I can think of three greatest achievements to date that I am proud of. One would be earning my Eagle Scout rank. The second would be completing the high adventure Philmont trek, which is a very challenging ten-day hike to the top of a mountain while carrying all your supplies for the entire trip. I completed this trek with only a small crew of boys and dads from my troop and we had to work together to make sure that we all shared the work and that we all stayed motivated to complete the goal we had set out to achieve. The third is being named a National Merit Semifinalist, unfortunately, I did not make the finalist cut, so I was not awarded a full ride to college like I was hoping, but just being in the top 99% of students on my PSAT was something that I was very proud of. I think that life can feel overwhelming at times and during those times, I try to look back on the challenges that I have faced and overcome to remind myself that I am capable of achieving whatever I put my mind to. Life will constantly throw obstacles our way, but it is important to not let those obstacles stop us, even if they do discourage us, but to keep working and trying until we finish what we have set out to achieve. My goal is to earn my bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Being raised by a single mother that works as a middle school counselor in public education has led to me being raised in a home where finances have always been tight. Watching my mother struggle to take care of myself and my brother has been inspirational while also being hard to watch at times. I have watched my mother stress out about how she is going to pay for things that we need. I have watched her cry when she is stressed and overwhelmed by the bills, especially home repairs, many of which she is still not able to afford. Our house has been a mixture of a home with a lot of love among the people, but also an emotional and financial drain on my mom. We currently have cracks in most of our walls from foundation issues and no floors in half of our house due to ongoing major plumbing problems. I hope that with a degree in computer science, I can live with less financial stress than my mother has and also that I can give back to my mother who has supported me without fail. Many of my friends have grown up in affluent homes and been given whatever they wanted over the years. They have not needed to worry about how they would pay for college or rent or books or food. While it has made life harder to grow up in a home where I have had to worry about those things, where I did have to start working earlier than my friends, and where I have had to apply for scholarship after scholarship to try to find financial aid to help pay for my degree, I can say that it has made me appreciate more what I do have and what I have earned as a result of my hard work. I have learned that life is not equal and not always fair, but that we have to take the situation that we are in and make the best of it. I am working hard to do that. I am determined to finish my degree and get a job that I enjoy and that will allow me to be financially stable. I am also determined to continue the legacy that my mother started with us of giving back in some way. We have been heavily involved in animal rescue my whole life and I have learned that money is not always necessary to give back. I can give of my time, my talents, my skills, and my heart to make a change in the world. That is a lesson that I am grateful to have learned and one that I intend to continue in my life as an adult.

One of my absolute favorite things in life is reading. I have read and re-read thousands of books in my life and although some are just fun to read, many of them have been thought-provoking and changed the way I looked at things in my life. Of the books I have read, one stands out that I would most recommend for others to read. The one book that had an extremely strong impact on me and that I would recommend to everyone is the first book in The Book of Sight series. The Book of Sight is a fairly realistic fiction book about a group of teenagers who receive a mysterious book that cannot be read in a normal way. Each person in the story must find their own way to read the book, such as reading the book out loud or reading the book with someone else. For each person that reads the book, it has the effect of changing the way that the reader looks at the world. Brightly lit things become even brighter, shaded things become dimmer, colors become more vivid and so on. The change in perspective brought about by reading the book also causes the readers to notice creatures and beings that are normally hidden and not noticeable. The book is very intriguing to me because of the way it changes the way that the reader sees the world compared to how they saw it before reading the book. The Book of Sight is a fascinating book and a book that I think everyone should read it. Even if only a fraction of the people who read it were to get something from it, I think it has the potential to make some people's lives a little bit better. It is a book that challenges the reader to look at things more closely and to appreciate things more. In a world where people are always busy and stressed out and not truly focused on what is going on around them, this book, in particular, pushes the reader to slow down and be more present. Reading to me is extremely relaxing and a huge passion of mine. I read voraciously and have a hard time putting books down. Reading has taught me many things. Reading has taught me that I can be happy even when I am alone, which many people these days struggle with. I however am perfectly content when I am alone because I dive into whatever book I am currently reading and quickly get absorbed into the story. Books can bring so much to our lives, from entertainment, to knowledge, to joy, and so much more. Reading has shaped my goals in that it has given me new perspectives on many aspects of my life and provided me with the knowledge and skills that I will need to be successful in adulthood. Reading has opened doors to places and times and creatures that I may never get to see in real life. I honestly cannot imagine life without books. Books and reading are an integral part of who I am and one of the greatest pleasures in my life. Without books, I would not be the person I am today. Books have shaped me in many ways and contributed to making me the person that I am. Books have led to me being more open-minded, more empathetic, more creative, less stressed, and more happy. Books are awesome and I am glad that I was encouraged to read when I was young because it led to my never-ending passion for reading.

Technology fascinated me from the time I was very young. During my youth, I was mostly engaged in technology in the world of gaming. In middle school, however, I took my first actual technology class called Gateway to Technology. This course allowed me to see a much broader view of technology beyond just gaming and inspired me to continue taking technology courses as I moved into high school. In high school, I took my first computer science course and discovered a passion for coding and an interest in learning about all the different areas in which computer science could be applied. My high school AP computer science teacher, Mr. Yee, was an amazing teacher that pushed us to learn and grow in our computer science skills and that also made learning fun. By the time I finished high school, I was hooked and knew without a doubt that I wanted to major in computer science. I have recently finished my sophomore year at the University of North Texas where I am working on my bachelor's degree in computer science. Since I took so many college credit courses in high school, I was able to jump straight into my major courses in my first semester of college. I am excited by the knowledge and skills that I am gaining from the courses that I am taking. Next year I can start taking some computer science elective courses and cannot wait. I am especially interested in computer security, artificial intelligence, game programming and natural language processing. I am also looking forward to next summer when I plan to get a computer science internship and will be able to see firsthand how my degree can be put to use once I graduate. I am excited about doing an internship and being able to use my knowledge and skills in some real-world applications outside of the classroom. My dream job after graduation is being able to work in the computer science field and to put my coding skills to use. Coding to me is fun and relaxing and it is super cool what can be accomplished through coding. On the top of my list of places I would like to work after graduation is NASA. Using my computer science skills in the aerospace industry to code and program software that contributes to the continuation of successful launches and missions is something that I am very interested in. I am the perfect candidate for this scholarship because like Chris, funding my college education is a huge struggle. Being raised by a single mom that works in public education has led to money always being tight in our family. I am dedicated and determined though to finish my degree and go out into the world and make a difference. I am a strong student and I am passionate about computer science and the opportunities that I will have upon graduation to make an impact on the world with my knowledge and skills.

Single mothers work tirelessly and my mom is the perfect example of that. My parents divorced when I was five and all of my grandparents had already passed away, so my mother was truly on her own raising both myself and my brother. Throughout my life, I have watched my mom frequently work more than one job to try to pay the bills and take care of us. My mother is a school counselor in a public middle school and has struggled to make ends meet on the salary that she earns. It was important to my mother to keep us in our home and in our neighborhood where we already had good friends and neighbors. Moving to a different house in a different place may have made life easier on my mother, but she wanted us to have stability in a time where our lives were very unstable. My mother has sacrificed a lot for both my brother and myself. Throughout my childhood and even still now, my mother has always put the needs of me and my brother ahead of her own. She supports us financially as well as emotionally. She always seems to find a way to pay for the things we need. We definitely did not grow up like most of our friends with everything we wanted, but we always had what we needed. She has also always been active in our lives. I cannot think of a single event of mine or my brother's that she has missed. We have always been her top priority. My mom has taught me the meaning of family. She taught me that being a family meant that we all had to help each other out and take care of one another. She also taught us the importance of spending time together. Growing up we frequently had dinner together as well as game nights and movie nights. Those nights are some of my favorite memories! I also learned the importance of letting my family know that I loved them with both my words and my actions. Our home included a lot of "I love you's" and a lot of hugs. I have never doubted how much my mother loves me. I am very grateful to my mom for everything that she has done for me over the years. The love, support and encouragement that she provided has helped to propel me to the place that I am now. She has sacrificed a great deal for me and my brother, but she has told us that it has been worth it to see the men that we are growing up to be. People always tell her what a great job she has done raising us both, and I don't think she always feels that way, but I would tend to agree with them. She has worked hard raising us as a single mom and she has indeed done a good job. I am eternally grateful for my mother!

Mental health is just as important as physical health because it not only affects our mood, motivation, happiness, relationships, and many other things, but mental health also affects our physical health. People are struggling more and more these days with mental health issues. The number of people that I know that are struggling with anxiety and depression is staggering. It almost seems rare at this point to find someone that is not struggling with mental health issues, especially among teens and young adults. I personally struggle with social anxiety, which has gotten worse as I have gotten older. Social anxiety makes me feel paralyzed at times in that it prevents me from talking to people or doing things that I might enjoy. With the help of a therapist and medication though, I have gotten to the point where although I do not initiate many conversations, I can talk to others that initiate conversations with me. In high school I was in the band and had a great group of friends that made life easier and more fun, however, since starting college two years ago, I have felt more alone. I have not made any new friends since starting college and am not really connected in any way like I was in high school. Establishing new relationships is one area that I am hoping to be able to improve on in the future. My ways of maintaining my mental health include doing things that help me stay relaxed, such as reading and listening to music. These two things are my favorite ways to spend my leisure time. I love reading and also love music and so these two things bring me peace and make me happy. I also try to exercise, either just walking, or going to the recreation center on campus and riding a bike. I stay connected to my high school friends as well through a group chat and through a weekly online game of Dungeons and Dragons. My college is only about 35 minutes from campus, so I am also able to see my family regularly. Most weekends, either my mom or dad comes up and has lunch with me, which I really enjoy. Also, as mentioned above, I take medication and see a therapist to help me work on my social anxiety, which has not helped as much as I would have liked, but which has helped some. Overall, I feel like the steps I am taking to maintain my mental health are good and helpful ones, however, I still hope that in the future, I can find ways to build some more friendships and relationships and overcome my social anxiety even more. I believe that maintaining mental health though is a daily journey and one that I need to be intentional about. It is important to continuously strive to improve my mental well-being because being mentally healthy is important to me and I recognize how much mental health impacts all areas of my life.

My journey with mental health issues has had a pervasive impact on all areas of my life. I am a very introverted person that struggles with social anxiety. I have been on anxiety medications and seeing a therapist for several years, and it has helped some, but more just taken off the edge to make it slightly more manageable. I know that there are some really good things about me because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am aware that I have changed over time and grown more anxious and introverted. Although I know it is something that I will continue to have to work on, it is also something that I have had to learn to accept about myself. I know my friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately, I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and anxiety and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. I am grateful for the group of friends that I had throughout high school and feel that I have been fortunate in the relationships that I have formed over the years. However, since leaving high school and starting college friendships have become more of a challenge as all of my high school friends went separate ways and making new friends with my social anxiety has been a big struggle leaving me alone most of the time. My anxiety has had an impact on my aspirations for the future. I do not know if I will ever understand what makes me so much quieter and more introverted than most people, but I have learned that it is at least for now just how I am. Music was a big part of my high school career and I had toyed with the idea of majoring in music, however with my social anxiety I felt it might not be a career that I would be comfortable in. I still love music and enjoy listening and playing, but have chosen to pursue a degree in computer science instead of music, which I think will be a much better match for me professionally. Overall, mental health issues, specifically social anxiety, have had an impact on my life and have led to daily challenges. I am however consistently pushing myself to overcome my anxiety and trying to do things that I am not comfortable with. There are parts of myself that I want to improve, but I am also trying to accept myself where I am right now while I work on those areas. Working on accepting myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful. I hope one day to overcome my anxiety and be more confident and social because I truly don't want to spend my life alone, but if that does not happen, I hope that I can find peace with who I am. I have learned that we are all different and that there is nothing wrong with me, but rather this is just who I am and hopefully, with time and work, I can reduce my level of anxiety and find a way to be more confident with others allowing for some meaningful future relationships.

Calculus is the foundation for almost all fields of STEM, from Computer Science to Engineering to math and science, Calculus is the foundation upon which those fields build. The concepts that are covered in calculus are likely to be some of the most important and useful concepts for individuals related to the STEM field. Whether it be derivatives, limits, functions, integration, differential equations, sequences and series, parametric equations, or polar coordinates, calculus is helpful in the STEM field. Calculus involves logical thinking and problem-solving which are important skills to have when moving into any higher-level STEM course. Calculus teaches you to analyze information and think critically to solve problems. Calculus also seems to be somewhat of a gateway into the STEM field in that it helps students and professors determine the potential success of a person looking to enter the STEM field. The concepts that are covered in calculus can even be useful for everyday issues, and thus are very important for issues related to the STEM field. The concepts and equations that are included in calculus can be used for numerous different types of situations and issues and can have applications in countless fields and jobs. One example of how calculus has helped me in my college education is that it has helped lay a foundation for my physics courses, which are also essential for the STEM field. Both subjects analyze change, and a strong calculus understanding can make physics much easier to understand. Putting my calculus skills and my physics skills together, allowed me to be able to be successful in my differential equations class, which is one of the most challenging classes that I have taken to date. Without my calculus and physics knowledge, I do not think that I would have made it through that course, which also is a foundational course for almost all STEM fields. STEM fields, as implied in the name, require a great deal of math and science knowledge. The difference in the individual STEM fields that a person can branch off into determines exactly what kind and how much math and science is necessary to be able to effectively earn a degree in that area and be successful at understanding the complicated problems that people in STEM fields are being asked to solve. For me, I knew how important calculus would be for my Computer Science major, so I chose to repeat pre-calculus in college before taking college calculus. I feel strongly that it was a wise decision and as a result, I am doing well in college and learning and understanding the concepts that I need to understand to eventually work in the Computer Science field.

I believe we are all unique individuals, but for me personally, I am unique in how much I read and in how quiet I am. I find that most people my age are much more outgoing than me and are very interested in going out and socializing, whereas I am happiest when I have downtime so that I can relax and read. Reading has been a passion of mine since I first learned to read as a young child. Ever since I started reading, I have devoured books. To me, there is nothing like reading and getting lost in the story that the author is telling. Reading feeds my creative side and allows me to explore worlds that can only be explored in books and in our imaginations. I am also an extremely introverted, quiet person. I have found though that although this can be limiting in some ways, it can also be a strength. I am very good at working with groups. I do not need to be in charge, which I have seen can lead to issues when too many people in a group want to be the leader. My personality makes it easy for others to work with because I am good at listening to others' ideas and combining those with my own thoughts to collaboratively come up with some great ideas for whatever project we are working on. A final thing about me that is unique is my love of animals, especially cats and kittens. Growing up, my family fostered animals for a dog and cat rescue group. Fostering cats and kittens has been something that I enjoyed and something I hope to continue on my own in the future. I have a cat of my own, who I love to spend time with, but fostering cats until they find a home of their own has allowed me to be able to spend time with a lot of cats and help socialize them and take care of them until someone adopted them. I feel strongly that everyone can volunteer and give back in some way and for me fostering cats has been a way that I could help homeless animals while getting to do something that I love at the same time. These three things I believe make me different than most college-aged males. They are all just a part of who I am though and they make me unique in my own special way. Fortunately, I have learned that the world takes all sorts of people and personalities and that my unique qualities are part of what make me special and valuable.

Growing up with technology at my fingertips from a young age led to a lot of time spent online in a variety of ways. I grew up playing video games, texting with friends, experiencing social media, using navigation apps when I learned to drive and much more. The reason why I decided to pursue a degree in Computer Science was however a gradual increase in my interest in everything related to computers, especially programming. I think the reason why I initially became interested in Computer Science is due to playing video games from a young age, however, that slowly changed into an interest in programming, and then Computer Science as a whole. Naturally, part of my interest still lies with video games, both creating them and playing them, but I am also interested when it comes to other areas of Computer Science such as artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and software development. Another more realistic part that weighed into my decision is the fact that out of everything I love and enjoy when thinking about what I was truly interested in pursuing as a career my choices narrowed considerably. Aside from Computer Science, the only other possible career that I considered pursuing was becoming an author and writing novels, but after considering it I felt strongly that Computer Science was undoubtedly what I wanted to pursue for my future career. Although I love reading with a passion and devour books at a rapid pace and was always interested in writing something of my own, I discovered that my love of reading and computers outweighed my desire to write books. On the other hand, I have come to enjoy writing code and feel like it has blended my two separate interests of writing and Computer Science. I have discovered that writing code is often very relaxing for me because I really enjoy it and get involved in what I am working on. Even when I am feeling particularly challenged by a certain piece of code that I am working on and not feeling relaxed, I still feel interested whenever I am writing code. Computer Science is one of the only areas of my life where I feel like that is the case, being able to enjoy and be interested in something even when I am not relaxed and am finding myself truly challenged. Working on programming gives me a sense of accomplishment that I don't find in other areas of my life. A final reason why I decided to pursue a degree in Computer Science is because of the creative aspect of coding. In the same way as how I enjoy seeing all the tricks that can be done using equations and graphs in math, I enjoy seeing all the different tricks and methods used in coding to create various results. It is truly fascinating to me to see what can be accomplished and created with coding. This interest in seeing how results are created from programs is one of the biggest parts of why I am enjoying pursuing a degree in Computer Science. I believe Computer Science is a field of study that I will truly enjoy working in. It is a degree that truly matches my personality and my strengths and one that allows for so many avenues of work in the future. I believe it will always remain exciting and interesting to me because it is a career that will always be evolving and changing and continuously challenging me to learn and grow.

Growing up as part of a Boy Scout troop led to lots of opportunities for me to experience a variety of outdoor activities that I might not have had if I had not been in Boy Scouts. During my time in Boy Scouts, I had regular opportunities to camp, hike, shoot rifles and arrows, kayak, snorkel, climb and rappel. These experiences in Boy Scouts allowed me to discover passions for things such as climbing that I otherwise may never have found. My early experiences with climbing were mostly through indoor climbing gyms. I always enjoyed these outings and loved the challenge of climbing the various walls in the gyms. I discovered that climbing is a very challenging activity that requires a lot of focus and strength. Climbing in gyms though always felt safe due the equipment and the staff there to support you. During the summer following my Sophomore year of high school, I went on a ten-day trek to Philmont where we hiked and carried all of our equipment with us through the entire trip. During the trek, we were able to do some real climbing and rappelling, which was awesome, but also much scarier than the climbing that I had done previously in the local climbing gyms. Climbing in the outdoors was a super cool experience and one that I am glad I was able to have. I found that climbing in the outdoors was challenging not only physically but also mentally because of the increased danger involved. As a college student now, I do not get the opportunity to climb as much as I did while I was in Boy Scouts, but I still occasionally go to one of the local climbing gyms in the area. Nowadays though, I am striving to climb my way through college and to earn my degree in Computer Science so that I can move into the workforce and into a role that will challenge me and that I will enjoy. My journey so far in college has been a good one, with some struggles along the way with challenging courses and difficult professors, but the biggest challenge is the cost involved in paying for the four years that it will take me to get my degree. Being raised by a single mom that works in public education has led to a definite shortage of funds to cover the costs of college. Between what my mother saved for me and what I am making by working at Home Depot, I am still in need of more money than I have to cover the costs of four years of school. As a result, I am applying for a lot of scholarships with the hope of earning some additional money to help me finish school. This scholarship would help me to be able to continue to pay for college without accruing any or at least very little debt to pay back upon graduation, which is my goal. Living with a single mom for the majority of my childhood taught me the stress that can come with debt and not being able to keep up with the costs of everyday life. My goal is to graduate debt free and be able to start my adult life without the stress and burden of trying to pay back a debt accrued during my college years.

Digital Forensics is an extremely interesting area of Computer Science and also a branch of great importance in the digital technology world that we all now live in. With the number of cyberattacks growing steadily each year, the need for more professionals working in the area of Digital Forensics also increases. As a Sophomore at the University of North Texas, I am at a place in my degree plan where I will be able to begin taking some Computer Science electives soon, with Cybersecurity being the one that I am most looking forward to. Through researching the different elective options that I have to choose from for my degree, Cybersecurity is the one that intrigues me the most. Almost everything these days is stored electronically, from personal banking, to businesses storing personnel records, to top-secret government information. The era of paper is gone and the world of all data being stored electronically is here. This puts everyone at risk of a potential cybersecurity attack. It is a field that is quickly growing and in need of more experienced graduates to enter the workforce in this area to provide more protection as the world moves to an almost exclusively electronic platform. Cyberattacks can steal money, data, and time. As the attackers grow in number and intelligence, so must the number of individuals working in this very important field. To me personally, Digital Forensics seems extremely interesting and like it would provide a constantly changing and challenging work environment. I feel that working in Digital Forensics would be a strong use of my computer science skills and not only an exciting career field but also an extremely important one. My personal values are very much black and white when it comes to right and wrong, and cyberattacks and the people that create them very much fall into the wrong category. I want to help create a virtual world where people are safe and protected online and not at risk of being taken advantage of. This means more education for all people regarding protecting themselves online. We are beyond the point of being reactive in this field and need to continue to strengthen our proactive approach to minimize cybersecurity threats. One of the things that I like about the potential of working in Digital Forensics after graduation is that it is a forever-evolving role that will remain engaging and interesting and constantly keep me learning new things. I am very much looking forward to taking the Cybersecurity elective course to learn more about this career as it is one that I am very interested in pursuing upon graduation from college.

Influence to me is having some sort of effect, either positive or negative, on something or someone. In our daily lives and in the things that we do and say, we can influence others, sometimes intentionally and sometimes without even realizing it. I am a very calm, quiet person, so my influence on others may look different than loud, outgoing people, but I do influence those around me. With my personality being an introverted, quiet one, my influence on others is often a calming one. I am a positive, diligent person as well, so I have found through the years that I have an encouraging influence on others as well. I often find myself as the peacemaker, the voice of reason, or the mediator among others. I feel that in social situations and group work, my personality brings a positive influence to the group. I also have a strong sense of right and wrong and find that at times I can influence others around me to make wiser choices than they otherwise might. I believe that adversity is part of life and that we all go through times of trials and challenges. We each have a choice to make though when we do go through times of adversity in how we respond to it. Do we rise to the challenge and overcome what stands in our path or do we let it take control of us and give up? Personally, I have faced adversity many times, but two instances stand out the most. The first instance was when I was around five and within a very short period my grandmother who I was extremely close to passed away and my parents divorced. I had no choice in this situation but to overcome this adversity. I could not bring my grandmother back and I could not keep my parents together. This time in my life was difficult and had some lasting effects on me, but I did overcome it and adjusted to the changes. The second example of adversity that I have had to face is social anxiety. Living with social anxiety has felt crippling at times, but with counseling, medication and patient family and friends, I have not completely conquered it, but I have improved my response to it over the past several years. I am majoring in Computer Science. I grew up loving computers and video games and after taking my first Computer Science course in high school, I was hooked. I will start my Computer Science electives next year which could alter my goals some, but currently, my goal is to graduate and work in either game design or artificial intelligence. This scholarship would be extremely helpful in assisting me in paying for college. Being raised by a single parent has led to both me and my mother struggling to pay for college. This scholarship would be a huge help in relieving some of the financial and mental stress that comes with the extremely high cost of college.

