My future self has succeeded in becoming an astrophysicist like I want to be despite the very strong odds against it.

As part of a school leadership development program, I will be doing volunteer work at the children's museum in my college town, Tucson. (I am a student at the University of Arizona). The volunteer work is required as part of the program. However, the work is a choice. I didn't have to continue with the program, but I wanted to, and I am choosing to go back to the museum to do more work. The museum includes a variety of exhibits, including ones about Tucson, trains, the human body, day-to-day activities such as grocery shopping, physics, and an area where children can build and craft things. (The older ones, under adult supervision, are able to use more advanced tools such as hammers, screwdrivers, and even drills.) They are able to learn about their local community, their own bodies, life, and how the world physically works. As a volunteer, my job is essentially to clean up after the kids and teach them about the exhibits. Having not been in Tucson very long, I may not be able to teach them much about the city, but I can teach them about other things. I feel this is a worthy cause. They do have their parents, and the schools, but I find it nice to be able to teach something. I'm an astronomy major, and I do know a good bit about physics and motion from my readings. I can tell the children about these things, and I can explain about how the body works, its senses and how they operate. I'm no expert, but I can hold my own in a conversation and teach it well enough. Helping the children learn things can inspire them. Maybe my telling one child about gravity and how it pulls down the rolling weights at the museum could inspire them to be a physicist, or an engineer, or any manner of technical field. The children will be the ones who take over from us, so I would love to be able to inspire and teach them in any way I can. I will be sure to do so if and when I have children, within my own family. I am looking forward to serving my local community in this way and by helping it to grow. I don't hold a large sway over what the children learn, but I want to help teach the next generation about the world in any way I can. I think it's a worthy cause.

Since I was a small child, I had an interest in space. It never really left me, even though I considered other career paths, including video game design, engineering, and paleontology, one of my longtime obsessions. Interest in these areas has never entirely left me, but I've discovered my passion for physics in recent years, especially astronomy and astrophysics, which is my major. I find it very interesting due to the sheer vastness and the unimaginable facts associated with it. Black holes seem like the creation of a science fiction writer, and yet, they are still completely real. I feel this is God's calling on my life, and it is what I want to do with my career. To that end, I want to become an astrophysicist. I want to research and study the universe and learn more about it. I want to contribute to our knowledge about His creation so that we can come to a greater understanding of it. I am particularly interested in cosmology and other galaxies, black holes, and theoretical astrophysics in general. With my career, I may not be solving world hunger or curing a disease. That's simply not what I'm meant for and not what my purpose is. But I can still positively contribute to the world. We wouldn't have astronauts without studying how space works, the temperature of it, and what weather occurs within it. Namely, without understanding solar radiation, we wouldn't know how to properly design our space stations. I also think I could contribute to changing the mindset of others through my work. Astronomy is a humbling subject because it proves that there are things much greater in the universe than us. What is an atomic explosion, one of the greatest (though very regretful) displays of human capability when compared to a star, which has thousands of times more power? We pale in comparison to the least magnificent of all stellar creations. People tend to be prideful, and sometimes, even people revered as humble can be prideful. We can all use a dose of perspective as to how small we really are sometimes, and astronomy is a perfect example of how to do so. I don't mean this in a mean or spiteful way, but I do understand the power of astronomy to humble us. Reading about it every day reminds us of how little we are. I can encourage my friends and family to find out a small fact about astronomy on a consistent basis, possibly on set days of the week, or once a day. Any amount of studying can help us to keep ourselves humble. We are not the center of the universe, and while I'm not saying everyone behaves this way on a consistent basis, it's still good for us to know that there's something huge out there, something we can't even comprehend. As a Christian, I would say God is even more effective at doing so, but I see a lesson in humility in those little pinpoints of light in the night sky. And so, I would encoruage people to remember the stars, the galaxies, the black holes, and all the other objects in between. As I encourage others to learn more, they can also encourage others to learn more, and if they can tell only a small handful of others each day, and those others do the same each day, than the effects can quickly add up. I want my career to work on a small scale, changing the world a little bit at a time, with each passing day.

