As an artist and writer, I constantly apply creativity in my life. Not by just doing the hobbies that I love, but by letting my experiences influence that creativity. When people ask for writing advice, they often say, “Write what you know”. I apply this when I’m writing or drawing, as I remember experiences I’ve had or things I’ve seen. After all, every piece of media is inspired off of something else, isn’t it? Inspiration is the breath that fuels creativity. It’s thanks to the inspiration I get from things I see throughout my life that I’m able to put my best into the things I create. Despite actively using creativity in my everyday life, I just have a very creative mind in general, which unfortunately can cause some problems when I’m forced to think with hard logic and reason for too long. But even if logical thinking fills many hours of my day, applying creativity into it has helped balance those patterns of thinking. To answer the question simply, I apply creativity into my life by just existing and thinking in the way that I do, as while anyone can be creative, the people with creative minds are the ones who have it as a normal part of their everyday lives.

Generosity, to me, is giving someone something they need without expecting anything in return. It doesn’t have to be a physical item. It can be an emotion or service as well. People are generous when they want to help someone with something, whether it’s financially or emotionally. The greatest example of generosity I can think of in my life was actually given to my parents when I had my surgeries. I was born with the top-half of my left kidney underdeveloped, which had to be surgically removed when I was only six months old. Unfortunately, the issues didn’t stop, as when I was three, I had issues with my bladder that required another surgery. It was stressful on me as a young child, but considering I was also my parents’ first child, they were arguably more stressed than I was. Despite these hard times, my parents had a lot of friends at our church. Friends who generously gifted my parents money so they could get me whatever I needed during my time in and out of the hospital. Whenever my parents give me details of what they experienced during that time in my life, this has always stuck with me. The fact that my parents’ church friends—some of whom I’ve known my whole life—gave them money so they could make me more comfortable during my surgeries has taught me a lot about generosity and how important it is to have people that support you in your life.

I want to create beautiful stories that can touch the hearts of people for many years to come, just as I had been by the animated movies I watched. While the main plan to achieve this goal would be to improve my art and try out animation myself on cheaper programs, I know college isn’t cheap, so I’ve tried to make up for it by doing well academically. My goals for the end of high school are to graduate with honors, a GPA above a 4.0, and an advanced diploma, pass all my AP exams, and stay in honor roll. These are all very high academic expectations for someone who wants to pursue a career in the art industry, but money for college can be earned from having high grades, so I intend to use my academic abilities to set myself up for success in college. As far as college goes, my goals are to finally choose which college I’ll be attending, apply to as many scholarships as I can, and look into studying abroad like my dad did. There’s a lot to decide with a lot of money involved, so I’m trying my best to weigh every one of my options to make the best decision for myself. College can be stressful to deal with, so if I can earn enough scholarships to pay for everything, I can focus on everything happening within my college experience. While I’m busy at the moment focusing on my current goals for high school and college, I’ve considered the things I want to be able to do once I’m out of college. However, more than anything, I want to be able to financially support myself and be able to live my life without fear of not being able to pay the next bill.

Confidence, to me, is being able to not only do things that might make me uncomfortable, but also have faith in the decisions I make. Unfortunately, I often overthink things and try too hard to weigh the potential outcomes of every decision. My latest issue with confidence is deciding which college I want to attend. I’ve gotten it down to two colleges, but multiple factors, including price, weigh on my mind and make me worried if I’ll end up making the right decision. I want to get the best college experience that I can, but I don’t want to be ten feet deep in debt as well. What I’m trying to do to be more confident in myself is to reassure myself that no matter which of the two colleges I’ll pick, I’ll still have a meaningful and important college experience. After all, both colleges have animation programs and are notorious for being great schools, so at its core, I shouldn’t have to worry about anything experience-wise. Even though confidence doesn’t come naturally for me in areas and situations I’m not used to, I try my best to make those unfamiliar situations normal ones, as once I know what to expect, I’ll have more confidence in my actions. So, although being confident can be hard, I try to be confident by doing my best because I know that confidence is one of the many things I’ll need to be successful in adulthood.

Some of my favorite hobbies by far are drawing, writing, and watching tv shows, which, ironically, all link together in what I want my career to be: animation. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember being able to hold a pencil. I started out drawing animals and other doodles of things in my life, like characters out of movies I watched. But as I got older, I began to take my art more seriously, wanting it to be as good as the fanart I saw on the internet. Nowadays, I draw not only to improve my skills, but to destress and let my creativity run wild in a school day filled with constant academic thought. To go with my art, I also write stories for them, often spending hours daydreaming of story ideas. Since I want to go into animation, I enjoy the storytelling aspect of it as much as I enjoy the art. Writing is quite time consuming, but I’ve found it an extremely helpful skill in school when writing analytical essays for classes. My other hobby that I do a little too often is watch tv shows and movies. Because I’m interested in the animation process, I pay more attention to the art and angles that the scenes are at, so not only do I get visual practice at drawing at certain angles, but I also get an entertaining story out of it. Overall, I have a ton of hobbies, but the one thing that they all end up having in common is that they all lead back to my interest in animation. Whether it be drawing, writing, or watching animated media, I want to pursue animation because it’s the combination of all of my hobbies and interests.

What I find I do the most when I genuinely need to relax is do something creative. It could be something that doesn’t take much work, like watching a tv show, to actually creating a piece of art. Within my school life, I’m what people would call an “overachiever”. I take multiple AP classes and regular Honors classes on top of that, I’m in multiple clubs and honor societies, and I try my best on all of my work. With all of this academic stuff to deal with, my workload can gain a lot of weight and I can get very busy very quickly. And even though I can handle it for the most part, it still stresses me out quite a bit, so when I finally finish and get the load off of my back, I’m always in the mood to do something creative. I’ll typically lie in bed and just watch something to take a breather and give my brain a rest before doing something more mentally productive, like drawing or writing. However, in order to take care of my mental health while I’m working, I’ll occasionally take breaks and listen to music in order to give the creative side of my brain some time to work, while the other side relaxes for a few minutes. I’ve found it extremely effective in keeping myself alert, which is especially important considering that I have a bad habit of daydreaming if I’m doing something repetitive and boring. Although relaxing and taking care of your mental health can seem difficult in today’s circumstances, it’s more important now than ever to take time for yourself. Because when you distance yourself from the work that’s burdening you, you’ll find that your mind will be in a better place than when you left.

There are many things on my bucket list, as a bucket list is mainly just a bunch of goals that I have. Some of the ones I haven’t achieved yet are traveling to Japan, learning animation, graduating with honors, earning a scholarship, and passing this year’s AP classes, but there are plenty that I have achieved. For one, I did pass all of my AP exams from last year despite the pandemic, and I had all A’s in my classes. I’ve been on the honor roll my entire time in high school, I’ve been inducted into multiple honor societies, and I’ve gotten a 4.0 GPA, so many of the academic goals on my bucket list have already been met as I’ve gone through the first half of my senior year. When it comes to my interests and hobbies, I’ve achieved a few goals. I’ve been to multiple countries outside the U.S. and I’ve traveled to many new states within the last few years. In my art, I’ve committed myself to taking an AP art course like I wanted to, and I’m even beginning to draw more things that I don’t usually draw. Some goals that I haven’t achieved, but hope to achieve in the near future, are earn enough scholarships to be financially stable in college, graduate high school with honors and an advanced diploma, pass all of my upcoming AP exams, go to the college that’s best for me, get over 35 hours of community service, and most of all, just enjoy the time I have left living with my parents. While there is still a lot to do, I know that time is precious and I need to appreciate life while working hard to achieve all of these goals.

With the Covid-19 pandemic keeping everyone separated in a way that people have never had to before, the future can seem uncertain, and at times, hopeless. However, one thing that gives me hope that the future will be better is all of the realizations that have come from being quarantined. When everyone was forced to be quarantined, it was isolating for a lot of people, but not me. I actually enjoyed my time alone at home, free to do whatever I wanted without worrying about too much schoolwork or what was happening throughout the world. Unfortunately, quarantine gave me too much escape from the harsh reality of the pandemic, and when school started in August, I had my first realization. I realized just how much time had been wasted when I began planning for college. Most of my peers had already taken the ACT at least once, while I still hadn’t taken it at all, and I came to learn that my opportunity for the National Merit Scholarship was lost because I missed the deadline to take the PSAT again. This realization stung, especially since there was more money to be earned at the college I was looking at if you were a finalist. However, there were good realizations that came from the pandemic as well. I truly believe that people will be more conscious of germs and will wash their hands more often, thanks to Covid. This will help people better protect themselves not only from new diseases, but old ones that still kill today, such as the flu. People have also realized how much we take our daily lives for granted, being forced to stay home. They’ve taken time to appreciate the smaller things in life and do things that they never had time to do before, like take up a new hobby. I think this is good, because as a society, we tend to have a bad habit of letting our career take over the rest of our life, so understanding the simpler joys of life is a good mindset for people to have as we go into the future. All of these realizations give me hope that the future will be better, because not only will we be better off with this mindset of enjoying life as it is, but we’ll be better prepared if something like the Covid-19 pandemic happens again.

