I missed 6 months of my senior year of highschool due to mental health issues. I spent three months in limbo with insurance and money issues trying to get help, and another three months in a program in which I was attending four group therapy sessions a day every day and two solo sessions per week. A main goal of this therapy was to rebuild a relationship with my father in which my therapist told me multiple times that it may be useless. Throughout these difficulties and struggles I have still found a way to succeed. After spending most of my life depressed and isolated it caused various mental health issues but they have also taught me a lot. They have taught me how to handle my emotions in different ways and how to help others with their mental health. It has caused me to have a feeling and love for others that I don’t think I’d have otherwise. It has caused me to care more about everything and everyone but also it has taught me that you must protect and take care of yourself or else you cannot move forward. My experience with mental health has caused me to care more about humanity, love, and community. It has caused me to care more about everything I do and a want to protect others and the planet.

From the moment I was born I have spent most of my time outside. From playing outside with my cousins on hay bales to fishing in creeks and ponds I was always outdoors. My grandparents are mainly to thank for this love of the outdoors as my mom’s dad would always take me fishing and my dad’s parents would always take me and my brothers camping. They each had their own seperate influences and are not the only ones that have brought about this passion in me though. My mother has also been very instrumental in my love of the outdoors. She has always supported it and we have bonded over the outdoors many times through fourteen mile hikes to waterfalls, kayaking through the marshes on the coast of Georgia or the time she dragged me and my brother to providence canyon. My mother has cultivated me to care for the outdoors and do my part always from recycling to picking up trash off Tybee island with the rest of the community. My father also used to take me fishing before he and my mother divorced and I stopped seeing him so much. Fishing has always been an important part of my life as it allows me to access the outdoors and the fact that people don’t bother you. Fishing is a way of meditation for me, it helps my brain process and think through things. I have been involved in my highschool’s agriculture program and the Future Farmers of America throughout my entire highschool career and earned a Greenhand degree. Growing up my family raised chickens and rabbits and kept a stocked garden. My love for agriculture comes from the effort that you put in and the reward reaped in the end. The effort and care required makes everything feel and taste better. Even if I do not pursue a career in farming or agriculture I very well will employ what I have learned and raise my own plants and produce for the rest of my life. Nearly every single person that I have grown up with or around have been a part of building my love and passion for the outdoors. Nearly every single memory I have from my childhood I was outside. Now that I am going on to college and becoming an adult I plan on continuing this path and pursuing a degree in environmental sustainability and public land management. During my time at school though I plan on working at a ski lodge and spending my time in the mountains.