A diversified portfolio is very important in the realm of personal finances, if you want to maintain your wealth. All the financial experts I've read encourage this, and so did the Personal Financial Literacy course I took in my senior year of high school. They encourage going into several areas: having a savings account, investing in precious metals and other valuable objects such as collectibles, the stock market, and in bonds or other such loans. I do think this is good advice, because the more diversified you are, the less damage from one area of your portfolio will affect you. If you have only a savings account, for example, and you have some large, unexpected expense—such as a medical bill—your personal finances will take a severe hit, because you don't have as strong of a net. The more threads there are in your net, the less likely the net is to break. You have something to fall back on if one of those threads falls apart, and you can repair that part of your net while the other parts stay safe.It may sound unprofessional, but I'm frankly reminded of the character of Voldemort in the "Harry Potter" books, who broke his soul into seven pieces to avoid dying. If you invest in several different areas, you are less likely to "die" financially, that is, get into a very difficult financial situation. Your wealth is maintained and so is your financial security. I plan to implement those tactics when I go off to college—I just graduated high school—and start my own life. I won't invest in overly risky areas, such as start-up companies, but I do think that having a diverse investment portfolio will be very beneficial for me and any family I may have some day.

Some might say being an astronomer or astrophysicist doesn't have an impact on society as a whole. The field doesn't solve the problems with climate change we have here on Earth, nor does it cure diseases. We wouldn't have satellites without astronomers, because astronomers know about how space and what happens in it: the lack of gravity and how to use is, space weather and how to withstand it, and other aspects. Astronomers do have an impact on the world through their expertise in the area where we send some of our most critical technology. I want to be an astronomer or astrophysicist, and I could be able to make a positive impact on the world through those methods. But my main plan is to promote science among the public and among my loved ones, and show them what I've learned from it. I don't mean the actual, hard facts, such as how a black hole forms, and I don't mean, to every extent, teaching the public about what's going on in my field and how it may relate to them, though I do plan on doing both of those things. No, I think the largest impact I could make is to teach astronomy as a lesson in humility and unity, because the world sure could use both of those right now. I am humbled by the vastness of the Good Lord's creation, and I've learned from it, not only physically—hard facts, like the black hole, as I said before—but also philosophically. We're so insignificant compared to even the smallest of stars, some of which are far more powerful than their larger brethren. Humans tend to think of themselves as being something great, but when we think about the universe, we realize that, in all reality, we really aren't as big and powerful as we say and think we are. The most powerful nuclear weapon in the world can't compare to those incomprehensibly large fusion machines we call stars. When I hear the numbers on the sheer amount of energy stars put out, my brain is at a loss, grasping around with its mouth open, attempting to fit into its worldview something that simply can't be contained there. If we realize this, maybe we wouldn't be so inclined to think of ourselves as powerful, because whether or not you believe in God as I do, all must acknowledge there is definitely something bigger and more powerful out there—the proof is all around us, in the night sky and the day sky, the sun and the stars, and even the moon, for that matter. And yet, despite their power, stars are all bound by the same physical laws we are. There is a unity to Creation that dictates even to the most explosive, powerful objects what their limits are, and that those limits can never be exceeded. Everything in the universe is interconnected in this way. Humans aren't all that different from each other. When we realize that we share things in common with the stars, we realize even more that we aren't so different, especially considering how different we are from them. We're basically all the exact same when we compare ourselves to the stars. Astronomy can unite us as a society, because it teaches us how similar we are. If we know how similar we are, we aren't as likely to discriminate and see ourselves as better somehow than another group, ethnicity, race, or culture. That's how I would like to impact the world: using my field as a lesson in humility, unity, love, and peace.

Edwin Hubble's discovery that the Milky Way is not the only galaxy in the universe, and that there are many, showed us how vast, magnificent, and awe-inspiring the universe is. Our galaxy is already so large that it's difficult to contemplate, filled with countless stars, but there are many more galaxies in the universe, all filled with thousands or even billions of stars. There are more galaxies in the universe than there are people. Humanity is arrogant. I'm reminded of a comment in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, where the alien leader who's about to have Earth destroyed to build a galactic highway exasperatedly notes that Earth is only a few light-years away from the planet the humans would need to lodge a complaint on. We consider ourselves so advanced and powerful, but we are nothing next to the smallest star and we are a speck on the underarm of a flea compared to the smallest galaxy. If I ever do think about our advancement, I can think about Hubble's findings, and I realize that we truly are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Hubble's discovery is among the most humbling of all. It reminds us of our place in the universe. We're not nearly as powerful as the weakest star, but an unfathomable number of these fusion machines exist in the universe, all bound by gravity into galaxies too large for the eye and the mind to behold. I am humbled by the vastness of God's creation. That's why Hubble's discovery is my favorite. It provides a concrete lesson in humility. We wouldn't be as arrogant as we are if we would consider the universe, and we wouldn't be as likely to stomp on those we disagree with if we weren't as prideful.