One of my most prominent talents that I have is my ability to draw. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, having been inspired by the animated movies I watched growing up. As I watched other people on the internet create beautiful works of art, I knew I wanted to take my art seriously like that. In order to improve my skills, I practice drawing whatever I’m looking to practice on, whether it be humans, backgrounds, or even certain poses. When it comes to art, practice is the best way to make perfect. You get used to the angles that certain lines are drawn at and you get more confident in your lines as a result, which makes the drawing process quicker. Another way I practice drawing is visually watching other people draw and taking inspiration from a color pallet or pose they used. Watching other people not only inspires me to improve on my own art, but it gives me ideas on certain things to practice. Being able to create anything takes a lot of skill and practice, but it’s extremely rewarding in the end when you see how much you’ve improved. Whenever I feel like I’m not improving in my art, I always look at some of my art when I was younger in order to show myself how far I’ve come over the years.

My entire life began with gratitude, both for me and my parents. I was born with a birth defect in my left kidney that would’ve made me extremely sick if it hadn’t been removed, so when I was six months old, I had my first surgery. It’s thanks to the doctors that helped me through my kidney and bladder struggles that I’m able to live a normal life today. It’s because of my early struggles with my health that I take time to give back through community service. At my high school, I’ve joined Key Club and Environmental Club. In Key Club, we’re dedicated to community service, making Christmas cards for our local nursing home and getting many opportunities to volunteer. And in the Environmental Club, on the first Saturday of each month, we go up to our school campus to pick up trash, which prevents trash from piling up. You’d be surprised how messy some teenagers at my school are. I try to have gratitude and give back because I want to help others like how I was helped all those years ago. Even though my life started out a bit bumpy, I still have a lot to be grateful for. My amazing parents, who went through extreme stress trying to make sure that I got the care that I needed, while dealing with the fact that I was their first child. My friends, who I’ve shared laughs and great memories with. And my home, which has always provided me comfort throughout my life, during both the good times and the bad. Unfortunately, I know that not everyone has the things that I do, and that’s why I live with gratitude, because I know just how lucky I am to be in the place that I’m at right now.

Throughout my life, I try to practice bravery by taking chances and doing things that I wouldn’t usually want to do. This is significant for me because I’m a naturally cautious and fearful person, so I don’t like doing things that could very easily go wrong and end badly. However, something miraculous happened as a result of Covid for me, I began to get over my fear of needles. From my first few years of life, I’ve had an extreme fear of needles and doctor’s offices, due to the medical issues I was born with. Even just hearing the date of my next doctor’s appointment made me extremely anxious, knowing that with my luck, I’d have to get a vaccine. I got a bit better as I got older, at least to the point where four nurses wouldn’t have to hold me down, but I still had extreme anxiety whenever I had to get one. Things began to change when the flu shot I got one year from a Walgreens was basically painless. The more flu vaccines I got there that were good experiences, the less anxious I became when I had to get them. However, the real test came with getting the Covid vaccine, as it was at a place I had never been before, but despite all the odds, I barely felt that vaccine as well. Thanks to these multiple experiences, whenever I have to get a vaccine somewhere that’s not my doctor’s office, I can stay pretty calm.

Ever since I was little, I wanted to have a job in making the animated movies that I loved watching so much. This dream career that I wanted, I discovered was animation. After I study animation in college and get my degree, I’d like to work for an animation studio that makes either movies or tv shows. It doesn’t have to be Disney or Dreamworks, but it would be really cool to work there. Whether it be as an animator, writer, or a storyboarder, I want to have a range of skills in the field of animation so I can understand every important aspect about my job. The most I want to have from my career is a balance between being able to provide for myself and have a job that I love doing.

Although I was the first child of my loving parents, the first few years of my life were far from easy. The top of my left kidney hadn’t developed properly in the womb, so I had to have my first surgery when I was only six months old in order to remove it. However, the issues didn’t end, as when I was three, I got an infection in my bladder and I had to have a second surgery in order to fix that problem. A lot of my memories from when I was younger are either at the hospital or at the doctor’s office, most of them unpleasant, but despite these rough beginnings, a lot of good came out of my life afterwards. For one, since then I have lived a relatively normal life, which wouldn’t have been possible without the surgeries. Not only that, but I’ve been lucky enough to have traveled around the world. When I was seven, my parents took me on a trip to China in order to adopt my younger brother, a trip that opened my eyes to how big the world really was. I quickly gained a love of travel, traveling to the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in recent years. With my love of travel, I quickly decided that when I go to college, I want to study abroad in Japan, the country I want to visit the most. Not only am I interested in the culture of Japan, but it has a lot of importance in animation, my dream career. Overall, my life so far has shaped my hopes for the future by providing me with an idea of what I want from both my career and adulthood in general.

I have many goals for the future, both for my academic success and my career. Right now, my main goals are to graduate high school as an honor student with a GPA above 4.0, pass all of my AP exams this year, get a higher ACT score, and earn enough scholarships to keep myself out of debt in college. However, I have plenty of regular goals as well. I want to visit and potentially study abroad in Japan, I want to learn Japanese, and I want to improve in my art. I know I’ll have to work extremely hard to achieve all of these goals, so I’m doing all that I can right now. I keep up with my schoolwork and I try to apply to multiple scholarships per day, and once April comes around, I’m going to start studying for my AP exams. My main plan to achieve success in my life is to apply myself, both academically and socially. I’m doing as much as I can right now to build my resume and make a good first impression when I go to college, as taking AP classes is preparing me for normal college work and a good resume is handy when looking for a job. My hope is that my success in high school will pass over and help me find success in college, because if I graduate college with as many honors as I did in high school, my resume will look better to potential employers. With the animation field as competitive as it is, I’ll need a good resume more than ever. I know that success comes to those who work for it, so I’ll do my best to succeed, in both my career and my adult life.

Generosity, to me, is giving someone something they need without expecting anything in return. It doesn’t have to be a physical item. It can be an emotion or service as well. People are generous when they want to help someone with something, whether it’s financially or emotionally. The greatest example of generosity I can think of in my life was actually given to my parents when I had my surgeries. I was born with the top-half of my left kidney underdeveloped, which had to be surgically removed when I was only six months old. Unfortunately, the issues didn’t stop, as when I was three, I had issues with my bladder that required another surgery. It was stressful on me as a young child, but considering I was also my parents’ first child, they were arguably more stressed than I was. Despite these hard times, my parents had a lot of friends at our church. Friends who generously gifted my parents money so they could get me whatever I needed during my time in and out of the hospital. Whenever my parents give me details of what they experienced during that time in my life, this has always stuck with me. The fact that my parents’ church friends—some of whom I’ve known my whole life—gave them money so they could make me more comfortable during my surgeries has taught me a lot about generosity and how important it is to have people that support you in your life.

Ever since I found out what animation was, I knew I wanted to be an animator. While the main plan to achieve this goal would be to improve my art and try out animation myself on cheaper programs, I know college isn’t cheap, so I’ve tried to make up for it by doing well academically. My goals for the end of high school are to graduate with honors, a GPA above a 4.0, and an advanced diploma, pass all my AP exams, and get a higher ACT score. These are all very high academic expectations for someone who wants to pursue a career in the art industry, but money for college can be earned from having high grades, so I intend to use my academic abilities to set myself up for success in college. As far as college goes, my goals are to finally choose which college I’ll be attending, apply to as many scholarships as I can, and look into studying abroad like my dad did. There’s a lot to decide with a lot of money involved, so I’m trying my best to weigh every one of my options to make the best decision for myself. College can be stressful to deal with, so if I can earn enough scholarships to pay for everything, I can focus on everything happening within my college experience. While I’m busy at the present moment focusing on my current goals for high school and college, I’ve considered the things I want to be able to do once I’m out of college and in the workforce of my choosing. However, more than anything, I want to be able to financially support myself and be able to live my life without fear of not being able to pay the next bill.

One of my most prominent talents that I have is my ability to draw. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, having been inspired by the animated movies I watched growing up. As I watched other people on the internet create beautiful works of art, I knew I wanted to take my art seriously like that. In order to improve my skills, I practice drawing whatever I’m looking to practice on, whether it be humans, backgrounds, or even certain poses. When it comes to art, practice is the best way to make perfect. You get used to the angles that certain lines are drawn at and you get more confident in your lines as a result, which makes the drawing process quicker. Another way I practice drawing is visually watching other people draw and taking inspiration from a color pallet or pose they used. Watching other people not only inspires me to improve on my own art, but it gives me ideas on certain things to practice. Being able to create anything takes a lot of skill and practice, but it’s extremely rewarding in the end when you see how much you’ve improved. Whenever I feel like I’m not improving in my art, I always look at some of my art when I was younger in order to show myself how far I’ve come over the years.

