I am currently a master's degree candidate so you would think that I would be set on a career by now. Unfortunately, I only know what direction I want to head in. That direction is the field of psychology which is vastly diverse, rapidly growing, and holds many promising careers. Before I started this degree and after I finished my bachelor's, I had planned on a career as a therapist with a private practice. This career is still at the forefront of my mind today but I am now heavily considering a career in human resources. I have an inquisitive, clinical mindset that would be beneficial in a therapy setting but also, a deep understanding of people that would be beneficial in any human resources setting. I like that I have two options and can bring different things to each table. When debating these options I will make sure to consider my pros and cons carefully and will rely heavily on what I gain from exploring them further. My favorite modes of decision-making are networking with people and also immersing myself in the experience itself. I believe that these potential careers will bring me fulfillment in the form of getting to work with people and having the chance to be impactful in some way. I talk about wanting to change the world around me and make it a better place all the time, so one of the ways I can do that is to leave a positive impression on people and set a good example. As a career therapist, I have the potential to work with children which would be fulfilling because I have a love for children from working with them in the past and can connect with them easily. With a career in human resources, I have the potential to find fulfillment in knowing that I am contributing to something larger than myself depending on what organization I work for. Thinking about the benefits and fulfillment that these careers will have on me makes me excited for my future as I can't wait to see what it holds. I know I have a decision to make and will make it soon, but I have two years left in my program so that gives me plenty of time. I will never know what opportunity may present itself next and I am all for enjoying the journey to my career destination.

For many, it can be difficult to manage wellness while attending college and lots don't even want to for fear of being too "granola". As someone who has completed one degree and is working toward a master's degree, I understand this to be true. It is easy to get caught up with nearing assignment deadlines, extracurriculars, and having a personal life so sometimes wellness gets put on the back burner. It doesn't have to be that way though and I have found that by prioritizing myself and most importantly, my wellness, I am indeed a much better student. Instead of eating out or fast food all of the time which is easy and tempting to do in college, I meal prep. I love cooking and find it to be therapeutic which is a great way to take a brain break in between study sessions. My favorite meal prep recipe is marinated chicken or sirloin steak with brown rice, zucchini, and teriyaki sauce on the side. The presence of protein, vegetables, grains, and healthy fat fuels my brain and body to keep going and push through the toughest of chapters or papers. Pulling all-nighters is a thing of the past. The presence of a healthy sleep schedule is something else I prioritize now having taken a class on sleep disorders. In a digital world, many of us are mentally tired and not physically tired at the end of our days so I always try to make sure I am both equal parts tired to get optimal hours of sleep. I do this by staying active through yoga, pilates, and going on walks to match all of the mental effort going toward school. The presence and absence of sunlight can serve as sleep/wake cues so I try to get outdoors as much as possible during the day to soak up vitamin D. Prioritizing my wellness will always come first for me because I am a human being before a student and will be a human being after I am a student as well. I realize that I must take care of my mind and body to live a long and happy life which I am looking forward to. Put into practice, these things are how I keep my mental and physical health in check, make awesome grades, and serve as support for my peers and classmates while we are all on this journey together. They may seem small, but the little things add up and contribute to the big picture which can help me accomplish my future goals.

Mental illness has had such an impact on those that I love directly, therefore indirectly on me which has inspired me to become a clinical psychologist and counselor in hopes of making a difference in the mental health field. The completed suicide of a dear friend and cousin led me to recognize the importance of the mental healthcare field itself, which in my opinion, has come very far but still has a long way to go. What I am learning about in the classroom and even outside the classroom will help me to practice in a way that can prevent the completion of suicide, especially among adolescents and young adults whose rates have been rising steadily through the years. After such terrible losses like that, I felt like I was drowning and I could not even help myself. In times of grief, you see relationships differently as people's true colors come out. The people I expected to be there for me weren't, but some also surprised me and stepped up to the plate to offer support when I needed it most. I learned who my true friends were and who among my family I could count on. My worldview changed and lots of black and white became a grey area. I began viewing completed suicide as selfless instead of selfish as I had always heard people say and came to believe. When it impacts you though your perception changes, especially if you cannot ever fathom the person to be selfish. I live with regret because knowing what I know now, I may have been able to make a difference in the life of my dear friend and cousin. I am learning to let go of this regret and heal so that I am prepared when the time comes to provide psychoeducation on the stigma and advocacy for prevention. Being able to focus on how I can share what happened and on the positives like spreading awareness is important to me and something I can implement in my life during the rest of my time as a graduate student, but also in my career as well. Overcoming the obstacles of indirectly experiencing mental illness and the consequences of what happens when left untreated has shown me that I have what it takes to be a leader in this field and can accomplish my goals. I hope that I can be a voice for those struggling with their illness bringing an understanding of change and perseverance. I also hope that I can help those see that there is value in themselves and that value can help them to find joy in the world around them again.

Mental illness has had such an impact on those that I love directly, therefore indirectly on me which has inspired me to become a clinical psychologist and counselor in hopes of making a difference in the mental health field. The completed suicide of a dear friend and cousin led me to recognize the importance of the mental healthcare field itself, which in my opinion, has come very far but still has a long way to go. What I am learning about in the classroom and even outside the classroom will help me to practice in a way that can prevent the completion of suicide, especially among adolescents and young adults whose rates have been rising steadily through the years. Going into this field is especially challenging due to the heavy nature of topics discussed with counselors and I have found myself in the past not knowing how to handle the emotions and feelings that come with the role. Getting stuck in this cycle could eventually lead to mental illness but fortunately, my program at the Citadel has helped me to recognize the signs of imposter syndrome and come up with my very own self-care plan. I will implement this plan if I ever need to because I have value in myself, and also encourage my clients to do the same also having value in them. I live with regret because knowing what I know now, I may have been able to make a difference in the life of my dear friend and cousin. I am learning to let go of this regret and heal so that I am prepared when the time comes to provide psychoeducation on the stigma and advocacy for prevention. Being able to focus on how I can share what happened and on the positives like spreading awareness is important to me and something I can implement in my life during the rest of my time as a graduate student, but also in my career as well. Overcoming the obstacles of indirectly experiencing mental illness and the consequences of what happens when left untreated has shown me that I have what it takes to be a leader in this field and can accomplish my goals. I hope that I can be a voice for those struggling with their illness bringing an understanding of change and perseverance. I also hope that I can help those see that there is value in themselves and that value can help them to find joy in the world around them again.