My mother has been my rock forever. Raising my brother and me by herself, she has been the one that we have looked to and relied on for everything. My mother has been very instrumental in helping me to become the person I am today. I know that it was not always easy for my mom to do all that she did for us, but it was always evident that we were her top priority and that she loved us and would do anything for us. My mother took us to church from the time we were born. She later got us involved in Awana's and eventually youth group and helped to create a good spiritual foundation in both myself and my brother. This also allowed us to have some good male, Christian youth leaders that helped to guide us both as well. Boy Scouts was another area where my mother supported me. She made sure I made all the meetings and campouts, helped me with my merit badges, volunteered in my troop and encouraged me all the way through until I earned my Eagle Scout rank and went to Philmont. I enjoyed Boy Scouts, but without her support, I am not certain if I would have made it to my Eagle Scout rank. I am grateful for the experiences that I had in Boy Scouts and for my mother helping to make those experiences possible. Band became another love of mine beginning in sixth grade. My mom came to every concert, football game and band event that I had. My brother later got involved in band as well, and my mother said that watching us play our instruments and find so much enjoyment in it made her love band as much as us. I do not play much these days, but I love music, especially Jazz as a result of my time in band. Music is a passion of mine that will continue throughout my life. My other huge passion is reading. I read several books a week. Reading is by far my favorite thing to do. My mother bought me so many books growing up and eventually got me a kindle and helped me find several free reading websites as well as public library sites so that I could have a constant supply of books. I believe my love of reading came from how much she read to me as a child. She completely instilled in me a love of books. Volunteering was also something that we did as a family. We volunteered and fostered dogs and cats from the time I was in middle school. I love animals as a result of being raised with so many of them and want to continue to volunteer with a cat rescue group on my own in the future. Between all my activities, I kept my mother very busy! Especially as a single mom that worked full time, it was a struggle for her to get us everywhere we needed to be and for her to be at all our events, and yet she managed it. My mom taught me to find my passions and pursue them and she supported me in all of them. I was always a smart, strong student, and she had high expectations there, but it was more important to her for me to be able to experience and participate in the activities that were important to me and not only focus on school and grades. She helped me become a well-rounded person and helped to shape me into the person I am today.

I honestly do not have any kind of concrete goal for the future. I have vague goals for my life such as wanting to live a good life and repay my parents for everything they have done for me, but I can not think of anything specific that I want to do. I also have some vague goals for my future in terms of computer science, as well as some small goals like making some small programs to help with things that I like to/have to do. If I had to come up with some goals, I guess one goal that I have for my future in terms of computer science would be to either make games or work with artificial intelligence. I am not certain what specific computer science field I am going to work in, but I do like the idea of making games or working on artificial intelligence. My interest in games is mainly due to the fact that I have loved playing video games since I was a kid, while my interest in artificial intelligence is mainly due to reading fiction books since I was a kid. Seeing the numerous examples of artificial intelligence that are created by the minds of writers, and seeing how those writers use artificial intelligence in their stories, was always really cool to me. If I do end up working with artificial intelligence, I would probably also want to work with language processing, for two main reasons. The first reason is that working with artificial intelligence would be much more interesting and rewarding if it was able to communicate well. The second reason is that I enjoy reading novels written in several languages, so being able to work on a translation program would make me pretty happy, although I admit that this is a somewhat selfish reason. Thinking about all of this, I seem to have some computer science goals, it was just that I was not aware of them. As for non-computer science goals, even after thinking about it I still can not come up with anything other than the vague goals mentioned at the start. As for how I might combine my computer science and non-computer science goals, I think that just working on the computer science goals that I was made aware of will combine with my life pretty well, since the computer science goals I came up with are somewhat linked to my life already.

My life changed a great deal around the age of 5 years old. My final grandparent who I was very close to passed away and also near that time my parents went through a divorce. To say life changed a lot very quickly would be an understatement. Up until age five, I lived with my parents and spent a lot of time with my grandmother. My life was great! It was extremely hard and sad for me to lose not just my grandmother but my family in a sense as well in such a short period. My entire family struggles with anxiety, and going through a divorce was hard on my brother and myself as well as my mom. She had a difficult time adjusting to being alone and raising us by herself. My mother started dating and going out with friends and drinking socially after the divorce. The drinking progressed over time from social drinking to every weekend, and eventually to every day. It became evident that she had a drinking problem. Fortunately, my mother decided that her drinking was out of control and that she needed help. My mother had some great friends and she asked them to hold her accountable for not drinking. She was also open with my brother and me about the fact that she had a problem with alcohol and asked us to hold her accountable as well. I know it was a struggle for her to quit drinking. It required her to change her social life and avoid people and situations that would tempt her. It has been four years now since my mother quit drinking. I am proud of her. Over the past four years, she also quit dating and focused solely on being present for my brother and me. People respond to challenging situations in many ways, some good and some bad. Some people continue the cycle of what they witnessed, while others like myself turn away from that lifestyle. I have never had alcohol and have no interest in it. As someone who has never been intoxicated, I do not see the appeal of it. However, as someone that also lived for many years with a parent that struggled with alcohol, it has made me never want to try it. I have seen how quickly social drinking can change into a full-blown issue, even for good people like my mother. I do not have any desire to go down that path and do not see the need for it to have fun. I am fully able to have a good time while staying sober. As much as I wish my mother didn't go through her journey with alcohol addiction, it had the outcome of me choosing to lead a healthier lifestyle with more positive coping skills. Beginning college however led to some drifting away from some of my friends that chose a different path. A few of my friends chose to go down the partying and drinking path and that has led to us spending much less time together. I have surrounded myself with friends that have the same mindset as me in the sense that alcohol is not needed to have fun. Surrounding myself with friends with similar values takes away any pressure to do things that I don't want to do. I am content with a sober life and wish more people would choose that for themselves as I see so many people in today's time that have issues with drinking. For myself, I choose to live a sober and drug-free and am happy with that choice.

Being raised by a single mother that always struggled to pay our bills, I would say by far the best financial advice that I have been given is to live within my means and to live debt free. I have learned that accruing debt only leads to more and more debt due to high-interest rates that lead to large additional fees and extra challenges to pay off what you owe. I believe we have a lot of people in our society living in debt specifically due to credit card spending and buying things that are not necessary and not within their budget. Credit cards can be great for things like earning airline miles and such, but they need to be paid off at the end of each month to keep the balance at zero so that interest does not accumulate that must be paid off in addition to the balance on the account. It is really easy for people to dig themselves into a hole with credit cards if they do not pay off the balance each month. Not paying off cards each month can lead to a vicious cycle of trying to pay off debt, but only managing to pay off the interest accrued and as such having the debt continue to increase monthly. I also strongly believe that in today's times, people feel a great deal of pressure to live up to the same standards as their friends and neighbors. Many people are purchasing things that they absolutely cannot afford and truly do not need. Growing up I learned that I did not need everything that I wanted or everything that my friends had. There were times when I was a bit envious of what they had, but watching how quickly our interests changed back then, I can look back and see what a waste it would have been to spend money we did not have on those things. I think it was potentially a blessing in disguise to grow up in a home where we did not have the financial means for me to have all the materialistic things that other kids around me had. According to various studies, between 75-80 percent of Americans are in debt anywhere from $35,000 to $60,000 depending on the study! That is concerning and I do not want to be a part of that. I hope in the future when I am out of college and working in my career that I will be able to be to budget my money in such a way that I can comfortably pay for my needs such as rent or mortgage, bills, food, spending, etc and still have money left over to put into a savings account and into investments each month. I also think working with a financial planner is a great way to keep on track. Having someone that is helping to guide you and help you invest wisely and to keep track of your savings and investments can be invaluable. Financial planners can work with you to help you set goals to save for retirement and future kids' college expenses and such and help you keep on track to meet those goals. Managing finances is an extremely important part of life and being an adult. I believe it just takes self-control and planning and dedication to your goals to keep yourself on track and out of debt. With today's culture of Amazon and online shopping, it is easy to overspend and order things on a whim. Learning to set a budget and control your impulses and only spend on what you need and what you have can save you a lot of money and help to keep you out of debt and financially sound for the here and now and for the future. One other piece of financial advice that I have been given and that I have seen firsthand that it is wise is to shop around when you do need to purchase something. Comparing prices from various stores, waiting for items to go on sale, and shopping your insurance rates each year and bills such as electricity can help keep expenses down on the things that you do need to be spending money on. I hope in the future when I am out of college and completely on my own that I can implement these pieces of advice that I have been given to live a financially smart life!

One of my favorite things in life is reading. I have read and re-read thousands of books in my life, so choosing just one book for everyone in the world to read is challenging. Out of all of the books I have read, however, one stands out as the one that I would most recommend for others to read. If I could only pick one book for everyone to read, it would be the first book in The Book of Sight series. The Book of Sight is a fairly realistic fiction book about a group of teenagers who receive a mysterious book that cannot be read in a normal way. Each person in the story must find their own way to read the book, such as reading the book out loud or reading the book with someone else. For each of the people that read the book, it has the effect of changing the way that the reader looks at the world. Brightly lit things become even brighter, shaded things become dimmer, colors become more vivid and so on. The change in perspective brought about by reading the book also causes the readers to notice creatures and beings that are normally hidden and not noticeable. The book is very intriguing to me because of the way it changes the way that the reader sees the world compared to how they saw it before reading the book. The Book of Sight is a fascinating book and the one book that I think everyone should read it. Even if only a fraction of the people who read it were to get something from it, I think it has the potential to make some people's lives a little bit better. It is a book that challenges the reader to look at things more closely and to appreciate things more.

Being raised by a single mom in a household that always struggled with finances has made me more determined to become financially stable. I do not need to be rich or have great things, I honestly prefer a very simple life, however, I do not want to have to worry about finances in the way that my mother has since my parents divorced. As a student, all my money goes towards college and rent. My mother saved some over the years, but it is not enough, so I work to help pay for what I can and apply for scholarships to help cover even more. I wish college was not so expensive. I am determined to earn my degree though and hope to graduate without much student debt to pay back. I want to graduate and get a good job and be able to completely start paying my way and take away my part of the financial source of stress that has constantly been on my mom. This is my first year living off campus and having to learn to manage money even more. I am learning firsthand this year ways that I can save money by shopping smart, cooking my meals, watching how much electricity my roommate and I use and limiting how much I drive to save on gas. I am learning that it pays, literally, to be aware of how much you are spending and on what. I am learning to budget and becoming more aware of the cost of things and ways to keep my expenses as low as possible. I believe that college is not only an important academic step to set me up for a career, but also an important step to set me up for a successful life. Success, not only in the sense of a good job but also in learning to be wise in my spending and hopefully in a future where I am sound enough financially that I can be generous and help others. I work to manage my finances by only spending money on things that I need such as tuition, books, rent, utilities and food. I do not go out often which can get very expensive, but rather stay in and study and read most of the time. I am learning to cook more things to avoid paying for the dining hall and my roommate and I chose an older apartment within walking distance of the campus so that we would not have to drive often. Learning to manage my finances has opened my eyes to the cost of living and how challenging it can be to pay for everything that one needs. Paying my bills has made me more aware of ways in which my bills can increase or decrease depending upon my shopping around to find the cheapest deal and controlling how much water and electricity I use. I am very much still in the early stages of learning to manage my finances, however, each year I am getting wiser and hope that as an adult I make smart financial choices that allow me to take care of not only myself but also provide for others in the future.

Being raised by a single mom in a household that always struggled with finances has made me more determined to become financially stable. I do not need to be rich or have great things, I honestly prefer a very simple life, however, I do not want to have to worry about finances in the way that my mother has since my parents divorced. As a student, all my money goes towards college and rent. My mother saved some over the years, but it is not enough, so I work to help pay for what I can and apply for scholarships to help cover even more. I wish college was not so expensive. I am determined to earn my degree though and hope to graduate without much student debt to pay back. I want to graduate and get a good job and be able to completely start paying my way and take away my part of the financial source of stress that has constantly been on my mom. This is my first year living off campus and having to learn to manage money even more. I am learning firsthand this year ways that I can save money by shopping smart, cooking my meals, watching how much electricity my roommate and I use and limiting how much I drive to save on gas. I am learning that it pays, literally, to be aware of how much you are spending and on what. I am learning to budget and becoming more aware of the cost of things and ways to keep my expenses as low as possible. I believe that college is not only an important academic step to set me up for a career, but also an important step to set me up for a successful life. Success, not only in the sense of a good job but also in learning to be wise in my spending and hopefully in a future where I am sound enough financially that I can be generous and help others. I work to manage my finances by only spending money on things that I need such as tuition, books, rent, utilities and food. I do not go out often which can get very expensive, but rather stay in and study and read most of the time. I am learning to cook more things to avoid paying for the dining hall and my roommate and I chose an older apartment within walking distance of the campus so that we would not have to drive often. Learning to manage my finances has opened my eyes to the cost of living and how challenging it can be to pay for everything that one needs. Paying my bills has made me more aware of ways in which my bills can increase or decrease depending upon my shopping around to find the cheapest deal and controlling how much water and electricity I use. I am very much still in the early stages of learning to manage my finances, however, each year I am getting wiser and hope that as an adult I make smart financial choices that allow me to take care of not only myself but also provide for others in the future.

Protecting our environment and climate change are concerns that we must address due to the impact that it is having on our planet. Without doing something to shift the change rate of change, we will continue to see detrimental effects such as an increase in severe storms, more drought in certain parts of the world, extinction of some animal species, and a reduction in the amount of food that can be produced. All of this will have an extremely negative impact on all of the people on our planet. We can each make important contributions towards protecting our environment. Everyone doing their part could lead to some very beneficial changes. There are lots of different ways to contribute, including planting trees, eating less meat, using renewable energy such as installing solar panels or using LED lightbulbs, recycling, using less energy especially by turning off electronics when not in use and turning off lights when not needed, and reducing driving. Even things as simple as not using plastic straws or buying bottles of water and trying to reduce the waste that we produce are helpful. For my part, I have focused on not driving except when necessary. I mostly walk where I need to go since I am on a college campus. When I do drive, I try to carpool with my roommate as much as I can. I also tend to keep the lights off in my apartment and just use the light from my phone or computer to see, along with natural light through the windows. I also have several refillable water bottles that I use daily and just wash and refill as needed. Finally, I recycle anything that can be recycled including cans, boxes, and plastic. Protecting our environment and slowing climate change seems like such a big thing and I think that people tend to feel like there is nothing they can do about it, but there are small things that we can all do that add up to make a difference. I think it is important for us to remember that no matter how insignificant our efforts may seem, when added to everyone else's efforts, we can make a positive impact that will help to preserve our planet. We need to live with a future-focused mindset instead of just living in a day-to-day manner. Being future-focused will help us to be more proactive to work towards slowing climate change, protecting our environment and preserving our world. Future generations, including our potential kids and grandkids, will benefit from the efforts that we make now. I for one and willing to do my part in making some fairly simple changes to help protect our environment for future generations.

Growing up involved in Boy Scouts and in a home that was very involved with animal rescues led me to see the importance and value of volunteering and working to help my community. Many people look at community service as only helping others; however, for those of us who truly get involved in community service, we see that it is also something gratifying for us, the ones doing the giving. I did a lot of community service as part of Boy Scouts, but where I found my passion for volunteering was through my home. I love animals, as do my mother and brother. We started volunteering at animal shelters when I was in middle school. My mom and brother are big dog people, but I love cats. My family calls me the Cat Whisperer. I loved going to the shelter and volunteering in the cat and kitten room while my mother and brother went to volunteer with the dogs. Eventually, we decided as a family to take on a bigger role in animal rescue and started fostering for a dog rescue. Fostering was a lot of work, but also very rewarding to see the change in the dogs as we nursed them back to health from being homeless and on the street to the point where they were healthy and ready for adoption. My true love is cats though. My mother agreed to allow us to start fostering for a cat rescue group in addition to the dog rescue group. This turned our house into a zoo, but to me it was great. As the one who wanted to foster kittens and cats, I did most of the work for the cat rescue. I fed the cats, spent countless hours with them socializing and caring for them, and I cleaned up after them. Again, it was even more work than when we were just fostering dogs, but I loved every second of fostering kittens and cats. I fostered, along with my family, for the cat rescue group throughout all of my time in high school. Since I left for college, my family has stopped fostering cats and kittens since I was the one taking care of them and they couldn't manage it with me gone at school. We did foster one again this past summer while I was home though which reminded me of how much I enjoyed it. Once I graduate college, I would like to get back to volunteering with a cat rescue group. In Texas where I live, the homeless pet population and euthanasia rate of animals is ridiculously high. I want to continue working to make a difference in that once I am out completely on my own. There are many ways to make a positive change in your community. It just takes finding what you are passionate about and getting involved. For me, working with cat rescues is where I have found I can make a difference. College is so expensive. I was raised by a single mom that works as a middle school counselor. Although my mom was diligent about saving to help me pay for college, there is a very big gap between what we have and what it costs. I have been working since my junior year in high school to also help pay for college, but again even with that added in, it will not be enough. I am really in need of scholarship money to help me finish my degree. I would love to be able to contribute more to my college tuition and reduce the stress on my mother.

Growing up involved in Boy Scouts and in a home that was very involved with animal rescues led me to see the importance and value of volunteering and working to help my community. I strongly agree with Winston Churchill in that we make a life by what we give. Many people look at community service as only helping others; however, for those of us who truly get involved in community service, we see that it is also something gratifying for us, the ones doing the giving. I did a lot of community service as part of Boy Scouts, but where I found my passion for community service was through my home. I love animals, as do my mother and brother. We started volunteering at animal shelters when I was in middle school. My mom and brother are big dog people, but I love cats. My family calls me the Cat Whisperer. I loved going to the shelter and helping out in the cat and kitten room while my mother and brother went to walk and help take care of the dogs. Eventually, we decided as a family to take on a bigger role in animal rescue and started fostering for a dog rescue group. It was a lot of work, but also very rewarding to see the change in the dogs as we nursed them back to health from being homeless and on the street to the point where they were healthy and ready for adoption. Like I said though, my true love is cats. My mother agreed to allow us to start fostering for a cat rescue group in addition to the dog rescue group. This turned our house into somewhat of a zoo most of the time, but to me it was great. As the one who wanted to foster kittens and cats, I did most of the work for the cat rescue. I fed the cats, spent countless hours with them socializing and caring for them, and I cleaned up after them. Again, it was even more work than when we were just fostering dogs, but I loved every second of fostering kittens and cats. I did this with my family throughout my entire time in high school. Since I left for college, my family has backed away from fostering cats and kittens since I was the main one taking care of them and they couldn't manage it with me gone at school. We did foster one again this past summer while I was home though which reminded me of how much I enjoyed it. Once I graduate college and become more stable, I would like to get back to helping out with a cat rescue group. In Texas where I live, the homeless pet population and euthanasia rate of animals is ridiculously high. I want to continue working to try to make a difference in that once I am out completely on my own. There are many ways to influence and make a positive change in your community. Everyone needs to just find what they feel passionate about and get involved in serving in that area. For me, working with cat rescues is my favorite way of working to make a positive change in my community.

As an Eagle Scout, community service and conserving the environment are two things that have become important to me. It is alarming to me how rapidly climate change is occurring these days and it seems imperative that we as a whole need to make some extreme changes to combat it. There are a lot of small personal ways that people can help, such as recycling, driving an electric car or carpooling or taking public transportation, turning down the thermostat, planting trees, and many more ways. As a student majoring in Computer Science, I believe I will have the opportunity throughout my career to make a positive impact on the world. Computer Science and computer modeling are integral in allowing us to process data using algorithms to see trends in climate change and to foresee what the future looks like in terms of increasing global temperatures. Computer Science provides the ability to look at ways in which we can reduce carbon emissions, generate more renewable energy, and slow down climate change. Computer Science allows us to be able to more quickly analyze data to find the most effective courses of action to make the most impactful changes. In high school, I took an Environmental Science course and it opened my eyes to what is happening in our world. It made me see that the Earth is not sustainable at the rate of consumption of energy and food that we are currently using. Also, just seeing personally the extreme changes that we are getting in weather in Texas these days is telling of what is happening in regards to climate change. I am extremely excited to be heading into a field of work that will allow me to potentially make some positive impact on our planet. I would love nothing more than to take some of the passions I have and things that have become important to me such as climate change and community service and to be able to combine those with my profession to work towards a more sustainable Earth. Looking at the data and current trends is extremely disturbing when considering future generations, some of which may be my children and grandchildren. If I could play a role in creating some positive changes that would slow down or reverse some of the damage that people have created by using my Computer Science skills, I would be very happy. This is a serious concern for all of us and I believe that heading into the field that I am will enable me the ability to work toward some positive changes.

Although I believe I personally have not been affected much by the phenomenon in the quote, I also believe that the quote mentions a genuine issue resulting from online communication, especially on platforms such as forums and social media. Both from what I have seen and what I have heard, there can be a noticeable difference between the way an individual communicates online compared to in person. I believe the difference in how many people behave online is a result of the fact that individuals communicating online are aware that the person they are talking to likely knows nothing about them and will never learn about them, which causes them to speak much more freely than they would if they were communicating in person. Being in front of a screen rather than in front of the actual person creates both a feeling of safety and a feeling of anonymity which, when combined, causes a person to speak much more freely. The individual feels much less pressure from the person they are communicating with, and as a result they ignore the generally accepted social conventions and manners that are usually considered both consciously and unconsciously during communication. Another possible reason for the online disregard of social norms is an issue related to the feeling of anonymity that results from being behind a screen, which is the lack of knowledge about the conversation partner. Online discussions also lack body language, facial expressions, appearance, tone, volume, and countless other cues and hints that are used during conversations in person. Online discussions often involve only text, although they can occasionally include small bits of information that can be gathered from pictures or voices that may be attached to the discussion. In addition, this lack of any sort of cues or hints can cause problems on both sides of the discussion. Due to the fact that there are no cues or hints that can be seen from either side of the discussion, there is a lot of room for interpretation, which can result in numerous issues. The tone, volume, and intonation are all formed in the reader's mind, which can partially or completely distort the meaning of the message. This distortion of the message can happen repeatedly, on both sides of the discussion, compounding the issue until it reaches a breaking point. Moreover, even if it does not happen repeatedly or compound the issue, the distortion can still cause issues in the conversation, such as an argument starting due to a misunderstanding of the meaning of a message. Overall, there are numerous reasons that support the issue mentioned in the quote and I do believe that it occurs regularly within online gaming forums. I also believe that it can be damaging to the self-esteem of people on the receiving end as well as begin to feel like it is an acceptable way to behave on the side of the person that is discarding the social norms. The consequences of this behavior online can eventually bleed over into real life and cause issues that would not have occurred without online gaming conversations.

Generational wealth to me is building a financial foundation that is stable and able to be passed down to future generations, such as my future children and grandchildren. I believe generational wealth is accomplished through smart saving and investing in areas that will allow money to grow. Generational wealth is helpful in that it helps to ensure that future generations have the opportunity to pursue their dreams and goals without the extra stress and pressure of figuring out how to financially pay for it all, especially at the rate of inflation that we are seeing that is making it hard for many families to keep up with. As someone being raised by a single mom who does not have the financial ability to completely help me pay for my college education, I can see how generational wealth can make life much easier for future generations. It is my hope that once I get my degree and begin working in the Computer Science field, that I will be able to invest and save and build a strong financial nest egg for my family in the future. I believe there are several ways to establish generational wealth, but I think a good starting point is by working with a financial advisor. Educating myself in areas such as stocks and bonds and investing will also be important. I also believe that purchasing land and property can help to contribute to what I am eventually able to pass down to my children. Life insurance policies are also important when looking at taking care of future generations. My goal is to graduate college debt free, but coming from a single parent household and a mother that does not have much savings has led to both my mother and myself working hard to try to find ways to fund my education. My mother has saved some each month for my brother and myself for school, but it does not come close to covering the insanely high college prices. I have also been working for several years to be able to contribute to my college expenses as well. I am also applying for a lot of scholarships to try to help cover the difference. I see the cost of living these days and truly do not want to graduate with a big debt to pay back in addition to trying to get started living completely independently in a time when the cost of living is so high. Witnessing the struggle that my mom and family have gone through financially makes me want to strongly create a more financially stable life for my future generations. There is absolutely nothing wrong with kids working and helping to pay their way through college, however, I would really love to create a more secure financial portfolio to be able to help my children and grandchildren as much as possible in the future. Working in the Computer Science field, I feel, should provide me with a financially secure job. I feel however that the earlier I begin to save and invest and educate myself about maximizing my finances the better off I will be. I think some of it is trial and error, but mostly it requires being smart and reading and learning and working with an advisor to make smart financial decisions and investments.

