a guided environment before taking my learnings back to Sierra Leone. In the four years I spend in undergrad, I seek to not only learn practical skills for the workforce but to continue learning to think in new ways. Whether this is by being challenged by new concepts or through discourse on social issues with fellow Columbia students, college is a place where I can foster my passion for learning and develop it into a force for good. * Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance ** Facilitating and Organizing Communities to Unite for Sustainable Development

Due to the opportunities I’ve had to experience life internationally, from the US to Switzerland to now Sierra Leone, I’ve observed firsthand the drastic differences in health and wealth between and within regions. More specifically, I've been struck by the intersections among poverty, ignorance, and disease. These can create a detrimental feedback loop that ruins families and communities through issues such as child mortality. What started for me as a community service opportunity has morphed into an undying passion to contribute my insights into driving down the current under-five death rate in Sierra Leone, currently estimated at 122 deaths per 1,000 live births. Through my volunteering with CHAMPS* and FOCUS1000**, groups that seek to reduce under-five child mortality in Sierra Leone, I've been able to better understand the underlying issues and make my own modest contribution through Social Behavioral Science and community action. These activities have helped highlight both my passion to help, and my relatively limited capacity to make a meaningful difference. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to complete my studies in Economics and Psychology with a lessened financial burden and afford me the increased flexibility to fit in my volunteer work back in Sierra Leone between job experiences and internships over each summer. In both my AP Psychology and AP Microeconomics studies, I was introduced to different elements of the processes behind human decision-making. This was one of the first concrete examples I found of the intersection between economics and psychology and got me thinking about the application to my volunteer experience. I believe that the triad of poverty, ignorance and disease can be tackled by influencing behavior change that helps lift the socioeconomic status of affected families. Through my volunteering, I have not only had the opportunity to visualize concrete examples of interdisciplinary links I have encountered in my studies, but to discover completely new ones. Field workers like Solomon illustrated to me the uses of Health Economics, which focuses on managing and maintaining resources for projects for sustainable implementation. Additionally, the psychological changes needed in the members of communities affected play a huge part. Without them, people begin to accept tragedy as normal due to psychological trauma and become complacent rather than being receptive to solutions. While my worldview has been shaped by my life experiences in diverse cultures and economic contexts, my desire for a college education has been influenced by a passion to instigate change. Although I am fully aware that I cannot single-handedly solve the problems in Sierra Leone or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, I am convinced that college will bring me closer to like-minded professors, colleagues and mentors who will help me further nurture these ideas. Through clubs like 180-degree consulting, I will be able to practice consulting for nonprofits in a guided environment before taking my learnings back to Sierra Leone. In the four years I spend in undergrad at Columbia University, I seek to not only learn practical skills for the workforce but to continue learning to think in new ways. Whether this is by being challenged by new concepts or through discourse on social issues with fellow students, college is a place where I can foster my passion for learning and develop it into a force for good. * Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance ** Facilitating and Organizing Communities to Unite for Sustainable Development

Due to the opportunities I’ve had to experience life internationally, from the US to Switzerland to now Sierra Leone, I’ve observed firsthand the drastic differences in health and wealth between and within regions. More specifically, I've been struck by the intersections among poverty, ignorance, and disease. These can create a detrimental feedback loop that ruins families and communities through issues such as child mortality. What started for me as a community service opportunity has morphed into an undying passion to contribute my insights into driving down the current under-five death rate in Sierra Leone, currently estimated at 122 deaths per 1,000 live births. Through my volunteering with CHAMPS* and FOCUS1000**, groups that seek to reduce under-five child mortality in Sierra Leone, I've been able to better understand the underlying issues and make my own modest contribution through Social Behavioral Science and community action. These activities have helped highlight both my passion to help, and my relatively limited capacity to make a meaningful difference. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to complete my studies in Economics and Psychology with a lessened financial burden and afford me the increased flexibility to fit in my volunteer work back in Sierra Leone between job experiences and internships over each summer. In both my AP Psychology and AP Microeconomics studies, I was introduced to different elements of the processes behind human decision-making. This was one of the first concrete examples I found of the intersection between economics and psychology and got me thinking about the application to my volunteer experience. I believe that the triad of poverty, ignorance and disease can be tackled by influencing behavior change that helps lift the socioeconomic status of affected families. Through my volunteering, I have not only had the opportunity to visualize concrete examples of interdisciplinary links I have encountered in my studies, but to discover completely new ones. Field workers like Solomon illustrated to me the uses of Health Economics, which focuses on managing and maintaining resources for projects for sustainable implementation. Additionally, the psychological changes needed in the members of communities affected play a huge part. Without them, people begin to accept tragedy as normal due to psychological trauma and become complacent rather than being receptive to solutions. While my worldview has been shaped by my life experiences in diverse cultures and economic contexts, my desire for a college education has been influenced by a passion to instigate change. Although I am fully aware that I cannot single-handedly solve the problems in Sierra Leone or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, I am convinced that college will bring me closer to like-minded professors, colleagues and mentors who will help me further nurture these ideas. Through clubs like 180-degree consulting, I will be able to practice consulting for nonprofits in a guided environment before taking my learnings back to Sierra Leone. In the four years I spend in undergrad, I seek to not only learn practical skills for the workforce but to continue learning to think in new ways. Whether this is by being challenged by new concepts or through discourse on social issues with fellow students, college is a place where I can foster my passion for learning and develop it into a force for good. * Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance ** Facilitating and Organizing Communities to Unite for Sustainable Development