Mental illness has had such an impact on those that I love directly, therefore indirectly on me which has inspired me to become a clinical psychologist and counselor in hopes of making a difference in the mental health field. The completed suicide of a dear friend and cousin led me to recognize the importance of the mental healthcare field itself, which in my opinion, has come very far but still has a long way to go. What I am learning about in the classroom and even outside the classroom will help me to practice in a way that can prevent the completion of suicide, especially among adolescents and young adults whose rates have been rising steadily through the years. Going into this field is especially challenging due to the heavy nature of topics discussed with counselors and I have found myself in the past not knowing how to handle the emotions and feelings that come with the role. Getting stuck in this cycle could eventually lead to mental illness but fortunately, my program at the Citadel has helped me to recognize the signs of imposter syndrome and come up with my very own self-care plan. I will implement this plan if I ever need to because I have value in myself, and also encourage my clients to do the same also having value in them. I live with regret because knowing what I know now, I may have been able to make a difference in the life of my dear friend and cousin. I am learning to let go of this regret and heal so that I am prepared when the time comes to provide psychoeducation on the stigma and advocacy for prevention. Being able to focus on how I can share what happened and on the positives like spreading awareness is important to me and something I can implement in my life during the rest of my time as a graduate student, but also in my career as well. Overcoming the obstacles of indirectly experiencing mental illness and the consequences of what happens when left untreated has shown me that I have what it takes to be a leader in this field and can accomplish my goals. I hope that I can be a voice for those struggling with their illness bringing an understanding of change and perseverance. I also hope that I can help those see that there is value in themselves and that value can help them to find joy in the world around them again.

I think we need more people in the field of psychology, like myself, who want to use their degrees and careers to advocate for abused children. I have a huge heart for children and have been working with them since I was a teenager. In my undergraduate studies, I started working with abused children and only then realized what kind of impact I could have on them from a psychological standpoint. I started volunteering with Care House of the Pee Dee during the pandemic because I, like many others, was bored and looking for a way to give back to my community. One of the only places still accepting volunteers at the time was the Care House so I went through training and orientation to begin working in the summer. I loved being part of the positive impact that it had on children so much that I decided as a junior in college to complete my undergraduate internship early and began interning with them in the fall school semester. I learned as a volunteer and an intern the importance of child advocacy and how the world needs more mandated reporters. Many of the children served through the Care House had no one to use their voice for them as these children so desperately needed. I was able to assist with interviews and counseling, both very important steps to rebuild these children's lives which inspired me to go back to graduate school and become a clinical counselor. I plan to use that degree to then work mainly with abused children so that they can become survivors of childhood trauma, using their voice to speak up and out for others going through similar situations. Many days, I would leave the building crying due to the stuff I saw and heard from the innocent victims of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse, but I had to keep going back to be what those children needed during such a difficult time in their lives. I grew up very blessed and finally having a full understanding of what other children go through made me count my blessings everyday and have a more grateful outlook on life. After being accepted to graduate school, I applied for a job with the South Carolina Youth Advocate Program which works with abused children in the foster care and adoption systems. My goal with this job is to gain some much needed experience in the field of counseling and to serve more children who have been through one of the most traumatic things anyone can even think of. I am looking forward to serving these children and every other child I can serve in my future endeavors as well, because I will not stop until every child has an even and clean break at life and has healed from their traumas of abuse. The cycle will end somewhere, and I will do my part in advocating for each child suffering.

Just like Guy Fieri, I like to be taken to a place called flavor town and I think Guy would agree with me when I say that eating superfoods is a great way to reach that destination. I have never been a picky eater and thank goodness for that because if I was, then I would never know of the goodness that is superfoods. With a high micronutrient content, what isn't there to love about superfoods? I like to live a healthy lifestyle, and eating superfoods is a great way to do that, in turn, feeling better. When you feel good, you look good, and who doesn't want to be able to take pride in their appearance? Not only will you feel and look good, but the nutrients found in superfoods will ensure your body can fight off any infection that comes it's way which is another reason to love them. With a combination of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, and healthy fats, the superheroes of the food world taste great. I have so many superfoods that are my favorite. In the dark, leafy greens category I enjoy kale, collards, and spinach. In the berry category I like eating raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries the most. I like drinking cranberry juice but eating them isn't my favorite thing in the world. I love eating eggs anyway you can cook them but preferably scrambled, fried hard, or over easy. I can eat avocado anyway you prepare it, and I eat a yogurt parfait for breakfast most days. I really love beans, peas, and peanuts from the legume list. Almonds, pecans, pistachios, and sunflower seeds are what I indulge on from the family of nuts. Also, I have just recently taken a liking to salmon and I cannot get enough of it. Last but not least, sweet potatoes have always been and will always be one of my favorite foods. Because there are so many superfoods, spanning and ranging across different categories, they aren't hard to incorporate into a diet. You can snack on them, drink them as juice or a smoothie, and make many different meals with them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. When I cook, I try to use lots of garlic, olive oil, and ginger in seasonings and marinades because they are superfoods themselves but when combined with other superfoods, take salmon for example, the flavor possibilities are endless. I love to snack and at the top of my list are berries and nuts. Superfoods rule the side dish game as well and the ones I like to incorporate into my meals the most are the leafy greens in a salad, beans and peas, and then a baked sweet potato. You just can't go wrong when eating a superfood, any which way!

George Eliot once said, "what do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other." I like to view life, but especially serving my community in the way that Eliot views it. I am very blessed so I feel called to bless others in my community who are less fortunate. I also like to be the embodiment of this quote which represents selflessness to me. I would define selflessness as putting your needs aside in order to fulfill the needs of others which is pretty much what I have always preferred to do. As a Christian, I have heard sermons preached on being generous with my time because it is how we show God's love and I have always felt led to do this by serving my community. Serving others gives me great satisfaction in life and I have had the extraordinary opportunity to serve my community in many ways which is such an honor. At a young age and with the help of my mom, I was able to start my own club to give back to my local community. We did this in the form of organizing city-wide clean up days and also by learning how to knit, so we could give scarves to people in need. Something I really looked forward to in the club was collecting items to be donated to the local children's home at Christmas and then delivering it to the children. In middle and high school I was involved with several organizations that helped me continue to serve. My youth group at church always participated in things like Operation Christmas Child where we would fill shoe boxes to give to children in need and the Backpack Program where we would sponsor a local kid in the school system with supplies. We also raised money for donations to many different causes. I had the opportunity to serve as a counselor at Camp Happy Days which is a summer camp that kids with cancer could attend and experience things they normally wouldn't get to. My sister queens and I helped organize a sock drive for Socktober and collected many pairs of socks to donate to homeless shelters, and visited the local nursing home to help them decorate for Valentine's Day. In college, I was able to volunteer at Care House of the Pee Dee helping children who were victims of all sorts of abuse and my brother and I participated in an organization called Stop Soldier Suicide raising money to provide mental health help for veterans. I feel that by serving my community, I can start a chain reaction and one day maybe my community will be able to give back to me and to others. Being able to serve my community throughout the years where some of my fondest memories were made while participating in these with my friends is my favorite thing about it. Being able to serve my community has been one of the greatest journeys of my life and I always actively seek out ways that I can do so. Thinking of the positive impact that I have hopefully had, I can't help but feel proud of what all I have done. I definitely feel like I get more out of serving than the people that I am serving which is why I will always choose to help my community.