The study strategies I use on a daily basis largely depend on what class I’m studying for. If I’m studying for Spanish class, I’ll listen to the conversation I have to present. If I’m studying for AP Biology, I’ll take practice tests on the program that we have some of our assignments on, as it gets me ready for the test or quiz the next day. However, the first and most universal study strategy I ever used was using games on sites like quizlet. I know more than anyone that studying can be boring and you can easily get distracted while doing it. However, whenever I study through some sort of matching game or Kahoot-style program, not only is studying made more fun, but playing these games also help me remember the content I’m studying a lot better than I would normally. These types of games are especially good for studying subjects like geography or any language subject that requires vocabulary memorization. To be completely honest, it was these kinds of studying games that got me through geography with a high A, so I can say that memorization through fun can be the easiest way to quickly memorize content for a test.

With the Covid-19 pandemic keeping everyone separated in a way that people have never had to before, the future can seem uncertain, and at times, hopeless. However, one thing that gives me hope that the future will be better is all of the realizations that have come from being quarantined. When everyone was forced to be quarantined, it was isolating for a lot of people, but not me. I actually enjoyed my time alone at home, free to do whatever I wanted without worrying about too much schoolwork or what was happening throughout the world. Unfortunately, quarantine gave me too much escape from the harsh reality of the pandemic, and when school started in August, I had my first realization. I realized just how much time had been wasted when I began planning for college. Most of my peers had already taken the ACT at least once, while I still hadn’t taken it at all, and I came to learn that my opportunity for the National Merit Scholarship was lost because I missed the deadline to take the PSAT again. This realization stung, especially since there was more money to be earned at the college I was looking at if you were a finalist. However, there were good realizations that came from the pandemic as well. I truly believe that people will be more conscious of germs and will wash their hands more often, thanks to Covid. This will help people better protect themselves not only from new diseases, but old ones that still kill today, such as the flu. People have also realized how much we take our daily lives for granted, being forced to stay home. They’ve taken time to appreciate the smaller things in life and do things that they never had time to do before, like take up a new hobby. I think this is good, because as a society, we tend to have a bad habit of letting our career take over the rest of our life, so understanding the simpler joys of life is a good mindset for people to have as we go into the future. All of these realizations give me hope that the future will be better, because not only will we be better off with this mindset of enjoying life as it is, but we’ll be better prepared if something like the Covid-19 pandemic happens again.

My entire life began with gratitude, both for me and my parents. I was born with a birth defect in my left kidney that would’ve made me extremely sick if it hadn’t been removed, so when I was six months old, I had my first surgery. It’s thanks to the doctors that helped me through my kidney and bladder struggles that I’m able to live a normal life today. It’s because of my early struggles with my health that I take time to give back through community service. At my high school, I’ve joined Key Club and Environmental Club, which are clubs dedicated to volunteering. In Key Club, we’re dedicated to community service, looking for every volunteering opportunity we can. And in the Environmental Club, on the first Saturday of each month, we go up to our school campus to pick up trash, which prevents trash from piling up. You’d be surprised how messy some teenagers at my school are. I try to have gratitude and give back because I want to help others like how I was helped all those years ago. Even though my life started out a bit bumpy, I still have a lot to be grateful for. My amazing parents, who went through extreme stress trying to make sure that I got the care that I needed, while dealing with the fact that I was their first child. My friends, who I’ve shared laughs and great memories with. And my home, which has always provided me comfort throughout my life, during both the good times and the bad. Unfortunately, I know that not everyone has the things that I do, and that’s why I live with gratitude, because I know just how lucky I am to be in the place that I’m at right now.

I have many goals for the future, both for my academic success and my career. Right now, my main goals are to graduate high school as an honor student with a GPA above 4.0, pass all of my AP exams this year, get a higher ACT score, and earn enough scholarships to keep myself out of debt in college. However, I have plenty of regular goals as well. I want to visit and potentially study abroad in Japan, I want to learn Japanese, and I want to improve in my art. I know I’ll have to work extremely hard to achieve all of these goals, so I’m doing all that I can right now. I keep up with my schoolwork and I try to apply to multiple scholarships per day, and once April comes around, I’m going to start studying for my AP exams. My main plan to achieve success in my life is to apply myself, both academically and socially. I’m doing as much as I can right now to build my resume and make a good first impression when I go to college, as taking AP classes is preparing me for normal college work and a good resume is handy when looking for a job. My hope is that my success in high school will pass over and help me find success in college, because if I graduate college with as many honors as I did in high school, my resume will look better to potential employers. With the animation field as competitive as it is, I’ll need a good resume more than ever. I know that success comes to those who work for it, so I’ll do my best to succeed, in both my career and my adult life.

There are many things on my bucket list, as a bucket list is mainly just a bunch of goals that I have. Some of the ones I haven’t achieved yet are traveling to Japan, learning animation, graduating with honors, getting a higher ACT score, earning a scholarship, and passing this year’s AP classes, but there are plenty that I have achieved. For one, I did pass all of my AP exams from last year despite the pandemic, and I had all A’s in my classes. I’ve been on the honor roll my entire time in high school, I’ve been inducted into multiple honor societies, and I’ve gotten a 4.0 GPA, so many of the academic goals on my bucket list have already been met as I’ve gone through the first half of my senior year. When it comes to my interests and hobbies, I’ve achieved a few goals. I’ve been to multiple countries outside the U.S. and I’ve traveled to many new states within the last few years. In my art, I’ve committed myself to taking an AP art course like I wanted to, and I’m even beginning to draw more things that I don’t usually draw. Some goals that I haven’t achieved, but hope to achieve in the near future, are earn enough scholarships to be financially stable in college, graduate high school with honors and an advanced diploma, pass all of my upcoming AP exams, go to the college that’s best for me, get over 35 hours of community service, and most of all, just enjoy the time I have left living with my parents. While there is still a lot to do, I know that time is precious and I need to appreciate life while working hard to achieve all of these goals.

What I find I do the most when I genuinely need to relax is lie down and do something creative. It could be something that doesn’t take much work, like watching a tv show, to actually creating a piece of art or writing a story. Within my school life, I’m what people would call an “overachiever”. I take multiple AP classes and regular Honors classes on top of that, I’m in multiple clubs and honor societies, and I try my best on all of my work. With all of this academic stuff to deal with, my workload can gain a lot of weight and I can get very busy, and even though I can handle it for the most part, it still tires me out a lot, so when I finally finish and get the load off of my back, I’m always in the mood to do something creative. I’ll typically lie in bed and just watch something to take a breather and give my brain a rest before doing something more mentally productive, like drawing or writing. However, in order to take care of my mental health while I’m working, I’ll occasionally take breaks and listen to music in order to give the creative side of my brain some time to work, while the other side relaxes for a few minutes. I’ve found it extremely effective in keeping myself alert, which is important considering that I have a bad habit of daydreaming if I’m doing something repetitive. Although relaxing and taking care of your mental health can seem difficult in today’s circumstances, it’s more important now than ever to take time for yourself. Because when you distance yourself from the work that’s burdening you, you’ll find that your mind will be in a better place than when you left.

Some of my favorite hobbies by far are drawing, writing, and watching tv shows, which, ironically, all link together in what I want my career to be: animation. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember being able to hold a pencil. I started out drawing animals and other doodles of things in my life, like characters out of movies I watched. But as I got older, I began to take my art more seriously, wanting it to be as good as the fanart I saw on the internet. Nowadays, I draw not only to improve my skills, but to destress and let my creativity run wild in a school day filled with constant academic thought. To go with my art, I also write stories for them, often spending hours daydreaming of story ideas. Since I want to go into animation, I enjoy the storytelling aspect of it as much as I enjoy the art. Writing is quite time consuming, but I’ve found it an extremely helpful skill in school when writing analytical essays for classes. My other hobby that I do a little too often is watch tv shows. They’re extremely helpful in relaxing after a long day and give me plenty of inspiration for both my art and writing. Because I’m interested in the animation process, I pay more attention to the art, so not only do I get visual ideas, but I also get an entertaining story out of it. Overall, I have a ton of hobbies, but the one thing that they all end up having in common is that they all lead back to my interest in animation. Whether it be drawing, writing, or watching animated media, I want to pursue animation because it’s the combination of all my hobbies and interests.