Due to the opportunities I’ve had to experience life internationally, from the US to Switzerland to now Sierra Leone, I’ve observed firsthand the drastic differences in health and wealth between and within regions. More specifically, I've been struck by the intersections among poverty, ignorance, and disease. These can create a detrimental feedback loop that ruins families and communities through issues such as child mortality. What started for me as a community service opportunity has morphed into an undying passion to contribute my insights into driving down the current under-five death rate in Sierra Leone, currently estimated at 122 deaths per 1,000 live births. Through my volunteering with CHAMPS* and FOCUS1000**, groups that seek to reduce under-five child mortality in Sierra Leone, I've been able to better understand the underlying issues and make my own modest contribution through Social Behavioral Science and community action. These activities have helped highlight both my passion to help, and my relatively limited capacity to make a meaningful difference. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to complete my studies in Economics and Psychology with a lessened financial burden and afford me the increased flexibility to fit in my volunteer work back in Sierra Leone between job experiences and internships over each summer. In both my AP Psychology and AP Microeconomics studies, I was introduced to different elements of the processes behind human decision-making. This was one of the first concrete examples I found of the intersection between economics and psychology and got me thinking about the application to my volunteer experience. I believe that the triad of poverty, ignorance and disease can be tackled by influencing behavior change that helps lift the socioeconomic status of affected families. Through my volunteering, I have not only had the opportunity to visualize concrete examples of interdisciplinary links I have encountered in my studies, but to discover completely new ones. Field workers like Solomon illustrated to me the uses of Health Economics, which focuses on managing and maintaining resources for projects for sustainable implementation. Additionally, the psychological changes needed in the members of communities affected play a huge part. Without them, people begin to accept tragedy as normal due to psychological trauma and become complacent rather than being receptive to solutions. While my worldview has been shaped by my life experiences in diverse cultures and economic contexts, my desire for a college education has been influenced by a passion to instigate change. Although I am fully aware that I cannot single-handedly solve the problems in Sierra Leone or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, I am convinced that college will bring me closer to like-minded professors, colleagues and mentors who will help me further nurture these ideas. Through clubs like 180-degree consulting, I will be able to practice consulting for nonprofits in a guided environment before taking my learnings back to Sierra Leone. In the four years I spend in undergrad, I seek to not only learn practical skills for the workforce but to continue learning to think in new ways. Whether this is by being challenged by new concepts or through discourse on social issues with fellow students, college is a place where I can foster my passion for learning and develop it into a force for good. * Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance ** Facilitating and Organizing Communities to Unite for Sustainable Development