I've never considered myself a lovable man. I've always struggled with excessive self-doubt and I feel numbed to everything at times. I find it difficult to stop asking myself, "What's the point?" I put off applying to scholarships for a long time; I didn't think I would win any and considered it a waste of time as a result. Sometimes, I seriously ask myself why I even exist. My self-doubts have morphed into a real struggle with my mental health, because they have caused many emotional issues for me and even for others, which only makes the problem worse, because I know my mental health has affected other people. It hasn't severely affected my close relationships. My family still loves and supports and encourages me. They remind me of what's at stake if I don't apply to scholarships. I want to be an astrophysicist, but I've doubted my ability to do so; I've even told my family that I don't think I can seriously do it. But they have encouraged me nonetheless. It does give me a greater appreciation of my family and the lengths they are willing to go to for me. My parents have done everything they can to get me where I want to be. The getting there depends entirely on me. It's like they bought me a car to get somewhere, but I have to do the driving, and I have to pay for the gas, food, water, lodging, and other expenses. It's an appropriate metaphor for college and my life. I must "drive" to and through college, graduate school, and my career, and I must get the "gas, food, water, and lodging" that are the basics of living: food, water, and lodging, literally, but all of these represent scholarships and a job and all the other things I need to be successful. My mental health has affected my goals. I want to be an astrophysicist, as I said. And I've often doubted my ability to be one. It has caused friction between my family and I, because they do feel I can and are angry with me for continually doubting myself even though I've proven to myself and to them—on multiple occasions—that I am capable of being an astrophysicist, and a great one at that. I have, at times, let my mental health interfere with my ability to become an astrophysicist. As I said, I put off doing scholarships. I didn't let myself have as many chances at them as I might have, and so I don't have as much money to get an undergraduate degree as I might have. I do run the risk of having to take out student loans, so I will find it more difficult to fund graduate school. I may not have as much money from my job to pay for graduate school, since I may have to pay student loans. I do have what it takes to be an astrophysicist, but I will find it much more difficult to reach my goal than I otherwise might have. My mental health shapes my understanding of the world. I understand that there is always some sort of light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how dark it seems, if we can hold out for long enough, we can get through our personal situations and defeat our personal demons. There's always hope. The sun shines even when you can't see it. I wrote a poem on this subject once, by that title, "The Sun Shines Even When You Can't See It": "Even when it's dark. / Even when it's sad. / Even when it's hopeless. / The sun shines even when / You can't see it." It's not the full poem, but it does convey what I'm saying here. My mental health has strengthened my religious beliefs. It's part of what has driven me to seek God. I find that he always comforts me when I'm in a truly bad emotional position, because I find myself unable to stay as down for as long. I usually feel better after a good sleep. I feel that I receive peace, even if I don't ask for it explicitly. I feel better when I pray over my troubles, and I grow closer to God that way. I know from my experiences that there is no shame in bad mental health. I'm a grown man, and I take no shame in crying when I need to. Sometimes, I feel that a good cry is what I really need, and I it makes me feel worse when I can't cry, because I know it will make feel better. Sadness happens to everybody. Depression is very common. It's not some isolated event. We all go through bad emotional positions, through ruts. How can it be shameful when we're going through something very common? We all cry, as well, even men. We're all vulnerable. Nobody is invincible, and it is foolishness to pretend otherwise. Tears show that we are human. A bad state of mental health can be very difficult to cope with. Some of us get to the point that we are no longer capable of coping with it. It can derail our goals and it can put strain on personal relationships. But it can also be a teacher. It can teach us valuable lessons about life and the world and help us to understand this life more fully than we have before. It's something we all must deal with at some point. It's unavoidable, and there's no reason to stigmatize it. It's part of this fallen world we live in (I'm a Christian), it has been since mankind first disobeyed God, and until all the Bible tells us will happen in the end, happens, it always will be. We can fight it, though, if we share our issues and get the help we need. It's something anybody can do, and there are others we can seek—first and foremost God—who can help us. That's a given.

