A misconception about leadership that so many people have is that to lead you must tell everyone what to do and how to do it your way. Instead, I practice leadership by taking in everyone’s perspectives and coming up with something that best for the group. My job as a leader is simply to organize these perspectives and move them forward. One of the areas in my life which I have taken on a leadership role the most is my work. Currently, I work three jobs within my university. One of the most impactful has been my position as a resident assistant on campus. Through this job I have been able to discover how I fit into a leadership position and what I can offer to others. As an RA I am directly in charge of the safety of anywhere from 15 to 30 residents. Indirectly, I work with as many as 500 students throughout the academic year. My job is about promoting safe behaviors on campus as well as building a community within my dorm building. Being a resident assistant comes with a unique set of challenges. From roommate disagreements to situations involving police, I have to be very flexible in my position. Handling these issues can be very taxing on a person, especially when you are a student as well. An important part of being a leader is knowing when to ask for help from your teammates and supervisors. This is something that, admittedly, took me time to learn how to set these boundaries. Leadership is a large part of this job. Not only am I here to make sure residents are following safety policies but I serve as an example as well. Residents, especially freshmen, are often homesick, anxious and reserved. I take pride in taking them on tours around campus and organizing events for them to connect with peers that have similar interests. Taking these steps really allows students to break out of their shell and take advantage of everything college has to offer. Being an active leader in my community has allowed me to grow as a person. Seeing so many different perspectives firsthand and needing to facilitate a community with them has given me a lot of tools for success moving forward. Active leaders listen to and uplift the voices of the members of their team and community. This can be invaluable to a team but even more eneriching to the leader taking it on.

I am a very vocal person when it comes to diversity and inclusion, especially in higher education where it has been historically overlooked. I am lucky enough to have volunteer opportunities available to me through my university’s Honor Program. The program serves to connect motivated students with causes that need volunteers. Some of the areas I work with most are LGBT+ centered charity, sustainable energy solutions and English as a second language tutoring. Through my service I have realized how much of a long-lasting impact I can have on my community. I live in an extremely rural area where education and diversity are at an all-time low. While I am studying at college, I hope to gain the skills and resources I need to improve my hometown and make it an area welcoming for everyone. It is through this volunteerism I was able to show up for an individual in my life that led to me educating about the community. As a disabled student, I am very passionate about accessibilty. Recently I was connecting with another disabled student during a volunteer opportunity. They told me that their job was refusing to provide reasonable accommodations to them. This was a moment where I had to ask questions and educate myself. This person had a very different disability than myself and needed different accommodations than what I was familiar with. Instead of acting as an educator for my community, I was acting as an ally for a facet of disability I was unfamiliar with beforehand. This gesture of allyship required that I take a few steps back and listen. For the first time in a long time, I was being educated on a part of my own community. After we talked for a while and researched relevant laws, we moved on to creating a game plan for the student. We wrote out what areas they would need accommodations for and the possible reasonable solutions their employer could offer them. It was so impactful to be able to serve a member of my community in a way that would allow them to work without barriers. I wish I had had the same available to me when I was new to accessibility. This was a relatively small moment of my day. I’m not sure if this person even remembers my name but that isn’t what allyship is about. Allyship has nothing to do with you, it has everything to do with what you’re able to offer underrepresented groups and perspectives. Using what privilege you may have to uplift others is key to building an inclusive world. (attached with this essay is a link to a painting of mine. It is a self-portrait. It was hours of looking at myself in a mirror and resulted in a lot of self reflection.)

Pets have been a staple in homes for as long as there have been homes. People have always been fascinated with pets and I am no different. Dogs, however, have always held a particularly special place in my heart. One dog in particular has had a bigger impact on my life than I could have ever imagined. I have a Labrador named S’mores. While he gets to play and go on walks like any other dog, S’mores is not just a pet he is a lifeline for me. My dog is a service dog that has been prescribed and trained to assist me as a disabled person so that I can live independently. S’mores has a very important job, and he loves doing it. Even before S’mores I had a strong love of dogs. They are driven and loyal creatures at their core. This seemingly limitless drive is one of my favorite things about dogs. If you set a dog up with the right groundwork and you give them a job they will never stop amazing you. S’mores has given me a level of independence that I never thought possible. Since my dog entered my life, I have been able to live on my own and pursue a degree with few barriers. To say my life has been changed by a dog is an understatement. I was given a chance at life because of him.