As someone who is going into the mental health field, a healthy lifestyle is at utmost importance to me because I will have the power to influence others. I am a firm believer in practice what you preach and if I am not living a healthy lifestyle then that doesn't give others a good example to follow. I am passionate about both mental and physical health because of the association between the two. They work in harmony and we must take care of them both equally in order to be our best selves. I hope that I can model the best behaviors in order to live a healthy lifestyle for my clients and they will in turn adopt those behaviors into their daily lives. Keeping that cycle going so that more and more people take care of their physical and mental health means the world to me.

The reason why I love dogs so much is because one changed my life. She became my second sibling, another friend, one of my fiercest protectors, and my therapist all rolled up into one. She never judged and I didn't have to pretend to be anybody I wasn't around her because she accepted me like I was. She was loyal and loving, teaching me how to be those things unconditionally which is the positive impact she left on my life. To me, she was so much more than a dog especially when my whole family treated her like our fifth member. Fifteen short years was not enough with my beloved Shirley. I watched her grow up and she watched me grow up. It was hard to adjust after her death. She had gotten so old and it was getting hard for her to get around so our vet suggested that it was time to let her go, which we all did through so much heartache. Even our cat, Salem mourned her loss. Watching them become friends was fun and I know Salem was lost without her. I think another way that she positively impacted my life was by bringing our family together and we would bond whenever we played with her. I remember right before her death telling my mom that I didn't want her to die. I was twenty-one years old at the time so I understood that it was a part of life, but still. We has been through so much together, and I was not ready to let go. She was an icon. All of my friends, my brother's friends, my parent's friends, and even our extended family loved her. They would jump at the opportunity to come spend time with her while we were on vacation and I think even they viewed her loss as the death of a friend. During the wake of it all, I found comfort in people telling me their own experiences with dogs that they grew up with and how when they lost them, it truly was like losing a friend. Since this was my first time ever experiencing sadness like this, I wasn't sure how to feel. Now, I can't help but feel like I will see Shirley again and whoever said that dogs don't go to heaven is a liar. I know she is happy to be running around again and I can't wait for the day that she runs right up to me and we are reunited, just like old friends.

In my opinion, why would anybody not love having pets? I can't think of a single reason for somebody to hate animals and I know that some still do which is a sad reality but to truly know them is to love them. The reason why I love pets so much is because one changed my life by becoming my second sibling, another friend, one of my fiercest protectors, and my therapist all rolled up into one. She never judged and I didn't have to pretend to be anybody I wasn't around her because she accepted me like I was. She was loyal and loving, teaching me how to be those things unconditionally which is the positive impact she left on my life. To me, she was so much more than a dog especially when my whole family treated her like our fifth member. Fifteen short years was not enough with my beloved Shirley. I watched her grow up and she watched me grow up. It was hard to adjust after her death. She had gotten so old and it was getting hard for her to get around so our vet suggested that it was time to let her go, which we all did through so much heartache. Even our cat, Salem mourned her loss. Watching them become friends was fun and I know Salem was lost without her. I think a way that she positively impacted my life was by bringing our family together and we would bond whenever we played with her. I remember right before her death telling my mom that I didn't want her to die. I was twenty-one years old at the time so I understood that it was a part of life, but still. We has been through so much together, and I was not ready to let go. She was an icon. All of my friends, my brother's friends, my parent's friends, and even our extended family loved her. They would jump at the opportunity to come spend time with her while we were on vacation and I think even they viewed her loss as the death of a friend. During the wake of it all, I found comfort in people telling me their own experiences with dogs that they grew up with and how when they lost them, it truly was like losing a friend. Since this was my first time ever experiencing sadness like this, I wasn't sure how to feel. Now, I can't help but feel like I will see Shirley again and whoever said that dogs don't go to heaven is a liar. I know she is happy to be running around again and I can't wait for the day that she runs right up to me and we are reunited, just like old friends.

I practice bravery and live boldly by putting myself out there and taking every opportunity that comes my way. You never know where that opportunity will take you and so many of them open up new doors so that we can write new chapters in our life. A recent opportunity that I decided to be brave and go for was going back to school. I always have had dreams of getting my PhD in psychology but with how hard my senior year of undergrad was, I thought that opportunity was out of the question. Somewhere along the way I found some courage to apply for a masters program and got accepted. Somebody saw something in me that I had a hard time seeing in myself at that time and decided to give me a chance. In return, I am taking that chance and running with it and I'm not going to look back either. After all, Walt Disney once said in a perfect quote to sum up and capture the essence of living boldly, "we keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." I am curious to see how my choice of living boldly continues to lead me down other paths, especially with my education.

In my opinion, why would anybody not love dogs? I can't think of a single reason for somebody to hate a dog and I know that some still do which is a sad reality but to truly know a dog is to love a dog. The reason why I love dogs so much is because one changed my life. She became my second sibling, another friend, one of my fiercest protectors, and my therapist all rolled up into one. She never judged and I didn't have to pretend to be anybody I wasn't around her because she accepted me like I was. She was loyal and loving, teaching me how to be those things unconditionally which is the positive impact she left on my life. To me, she was so much more than a dog especially when my whole family treated her like our fifth member. Fifteen short years was not enough with my beloved Shirley. I watched her grow up and she watched me grow up. It was hard to adjust after her death. She had gotten so old and it was getting hard for her to get around so our vet suggested that it was time to let her go, which we all did through so much heartache. Even our cat, Salem mourned her loss. Watching them become friends was fun and I know Salem was lost without her. I think another way that she positively impacted my life was by bringing our family together and we would bond whenever we played with her. I remember right before her death telling my mom that I didn't want her to die. I was twenty-one years old at the time so I understood that it was a part of life, but still. We has been through so much together, and I was not ready to let go. She was an icon. All of my friends, my brother's friends, my parent's friends, and even our extended family loved her. They would jump at the opportunity to come spend time with her while we were on vacation and I think even they viewed her loss as the death of a friend. During the wake of it all, I found comfort in people telling me their own experiences with dogs that they grew up with and how when they lost them, it truly was like losing a friend. Since this was my first time ever experiencing something sadness like this, I wasn't sure how to feel. Now, I can't help but feel like I will see Shirley again and whoever said that dogs don't go to heaven is a liar. I know she is happy to be running around again and I can't wait for the day that she runs right up to me and we are reunited, just like old friends.