Confidence, to me, is being able to not only do things that might make me uncomfortable, but also have faith in the decisions I make. Unfortunately, I often overthink things and try too hard to weigh the potential outcomes of every decision. My latest issue with confidence has been deciding which college I want to attend. I’ve gotten it down to two colleges, but multiple factors, including price, weigh on my mind and make me worried if I’ll end up making the right decision. I want to get the best college experience that I can, but I don’t want to be ten feet deep in debt as well. What I’m trying to do to be more confident in myself is to reassure myself that no matter which of the two colleges I’ll pick, I’ll still have a meaningful and important college experience. After all, both colleges have animation programs and are notorious for being great schools, so at its core, I shouldn’t have to worry about anything experience-wise. Even though confidence doesn’t come naturally for me in areas and situations I’m not used to, I try my best to make those unfamiliar situations normal ones, as once I know what to expect, I’ll have more confidence in my actions. So, although being confident can be hard, I try to be confident by doing my best because I know that confidence is one of the many things I’ll need to be successful in adulthood.

Ever since I was little, I wanted to have a job in making the animated movies that I loved watching so much. This dream career that I wanted, I discovered was animation. After I study animation in college and get my degree, I’d like to work for an animation studio that makes either movies or tv shows. It doesn’t have to be Disney or Dreamworks, but it would be really cool to work there. Whether it be as an animator, writer, or a storyboarder, I want to have a range of skills in the field of animation so I can understand every important aspect about my job. The most I want to have from my career is a balance between being able to provide for myself and have a job that I love doing. However, I also want to use my art to give memorable stories to future generations of all backgrounds. I want to make movies and tv shows that people will remember from their childhood and look back on fondly. Because of the amazing childhood memories I have from animated movies, I want to use my artistic abilities to create childhood memories for other people. Even if the part I play is in writing rather than creating the actual animation, it would be an honor to one day work in the studios that made so many of my childhood memories.

Throughout my life, I try to practice bravery by taking chances and doing things that I wouldn’t usually want to do. This is significant for me because I’m a naturally cautious and fearful person, so I don’t like doing things that could very easily go wrong and end badly. However, something miraculous happened as a result of Covid for me, I began to get over my fear of needles. From my first few years of life, I’ve had an extreme fear of needles and doctor’s offices, due to the medical issues I was born with. Even just hearing the date of my next doctor’s appointment made me extremely anxious, knowing that with my luck, I’d have to get a vaccine. I got a bit better as I got older, at least to the point where four nurses wouldn’t have to hold me down, but I still had extreme anxiety whenever I had to get one. Things began to change when the flu shot I got one year from a Walgreens was basically painless. The more flu vaccines I got there that were good experiences, the less anxious I became when I had to get them. However, the real test came with getting the Covid vaccine, as it was at a place I had never been before, but despite all the odds, I barely felt that vaccine as well. Thanks to these multiple experiences, whenever I have to get a vaccine somewhere that’s not my doctor’s office, I can stay pretty calm, which is something that I never thought would happen. While I can be fearful of what the future holds and not being prepared for it, I see the importance in bravery, so as I grow into adulthood, I’ve tried to be more assertive in places outside my comfort zone.

As an artist and writer, I constantly apply creativity in my life. Not by just doing the things I love, but by letting my ways of thinking and my experiences influence that creativity. When people ask for writing advice, they often say, “Write what you know”. I apply this when I am writing or drawing, as I remember experiences I’ve had or things I have seen. After all, every piece of media is inspired off of something else, isn’t it? Inspiration is the breath that fuels creativity. It’s thanks to the inspiration I get from things I see throughout my life that I’m able to put my best into the things I create. Despite actively using creativity in my everyday life, I just have a very creative mind in general, which unfortunately can cause some problems when I’m forced to think with hard logic and reason for too long. But even if logical thinking fills many hours of my day, applying creativity to it has helped balance those patterns of thinking. To answer the question simply, I apply creativity into my life by just existing and thinking in the way that I do, as while anyone can be creative, the people with creative minds are the ones who have it as a normal part of their everyday lives.

Although I was the first child of my loving parents, the first few years of my life were far from easy. The top of my left kidney hadn’t developed properly in the womb, so I had to have my first surgery when I was only six months old in order to remove it. However, the issues didn’t end, as when I was three, I got an infection in my bladder and I had to have a second surgery in order to fix that problem. A lot of my memories from when I was younger are either at the hospital or at the doctor’s office, most of them unpleasant, but despite these rough beginnings, a lot of good came out of my life afterwards. For one, since then I have lived a relatively normal life, which wouldn’t have been possible without the surgeries. Not only that, but I’ve been lucky enough to have traveled around the world. When I was seven, my parents took me on a trip to China in order to adopt my younger brother, a trip that opened my eyes to how big the world really was. I quickly gained a love of travel, traveling to the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in recent years. With my love of travel, I quickly decided that when I go to college, I want to study abroad in Japan, the country I want to visit the most. Not only am I interested in the culture of Japan, but it has a lot of importance in animation, my dream career. Overall, my life so far has shaped my hopes for the future by providing me with an idea of what I want from both my career and adulthood in general.

When it comes to the immediate people in my life, I’ve found that I’m not the most openly affectionate person, so the way I try to make them feel loved is by spending time with them and listening to them when they need it. Even though I’m very introverted and love my alone time, I love spending time with my friends and family. We end up having a lot of fun, and in the case of my family, I usually end up learning something new about them. I feel appreciated when people take time out of their day to spend time with me, so I guess I naturally do the same to show people that I care. Another way I make my friends and family feel loved is by listening to whatever they have to say, whether it be a personal story or something they wanted to get off of their chest. I do this because everyone wants to have someone that will listen to them, and although I’m not a therapist, I’m willing to make an educated guess on whether the issue needs to be taken to a therapist. As a child, I was very soft spoken, so I often got talked over by other people. As a result, whenever someone listened to what I had to say, I felt appreciated. So, I like to show appreciation to the people I love by giving them a listening ear as well. Overall, while I’m not very affectionate or flashy in how I show love to the people in my life, I like to think that being there for them whenever they need me for something shows them how much I care about them.

While many artists find a specific painter or sculptor to be their source of inspiration, as an aspiring animator, my inspiration has always been from movies. However, out of all the movies that inspired me to draw, none did more so than How To Train Your Dragon. I first saw the movie when my dad rented it from Redbox for our family movie night. I had seen it around, but never had any interest in it. Little did I know how much my life would change that evening. Not only was I introduced to an inspiring work of art, but to an amazing story and musical score as well. How To Train Your Dragon was the start of many interests for me, such as my interest to become an animator, my interest in how movies were made, and my interest in movie soundtracks. It’s still one of my favorite movie franchises today, so much so that I went to see the second and third movie in theaters as early as possible. My journey as an artist wouldn’t of become what it was without the inspiration I had from How To Train Your Dragon, and for that, I’ll forever be grateful. Even though there are many pieces of fine art that could’ve been chosen for this scholarship, I had to go with How To Train Your Dragon, because it was the main inspiration for a lot of my ideas, in both my art and my stories.

While I absolutely love music, the song that by far inspires me the most is Where No One Goes, by Jonsi and John Powell. I love this song, not only because it was made for one of my favorite film franchises, but because of the personal meaning it has to me and my life. Throughout my life I have always been an overachiever, taking harder classes and doing my best to get the highest scores in everything I could. I always hoped that working hard would make adulthood easier, because of how so much of paying for college came down to how good you did on the ACT and SAT. This overachiever mindset that I have is greatly represented in Where No One Goes, whose lyrics not only give a feeling of freedom, but a feeling of not being held back by anyone when achieving your goals. Every time I listen to it, I become motivated to work as hard as I can, and even try new things in my personal life that might’ve made me nervous. I have lost count the amount of times I listened to this song while I had my blood drawn, as I’m very anxious around needles. Because of this association, the song reminds me of everything I’ve gone through in my life. Everything that I’ve overcome. Where No One Goes is special, because it is a constant reminder that I am capable of going where no one else has gone. Where No One Goes is a beautiful song that mixes the harmonious symphonies of movie soundtracks with the soft vocals of pop songs, a mix that I never knew was possible. It’s a song that will stay with me forever, not just inspiring me in my childhood, but motivating me in my adulthood.