Pets have been a staple in homes for as long as there have been homes. People have always been fascinated with pets and I am no different. Dogs, however, have always held a particularly special place in my heart. One dog in particular has had a bigger impact on my life than I could have ever imagined. I have a Labrador named S’mores. While he gets to play and go on walks like any other dog, S’mores is not just a pet he is a lifeline for me. My dog is a service dog that has been prescribed and trained to assist me as a disabled person so that I can live independently. S’mores has a very important job, and he loves doing it. Even before S’mores I had a strong love of dogs. They are driven and loyal creatures at their core. This seemingly limitless drive is one of my favorite things about dogs. If you set a dog up with the right groundwork and you give them a job they will never stop amazing you. S’mores has given me a level of independence that I never thought possible. Since my dog entered my life, I have been able to live on my own and pursue a degree with few barriers. To say my life has been changed by a dog is an understatement. I was given a chance at life because of him.

For myself, optimism has been a learned mindset and a tool. I found optimism because of the hardships I have been through in my life. Admittedly, I have found it very difficult to be optimistic in the face of adversity. The key is that optimism does not often come naturally in situations like this. You must make the conscious choice to embrace this mindset despite everything pushing you towards negativity. Negativity is heavy. It can hold you down and make you feel helpless in your situation. Negativity is easy because it follows at the heels of tragedy and misfortune without resistance. Optimism and challenge clash this is why you have to take initiative in choosing optimism. My optimism has served as a life raft . It keeps my head above water so that I am able to handle a situation head on. The realization that I must choose optimism has taught me that I may not be able to control what I go through but I can control how I react and with that there is limitless power.

I volunteer creating cards for the assisted care home in my community. It is a program through my university where students will write a card just talking about their day to a resident at this care facility. Though residents don't write back, you are still able to make connections with them through these cards. As an art student, I find it it great that I can add artwork with these cards. I enjoy painting birds and flowers for the women at the facility. It is something so personal that only takes a few minutes of my day but may make someone's week. This program was especially important during quarantine when residents couldn't have visits from their loved one. Even small communication like this can be so impactful. Moving forward, I hope I can contribute more to this pocket of my community but for now I will be lending my time and creativity to better their day as much as I can.

To support myself while pursuing a degree, I work three jobs. One of those is serving as a Resident Assistant on my campus. It is a leadership position where I am directly monitoring the safety of a community of 30+ students within a dorm. I have always put in a tremendous effort to make sure my residents feel welcome and safe within my building and I will always go the extra mile to do so. This extra effort has not gone unnoticed. For the last two years I have been awarded as the best Resident Assistant on my team by my direct supervisor as well as the Director of Housing at my university. It felt amazing getting recognized in front of a crowd of well over 100 of my peers and coworkers. Receiving the award not once but twice has really shown be how much of an impact I have not only on my residents but on my staff as well. It boosted my confidence and allowed me to see that I have value as a part of a team. All of this was further confirmed when I started getting messages from past residents. One in particular stood out to me. The resident had decided to leave our university the year before to attend a school that had a major better suited to his goals. I was so excited to see him advance in his education even though I was going to miss him. Almost a year later and I receive a message from him. He says he wants to thank me for the support I provided while he was in my building. That, while he loves his new school, the dorm is quiet and he has never even talked to anyone else in his building. I do my best to form an active community with my residents. I hold events, offer free food, do campus tours with them and anything that will get them talking to each other. To know that this resident had taken notice of that made me feel so seen and valued. While it may not be the traditional definition of an achievement it has definitely been the most motivating moment for me during my time at college. Moving forward my biggest goal is to continue to bring this welcoming mindset with me to future careers. I always want to create a comfortable environment for the people I am working with. Building community, even on a small scale, has a place in every career.

I will be sharing a piece of art that I had a lot of fun making. It is a sculpture I made of an axolotl. I wanted to create something goofy for a friend of mine so I dressed the axolotl up to look like him! It was a nice break from schoolwork and I can't wait to surprise him with it!

Being raised in a very rural area of the Midwest, it was very difficult growing up gay. Before coming out I struggled so much internally on my identity. There was absolutely no education on LGBT+ identities so I assumed something was deeply wrong with me. This set a lasting precedent for my relationship with my identity. A lack of education, representation and acceptance formed a lot of harmful mindsets within myself that I only started to break once coming to college. I am lucky enough to be attending a university with a large LGBT+ presence, a university which is very vocal about inclusion. Having this opportunity has led me to want to give back as much as I can while I am here. Serving the community that made me feel seen and safe has been a huge motivator for me. I am working towards a degree in graphic design. My main focus in my work so far has been accessibility within art and technology. The accessibility movement would not be where it is today without technology. My goals are to complete my current degree and possibly pursue a degree in computer science as well. I think this path would help elevate my technical abilities and better allow me to serve my community, the disabled community. In terms of career goals I am hoping for a position where I can oversee accessibility within a company, particularly if that accessibility is surrounding branding and design. Even working as a freelance designer who focuses on universal design has been extremely fulfilling for me. Currently I have dedicated well over 80 hours of my time volunteering with the Saluki Rainbow Network, an organization at my university dedicated to providing LGBT+-specific education and resources. I have been able to use my artistic background to bring something valuable to my community. We often host charity events for the surrounding area. I work to create promotional material, decorations and more for these events. It seemed like such a small part of these events but seeing the direct impact I had on attendees was eye-opening. Moving forward, I am hoping to continue serving the LGBT+ community both on a local level and on a larger scale. As I said earlier, college was a turning point for myself and coming to terms with my identity. So much education that I missed out on early in life is now available to me. This scholarship would take some of the financial stress off of my shoulders and allow me to focus more on giving back to the LGBT+ community as I now am in a place to do so.