Single moms work tirelessly and my mom is the perfect example of that. My parents divorced when I was five and all of my grandparents had already passed away, so my mother was truly on her own raising myself and my brother me. Throughout my life, I watched my mom frequently work more than one job to try to pay the bills and take care of us. My mother is a school counselor in a public middle school and has struggled to make ends meet on her salary. It was important to my mother to keep us in our home an our neighborhood where we already had good friends and neighbors. Moving to a different house in a different place may have made life easier on my mother, but she wanted us to have stability in a time where our lives were very unstable. My mother has sacrificed a lot for both my brother and myself. Throughout my childhood and even still now, my mother has always put the needs of me and my brother first. She supports us financially as well as emotionally. She always seems to find a way to pay for the things we need. We did not grow up like most of our friends with everything we wanted, but we always had what we needed. She has also always been active in our lives. I cannot think of a single event of mine or my brother's that she has missed. We have always been her top priority. My mom has taught me the meaning of family. She taught us that being a family meant that we all had to help each other out. She also taught us the importance of spending time together. Growing up we frequently had dinner together as well as game and movie nights. I also learned the importance of letting my family know that I loved them with both my words and my actions. Our home included a lot of "I love you's" and a lot of hugs. I am grateful to my mom for everything that she has done for me over the years. The love, support and encouragement that she provided has helped to propel me to the place that I am now. She sacrificed a great deal for me and my brother, but she has told us that it was all worth it to see the men that we are growing up to be. People always tell her what a great job she has done raising us both, and I don't think she always feels that way, but I strongly agree with them. College is so expensive these days, and for my mom, trying to help me with the cost of tuition and rent and books is a challenge. She saved a little bit each month our whole lives though so she has a little to help us each out. She also pushed me to get a job my junior year of high school and I have been working at Home Depot since, which has also helped cover some of my college expenses. Even with what both of us have to contribute though, it is not nearly enough. By applying for scholarships like this though, I am determined to get my degree and make an impact in the world. My uncle has a friend that says she can hire me on at NASA once I graduate, which I think would be awesome and an opportunity to truly do some amazing work in the future that would be beneficial to society.

Perseverance to me means not giving up, but rather continuing to try no matter how hard it is or what obstacles stand in your way. Events in life that challenge a person are also likely to be the experiences that are some of the most important ones regarding a person’s growth. Failures and setbacks often provide more opportunities for an individual to grow than success does. The growth and development that results from failures and setbacks often lead a person to be able to succeed at a later time if they do not give up and continue to try to reach their goal. As such, failures and setbacks are just as important if not more important than successes, at least in terms of the growth and development of a person. One challenge that required perseverance on my part was when I went to the Boy Scouts High Adventure Trek known as Philmont. The trek was a ten day backpacking trip through the wilderness with only a small group of people and only the supplies we were able to carry in the backpacks we brought. The trip consisted of a 70 mile hike over ten days up to the peak of a mountain and over rough terrain. During the trek, we only had access to a limited amount of food, water, and supplies, all of which were stored inside the backpacks we had to carry for the entire hike. In addition to our own individual supplies, we had to split the community food, equipment, and other basic items so that each person could carry their own pack as well as their share of the common supplies. Throughout the trip, everyone in the group alternated duties, with different people being assigned to do the cooking, cleaning, and other tasks each day. We had to hike between seven to eight miles each day, while pausing at certain areas to perform that day's designated activity, such as rappelling, fly fishing, or shooting. Although the group did prepare for the trek before leaving, there were still many times while hiking when I felt like I had not prepared enough for the trip. I repeatedly had to ignore the pain and exhaustion that accumulated while hiking and carrying a heavy backpack each day. The final descent down the mountain on the last day was particularly exhausting, with the descent being nothing but a series of switchbacks looping back and forth all the way down the mountain with almost no shade the entire time. Overall, the trip was extremely memorable and I am glad to have gone through the experience, even if there were many moments during the trip that were painful and difficult. Philmont was an incredible experience, as we only had access to what we were able and willing to carry for the entire ten day trip. Due to the experience of only being able to rely on myself and the few people in my trek crew, I feel that I learned quite a bit more about self-reliance than I knew before the trip. Additionally, due to the experience of repeatedly pushing myself to keep walking, sometimes for an extended amount of time after I wanted to stop, I grew a great deal in terms of mental strength, grit and perseverance, as I had to force myself to keep going despite feeling pain and exhaustion. Overall, while I find it hard to express the changes that resulted from going to Philmont, I believe that the challenges and difficulties that I experienced during the trip had an extremely positive impact on my growth as an individual.

Growing up with technology at my fingertips from a young age led to a lot of time spent online in a variety of ways. I grew up playing video games, texting with friends, experiencing social media, using navigation apps when I learned to drive and so much more. The reason why I decided to pursue a degree in Computer Science was however a gradual increase in my interest in everything related to computers, especially programming. I think the reason why I initially became interested in Computer Science is due to playing video games from a young age, however, the interest that started from video games slowly changed into an interest in programming, and then Computer Science as a whole. Naturally, part of my interest still lies with video games, both creating them and playing them, but I am also interested when it comes to other areas of Computer Science such as artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and software development. Another more realistic part that weighed into my decision is the fact that out of everything I love and enjoy when thinking about what I was truly interested in pursuing as a career my choices narrowed considerably. Aside from Computer Science, the only other possible career that I considered pursuing was becoming an author and writing novels, but after considering it I felt strongly that Computer Science was undoubtedly what I wanted to pursue for my future career. Although I love reading with a passion and devour books at a rapid pace and was always interested in writing something of my own, I was never able to actually start writing something since I would always end up reading something else whenever I tried to write something of my own. On the other hand, I have come to enjoy writing code and feel like it has blended my two separate interests of writing and Computer Science. I have discovered that writing code is often very relaxing for me because I really enjoy it and get involved in what I am working on. Even when I am feeling particularly challenged by a certain piece of code that I am working on and not feeling relaxed, I still feel interested whenever I am writing code. Computer Science is one of the only areas of my life where I feel like that is the case, being able to enjoy and be interested in something even when I am not relaxed and am finding myself truly challenged. Working on programming gives me a sense of accomplishment that I don't find in other areas of my life. A final reason why I decided to pursue a degree in Computer Science is because of the creative aspect of coding. In the same way as how I enjoy seeing all the tricks that can be done using equations and graphs in math, I enjoy seeing all the different tricks and methods used in coding to create various results. It is truly fascinating to me to see what can be accomplished and created with coding.This interest in seeing how results are created from programs is one of the biggest parts of why I am enjoying pursuing a degree in Computer Science. I believe Computer Science is a field of study that I will truly enjoy working in. It is a degree that truly matches my personality and my strengths and one that allows for so many avenues of work in the future. I believe it will always remain exciting and interesting to me because it is a career that will always be evolving and changing and continuously challenging me to learn and grow.

My journey with mental health issues has had a pervasive impact on all areas of my life and has impacted my beliefs, relationships and aspirations. I am a very introverted person that severely struggles with social anxiety. I have been on social anxiety medications and seeing a therapist for several years, and it has helped some, but more just taken the edge off to make it slightly more manageable. I know that there are some really good things about me because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am aware that I have changed over time and grown more anxious and introverted. I was not always this way, and although I know it is something that I will continue to have to work on, it is also something that I have had to learn to accept and do my best to embrace about myself. I know my friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately, I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and anxiety and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. I am grateful for the group of friends that I had throughout high school and feel that I have been fortunate in the relationships that I have formed over the years. However, since leaving high school and starting college friendships have become more of a challenge as all of my high school friends went separate ways and making new friends with my social anxiety has been a big struggle leaving me alone most of the time. My anxiety and self-awareness of who I am and how I am has had an impact on my aspirations for the future. I feel that I have developed a fairly clear understanding of myself. I do not know if I will ever understand what makes me so much more quiet and introverted than most people, but I have learned that it is at least for now just how I am. With all that in mind, my aspirations for my life have become clearer now because I can better understand myself and accept those parts of myself that I previously rejected and could not understand. Music was a big part of my high school life and I had considered majoring in music, however, with my social anxiety I felt it might not be a career that I would be comfortable in. I still love music and enjoy listening and playing, but have chosen to pursue a degree in computer science instead of music, which I think will be a much better match for me professionally. Overall, mental health, especially social anxiety, has had an impact on my life and has led to daily challenges. I am trying to push myself to overcome my anxiety and do things that I am not comfortable with. There are parts of myself that I want to change, but I am working to accept myself where I am right now. Learning to accept myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful. I hope one day to truly overcome my anxiety and be more confident and social. Overcoming at least some of my anxiety would make relationships and future work much easier.

Single moms work tirelessly. My parents divorced when I was five and my grandparents had already passed away, so my mother was truly on her own raising both my brother and me. Throughout my life, I watched my mom frequently work more than one job to try to pay the bills. My mother is a school counselor in a public middle school and struggled to make ends meet on her salary. After my parent's divorce, it was important to my mother to keep us in our home and our neighborhood where we had good friends and neighbors. Moving may have made life easier for my mother, but she wanted us to have stability at a time when our lives were very unstable. Being raised by a single mom has shaped my educational journey in several ways. Education is very important to my mother and she has always pushed us to do our best. She never put pressure on us but instead taught us from a young age that education is a privilege and that we should see it as such and challenge ourselves in school. She did however also teach us that life requires a balance, therefore despite pushing us to do well in school, she also taught us the value of family time, friendship time, community service, and extracurricular activities. As a result, I ended up earning my Eagle Scout rank, becoming a National Merit Semifinalist, and having a great time in school participating in band throughout my middle school and high school years. My mother has been diligent about saving for college tuition for my brother and me, however, it is not nearly enough to cover the incredibly high cost of college. Starting my junior year of high school, my mother encouraged me to start working to save for college and to help pay for my personal expenses. She also was very honest with me about our household income and the cost of college and encouraged me to apply for scholarships to help with the large gap of what was needed for me to be able to go to college and earn my degree. I have continued since that time to work and apply for scholarships to help pay for my college expenses. My mother raised us in a home filled with animals! We volunteered and fostered for two animal rescue groups. It made life crazy and busy, but also fun. I love animals, so despite the work involved, I enjoyed all the animals that came through our house and watching their transformation from the sick, skinny animals that came to us to the healthy, happy animals that we eventually had to say goodbye to when they were adopted. Between that and Boy Scouts, I learned the value of giving back and that even though it takes time and energy and sometimes money to do so, it not only helps those that you are giving to but also is an extremely rewarding experience for the ones doing the giving. It is a lesson I am grateful that I learned. I plan to continue to find ways to give back to my community as I grow up and am eventually fully on my own. I am grateful to my mom for everything that she has done for me. The love, support and encouragement that she provided has helped to propel me to the place I am now. She has sacrificed a great deal for me and my brother, but she has told us that it is worth it to see the men that we are growing up to be.

Music has been a passion of mine since I entered 6th grade and joined the band. Over the years as I participated in concert band, jazz band and full orchestra, my exposure to more genres of music increased, leading to an even deeper and more broad passion for many styles of music. Out of the multitude of songs that I have listened to over the years, the song that has the most important message to me, at least from the songs I have listened to in the past year or so, is a song called I Can't Wait to Meet You by a YouTube channel called Fearless Soul. I have always liked the idea of soulmates, or people who match each other so well that they seem to be meant to meet. I feel like this song captures that idea really well. The entire song, from the message to the lyrics to the instruments and the tempo are very uplifting and relaxing. This is a song that I enjoy no matter what mood I am in, however, listening to this song when I am not feeling great helps me to clear away negative emotions. The song's message about waiting for the good that will come, and the song's affirmation that good will eventually come really helps me to shift myself into a more positive mood when I am struggling in life. Listening to this song never fails to lift my spirits.

Being a parent is hard, but being a single parent is extra hard. My mother raised my brother and myself as a single, working mom without much support. It was evident to see how tired she often was, but it was also evident that we were her number one priority. My mother attended everyone of my events and pushed and supported me along the way. My mother taught me that I didn't always have to be perfect, but that I needed to do my best. She helped to nurture in me what would eventually become an intrinsic desire to reach my full potential. I am grateful for everything that my mother has done for me and for her unfailing support throughout my life. With her love and support I achieved Eagle Scout rank, became a National Merit Semifinalist, and excelled in music. One of the biggest gifts my mother gave me was the love of books and reading. I was always good in school and did well on standardized tests, but I believe that my love of reading and my mother always being willing to provide me with lots of books helped contribute to my National Merit Semifinalist rank. Reading is a great passion of mine, and as a result, I have developed an extensive vocabulary. My goal to go to college and earn a Computer Science degree would not have been possible without my mom. My mother has two master's degrees and is a middle school counselor and she strongly values education. My mom encouraged me throughout high school to take a variety of courses that I was interested in so that I could figure out what I wanted to study in college. For me, that ended up being Computer Science. Every month my mother faithfully put aside some money to save for my brother and I to go to college, however, on her salary it does not come close to being enough to pay for us to both go through four years of college. As a result of needing money for college and life, my mother helped to instill in me work ethic not only to do well in school, but also to help pay for my education. She has taught me the value of money and to spend it on what is truly important rather than on things I want that will not mean anything to me down the road. I have been working at Home Depot for several years to help fund my education and have been applying for a lot of scholarships. I am so grateful for my mother's love and support for the past twenty years and would love nothing more than to earn some scholarship money to ease the financial stress that she is under with trying to help me attain my degree. My mother has played a hugely influential role in both the person and the student that I have become and I am beyond grateful for her help in getting me to the point that I am at now in life.

Growing up in the digital era led to a passion for computers and technology. From early on, I enjoyed computers and everything about them. When I entered middle school and was able to choose electives, it was an easy choice to start taking technology courses. The first technology class I took was Gateway to Technology. I loved the course and it became for me just what the name says, a gateway to more technology classes. I went on to take Video Game Design and eventually AP Computer Science. My Computer Science teacher was fantastic and solidified for me the decision to major in Computer Science in college. Now in my Sophomore year of college, I am thoroughly enjoying everything that I am learning in my Computer Science classes. I entered college with over thirty college credits, so I was able to start into my major courses right away. I am looking forward to next year when I get the opportunity to start choosing some elective courses that I want to learn more about. Making the decision of which electives I will take out of all the options is being challenging, however I am really interested in exploring Artificial Intelligence, Computer Security, Programming Languages and Game Design. I am certain that after taking several elective courses that I will be able to narrow down what area of Computer Science I am most interested in and determine what my dream job is. As the child of a single mother and a National Merit Semifinalist I feel strongly that I am very deserving of this scholarship. I am a strong student with excellent work ethic and want more that anything to finish my college degree and put it to use in the field of Computer Science. College is insanely expensive though and even with me working during every break and my mother working overtime jobs in addition to her fulltime job as a middle school counselor, it is absolutely necessary for me to earn some scholarship money. My mother has made college a priority for my brother and myself and is helping as much as possible, but as I get older I am seeing that it is at the expense of many other things such as her retirement fund and major home repairs. I am working as much as I can to contribute to the cost of my education to try to alleviate some of the stress and financial burden from her shoulders, but it does not come close to the amount needed. As a National Merit Semifinalist, I expected to get a fairly good financial aid award, however with Covid and schools changing to test optional, I found that most schools did not consider SAT scores into their scholarship determinations in the way that they did in the past. Therefore, I am needing to earn some scholarship money to be able to contribute more to my college expenses. I would be extremely grateful and honored to be selected to receive this scholarship.

My journey with mental health issues has had a pervasive impact on all areas of my life and definitely impacted my beliefs, relationships and aspirations. I am a very introverted person that struggles with social anxiety. I have been on anxiety medications and seeing a therapist for several years, and it has helped some, but more just taken off the edge to make it slightly more manageable. I know that there are some really good things about me, because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am confident in my intellect because that has always come fairly easily to me, partially because of how extensively I read, but as far as social skills, that is a very different story. I am aware that I have changed over time and grown more anxious and introverted. I was not always this way, and although I know it is something that I will continue to have to work on, it is also something that I have had to learn to accept and do my best to embrace about myself. I know my friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and anxiety and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. I am grateful for the group of friends that I had all throughout high school and feel that I have been fortunate in the relationships that I have formed over the years. However, since leaving high school and starting college friendships have become more of a challenge as all of my high school friends went separate ways and making new friends with my social anxiety has been a big struggle leaving me alone most of the time. My anxiety and self awareness of who I am and how I am has had an impact on my aspirations for the future. I feel that I have developed a fairly clear understanding of myself. I do not know if I will ever understand what makes me so much more quiet and introverted than most people, but I have learned that it is at least for now just how I am. With all that in mind, my aspirations for my life have become clearer due to the fact that I can better understand myself, as well as accept those parts of myself that I previously rejected and could not understand. Music was a big part of my high school career, being in marching band, concert band, and jazz band, and I had toyed with the idea of majoring in music, however with my social anxiety I felt it might not be a career that I would be comfortable in. I still love music and enjoy listening and playing, but have chosen to pursue a degree in computer science instead of music, which I think will be a much better match for me professionally. Overall, mental health, especially social anxiety, has had an impact on my life and has led to daily challenges. I am however consistently pushing myself to overcome my anxiety and do things that I am not necessarily comfortable with. There are parts of myself that I want to improve, but I feel that I have learned to accept myself where I am at right now and be able to continue to try to improve in the areas that I know are not my strengths. Learning to accept myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful. I hope one day to truly overcome my anxiety and be more confident and social, but if that does not happen, I know I will be alright because I have learned that we are all different and maybe this is just the way I am and that is okay.

My journey with mental health issues has had a pervasive impact on all areas of my life and definitely impacted my beliefs, relationships and aspirations. I am a very introverted person that struggles with social anxiety. I have been on anxiety medications and seeing a therapist for several years, and it has helped some, but more just taken off the edge to make it slightly more manageable. I know that there are some really good things about me, because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am aware that I have changed over time and grown more anxious and introverted. I was not always this way, and although I know it is something that I will continue to have to work on, it is also something that I have had to learn to accept and do my best to embrace about myself. I know my friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and anxiety and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. I am grateful for the group of friends that I had all throughout high school and feel that I have been fortunate in the relationships that I have formed over the years. However, since leaving high school and starting college friendships have become more of a challenge as all of my high school friends went separate ways and making new friends with my social anxiety has been a big struggle leaving me alone most of the time. My anxiety and self awareness of who I am and how I am has had an impact on my aspirations for the future. I do not know if I will ever understand what makes me so much more quiet and introverted than most people, but I have learned that it is at least for now just how I am. With all that in mind, my aspirations for my life have become clearer due to the fact that I can better understand myself, as well as accept those parts of myself that I previously rejected and could not understand. Music was a big part of my high school career, being in marching band, concert band, and jazz band, and I had toyed with the idea of majoring in music, however with my social anxiety I felt it might not be a career that I would be comfortable in. I still love music and enjoy listening and playing, but have chosen to pursue a degree in computer science instead of music, which I think will be a much better match for me professionally. Overall, mental health, especially social anxiety, has had an impact on my life and has led to daily challenges. I am however consistently pushing myself to overcome my anxiety and do things that I am not necessarily comfortable with. There are parts of myself that I want to improve, but I feel that I have learned to accept myself where I am at right now and be able to continue to try to improve in the areas that I know are not my strengths. Learning to accept myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful.

Climate change is a concern that we must address due to the impact that it is having on our planet. Without doing something to shift the climate change, we will continue to see detrimental effects such as an increase in severe storms, more drought in certain parts of the world, extinction of some animal species, and a reduction in the amount of food that is able to be produced. All of this will have an extremely negative impact on all of the people on our planet. We can each contribute to help reduce the rate at which our climate is changing. Everyone doing their part could lead to some very beneficial changes. There are lots of different ways to contribute, including planting trees, eating less meat, using renewable energy such as installing solar panels or using LED lightbulbs, recycling, using less energy especially by turning off electronics when not in use and turning off lights when not needed, and reducing driving. For my part, I have focused on not driving except when necessary. I mostly walk where I need to go since I am on a college campus. When I do drive, I try to carpool with my roommate as much as I can. I also tend to keep the lights off in my apartment and just use the light from my phone or computer to see, along with natural light through the windows. Finally, I recycle anything that is able to be recycled including cans, boxes, and plastic. Climate change seems like such a big thing and I think that people tend to feel like there is nothing they can do about it, but there are small things that we can all do that add up to make a difference. I think it is important for us to remember that no matter how insignificant our efforts may seem, that added with everyone else's efforts, we can make a positive impact on climate change and help to preserve our planet. It is important for us to live with a future focused mindset instead of just living in a day to day manner. Being future focused will help us to be more proactive to work towards slowing climate change and preserving our world. Future generations, including our potential kids and grandkids, will benefit from the efforts that we make now. I for one and willing to do my part in making some fairly simple changes in order to help slow down climate change.

Being raised by a single mom that struggled to make ends meet, I was taught from early on to work hard and live within my means. I was taught to budget wisely and do my best to live without debts. I believe this was very good advice and something that I am doing my best to incorporate into my life as I am becoming an adult and more financially responsible for myself. This advice has strongly come into play when looking at paying for college. As a result, I am applying for as many scholarships as possible to try to reduce the amount of money that my education costs. I am also working during all my breaks and being very careful with the money that I make so that it is not wasted on unimportant wants, but rather put towards my needs, such as college tuition. My mother taught me that there are a lot of things in life that I may want, but that I do not necessarily need them. I grew up with a lot less stuff than most of my friends, but in hindsight, it really did not make a difference in my life. I had everything that I needed, and wants change with time, so spending lots of money on wants can end up being very wasteful when your interests change and you now have expensive things sitting around going unused. My goal is to graduate college completely debt free and to hopefully find a career that both pays well and is something that I enjoy and am good at. Growing up, I watched my mother worry and stress over money and that is something I hope to avoid. I do not know if I will be able to graduate debt free, because in order to do so I will need to continue earning scholarships to supplement what my parents and I are able to pay, but I am hopeful that I will manage it. I am willing to put in the work to apply for scholarships and work as much as possible to try to make that dream happen. I believe that living within your means is the most important advice that I have been given and advice that I fully intend to follow. I have learned that living fairly simply with just what I need and maybe a few special wants can lead to a much more peaceful life than having everything I want, but living with the stress and worry of how I will pay off the debts that those things led to.

Computers and technology have become a part of almost every aspect of our lives at this point. As a result of the abundance of career options in the technology field and the fact that I thoroughly enjoy working with computers, I have chosen to pursue a degree in Computer Science. I took several computer based classes in high school including Computer Science, Engineering and Game Design, and Computer Science is the one that really appealed to me. I am now a sophomore in college and am really enjoying my actual degree classes. They are extremely challenging, but also rewarding to see the result of my programming work. I believe that science is extremely important to society. Science, like computers, is needed in a multitude of fields. Science helps us to solve problems and teaches us how to analyze data and results and to use those results in a beneficial manner. Science and the understanding of it helps us in a vast number of fields. Science has led to progress in the medical field, creating new medicines and vaccines and finding cures for diseases. Science helps us to understand weather patterns and how to predict weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes, therefore allowing people to be warned early so they can take precautions. Science is the basis for most of the inventions that man has made over the years, such as electricity, cars, and computers. The field of science is one of the most important fields there is because it plays such a critical role in so many other fields. Computer Science, like science, is all about problem solving and creating a positive impact in the world. Computer Science has led to an increase in communication, making a very large world seem much smaller with the ability to easily interact with people all over the world. Computer Science also plays an important role in scientific research. Simulators such as the ones that NASA uses to help astronauts prepare for space journeys is a good example of this. Computer Science also has had an enormous impact on the science world, making things like creating new medicines, predicting weather patterns, and advancements in smart technology more quickly achievable. I believe that the two fields of Science and Computer Science work in tandem in many ways. Both fields are helping us to better our world and make advancements at a very rapid rate. I believe within my lifetime that I will see some amazing changes as a result of Science and Computer Science.

