My favorite book is The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak. Since I first opened the work in 6th grade, it has continued to evoke deep feelings of inspiration, while simultaneously haunting my view of the world through its striking use of language and perspective. The Book Thief is set in Nazi Germany and follows a young girl, Liesel, who is adopted to avoid persecution. As the title suggests, Liesel resorts to stealing works from all over her town as the Nazi’s burned books and rejected language. I too felt the gravity of the written word on our perception and had a passion for gaining knowledge through story. This allowed me to connect with Liesel, despite not comprehending the weight of the losses she suffered. The book takes an astounding approach, as Lisel’s story is told through the eyes of Death personified. This point of view gives the story an unsettling air about it, which made me uneasy. However, you should feel uncomfortable discussing the Holocaust. The events of the Holocaust warrant the lens of Death. The work completely flipped my perspective on analyzing history and led me to seek out discomfort to further my learning. I owe a lot of my intellect to this work of literature. Liesel’s character solidified my appreciation of words, but above all else, the book taught me that exiting your comfort zone is a key component of being educated.

My experience with disability has been unique. Although it has been, it has influenced my goals for the future because it has made me want to help others struggling. As my disabilities are mostly mental, I have to go through a lot to make it through the day, & also to get the help I need. In the future, in 10 years or so, I would like to become a representative in the government & use this platform to promote better mental health treatment. This year, I am working in my communities Youth Council in order to improve our civic engagement & treatment of health, both mental & physical in teens. The civic engagement piece will allow our students to know what is going on with the government, and give them the ability to push officials for certain policies. The health piece is even more important. Through this program I will push for schools in our county to become trauma-informed. I will also create an online platform for students to anonymously discuss their issues. This platform will be monitored for any issues that need immediate attention. I will also be responsible for giving students information on mental & physical health in the form on tweets, a newsletter, etc. This will give students more insight into what's going on around them. I will also combat the apathy of teenagers to get involved by reaching out to others & making it fun for them. This will allow me to help my community now, and the country in the future, so I can create safe spaces for people struggling with the same things that I have, and even more.

This is my dog, Layla! She is the best cuddler & is very nice to hang out with when I'm upset. She has been my dog for 10 years now. She used to love being thrown the ball & catching it, but now she's a bit too old. She's super sweet & loves little kids. She's my rock.

The Penny Hoarder provides great information about finance. I also enjoy Crash Course: Economics because the information is presented well & is easy to understand. Gabriella Carter gives information about scholarships on TikTok, which I enjoy seeing.

My favorite places to shop online would be Amazon, Barnes & Noble and American Eagle. I like Amazon because of the ease & fast shipping. The other two shopping sites are closely related to my interests.

The song I chose was Astronaut by Transviolet. The song is extremely uplifting & shows a woman breaking down boundaries. It has a good message without being overly pop & cheap-sounding. The rest of the playlist revolves around women breaking down boundaries through songs with deeper meaning compared to the rest of the pop world.

My mental health has had ups and downs, severely impacted by my surroundings and things that have happened to me. This struggle has caused me to rely heavily on my realtionships with friends. They have given me an outlet to express my stuggles, someone to comisterate with and also a stronger support system. Although I wouldn't neccessarily deem it true that negative mental health contributed to developing my friendships, they have been made stronger now that I am in a better place and able to rely on them for many things. My experience has also shifted my view on life. I have no specific religion, but I now truely believe that everything happens for a reason. I did an exercise with a spirituality guide on mental health in which we all were given images. When talking about our images together, we all discovered that they had a certain meaning to us, almost that they were meant for us. This really opened my eyes to the idea of a divine plan for the universe and also allowed me to explore certain aspects of my mental health that I had never focused on before. Since this group, I have seen many more signs, and things that may have been chance are much more accurate to me. I think now I have a stronger belief in the universe communicating with us and supporting us as we go through life. Coming out of the other side of my struggles with mental health has also allowed me to believe that things do get better. A teacher I had told me about the "law of averages" whenever I was struggling. He believed that after a low, there's always a high, the universe has to even out how it treats everyone. At first when I heard this I was very cynical towards the idea, believing that the rich were always on top & that they didn't have any real problems. But, although their problems may be different, from their point of view it's a struggle. I have seen firsthand that the law of averages holds true, and hold tight to this belief whenever I'm in a rough situation. I also aspire to work in communities to create better policies regarding mental health in schools & otherwise. I am currently invovled in the Youth Council in my county and I am the director of the health department. I will be working to create trauma-informed schools and add to support for students struggling with mental health. School is where many children express their issues, and most are ignored. This has become of passion of mine, now having been through the experience. I want to work on this in my county as part of the youth council, but I also want to keep these issues in mind in my future. I plan on going into US politics, and this is one of my main areas of advocacy I want to persue in order to make the United States a better place for the mentall ill & those struggling. My experience has changed my views and goals in several ways for the better.