I don't have much in the way of real experience with personal finances. I have dealt with my family having low finances—we only make about $40,000 a year right now, before taxes, and we have an estimated $150,000 in debt. We're currently having trouble with getting all our bills paid and with buying me the materials I need to live away from home on a college campus, and with getting me to college, at the University of Arizona. We lost about nearly $20,000 in income this year, on a year-to-year basis. We were receiving Survivor's benefits from Social Security, but we lost them since I grew too old to receive them. I have learned a considerable bit in the realm of personal finances. I have read books and articles on these topics, and I have taken a Personal Financial Literacy course in high school. I've learned from my parents some good financial practices, such as the need to read everything in very great depth. This is a teaching that can come in handy anywhere, but it's especially important in personal finances, where there can be very important information in fine print. I have read about how to handle debt, the dangers of credit cards (and loans in general), building a credit score, and how to budget, all of which are critical for finances at every level, from the individual to the government. Even governments have loans and debt they have to handle, and their ability to repay debt can affect them in the sight of other nations. On the whole, my experience with finances has been difficult, because my family doesn't have much money to enjoy life and get me to college, though my experience with financial education has been more than sufficient, because I'm already learning good habits that I can use to have a strong financial position. One of my dreams is to have a perfect credit score. I plan on using what I've learned to ensure I have a strong financial future, which will ensure I have a strong future in general, because without a solid financial future, you literally can't afford a good life; you won't have the funds for it. I will do everything I can to stay out of debt and to viciously attack whatever debt I may have. To build my credit score, I will have to get into debt, but I will make sure it's manageable. If I must go into credit card debt, I will research ways that I can use the debt to build my credit score. I may also get a mortgage, when I have a family, because I've read a mortgage is one of the best ways to build your credit score. I will save as much money as I can, for both "rainy days" and for retirement. I want to make sure I have enough money to afford unexpected expenses, such as medical emergencies. I also want to make sure I have enough money to live on when I can no longer work. I will have to go into debt at times; I will save to make sure the debt is less than what it otherwise might be, such as paying part of the cost of a house with the money I have saved. I am planning my financial future even as I write this. I'm planning on opening my first savings account soon. I will save voraciously, to help my future. I want to ensure a good life for myself and whatever family I may have some day. The time to start is now.