As a Christian, an Eagle Scout, and the son of a single mother, I believe that I have grown up with many positive characteristics instilled in me. I am quiet, but still a strong leader. I lead well by example and through encouragement. I served in leadership positions in the activities that I participated in throughout middle school and high school. While in Boy Scouts, I served as a patrol leader for many years, guiding the younger scouts in our troop. I also served as a leader in my high school band. I served on the loading crew, coming early and staying late to help the band get everything loaded and unloaded for every game and contest. I believe a leader does not have to be loud and controlling, but can rather be a positive, quiet guide to lead the group in the right direction. Resilience is another trait that I believe that I possess. By the time I was five years old, all of my grandparents had passed away and my parents were going through a divorce. Losing so much at one time was very difficult for me. Life had been really great for the first five years, with my parents still married and my maternal grandmother who I was very close to still alive. All of that changed however within a very short period of time. My grandmother passed away one night while I was spending the night with her and then my parents went through a divorce and my dad quickly introduced us to a new girlfriend. I can look back on my life so far and see that I changed during that time. I became more quiet and more sad, however with time I developed the resilience to overcome those challenging life changes. Being an unselfish person is a trait that comes naturally to me. I almost always put others before myself. I like to see others happy and enjoy being able to be a part of making that happen. I was also raised by a mother that felt strongly about volunteering and community service, and that is something that I also became passionate about. My family volunteered with two animal rescue groups as I was growing up and as such I had a lot of extra responsibilities. Fostering dogs and cats added a great amount of work to my life, but I loved doing it. Watching the sick, starving, injured animals that we took in to foster recover and eventually get adopted was a great feeling and something that I hope to be able to continue once I am established in my own home. I am a very focus driven person with a strong work ethic. Working towards my Eagle Scout rank, going on a Philmont trek, and working hard in school and earning a National Merit Semifinalist status are all examples of my determination to push myself to be my best. I strongly believe in balance in life though as well. I believe that we need to push ourselves and work hard, but that we also need to balance that with hobbies we enjoy, helping others, and time with family and friends. My future goal is to work in the Computer Science field. I enjoy technology and believe that it will be an interesting career that will never be boring as technology continues to evolve and I have to constantly learn new skills and information to stay up to date. I hope to continue to serve as a leader in the future, leading by example in my workplace and with my family and friends.

Being raised in a Christian home by my mother and attending church and Awana's from the time I was little created a strong Christian foundation in me. My grandparents, especially my grandmother, were crucial in my Christian development as well. As the first grandchild, my grandmother and I were very close. My grandmother watched me while my parents worked. My grandmother and I spent a great deal of time together doing fun things. When I was five though my world was instantly changed by the sudden death of my grandmother. It was my grandmother's 66th birthday and some relatives were in town to celebrate with us. My mother cooked dinner and we had a party for my grandma. My grandfather had already passed away two years prior, so my grandma lived alone. On the night of her birthday, I went with her to spend the night. Being only five, I slept in the bed with my grandma. I was really excited to have a sleepover at her house. During the night though my grandmother had a stroke and passed away. In the morning when her alarm continued to go off and she didn't come out of her room, the relatives that were in town staying at her house came to check on us. They realized that she had died during the night and called my parents. Everyone was in shock and sad and crying, but I was confused. In church they had taught me that when someone dies that they go to Heaven to live with God, but to me it didn't look like that was what had happened since her body was still there in the bed. It took my mother a while to get me to talk about it but when I did that was what I told her. I told her that Grandma didn't go to Heaven, she just died and stayed here. I missed my grandma so much and didn't understand what had happened. My mother explained to me that when someone dies, that their soul goes to Heaven, but their body stays here and that in Heaven they get a brand new, healthy body. I had been struggling and sad and confused and holding it all inside, so when my mother explained this to me, it helped me to make a little more sense out of what I had seen when I woke up and my grandma was not alive anymore. I was still very sad and missed her very much because she was one of the most important people in my life and one of my favorite people, but I now understood that she was with Jesus. The experience was obviously an extremely sad and confusing one for a little boy, but it helped me to understand better what it means for someone to die and their soul to go to Heaven but not their body. It helped make my knowledge of God and Heaven more real. It was only a few years later that I chose to be baptized and dedicate my life to Christ. I wish I could remember my grandmother more and that I could have had more time with her, but I am glad to know that both my grandma and grandpa are in Heaven and that one day I will see them again.

Life long learning is important to me for a variety of reasons. First, learning is exciting. The more we learn, the more we know and understand the world around us. Continual learning keeps our brains stimulated and healthy. Learning helps us stay informed and make better decisions. I believe that learning opens doors for us that would otherwise remain closed. Fortunately in my chosen major, Computer Science, continued learning is an absolute necessity. Technology is ever changing, and as such, I believe it will be necessary for me to continue to learn throughout my lifetime. I am confident that the job that I start with when I graduate will look quite different than the one that I retire from. Computers and technology are changing so rapidly and I will need to stay on top of the changes to be able to remain good at my job and stay highly employable. Learning is always available to us. It just requires us to seek it out and take an interest. Learning doesn't just apply to us as students in school or employees in the work force. Learning can occur in any area of our lives that we want to know more about. Learning stems from our desire and motivation to know more in an area of specific interest to us. Learning can also be achieved in many ways. School obviously is one place that allows us to learn, but we can also learn in more informal ways such as conversations, watching the the news, researching a topic of interest, or participating in a new endeavor. Learning keeps us sharp and up to date and keeps us from becoming complacent and out of touch. I plan to continue learning throughout my life. My favorite way to learn is reading. Reading is a huge love of mine and something I spend a great deal of time doing. Reading is a great way to learn. I also plan to continue learning in my career as it evolves and changes. The idea of watching technology change over my lifetime is exciting and working in that field and being able to keep up with it makes me look forward to my chosen field of work. I will also continue to learn through conversations with others that also enjoy learning. I believe that we can gain great knowledge through conversations with others. Asking questions is another great way that I intend to continue learning. Without seeking out information, limited learning will take place, but by asking questions and pursuing new information, I can continue to learn and grow throughout my adult years. I look forward to all the new things that I will learn over my lifetime.

Math is one of my favorite subjects for many reasons. To begin with, math has always come naturally to me. Math has always made sense. I love to read and write, but the nature of those subjects lends themselves to the interpretation of the person doing the reading, and as such, your grade in those courses is always dependent upon what your professor thinks of your work. Math on the other hand is very clear cut, black and white, unambiguous. The answer is either right or wrong. It is fascinating to me though that even though there is only one correct answer for math problems, there are always several different ways to get to the answer. Math is also relevant is so many aspects of our lives, such as finances, cooking, computing distance, statistics, music, comparing prices, and so much more. Math is necessary in so many parts of our life, and understanding math makes life easier. Math is also important in helping us in other subjects, especially science, but also music, statistics and finance. Math also builds upon itself, so it is a subject that we start to learn as young children and that we can keep learning and expanding on throughout our lives. Math is also good for us. It increases our problem solving skills and stimulates our brain. Math is like working a puzzle. Math is a challenge, and can be extremely fun to learn and solve. Math has always been one of my favorite subjects, and still is. I enjoy both math courses alone, as well as applied math in Physics and my Computer Science courses. I love math!

Growing up in an era where technology is ever present has led to me having a passion for computers and the opportunities that they bring. I grew up playing games on computers, using them to stay connected to family and friends, and using them for my education. Upon entering high school, I started taking technology geared electives to determine what aspect of technology appealed to me the most. I took a game design course, computer science, and engineering. Computer science was the clear winner for me in regards to determining what I wanted to pursue as I left high school and entered college. This year I am a sophomore in college and taking my second computer science course currently. I am enjoying what I am learning and finding it challenging in a good way. I am really looking forward to next semester where I can start taking some computer science elective courses of my choice. I am extremely interested in Artificial Intelligence, Game Programming, Computer Security, and Programming Languages. Looking at all of the elective choices that I have shows me what a wide open world of opportunities exist for me upon graduating with my computer science degree. I am not certain yet what I will do once I graduate with my degree, but I know for certain that I am heading into a field of work that I will enjoy and that has countless opportunities. I believe that after I have had exposure to the computer science electives available to me that I will be able to narrow down the field of computer science into a smaller window of what I would like to pursue as I enter the workforce. Computer Science, along with all STEM majors, provides for an opportunity of continued learning throughout my lifetime as technology continues to change and develop. That to me is exciting, as I love to learn and think it will make working in the field engaging as it continually changes over time.

Mental health is just as important if not even more so than physical health. Mental health can impact all areas of our lives including our relationships, self worth, motivation, physical health, and so much more. Mental health is an ever growing issue these days with more and more people struggling in some way with mental health. For me personally, I have struggled with mental health for most of my life. Anxiety, especially social anxiety has drastically impacted my life over the years. Fortunately for me, being in band in middle school and high school allowed me to be pulled into a great circle of boys that did a great job of keeping me social in a way I never would have been without them. Although I was still very quiet in our friend group, they never minded and they accepted me and liked me just the way I was. Leaving for college last year was hard. Leaving the comfort zone of my friends and family was very nerve wracking. I definitely became even more quiet the summer prior to starting college due to the fear of leaving home and everyone that I new to go somewhere and start over. I am not going to lie, it has been hard. I am in my second year of college and do not have the same support system in college as I did in high school. Prior to leaving for college, my mother who had worried for years about my social anxiety decided to have me start seeing a therapist who does counseling with me and who has also started me on two medications. It has not been a complete fix, but it has definitely helped and taken some of the edge off of my anxiety. I still do not initiate many conversations, but I am able now to talk to people who initiate conversations with me without so much fear and stress. I have come to realize that counseling and medication are an important part of maintaining my mental health. Also, making sure I have downtime to relax and do the things that I enjoy, mainly reading and listening to music, are very important to my mental health. I also chose a school close to home to allow me to keep a close connection to my family. My first year of college, I went home quite frequently on the weekends to see my mom and brother. This year, I have gone home much less, but being close has allowed them to come up regularly on the weekends to go to lunch or dinner and spend a little bit of time together. Finally, animals, especially my cat, help with my mental health. I love my cat Leo, and think that I will probably always have a cat. Cats to me are soothing and calming and bring me happiness. I think everyone is different, and it is important to find for yourself what works for you to maintain your mental wellness. I have found what works for me and make it a point to keep those things incorporated in my life so that my mental health stays at a level that allows me to remain happy and healthy.

Single mom's work tirelessly and my mom is definitely the perfect example of that. My parents divorced when I was five and all of my grandparents had already passed away, so my mother was truly on her own raising myself and my brother. Throughout my life, I watched my mom frequently work more than one job to try to pay the bills and take care of us. My mother is a school counselor in a public middle school and struggled to make ends meet on the salary that she earned. It was important to my mother to keep us in our home and in our neighborhood where we already had good friends and neighbors. Moving to a different house in a different place may have made life easier on my mother, but she wanted us to have stability in a time where our lives were very unstable. My mother has sacrificed a lot for both my brother and myself. Throughout my childhood and even still now, my mother has always put the needs of me and my brother ahead of her own. She supports us financially as well as emotionally. She always seems to find a way to pay for the things we need. We definitely did not grow up like most of our friends with everything we wanted, but we always had what we needed. She has also always been active in our lives. I cannot think of a single event of mine or my brother's that she has missed. We have always been her top priority. My mom has taught me the meaning of family. She taught us that being a family meant that we all had to help each other out. She also taught us the importance of spending time together. Growing up we frequently had dinner together as well as game nights and movie nights. I also learned the importance of letting my family know that I loved them with both my words and my actions. Our home included a lot of "I love you's" and a lot of hugs. I am very grateful to my mom for everything that she has done for me over the years. The love, support and encouragement that she provided has helped to propel me to the place that I am now. She sacrificed a great deal for me and my brother, but she has told us that it was all worth it to see the men that we are growing up to be. People always tell her what a great job she has done raising us both, and I don't think she always feels that way, but I would tend to agree with them. She has worked hard being a single mom and she has indeed done a good job raising us. I am grateful!

My journey with mental health, self-love, and acceptance has had a very big effect on my life and definitely impacted my beliefs, relationships and aspirations. I am a very introverted person that struggles immensely with social anxiety, almost to the point of being a selective mute. I know that there are some really good things about me, because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am confident in my intellect because that has always come fairly easily to me, partially because of how extensively I read, but as far as social skills, that is a very different story. I am aware that I have changed over time and grown more anxious and introverted. I was not always this way, and although I know it is something that I will continue to have to work on, it is also something that I have had to learn to accept and embrace about myself. I know my friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and anxiety and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. In high school, I felt lucky to have a great group of friends that accepted me and liked me despite my quietness. Those relationships made high school a great experience. With heading to college though last year, I am struggling to start over and find new friends due to my social anxiety. In high school, some of my friends were people from all the way back to Kindergarten and others were from band which I was involved in for seven years. I am not involved in anything in college though that connects me to people and as a result, I have made a few acquaintances in my classes, but no close friends. My acceptance of who I am and how I am has had an impact on my aspirations for the future. I feel that I have developed a fairly clear understanding of myself and who I am and what I enjoy. I do not know if I will ever understand what makes me so much more quiet and introverted than most people, but I have learned that it is at least for now just how I am. With all that in mind, my aspirations for my life have become clearer due to the fact that I can better understand myself, as well as accept those parts of myself that I previously could not understand or accept. Seeing a psychiatrist was something that for many years I was very opposed to. First of all, because with my social anxiety I was very nervous about having to talk to them. After a couple years now of seeing someone however and starting on medication, I can say that it has helped some. It has not had the huge impact that I think my family was hoping it would have as I am still very quiet, however, it has taken the edge off of my anxiety. Although I am still very quiet and do not start many conversations, I am now able and comfortable talking to people who initiate conversations with me. I am also more comfortable and confident in handling situations that are necessary for me to handle and speaking up in those moments. I have been able to put in work orders for my apartment, willingly speak to my advisor and professors when necessary, and been able to order in restaurants, all things that in the past would have caused me to freeze in fear. I still prefer email over phone calls or face to face interactions, but it is something that I am working on and getting slightly better at. Overall, social anxiety, self-love, and acceptance have had a big impact on my life. Over time though, I have learned to better understand myself as well as accept parts of myself that I rejected previously. I am working on and learning to be okay with who I am, as well as be okay with what I can and cannot do. There are parts of myself that I want to change and improve, but I feel that I have learned to love myself where I am at right now and be able to continue to try to grow in the areas that I know are not my strengths. Learning to deal with my social anxiety and how to love myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful. I hope that in the coming years, that I can overcome some of my social anxiety because I know that it holds me back in many ways, but I also recognize it is a process and one that will take time and continued work on my part.

Staying healthy while in college can be challenging, especially your Freshman year where you're eating primarily in dining halls! I am glad to be a Sophomore and be off campus this year, it is allowing me the opportunity to live a healthier lifestyle. From walking to classes to cooking my own meals to taking supplements, I feel like I am doing a much better job this year of living a healthy life. I am living in an apartment this year that is close enough to campus to be able to walk to all of my classes, which I feel like is good for me physically as well as mentally. I am also preparing the majority of my meals this year and have added in more fish and vegetables and healthy options compared to the burgers and pizza that were frequently the most appealing foods in the dining hall last year. I am also really appreciating the quietness of apartment life compared to dorm life. I am able to focus more on my studying and get better rest that I was while in the crowded, noisy dorm. This semester for me is very homework heavy, so I am working hard to look ahead at what is coming up in all of my classes and strategically plan my studying time so that I am not rushing to finish assignments. Planning ahead is allowing me to make sure that I am leaving time to relax and read and listen to music. Reading and music are two of my favorite things to do to relax and it is important to me that I find time for them in my schedule. Migraines have plagued me since I was very young. I have taken a daily medicine for them my whole life, but I have also learned that getting good sleep and staying hydrated are important for me to help keep them under control. I have also recently started taking some supplements to help with deficiencies that cause migraines. Controlling my migraines takes conscious effort on my part, but over the years, I have learned better how to prevent them and how to quickly treat them when they do come. Going to school close to home is also helpful for me mentally. I talk to my mother regularly, but living close to home also allows me to go home on weekends if I choose to. I like having the option of staying at school over the weekends or going home to see my family and my pets. On the weekends that I do stay one campus, my family frequently comes up one of the days and takes me and sometimes my roommate to lunch or dinner. It is a good balance of being independent, but also staying connected to my family. Overall, I think that I am doing a better job of living a healthy life this year. I am happier out of the dorm and enjoying having more space and my own room. I am learning to cook and really enjoying the air fryer my parents got me! Based on the beginning of this year, I am positive that being in an apartment is going to allow me to lead a healthier life this year. I am enjoying the start of my Sophomore year and looking forward to the growth that this year brings.

Entering college last year was very nerve wracking for me. I however roomed with three of my best friends from high school, had a unlimited meal plan, was close to home so I could go home on weekends if I chose, and my parents helped me quite a bit with learning the ropes of adjusting to college life. I definitely grew some during my freshman year of college, however, going into my sophomore year has been much more of an opportunity to grow. This year, I am living in my first apartment with a friend. I have quickly had to learn how and when to do many things that I have never had to do before. I have had to learn how and when to pay my rent and utilities, how to put in multiple work orders and speak up when they attempt to not fix everything that needs fixing, how to cook my own meals and shop for groceries, and how to handle on my own all of the college stuff like ordering books and meeting with advisors and speaking out to request help when I need it. My parents have backed off a lot and pushed me to be independent and responsible for more than I have ever had to be in the past. I have learned that it is easier than I thought and that I am capable of handling much more that I ever gave myself credit for. Living off campus is definitely pushing me to grow up in a way that dorm life did not do and as nervous as I was about these new responsibilities, I feel like I have risen to the challenge and managed to handle them with ease and learn that I do have the skills to live more like the adult that I am becoming. I strongly believe that this year will continue to be a year of growth for me as I continue to encounter more challenging classes and real world problems that I need to face and attend to. I am a pretty quiet, shy person, but this has pushed me to have to face that more in order to get things taken care of. The apartment will only speak to myself and my roommate since we are the ones listed on the lease, so I have been forced to grow up more and speak up more and it has actually been a great experience for me. I am feeling more confident in myself and my abilities to face life as an independent adult here in the future and am glad for the learning experiences that are helping me grow and mature.

Dogs are pure love! They love us unconditionally and are always happy to see us. For me personally, it is hard to choose one dog that has changed my life because we have had so many dogs in our home throughout my 19 years. We foster for a rescue group called Dallas Street Dog Advocates. Especially down south in Texas where we live, there is a huge issue of too many homeless dogs in need. Over the past five or six years, we have fostered around twenty dogs and puppies. Each has been special with their own quirks and personalities. Two of my favorites were two senior hospice dogs that we fostered. We did not have either long, but they were so sweet and it felt really good to give them a good end to their lives that had been hard up to that point. We have also had a long term feral foster dog, Brody, that has been with us for about four years now and will continue to be with us as a forever foster. He has obviously been severely abused in the past based on his fear of people and scars on him. It has been amazing though to watch him become less shut down over time. It is still hard to pet him, but he is happy in our house and loves all of the dogs he gets to play with. The dog that most changed my life though was our personal long term dog, Max. We got Max when I was three and we had him until I was seventeen. He was a great dog. He was huge, weighing around 120 pounds at his healthiest. People also asked what kind of dog he was because he looked liked a huge, fuzzy, reddish bear. We eventually did a DNA test on him and learned he was a mix of a Heeler, a Rottweiler, and a Chow. One of my favorite things about Max was how excited he would get every time my brother and I and our friends would swim. He especially loved when we would go off the diving board. He would run back and forth barking and wagging his tail. It was hard to watch him as he got older and couldn't move and run the same, but it was still obvious even then how much he loved us and how much he knew we loved him. Losing Max was very hard on all of us, especially since it happened shortly after we lost both of our senior hospice dogs. It was a lot to lose three great dogs in a short period of time. I see some people that lose pets and say they can never get another pet that they would love as much, but to me and my family, once we have had time to grieve their loss, then it has always felt right to honor them by saving another dog either through fostering or adopting. I cannot imagine growing up in a home without pets. I have spent my life surrounded by them and think our home would feel very quiet and empty and incomplete without pets. I am grateful that I grew up in a home with animals and know that eventually when I graduate and have my own home, that I will continue to have pets of my own. Bringing an animal into your home as a pet is not only a great thing for the pet, but also a great thing for the person. Pets and people can both bring each other so much joy.

Reading is my passion. I spend the majority of my free time reading. I have read so many books over the years, that choosing one specific one that transformed my life is challenging because I have read so many exceptional books. However, if I had to pick one book that transformed my life, I think it would be the first book of The Book of Sight series by Deborah Dunlevy. I often go back and reread part or all of a book that I read in the past, but I haven't done that many times for this book. Despite that, the series as a whole and the first book in particular are things that I never forgotten. Even without re-reading this book, the story has stayed with me throughout the years and stuck out as a great book that had an impact on me. I think the main reason why the book stuck in my mind is because of the premise of the book, and the way the author uses that premise to create and change the world of the story. The story is based on a mysterious old book sent to several kids in the same town, with no title, author, or sender. The book is filled with strange words that appear to be nonsense, but each of the characters slowly learn to read the book in their own ways. Some can imagine the story despite not understanding the words, some use logic to connect the words and understand the story, and some can understand the book by reading it aloud, allowing others to understand it too. The reading the story of the book changes the sight of anyone who reads it, allowing them to see a world they couldn't see before. The clouds form realistic shapes, a race of tiny people live in the forest, and a tree stump has a face and starts talking. Although the concept sounds somewhat silly, the way the author describes this new vision and this new world is what made the book stick with me all these years. The characters aren't seeing a new world, or a separate world, or anything fancy or complicated that would explain these new and fantastic sights. The only thing the book did was make the characters look at bit more closely at the world, seeing all sorts of things that they ignored before. When sunlight streams through the window, they realize how beautiful the patterns of light are. When they walk around outside, they notice how green the grass is. When they sit by a lake, they notice how bright the light reflecting off the water is, and when they sit in the shade and wear sunglasses they notice how dark it is. This concept of taking a closer look at the world and realizing how beautiful it can be is something that stuck with me ever since, so I think it's fair to say that this book transformed my life. This book not only drew me in and entertained me, but it challenged me to look more closely at my world and see what I had been missing previously. The story itself was great, but the concept and message from the book were what really made an impact on me and caused me to remember this book for many years now. I think the authors message of looking closer at the world and seeing it in a different light was a great message and one that caused me to truly slow down and do just that.

Any knowledge of the nature of our universe is important, regardless of the fields it fits into. As individuals, and as a race, our development is primarily due to what we learn and what we discover. Moreover, our stability is dependent on our foundations. Our ability to search for knowledge and apply it in various ways is the main reason why humans are able to dominate the majority of the planet despite being weaker, slower, and less deadly than many other species. Despite not having even explored all of the planet we live on, we are already able to send people off of our planet and onto a different one. Moreover, we are still developing rapidly, at a speed where the new items today would be unimaginable a decade ago. Naturally, it is almost impossible for one person or one group to be at the forefront of development in all fields, but each individual and each group can contribute their own discoveries which all come together to create a much fuller picture. In my case, I'm majoring in computer science and planning on taking a math minor as well. I think computer science is a field that has an incredible amount of development potential, and math is one of the foundations of all the knowledge we have. To me, computer science is essentially breaking down a process into various pieces that can be processed by a computer, while math is breaking down a process into numbers, variables, and formulas. Honestly, I can't even imagine how much there is to discover about just those two fields, but I am curious to see how much they will change during my life. As awesome as it would be, I don't have any hopes of making some world-changing discovery, but I would like to see what I can do with my life. I also can't wait to see what we discover from other fields and what we do with those discoveries. Even with how many things we already know, we likely still only know an indescribably small portion of what there is to discover. Although I can't see the end, or even anywhere close to it, there are still countless developments that I will be able to witness in my life, and I will do my best to enjoy the developments that I am able to see, and do my best to contribute to any developments that I help create.

