Extracurriculars have been a cornerstone of my high school career, but at first, these were motivated not by choice. As an IB student, I am required to engage in a multitude of extracurriculars (both school-based and for the grander community). While this requirement acted as a catalyst for my participation in extracurriculars, as I got older and more involved in my community, I grew to understand the purpose of extracurriculars as a way to engage in activities that I am passionate about in a manner that will benefit the community around me. In terms of school-based extracurriculars, one of the most prominent ones I've been involved in was student government. In my junior year, I joined the Student Government Association (SGA) as a member of their general assembly. I initially joined the SGA to get extracurricular experience with my friends, but as time progressed and I went into my senior year, I developed a strong passion for this group as I finally had a medium to create something that had a direct influence on my peers. As a member of the general assembly, I would mainly help in setting up events (such as school dances, teacher appreciation week letters, and food drives) for our school. The charity events had direct benefits in helping impoverished people in our community, but all the other events we hosted had positive effects on our community as well. High school is an extremely rigorous time, so any opportunity to destress and grow socially like homecoming or any pep rallies is beneficial in providing balance to our school community. Hosting and creating things is a passion of mine, and SGA gave me an avenue for that. While that assisted with the social lives of our community, I also engaged in activities for assisting their academic lives. In my junior and senior years, I became a member of the National Honor Society (NHS) and the Spanish National Honor Society (SNHS). Both of these are tutoring organizations, and people with high academic and Spanish standings respectively are chosen to be tutors. This acted as the fruit of my passion for academics, as I now had a status that represented my achievements and could be used to serve whoever needed tutoring for academic assistance. I have helped a lot of people with academics independently from NHS and SNHS, but most of these people had similar academic standings as I had. NHS and SNHS gave me a medium to use these abilities and talents to help people who need them to a greater extent. The extracurriculars I'm most passionate about involve school-based and community-based extracurriculars both focused on law. Since sophomore year, I've been an active member of our Mock Trial team. Mock Trial is a statewide competition in which people simulate trials with schools organizing teams involving two sides with lawyers and witnesses. I have been committed to the point where, in my senior year, I am now a president of the club. Another related extracurricular was a summer internship I did with the Harford County Bar Foundation. The Harford County Bar Foundation is a lawyer referral service in which people who are seeking legal help but either don't have the funds or knowledge to get proper service go to get connected to the people needed. Our community needs proper justice, and I have been both serving and practicing to help my community with this complex field. I started extracurriculars for my self-interest. However, as I matured I recognized the purpose and benefits of my actions for my community.

Throughout these last four years of my life, I have been focused on engaging with my community both inside and outside of my education. I am a member of the National Honor Society (NHS), Spanish National Honor Society (SNHS), and Student Government Association (SGA) of my school. I am also the captain of our successful Mock Trial team for this year. Throughout my school year, I have made it a goal of mine to forge my legacy as someone who is involved in a lot of services for his community. This has not only been an educational goal of mine, as seen by my involvement in tutoring and event managing organizations within my school, but a goal within my community as well. I have frequently volunteered for charity and volunteering organizations in my county--such as Wecancerve and Volunteer. Beyond those organizations, I have also volunteered for elderly homes (A Happy Home LLC), animal shelters (Tall Tail Rescue), and construction companies meant to help out the impoverished (Habitat for Humanity). Service is a major way I want my legacy to be defined, and this influences both my educational and personal goals. Another ideal I want to define my goals and legacy is competition. Competition can push people to their most determined and intellectual selves. I not only want to help as many people as possible through service but also by competing with people (like my classmates) to push them to their fullest potential. My competitive drive has fulfilled a lot of my academic goals in terms of achievement. I currently have a 4.6 GPA, making me the ninth-highest-ranked senior in my school. I have also been accepted into University of Maryland, College Park, which is the second-highest-ranked college in my State. My academic success is a major part of my legacy that should not only be defined by a desire to pursue knowledge but a desire to compete with the world around me to both fulfill my potential and inspire the people around me. The final way I want my legacy to be defined is through justice. Justice is a methodology of causality that acts to help the victims and rehabilitate the perpetrators. Injustice is widespread in our society, and I want to help provide justice to people who need it. This value has influenced my ultimate academic goal, being to attend law school. My goal in life is to become a defense attorney, to help people who would not have anyone in their corner. To achieve this purpose of mine, I first need to achieve the goal of getting into and being successful in law school. I have already taken steps to fulfill this academic goal, by getting knowledge and experience through interning at the Harford County Bar Foundation (a lawyer referral service for those who struggle to navigate the legal world) and shadowing at the Public Defender's Office. Fulfilling this academic goal would allow me to be remembered for the justice I would provide to the world. I would like to be remembered for how my values of service, competition and justice help the world, and I am setting this path for myself through the fulfillment of my goals.

Goals are what keep individuals motivated and engaged. My educational and professional goals are what motivate me to pursue self-excellence, while my personal goals keep me engaged in my community. My educational and professional goals help me maintain my drive for competition and justice. I have applied to many competitive academic programs and institutions. I have been accepted into Edgewood High School's Global Studies and International Baccalaureate, and I have applied to competitive colleges such as University of Virginia, Georgetown University, and have been accepted into the University of Maryland, College Park's honors college. These competitive goals act as stepping stones to achieving goals related to justice. In the near future, I want to major in political science. This major will give me knowledge of our political systems, government, and our general system. Knowing our system will allow me to act in that system in a way that will be best for our general society. Beyond college, I also plan on going to law school, with my ultimate goal being to become a defense attorney. Justice requires proper understanding and assistance for everyone involved, and I want to be able to help people who do not have anyone on their side. Justice and competition are what have driven my professional and academic goals up until this point, and have influenced how I have interacted with my community. Across the summer of 2022, I worked on helping out my community in a manner that I felt was just. I worked for the Harford County Bar Foundation in an unpaid, summer internship. The Harford County Bar Foundation is a lawyer referral service that helps direct people to legal services that would otherwise be difficult for them to access. They also host events, allowing people in the Harford County community to receive legal advice from lawyers. My job, as an intern, was to help the efficiency of the operation. Through my efforts, the documentation of the service was organized, clients seeking to be directed to lawyers were updated on their status, and lawyers were communicated with in order to help with events to provide legal advice. The world of law is something that many people need help navigating to receive proper justice. By helping with the Harford County Bar Foundation, I was able to give back to my community by providing guidance and navigation in a field that is complex and that I am passionate about. My goals are all centered around competition and justice. I have proven my capacity for competition by fulfilling and demonstrating extremely competitive academic goals. My value of justice has directed how I specifically want to educate myself, and how I have given back to my community.