Who am I? I am an early 2000s kid who grew up watching a lot of animated movies, and it didn’t matter how old they were. I watched movies from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which came out in 1937, to movies that came out in the present. Seeing all of these movies inspired me to draw and pursue art of some kind. Everything in animated movies interested me, the animation, the stories, the soundtracks, the characters, all of it. It wouldn’t be until my middle school years that I decided I wanted to pursue being an animator specifically, with some background in writing and storytelling. The reason I think both art and music is extremely important to society is that it gives humanity a chance to express themselves in ways that words just can’t express. Even though I’m wanting to major in animation, which is mainly art-based, music also plays a large role in an animated project by emphasizing the emotions and tones that the animation is trying to express. Music especially can express emotions that can’t be put into words. Even today, I listened to a song that while hopeful, also made me sad at the same time, which is a description that took me multiple minutes to come up with on my own. Within our own lives, there are many aspects to life that words just can’t portray to its fullest, such as grief or mental health, but thanks to art and music we have other ways to express these emotions and help others get enjoyment out of them too. Art and music lets people know that they aren’t alone in the world and that there are others who can relate to them, whether they are the artist or the fan. In the end, animation is one of my passions, so much so that it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. Thanks to animation, I have high appreciation for both art and music, because they are both such important pieces. Not only in a good work of animation, but in our society as well.

“Always remember that even if the world crumbles around us, the one thing we’ll always have is each other.” This is what I would say if I could only share one sentence with the world, and there are many reasons for it. In today’s world, there is so much division among people, based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and many other factors. Throughout my life as a teenager, it’s all I’ve seen on the news: division among people who live on the same planet. This is why I find this sentence so important, because out of everything I want to call out about today’s society, the biggest issue I found was how divided we are as Americans. Now I’ll be the first to admit, our country has a shaky history with the origins of its people. The U.S. has always been a “melting pot” of cultures from all over the world, but that’s why we should be more united as a people, because it’s sad to see so much inner conflict in a country that was supposed to be a safe haven where anybody could make a life for themselves, no matter where they came from. This division is happening between countries as well, as certain nations are becoming more hostile to each other by the day. However, if learning about 9/11 taught me anything, it’s that people will band together under tough circumstances, because when the U.S. was attacked, it was no longer about any individual, it was every American who was a stake. So, although at times it seems like people will always be divided, whether they’re in the same country or not, I have hope that the pandemic will garner more cooperation between people, rather than division, no matter where they came from.

To me, joy isn’t about always being happy, but is about being able to find happiness even when the world around you seems dark. There are many challenges I’ve faced in my life, and many more I know I’ll face in the future. That’s just how life is. However, it’s because life isn’t always great that makes the joyful moments all the more precious. In my life, I seek out joy in, doing what I love to do, spending time with the people I love, and even watching the joy that other people experience. On regular days, when the weight of my schoolwork becomes tiring, I find joy in relaxing for a bit and escaping through my art and writing. Any normal hobby I have gives me a good creative outlet to relax with, when a lot of my homework has the logical side of my brain working overtime. I also find joy in spending time with my family, especially when I end up having deep conversations with them. I find that I always end up knowing more about them than I did before the conversation. I even love watching other people experience joy. Knowing that somewhere in the world there is good happening in the midst of darkness, it not only restores my faith in humanity, but it is also surprisingly relaxing to watch something good happen to someone, even if I’ve never met them I my life. Even though a lot of my joy comes from smaller things in my life, I still find it extremely important in order to remain optimistic and hopeful, because when times get rough, sometimes those seemingly small things are all we have left.

What makes me happy is doing the things I love, whether it be drawing, writing, or traveling to a new place. Just being able to take a break from the real world and devote my time to myself makes me happier than I’d like to admit. Within our current world, there is a lot of negativity, especially surrounding COVID-19. As a high school senior dealing with the pressure of choosing a college to go to after graduation, all while dealing with the threat of the pandemic, life can seem chaotic. However, even as I’m busy with my schoolwork, I try to take some time out of the day for myself, even if it’s something short, like listening to music. I love my hobbies because they give me a chance to escape from the depressing reality of the world and keep my mind focused on the happiness I have. In all honesty, my hobbies help me keep my mental health stable as I deal with the chaotic transition to adulthood. When I draw, I’m able to stretch my creative mind and practice what I want to pursue for my career. When I write, I use my creativity in a different way to create stories for the characters I’ve made in my art. When I watch tv shows or movies, I get to relax and remind myself why I love animation, while becoming invested in stories that creative minds before me had a desire to tell. And when I travel, I get to experience the world and see things that many people might never get to see. So, even though my hobbies are only one of the many things I find happiness in, they keep me grounded in the midst of chaos by reminding me what career I’m working so hard for.

Something surprising that I’ve learned about myself the last few years is that I don’t let people treat me like a doormat. That is to say, I don’t let people walk all over me. The reason that this is surprising is because I’m an introverted and quiet person who doesn’t care to be in the spotlight, let alone be a burden to anyone. However, throughout my middle school years, I developed a habit of self advocacy and didn’t let myself be pushed around by my peers, even if it threw them off. I’m proud of this part of myself because it’s reassuring knowing that I can say “No” to someone without much difficulty. To me, it means that I’ll be less likely to be peer pressured into doing something that I don’t want to do, which is a big deal considering how many stupid decisions people can make as teenagers. Even though self advocacy is a habit that I’ve developed, there are still many people out there who won’t stand up for themselves in confrontational situations. It’s because of this that I find self advocacy a valuable trait, because I know it is not always an easy thing to do.

There are many books that I’ve read throughout my life, but I believe the most inspiring book I’ve ever read is The Traveler’s Gift, by Andy Andrews. This is due to how relatable the circumstances of David Ponder are as a high school senior. Even though I loved reading, it was more of an activity I did at school to pass the time, and I only read books that I wanted to read. Despite this, in the summer of my eighth grade year, I had to choose a third book out of a list to read for summer reading. Looking at the synopsis of each book, The Traveler’s Gift caught my interest in particular. The idea of someone going back in time to learn different lessons from successful people was an interesting concept to me, so I chose it. To say my expectations were met would be an understatement. I finished the book in two nights because of how relatable and powerful the message of having a successful attitude despite your circumstances was. As a high school senior figuring out what I want to do after graduation, life can seem chaotic and unclear, especially when there’s so much to do and so little time. However, whenever I feel like I’m failing myself, I think about this book. I think about it and I remember how important attitude is, which inspires me to keep going amidst uncertainty. With the pandemic cancelling a lot of academic opportunities for students, at times I feel left behind, but if I don’t try to shoot for success despite my circumstances, then there’s no chance of making it. The reason The Traveler’s Gift is so important is because it teaches us that even if we hit rock bottom, there’s always a way back to the top.

Deciding what you want your legacy to be is a big question to answer, because while certain people will always be remembered for their entertainment or their contributions to the world, other people might just think about what legacy they’ll leave behind for their families. When it comes to me, I want to leave both of these types of legacies behind when I die. Walt Disney was born over a hundred years ago, and yet his name and company are still one of the most recognizable on Earth. Through his company, many other people got their names out, not in just animation, but in Hollywood in general. I want to be remembered for my art, just like all of them. I want to be looked back on, having been seen as making people’s childhoods, and even inspiring some people to pursue animation themselves. I know it’s a big deal to be known in the animation industry, especially with how competitive it is, so I’ll work hard and do my best to be remembered through my work. As an American, there’s a lot of questions that can be asked around someone’s ancestry. We don’t have the privilege of living in a country with thousands of years of written history, so records of where our ancestors came from as immigrants are usually something we have to track down ourselves. This is especially true in my case, as members of my family have tried tracking our family back, without sharing a lot of this information throughout my life. It’s because of this that I want to research and keep records of my ancestry and my generation itself, because I know that not only would it come in handy for any of my potential descendants, but it could have significant historical value as well.

My best skill in my personal opinion -and the opinion of many of my family members - are my artistic abilities. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, inspired by the animated movies and cartoons that I watched as a child. It’s because I loved those movies and shows so much that I wanted to create art just like that when I grew up, and it’s why I’m currently pursuing animation. While I used to do mainly traditional art on paper, over the years, I’ve done a lot more digital art, and even dabbled in watercolor a bit. In order to improve in art, it’s all about practice. “Practice makes perfect,” they always say, and it’s true. In order to improve, I take art classes at my school and draw in my free time when I feel inspired. My art goals for this year are to get better at drawing humans and backgrounds, as I mainly draw animals and characters that I create. When I do art in college, I also wouldn’t mind learning to do other fields of art, as I’ve never been much of a painter or sculptor. Ironically enough, even though people say I already know how to draw, it’s because I want to improve my art that I want to go to college for it. Getting help from professionals is something that I haven’t gotten a lot throughout my life, especially in the field of animation, so there’s nothing better than getting taught by someone who wanted the same job as you at one point. Someone who succeeded and can show you the ropes on how to succeed in the field as well.