Cybersecurity is an extremely interesting area of computer science and also a branch of great importance in the digital technology world that we all now live in. With the number of cyberattacks growing steadily each year, the need for more professionals working in the area of cybersecurity also increases. I am heading into my sophomore year at the University of North Texas and will be able this school year to begin taking some computer science electives, of which cybersecurity is one that I am greatly looking forward to. Almost everything these days is stored electronically, from personal banking, to businesses storing personnel records, to top secret government information. The era of paper is gone and the world of all data being stored electronically is here. This puts everyone at risk of a potential cybersecurity attack. It is a field that is quickly growing and in need of more experienced graduates to enter the workforce in this area to provide more protection as the world moves to an almost exclusively electronic platform. Cyberattacks can steal money, data, and time. As the attackers grow in number and intelligence, so must the number of individuals working in this very important field. To me personally, cybersecurity seems extremely interesting and like it would provide a constantly changing and challenging work environment. I feel that working in cybersecurity would be a strong use of my computer science skills and not only an exciting career field, but also an extremely important one. My personal values are very much black and white when it comes to right and wrong, and cyberattacks and the people that create them very much fall into the wrong category. I want to help create a virtual world where people are safe and protected online and not at risk of being taken advantage of. This means more education for all people regarding protecting themselves online. We are beyond the point of being reactive in this field, and need to continue to strengthen our proactive approach to minimize cybersecurity threats. One of the things that I like about the potential of working in cybersecurity after graduation is that it is an forever evolving role that will remain engaging and interesting and constantly keep me learning new things. I am very much looking forward to taking the cybersecurity elective course to learn more about this career as it is one that I am very interested in pursuing.

Homeless animals, especially in Texas, are a huge problem. I believe the problem is twofold. One, people dump animals or leave them outside all the time and do not spay and neuter them which leads to reproduction and a further increase in the homeless animal population. Two, breeders are purposefully breeding dogs to create new puppies, which is a huge issue when there are already overflowing rescues and shelters. One report shows that close to 100,000 animals are euthanized each year in Texas shelters solely because of lack of space and overpopulation. A huge percentage of these animals are perfectly healthy, sweet animals that they just do not have space for. Currently in most shelters in Texas, owner surrender dogs are euthanized almost instantly. Along with my family, we work with two rescue groups, one cat group and one dog group. Rescues are busting at the seems just like shelters, but doing their best to save as many animals as they possibly can. Over the years, we have fostered and brought back to health over 75 cats and dogs. We take care of them, socialize them, train them and love them until we, along with the rescue, find a good adopter for them. Most of the animals in our rescues are pulled straight off the streets or off the euthanasia list of shelters. Most of the animals that come to us off the street come to us in very rough shape. The majority of them are heartworm positive and skin and bones. Many have mange and are missing fur and covered in fleas and ticks. A large percentage of them also come with injuries, sadly some of them inflicted by people and others by other animals. It’s amazing to see the transformation from the moment we get them until the moment they leave us to go to their adoptive home. They often do not look like the same animal that originally came to us. Trying to reduce the overpopulation of unwanted street animals and overcrowded shelters seems like an impossible battle. We volunteer with two rescues, but there are many in the area working hard each day to try to help make a dent in the problem. We need stricter laws though. Breeding needs to be illegal. It is exacerbating an already daunting problem of too many homeless pets and animals being euthanized. Spaying and neutering pets needs to be mandatory for all pet owners. Finally, penalties for dumping dogs need to be harsher. This last one is making some progress lately as cameras have been put up in the Dowdy Ferry area which is known to be a huge dumping ground for unwanted pets in Dallas. Several convictions have actually occurred over the past couple of years as a result of this change. Rescues and shelters cannot fix the problem alone. We are doing great work, and it is amazing for the animals we do save, but it is a band-aid in the grand scheme of things. More has to be put into place to make a bigger dent in the problem. These animals should not have to live starving and sick on the streets. These healthy, beautiful animals should not have to be euthanized, some of them just puppies, because of overcrowding in shelters. We need stricter laws, which are actually enforced to truly reduce the problem. There are obviously so many problems in the world and in my community that I would love to see change, but this is one that I am passionate about and that I have personally been involved with for years.

I strongly agree with the belief that we have the opportunity and ability to choose how we respond to what life throws at us. Challenges happen to all of us, however, how we respond determines the outcome of the situation. My life changed a great deal around the age of 5 years old. My final grandparent who I was very close to passed away and also near that time my parents went through a divorce. To say life changed a lot very quickly would be an understatement. Up until age five, I lived with my mother and father and spent a lot of time with my grandmother while my parents were at work. My life was great! It was extremely hard and sad for me to lose not just my grandmother but my family in a sense as well in a short period of time. My dad moved out and we only saw him on the weekends and my mother started raising us alone without much support. My entire family struggles with anxiety, and going through a divorce was not only hard on me and my brother, but also on my mom. She had a really difficult time adjusting to being alone and raising us primarily by herself. My mother started dating some and going out with friends and drinking socially after the divorce. The drinking progressed over time from social drinking, to every weekend, and eventually to every day. My mother still did a good job of taking care of us, but it was evident that she had a drinking problem. Fortunately, my mother decided that her drinking was out of control and that she needed help. My mother had some really good friends and she asked them to hold her accountable to not drink. She was also extremely open with both my brother and myself about alcohol and the fact that she had a problem with it and asked us to hold her accountable to not drink as well. I know it was a struggle for her to quit drinking. It required her to change her whole social life and avoid people and situations that would tempt her. It has been four years now since my mother has had a drink. I am really proud of her. Over the past four years, she also quit dating and focused solely on being present for my brother and myself. People respond to challenging situations in a variety of ways, some good and some not so good. Some people continue the cycle of what they witnessed, while others like myself turn away from that lifestyle. I have never had alcohol and have no interest in it. As someone who has never been intoxicated, I definitely do not see the appeal of it. However, as someone that also lived for many years with a parent that struggled with alcohol, it has made me never want to try it. I have seen how quickly social drinking can change into a full blown issue, even to good people like my mother. I do not have any desire to go down that path, and do not see the need for it in my life to have fun. I am fully able to have fun and be content completely sober. As much as I wish my mother didn't go through her journey with alcohol addiction, it had the outcome of making me choose to lead a healthier lifestyle and choose more positive coping skills and ways to have fun.

As a person that severely struggles with social anxiety, living bravely for me may look quite different than it does for other people. For me, living bravely is exhibited when I step outside of my comfort zone and speak to new people or initiate conversations. College has forced this on me to some extent, which has been hard for me, but also a good challenge. I got to know one of my lab partners, who is also majoring in computer science, fairly well over this past year and we ate lunch together after class regularly. That may not seem like a big deal to most people, however for me it was a pretty big step. My goal moving into my second year of school is that I can continue to live boldly and meet more new people and make more connections, especially as I get more and more into my major classes. Like I said, to most people this would not be considered to be living bravely, but for me, it is the hardest thing for me to do. Therefore, pushing through my social anxiety and interacting with people, especially new people is the one thing that requires the most bravery on my part.

Growing up in a single parent household with a mother that works in public education meant that we were always stretched for money. Through watching and talking to my mother over the years, I learned the importance of living within your means and prioritizing what is truly most important and necessary to spend money on. Most of my friends that I grew up with had both parents and lived in quite affluent homes. My life financially was very different from theirs. My family took way less vacations and I had to start working earlier and more than the majority of my friends. I am also the only one in the group having to help pay for my college expenses. College is so expensive, and so in sticking with that lesson that I learned to live within my means and prioritize what is important, it has forced me to work hard and make smart decisions so that I leave college with as little debt as possible. In addition to working to help pay for college, I am also applying to as many scholarships as possible. I also really shop around for my textbooks for my classes to find the cheapest prices. This next year I am moving into an apartment, and my mother has helped me over the summer look for and pick up free furniture and supplies to furnish the entire apartment. There were definitely times growing up and watching my friends go on extravagant trips and get cool new cars, that I wished I could have that too. Growing up the way I did though taught me some strong lessons about money and finances that I believe will serve me well in the future.

Wow, getting older has been eye opening for sure! I never really realized how hard my mother worked raising us by herself and working full time. Being an adult is a lot more work than being a kid, and as a kid, it is not something that I recognized. I feel like I went through my childhood pretty oblivious to the amount of work there is involved in being an "adult". Now, heading into my second year of college, working a lot of hours in my spare time to make money, moving into my first apartment soon, and studying to get my degree is a huge wake up call. Trying to juggle everything between work, school, paying bills, and learning to be self-sufficient has been a big adjustment. Paying my rent and bills on time, cooking my own meals, cleaning my own living space, and working while also going to school has shown me just how much goes into being an adult and especially being a parent. I am a little bit in awe now to realize just how much work it has been for my mother to raise my brother and myself as a single parent. Kids always want to grow up, learn to drive, move out, be independent, however, it is not as easy as we all think when we are young. My perspective on being an adult, and especially a parent has very much changed as I have gotten older and become responsible for much more in my life. Looking back now makes me appreciate even more everything that my mother did for me throughout my childhood.

Protecting the climate has always been important, but now more than ever it is becoming critical that we each do our part to help control climate change. There are so many ways that we can each do something to have a positive impact on the climate, many of them simple to implement. One of the things that I do regularly is to use a re-usable water bottle instead of buying disposable water bottles that just lead to a plastic waste which is extremely detrimental to our climate. Much of the plastic waste being dumped ends up in our landfills and oceans. The plastic in our oceans is a serious danger to the species of animals that live there. The plastic being dumped in landfills breaks down into methane and ethylene gases, increasing the rate of climate change. I have found that using re-usable water bottles is a simple way to contribute to a positive change on our climate. Another simple change that I work to do is to turn off anything that I am not currently using, such as lights, televisions, and computers. By reducing the amount of electricity that I use, I am helping to reduce the demand for fossil fuels. By reducing the amount of fossil fuels used, I am helping to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. These two things are simple and easy to do, but require commitment to do them regularly. None of us can do this alone however, it is important for everyone to do there part to protect our climate for future generations.

Joy and happiness! Reading is my passion and it is definitely the number one thing in my life that brings me a lot of joy and happiness. Reading books is something that I spend a great deal of time doing. For me, reading is an extremely relaxing and engaging activity. I spend at least half of my free time reading and truly find it to be both calming and exciting. I would say I am probably somewhat addicted to reading, but feel that it is a good addiction to have! I have read an extensive number of books in my lifetime. I especially love fantasy books and the creative characters and worlds and stories that the authors think up. The fact that books can take us into worlds where dragons and knights and magic exist is absolutely thrilling to me. Reading allows me to experience things through books that I cannot truly experience in this world and life. My mother read a great deal to me when I was a little boy, and ever since I was old enough to read on my own, my love for reading has grown more and more each day. The internet and online libraries have created an almost endless supply of books to read. Reading online has also been helpful because it is so much cheaper than buying paper books. I have found several websites where I am able to find free or cheap books to read. A few of the sites that I have found have books by authors that are not published, but trying to get their work out there for people to read. Reading on these sites has led me to think about the possibility of eventually trying to write a book of my own. I think it would be a challenging but extremely satisfying feat to actually write a book from start to finish, especially if I could share it with others that would enjoy it. I truly cannot imagine life without books. My brother does not love to read like I do and is often complaining that he is bored. For me, I am rarely bored because when I have free time I am always excited about being able to resume whatever book I am currently reading. In addition, reading has not only been something that I love to do and that brings me great joy, but it has also helped me academically by greatly expanding my vocabulary. Reading is truly my passion and something that I will do throughout my lifetime.

My mother has been my rock throughout my life. I lost all of my grandparents by the age of five and then my parents divorced at the same time. Since that age, my mother has been my biggest supporter. Watching her over the years, I know it has not been easy for her, but she has worked hard to push me, encourage me and help me in any way that she can to see me reach my fullest potential. Fortunately for me, school and learning has come fairly easy. My mother was never one to put excessive pressure on me to be perfect, but rather, she helped me stay on top of my work and find a balance between school, activities, family and friends. She definitely pushed me to live up to my potential, but she also encouraged me to find a balance in life between hard work and down time with friends, family and hobbies. As a single mother who works in public education, paying for college has been extremely difficult. My mother has encouraged me to apply for as many college scholarships as I can to ease both her financial stress and well as my own. She has even helped me to search out scholarship opportunities that I qualify to apply for. Work ethic is something else that my mother has instilled in me since I was small. She has taught me hard work pays off. She has also taught me that nothing in life comes without effort and the willingness to earn it. As a result, I am working a lot of hours in my time off to help fund my college degree. Living debt free is a strong lesson that she wants both me and my brother to learn and so she has encouraged us to do our best to find ways to put ourselves through college without walking out at the end with a large amount of student debt. I am very grateful for everything that my mother has done for me and all the sacrifices she has made over the years to help me reach and achieve my goals. Due to her support, I graduated high school with over thirty college credits and have now finished my first year of college. Earning my degree in Computer Science in three more years is my goal, and I know between my hard work and my mother's support, both emotionally and financially, that I will achieve this goal and be happy and successful in the future.

Calm and quiet would be how most people would describe me. I am very easy going and laid back which makes me very good at working with others. I do not feel the need to be in charge, but instead am happy to be a part of the group and contribute in whatever way is needed of me. I am a hard worker and will always do my best to help and support the group that I am part of. I think that this trait is a good quality to have because if everyone wants to be in charge and lead the group, then it leads to conflict and being less productive. I however do not feel the need to be in charge and am happy to work in a support role and to help the group work together to accomplish our task. This quality of mine is demonstrated in my flexibility and ability to adjust to what is needed of me. I am responsible and reliable and people can count on me to do what is asked and needed of me. I have found this character trait to be important in many areas of my life. I was in band in high school, and both marching band and concert band required us all to work cohesively as a unit to make our performances their very best. This character trait was also very helpful in high school when I went with my Boy Scout troop to Philmont High Adventure Camp, and we all had to rely on each other to get through a very challenging ten day trek. I have also found it to be a helpful characteristic to possess in my relationships. I am happy to go along with what the group wants to do and always have a positive attitude and happy outlook regardless of what we are doing together. Looking forward to the world of work after I graduate college, I feel confident that this character trait will serve me well. Although I am extremely capable of working independently and doing a good job, I feel that it is a strength of mine to be able to contribute to a group project and be willing to do whatever is asked of me to the best of my ability. I believe that group work requires several different personalities and that my personality is one that is critical to the success of a group.

Dogs are pure love! They love us unconditionally and are always happy to see us. For me personally, it is hard to choose one dog that has changed my life because we have had so many dogs in our home throughout my 19 years. We foster for a rescue group called Dallas Street Dog Advocates. Especially down south in Texas where we live, there is a huge issue of too many homeless dogs in need. Over the past five or six years, we have fostered around twenty dogs and puppies. Each has been special with their own quirks and personalities. Two of my favorites were two senior hospice dogs that we fostered. We did not have either long, but they were so sweet and it felt really good to give them a good end to their lives that had been hard up to that point. We have also had a long term feral foster dog, Brody, that has been with us for about four years now and will continue to be with us as a forever foster. He has obviously been severely abused in the past based on his fear of people and scars on him. It has been amazing though to watch him become less shut down over time. It is still hard to pet him, but he is happy in our house and loves all of the dogs he gets to play with. The dog that most changed my life though was our personal long term dog, Max. We got Max when I was three and we had him until I was seventeen. He was a great dog. He was huge, weighing around 120 pounds at his healthiest. People also asked what kind of dog he was because he looked liked a huge, fuzzy, reddish bear. We eventually did a DNA test on him and learned he was a mix of a Heeler, a Rottweiler, and a Chow. One of my favorite things about Max was how excited he would get every time my brother and I and our friends would swim. He especially loved when we would go off the diving board. He would run back and forth barking and wagging his tail. It was hard to watch him as he got older and couldn't move and run the same, but it was still obvious even then how much he loved us and how much he knew we loved him. Losing Max was very hard on all of us, especially since it happened shortly after we lost both of our senior hospice dogs. It was a lot to lose three great dogs in a short period of time. I see some people that lose pets and say they can never get another pet that they would love as much, but to me and my family, once we have had time to grieve their loss, then it has always felt right to honor them by saving another dog either through fostering or adopting. I cannot imagine growing up in a home without pets. I have spent my life surrounded by them and think our home would feel very quiet and empty and incomplete without pets. I am grateful that I grew up in a home with animals and know that eventually when I graduate and have my own home, that I will continue to have pets of my own. Bringing an animal into your home as a pet is not only a great thing for the pet, but also a great thing for the person. Pets and people can both bring each other so much joy.

Pets, especially cats for me, just make life better. I've had my cat, Leo, for several years now. He's been with me through some of the most important years of my life, and I believe his presence has made my life better. When I adopted him, I had just lost a hamster that I had loved and played with every day. My parents took me to get a cat in order to help me cheer up after losing my hamster, and I was interested in Leo from the first moment I saw him. I don't know what it was, but something about him just made me almost immediately choose him. I had my parents take me back several times to see him until I finally convinced them to allow me to adopt him. The rescue group that we adopted Leo from brought him to our house for a home visit so that we could see what he was like in our home and so he could see what our home was like. During that visit he ended up falling asleep on my arm for over an hour. The picture I took of him that day a bit before he fell asleep is still one of my favorite pictures of him, where the little kitten version of him was tilting his head to one side and looking straight into the camera. Since then, Leo has been with me through some of the times that most affected my life, and he often makes me smile or laugh at his silliness even now. I'm really glad he is here, and I'm happy that he was the one I chose years ago. Leaving my cat when I left for college was one of the things that made leaving home difficult. One of my favorite things about coming home now that I am in college is being able to see and snuggle with my cat. He has a calming affect on me and I think we are both happier when we are together.

Social anxiety can be paralyzing! My journey with anxiety has had a large impact on my life. I am a very introverted person that struggles hugely with social anxiety. I know that there are some really good things about me, because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am confident in my intellect because that has always come fairly easily to me, partially because of how much I read, but as far as social skills, that is a very different story. My social anxiety has held me back at times in my life. I started on medication prior to beginning college and although it helped a little it unfortunately did not make a huge impact. My anxiety is something that I have had to learn to accept and embrace about myself. My friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. I am grateful for the group of friends that I have and feel that I have been fortunate in the relationships that I have formed over the years. I have a deep love of music and played trombone in high school and was interested in either pursuing or at least participating in music in college, but my social anxiety held me back from that. The thought of starting over with a whole new marching band group and having to perform more solo’s was overwhelming to me. I also however developed a passion for computer science in high school, which seemed with my personality and extreme social anxiety to be a better fit for me in evaluating my future goals. I just finished my freshman year of college and although the social part was pretty overwhelming, the academic part of college went well. I enjoyed my computer science courses and am looking forward to taking more in the coming years. Overall, my mental health struggles with social anxiety have had a very big impact on my life. Through the years, I have learned to better understand myself as well as accept parts of myself that I rejected previously. I am working on being okay with who I am, as well as being okay with what I can and cannot do. There are parts of myself that I want to improve, but I feel that I have learned to love myself where I am at right now and be able to continue to try to improve in the areas that I know are not my strengths. Learning to love myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful. I have learned that the world is made up of lots of different kind of people. I recognize that many people struggle with anxiety, but the level of social anxiety I struggle with is definitely over and above the level of anxiety that most people I know struggle with and is an obstacle in my life in many areas. I do know though that despite my social anxiety, that I am talented and smart and completely capable of achieving great things in the future once I earn my degree.

College tuition! Paying off a portion of my tuition for this upcoming Fall semester is how I would spend $1,000 right now. I am currently working a lot of hours this summer trying to save money for my next year at the University of North Texas. A thousand dollars to go towards the crazy, expensive bills for college tuition and housing and books would be amazing and so extremely helpful. Winning a scholarship for $1000 would release a small bit of the burden off of me and my parents as we try to find ways to be able to pay for college without me walking out at the end with a huge amount of student debt to pay off. I would really love the opportunity to earn some scholarship money to help my parents out who are both working overtime to try to help me as much as they can with my college expenses. The astronomical cost of college is a huge obstacle that both myself and my parents are working hard to overcome to get me through four years of school and to my Computer Science degree so that I can go out into the world and find a great job in my field doing what I love to do.

Technology is such a big part of our lives these days. As a child, computers were fun and exciting. I developed a love of video games and being able to play online with my friends, laughing and working together to beat a game. I still love playing video games, but in high school I got to experience a different aspect of computers. I was able to start seeing the behind the scenes work that goes into developing those games that I had grown up playing. I took my first computer class in 9th grade, called Gateway to Technology and developed a strong interest in learning more about the programming, building, and the technical side of computers. I followed that class up with a Video Game Design course, which was equally as fun. My junior year of high school, I enrolled in AP Computer Science 1 and had an amazing teacher. Learning how to code and program and dive deeper into that side of computers was fascinating to me. It spawned a passion that has led me to what is now my college major. I just finished my first year of college and was able to start taking some of my major classes right away since I graduated high school with a lot of college credits. Over the past year, I took Digital Logic Design, which was challenging to say the least. It definitely stretched me as a student to understand the content of the course. I was also able to take my first college level Computer Science course. I absolutely loved it and it solidified for me that I had chosen the right major for myself. I really enjoyed the coding that we did and the opportunity to further develop my skills in that area. I am really excited about some of the Computer Science elective courses that I will be able to take over the next few years. I am especially looking forward to learning more about Game Programming, Artificial Intelligence and Computer Security. My grandfather, my mother's dad, was a veteran. He fought in the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, he passed away when I was only three years old, but my mom tells me stories about him and we have pictures of him from his time of service in the war. I am proud to know that my grandfather served in the military and wish he was still here to see me grow up and go to college. Technology changed a lot over his lifetime, but he was very much interested in computers later in his life. I believe he would have found the skills that I am learning in my Computer Science courses to be fascinating.

Animals, both my own pets and all of our foster pets over the years, have played a big role in my life. Animals love us unconditionally and can be a great source of peace and comfort to us. As such, the one thing that I think would improve the lives of elderly in my community would be animal visits from therapy or comfort pets. Sadly, many people reach a certain age and health status where they are forced to leave their homes and friends and pets and move into retirement facilities or healthcare treatment facilities. I can only imagine how difficult this is for them to have to leave their place of comfort and security to go somewhere new to be taken care of as they age and can no longer manage to live independently. I think that animal visits to the elderly in these types of settings would be extremely therapeutic and bring them some joy and happiness that they are quite possibly in need of. I believe that providing animals for the elderly to spend time with would enhance their happiness in what may potentially be a depressing stage of life for some. I know for me personally, that my pets always make me happier and calmer. I firmly believe that it would do the same for many of the elderly people in my community. It is such a simple thing to implement, however, the positive effects it could provide would be vast.

Addiction might be how my friends and famiIy would describe my love of books and reading. The majority of my free time is spent reading. I definitely read more than anyone else that I have ever known. Reading is by far one of my favorite things to do. The ability to get lost in a story and experience the creative worlds and characters that authors dream up is to me a fantastic thing. I have read, and re-read, so many books throughout my life that it is extremely hard to choose a favorite book. I have loved so many of the books that I have read over the years. At times when I cannot find a good new book, I am perfectly content to re-read a past book over and over. Sometimes, I even just scroll quickly back through books just to re-read favorite passages. I think however if I have to choose a favorite book, that I would choose the book series, The Wings of War, by Bryce O'Connor. The story does an amazing job in the way it describes the main character of the story, Raz. The author manages to demonstrate the result of what it would actually be like for a character that was raised to be human despite not actually being one. The perspectives that show both Raz's thoughts as well as the viewpoint of others who see him are done in a way that shows the sense of alienation caused by an inhuman being walking among humans. In addition, the interactions between Raz and a few of the characters are particularly well-written in my opinion, especially the interactions between Raz, Syrah, Talo, and Carro. It is truly an excellent series, written by a very talented author, and a book series that I would highly recommend.