At the beginning of 2020, my family and I relocated from Switzerland to Sierra Leone for my dad’s new job. At the time, I was in the middle of 10th grade and completing the Cambridge IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education), a two year program that ends in 10th grade with final exams covering content from both years. Since I still wanted to complete my courses and take the exams, I continued where I left off in Switzerland at College Du Leman (CDL) at the British International School (BIS) in Freetown. Since the IGCSE is standardized, I thought I’d simply need to adapt to the new environment before continuing my studies seamlessly. As you’ve probably figured, that was not the case. Due to the program’s versatility, each of the many subjects have different exam formats and topics. As a result, I continued with the same subjects at BIS but in many cases with vastly different content. Even in subjects where everything matched up, I found less support from teachers and a completely different style of teaching and assignments. I particularly struggled with History, where although the paper formats were the same, the syllabus (and time period) was quite different. Once aware of this issue, I contacted the IGCSE coordinator and history teacher at CDL to understand the differences in syllabi and course options. By liaising with both history teachers, I was able to create a self-study plan to get prepared for the final exams. About a month later, my grade took our mock exams. With the work I'd been doing, I believed I was ready. The next week, I found out I’d gotten a C overall between my three history paper formats and was devastated. Apart from topics I hadn't yet covered in the exam, I was also completely unfamiliar with the format of the second paper. I would’ve practiced it at my old school following the winter break but obviously hadn’t gotten the chance to, and the students at BIS had already covered it. Apart from continuing my self-study plan with added focus on topics I’d failed on, I set up a weekly after-school session with my new History teacher to work on the 2nd paper format. Since it focuses more on the presenting of information and synthesis of sources rather than the content itself, she was able to help me progress. Each week, we reviewed specific elements of the rubric and studied past paper examples. I then wrote a paper or two for her to grade before the following session. Within a month, I’d shown a significant improvement in the quality of my essays and gained a deeper understanding of my course content. When it was time to take the final exams in April, I felt most prepared for the second history paper. When I got my grades back from Cambridge, I’d received an A* – the highest grade possible, essentially an A with distinction – on my History papers as well as 6 other subjects. Coming away from 10th grade, I was glad my exam situation worked out in the end. My experience at BIS forced me to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on my teachers, as well as more proactive in reaching out as needed. This ended up being immediately beneficial to me as I enrolled in online school to take AP classes in 11th grade due to no schools offering IB or AP curricula in Sierra Leone. The skills I’ve developed are sure to aid me in my transition to college and put me ahead of the curve in navigating my newfound independence.

I’m naturally a realist, but I’ve learned to look at inconveniences in life as part of an adventure instead of a boring series of obstacles to overcome. Jeannette Walls, the narrator of The Glass Castle, inspired this paradigm shift through her endless optimism and the framing of her memoir, which described a young girl’s life in a highly dysfunctional family. Coming in, I didn’t have high expectations for a glorified autobiography. I’d read biographies before, and although informative I rarely found them stimulating in comparison to absorbing fiction like Percy Jackson or Mike Lupica. However, The Glass Castle went on to overturn several of my expectations and beliefs. For one, the vagueness of the title and description gave me a picture of a completely different story to that which I read. I’d imagined children in a royal family who felt distant from their powerful and busy parents, and a general fall from grace for the whole family as they were exiled for whatever reason, leading to them constantly being on the move. In the end, the book about an American family in which the children felt distant and were constantly on the move, but for far different reasons. This apparent misinterpretation of the story ended up being a reflection of Walls’s world view. To her, her life might as well be what I assumed, as her naivety enabled her to believe her dad’s outlandish excuses for the situations they found themselves in. Her imagination ran rampant as she defined her life how she wanted to experience it. When recounting her family’s nomadic nature, she seemed excited whenever they did “the skedaddle.” I’ve never found appreciating moments universally considered enjoyable difficult, but I couldn’t say the same for welcoming change and challenges, which I naturally hoped would leave me alone and be over as soon as possible. Emulating Walls’s approach to life has enabled me to look forward to the next surprise I’ll encounter rather than shy away from it. Although I was excited when I learned that my family was moving from the US to Switzerland in 2015, I did not look forward to our move out of Switzerland to Sierra Leone in 2020. I was determined to put up with the move for a limited time and hoped we would be leaving as soon as possible. With my new ‘adventure’ perspective, I’m learning to appreciate the value of my time in Sierra Leone. Adapting our family baking business, Chinscook Confectioneries, to a new market resulted in it being more successful here as multiple contracts came through by referrals and word of mouth. Observing firsthand the practical applications of my Social Behavioral Science training for communities affected by child mortality and visiting one of the affected villages to conduct rumor surveillance has provided me with an experience unavailable to me elsewhere. The unavailability of AP or IB programs here led to me starting online school in 11th grade, initially a foreign concept that I now feel has better prepared me for the responsibility of college life. Like detours on a forest trail, these ‘challenges’ are what have enhanced my experience and made it memorable. Like most things, though, Walls’s perspective works best in moderation. Although her positive outlook was generally a good thing, she had a tendency to lie to herself and ignore obvious signs, which can be an easy trap to fall into and an appealing out. By addressing problems that exist but not allowing them ruin my outlook, I am able to take the best parts of her approach and use them to expand my personal growth.