I've learned from so many psychology classes and in my own research that optimism and positivity are important qualities to have for many reasons. It decreases the risk of mental and physical illness, and can increase the longevity of life. There have been many studies done on this and how to cultivate optimism everyday of our lives but something that is very hard to do is to be positive when times get tough. Trust me when I say this because I am speaking from experience but looking back on the situation now, I am so glad I chose the optimistic path. A few months ago, my brother who also happens to be my best friend had a health scare that went downhill very fast. We thought we were going to lose him and it got very dark, so dark in fact that at one point I could barely see the light at the end of the tunnel. After sulking in the darkness for what felt like a long time, I decided to go find the light and be more optimistic about the situation. This taught me to have a new perspective and to hold on to anything good that could come out of my family's situation. Thankfully my brother is on the other side of his medical emergency now and thankfully I did choose to be optimistic. The good thing that I held on to during that time was that one day, I was going to be able to help somebody going through the same thing or something similar. I also learned that when going through difficult times, sometimes you have to trust that the light at the end of the tunnel is about to turn on, that or you can get up and go turn it on yourself.

When I decided to go to college, the reason was to further my education and better myself, not to become another statistic in the debt crisis. As an independent person, I am passionate about financial literacy and believe that it is a skill which should be taught to all young people. In fact, I wish I had learned it sooner. I have learned many personal finance lessons over the years about saving money and planning finances. I find them all important because the benefits are too good to be true. In another application, I wrote about living beneath your own means in order to save money but with inflation and interest rates skyrocketing, it's extremely hard to do in today's economy. Thankfully there are other ways to save money creatively and they involve the ever expanding technological world we live in today. I like to use the Capital One Shopping and Honey browser extensions on my laptop and then I also use the Fetch app on my phone. Fetch is my absolute favorite and I recommend anyone looking to save check it out. I think in the future I would like to try out budgeting. My aunt so firmly believes in it that she was telling me all about it at a recent family event. I would love to learn from her first hand how she manages to do that because I think it would be a great tool for a graduate student like me to use when it comes to paying for school, housing, groceries, and utilities. I also am looking forward to what other creative outlets people come up with to save money and be more financially literate in the future!

My favorite piece of art is a piece that my brother made for ArtFields, a local art competition in which he participated several times and did very well competitively each time. My brother has always been a better artist than me even though I love to make art, he was just a natural at it where I had to work twice as hard. I loved supporting him at each competition, even though he always has rubbed it in my face that he is better than me. We always have fun when we are creating things together which is why he will always be my favorite artist. This particular piece of art is of an old tobacco barn and old farm truck, local to our hometown. Our grandaddy was a tobacco farmer so the piece is extra special and beautiful to me because of our family ties. I love southern art and this piece just screams the old south. My brother had a health scare a few months ago and we thought we were going to lose him, and I found comfort in looking at all of his art during the time. Thankfully the doctors were able to help him and he is alive and well today and will hopefully create more art in the future. Nothing will ever beat the watercolor of the tobacco barn and farm truck in my opinion though!

Last year, I learned what true loss was when a friend decided to take his own life. Before him, I had the preconceived notion that suicide was a selfish act, but after reeling from his loss, the loss of a distant cousin, the loss of a pageant sister, and watching girls I coached at the time grieve a friend, I came to my own conclusions about the subject. None of these people had a selfish bone in their body so I didn't understand why I saw it the way I did before and why so many others did as well. I actually got angry one night when someone suggested the matter. I came across a blog post the other day with a woman sharing about her husband's suicide. She also made the statement of how he was a selfless person and how she knows he must have felt like him doing that was lifting a burden off of everyone's shoulders. Of course he was wrong, but that is how he felt and she knew it. She is probably right and unfortunately, many other people probably feel the same. I couldn't help but compare the people I knew to this man and my own thoughts to the blog author's thoughts. I think suicide is something you don't understand until you go through that loss or know someone who goes through that loss, which is why so many preconceived notions exist. It took me losing a friend to it in order to change my opinion which is sad. I learned so quickly that suicide is not selfish and I hope that I can continue to educate people who haven't gone through it hopefully changing their opinions as well. Just like mine did.

George Eliot once said, "what do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other." I like to view life, but especially serving my community in the way that Eliot views it. I am very blessed so I feel called to bless others in my community who are less fortunate. I feel that by serving my community, I can start a chain reaction and one day maybe my community will be able to give back to me and to others. I have had the extraordinary opportunity to serve my community in many ways which is such an honor. I started out by organizing a girl's club when I was younger and we would do community service projects on the weekends. We picked up trash and learned how to knit so that we could make items to donate to people in need. I carried on serving my community throughout the years and some of my favorite things and fondest memories were made while participating in these with my friends. We packed backpacks full of supplies for school children in the local district who didn't have them, we visited the local nursing home and helped them decorate for Valentine's Day, and then we collected socks to be donated to the local homeless shelter. Being able to serve my community has been one of the greatest journeys of my life and I always actively seek out ways that I can do so. Thinking of the positive impact that I have hopefully had, I can't help but feel proud of what all I have done. I definitely feel like I get more out of serving than the people that I am serving which is why I will always choose to help my community.

I have been so blessed to serve as a mentor to others in many ways such as coach, tutor, nanny, and big sister. Through these various roles, I hope I had a huge impact. My goal for each was to show the kids that I wasn't scared to put myself out there. I have huge goals and ambitions so I wanted them to see that the worst thing that could happen to them if they went for it was failure. I didn't want them to see failure as a set back though so I modeled failure as a way to learn and grow as a person. My favorite quote is often, "if at first you don't succeed, try try again." I think often, people are so afraid of challenges and struggling, but being afraid can actually lead to failure. I hope my mentees saw that I took every opportunity I had and then some. Hopefully when their time comes, they will take their opportunities and not be afraid of failing within them because you never know what is going to happen if you just have the courage to go for it.

I try to live sustainably to hopefully have a positive impact on the climate. I say hopefully because we never know what kind of impact we have and our carbon footprint, no matter how small, will be around to impact future generations. Climate change is a highly politicized topic which it shouldn't be because it is a real problem that we are facing as a society. Living sustainably is not easy and pretty costly actually, but I believe that it is worth spending the money in order to impact our climate. Something that I personally do and firmly believe in is recycling, but I like to get creative with how I do it. All of the shopping bags that I get are recycled into trash bags or used to wrap up breakables in storage. Aside from plastic, my next favorite thing to recycle is clothes and shoes. I consigned my entire pageant closet when I retired and always buy/sell from Plato's Closet, Style Encore, and Thredup first. I am moving in August and am trying to do that as sustainably as possible also by reusing old shipping containers. I am still actively looking for ways to live and move more sustainably that won't break my very limited budget and can be incorporated into my lifestyle. I am always up to try something new and am looking forward to the new techniques that people will come up with in the future. I would love to be able to do more but the little things can have such a big impact on our climate and I hope that mine will. I love the outdoors so I hope more people will try to have a positive impact on our climate and we can all help preserve it for years to come.

