How does something as thick as smoke conceal your vision, but open your eyes? With a grin, Trooper Smith walked with poise, leading us through The Pennsylvania State Police Academy, an experience presented to select participants as a part of The Camp Cadet program. I followed behind her as she pushed to the outside door of the facility, but we were met with a fog, differing from the sunny weather occurring an hour prior. Trooper Smith turned to us and showcased her grin, “Y’all I am sorry but it seems like today is the tear gas training down there, just be sure to wash your clothes upon returning home.” Her normalcy pushed my initial fear down as she started leading us towards more sights. Though the gas had been at a distance of at least three-hundred meters away, the aroma created a spicy layer on my eyes, initiating a slightly blurry vision. Whilst the situation became humorous to us, it triggered irreplaceable questions to fall into my mind, the prevailing one asking, “If this is what it feels like more than hundreds of meters away, what are the feelings of the various victims of such torture?” Such a question prompted me to attempt to push the pieces together within the frame of my mind. Through previous research and work through Amnesty International, I was aware of situations involving people being subjected to numerous amounts of torture, however, the feeling was dehumanized. Growing up within the “smack middle” of West Virginia, I did not have much exposure to human rights issues and topics, walking merely through the light fog pushed me into an area of both realization and rage. That rage fueled my personal mission. I spent my last two years of high school enrolled half-day in a vigorous technical college that offered a Law and Public Safety program, knowing that the way to initiate change was to work from the inside out. I became captain of the law class, the safety manager, and president of my school. With these roles, I educated the school on excessive uses of force, all whilst driving myself further by gaining recognized certificates on the knowledge of prevention. I set indivisible passions off within each student: encouraging them to write letters to leaders accused of unjust captivity and to further raise awareness, inside and outside our school. My journey does not stop now; I will continue my plan of action to engage as many as I can in creating a shift. I will be attending Loyola Marymount University in the diverse city of Los Angeles to study International Relations. After undergraduate school, my plan is to attend Columbia law school and obtain my law degree! I aspire to step on the global scale as an international humanitarian lawyer and fight for those who cannot stand for themselves. I will represent thousands of people to ensure they never have to experience intense pain for no such reason. Schooling is the first step to do so, it has been - and will always be - a priority of mine. I hope to change The World through defending one individual at a time. The awareness of the advances that still need to be made push me further into doing whatever is possible to shift the norm of force utilization. That experience pushed the ideology into me that, I will not stop my journey to communicate regarding those wrongfully subjected to both torture and unjust force, for the sting may have blurred my vision, but it will not blind my sight.

Something I have always struggled with is acknowledging weaknesses. Growing up within the confines of the mountainous West Virginia, there was an existent pride that constantly oozed from me. I wore it like a bejeweled crown on my head, for I loved my state. Traveling across states for speech competitions and educational conferences, it was always something I proudly showed off. Whenever someone would make a comment towards me that went against the ideals of my state being one of true elegance and beauty, I would immediately combat with a defensive statement. It wasn’t until I had a deep conversation with someone from across the country that opened my eyes permanently. When immediately resulting in a defensive statement, I often pushed past reasonable logic. A girl from Colorado that I met at a college event sparked a conversation with me about statistical evidence showing West Virginia’s poverty levels. I, once again, immediately came back with a defense, acting as if I was about to swing in a heated tennis game. What I did not know was that the real tactic was not hitting the ball back as hard as possible, but instead, making improvements to the racket itself. She gave me key advice that - to this day - I aspire to utilize. She stated, “It is okay to acknowledge a weakness in you or your area, however, the real danger is when you acknowledge the weaknesses and do nothing to improve them.” Since then, I have attempted to fix a prevalent issue I have seen as a West Virginia resident: the combination of food waste and lack of healthy meals created by low-income families. As a child, in poverty, we relied on food banks, yet, the same un-nutritional meals fell upon me everyday. Looking back, and knowing it was a simple lack of knowledge on how to utilize ingredients, drove me to assist. I volunteered weekly as a food bank, and weekly I saw a consistent trend. The donated food from markets are often unappealing looking or stale, and that led many volunteers to throw the items away, or give it away with no instructions. I dedicated time to developing a non-profit, aimed to show how to utilize commonly disregarded ingredients, such as stale bread. I included recipes in the boxes that correlated with the, sometimes, difficult ingredients. Not only did I include recipes in the boxes, I decided to create and manage a website to promote recipes for those who may not have been able to travel to the food bank! Additionally, I dedicated my weekends in the summer to making a table at our town’s farmers market. I promoted the non-profit and brought examples of foods to encourage people. Together, with the help of my community, we were able to reduce food waste, and increase nutritional meals within our beloved community. This volunteering experience has profoundly shaped my goal of pursuing a higher education. I aspire to be the first in my family to attend college. In order to create a lasting change, I need a solid educational foundation. A college education will equip me with the advanced skills and knowledge to expand my non-profit work and aim to tackle larger systematic issues. I aim to study international relations and continue on to law school which will allow me to develop more effective programs and advocate for policies that support low-income families in West Virginia!

Amongst the chaos in The World - even my life - the bright colors, laughter, and vivid sounds from the movie flooded the air, allowing me to simply… breathe. “Breathe, breathe” said Mike Wazowski to Sulley in the bathroom, trying to calm him down after bringing in a human little girl into their monster world. Monsters, inc. is a movie that was released in 2001, and it is something that has comforted and inspired me. Many might be confused with this “random” choice, why would I choose a silly childhood movie instead of something sophisticated and for a more mature audience? What many people might not know is the fact that, oftentimes, messages are buried within scripts. Whether it be a message to be bold, to stand up, or even just to keep going. Monsters, Inc. to me was an inspiration to create change, not only in my community, but World-wide. The first time I watched the movie, I was babysitting my younger siblings. Being the oldest child of seven, I was often tasked with the responsibility of watching them. My youngest brother had been introduced to the movie through his friends, and now had refused to watch any other film. If anybody has a younger sibling, you might know the annoyance of watching the same film for hours on repeat, for months at a time. At first I enjoyed it, then I absolutely despised it, but to my surprise, I ended up adoring it again. After approximately a week of the same movie being on play, I decided to actually pay attention to it, perhaps analyze it. This is when I found out the strong messages that lied within. Monsters, Inc. is about two monsters, Sulley and Mike, who work at a scare factory. The scare facility powers their own world by collecting the screams of human children. The monsters take turns going into the human world via a “door portal” and ultimately frighten the kids, allowing them to scream and fuel their energy containers. Everything shifts around after a little girl named “Boo” accidentally enters their world. Sulley and Mike try to return her home before anyone finds out, all while uncovering a conspiracy at the factory! After the faced-paced adventures and dangers, Mike and Sulley were able to return Boo, though they had created a warm bond with her. In the end, they were able to create a shift in their own World! They found a way to no longer rely on the children’s fear, but instead, laughter. This movie impacted me beyond words. At first it served as a comfort to me throughout difficult challenges in my life, giving me subtle reminders to breathe through the hardships and endure. As I got older, however, it served as a reminder to always strive to change faulty norms. In their world, they realized the wrongfulness of frightening the children, so instead, they shifted it! In my own life, I hope to shift the wrongful way some people are treated through world-wide advocacy, similar to how Sulley and Mike advocated for the children! Somehow, I am the one replaying the movie constantly, and now that my brother has grown, he is the annoyed individual. We joke about it constantly! Never be afraid to shift the faulty norms in your own community, for small steps can create massive change. It is just as Mike states at the end of the movie, "The Team Of Wazowski And Sullivan Are Going To Change The World Starting Today."