1. My interest in computer science stemmed in a nontraditional manner. While studying for a degree in graphic design I was required to take courses on computer coding and website creation. These courses opened my mind to the possibilities of computer science. Though I am not currently working towards a degree in computer science specifically, I am hoping that with the assistance of this scholarship I can begin working towards that degree as well. It would elevate my current pursuit of graphic design. Having a more comprehensive understanding of the tools I have been using nearly everyday of my undergraduate studies is vital. 2. My dream career would be a position where I could oversee accessibility within a tech company. The Accessibility Movement wouldn't be where it is today without technology. From screen readers for the visually impaired to communication devices for nonverbal individuals, the possibilities of accessibility when paired with computer science is endless. Alternatively, I would be satisfied working in creating accessible design for a company. Whether this is websites, technology or branding, creation has always been something I am passionate about. 3. The world of accessibility has a lot to gain from computer science and vice versa. As a disabled designer I provide a valuable perspective of these two worlds. I am not only dedicated to using computer science to make things more accessible but also making computer science a more accessible field. Disabled students have much to offer but with so many barriers in place not many are given the opportunity to shine. I want to develop the tools students need to break down these barriers. This scholarship would allow me to pursue a future in computer science, something that would not be within grasp otherwise. It would take the stress of tuition off my shoulder so that I could focus on computer science and accessibility.

Currently I am working as a Resident Assistant at my university. This puts me into a leadership role for directly 30 students and indirectly hundreds across campus living. This position is one that demands a lot of time and I am "on duty" 24 hours of the day. This can be particularly challenging when it comes to setting boundaries for my time. Along with this I also have two other jobs within the university that I have promised my time to. In terms of extracurriculars, I am a member of the honors program on campus as well as the Saluki Rainbow Network (an organization that works provide resources to LGBT+ individuals in my community.) Yet another area where I donate my time is volunteerism. I have dedicated well over 150 hours of my time on campus to volunteering with the Center of English as a Second Language on campus, the Saluki Rainbow Network, sustainable energy education on campus and more. With three jobs and plenty of extracurriculars it seems like I would barely have enough time for schoolwork. I have found that honest communication and boundary setting are key to these sort of arrangements. From the start you need to find out the expectations in place for these commitments. Creating calendars and time sheets can be a huge help in visualizing your responsibilities. This is how I made sure I could take on all of these positions at once without being overwhelmed or falling short of the expectations in place for myself. Despite all of this preplanning, time balancing has been a challenge for me in the past. Last year I was often feeling overwhelmed. While my commitments weren't causing an issue for my education, the added stress of a tuition bill was the last straw. I saw my GPA start to drop and I felt helpless. However, I reached out for help with every resource I could find on campus and was able to start working to improving my situation. I attended sessions geared towards time management and stress and it has been so impactful. Recently I have completed coursework through my university's honors program and when I graduate it will be with honors. While my GPA is not where I want it, currently standing at a 3.4, I have been working hard this year to do better and it has been paying off. Moving forward, I believe I have gained invaluable knowledge for future commitments. Knowing my limits is vital when taking on leadership roles. You are there to set an example and you cannot do that if you are stretching yourself too thin. You must find balance for your own benefit and for the benefit of those you are leading. Set a healthy example for them.