If I was given $1,000 right now, I could do several things with it but I think that ultimately I would choose to pay my car payment for the next almost three months. Last year, my first car which was given to me broke down beyond repair and I had no choice but to get a new one. Since the car was gifted to me, I did not understand the hassle and frustration of making car payments. I have made myself promise to "drive the wheels off of it" so hopefully I won't have to make another car payment again until this one breaks down beyond repair. If I use this money to pay my car payment, I can focus on paying my rent, purchasing necessities, buying school supplies since I have decided to get my master's degree, and also repaying my previous student loans with the money I am making. My car payment is sort of my priority and I will be so happy when the bank stops taking the monthly fee out of my account. This $1,000 would alleviate a great bit of stress and worry off of my shoulders and I would be so appreciative of it.

Most of the time, my mind is a jumbled mess thanks to school and working part time, which is when I notice my mental health really struggling. I use several tips/tricks and resources to clear it and I find that a good combination of things to balance the mess works wonders. I love being outside so my first line of defense is to take a walk. Normally just around my neighborhood but I like going to different parks and nature trails. I like to do this by myself but if I think talking will help and I am up for company then I invite my brother, my mom, or my bestfriend. When I am by myself though, sometimes I listen to music through my headphones and other times I just listen to the soothing sounds of nature. When a walk just won't cut it though, I turn on a Zen playlist and stretch my body with yoga while practicing mindful meditation. I just recently came to understand the importance of mindfulness when a peer did a presentation on it in a psychology class. Before her presentation, I would only do the yoga which helped a little, mainly more physically than mentally. After the presentation when I chose to add in the meditation, I discovered that the combination of the two practices were world changing. I saw results instantly and was so mind blown. I was skeptical of it at first but in my opinion, it is just one of those things you have to give a try. I will try just about anything once so I figured I would give it a shot and it made such the impression on me that I was hooked from my first experience. Since it is not always easy to clear your mind, there are several resources you can use to mindfully meditate. As a beginner, I used an app which was recommended in the presentation, but now that I have mastered it, I practice it and the yoga by myself. When deciding on an app, I recommend one that talks you through the whole process because the goal is to leave behind stress and worry and concentrate on your psyche and body for a few minutes. Headspace and Calm are two really good ones to use that I have tried but if you search mindfulness in the app store, tons of apps will come up. It is all about finding the right app for you, just like it is all about finding the right routine for you. Our psyches are all subjective so what works for me may not work for anybody else, however I am glad that this scholarship application has given me a platform to share what I do and hopefully it will, in return, touch someone's life.

It is almost difficult for me to choose a masterpiece that not only spoke to me while I was reading it, but continuously as a good book should. If I have to choose a favorite, it would have to be Pat Conroy's The Lords of Discipline due to the love of it shared between my brother and I. It is rare that a book I love touches the people around me, so to share it with him makes it even more special to me. My brother is a Citadel cadet himself so as I was reading Conroy's words, I imagined my brother carrying out the actions. Speaking of Conroy's words, the book is written so eloquently that it even charms true southerners, and as a true southerner, all of Conroy's books feel like home to me whenever I open them up from the way he describes my home state so artistically, especially Charleston. Contrastingly, Conroy wrote, "There were far worse strategies in life than to try to make each aspect of one's existence a minor work of art." If those words don't speak to your soul like they did mine, then I'm not sure what will. Conroy's way with words, especially in The Lords of Discipline are also another reason why it is my favorite. I write about it like this book and I are old friends and you would think that I have read it a billion times, but no. Only recently did my brother lend me his copy and I have quite a good bit of chapters left to read but I know it is going to be in my hall of fame due to the way it has already touched me, which is definitely what you want your favorite book to do.

There is a meme floating around on almost all social media platforms talking about the things nobody learned in school which includes what taxes are, how to vote, how to buy a car, how to apply for colleges, and how to take out loans. The meme then goes on to say "but thank goodness I learned how to do the Pythagorean Theorem!" My friends and I find this meme hysterical because of how accurate it is. While I do think it is important to learn about this mathematical theory, never have I ever used it in real life. Education, even the higher ones like college, does not prepare you for the real world. Even though eventually most just figure it out, life would be so much easier if we had been taught step-by-step the skills that are useful in order to be a functional member of society. That would be the change I would make to education, hopefully making it better for future generations. I know some will argue that it is the responsibility of parents to teach their children how to succeed in the area of life skills but, not everyone has a good relationship with their parents and some parents are working all the time trying to provide and don't have the time to teach their kids these things. This is why I would make that change because if it is taught in schools, then it levels the playing field and one person is not ahead in life because they learned these things and mastered them, when the other had to figure it out as they went. Some ways that teachers and professors can bring the real world into the classroom are by utilizing current events, inviting in guest speakers, taking more field trips, and simulating real life experiences. I think that by doing this, students will see that learning is lifelong and you have to continuously work on bettering yourself, for yourself.

While I admire all women in the field of psychology, one in particular stands out to me and her name is Margaret Floy Washburn. As the first woman to earn her doctorate degree in psychology, she made many contributions to the field which was male dominated at that time. In 1894, Harvard University refused to grant many women the PhDs that they had earned, but Washburn was a determined and persistent individual. With the help of the professor she studied under, she was granted her degree. With that same determination and persistence, Dr. Washburn went on to become the second woman to serve as president of the American Psychological Association and the second woman to be named as a fellow for the National Academy of Sciences. She never married due to a policy at the time stating that married women could not serve as professors in co-educational settings, but she conducted research, taught, and wrote publications at a college for thirty-six years. She was fascinated with animal behavior and basic psychological processes such as sensation and perception. Following this interest, she developed a motor theory of consciousness which utilized introspection and linked consciousness to motor activity. Because of her contributions, she sparked a love of research in her undergraduates, who were all women, by bringing them into her labs and including them as authors. I admire her for how she was a game changer for research in this field and a pioneer for women in this field. I learned lots about the contributions of men, and they are important, but I learned very little of the contributions of women which are just as equally important. As someone who wants to be a key player in this field it is also important to for me to learn about such historical figures.

Coming from my mom, the most helpful pieces of financial advice I have ever received were to not ever plan on marrying rich, get an education so you have a well-paying career eventually, and lastly to live beneath my means. The first two pieces have been very easy for me so far because I was raised to be independent, so being able to take care of myself has always been important to me. The last piece has proved to be the most difficult so far for a few reasons. I wouldn't necessarily consider loans to be living beneath my means but sometimes they are needed in certain situations. The cost of my education forced me to take out a small amount in student loans, even with lots of scholarship money, and since I have decided to go to graduate school, I will need to take out more in order to pay for it. This is why I'm here writing this essay so I can submit an application to this scholarship. I'm also utilizing applications for other scholarships on this platform so I am able to pay future loans back. A year ago, my first car which was gifted to me, sadly broke down beyond repair causing me to take out a car loan because I could not drive it anymore. This has been the first time I have ever had a car payment and having to adjust for that has been challenging so I promised myself I would drive the wheels off of it. To me, driving the wheels off of it means literally driving it until it won't drive anymore, so once I get the loan paid off (and trust me, I'm close), I would consider this to be living beneath my means. Thanks for the advice mom!

