1. I am currently an undergraduate student at University of Maryland- Baltimore County (UMBC) studying political science. Currently at UMBC, I'm in UMBC Cru and UMBC Pre-Law Society. In the winter semester, I plan on embarking on a study abroad journey with my university's study abroad program to Rome, Italy. In Rome, we will be studying comparative politics, which consists of juxtaposing the United States' political system with other political systems across the globe. We'll be taking a deeper dive into Italian politics, which I'm extremely excited about. When I'm not studying or being involved on campus, I love spending time with my family, hiking and watching movies. As an undergraduate student, this scholarship will greatly help me on my quest to double major with an undergraduate in political science and a masters degree in public policy, as my university offers the option for students to do an accelerated degree. The program boasts only an extra year of school while doing graduate-level courses to fulfill the number of credits the public policy degree requires. I deeply wish to do this program, but am worried about if I would be able to realistically do it. Because my scholarship is only meant for four years, I worry about when the money runs out if I'll realistically be able to do it. This scholarship will put money towards my dreams of working in the field of public policy. I dream of graduating with 2 degrees, a Masters of public policy and a Bachelors in political science. After taking a gap year after undergrad, I plan to attend law school. My dream job as a lawyer is to be a civil rights attorney, as I love helping people and my passion comes from making a difference in my community, one way being through volunteer work. I've contributed to my community through volunteer work. When in high school, I volunteered at my school library in order to give back to the library system I so loved. As a child and adolescent, the library was like home to me when I faced bullying. The books became my solace and the librarians became my safe space. By volunteering and helping not only the librarians, but also my school, I learned interpersonal skills necessary in any field. I learned how to effectively communicate with people, I learned organization and I learned how to work on a team with others. When leading a project as an intern, I made a miscalculation in assigning a task to someone. We had a breakdown in communication and the individual didn't complete the task in time. As a result, I ended up having to do the task myself because I felt as though my way would have been best. However, from this experience of being the lead of a project and having people from different perspectives and backgrounds come together to accomplish something, I learned that in order for everyone to sufficiently contribute to something, they should have their own inputs. This miscalculation enabled me to realize that I should've considered the individual's communication style and thought process. My greatest strength as a person and as a leader is that I'm very passionate about my dreams and I'm very driven. When leading my project, I was able to sufficiently plan and dream up this project that was able to be completed in about 3 months and won awards. At times, I can be described as overly ambitious, but I believe that shooting for the stars is the only way to get things done.

When you look at me, you may already make assumptions about who you think I am. You may assume how you think my voice sounds. You may assume how many siblings I have, what animals I like, my grades, or how many friends I have. It's understandable. In a world where we equate people's worth based on their appearance, it makes sense. To answer the hypothetical questions, yes my voice is high. I have one sibling. I love cats. I am incredibly proud of the work I've put in to achieve my grades. I am incredibly blessed to have so many friends that I can trust and support me. A not-so-secret quirk about me is that I love books. I love everything about them. I have a fascination with the way that seemingly random words can come together to form a sentence. I love the way that one book can have such an effect that it could start a war, it could bring peace, could save someone's life, or it even inspire an entirely new way of thinking. It would only be natural that I started my high school year frequenting my high school library. I started to come in so frequently that the librarians knew me by name. Eventually, my librarian offered me the opportunity of library helper. I loved volunteering in my library. I got to be surrounded by books, put books away, and be surrounded by other book lovers. The library was always a place of comfort for me when I was younger. It was a place where the sole purpose was to be a quiet space and to have books. As far as I'm concerned, that's one of humanity's greatest inventions. As one can imagine, volunteering was incredibly therapeutic for me. I was able to help out the library and help out the school. Since volunteering, I've started volunteering at a local library. I'm able to help even more since it isn't in a school setting. As well as helping out at more libraries, I've also grown as a person. Being put in an environment where I'm able to trust my instincts and I know that I have a safe space within my school, I've looked for ways to help out others who may not have this same opportunity as me to have a safe spot in my school. I've become more nurturing as a person and more understanding. The staff at my library are one of my favorite parts of the school. Contrary to many high schoolers, I love school! I have great teachers, a great school building and great friends. I love being involved in clubs, especially Black Student Union, where I am a proud member. BSU is a great club where students can go to relax, do their homework and meet others who share their same interests or passions. As well as loving the clubs that my school has to offer, I love music! I've been in concert, symphonic and marching band throughout high school. Seeing the band grow and change has been one of the best experiences of my high school career. As well as being in the marching band, I've also been section leader for 2 years. Although I love music, my real passion is helping people. Therefore, I'd love to be a therapist. The academic journey to become a therapist is incredibly daunting. As well as obtaining a doctorate, you also have to get a master's, and additional licenses. This scholarship would help ease some of the financial burdens of over 6 years of post-secondary education.

Math is one of the most fundamental skills one can learn in their life. I've always loved math. I would do math whenever I could. When I rode the bus, I'd look at the number on other buses and do a math problem that would get me that number as a way to wake my brain up for the day ahead. Everything was a math problem. If Juliana has 4 hours after school, how much time should she take on homework and chores and how much time should she spend on hobbies? I couldn't get enough of math. Due to math, I learned resilience and that I have to work for what I want. The start of sophomore year algebra was a little tricky. My algebra teacher taught in a very confusing way and explained in an even more confusing way. My math grade was a C for the first semester and my teacher thought I was some kind of idiot. Teachers were evaluating students' next year of math. When it came to my turn, my teacher was on the fence. "You're a very hard worker," she said. "However, I don't know if you're ready for precalc." I was surprised. Of course I'm a hard worker, but I didn't expect that my teacher wanted to put me in a lower math. Unfortunately for me, my teacher thought that I would sink instead of swim in an advanced math pool. I knew that I was going to have to work twice as hard to understand this math and that I was going to prove my teacher wrong about me. In my life, I've had to prove people wrong more than once. Being a board member of the class council was incredibly difficult. Even when going to the interest meeting, the sponsors and the other members of the club tried to kick me and other black hopefuls out of the room. I had to tell them that we were there for the interest meeting and that we wouldn't leave. Throughout that time, the other members wanted to make sure that I didn't have a voice or recognition for my ideas. Although being discriminated against doesn't feel good in any situation, it makes you stronger. In my second semester of algebra, I had a different math teacher. In this class, however, I understood what was taught. I excelled in this teacher's class and became one of her best students. The teacher recommended me for precalculus without a doubt in her mind. I made sure to work twice as hard in her class so that there was no way I'd be able to fall behind and so I was as prepared as possible for precalculus. I knew that as much as what my first teacher said burned, she was right. I'm willing to work hard and when I put my mind to something, I can do anything. Math is such an important part of our society. We need it for important things, like construction or science. However, math can be empowering. Everyone knows the feeling of coming back to a difficult math problem and seeing all the loopholes and figuring it out. In my case, math motivated me to prove a teacher who was wrong about me. After finishing precalculus, I emerged as my precalc teacher's best student. I also found myself falling in love with that subject. I loved practicing for hours over my desk the new concepts I had learned in class earlier that day. If it wasn't for math, I wouldn't have found new strength within myself.