I am pursuing a career in graphic design. While not a traditional area of the tech field, I have been studying computer programming and other areas of technology as it is a major component of graphic design. I am studying graphic design so that I can use both my creative abilities as well as technological knowledge in my future career. Graphic design is a unique field because of its ability to offer just that. An area I am particularly interested in is accessibility, both within design and in general. Technology has been crucial to the accessibility movement. From screen readers for the visually impaired to communication devices for non-verbal individuals, modern accessibility wouldn't be where it is without the technology industry. Having said this, there is still a lot of work to do and a lot of new tech to develop to make sure disabled people have the tools they need. I hope that as a disabled person in tech I will be able to provide a valuable perspective to the field particularly when it comes to accessibility education and tool development. So far, I have mainly focused on the design aspect of accessibility. I have created product packaging that included tactile markers so visually impaired customers can tell flavors apart when they reach for a product in their cupboard. I have studied color contrast as it appears on screens so that color blindness doesn't stop a consumer from understanding and enjoying a design. I have also created websites that are formatted with screen readers in mind, making sure to included lines of alternative text for every single image on the site. I am planning on taking courses in technology soon that will elevate my capabilities. Moving forward, I want to focus on universal design when it comes to the deliverables I create. It is one thing to create a functional and aesthetically pleasing website; but to be able to make a website that is usable by consumers of all levels of ability is what the industry needs more of. It may not be traditional to picture art when it comes to technology but in many ways they are intertwined in the modern world. These two powerful areas can accomplish a lot on their own but paired together the possibilities are truly endless. I will use my skills in both to advocate for disabled consumers and create the tools they need for success.

My favorite piece of art is a recent landscape study I did for a summer class. The goal of the class is to get students engaged with their environment. We would paint around campus everyday for 4 hours. This piece in particular focuses on an area of greenery underneath a particularly harsh looking piece of architecture on campus. I really enjoy the contrast between soft, natural plant life and the jagged, concrete edges of this building. It was such a useful study on color, mood and temperature. I had already painted a few pieces with this particular building and once I had become familiar with it's geometry I was able to play around with the tones and colors of the piece to give it a particular emotion that may not have been perceived in life at that moment. That is a powerful tool I gained during this class that I will be using moving forward. I had never really had experience painting before this course so I really enjoy how I was able to push myself and create something beautiful. Not only is this piece visually appealing to myself but the experience of sitting and engaging with this scene over the course of two days had a huge impact on me.

Even before attending college I have been dedicated to serving my community. Growing up in a very rural area of Illinois allowed me unique opportunities to volunteer. I often worked with my local Veterans Affairs office to offer my creative abilities so they could raise money for veteran services within the community. Creating art pieces for auctions as well as doing face painting at local festivals were the most common instances of this. This opened my mind to how art could serve not only individuals but entire communities. Now that I am attending college I am part of my university's honors program, an organization dedicated to volunteerism. This has offered me many opportunities to serve my community with my art. There were occasions when I would have never volunteered with certain groups within my community simply because I didn't know how I, as an artist, could offer something of value. Most recently I offered my time designing educational material for an organization at my school that is focused on sustainable energy practices. Because the majority of the organization is STEM students, the group did not have anyone that new how to design signage, brochures, etc. This is where I stepped in. The brochure I designed was sent out to all of the local schools; and it was amazing to see how powerful my artwork could be. Another topic I am passionate about is LGBT+ education. I am lucky enough to attend a university that has a vocal organization dedicated to supplying LGBT-centered resources and education to our community. Our student-led organization often hosts charity events for the public. While I help with set up and organizing, I find my most impactful contributions art through my art. I have dedicated well over 80 hours of my time to creating promotional material, decorations and more for these events. The LGBT+ is a particularly underrepresented group when it comes to public education and I have been working to change that over the last few years, both with art and otherwise. Moving forward, I would love the opportunity to volunteer painting a mural in my community. I am in a new city while I work towards my degree and would love to leave a positive, visual mark on my community here before I move onto the next stage of my life. It took volunteering for me to see that art has a place everywhere and I am looking forward to showing that to others.

For many years I have been using my art and creative ability to serve my community. With over 150 hours of volunteerism through my University's Honors Program, I have spent a majority of my time in college helping others. My area of interest is providing education and resources to LGBT+ youth in my community. My university has a Registered Student Organization which hosts LGBT+ specific fundraisers, events and more. So far, I have used my art as a way to decorate these events. Moving forward, I would love the chance to auction off pieces of mine with the proceeds being donated directly to the group or relevant LGBT+ charities. Alongside my dedication to LGBT+ activism, I have also volunteered with an organization from my university that focuses on renewable energy technology. Though I do not have a STEM background, I was able to contribute to this group's efforts. I designed educational brochures that the group sent to many local schools. It was a great experience to see my art directly contribute to such an important cause. LGBT+ individuals are a particularly underrepresented group within education. I am working to change that by volunteering my time and art. I am in a unique position where I can contribute to these causes and see my impact directly within my community and it has only made me more motivated to stay active in volunteerism. Moving forward, I would love to have more time to volunteer to these causes. While I may not have the technical background needed for many of these areas, art is a part of everything and has a place here as well. This scholarship would take off some of the stress that comes with tuition bills and would allow me to focus more on my education as well as my dedication to volunteerism.