My favorite George Eliot quote says, "What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?" I have always tried to embody this quote by serving and helping others. In fact, it is one of the many reasons I chose to go into a helping profession. With all that being said, I think the biggest problem facing the world right now is that there are not enough people willing to serve others. We see and know people who struggle everyday and sit idly by to let them comfortably exist in their sufferings when we know that we should be the ones to step up and help. Over several generations, we have gotten more selfish as a society and more greedy with our resources. Something that I always think about to go along with Eliot's quote is "if not now then when and if not me then who?" Not enough people say this to themselves and in fact, one way that we can work on this problem is by saying that to ourselves and taking a good, long look in the mirror. If you have all the resources in the world, why would you not want to share them? There is no greater reward or satisfaction in life than you get from serving. I hope those in need never feel bad about asking for help either because I wouldn't be where I am today without help from my family, friends, neighbors, teachers, mentors, and coaches, and I guarantee that many other people like me feel the same way. We, as a society, can eventually solve this problem whenever we can push aside selfishness and pride.

As a psychology major who aspires to work in the mental health field, I know a thing or two about this topic, but finding practical solutions to help people struggling is easier said than done. There are tons that I can come up with off the top of my head, but making people utilize these solutions is the hard part. In my research, I have found that many people know they need help but won't ask for it or don't know how. Whether it be their pride getting in the way or a lack of knowledge on how to express what they are going through, one solution could be better communication. For example, one of my friends committed suicide almost a year ago and I had no idea that he was struggling with his mental health. He had never communicated that information to me but had I ever communicated to him that I was someone he could talk with about it? I think I always assumed that any of my friends would just let me know if they needed anything, but what I learned last September is that most won't. You could be the most approachable person, easy to talk to, and the best listener, but until you tell someone specifically that they can count on you, they most likely will never reach out. That part of the solution begins with the advocates and even though I can't go back and change my friend's situation, I can be an advocate for change. The way I see it is that nobody should ever have to feel like my friend and nobody should also have to feel like myself, his family, or other friends either. I think that better mental health advocacy can be another practical solution to the problem as well.

I try to apply creativity into every area of my life. I have always had a very active imagination and being creative helps me to express it. I especially like to apply creativity to everyday tasks. If I am faced with something boring, I will try to liven it up and I have found that it helps me to complete said task. For example, studying is normally something that people dread but I like to creatively study because I think it helps my brain to recall the information better. I do this by trying new ways and my favorite way that I have discovered is making voice memos of myself dramatically reading the study guides or notes. Sometimes I do silly voices and sometimes I try my best to do celebrity impressions (which I am terrible at but that is half the fun). It is fun for me to make the memo and then hilarious whenever I play it back, so I almost always forget that I am learning. I am looking forward to exploring new ways to creatively study in graduate school.

How am I supposed to be myself when I don't even know who I am? That is the question I found myself asking. I think staying true to who you are is an important lesson to learn, but figuring out who you are as a person first, in my opinion, is more important because if you don't know who you are then it is impossible to stay true to anything. This often leaves many people, including myself in a headspace full of confusion. Now, I know what you're thinking, "if it is so important then why can't it be taught?" Trust me, that thought has crossed my mind several times and I have even wondered why my parents didn't just sit me down and teach me how to be Katelyn, and not just any Katelyn but the best version possible. Come to find out, there is only one way to be yourself and that way is through experiences to help you grow. If my parents would have taught me who to be then all that I am would have been due to their experiences. Instead, as the natural cycle would have it, they let me figure it out for myself. Looking back on it, there were several times when I wanted to scream and throw in the towel if things weren't going my way. I also got frustrated quite a bit because it seemed like everyone around me was very self aware from the beginning and I was a late bloomer in this department. Given time, I eventually did come to be the person I am today but it took a lot of work and still takes work to be the best version. Since we are all constantly experiencing new things, we are also all actively learning who we are, making this process continuous. As a more self aware individual, staying true to myself has taught me so much about self confidence. If I didn't have it, I wouldn't know what to stand for and there is also no way to stay true to yourself if you don't know what you stand for. What I stand for comes from my morals, ideals, and beliefs on the grounds of which I was raised and later formulated my own opinion of. My experiences with trying to figure myself out as a person have made me stronger because I feel like I can go toe to toe with anybody, thanks to self confidence. I also feel like I have greater satisfaction with my life now and can see myself really continuing to grow in this area. I plan on using the lesson of staying true to myself moving forward in graduate school because I have a feeling that higher education is going to test me while also pushing me to my limits and probably my breaking point. Utilizing my self confidence can help me get back on track if this happens. Even though it will be hard, I am excited to learn from the graduate school experience and persevere through any challenges while staying true to myself and continuing to find myself in the process.

The wisest thing I have ever heard is the Winston Churchill quote: "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, but courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." I believe that when Mr. Churchill said this he was reflecting on what being a good leader meant for him. Leaders, especially political, must be able to courageously address a crowd or in Churchill's case, a nation, but they must also be able to listen to that crowd which I would like to argue takes more courage. I think it would be wise for a politically divisive world like the one we live in today to take this advice. When we listen to each other and work together on a solution to problems instead of immediately taking a complicated course of action, I think the world would be a much better place full of leaders who know how to solve real problems. Not to brag but, I am a natural leader and before I heard this quote, I associated courage with immediate action. The psychologist in me likes the latter part of the quote much better now. In my field, I cannot always spring into action because it does not always work for everyone. Subjectively, I am better off to actively listen and wait for the big picture to be complete before acting upon what I think. Reflecting back on these wise words, I don't think I would be the psychologist or even the person I am today without hearing them. This quote changed my life and I hope I can be half the leader Winston Churchill was someday and who knows, maybe some kid will write their scholarship essay about one of my quotes in the future.

I know that this will be an unpopular opinion but I have never been a big fan of the goal analogy "SMART". For some, it is a great tool to use when planning their future, but when prompted to use it myself, I can't help but feel trapped. A fun fact about me is that I consider myself to be a dreamer, and the fun gets sucked out of that whenever someone tells you that your big plans should be completed in a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely manner. I refuse to let my creativity be put in a box. This is why I know that psychology is the right field for me. Since it is still relatively new, I am excited to be able to forge my own path. I am currently working on getting my MA in clinical counseling, and whenever I finish I want to go back and get my PhD in clinical neuropsychology. I plan to merge the two disciplines together and open my own clinical neuropsychological practice, which to my knowledge is very rare. I am hoping to make new discoveries and advancements in my field this way as both a researcher and practitioner. Even though this goal of mine is specific and I most definitely will be measuring my own progress every once in a while, I have no timeline. I often find that when there is one involved and peers of mine aren't on track, they feel like a failure. Life is full of twists and turns and navigating them unexpectedly makes room for learning and growth. I also feel like SMART goals often hold people back because you never know what you will achieve if you just have the courage to go for it.