Struggling with mental health can be very challenging, especially when you throw in the added stress of leaving home for college, the intense pressure of college classes, and the financial burden that college brings. For years, I have struggled with anxiety, especially social anxiety, which has definitely made leaving my family and friends and going to college extra hard. For many teens, the idea of growing up and leaving home is exciting, however, for someone with anxiety, especially social anxiety, this change can be very stressful. The financial stress of how you will pay for college can also be overwhelming, especially when you do not come from a family with plenty of money to afford the huge bills. Learning to control and manage my anxiety over the years has been difficult, but over time, I have gotten somewhat better at controlling it instead of letting it control me. Of course, I have moments where it spirals out of control, but I have gotten better at learning how to bring my anxiety back down and regain a calm composure. I believe that everyone has different ways that help them to deal with their mental health struggles. There are an endless number of suggestions out there for dealing with anxiety; however, it is important to find the ones that work right for you. Some of the suggestions that work for other people would actually increase my anxiety. I think that first and foremost, being willing to admit that you struggle with mental health is important, and then finding what works best for you to help you control the mental health issues. The strategy that I have found that works the best for me is to do something calming that I enjoy, which for me is reading and listening to music. Books and music are the two most calming things in my life. They make me happy and help to keep my anxiety down. I can lose myself in books and music and shut off my anxiety for a while. These two things both bring me a great deal of calmness and peace. Of course in college, I have had to really learn how to balance my time so that I can be successful in my classes, while also finding time for the things like reading and music that help to keep me calm and happy. There are more and more people these days struggling with mental health issues. I would strongly encourage them to discover a healthy outlet gives them the most peace and when they are really having a difficult time, to turn to that outlet to relax and feel better. As long as it is a healthy outlet and it works for you, then I believe that utilizing the strategy that helps you the most is one of the most beneficial things to help control mental health.

Struggling with mental health can be very challenging. For years, I have struggled with anxiety, especially social anxiety. Learning to control and manage my anxiety over the years has been difficult, but over time, I have gotten somewhat better at controlling it instead of letting it control me. Of course, I have moments where it spirals out of control, but I have gotten better at learning how to bring my anxiety back down and regain a calm composure. I believe that everyone has different ways that help them to deal with their mental health struggles. There are an endless number of suggestions out there for dealing with anxiety; however, it is important to find the ones that work right for you. Some of the suggestions that work for other people would actually increase my anxiety. The strategy that I have found that works the best for me is to do something calming that I enjoy, which for me is reading and listening to music. Books and music are the two most calming things in my life. They make me happy and help to keep my anxiety down. I can lose myself in books and music and shut off my anxiety for a while. These two things both bring me a great deal of calmness and peace. There are more and more people these days struggling with mental health issues. I would strongly encourage them to discover what healthy outlet gives them the most peace and when they are really having a difficult time, to turn to that outlet to relax and feel better. As long as it is a healthy outlet and it works for you, then I believe that utilizing the strategy that helps you the most is one of the most beneficial things to help control mental health.

One important life lesson that I have learned over the past 19 years, is that we can't do life alone. Other people contribute to our lives in many ways, making it easier and more enriching. In our society now, it is easy to become isolated and think you are alone, but we need to make sure that we are not allowing that to happen and that we stay connected with people for fun and also out of necessity. We need others in our lives, plain and simple. I am a very quiet, introverted person who loves to read and enjoys alone time. However, I really enjoy the moments with my friend group that is way more extroverted and really fun to be around. High school would have been a much different experience had I not had the great group of friends that I did. Especially now, after all being gone to different colleges for the past year, it has made me realize even more how much I appreciate the people in my life, both my friends as well as my family. Coming home for breaks and holidays and seeing people that I don't get to see regularly anymore has made me realize just how much those relationships truly mean. There have been several times in my life where it has been essential to have other people to rely on and support me. The most notable would probably be my Boy Scout trip to Philmont, a high adventure camp that is very challenging. Going to Philmont was a great and memorable experience, but without the others in my group, it would have been almost impossible for me to finish the trek up the mountain. We relied on each other for encouragement when we were tired and struggling to keep going. We relied on one another to carry all of the supplies that we needed for the ten day hike through the wilderness. We relied on one another to commit to training for the trek for months ahead of time so that when the real trip came, we knew we were prepared to take on the challenge together. Another thing in my life that led me to see the need for others all working together was band. Marching band especially, where we not only had to all have our music parts in sync, but also all of our movements in the show. Marching band was a lot of work, but to see the results of all that work in the final product, our marching show, was always awesome. I believe having others in our lives to lean on and to support us and to laugh and have fun with is extremely important. Like I said, I am very quiet, so I need people even more that most that will pull me out of my comfort zone and get me out to do things that I wouldn't do on my own. I am grateful for the experiences in my life that have taught me this lesson, as I believe it is important to recognize that leaning on one another is not a weakness, but a necessity.

I think the number one issue the world is facing right now is overpopulation and the effect it has on the Earth's resources. The planet has a limited supply of resources that support all living beings, but people improperly use and unevenly distribute those resources with little regard for other people. In addition, people appear to forget that we need resources not only for ourselves, but for the plants and animals on the planet as well. People also continue to have large families without any regard to the fact that every new person born is another person relying on the Earth's limited supply of resources. At the current rate that the Earth's resources are being consumed, it is unlikely that the Earth will be able to keep up with the demand of the constantly growing population. There are many resources currently being used at a rate too high for the Earth to be able to renew them, such as fossil fuels, water, minerals, soil and fish to name a few. In some parts of the world, people are starving literally to death from lack of food and malnutrition, while in other parts of the world, their is a problem with obesity. I think that the best solution to this problem is a world wide effort take action to reduce overpopulation and in the mean time to mass redistribute the resources currently available. However, while this solution would be best, it is also likely impossible due sadly to human greed. The majority of resources are held by a small percentage of the population, and few, if any, would be willing to give up those resources. However, if efforts were made to reduce overpopulation in the future and and to properly redistribute the available resources, it would solve multiple issues worldwide.

My high school AP computer science teacher, Mr. Yee, was awesome. Aside from band, my computer science class was my favorite class to attend. My teacher made it fun and engaging and helped me to see a future for myself in the world of computer science. It was this class that finally gave me a glimpse of what I wanted to do in the future. Fast forward and I have just completed my first year of college. I thoroughly enjoyed my first computer science classes and am looking forward to next year, where primarily all of my courses will be geared towards my computer science major. My dream after finishing my degree in computer science is to find a job that I love and am good at. I will be a sophomore next year, so I am looking forward to being able to start taking some computer science elective courses that will help me see what all the options are in my field of study. I am very interested in game design, but also cybersecurity and programming. I am excited to see which area of study within my major sparks my interest the most. In addition to majoring in computer science, I am also planning on minoring in math. I also have a passion for music, specifically jazz and soundtrack music. Having played the trombone since 6th grade, music and jazz will always be something that I love. I considered the idea of majoring in music at one time, but decided that majoring in computer science while still continuing music in some way was a better plan. I am not sure if the two different interests will ever truly tie together into a career, but if not, then I will still continue to do both computer science for work and music for fun. In order to finish my degree and achieve my educational and career goals, I will definitely require the help of others, whether that help is just motivation and support or actual financial assistance. I want to be able to study and be successful in college and be able to focus on my classes and earn good grades. I know that my parents are very much struggling to try to cover the cost of my college. My mother is a single mom that works in public education as a middle school counselor, and my dad is a Sheriff Deputy. They are both working overtime to try to help me as much as possible, and I am working on all of my breaks from school, but the expense of college is extremely high. I earned some scholarships that helped out with my freshman year, but they were all just one year scholarships. I am a smart, motivated student that would put a scholarship to very good use. I am very thankful for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship and would be extremely grateful to receive any financial support for continuing my college journey so that I can one day have a great job in the computer science field.

My high school AP computer science teacher, Mr. Yee, was awesome. Aside from band, my computer science class was my favorite class to attend. My teacher made it fun and engaging and helped me to see a future for myself in the world of computer science. It was this class that finally gave me a glimpse of what I wanted to do in the future. Fast forward and I have just completed my first year of college. I thoroughly enjoyed my first computer science classes and am looking forward to next year, where primarily all of my courses will be geared towards my computer science major. My dream after finishing my degree in computer science is to find a job that I love and am good at. I will be a sophomore next year, so I am looking forward to being able to start taking some computer science elective courses that will help me see what all the options are in my field of study. I am very interested in game design, but also cybersecurity and programming. I am excited to see which area of study within my major sparks my interest the most. In order to finish my degree and achieve my educational and career goals, I will definitely require the help of others, whether that help is just motivation and support or actual financial assistance. I want to be able to study and be successful in college and be able to focus on my classes and earn good grades. I know that my parents are very much struggling to try to cover the cost of my college. My mother is a single mom that works in public education as a middle school counselor, and my dad is a Sheriff Deputy. They are both working overtime to try to help me as much as possible, and I am working on all of my breaks from school, but the expense of college is extremely high. I earned some scholarships that helped out with my freshman year, but they were all just one year scholarships. I am a smart, motivated student that would put a scholarship to very good use. I am very thankful for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship and would be extremely grateful to receive any financial support for continuing my college journey so that I can one day have a great job in the computer science field.

Busy and stressed, but also full of love for her kids, that is how I would describe my mom! She is always going. Being raised by a single mother has definitely changed my life in many ways. My parents divorced when I was five, and by that age, I had also lost all of my grandparents. My mother struggled financially to raise my brother and I alone since she works in education and does not make a huge salary. With not much family in the area, she also struggled with a lack of support and trying to being everywhere she needed to be at all times. She never missed a single event though of my brothers or mine. Having only my mother, myself, and my brother living in our house caused us to distribute roles differently than we would otherwise, which I believe influenced how my brother and I have grown up. My mother taught us that we are all contributing members of our family and as such that we all need to share the responsibility to get things done and to help one another. She worked diligently over the years to teach me the importance of relationships, family, and hard work. My mother and I have a good relationship. My mother and I get along well, and although we argue at times, we manage to reconcile fairly quickly, and neither of us have a habit of holding grudges against each other. She has also instilled in me the importance of demonstrating love to my family both in words and actions. Throughout my life, my mother has pushed me to do my best and achieve things like my Eagle Scout rank. As much as I am proud of that rank, I know that it also took a lot of effort on my mother’s part as well for me to attain it. My mother did a good job of balancing pushing me as well as supporting me. Her expectations were always within my reach and never unrealistic. My mother has taught me to be financially responsible. One of the things that inspires me the most about my mom is that no matter how much we struggled financially over the years, she sacrificed and worked extra jobs to put money into a college fund for both myself and my brother every month. The amount she saved is not nearly enough to pay for four years of college however. Thus I am applying and hoping to win numerous scholarships such as this one. I am grateful that my mother prioritized our education and worked hard to save to help my brother and I get through college. My mother has worked very hard to raise and support us and provide for us over the years.. We didn’t always have everything that we wanted, but we always had what we needed. I have watched my mother struggle to support me and my brother and watched her worry a lot over the years, and am hoping that by getting a good degree and good job that I can hopefully have less stress as an adult than my mother has had. I think being a single parent is one of the hardest jobs there is. I know it has been difficult for my mom, but I am grateful for everything she has done for me. It is inspiring to watch how much love she has for her kids and how much she wants for us to have good, stable, happy lives in the future. I will always be thankful for everything my mom has done for me.

My high school computer science teacher was awesome. Aside from band, my computer science class was my favorite class to attend. My teacher made it fun and helped me to see a future for myself in the world of computer science. It was this class that finally gave me a glimpse of what I wanted to do in the future. Fast forward, and I have just completed my first year of college. I thoroughly enjoyed my first computer science classes and am looking forward to next year, where primarily all of my courses will be geared towards my major. My dream after finishing my degree in computer science is to find a job that I love and am good at. I will be a sophomore next year, so I am looking forward to being able to start taking some computer science elective courses that will help me see what all the options are in my field of study. I am very interested in game design, but also cybersecurity and programming. I am excited to see which area of study within my major sparks my interest the most. In order to finish my degree and achieve my educational and career goals, I will definitely require the help of others, whether that help is just motivation and support or actual physical, emotional, and financial assistance. I want to be able to study and be successful in college and be able to focus on my classes and earn good grades. I know that my parents are very much struggling to try to cover the cost of my college. My mother is a single mom that works in public education as a middle school counselor, and my dad is a Sherriff Deputy. They are both working overtime to try to help me as much as possible, and I am working on all of my breaks from school, but the expense of college is extremely high. I earned some scholarships that helped out with my freshman year, but they were all just one year scholarships. I am a smart, motivated student that would put a scholarship to very good use. I am very thankful for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship and would be extremely grateful to receive any financial support for continuing my college journey.

Fostering animals with my family and being involved with several rescue groups has made me passionate about animal advocacy. Over the past 6-7 years, myself and my mother and brother have fostered close to 60 animals, both cats and dogs. We have been heavily involved with both a cat rescue group and a dog rescue group. Seeing first hand the condition that some of our fosters come to us in is extremely sad. Our most recent foster dog, Shane, was dumped on Dowdy Ferry in Dallas, a common dumping ground for unwanted dogs. He was found laying on top of another deceased dog. He was skin and bones and barely alive. We offered to foster him and when he first came to us, it was a little scary to even touch him because you could feel every bone, every vertebrae, every rib. We had to feed him 6 times a day, very small meals. He was a huge German Shepherd that should have weighed at least 85 pounds, but only weighed about 55 when he came to us. It was amazing to watch his transformation over time. He gained weight, slowly at first, but eventually reached his goal weight. He was neutered and treated for heartworms, and his fur and coat grew back. He is almost ready to go up for adoption. Despite all that he went through in his life, he is one of the most loving dogs I have met. He is so devoted and grateful to have people that love him and feed him and take care of him. He is one of the success stories, but sadly not all rescue stories turn out this way. I have seen in our time working with rescues, puppies and dogs that our rescue has done everything possible to try to save, but the animals were to sick too survive by the time they came to us. I have also seen dogs that were brought into our rescue that physically recovered, but never emotionally. We have a forever foster that lives with us that we have had for about 4 years now named Brody. He is considered feral and will never be put up for adoption by our rescue group. It is impossible to know what happened to him prior to him coming to our house, but he is very fearful of people. He has scars on his face and cowers when you go to touch him. It seems fairly certain that he was severely abused prior to his life with our family. He has gotten somewhat more comfortable with my family, but is still very scared of people. Fortunately, he loves other dogs and is happy playing with the other dogs in our home. Animals do not have their own voice. They rely on people to take care of them and unfortunately that does not always happen. In Texas where I live, there is a huge problem with overpopulation of animals. Our shelters are full, animals are homeless on the streets, and yet people continue to breed animals and not spay and neuter their pets and make the situation worse. I am grateful that I have had the chance to grow up in a home where I have gotten to help with rescuing animals. Not only has it made our home a happy one with lots of animals to love on, but it has opened my eyes to the necessity of advocating for animals.

Life is quite literally a zoo at my house! Being raised by a single mother that loves animals and has passed on that love to me has led to a household of animals throughout my life. To date, I would guess we’ve had at least 25 dogs come through our house in my 19 years. Five of those have been our own, and the rest have been foster dogs. Despite the work that comes with having pets of our own and foster dogs, it is definitely one of the greatest joys of my life. I truly cannot imagine life without dogs and think that people that don’t have dogs are truly missing out on something really great. Dogs have played a huge role in my life throughout the years. I started in middle school volunteering at Operation Kindness, walking and socializing the dogs, and eventually we started fostering for Dallas Street Dog Advocates. It would honestly be hard to pick a favorite dog out of all the ones that have come through our home. Just like people, dogs each have their own personalities and quirks. Although each foster dog has been special, a few have left a lasting memory, most good, and a few not so much! One of my favorite fosters was a 15 year old senior hospice dog named Mae. We only had her for about 5 months before she passed, but she was one of the sweetest dogs I’ve known. We fostered another dog that we nicknamed Juicy Brucey. While we had him, he had to be neutered, treated for heartworms and have a hip replacement. All of that led to lots of pain meds, which led to some issues with bladder control, thus the name Juicy Brucey! Thank goodness for dog wraps. My very favorite foster though is a forever foster named Brody. He is too feral to be adopted, so he will live his life with us. We have had him about 4 years now and although he is still very scared of people, he has gotten somewhat more trusting of myself and mom and brother. He loves other dogs though and is great with all the dogs that come through our home. It is sad to see the fear that someone put into him, but I’m grateful that we have the opportunity to let him experience love and safety for the rest of his life. My all time favorite dog though is my own dog that I had for 14 years of my life. We got our dog Max when I was 3 and we had him until I was 17. He was a Red Heeler, Chow, Rottweiler rescue dog. He was 120 pounds and looked like a giant red/brown bear. He was the greatest dog to grow up with and losing him was hard, but the happiness that he brought to me and my family by far exceeds the sadness of having to say goodbye. In short, dogs are awesome and just make life better. I’m glad for my experience growing up in a home with so many animals. I know that down the road when I have my own home, I will continue to have pets because we bring each other happiness, me to them and them to me. Dogs are probably the most unconditionally loving relationships we will ever experience.

My journey with mental health struggles, self-love, and acceptance has had a large impact on my life and definitely impacted my goals, relationships and aspirations. I am a very introverted person that struggles hugely with social anxiety. I know that there are some really good things about me, because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am confident in my intellect because that has always come fairly easily to me, partially because of how much I read, but as far as social skills, that is a very different story. I am aware that I have changed over time and grown more anxious and introverted. I was not always this way, and although I know it is something that I will continue to have to work on, it is also something that I have had to learn to accept and embrace about myself. I know my friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and anxiety and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. I am grateful for the group of friends that I have and feel that I have been fortunate in the relationships that I have formed over the years. My acceptance of who I am and how I am has had an impact on my aspirations for the future. I feel that I have developed a fairly clear understanding of myself and who I am and what I enjoy and figured out a good plan for my future. I do not know if I will ever understand what makes me so much more quiet and introverted than most people, but I have learned that it is at least for now just how I am. With all that in mind, my aspirations for my life have become clearer due to the fact that I can better understand myself, as well as accept those parts of myself that I previously could not understand or accept. I have a deep love of music and played trombone all throughout high school and was interested in either pursuing or at least participating in music in college, but my social anxiety held me back from that. The thought of starting over with a whole new marching band group and having to perform more solo’s was overwhelming to me. I also however developed a passion for computer science in high school, which seemed with my personality and extreme social anxiety to be a better fit for me in evaluating my future goals. I just finished my freshman year of college and although the social part was pretty overwhelming, I do feel like the academic plan that I chose has turned out to be a good decision. I enjoyed my computer science courses and am looking forward to taking more in the coming years. I started on social anxiety medication prior to leaving for college, and although it did help a little, it did not create a huge difference in the amount of anxiety I experience in social settings. Overall, my mental health struggles with social anxiety have had a very big impact on my life. Through the years, I have learned to better understand myself as well as accept parts of myself that I rejected previously. I am working on being okay with who I am, as well as being okay with what I can and cannot do. There are parts of myself that I want to improve, but I feel that I have learned to love myself where I am at right now and be able to continue to try to improve in the areas that I know are not my strengths. Learning to love myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful. I have learned that the world is made up of lots of different kind of people. I recognize that many people struggle with anxiety, but the level of social anxiety I struggle with is definitely over and above the level of anxiety that most people I know struggle with and is an obstacle in my life in many areas. I do know though that despite my social anxiety, that I am talented and smart and completely capable of achieving great things. Just like I stated above that the world is made up of lots of different kinds of people, the world also needs lots of different kinds of people. I am confident that in time I will graduate college and find a job that is a great blend of my skills along with my quiet personality. I am determined to not let my mental health struggles hold me back. Despite the fact that I know it presents extra challenges for me, I also know that I can find a way to manage it and still be successful and happy in life.

Leaving high school with over 30 college credits was amazing, but required me to walk into college knowing what I wanted to do with my life at the age of 18. Fortunately for me though, I had found 3 passions in high school. First is the love of reading, second is the love of music, and third is computer science. In high school, I took several different electives trying to find what I enjoyed. Computer Science was the one that most clearly clicked with me. My teacher was great and the subject matter was very engaging and exciting to me. Fast forward to finishing my first year of college, majoring in computer science, and I am still just as excited about expanding on my knowledge in the field of computer science. Next year will be my second year as a computer science major at the University of North Texas, but with my dual credit and AP credit transfer classes, I will technically be in my third year of college courses. I am looking forward to diving completely into my computer science curriculum with all of my core classes out of the way. The world of computer science is so diverse in what you can do with it once you are finished with school. I am really excited to begin my computer science elective classes and to start seeing firsthand more what all of the options look like in the actual workforce. Computer science majors can go into cybersecurity, game design, artificial intelligence, software development, computer graphics and so many more options. The opportunity to be able to sample several of these areas of computer science to discover what I most enjoy and am best at is something I am really looking forward to. With computers and technology being such a huge part of our lives and culture these days, I think that no matter what area of computer science that I eventually settle on for my future, that it will make a difference in the world. At this time, I think I am most interested in game programming and design, which provides entertainment for people all over the world. I am interested in this aspect of computer science because it ties together several of my separate interests, such as programming, video games and fantasy. I know how much I have enjoyed games growing up, so the opportunity to work in the area of game programming is extremely appealing to me. I believe though that all areas of computer science are important and that no matter what area I end up in, that it will make a positive difference in the world.

My journey with mental health struggles, self-love, and acceptance has had a large impact on my life and definitely impacted my goals, relationships and aspirations. I am a very introverted person that struggles hugely with social anxiety. I know that there are some really good things about me, because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am confident in my intellect because that has always come fairly easily to me, partially because of how much I read, but as far as social skills, that is a very different story. I am aware that I have changed over time and grown more anxious and introverted. I was not always this way, and although I know it is something that I will continue to have to work on, it is also something that I have had to learn to accept and embrace about myself. I know my friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and anxiety and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. I am grateful for the group of friends that I have and feel that I have been fortunate in the relationships that I have formed over the years. My acceptance of who I am and how I am has had an impact on my aspirations for the future. I feel that I have developed a fairly clear understanding of myself and who I am and what I enjoy and figured out a good plan for my future. I do not know if I will ever understand what makes me so much more quiet and introverted than most people, but I have learned that it is at least for now just how I am. With all that in mind, my aspirations for my life have become clearer due to the fact that I can better understand myself, as well as accept those parts of myself that I previously could not understand or accept. I have a deep love of music and played trombone all throughout high school and was interested in either pursuing or at least participating in music in college, but my social anxiety held me back from that. The thought of starting over with a whole new marching band group and having to perform more solo’s was overwhelming to me. I also however developed a passion for computer science in high school, which seemed with my personality and extreme social anxiety to be a better fit for me in evaluating my future goals. I just finished my freshman year of college and although the social part was pretty overwhelming, I do feel like the academic plan that I chose has turned out to be a good decision. I enjoyed my computer science courses and am looking forward to taking more in the coming years. I started on social anxiety medication prior to leaving for college, and although it did help a little, it did not create a huge difference in the amount of anxiety I experience in social settings. Overall, my mental health struggles with social anxiety have had a very big impact on my life. Through the years, I have learned to better understand myself as well as accept parts of myself that I rejected previously. I am working on being okay with who I am, as well as being okay with what I can and cannot do. There are parts of myself that I want to improve, but I feel that I have learned to love myself where I am at right now and be able to continue to try to improve in the areas that I know are not my strengths. Learning to love myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful. I have learned that the world is made up of lots of different kind of people. I recognize that many people struggle with anxiety, but the level of social anxiety I struggle with is definitely over and above the level of anxiety that most people I know struggle with and is an obstacle in my life in many areas. I do know though that despite my social anxiety, that I am talented and smart and completely capable of achieving great things. Just like I stated above that the world is made up of lots of different kinds of people, the world also needs lots of different kinds of people. I am confident that in time I will graduate college and find a job that is a great blend of my skills along with my quiet personality. I am determined to not let my mental health struggles hold me back. Despite the fact that I know it presents extra challenges for me, I also know that I can find a way to manage it and still be successful and happy in life.