When I think of what motivates me on a daily basis, two things come to mind. One is a poster in my math teacher’s room that says, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”, while the other is my own personal saying, “I suffer today to have it easy tomorrow.” In the context of the poster, I find it true and a good description of my motivations when I decide to apply to a scholarship or do something else that I’m not sure of. This is because the saying on the poster is true, that if I don’t take a shot, there’s no chance of making it. Even as I’m writing this scholarship essay, I’m thinking about how I have no chance of winning it if I don’t apply. It’s thanks to seeing this poster everyday that I’ve decided I’ll apply to as many scholarships as I can, even if my essays aren’t perfect. My own personal saying is one that I’ve come up with the last few years, as I’m taking multiple AP classes, which cause me to be extremely busy. Knowing that I could get credit for passing the exams, and not have to take certain classes in college, it caused me to create my phrase, “I suffer today to have it easy tomorrow.” It gives me motivation both for the next day and the coming years, as I will do a bunch of work that isn’t due until later on, knowing that I’ll be able to relax the next day. In a way, this motivates me to work hard so I can play hard. It’s thanks to these two phrases that I’m motivated to work hard on a daily basis, especially academically, because I know that I have to at least try to succeed.

While I’ve been trying to help others through community service that I do in clubs at my school, my favorite way to help others is to listen to them. This is because listening to people makes them feel seen and heard, which shows them that you care about what they have to say. Throughout my childhood, I was a very quiet kid who was very soft spoken, and as a result, people usually didn’t hear me when I spoke up. However, whenever someone listened to me, it made me feel seen, like my opinion mattered to them. This is why I enjoy listening to people’s problems when they need me, because I know how much it can mean to someone to have someone listen to you. While listening to people venting about their problems, I tend to offer if they want a solution to their problem or if they just want someone to listen, and do my best to help in either way, depending on which answer the person gives me. Because of my listening nature, my friends will often times open up to me about deep conversation topics and things that they’ve dealt with, which ends up strengthening our friendship in the process of me trying to help them. In the end, while listening may not seem as big of a help to people as working as a nurse or another healthcare worker, it is a very important skill to have in our daily lives, precisely because of how much listening to someone can have an effect on their mood or mental health. So, even if helping people by simply listening seems small to some, it’s by far the biggest help in socially interacting with other people, whether or not they want help.

My name is Kate, a normal four-letter English-originating name, but there’s a lot more to me than what people may think. To say I’m a living paradox would be an understatement. I’m assertive in that I won’t let people treat me like a doormat, but I get very nervous in many social situations and am pretty antisocial. Despite this, I love learning about people and hanging out with friends, but as an introvert, I also crave solitude. I’m hardworking because I hold myself to high standards, both artistically and academically. So even if my resting face intimidates you, I promise, I won’t bite.

This is Daisy, a senior English Golden Retriever who loves naps and getting pet. She’s quite picturesque, so she’s been the subject of multiple photos, whether it be a photo shoot when I got my first iPhone or for assignments in my photography class. As you can probably see, Daisy’s very fluffy and sheds a ton, but always has that classic Golden Retriever smile on her face. While she loves people and attention, she is very scared of thunderstorms and tries to herd the whole family into the basement where it’s “safe”.

One technology that I’m definitely excited about is virtual reality and the unlimited potential it has. While virtual reality is mostly seen by society as a way to make video games, it can be used for many educational purposes at all levels. An educational purpose that virtual reality is already being used for is to train people in certain careers, such as training surgeons to perform different surgeries. When young workers, like those in the medical field, have difficulty getting practice without serious risks involved, virtual reality is really effective in teaching them what to do in their field of work. Other than surgeons, plenty of virtual reality simulations can be created to train new employees across many different fields. When a teenager is getting their first retail job at a local fast food restaurant, virtual reality simulations can give them a taste of what their job will be like. Rather than having to watch a training tape, the teen can go through a simulation of what their normal work environment would be like and any situations they might face during their shift. This in turn can help employees be better prepared and adaptive to any situation their workday might throw at them, which could prevent any accidents or setbacks from occurring. Although virtual reality is valuable in training employees for multiple fields of work, it can be used educationally in schools as well. Recently, I watched a virtual reality experience of the sinking of the Titanic from the point of view of a person in a lifeboat. I’ve watched some disturbing things before, but this experience made me sit and ponder for a long time afterwards, to the point I even called my mom because I had to talk to someone about it. I had learned plenty of facts about the Titanic through my time in school, but to actually “be there”, listening to the sounds and seeing what a person in that situation would’ve seen….it put the tragedy into perspective. Later on, I ended up thinking, “This is the future of history classes,” because just imagine if you actually got to “experience” the events rather than try to listen to a teacher drone on about them. Imagine being able to watch every seemingly boring historical event you’ve ever learned about, as if you were there yourself. I have no doubt that many more people would be interested in history and preserving it. This is the amount of potential that virtual reality has, experiences like the Titanic one can help create empathy among people who may not have otherwise cared, because let me tell you, once you see it happen, you don’t see the people involved as a set of numbers anymore. While I could go on and on about how much hope I have for the future of virtual reality, the most important educational value it has is its help in preventing repeating mistakes from history, as getting to experience what events were like will encourage more cooperation.

Personally, the best advice I can give for how to live a long, healthy life is to go out and experience the world and to just take time for yourself. The best way one can live a long and healthy life is objective depending on who you ask, so the best answer I can give is to keep yourself mentally healthy, as well as physically. Staying mentally healthy is just as important as staying physically healthy. People should always take some time in their day to relax and do something that they want to do, even if it’s just for twenty minutes. Being able to take time for yourself is a good habit to form, especially for people who have extremely work-based lives. With today’s world, our work lives seem to easily have control over our personal lives, especially since the pandemic forced people to work from home. This is why having habits that help people’s mental health is very important. In the case of experiencing the world, it’s one way I’ve found that helps my mental state and makes me appreciate life. Travel can be from going to another country to going to the local park. Just getting out of your house and experiencing the world around you can help people stay healthy mentally and physically, as they would be getting both stimulation and exercise from their travels. So, although there are multiple ways people can live long, healthy lives, I think the best way overall is to enjoy life in the ways you want to. Whether that be eating vegetables everyday, exercising, or taking some time to pamper yourself. Live life to the fullest in a way that will make you your happiest and healthiest self.

While there are many small turnaround stories from my life, the biggest one by far began before I was even born. I was my parents’ first successful pregnancy, and they were very excited for my arrival, but one look through an ultrasound told the doctors that something was wrong with my development. It turned out that the top half of my left kidney hadn’t developed properly, and would cause me to become extremely sick if it wasn’t removed. As a result, I had my first surgery when I was six months old, where the undeveloped part of my kidney was removed, and the rest of my kidney was rewired to work without it. It was a change that had a huge effect on my life, as I was more prone to urinary tract infections and needed more water than normal. These issues worsened when I was three, as I had to have another surgery on my bladder. This was an issue that required me to wear a catheter for awhile, which wasn’t pleasant in the slightest. Luckily, thanks to these surgeries, I was able to bounce back and have a relatively normal life, even if I have to drink more water and less caffeine. I’m proud of this story because even if it caused a few fears for me, it’s an important chapter of my story and it reminds me of how tough I can be. It’s thanks to this experience that I have the amount of respect for those in the medical field that I do. It’s a portion of what made me who I am today.

I’m a pretty easygoing person who likes to take things at her own pace, so I have many simple pleasures that bring me happiness. However, some of the greatest simple pleasures in my life are coming home to my excited dog and looking over my city from my school campus early in the morning. I have an English Golden Retriever who gets very excited when I come home from school. So much so that she sometimes lets out howls and little whines. It always brightens my day because even if I feel like I’m never someone’s first choice, at least I’m a joy for my dog to see. It’s become part of my daily routine coming home and I’m really going to miss it when she’s gone. When it comes to my school campus, I’m in the Environmental Club at my school, so I go to the campus early in the morning the first Saturday of each month to pick up trash. My school is on a large hill, so there’s a view of the city from campus. During the time I’ve spent up there early in the morning, I’ve found it’s extremely peaceful. The quiet, the crows cawing, and the chill of the morning, it’s a nice change of pace from the crowded and loud school that I’m used to going to. Even if I’m not a morning person, I love the simple peace that I find in the quiet of nature and civilization. Within the fast pace of the world and the busyness of our lives, it’s easy to forget the simple things in life. That’s why I view it as important to take time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, so we can slow ourselves down to a healthier state.

Many times in our lives, we don’t have the resources to give ourselves what we need. This is why giving is important, because it allows people to be of service to those who might not be able to help themselves. In certain cases, giving to someone could be a difference between life and death. When I was born, the top half of my left kidney hadn’t developed properly. I had to have my first surgery when I was six months old in order to prevent myself from becoming extremely sick. However, problems occurred for a few years afterwards, and I had to have another surgery on my bladder when I was three. During these first rough years of my life, the people around me, whether they be the doctors or my family, gave me so much. My grandparents watched me during the day when my parents worked full time jobs, and long hours in my mom’s case. My parents did their best to make sure I was comfortable, even when I had regular doctor’s appointments and bladder spasms. My doctors and surgeons gave me a chance to have the best possible quality of life, even through the struggle of working on a tiny patient. Even people that knew my parents gave a lot to me, as they gave money to my parents to spend on me during the rough times. It’s thanks to everyone involved in my life at that time that I was able to thrive and get where I am today. A proud server of my community. I’m now in multiple clubs at my school that do volunteering both on campus and in our surrounding communities. I enjoy giving back to other people because I know just how much I have been given.