I've never considered myself a lovable man. I've always struggled with excessive self-doubt and I feel numbed to everything at times. I find it difficult to stop asking myself, "What's the point?" I put off applying to scholarships for a long time; I didn't think I would win any and considered it a waste of time as a result. Sometimes, I seriously ask myself why I even exist. My self-doubts have morphed into a real struggle with my mental health, because they have caused many emotional issues for me and even for others, which only makes the problem worse, because I know my mental health has affected other people. It hasn't severely affected my close relationships. My family still loves and supports and encourages me. They remind me of what's at stake if I don't apply to scholarships. I want to be an astrophysicist, but I've doubted my ability to do so; I've even told my family that I don't think I can seriously do it. But they have encouraged me nonetheless. It does give me a greater appreciation of my family and the lengths they are willing to go to for me. My parents have done everything they can to get me where I want to be. The getting there depends entirely on me. It's like they bought me a car to get somewhere, but I have to do the driving, and I have to pay for the gas, food, water, lodging, and other expenses. It's an appropriate metaphor for college and my life. I must "drive" to and through college, graduate school, and my career, and I must get the "gas, food, water, and lodging" that are the basics of living: food, water, and lodging, literally, but all of these represent scholarships and a job and all the other things I need to be successful. My mental health has affected my goals. I want to be an astrophysicist, as I said. And I've often doubted my ability to be one. It has caused friction between my family and I, because they do feel I can and are angry with me for continually doubting myself even though I've proven to myself and to them—on multiple occasions—that I am capable of being an astrophysicist, and a great one at that. I have, at times, let my mental health interfere with my ability to become an astrophysicist. As I said, I put off doing scholarships. I didn't let myself have as many chances at them as I might have, and so I don't have as much money to get an undergraduate degree as I might have. I do run the risk of having to take out student loans, so I will find it more difficult to fund graduate school. I may not have as much money from my job to pay for graduate school, since I may have to pay student loans. I do have what it takes to be an astrophysicist, but I will find it much more difficult to reach my goal than I otherwise might have. My mental health shapes my understanding of the world. I understand that there is always some sort of light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how dark it seems, if we can hold out for long enough, we can get through our personal situations and defeat our personal demons. There's always hope. The sun shines even when you can't see it. I wrote a poem on this subject once, by that title, "The Sun Shines Even When You Can't See It": "Even when it's dark. / Even when it's sad. / Even when it's hopeless. / The sun shies even when / You can't see it." It's not the full poem, but it does convey what I'm saying here. I also know from my experiences that there is no shame in bad mental health. I'm a grown man, and I take no shame in crying when I need to. Sometimes, I feel that a good cry is what I really need, and I it makes me feel worse when I can't cry, because I know it will make feel better. Sadness happens to everybody. Depression is very common. It's not some isolated event. We all go through bad emotional positions, through ruts. How can it be shameful when we're going through something very common? We all cry, as well, even men. We're all vulnerable. Nobody is invincible, and it is foolishness to pretend otherwise. Tears show that we are human. A bad state of mental health can be very difficult to cope with. Some of us get to the point that we are no longer capable of coping with it. It can derail our goals and it can put strain on personal relationships. But it can also be a teacher. It can teach us valuable lessons about life and the world and help us to understand this life more fully than we have before. It's something we all must deal with at some point. It's unavoidable, and there's no reason to stigmatize it. It's part of this fallen world we live in (I'm a Christian), it has been since mankind first disobeyed God, and until all the Bible tells us will happen in the end, happens, it always will be. We can fight it, though, if we share our issues and get the help we need. It's something anybody can do, and there are others we can seek—first and foremost God—who can help us. That's a given.

I didn't get my mother a card for Mother's Day this year, nor did I buy her a gift. On first hearing that, many would conclude I didn't think of her. Some may conclude I didn't do anything for her for Mother's Day, because those are some of the most common things to do. I did, however, do something for that precious day. I wrote her a letter. I spent time thinking of what I wanted to say, and I ensured my message was meaningful. You simply can't get a meaningful message out of a Hallmark card and a few words. It's not in-depth enough. It's not meaty enough. I wanted my mother to know how much I appreciate her. I discussed how I've learned recently that there's no such thing as a repayable gift, implying that what she's done for me is something I can never repay, and that all I can do is try to make sure it wasn't in vain. That's how I try to make my loved ones feel loved. I try to do the usual things—doing my tasks well and effectively, listening, and being a good friend and son overall. I try to let them know I appreciate them. I thank my mother every time she cooks on a given meaning. I'm sure everyone does, but many of them probably take such a gift as a given, and while they may mean it, they don't fully appreciate it. I do appreciate my mother taking her time to cook for me, because I know she could have left me to fend for myself, but instead took her time and energy to put food on the table for me. In my words, I let her and my other loved ones know I'm thinking of them.

I love to think. God alone knows the number of hours I've spent philosophizing to myself and thinking deeply about some of the controversial topics of today, such as religion and what should be allowed in education. I would love to debate about these things. I will probably write a book about my ideas someday. I realized long ago that I have no place in dictating to another person what they should think. I have opinions. Especially in religious matters, I think my worldview is correct. But I have no place in forcing my ideas on others. Everybody deserves their own opinion, regardless of any factor other than whether they are hurting others or breaking "just laws," as Martin Luther King would say. If I have a chance, I try to make this known to others. I respect others and their beliefs, even if I disagree with them. I try to explain my way of thinking, but I do it in a respectful way, without being self-righteous or self-absorbed. I'm not an activist or other public figure promoting these things. I don't hold an official role in them. It's sometimes better to effect change on a personal level, in my opinion. I've come to this conclusion through the philosophizing I mentioned. If you present to a national level, there's no guarantee anyone's actually going to see you, because what you're doing probably was not mentioned on the daily news (or any commonly viewed, mainstream news platform), and it was also probably buried under thousands of social media posts. But you can hit hard at an individual level, because if you talk to somebody face to face, there's no way they aren't going to hear your opinion. I don't want to be famous. That's how I want to make change.