Whether you believe it or not, college is one of the busiest times of your life. Practices, extracurricular organizations, work, a healthy social life, hobbies, simply finding the time to take care of yourself, and going to class leave little room for studying. Even if you are a meticulous planner like myself, deadlines will still find a way to sneak up on you and before you know it, you have a test in twelve hours that you haven't found the time to study for. Take it from a psychologist, or in my case a psychology major, cramming the night before or even the day of a test almost never works. Research shows that the key to actually retaining the information is to study along and along. I never really had to study in high school, so when I got to college I didn't know how and most of what I considered to be studying was actually cramming. Cramming stresses the brain out because the information is being stored in the short-term memory bank which cannot hold very much for a long period of time which is why your mind goes blank sometimes as soon as the teacher lays the test in front of you. Whenever I learned why this was bad in a psychology class, I started taking what I like to call "brain breaks" to let the information marinate in my mind. I started doing better in my classes and in life when I applied what I had learned in class to how I studied. I wasn't as stressed out and I felt more confident on exam days. I wish more students would apply this research to how they study.

As an avid adventurer, I am constantly looking for ways to immerse myself into nature. Nature is full of beauty and chaos, all existing together in harmony which is why I love it. I love going on walks along trails and the beach, soaking in the sun which provides us with much needed vitamin d. I love swimming in oceans and rivers with the cool water on my skin. The sensation of a thunderstorm while I am falling asleep is surprisingly calming to my thoughts and is a good example of how chaos can even create something beautiful and sustaining. Nature provides so much for us including things that we take for granted like the fresh scent of flowers. My dad is a great gardener and we grow grapes, lemons, and blueberries which are my favorite. There is something about being able to walk outside barefoot through your grass to eat a freshly picked blueberry that just screams summertime and happiness. I try to appreciate nature by living more sustainably and I believe more people should appreciate nature this way also. Some things that I do include reusing shopping bags, recycling aluminum cans, and reselling some of my clothing when I no longer want it. It is up to us to save our planet because we do not have a backup planet. We humans also need to remember that we share this planet with nature, so our actions not only affect us, but it as well. I am so invested in preservation that I took a sociology class last semester focusing on crimes against the environment and it was so scary to put together research on many different environmental crimes. If we don't act now, much of our nature will suffer due to human ignorance.

In the last two months of my senior year of college, my brother developed new onset refractory status epilepsy as a direct result of inflammation brought on by the flu. The doctors could not stop his seizures so they made the decision to put him on the ventilator allowing for no brain activity and true rest. They believed that by doing this, his life would be saved and his brain would be healed. My brother is one of the lucky ones, making it out of his coma with very little seizure activity compared to before. In fact, he has been seizure free since the last week of April which is very promising to doctors and to all the rest of us. We are extremely close, so it was hard having to complete the last two months of my college experience without him. It was also hard to function on very little sleep and complete normal, everyday tasks such as eating and keeping up with household chores. On top of that I felt the need to check on my parents who barely left his side. Sometimes I stayed in the hospital with him, drove the almost two hour drive to visit frequently, and also conducted my own research on his condition since it is relatively new and pretty rare. It became almost impossible to do all of this and study at the same time, but I was determined to finish and persisted on. Thankfully, my professors were very understanding of my situation and worked with me on pretty much whatever I needed. This situation taught me the true meaning of persistence and I am so glad I didn't allow myself to quit because my brother was released from the hospital early and got to make an appearance at my graduation.

My experience with mental health has influenced my beliefs, relationships, and career aspirations by challenging me in many different ways. Last year, during our senior year of college, one of my lifelong friends committed suicide. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through in my life and navigating his loss is still something I struggle with today. I am a Christian so what really challenged my beliefs is what the Bible says about suicide. I will spare the details but if you are not familiar, it isn't pretty. I like to believe that I serve an understanding God Who forgives easier than he condemns because it gives me hope that maybe one day I will be reunited with my friend again. This alone is a big proponent in my healing journey and I cling to it whenever I have to face adversary comments from the general public. I think grieving the loss of my friend this way really challenged me to strengthen my relationships with others. I would never consider myself as someone who is overly affectionate, but something like this makes you want to hug your family a little tighter and tell your friends you love them every chance you get. I also never miss a chance to ask my friends and family how they are doing mentally because I want to let them know that if they are suffering, they do not have to do it alone. I never miss an opportunity to educate anyone, especially my friends and family, on good mental health hygiene. I like to give them tips and tricks, or even tell them to go see an actual licensed counselor if they feel it is needed. Many people talk about ending the stigma on social media, but until the stigma ends with our closest friends and family in the real world, it won't end with the strangers we meet online. In college, I majored in psychology and quite literally had no idea what to do with it until I experienced this. It influenced my career aspirations because I immediately knew I had to become a counselor and be part of the solution. I think some of the problem today is that counselors are hard to come by even in the age of telehealth and text-therapy. I feel called to be a counselor because nobody should ever have to feel like my friend. Nobody should also have to feel like I did, nor his other friends and family either and the only way that I can see to it is to be a part of the change. I went through such a dark time with this that my own mental health suffered, but I pulled myself out of that place. I refuse to sit around and do nothing, so now I advocate. The one good thing that has come out of this is my passion for ensuring that those who are struggling with their mental health know to speak up and out because once they do, the prevention of suicides will be easier to come by.

My experience with mental health has influenced my beliefs, relationships, and career aspirations by challenging me in many different ways. Last year, during our senior year of college, one of my lifelong friends committed suicide. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through in my life and navigating his loss is still something I struggle with today. I am a Christian so what really challenged my beliefs is what the Bible says about suicide. I will spare the details but if you are not familiar, it isn't pretty. I like to believe that I serve an understanding God Who forgives easier than he condemns because it gives me hope that maybe one day I will be reunited with my friend again. This alone is a big proponent in my healing journey and I cling to it whenever I have to face adversary comments from the general public. I think grieving the loss of my friend this way really challenged me to strengthen my relationships with others. I would never consider myself as someone who is overly affectionate, but something like this makes you want to hug your family a little tighter and tell your friends you love them every chance you get. I also never miss a chance to ask my friends and family how they are doing mentally because I want to let them know that if they are suffering, they do not have to do it alone. I never miss an opportunity to educate anyone, especially my friends and family, on good mental health hygiene. I like to give them tips and tricks, or even tell them to go see an actual licensed counselor if they feel it is needed. Many people talk about ending the stigma on social media, but until the stigma ends with our closest friends and family in the real world, it won't end with the strangers we meet online. In college, I majored in psychology and quite literally had no idea what to do with it until I experienced this. It influenced my career aspirations because I immediately knew I had to become a counselor and be part of the solution. I think some of the problem today is that counselors are hard to come by even in the age of telehealth and text-therapy. I feel called to be a counselor because nobody should ever have to feel like my friend. Nobody should also have to feel like I did, nor his other friends and family either and the only way that I can see to it is to be a part of the change. I went through such a dark time with this that my own mental health suffered, but I pulled myself out of that place. I refuse to sit around and do nothing, so now I advocate. The one good thing that has come out of this is my passion for ensuring that those who are struggling with their mental health know to speak up and out because once they do, the prevention of suicides will be easier to come by.