The impact I hope to leave on the world is through my art and stories that I want to create. Pop culture, such as movies and tv shows have entertained and inspired generations for over a century now, and animation is limitless in its possibilities, because of this, I think I will have the biggest impact through my career in animation. In the stories I create, I want to cover topics that people will find relatable, such as mental health and other potentially sensitive topics. I want people to be positively impacted by my work, both during their childhood and their adulthood, like I was by animated movies that I grew up with. My art won’t be the only impact I will try to leave on the world. I also plan to continue volunteering in clubs that I’m in to help my community. One other interest of mine that doesn’t have to do with animation is animals. I’d love to volunteer at my local shelters here at home and in the future in order to give back to the creatures that gave me so much happiness throughout my life. I’m aware that these things don’t seem like they will have as much impact as, say, a doctor, or a future biologist writing an essay for this scholarship, but opportunities come and go without people realizing they were possible. That’s what I plan to do in order to leave an impact on the world. I’ll do what I can with what I have, but if an opportunity presents itself as something that could change the world, I’ll take it. I will make as much of an impact as I can with what I am given and make for myself.

My overall goals for the far future are to become an animator working either at a studio that creates animated movies or tv shows, be able to support myself financially, and be able to financially support all the dogs I want to get. Other goals that I have with my personal life and career are to make more friends and to help those in need. However, I understand that these are goals I’m going to have to work hard for. In my academics, I want to pass all of my AP exams so I can have less classes to pay for in college. College is extremely expensive and can be difficult to pay for, so with less general education classes to pay for, I can focus on the classes that I’m excited to take. To do this, I plan on studying a month before exams start, which will be more time than I studied last year, despite passing all of my exams from my junior year. Another thing that I’m trying to accomplish academically is getting a higher ACT score. I’ve been shooting for a 30, hoping that I could get a full ride or at least all of my tuition payed for. I’m taking the ACT again in February, so until then, I’ll be trying to study to get a higher math score, which has been holding me down. In college, I plan on going for four years in whatever honor’s college that the college provides. Aside from animation, I’d like to take Japanese and study abroad in Japan at some point in my college career if I have the opportunity. I’m stuck between choosing two colleges that I want to go to right now, but I know that at some point I will come to the right decision.

Throughout my day-to-day life, I listen to people and what they’re saying, it has just become a part of my nature. I always feel super bad if I accidentally talk over someone else, because I know what it’s like to feel like no one’s listening. I can be a pretty soft-spoken person among a community of very loud and outgoing people, so often times I would not be heard even when I spoke. It’s irritating as a person who isn’t afraid to say something if I have something to say, so I always try to give other people the chance to speak and have their voices heard. I listen to my friends’ problems, no matter if they want an actual solution or if they just want to rant. To me, listening is a sign of caring. Caring about someone and what they have to say. It’s a sign of respect. I listen to people because I want them to know that I’m interested in what they have to say and that I respect them. I want people to listen to what I have to say, because it makes me feel included and respected. By listening to people, I have been able to handle the relationships in my life and prevent unneeded conflict. It’s amazing what wonders listening can do if people give the effort to understand the people around them. Listening is extremely important because it’s a huge part of how we communicate as humans. It’s a requirement to function properly in society, whether it is simply working out a fight with your friend or managing an entire company.

The most opportunities I have had to perform acts of service are thanks to my high school, as I’m a member of Art Club, Key Club, Environmental Club, and National Science Honor Society, which require service hours to be considered a credited member at the end of the year. In multiple clubs, I use my artistic abilities in order to serve others. On multiple occasions, I have created Christmas cards for my clubs to gift to our local senior homes. During my second time creating these cards, the students from my school that were at the event ended up creating fifty one cards in just two hours. In Art Club specifically, I have face painted multiple times, both at the local park and at a school-sponsored event. It’s fun to paint and see how happy kids are when I finish painting something on their face or hand. Other than art-related services, I also perform regular acts of service. In Environmental Club, I go to my school the first Saturday of every month in order to pick up trash around campus. The parking lots and areas around the sports fields are usually filled with litter, so it’s always a good opportunity to help my school stay clean. In Art Club, I have also done shopping for low-income families who couldn’t afford Christmas gifts for their children. The money we use for the yearly shopping trip we get from bake sales the club does multiple times a year. The food not only makes the students at my school happy, but the funds are used in order to make less fortunate families happy. I plan on serving my community as much as I can, even into my college years, so I would love to use the time I have left to help others.

Sometimes, I feel like I live and breath animation. Movies, tv shows, video games, anything that mixes the magic of moving pictures with storytelling. Animation has been my main interest for as long as I can remember, to the point it even rivaled my passion for animals. During my childhood, I would watch a ton of animated movies and tv shows, as very few live action movies interested me. Whenever me and my parents would go to the store, I would ask for a movie, when most kids would have asked for a new toy. This habit grew a large collection of animated movies over time, whether they were from Disney, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, or some other studio. I rewatched these movies all the time, to the annoyance of my parents, taking in the art of the animation. Even parts of the movies that didn’t have to do with the actual animation interested me. I gained a love of movie soundtracks and came to enjoy writing stories of my own, thanks to the animation I experienced from my childhood. As a result of these interests, I worked to improve my art skills and grew better in my writing, which has come in handy for school assignments. When I got a bit older, I begun to become interested in how animated movies were created, as I began to experience animation in other things, such as video games. I watched a lot of videos and documentaries on animated movies, even discovering young animators on YouTube. As time went on, I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life: Create pieces of art and storytelling that will inspire people for many generations to come. Just like how the animators of the past’s art inspired me when I was little.

I live in Alabama, which for those who don’t know, has a very large Hispanic and Latino population, especially in my area. At my school, the culinary department holds an event called Pot Luck Pelham, which presents an opportunity for the Latino population in our community to come to the school and interact with teachers and students, as some of the parents don’t speak English. There’s food from multiple countries available that were made by the students and their families, not just from Central America, but from places in the Middle East as well. Other clubs are invited to attend and help out with the event, which was why I was there. I was with my school’s art club to earn some service hours needed for its completion. We were there to faint paint and to give coloring sheets to the kids to color on. I was with the face painting group, painting on both faces and hands before learning that there was free food being provided. At the time, my parents were away in Detroit for my brother’s hockey tournament, so I didn’t have any dinner plans. Because of this, once I had face painted for awhile, I got up and decided to get some food. To say there were a lot of options would be an understatement. I tried a lot of foreign dishes that evening, and even though I had eaten Mexican food before from restaurants, it was different eating it the way it is culturally made. The most memorable dish I had was a tamale that had been wrapped in a large leaf, making it moist and steamy. It was a really nice experience, especially since a lot of my classmates had gone as well, including one of my best friends who had brought her own dish. This event at my school impacted me by allowing me a taste of different cultures without even leaving my hometown. To achieve allyship, people need to be able to understand others, and what better way can one do that than experience the culture of another people? Pot Luck Pelham gave me the feeling of community and home at a time that my family was out of town. Seeing all of my Latino classmates with their families enjoying themselves, it’s the picture that comes to my mind when I think of the word allyship.

My experience working for my community was surprisingly eye-opening. I’ve been working with my high school since my sophomore year, joining different clubs that do community service work, such as Key Club, Art Club, and Environmental Club. While in total, I’ve completed 16 service hours, my range of service has grown significantly this year. Last year, my school didn’t have clubs due to COVID-19, but in this year alone I’ve face painted at multiple events, made Christmas cards for elders at our local nursing home, shopped for gifts to give to low income kids for Christmas, and picked up trash around our school campus. My most significant takeaway from serving my community and dedicating myself to volunteer work is the feeling I get knowing that I potentially made a difference in someone’s life. As someone who isn’t known by a lot of people and isn’t very popular, I’ve gotten used to being a blank slate in a stream of unknown faces. But being able to work to help others, like people always want others to do. To be able to make some difference in these dark times. It’s a nice feeling that I don’t think I would’ve gotten otherwise. This isn’t my only takeaway though, as I’ve also discovered how peaceful my school campus is on a Saturday morning and am more determined to use my artistic skills in a way that would help people in the future. Just to know that something I did made someone happy, I don’t care if it’s something as simple as being able to feel happy from watching something I animated. Overall, volunteering has been a great experience that I definitely plan to continue in the future, whether I stay with Key Club as an adult or move on to other organizations. Due to my experience, I’d encourage everyone to try volunteering at least once, especially if it’s with something you enjoy doing or are good at, because nothing feels better than doing service for your community with your talents.