Overpopulation is an issue that concerns everyone and everything on the planet. It affects everything from resource management to culture, and the growth of the population can be changed by a number of factors. The population is directly linked to the effect we have on the environment, and an increase in population increases the amount of resources required to sustain the human population, decreasing the amount available to be shared by humans, animals, and other living things. Additionally, as the population develops, the resource usage and effect on the environment increases even further. I think that the number one issue concerning population is the limit on resources. The planet has limited resources that support all living beings, but people improperly use and unevenly distribute those resources with little regard for other people. In addition, people often appear to forget that we need resources not only for ourselves, but for the plants and animals that are also living on the planet. I think that the best solution to this problem is a mass redistribution of resources, but while this solution would be best, it is also likely impossible due to human greed. The majority of resources are held by a small percentage of the population, and few, if any, would be willing to give up those resources. If resources were to be properly distributed, however, it would solve multiple issues, such as population size, education levels of countries, development of countries, lives of individuals everywhere, and more. The redistribution of resources is likely the best solution for a number of issues, with one of the only drawbacks being that it is essentially impossible due to the current state of resource distribution and personal greed. Another major issue concerning population is the relationship between population growth and the effect of humans on the planet. As populations grow and develop, the impact that they have on their surroundings increases. Over time, this leads to issues such as climate change as well as many other issues. It is possible to prevent these issues, at least to some degree, by solving issues with population growth before issues such as climate change develop. However, after they have already developed, it is more effective to deal with the issues themselves rather than trying to solve them by focusing solely on population issues. Overall, overpopulation is a major issue that should be addressed, as are the various issues that have developed due to the issue of overpopulation. Various measures are needed for both overpopulation and other issues such as climate change. However, it is definitely possible to work towards solving those issues, as long as proper measures are put into place. As such, I believe that people should do what they can to help solve those issues, even if that is just writing a letter to ask others with more power like yourself to take action. I thank you for taking the time to read my letter and hope that it encourages you to take some action to address this pressing issue.

My values include honesty, kindness, caring for others and hard work. I was brought up in a Christian home, attending church and Awana's weekly. Between my family, Awana's and boyscouts, I was exposed to a lot of community service and the act of helping others in need. It is something that has stuck with me and something that I want to continue in my life as an emerging adult. One of my favorite things that I have gotten to do as I have grown up is to foster animals with my family. I really love cats and kittens, and along with my family I have had the opportunity to foster close to fifty cats and kittens and help care for them and socialize them until they are able to be adopted into a home. Excellence to me means striving to do your personal best, not necessarily perfection. I pursue excellence by studying and working hard in school and trying to make the best grades that I can possibly make. Excellence means to me to excel, to do well at something. I think that excellence can apply to any aspect of our life, such as being a good friend, making good grades, being good at music or sports, but for me I think it primarily at this point in my life means doing my best in college, especially since it is so expensive and a strain on my family to pay for me to attend. In high school, I was in band and played the trombone, and that was another area in addition to academics that I strove for excellence in. Being in a group environment like that where others are counting on you to do your part well can inspire you to want to do your best not only for your sake but for the sake of the whole group. I am still trying to figure out what my exact dream is, but once I do figure it out and achieve it, I will thank my parents first for all their support, both financially and emotionally, throughout my years of growing up. I am majoring in computer science and hope to eventually find a good job in that field that I will enjoy, but mostly I dream of just creating a happy, fulfilled, stable life. My biggest passion in life is reading, so I would have to say that part of my dream for my life is to have a job that fulfills me and good friendships, but also enough free time to continue reading to the extent that I enjoy.

Legacy to me means the impact that we leave behind and how people remember us. My early childhood had a large impact on who I am and what I believe in and feel strongly about. I was very close to my grandmother and she passed away suddenly one night when I was five years old and spending the night in the bed with her. It was my first big loss and a very confusing experience for me. Shortly after that, my parents went through a divorce, which created more chaos in my young life. I went from a happy, carefree young boy to a guarded, quieter, more introverted child. I know the change was outwardly visible to the people around me, and this personality changed has stayed and developed into some social anxiety issues that I am trying to overcome. Being raised by a single mom has impacted my life in many ways, especially living in Plano, Texas, where most of my friends come from quite affluent homes. My mother is a school counselor, so raising me and my brother on her teacher salary obviously meant that our upbringing was very different than that of my friends. I grew up knowing that my mother and father loved me very much, but also that it was difficult and challenging financially, physically and emotionally for my mom to raise us by herself. I love my family very much, but there was always a higher level of stress and worry in my home than in my friends homes regarding money and being able to fix things on the house and such. I did grow up though knowing that I was loved and accepted. My mother and brother and I always tell one another “I love you” anytime we say goodbye in person, on the phone or at night. That is something I want to continue in the future with my current family and any possible family that I may have on my own some day. I was also raised by my mother surrounded by animals. We have volunteered and fostered for several animal rescue groups and it is something that I have not only enjoyed but come to see the importance of. Between being in boy scouts and earning my Eagle rank and doing community service, and all of the volunteering that we have done with animal groups, I have learned that service to others, whether people or animals is something that we should all do. I would like that to be part of my legacy, that my life was not just focused on me, but also on helping others. I have not fully decided what I will do with the computer science degree that I earn, but hope that as I take more classes that I will be able to narrow that down. I watch my mother as a counselor and my father as a law enforcement officer and see the impact they make in peoples lives on a daily basis. I hope that I can also have a positive impact on people through my job someday and that at least part of my legacy will be that I did good in the world, and did my best to help and serve others through my work and through my free time as well. I hope to live a happy, more financially comfortable life with maybe less stress than what my mother has lived with. I hope they someday I can be successful enough in my career that I can repay her sacrifice and love for me and help her for a change.

Between social anxiety and my overwhelming addiction to reading, I would definitely be considered a major introvert. To the people they are in my close circle and who have gotten to know me well, I am kind, loyal and easy going. I have always been smart and done well academically. I do work hard to do my best and want to do well and be successful as computer science student, but my passions are truly music and reading. I listen to jazz music and read almost non-stop when I have free time. Music and books are what make me happy.

To me, influence means the effect you have on the world around you, both directly and indirectly. I influence those around me with everything I do, whether it's what I say, how I act, or the choices I make, and I can only hope that my influence results in a positive outcome. I am a fairly shy, quiet person, but I am a firm believer in treating people well and trying to make an impact in the world around me. It is my hope that what people see in me and through my words and actions would have a positive influence on them. A hardship that I am currently dealing with is the transition from a youth into an adult. I just started college a few months ago, and so I feel like I am currently having to become more adult-like, dealing with all of the responsibilities that come with being an adult. I know that just like everyone else, that I will overcome this, however, it is a bit of a strange and sometimes uncomfortable in between stage in my opinion. As I mentioned above, I am a pretty quiet person, so transitioning to adulthood and starting college is forcing me to have to advocate more for myself. I am planning to go into the field of Computer Science, because I feel that it is the best combination of what I can do well and what I want to do. However, I am not yet sure what sort of goals I have going into the field of Computer Science. I know that I enjoy Computer Science and I believe it will be a career that I am good at. However, I think that as I move forward and have the opportunity to take more Computer Science classes, then I will be able to narrow down my specific goals for how I eventually want to use my degree. Receiving this scholarship would mean that I can focus more on school rather than worrying about the cost of college, meaning that I can put more focus into my studies. I desire to do my best in school and earning some scholarship money would make that more likely to happen since it would enable me to solely focus on my classes and school.

Being a Texan is all I have ever known. Overall, being a Texan is a great thing. Texans are for the most part very friendly people. Depending on what part of Texas you live in, can definitely change what being a Texan means. For me, growing up in Plano, being a Texan meant big high schools, big marching bands, a strong emphasis on sports, lots of traffic, and home and good friends. I would say across the whole state, being a Texan means lots of Dr. Pepper, a big State Fair, very hot summers, and lots of time in the pool. There are always some things about where you live though that are not great. One of these things in Texas is a huge problem with homeless pets. My family and I have volunteered and fostered with pet rescue groups for many years and have had close to a hundred animals move through our house with this experience. Texas is one of the worst states for homeless animals, so I think my experience with fostering so many pets has been somewhat unique to living in Texas. Overall though, I have loved growing up in Texas and am now in college at a Texas University. I am proud to be a Texan and love my home state; however, it may have caused a serious Dr. Pepper addiction! I think Texas is a great state though and one that everyone should visit at some point in their lives.

Reading is by far one of my greatest passions and something I spend a great deal of time doing. Although I have a lot of books that I would consider favorites, if I had to pick one it would be The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost. It combines a lot of the elements that I like in a book, such as mythological creatures, unique abilities, an interesting main character, good pacing, humor, good supporting characters, and a great story. I like the series enough that I have read the books several times, although I have also done that for a number of other series. In addition, the power scaling for both the good and bad characters is well done, at least in my opinion. Excluding one character, the supporting characters are able to keep up with the development of the main character. The excluded character is eventually given an actual reason for why they did not seem to keep up with the growth of the other characters, but the author managed to keep that character relevant to the story for a long period of time before the reason was revealed, which I found impressive. The third (and final) book of the series included massive developments to the characters, story, and world as a whole, all of which I enjoyed. I also greatly enjoyed the ending, as it wrapped up the story in a way that managed to reduce the reader's desire for a continuation, something which I often feel when finishing a book or series. Overall, although I have many books and series that I would consider favorites, The Paladin Prophecy definitely ranks among the top among all of those favorites.

Reading is by far one of my greatest passions and something I spend a great deal of time doing. Although I have a lot of books that I would consider favorites, if I had to pick one it would be The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost. It combines a lot of the elements that I like in a book, such as mythological creatures, unique abilities, an interesting main character, good pacing, humor, good supporting characters, and a great story. I like the series enough that I have read the books several times, although I have also done that for a number of other series. In addition, the power scaling for both the good and bad characters is well done, at least in my opinion. Excluding one character, the supporting characters are able to keep up with the development of the main character. The excluded character is eventually given an actual reason for why they did not seem to keep up with the growth of the other characters, but the author managed to keep that character relevant to the story for a long period of time before the reason was revealed, which I found impressive. The third (and final) book of the series included massive developments to the characters, story, and world as a whole, all of which I enjoyed. I also greatly enjoyed the ending, as it wrapped up the story in a way that managed to reduce the reader's desire for a continuation, something which I often feel when finishing a book or series. Overall, although I have many books and series that I would consider favorites, The Paladin Prophecy definitely ranks among the top among all of those favorites.

My favorite artist is a music artist who goes by the name of Rush Garcia. He creates primarily orchestral music, uploading to sites such as Soundcloud and Youtube. I really enjoy almost everything he produces and also enjoy the fact that I play the same instrument as he does, the trombone. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a great musician to listen to.

I struggle with social anxiety, which has gotten worse as I have gotten older. Social anxiety makes me very quiet and shy and I struggle with expressing myself verbally. Fortunately, I have some amazing friends and a family that accept me as I am. I am very funny and kind, but in a quiet way, and my friends seem to appreciate those qualities that I possess even if I am a quiet person. I know that my parents worry about me, especially with me heading off to college in less than a week. My mother has me trying counseling and medication to see if it will help me at all to relax in social situations so that the transition to college will be a smooth one. At first I was extremely resistant to this idea and did not think I needed it or wanted it, however, my therapist is very good and between her and the medication we finally settled on, I am feeling slightly less anxious in social situations. I am however grateful that several of my good friends are going to college with me and we are all rooming together, because I think that will make the transition an easier one than if I was going somewhere where I didn’t know anyone. In addition to my own social anxiety, I have family and friends who also struggle with mental health issues. Anxiety definitely seems to run in my family, which I think is common. My mother and brother both struggle with anxiety as well, although theirs is more general anxiety as opposed to my social anxiety. I also have a few friends that struggle with anxiety and depression, one who I am very close to and who I do my best to try to be a good support system for. I feel that my own struggles with mental health has caused me to have more compassion for others that also struggle with it and has allowed me to be a support system for those around me since I can relate to what they are dealing with.

College costs these days are astronomical. My mother has been saving my whole life for me to go to college; however, has less than half of what it will cost to get me through my undergraduate degree. My mother is a middle school counselor and a single mother, and will definitely not be able to afford the difference between what college will cost and what she has managed to save. I am also working and saving to help, but we will still have a huge need to manage to pay for the entire cost of me getting a degree. I know I have great potential to be successful in college, but despite applying for a great many scholarships, I have only won a couple. My mother and I were extremely hopeful when I learned that I was a National Merit Semifinalist; however, I did not get chosen as a finalist and so now large college costs lay in front of me and my family. Watching my mother struggle with trying to make ends meet and pay the bills and save for my brother and myself makes me extremely uncomfortable with the idea of taking out huge loans and leaving college with massive debts that must be repaid with interest. My goal has been to earn scholarships to help supplement the cost, however, only a few of those have chosen me as a recipient. I strongly believe that I am a worthy scholarship candidate. I very much have a financial need, and I am also a strong student, an Eagle Scout, and active in volunteering with animal rescue groups. I plan to major in Computer Science and then pursue a job in that field. I am excited, and a bit nervous, about starting college, however, would feel much better about it if I knew more of it was paid for by scholarships that I had managed to earn. I would be extemely grateful to be chosen for this scholarship and believe that I would put the scholarship money to good use as I head off to University of North Texas in the Fall to start my college journey.

Smartphones are one of the most prevalent items in modern society, and as such my smartphone is naturally an extremely important part of my life. I use it to talk to people, search for information, record information, listen to music, watch videos and movies, read books, play games, and more. I almost always have it either in my hand or in my pocket, with the sole exceptions being times when it could get damaged (due to reasons such as water) or when I am charging it. For me in particular, I am almost always using it to listen to music, and I spend a lot of my free time reading books from various programs and websites using my phone. I use it to play music when I drive my car somewhere, and I often use the map program in order to help me figure out how to get to places. I use my phone to message people as well as call them, and I sometimes have to search the internet for information. A combination of programs on my phone, such as the calendar and alarm functions, help me manage my time and remind me of any scheduled events. Considering all of the things I use my phone for, I would say that it has one of the greatest impacts on my day to day activities out of all of the items I own. At this point, it is so natural for me to have my phone that I am unsure whether I could function without it as well as I can with it. My smartphone definitely impacts me when I am behind the wheel, both in good and bad ways. Listening to music in the car is one of the most enjoyable parts of driving, at least in my opinion, and playing music from my phone over the car speakers is much more enjoyable than playing music from the radio in my car. In addition, I find it difficult to remember street names and layouts, and I often get confused when I try to follow directions that somebody told me once beforehand. Therefore, having a map application on my phone makes it much easier for me to drive, since I can focus less on remembering directions and not have to look at the name of every street I pass. However, having a phone while driving is always a potential distraction, as my attention could focus more on messages or calls that I receive while driving. Overall, however, whether it is my day to day life or time spent behind the wheel, I believe that my phone is an important and useful part of my life.

The act of community service is an activity that I feel may be recognized less than it should be, perhaps due to a large portion of the population having a greater focus on their own personal gain rather than helping others. Both due to my personal upbringing as well as my participation in Boy Scouts, I have spent a decent amount of time participating in community service activities, and as such I believe that individuals should participate in community service in order to experience the act of working for the sake of others. Due to the significance of personal gain placed on the majority of activities by modern society, community service is a unique experience in that the work done either primarily benefits others or benefits everyone. I believe that working for the sake of others rather than working for one’s own sake is an experience that has the ability to affect an individual’s view of the world, and can make a difference in how an individual develops as well as the path they follow in the future. Although it is not always guaranteed that community service will change how an individual thinks or develops, the fact remains that participating in community service has a chance to affect an individual’s thoughts and development, and as such I believe that all people should participate in community service. I feel that giving back to the community is a rewarding experience, and although there are times when you are unable to instantly see the effects of your actions it is still rewarding just to know that you had an effect. The feeling of being rewarded for your work is more present when you are able to immediately see the results of your actions, but the activities that do not instantly show their effectiveness are often the activities that produce a greater effect than activities that show their effects instantly rather than after a period of time. I believe that community service is important, especially due to the fact that the activities that are often classified as community service are the activities that should be deemed necessary in regards to the health and positivity of a community. Without the individuals who take the time to participate in community service in an area, there would likely be a far less impressive community existing in that area. Additionally, the existence of community service activities is helpful for the development of the individuals who live in the nearby communities, and as such I believe that community service activities are necessary for the development and success of both the community as well as the individuals living in and near the community. Without community service activities, there would likely be more individuals who develop with surroundings that encourage greed and selfishness, which will then feed into a cycle which repeats itself, creating a large number of greedy, selfish individuals who focus more on their own goals rather than the overall picture of the world around them. As such, I believe that community service activities are both beneficial and necessary. For me personally, I have been involved in community service for the majority of my life, first through boyscouts and then through my family. In scouts, community service was something that we regularly participated in and that I learned to enjoy. I participated in Scouting for Food, environmental clean up projects, working events like carnivals and such at local churches, and ultimately my Eagle Scout project of making raised dog beds for a local dog rescue group. Through my family, my mother has worked hard to teach us the importance of helping others. Our biggest way of supporting our community within our family is through animal welfare. We foster for two different rescue groups, Dallas Street Dog Advocates and Dallas Cat Lady Rescue. We have also volunteered at Operation Kindness. Our family all loves animals and so we have gotten involved in helping homeless animals off the streets to get the medical care they need and the socialization and care to prepare them to go to adoptive homes. It has been extremely rewarding for me personally and I know it has benefited many animals. Over the past four years, we have fostered over 100 animals until they were healthy enough and ready to be adopted. It has required a lot of sacrifice and work, but it has been also very fun and satisfying to see so many animals that were homeless and sick and injured get well with us and eventually go to good homes. I am planning on studying computer science in college. I do not know for sure how I will give back to my community with that degree as I am not certain what my job will look like in the future, however, I do know that community service is important to me and something that I plan to continue participating in throughout my lifetime.

The great outdoors is a perfect way to describe my experience with the wilderness. Much of my childhood has been spent exploring and enjoying the outdoors. Between my family and the various groups I have been involved with and activities that I have taken part in, I have spent an extensive amount of time in the outdoors. Much of my time with my dad growing up has been spent in the outdoors. My father has often taken my brother and I camping, fishing, hiking, four wheeling, or other outdoor activities throughout the years. In addition, both of my parents encouraged me to join Boy Scouts, as well as encouraged me to continue in Boy Scouts, until I finally got the rank of Eagle Scout. In the process, I went on numerous camping trips, both trips planned by the Scout groups which I was a part of as well as ones planned by my family or friends. I had a lot of memorable experiences during those trips, but I believe that the two trips that left the largest impacts on me were the two High Adventure trips I went on because of Boy Scouts. During high school, I had the opportunity through scouts to go to both Philmont and Sea Base. Both are High Adventure trips that created some of the most memorable experiences I have ever had. Both of the trips were unique from other Boy Scout camping trips, as well as from camping trips with my family and friends. I cannot say whether I enjoyed Philmont or Sea Base more, as they were both incredible experiences however completely different in the effort involved. Philmont required a large amount of effort, as we hiked across plains, forests, hills, and mountains with a backpack carrying everything we brought to survive, such as tents, food, and clothes. The hiking was often difficult, but spending time with the other members of my Philmont crew at camps and on the trail more than made up for the effort. In addition, it was refreshing to spend several days trekking through nature, and there was a massive amount of incredible views, especially from viewing points at some of the higher elevations. Sea Base, on the other hand, was a much more relaxed trip, although I found it just as enjoyable as I did Philmont. The times spent swimming and snorkeling at various points of the ocean, as well as the time spent relaxing on the deck of the boat with friends, were incredibly enjoyable for me. In addition, I found that sleeping on the deck of the boat, rocking back and forth while being surrounded by water as far as I could see, was extremely pleasant. Luckily, there was only a single time on the entire trip where it rained, and even that was as night. At that time, I and the others who chose to sleep on deck moved down into the cabin of the ship to sleep, although it was a bit cramped due to the fact that there were already several people sleeping down there. The rain soon ceased, but I was the only one still awake, so I alone moved back up to the deck of the ship to sleep. My mother also loves the outdoors, so many of our vacations have included traveling to see and explore other places. Several years ago, we were able to go on a ten day trip to Alaska to visit my uncle. During the stay, we went white water rafting, hiked to see glaciers, saw numerous species of wildlife including mountain goats and black bears, got to use a hand trolley to cross a river, and went zip-lining. We also took a trip to New Mexico with my uncle where we hiked to several hidden hot springs, hiked through a petroglyph park, climbed mountains and explored much of the nature and sites of the state. All of my experiences with High Adventure trips, campouts, and vacations have been hugely memorable. They have also taught me quite a bit as well, whether it was survival tips, how to use camping equipment or various tools such as knives and ropes, how to leave no trace behind and take care to protect the site that I am visiting, or even how to act as a person, I learned quite a bit from all of my time in the outdoors. I am unsure how my experiences camping will affect my career goals for the future since I am currently planning on majoring in computer science. I do however believe that the time I spent in the outdoors will be something that I will forever remember and that camping and exploring the outdoors is something that I will continue to do in the future. I have learned to love camping and exploring nature and hope to continue making more great outdoor memories in the years to come.

My journey with self-love and acceptance has had a large impact on my life and definitely impacted my beliefs, relationships and aspirations. I am a very introverted person that struggles with social anxiety. I know that there are some really good things about me, because other people point them out, but it is very hard for me to feel confident in myself and my ability to talk to and meet people. I am confident in my intellect because that has always come fairly easily to me, partially because of how much I read, but as far as social skills, that is a very different story. I am aware that I have changed over time and grown more anxious and introverted. I was not always this way, and although I know it is something that I will continue to have to work on, it is also something that I have had to learn to accept and embrace about myself. I know my friends and especially my family worry about how quiet and introverted I am, but fortunately I have a good support system that likes me for who I am and accepts my quietness and anxiety and does not try to force me to be someone that I am not. I am grateful for the group of friends that I have and feel that I have been fortunate in the relationships that I have formed over the years. My acceptance of who I am and how I am has had an impact on my aspirations for the future. I feel that I have developed a fairly clear understanding of myself and who I am and what I enjoy. I do not know if I will ever understand what makes me so much more quiet and introverted than most people, but I have learned that it is at least for now just how I am. With all that in mind, my aspirations for my life have become clearer due to the fact that I can better understand myself, as well as accept those parts of myself that I previously could not understand or accept. Overall, self-love and acceptance have had an impact on my life, due to the fact that they allow me to better understand myself as well as accept parts of myself that I rejected previously. They allowed me to be okay with who I am, as well as be okay with what I can and cannot do. There are parts of myself that I want to improve, but I feel that I have learned to love myself where I am at right now and be able to continue to try to improve in the areas that I know are not my strengths. Learning to love myself has allowed me to be okay with acting more like myself around the people that I am close to instead of feeling like I need to try to be someone that I truly am not, and for that I am grateful.