I sometimes have a hard time with fully grasping the enormity of a given situation. If I'm faced with the possibility of not going to college because I haven't earned enough scholarship money, I would usually say that I can't grasp the situation. But I realize that's not it. I'm not scared of what the future holds for me. I'm worried about it, of course. Nobody I know and, I think, nobody I'll ever meet, is completely unafraid of that unknown land. But I live with bravery by facing the situations in my life. I try to keep under control. I lose control at times, but I remind myself to be stronger than that fear. I continue to press on in bad situations, no matter what. At times, I think I simply have too strong of a will to give up completely. Even when I moan about my situation and ask what the point of it all is, I carry on with my life, getting up each morning, picking up the pieces, and trying to put them back together as I walk about. I find that a good night sleep is very beneficial to do so. Usually, when I am in my worst emotional situations, sleeping calms me down and helps me face the day. Having that escape from my troubles helps me to face them when I wake up. Sleeping is another way I live with bravery. Such a mundane, everyday thing, but sleep is very beneficial to me, emotionally and physically. I don't experience the negative effects of stress when I sleep, unless the stress makes it hard to sleep. Facing my demons and situations can be hard at times, but it's something I continuously am able to do if I can just sleep and get up again.

Even for the most optimistic of us, staying positive through tough times can be extremely difficult. I struggle more than many, because I'm usually inclined to stay on the pessimistic side of the fence. I want to stay positive in any case. I try to think about the future, even the far future: love, friendship, my career, seeing the world, growing old with someone if I have enough time, children, and myriad other things life has in store for me. Even if I tell myself negative things, I stay optimistic by gritting my teeth and pressing on. I keep on going even when everything seems hopeless. I try to stay on track with my goals and dreams. I don't falter in my steps, even when I am so weighed down I feel I can barely stand. It's taught me that I have a very strong will and an ability to keep my strength, supported by God, through all the trials I've been through. I have a will of iron, and even when I just want to stay in bed and sleep and avoid the day-to-day troubles of just being alive, I can get up and face the day, maybe not with a smile on my face, but with a never-ending supply of God-given willpower. I'm not invincible. I am far from that and always will be. But I do believe that I can endure anything if I have the proper supports in place. In the darkest of times, trying to stay positive has taught me that there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel, and that there will always be something to celebrate in the end. The sun will shine again in the end.

America is falling apart. Liberals claim to promote tolerance—and adamantly refuse, through their social media censorship of conservatives, to understand the conservative viewpoint. They claim, for example, that conservatives hate immigrants, which is not true, because every conservative I know of hates illegal immigration—because of the fact that illegal immigration happens to be illegal. Conservatives assume liberals are totalitarian, but liberals are also suspicious of such governments. The examples I've cited are in my experience. I've seen these things happen on a national level very frequently. I'm not stereotyping either side. But I think that we need to be kind to one another. The situation in America is just one example of unkindness I could cite. How great would it be if humans actually got along, if we took the time to understand one another! I'm not saying there should be some single culture, or world government, or anything that extreme. The single subject of why a one-world government is a spectacularly bad idea would require a long sermon to do it justice. But if we were able to get past our differences and see one another for who we are, there would be much less conflict in the world. I'm a Christian. The Bible tells me that human beings were made in the image of God, and that we are all precious and of infinite worth. Most people don't believe that. If they did, we wouldn't have to tell our children about how awful humanity can be at times. But we should believe it. The lack of warmth and love in our hearts is the greatest problem facing the world. It's the source of all conflict, in my opinion. We need to try to live up to those ideals so that we aren't trying to destroy everybody else.

I have been fascinated with space and what's in it for all my life. Ever since I was a child, I have loved the stars. A few years ago, it occurred to me to put my head in them—in a figurative sense. I want to be an astrophysicist, so that I can learn about how the stars work and how the universe works. I find no field as exciting as this one, and I think it is what God has called me to. I want to be the first I know of in my family to obtain a PhD. To that end, I'm going to go to college and major in astrophysics. I plan on getting strong grades and test scores so that I can go to graduate school. I will first obtain a Master of Science degree and ultimately a PhD. I will participate in research throughout my undergraduate years so that I can get as much experience as possible for my PhD and career. I hope to graduate from college with no student debt. I am trying to win scholarships so I can more easily afford my graduate education. I want to be able to pay at least part of the costs for graduate school myself, so having less undergraduate loan debt is critical so I can devote more money to my graduate education and not have to take out as many loans for graduate school. I hope to obtain a job as an astrophysical research for the U.S. government or for a college, depending on where I am able to get a job at. I may have to work through several lesser positions to get to this point, but I think in the long term and hope to ultimately obtain such a job.