Educational inequity is something that we should all focus on because of how important a good education is to both our society and in our own country. Having a good education can make a huge difference in multiple factors, getting paid more for a higher-level job is just the start. Studies show that people in the U.S. who have a college education are a lot more likely to vote and consider who they are voting for rather than just randomly choose based on political party. This is significant, as it paints a picture of the kind of people who are voting for our presidents and other government officials. With more higher education available for people, more well-educated people will be available to thoughtfully vote in our government’s elections. With being paid a higher salary, this could reduce poverty and increase first generation students that are helping their families out of poverty. This is because a lot of people end up stuck at retail and blue-collar jobs because they didn’t get any education other than a high school diploma. With higher education such as college more open and available to students who may not be able to afford it, these people can begin to make better lives for themselves by having more job options available to them. Overall, we should all be aware of educational inequity and the effects it has on our society, because even a simple college degree looks a lot better than a high school diploma.

For me, the way society can most effectively empower women is to allow us the same opportunities that everyone else gets. As a child, I was in an after school program at my school where often times, we would play sports as a group. Despite more of the guys being enthusiastic about playing whatever sport we were playing, I was never discouraged from participating. In fact, I was encouraged to participate. This encouragement persuaded me to try playing a few games, including kickball, dodgeball, and football. When I would play football with a teacher and some other kids, I wasn’t very good at the game, but everyone had such positive attitudes about it that I would keep coming back each day to play. Despite not enjoying sports nowadays, I never forgot this experience and how included it made me feel. This is how I think women can be empowered by society, by encouraging them to be their own person with their own interests by providing them the same opportunities as other people. Ways that this demand can be met are to provide the same opportunities for everyone, no matter if they’re a woman or not. If a woman works the same job as a man and has the same experience as that man, then she should have the same salary. By giving work paychecks the same value for whoever is doing the job, as long as they have the needed experience, a factor of potential societal and economic imbalance can be eliminated, allowing for more subtle issues to be focused on. Just as I felt when I played football with the other kids, women will feel respected by their employers if they earn the same amount as a man doing the same job. They’ll know that even if they don’t like their job, they’re valued just as much a male employee. Overall, the issues that women face in society are scars running centuries deep, and while life’s fortunes have become more available for women, there is still a lot of hard work to be done. It won’t be easy, and we will have to take small steps, but as they always say: Change starts with you.

My experience with mental health has influenced my life by not only teaching me about an important aspect of life, but has also taught me how to help people I know and given me something important that I focus on in my art. When I was in fourth grade, I learned the definition of the word “suicide”. My friends and a few other girls had been creating a card for a girl who had been having suicidal thoughts, I had asked what the word meant, due to a character in a book I read having been described as “committing suicide”. Even though I learned what the word meant, I wouldn’t truly see or feel the impacts of that word until eighth grade, when an acquaintance of mine took his own life after suffering from depression. I hadn’t been close with him at the time, but I had played with him during recess in second grade, so I was shocked when I heard the news. I felt empty, but shocked to think that he had been there in my physical science class one day, then gone the next. Even though I wasn’t as emotionally effected as others were, I witnessed the emotions of the people who knew him well, a lot of whom were people I knew at the time. For the next week or so, the school had the counselors in the library, ready to talk to anyone who needed a shoulder to cry on. I even went with one of my friends to talk to these counselors since she had social anxiety and didn’t want to go alone. Even though I wasn’t in as much grief, it was a peaceful experience to be able to reflect on stories I had of my classmate. I’ll never forget that experience, as it taught me that anyone can be affected by mental health and the dark times that come with it. My classmate had friends and a family who were devastated by his passing, but he had still lived with depression and committed suicide. In my own life, I’ve experienced extreme stress at hospitals and my doctor’s office due to childhood experiences with a medical treatments that required me to be restrained. Even now when I’m nearly an adult, something as simple as the smell of the place sets off anxiety into my stomach. It’s because of those experiences that I sympathize with people seriously suffering from mental health issues. As a naturally anxious person, I can’t imagine the amount of stress people must go through to have that kind of anxiety from even the most common life scenarios. For me, knowledge of mental health is important not only because I can watch out for myself, but I can also be there for my friends in a way that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Knowledge of mental health has helped me multiple times when I have been feeling down. Throughout my life, I’ve felt pressure to get the best grades and always do good in school and my activities. While this is good for motivation to help me be the best I can be, it can also become a burden when I do worse than I wanted, whether it be getting a lower grade in class or losing a tennis match. But thanks to my mental health knowledge, I’ve been able to identify when some of these habits are becoming unhealthy and to bring it down a notch. In my relationships and career aspirations, I want to help those in my life with their mental health if they need it and I want to correctly portray these issues in my art. I’ve learned signs to watch out for when it comes to mental health and how to be there for those who are suffering. A few of my friends have had dark spots in their mental health, whether it be from depression or anxiety, and while many mental health issues are for the most part invisible, when I do know something’s wrong, I’m able to help. In my art and animation, I want to portray mental health in a way that will both educate and help those with mental health. I know that people love characters that they can relate to, so I want to show people suffering with mental health who feel alone in their pain that they aren’t the only one who knows what they’re going through. My experience with mental health has influenced my beliefs, relationships, and career aspirations by providing me with something that I want to advocate for in the future. Especially now, when my generation has such a high percentage of teenagers suffering from depression and anxiety.

There are multiple solutions that can be thought of to deal with mental health, the main one coming to mind being either therapy or medication. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, they have no idea that there is anything mentally wrong with them or they don’t realize they need help until mental health issues have effected them to such an extreme degree. I understand this issue from my own experience, as I would not have known that mental health issues could affect me, a girl with a loving family and a stable home life. Despite this seemingly perfect life, I have often felt the pressure to succeed and be the best in my grades, feeling like a failure anytime I got a lower grade than I was used to getting. Many mental health issues develop from events experienced in childhood and even develop during childhood. Because of this, one practical solution to help people struggling with mental health is to have a childhood psychologist, just like people have a childhood doctor. When children and adults go to the doctor’s office to have their yearly checkups, they can have a psychology office there. Now, instead of having to wait a long time for lab results, that time can be used to have a meeting with a psychologist, where the patient can be evaluated to see if there have been any changes in their mental health. This will not only catch mental issues early on in patients, but will provide more jobs for careers in psychology, as psychologists will get more work than they usually do. This higher demand will in turn encourage more people to pursue psychology as a career, which will increase research on mental health issues and possibly create new treatments to deal with these issues.

Ever since my early days as a young child, I have always loved animated movies. Disney, Dreamworks, you name it and I have probably watched it. My passion for the Arts truly developed when I saw How to Train Your Dragon, as that was when I began watching behind the scenes videos and documentaries about how animated movies were made. Just about everything in that movie enchanted me: the visuals, the movement, the sound design, the soundtrack. It was all beautiful to me. It was art. And that was when it hit me, I wanted to create amazing stories like that, that people could enjoy just as much as I did. I realized I could create animated movies that people would enjoy even decades after I was gone. It was a way I could leave an impact on the world in the best way I could. As I have gotten older, I have seen plenty of examples of people representing mental health and illness within their artistic endeavors, some good and some not so good. My experience with these interpretations have taught me a lot about mental health over the years and things we can do to stay mentally healthy. The knowledge of mental health has been valuable for me when understanding how to stay relaxed and happy when drawing, as art blocks and the pressure to post art for your followers can weigh down on you. With today’s growing awareness of mental health and its importance, the knowledge of mental health has not only been valuable in keeping myself mentally healthy, but those in my life as well. One of my closest friends has dealt with depression and anxiety in her life, so I am always open to listen to her concerns and let her get her emotions off of her chest. Another one of my friends has social anxiety, and thanks to my understanding of anxiety, I was able to help her when she did not want to go to the school counselor alone. Mental health has also affected my career aspirations, as I am also interested in psychology, a passion I enjoy incorporating into my art. I believe it is important that we showcase examples of mental health within art, as art is a medium that we can all relate to as humans. Therefore, artists can show future generations that they are not alone when they go through dark periods in their mental health, and possibly even help prevent some of the horrible outcomes we see in teens and young adults today.

My artistic vision is to create interesting stories that people can relate to and be able to enjoy, even when I’m long gone. I want my stories to impact people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and cultures through the use of my experiences both as an artist and a world traveler, as the one thing we all have in common is the human experience. I hope that by getting an education in animation and studying abroad, I’ll be able to achieve this dream for the future generations of animators.