I was invincible, beginning high school as the typical overachiever grade-obsessed type. I spent every minute of every day obsessing about grades and college admissions. Everything in my first semester of high school was focused on achievement. It was isolating, but I was invincible when it came to school. I was on track for success, until I began getting severe migraines, missing weeks of school at a time. I would try to keep up, but the constant throbbing in my head made it hard for me to understand anything. We tried several medications, but nothing worked. Yet, my only focus was on how this would affect my grades, my future. I broke at school one day, not understanding the material after missing school. I was convinced that my entire future was ruined. After several months of constant headaches and no answers, I began to worsen. I lost all feeling and ability to move on my right side, eventually, I was hospitalized. I spent three terrible days in the hospital, receiving multiple tests, intense physical therapy and IV medication. Stuck in my hospital bed, I was still doing schoolwork. Despite being confined to the uncomfortable, lonely space, I had to work towards my future. Frustrated was the only way to describe how I felt in the too-white room. I was eventually medically exempt from those exams I studied so hard for, oddly upset. After discharge, I met Chris, my out-patient physical therapist, not knowing the effect he would have on me. I saw him frequently, each session more frustrating than the last, the sweat dripping off my body. As I spent more time in physical therapy, I found myself looking forward to going. Chris motivated me to get better and focus on my health. I can still hear him joking with me, while telling me that it’s necessary to let go sometimes. Although he reassured me that school would still be there for me when I was better, he also wouldn’t cut me any slack. He pushed me to keep working harder. He taught me so much about perseverance and focusing on what’s important. He was always right there beside me with encouraging words and endless support. He was with me when I walked again, cheering me on, telling me that it was my hard work that finally paid off. I have since been discharged, but I try to carry his lessons with me through every challenge in my life. When I returned to school, I was no longer invincible, I didn’t have the perfect future any longer. But, Chris taught me to be determined, but not so much that you forget what is necessary for yourself. I was no longer spending every minute of every hour hyper-focused on my grades and being some ideal of “perfect.” Chris gave me my life back, in more ways than one. Without him, I would’ve never gotten through my medical issues, nor my distorted view of perfection. Chris allowed me to challenge the belief that I had long held of school being the end-all-be-all. This release changed the way I viewed my work, allowing me to enjoy it again. Although without him I never would’ve had this change, I would most certainly choose to let go of this belief again.

Education is a rock in my life. Learning has been my passion for a long time, I have always wanted to know how the world works and be able to understand more concepts. But, education also provides an escape, a place to go and learn new things. It allows me to feel good about myself and be accomplished when I finish something. I even try to learn on my own to further my skills set into things that interest me. Learning is something we do constantly, whether through school or otherwise. Education allows you to feel more connected to your surroundings and gives you courage to try new things. I learned how to code, something I'd never though I'd be able to do, now I feel like I can try anything. Education has taught me more than just the concepts I've learned, it has taught me patience, problem-solving and this newfound bravery. I feel like learning is something that I can always turn to to help me find peace when things are hard. It is enjoyable but also has a purpose. I used to be very obessesed with my grades, as a high-achiever, but now, education has become a more fun experience. My grades haven't changed, but now I allow myself to have fun with the concepts at hand. Instead of school being another weight on my shoulders, it is now a crane lifting outside weights off. You never know where you'll find yourself needing a certain skill, and education, especially in schools, helps to make me more well-rounded. Learning allows me to feel at home in my own brain.