I grew up in a small town in the Piney Woods of Deep East Texas, and I come from modest means. My family has never had much money—that I can remember—and I have always had access to fewer opportunities than others have had. I have a very hard time constructing a positive self-image as I am very self-critical. I've always seen myself as very lowly, and it has dragged me down more than anything else has. But nevertheless, I have pressed on. I have spent my entire time in high school with straight A's. I have finally found where I am going to college (the University of Arizona). I have found my life's passion—astrophysics—and I've developed a strong plan for my future. Most importantly, I have finally found a home within my Christian faith and in God. I wasn't a serious believer in my own faith for a long time, but since last summer, I have finally found Him, and it feels great! I've always known deep down that science is my calling. I've always wanted to be in a science-related field, and through this, I was able to narrow down my possible career paths to the field I'm meant for. I grew up modestly, and I don't have any desire to be rich, other than to give more money to God. I am comfortable with living in happy obscurity, not being rich or well-known, and doing my work for God with anonymity. I actually don't want to be famous, because I have developed humility from my background. My life so far has helped me finally find the career I was meant for, and it has given me inspiration to do good things for others—through my religious faith—and work in obscurity, doing my part for God behind the scenes.

I've never held a formal leadership position. I don't have many opportunities to do so in my school and family, and I'm not sure what opportunities there are in my community. But I have demonstrated leadership in my school. I have worked with other students on projects, and I am able to help them get organized and come up with an efficient plan to distribute the work and finish a task efficiently. On a more daily basis, I try to obtain high grades, and I write to the best of my ability on my assignments. I am probably well-known among my teachers for the fact that I write long, detailed, and well-thought-out answers on all my assignments. I put my whole heart into my writing and I love to learn. I try to encourage others to ask questions when I see them and feel they need this encouragement. I'm not afraid to correct others when they're wrong, even if it's the teacher. Great leadership, to me, means putting your best foot forward and being a good example for others to follow. It involves humility, sacrifice, a willingness to compromise, an understanding of others' needs and wants, and a caring for those needs and wants. It means focusing on people other than yourself and instead living outwardly, serving others. I think good leaders will vary in their precise skills. Some are better at planning, and others are more receptive to others' emotions and can more easily address those emotions. But humility, sacrifice, caring, and empathy need to be core aspects of all leaders. Essentially, leaders need to be strong, morally upright citizens who care about others. Being a leader is important to me because I want to be a good example to those around me. Because I'm a Christian, I want to work for God above anyone else. I want to be able to say "Do as I say, and as I do" rather than "Do as I say, and not as I do." I want my legacy to be small. I want to be remembered as a person who focused on others and worked for others rather than for themself, as someone who was a shoulder to cry on and cared about others genuinely and deeply. I don't want to be remembered as a great politician who led the nation through some great crisis. I don't even want to be remembered as someone who led a single state or even a single city through a crisis. I want to be remembered like those you read about in local newspapers who serve their community. How does this relate to being a leader? I will be able to leave a positive impact on others that inspires them to become greater people, so even though I'm not some famous personality, I still left and impact and led others into a better life for themselves. I think that's great leadership: not being some famous, untouchable personality, but rather being a localized, caring person.