I believe it is important to live a healthy life not only for your physical health but for your mental health as well. I think that they both have an affect on one another and if you don't take care of yourself physically, your mental health will suffer and vice versa. One thing I heard recently was that you hear all these parents say that they would die for their children and that is true, but someone asked the question, "would you live for your children?" I think living for your children is more important than dying for them and some ways that parents can do that is by making better choices when it comes to healthy eating and getting active, but also how they self-care. Now, I personally don't have children but I want them one day and I want to set a good example of how they can live a healthy life by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I do that in many different ways. I eat moderately clean with lots of fruit, vegetables, and lean proteins. I cut out soda years ago and drink almost a gallon of water each day. I do have a love/hate relationship with sweets, but I see no problem in eating them every once in a while as long as it is in moderation. I also love being active and I blame it on growing up very active in dance, cheerleading, and gymnastics. When springtime hits, you can usually find me outdoors going on walks around my neighborhood, parks, or nature trails, swimming in pools, lakes, rivers, and the ocean, paddle boarding in my pond, or riding my bike around my neighborhood. For the past two years, I have been a big fan of Pop Pilates and usually complete a workout on the Blogilates app everyday. As Elle Woods once said, "Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy, and happy people don't kill their husbands." Not only does exercise release chemical neurotransmitters called endorphins into our brain, making us feel good about ourselves, but self-care does too which is one of the best ways to take care of your mental health. Some of the ways that I self-care are by listening to my favorite songs, taking hot baths, doing skincare, practicing mindfulness, doing yoga and stretching, journaling, reading, taking a nap, retail therapy, petting my cat, and getting my nails done or a facial. When we take better care of ourselves in these ways, we can start to see benefits elsewhere like in our relationships with friends, family, and significant others and even create an example for a more healthier world in the future.

My experience with mental health began my senior year of college when one of my lifelong friends committed suicide. There aren't words in the English language adequate enough to tell you how I felt during that time but it put me in a very dark place. It took a while for me to heal and pull myself out of that place but I still have days where I struggle with it. I don't think I will ever get over it. When I finally felt like I could breathe again, I set out to be an advocate for suicide prevention. I couldn't prevent my friend's but maybe I could prevent someone else's. I bought everything you could buy within a ten mile radius that had the suicide prevention hotline number or a semi colon on it, I post various things on my social media platforms about ending the stigma, but it isn't enough. Recently I have come up with plans to do a memorial run for my friend in September which is Suicide Prevention Awareness month, and hopefully start my own nonprofit to raise money to donate to organizations working to prevent suicide. Not only has it shaped my very own advocacy goals, but also my career goals. In college, I majored in psychology and had absolutely no idea what to do with it even though graduation was approaching for me. When all of this happened, I knew I needed, wanted, and had to be a counselor. There is a tremendous need for counselors everywhere today and more access to them and their resources could be a way to reduce the number of suicides and other mental health issues plaguing our world right now. I blamed not noticing signs with my friend on myself a great deal because after all, I was a psychology major and studied these things in class so I should have known or at least been able to see it coming and prevent it. Not only that but I should have been a better friend and reached out more, asking all the hard questions. I don't know exactly what my friend was feeling, but I can imagine and nobody should have to feel like that. Nobody should have to feel like me, his other friends, or his family either grasping at anything we can to make sense of it all. That is why I chose to go into a helping profession, and more specifically the mental health field. I have learned so much from this situation and my understanding of the world has been better shaped and more equipped to deal with the pain of his loss. Since September, I have seen the loss of pageant sisters, young football players, cadets in military colleges, and countless others to suicide proving to me that mental health needs improvement universally. Before it affected me, I always considered suicide to be one of the most selfish acts a person could commit so it was all very black and white with little room for gray area. It is my understanding now that it can't be selfish when it affects one of the most selfless people you have ever known. I have also struggled with my Christian faith during this, but I choose to go against everything I have ever learned and believe that I serve an understanding God, Who, when the time comes, will provide me a way to see him again.

My favorite scientific discovery is Niels Finsen's realization that ultraviolet light is germicidal. I have personal ties to this one and they started at Chick-fil-a in 2015 where my mom, brother, and I were eating. We looked on the wall and noticed something we had never seen before so my mom, a medical scientist, asked the employee what the object was to which he replied, "it's a UV light to purify the air." After further research on the subject, I decided to enter my school's science fair conducting my own tests on whether or not UV light could kill bacteria and viruses in the controlled environment of a petri dish. Of course it did! I won first place at my school's science fair earning a spot at the state science fair, where I took home first place again. I like to think that my winnings at the school and state level helped to advance the technology into the wide and almost universal use that we see today. Back in 2015, Chick-fil-a was the only place that I had ever seen the technology be used and in my quest for supporting research, well, there was very little to it. Thankfully, my mom contacted some hospital friends she had in another state who had adopted the method and used it for regular, routine cleanings of their hospital. Without their help, I'm not sure my project would have been as successful as it was. Nowadays, using light therapy to clean objects like your phone and keys has almost become a household commodity. As a matter of fact, I gifted my mom one of the ones that you can buy on Amazon. This serves to show me that field advancements are always occurring and it was so neat to be apart of one.

Generosity has meant different things to me throughout my lifetime in the form of service to others. As a Christian, I have always heard to be generous with my time because it is how we show God's love. I have always felt led to show generosity by serving my community. At a young age and with the help of my mom, I was able to start my own club to give back to my local community. We did this in the form of organizing city-wide clean up days and also by learning how to knit, giving scarves and whatever else we could make to needy people throughout our community. In middle and high school I was involved with several organizations that helped me continue to serve. My youth group at church always participated in things like Operation Christmas Child where we would fill shoe boxes to give to children in need of Christmas presents and the Backpack Program where we would sponsor a local kid in the school system who was in need of supplies. I also had the opportunity to serve at Camp Happy Days, a summer camp that kids with cancer could attend to experience things they normally wouldn't get to. My sister queens and I helped organize a sock drive for Socktober and collected many pairs of socks to donate to homeless shelters. Finally in college, I was able to volunteer at Care House of the Pee Dee helping children who were victims of all sorts of abuse and lastly, my brother and I participated in an organization called Stop Soldier Suicide raising money to provide mental health help for veterans. Serving others gives me great satisfaction in life and I probably get more out of it than the people I serve, which is generosity to me.