Unprecedented for sure! The year of 2020 was definitely an interesting year for everyone. It was particularly interesting for my friends and I, as we went on a band trip to Disney World immediately before Covid was declared a pandemic and everything was shut down. We went from having rooms of four people sleeping together at night and groups of up to ten or more people walking around the theme parks during the day to having to quarantine at home and not even going to school in person. That contrast between the fun groups at Disney World and then instantly having to quarantine at home was definitely a unique and somewhat sad experience. The year quickly went from one of the best years of high school to quickly one of the weirdest and quietest ones. I feel like I learned a lot about human behavior and also the power of the media through this experience. It was enlightening to witness how people behaved when they were suddenly informed that there was a pandemic going on and they needed to take certain precautions. I was surprised to watch some of the behavior of people with the hoarding of supplies and the controversy over masks. I felt like overall, kids handled it better than many adults. The media aspect of it all was overwhelming as well, and far from helpful a lot of the time. I will definitely remember this year as it was a crazy year for everyone, and for me, not at all the way I expected my senior year of high school to go. I will remember all the events that I missed, like homecoming, and football games, and marching band season. I will also though remember a slower, calmer year where I had more time to relax and read and spend with my family. I definitely have mixed feelings about the year as I am naturally an introvert, so although I did very much miss seeing my friends and all the normal high school activities that should have occurred, I did somewhat enjoy the forced down time to do the quiet things that I enjoy. This year helped shape my future due to the fact that I had quite a bit of time to think about my life and what I wanted to do with my future, especially as I am getting closer to the time to head off to college. The start of the pandemic, as well as the entirety of quarantine which has blurred into one long memory, has had a large impact on my life. I have learned that I enjoy my alone time and having more time to relax and read and do the things that I enjoy. I have always been busy with band and school and friends and scouts, and although I missed those things, I learned that I do appreciate time alone to relax. At the same time, I have really learned to appreciate my friends and the fact that we have managed to stay close even without being able to see one another much. I hope in the future that I can find a good balance of work and school and friends as well as time alone to rest and read and recharge. It will be an adjustment for me when all this is over and things go back to being busier again. It will be good in some ways to get back to a more normal life and seeing friends again, but I hope to also still be able to keep some me time scheduled into my life.

In thinking back over all the movies I have watched over the years, it is hard to choose just one favorite. I think however though, that my all-time favorite movie is Bolt by Disney, released in 2008. I honestly just have great memories of watching this movie over and over when I was younger. I really like animals, so I think that is part of what I loved about this movie, but also the story. It is definitely one of my most watched movies of all time and the one that I look back on with the fondest memories.

I honestly do not remember where I read the quote since I read a lot, but I find the quote “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated” to be oddly motivational. Frankly, there are numerous things about life and growing up that I find intimidating, but this quote made me sit here in my game room and think about whether those things are actually intimidating, or if they are possibly more simple and easy than they first appeared. It made me think that maybe we build things up in our minds sometimes to a level that is far beyond what something is in reality. In reflecting on this quote by Confucius, it has allowed me be able to pick myself up and begin to look towards the future a bit more positively than I had before. Graduating from high school and leaving home for college is an exciting time, but also somewhat of a scary time for me. The thought of going out into the world on my own and becoming more independent is definitely nerve wracking. However, I find this quote to be motivational, and can honestly say that it has inspired me to pursue my goals a bit more energetically and without as much trepidation. Reading is by far my biggest passion and hobby. I really like that quotes and words that we read can stay with us and inspire us when we need them. This quote is a perfect example of that. Just remembering this quote has allowed me to have a shift in my perspective of what the future holds for me. Even though the future seems a little scary with all the changes that are about to occur, in reality, it is probably far simpler than my mind is making it out to be.

I am really looking forward to starting college and beginning my journey towards a degree in computer science. The main reason why I want to study computer science is because I find computers and programs interesting, which is a very simple answer but also the truth. I have taken several computer courses in high school, including AP computer science, and really enjoyed the classes and expanding my knowledge in this area. Naturally, there are other practical considerations such as a career and future plans, but the main reason is simply because I am interested in computer science and want to learn more about it. Computers and programs make up a large part of the current world, and will likely only grow to be more and more important in the future. They cover everything from entertainment to banking to security, and as such much of the current world is reliant on computers and the programs that they are built on. As such, I am interested in the field of computer science, as well as the computers and programming that support much of the world. I am also interested in computer science for simpler reasons, such as wanting to create my own games when I was younger, which leads me to want to learn more about computer science and programming in order to maybe work for a game developer company and help create computer games. The variety of ways that simple computer programs can be utilized, as well as what some of the more complicated programs can do is fascinating to me. I also think that computer science is the best career path for me, since it best combines my interests, such as computers and programming, with what I am most capable of, which would likely lead to the best career for me. However, while I am considering my future career when choosing what to study, the main reason for choosing computer science is still simply the fact that I find it interesting and think it will be something that I enjoy learning more about and eventually putting into practice in a future career. I believe I am a good candidate for this scholarship because I am a strong student in all areas and intend to work hard in college. I believe I will enjoy getting a degree in computer science and that I will be successful in college and eventually in a computer science job. I am also the oldest child of a single mother, and as such am in need of financial assistance through scholarships to be able to afford going to college and pursuing my dream of getting a computer science degree.

There are several mental health issues and each can affect various people in various ways. Anxiety, depression, and other issues are present in a large number of people, and demonstrate themselves to varying degrees. For me personally, I struggle with social anxiety, and have been told that I sometimes seem anxious or depressed. Social anxiety makes me very quiet and shy and I struggle with expressing myself verbally. Fortunately, I have some amazing friends and a family that accept me as I am and that build me up and make me happy. I am very funny and kind, but in a quiet way, and my friends seem to appreciate those qualities that I possess even if I am a quiet person. I know that my parents worry about me, especially with me heading off to college soon. My mother has me trying counseling and medication to see if it will help me at all to relax in social situations so that the transition to college will be a smooth one. So far, they don’t seem to be making much of a difference, but I am hopeful, that something will help me to overcome my social anxiety at some point. I am grateful that several of my good friends are going to college with me and we are all rooming together, because I think that will make the transition an easier one than if I was going somewhere where I didn’t know anyone. In addition to my own social anxiety, I have family and friends who also struggle with mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and more. Anxiety definitely seems to run in my family, which I think is common. My mother and brother both struggle with anxiety as well, although theirs is more general anxiety as opposed to my social anxiety. I also have a few friends that struggle with anxiety and depression, one who I am very close to and who I do my best to try to be a good support system for. My difficulty with verbally interacting with people, which seems to stem from my social anxiety, has caused me to think about my future goals carefully, as I would likely be anxious and unhappy in a job that requires a large amount of conversation. I am planning to major in computer science, which I think will be a good fit for me and hopefully allow me to find a job that involves a level of communication that is comfortable for me. I do think I will really enjoy working in the computer science field, but my social anxiety definitely played a role in making the choice of what to study. I really love band and music and had an interest in pursuing music, however, after considering what it would look like to work in the music field, such as a band director, I decided that computer science was probably a better fit for my personality. My understanding of my own mental health, as well as my understanding of the mental health of my friends and family, has caused me to better understand myself and the people around me. Additionally, my understanding of my and others’ mental health has caused me to better understand how to interact with them in spite of, or even due to, mental health issues. I feel that my own struggles with mental health has caused me to have more compassion for others that struggle with it as well and has allowed me to be a support system for those around me since I can relate to what they are dealing with.

There are several mental health issues and each can affect various people in various ways. Anxiety, depression, and other issues are present in a large number of people, and demonstrate themselves to varying degrees. For me personally, I struggle with social anxiety, and have been told that I sometimes seem anxious or depressed. Social anxiety makes me very quiet and shy and I struggle with expressing myself verbally. Fortunately, I have some amazing friends and a family that accepts me as I am and that builds me up and makes me happy. I am very funny and kind, but in a quiet way, and my friends seem to appreciate those qualities that I possess even if I am a quiet person. I know that my parents worry about me, especially with me heading off to college soon. My mother has me trying counseling and medication to see if it will help me at all to relax in social situations so that the transition to college will be a smooth one. So far, they don’t seem to be making much of a difference, but I am hopeful, that something will help me to overcome my social anxiety at some point. I am grateful that several of my good friends are going to college with me and we are all rooming together, because I think that will make the transition an easier one than if I was going somewhere where I didn’t know anyone. In addition to my own social anxiety, I have family and friends who also struggle with mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and more. Anxiety definitely seems to run in my family, which I think is common. My mother and brother both struggle with anxiety as well, although theirs is more general anxiety as opposed to my social anxiety. I also have a few friends that struggle with anxiety and depression, one who I am very close to and who I do my best to try to be a good support system for. My difficulty with verbally interacting with people, which seems to stem from my social anxiety, has caused me to think about my future goals carefully, as I would likely be anxious and unhappy in a job that requires a large amount of conversation. I am planning to major in computer science, which I think will be a good fit for me and hopefully allow me to find a job that involves a level of communication that is comfortable for me. I do think I will really enjoy working in the computer science field, but my social anxiety definitely played a role in making the choice of what to study. I really love band and music and had an interest in pursuing music, however, after considering what it would look like to work in the music field, such as a band director, I decided that computer science was probably a better fit for my personality. My understanding of my own mental health, as well as my understanding of the mental health of my friends and family, has caused me to better understand myself and the people around me. Additionally, my understanding of my and others’ mental health has caused me to better understand how to interact with them in spite of, or even due to, mental health issues. I feel that my own struggles with mental health has caused me to have more compassion for others that struggle with it as well and has allowed me to be a support system for those around me since I can relate to what they are dealing with.

Anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues are present in a large number of people. For me personally, I struggle greatly with social anxiety. Social anxiety makes me very quiet and shy and I struggle with expressing myself verbally. Fortunately, I have some amazing friends and a family that accept me as I am and that build me up and make me happy. I am very funny and kind, but in a quiet way, and my friends seem to appreciate those qualities that I possess even if I am a very quiet person. I know that my parents worry about me, especially with me heading off to college soon. My mother has me trying counseling and medication to see if it will help me so that the transition to college will be a smooth one. So far, they don’t seem to be making much of a difference, but I am hopeful, that something will help me to overcome my social anxiety at some point. In addition to my own social anxiety, I have family and friends who also struggle with mental health issues. Anxiety definitely seems to run in my family, which I think is common. My mother and brother both struggle with anxiety as well, although theirs is more general anxiety. I also have friends that struggle with anxiety and depression, one who I am very close to and who I do my best to try to be a good support system for. My understanding of my own mental health, as well as my understanding of the mental health of my friends and family, has caused me to better understand myself and the people around me. Additionally, my understanding of my and others’ mental health has caused me to better understand how to support them with their mental health issues. I feel that my own struggles with mental health has caused me to have more compassion for others that also struggle with it and allows me to be a support system for others since I can relate to what they are dealing with.

There are several mental health issues and each can affect various people in various ways. Anxiety, depression, and other issues are present in a large number of people, and demonstrate themselves to varying degrees. For me personally, I struggle with social anxiety, and have been told that I sometimes seem anxious or depressed. Social anxiety makes me very quiet and shy and I struggle with expressing myself verbally. Fortunately, I have some amazing friends and a family that accept me as I am and that build me up and make me happy. I am very funny and kind, but in a quiet way, and my friends seem to appreciate those qualities that I possess even if I am a quiet person. I know that my parents worry about me, especially with me heading off to college soon. My mother has me trying counseling and medication to see if it will help me at all to relax in social situations so that the transition to college will be a smooth one. So far, they don’t seem to be making much of a difference, but I am hopeful, that something will help me to overcome my social anxiety at some point. I am grateful that several of my good friends are going to college with me and we are all rooming together, because I think that will make the transition an easier one than if I was going somewhere where I didn’t know anyone. In addition to my own social anxiety, I have family and friends who also struggle with mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and more. Anxiety definitely seems to run in my family, which I think is common. My mother and brother both struggle with anxiety as well, although theirs is more general anxiety as opposed to my social anxiety. I also have a few friends that struggle with anxiety and depression, one who I am very close to and who I do my best to try to be a good support system for. My difficulty with verbally interacting with people, which seems to stem from my social anxiety, has caused me to think about my future goals carefully, as I would likely be anxious and unhappy in a job that requires a large amount of conversation. I am planning to major in computer science, which I think will be a good fit for me and hopefully allow me to find a job that involves a level of communication that is comfortable for me. I do think I will really enjoy working in the computer science field, but my social anxiety definitely played a role in making the choice of what to study. I really love band and music and had an interest in pursuing music, however, after considering what it would look like to work in the music field, such as a band director, I decided that computer science was probably a better fit for my personality. My understanding of my own mental health, as well as my understanding of the mental health of my friends and family, has caused me to better understand myself and the people around me. Additionally, my understanding of my and others’ mental health has caused me to better understand how to interact with them in spite of, or even due to, mental health issues. I feel that my own struggles with mental health has caused me to have more compassion for others that struggle with it as well and has allowed me to be a support system for those around me since I can relate to what they are dealing with.

For many people, religion is one of the factors that can have the biggest impact on an individual’s life and beliefs. For me, Christianity has been a place of support, and Jesus has served as my role model for how I believe someone should act and live. I believe the Bible is God’s guide for us on how we should strive to live our lives. Although I can never reach the standard that God sets for us due to my flawed and sinful human nature, I do try to do my best and believe in prayer and God’s forgiveness when I mess up. I have grown up in a Christian home and participated in the Awana’s program in our church and later in youth group. I really enjoyed the youth programs through my church and am grateful for the biblical foundation that they provided me. I made the choice at a fairly young age to be baptized after learning about the meaning and commitment of baptism through my Sunday school class. Unfortunately, over the past couple of years, all the activities I am in has gotten in the way of me regularly making it to youth group meetings, however, I still live my life according to my Christian values that I have learned over the years. We changed church homes right before Covid hit, so with church and youth group being online, it has been challenging to get immersed in the youth group of our new church. While I spend less time on religious activities as I grow older and take on more responsibilities and activities that take up my free time, I can still confidently say that Jesus, and Christianity in general, has had a large impact on my life, and still impacts me to this day. I am grateful to have been brought up in a Christian home where I was able to learn about God and his love for me. My faith will continue to guide me as I move into adulthood and hopefully will keep me on a good path as I become an adult.

Kindness is something that can be displayed in many ways, however, whether it is through words or actions, it is something that can have a huge impact on us. Kindness can be clear or vague, and can be obvious or end up going completely unnoticed. I have noticed a large amount of kindness from various people in my life, and there has likely been plenty more that I have not noticed. I have been fortunate to grow up surrounded by many people that have treated me with kindness, which I am grateful for because I know that this is not the case for everyone. If I had to pick a single act of kindness, however, I would say that the first time that one of my closest friends talked to me was what impacted me the most. I am an extremely shy person, so the way that I have met almost all of my current friends has been through my original few elementary school friends. I was fortunate in elementary school to be grouped with other students in the gifted and talented program and we traveled through all of elementary together in the same classes. Those original friends I made have remained close friends and over the years, they have introduced me to other people that have also become close friends. As such, it is rare for me to have any friends that I was not introduced to by my elementary friends. In high school though, I had a girl in my class introduce herself and begin a conversation with me. I had no idea at the time that she would become one of my closest friends, but the first time she talked to me was during a Jazz class at school which both of us were part of. Both of us were some of the most introverted people in the class, so we generally hung around the edges of the group, if we were near the group at all. One day, while we were both hanging around the edge of the group, she decided to talk to me, and we quickly began to get along. We started talking during class and texting each other outside of class, and we found that we had a lot in common. The initial meeting where she first talked to me is an extremely impactful memory for me, and the fact that she talked to me first meant a lot to me, due to how well we got along and the fact that I may not have met or interacted with her otherwise. In addition, due to the fact that I now know about how introverted and shy she is, it means even more to me. Just knowing that in spite of her shyness, she was kind enough to talk to me when I was too introverted to join the group has meant a lot to me. Kindness can be so simple to show another person. Even when to us it does not seem like we are doing anything special, it can make a huge impact to the person receiving it. I know that the girl that friended me had no idea what sort of impact her saying hi and starting a conversation with me would have; however, her kindness has led to one of the most meaningful relationships that I have. I can only hope that the kindness that I show others around me also has a positive impact on them.

My mother is my role model. She is a single mom and has worked hard to raise both myself and my brother. She has always put us first and sacrificed and worked two jobs at times to ensure that we have what we need. I know that she is worried about how she will pay for me to go to college, but she is adamant that I will go and earn a degree. I have always been a very strong student, and she says she wants to see me be able to reach my full potential in life and hopefully have an easier time than she has had with being a single parent and raising us on one income. My mom has also taught me the value of serving others and community service. We all love animals, and in middle school she took us to start volunteering at an animal shelter. Fast forward, and we now foster animals for two different rescue groups. Over the past 4 years, we have fostered around 25 different dogs and 50 cats and kittens and helped them get healthy and social enough to be adopted into good homes. I have really enjoyed doing this. I especially like fostering kittens. It has been a lot of work feeding and cleaning up after them all and giving them all quality time, but it has been something that I have really enjoyed doing, especially when you get to see them get adopted and know that you helped to make a difference in the life of the animal. My mom has done a good job of pushing me to work hard, but also trusting me to take care of my responsibilities. I was in Boy Scouts for most of my life, and with her help and encouragement, I was able to go to Philmont and do a 10 day high adventure trek and also earn my Eagle Scout rank. I am proud of both of those accomplishments, and could not have done them without my moms help and support. I want to go to college and get a degree in computer science and find a good job that I enjoy. I hope that when I have graduated and am working, that I can somehow help my mom out and pay her back in some way for all that she has given me throughout the years. I am like most teens, and do not always get along with my mom and appreciate her nudging me to do things, however, overall we do have a good relationship and I am grateful for everything she has done for me. She is my role model and I hope that she knows that.

Legacy, a simple word for a simple concept. To me, a legacy is something which an individual or a group leaves behind which remains in the future. A legacy can be an item, an idea, or something else, like simply having people know that you existed and made a difference with your time on Earth. It is, or has, a lasting impact on the world, and is one of the ways that a person can be remembered. It does not have to be a positive impact, and some of the well known legacies are known because they were negative impacts rather than positive ones. This is something most of us can agree that we would like to avoid. Personally, I would like to leave behind a positive legacy, likely in a smaller sense rather than a legacy on a large scale. Naturally, like most people I am somewhat attracted to the idea of leaving behind a massive legacy, having done something that affected a large number of people. However, I would also be satisfied with, or maybe even prefer, a small, simple legacy from helping just a few people and having a positive impact on just those select few. If I am able to do something with my life which allows me to have had a positive impact on even just a few people who I am close with, I would be able to be proud of my legacy. I believe that we each leave some sort of legacy behind when we are gone. We can certainly luck out and leave a positive legacy, however, we are more likely to guarantee that we leave a positive legacy if we are intentional about setting out to do that. Our legacy that we leave is defined by the actions of our lifetime, so if we strive to do good things and help others, then we are likely to leave behind a positive legacy when we are gone. That is my goal, to try to make a difference in my lifetime that has a positive impact on others. I hope that when I am gone, people will be able to look back on what I did and how I lived and remember the good things that I did and the ways in which my life benefited those around me.

Being a child of a single mother has definitely changed my life in many ways. However, while I definitely do believe that being the child of a single mother has changed my life, I am not completely sure about all of the parts of my life that are different because of it given that this is the way things have been for the majority of my life. Having only my mother, myself, and my brother living in the house has caused us to distribute roles differently than we would otherwise, which I believe has influenced how my brother and I have grown up. I am the oldest child of a single mother and my mother has taught us all along that we are all contributing members of our family and as such that we all need to take on responsibility to get things done and to help one another. She has worked hard over the years to teach me the importance of relationships and family. I believe that my mother and I have a fairly good relationship. My mother and I generally get along well, and although we argue at times, we manage to reconcile fairly quickly, and neither of us have much of a habit of holding grudges against each other. I believe that the influence of my mother has caused me to prepare more for the future, including activities such as attempting to get numerous scholarships such as this one. My mother has worked very hard to raise and support us and provide for us and has sacrificed over the years to ensure that my brother and I always have what we need. She has also though been honest with us about what things cost and what we can and cannot afford and taught us to be content with what we have and to work hard in life to try to make a better and more stable future for ourselves. I have watched my mother struggle to support me and my brother and watched her worry a lot over the years, and am hoping that by getting a good degree and good job that I can hopefully have less stress as an adult than my mother has had. While I do not yet have a completely clear picture of what I want my future to look like, my dream at the moment is to study computer science in college and then find a career in the field of computer science. I want to be able to support myself with the career I find, as well as be able to give back something to my mother who has worked so hard to raise and support me all of my life. I am not completely sure where I see myself in the future, but I hope to find a job in the field of computer science which I can both enjoy and is also a job which allows me to be able to support myself. In order to achieve this goal, I have spent some time in school learning about computer science in order to make it a bit easier for me to learn in the future. In addition, I am currently applying for scholarships such as this one in order to help pay for my college education for computer science. Scholarships such as this one will also help me to be able to spend more time studying and having a proper college life instead of having to work a lot of hours during college in order to help support my parents who are doing their best to pay for my college expenses. Winning this scholarship would help me with my goal of studying computer science in college, and would also help me in my goal of giving back to my mother who has always been one of my biggest supporters.

My picture is from my Philmont trip. Philmont is a high adventure boyscout camp where for 10 days you hike up a mountain, carrying all your gear and food and water and tent and supplies. The entire trip is about 70 miles long, completed over the course of the 10 days. In addition to hiking each day to that days destination, there was also a daily activity planned once we arrived at our new campsite for the day. On the day in the picture, we hiked our miles to our new campsite and then repelled down a mountain.

One problem that the world faces, and one that I would like to do my best to help change is the issue of resource distribution. The majority of the world’s resources are in the hands of a small number of extremely wealthy people, but even if you exclude that, there is still far too much unevenness in the distribution of the world’s resources. One big problem that I see is that there is a large number of wasted resources in developed countries like the United States. At the same time, there is also an overwhelming lack of resources in some (or most) of the less developed countries around the world. It is a bit difficult to solve this problem due to the fact that issues with resource distribution essentially can not be solved by an individual, or even a small group of people. It would require a large portion of the population in order to completely solve this issue within a noticeable time frame, unless one or some of the individuals involved were those who hold a majority of the world’s resources or a large amount of personal wealth. However, this does not mean that there is nothing an individual can do to help solve the problem. There are various activities which could help solve this problem, such as recycling, donating, personal resource management, as well as a number of other activities. Each of these activities can let an individual help others receive the resources that they need, while reducing the amount of resources that end up being wasted when they could instead be used elsewhere. If more people took part in these activities, there would likely be a noticeable decrease in the amount of wasted resources, which would mean that there are more resources available for those who actually need them. I strongly believe that all individuals should do their part to make a difference in protecting the world’s resources. I also believe that there needs to be more of a push in society to encourage or even enforce that people do their part. The only way to bring about change is to get the citizens involved in solving this very important issue. One such way of encouraging citizens to help correct this problem would be to offer some sort of incentive for helping to stop the problem at hand. For instance, if people participate in recycling, they could earn a break on their trash bill from the city. I believe that as a society, we need to think outside the box to come up with creative ways to bring about some positive change in our community, both locally and globally. I hope in my lifetime, that I am able to see this issue find a solution. I hope to see the world’s resources more evenly distributed and all people to have access to what they need. I hope to see more equality in our world in this, the distribution of resources, as well as in other ways. I plan to do my best to try to make a difference and hope with others doing the same that we will see a change in the future.

Going away to college is getting closer and closer. It makes me both excited and nervous to think about starting this new chapter in my life. Choosing a college major has not been an easy decision for me. Some students know from an early age exactly what they want to be when they grow up; however, for me it has taken some time to come to that answer. Fortunately for me, my high school offered many different electives. I was able throughout high school to take classes in several different areas and see if I felt like they were a good match for me in interest and ability. The area I have settled on to study in college is Computer Science. I took AP Computer Science in my junior year of high school. I found the class engaging and interesting and as such have decided that I would like to learn more about Computer Science. I am planning on going to the University of North Texas in the Fall and study Computer Science. I believe it will be a good career for me in the future and that I will both enjoy it and be successful in this field. I am greatly in need of financial aid to make this all a realty. I am excited about starting college and studying Computer Science; however, I am concerned about the costs associated with going to college. I am grateful for scholarship opportunities such as this one to hopefully help reduce some of the costs of college and make earning my degree less of a financial strain.