I believe better access to high schools would be best to make education better for future generations, actually. Others may focus on tuition, or government aid, or loan debt forgiveness, and yes, these are valid concerns. But too many students don't have enough access to schools, which are underfunded, or physically inaccessible (getting there or disability compatibility), or some other technical problem is present. College is critically important, because most students have access to a high school, underfunded as their school might be. They should have better access to education in general, and they should be able to have the resources required for at least a high school education. Students need a basic education because it is the foundation for college and life. Improving the school systems would generate better results across the board. It would mean a better education for all and greater access to higher education, thus improving employability, salaries, and outlooks since the students have more skills and are more valuable. I'm not saying jobs many may consider menial degrade students. But I am saying that education will increase opportunities for having a good job that the student truly wants. Students aren't as able to win admission to affordable colleges they may otherwise be qualified for, and they aren't as able to win scholarships and grants if they don't have access to a good high school education. They may not have access to school Internet systems or school-owned electronic equipment, and if they don't have Internet access or a computer at home, they can't even apply to college or scholarships. I think the best way to make college education better for future generations is to improve the school system. There should be more funding for students and their families to get help. If students are able to access a better high school education, they can get higher grades, and win more scholarships and college admissions. They can also have greater access to the applications in the first place. Such actions would enable students to be more competitive, and it would increase their confidence. They may be discouraged from trying to achieve a college education if they don't have access to the correct resources, which are always critical to success. It's fairly difficult to get into a college if you don't have a computer to apply with and no easy way to access one. Libraries offer computers, but schools could also offer them and the students could use them. It is even possible that there could be a requirement by schools for students to have a free period where they can apply for scholarships and colleges. The battle can begin at the high school education level. Students should have more access to education in general, and better access to applications so that they can get more aid and be more competitive. There are thousands of scholarships out there, as this very website can prove. Students should be made ready to have a bright future in all cases.

The name of Jesus is something many of say probably every day, whether we say it in reverence for the Man we're discussing or whether we say it because we stubbed our toe. I think it's very difficult to deny that Jesus is the most important person that ever lived. We base time on when He was here. The same cannot be said of George Washington, or Winston Churchill, or Hammurabi, or any other incredibly important person that has helped shape history. As a Christian, I believe in and worship Jesus as God. But even for those who do not, many lessons can be learned from this incredible Man. He worked in kindness and love, and always thought about people other than himself. He continually lived for others and served them regardless of how He was treated by them. He preached peace and kindness, and love for neighbors. His was a message of love and peace, of acceptance and forgiveness. "[As] many as [receive] him, to them [gives] he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12, King James Version). Jesus taught that anyone lowly, spat upon, or trampled upon, can be made whole, and that they are loved and can be the children of God. It warms my heart how He deliberately sought out the brokenhearted, the downtrodden, the rejected, and the abandoned. And all that we need to do to receive His comfort is to believe. There are numerous misconceptions about Jesus and Christianity, and as a Christian who has studied the Bible, I could write a several-hundred-page book correcting all of them. But the message of Jesus is very simple. I admire the most important Man of all time because of His great love and His uplifting teachings.

I didn't particularly care for it and it bored me, though I read it every day for years. At first, I had to be forced to read it. It has inspired many allusions, plays, movies, books, and even TV shows now. It is one that countless millions today and over the millennia have found inspiration in. It is one that has sold more copies than any other book in history has, one that has affected the world to the extent that had it never been written, the world today would be unrecognizable. It is a book read every Sunday morning in churches. I am, of course, talking about the Bible. I wasn't a serious believer in my own religion for most of my life. Only since last summer have I been serious about it. But in the short time since then, I've realized how truly amazing the Book is. I consider it the Textbook and Manual for life and the Ultimate Source of Truth in the world, and I consider it to be The Good Lord's Holy Word. It teaches me how to be a strong person. It teaches me how to get through any of the challenges life throws at me. It inspires me to want to do what's right and good and not be the person who I may once have been. It inspires me to take up arms to spread my faith to others so that they may experience the many blessings God has prepared for them. In my heart I know that Jesus has kept me strong and that I have gleaned many teachings from the Word of God. I read the Bible and it shapes me into the person I want to be—and, more importantly, the person God wants me to be.

I need to be an astrophysicist. It is the only career that will make me feel fulfilled, and I believe it is what God has called me to do. I don't see any other career for me, and I think the title of "Doctor"—I'll need a PhD to be an astrophysicist—sounds very good on me. I need to earn as much financial aid as possible because, since I am going to graduate school, I need as little in the way of undergraduate loan debt as possible. I can better afford a graduate school education, because once I have a job, I can afford more of my education. I'll be able to pay more of the costs myself and I won't have to take on as much graduate loan debt. My goals motivate me. I need to think about my future in the long-term, and not a day goes by when I don't think about my chosen career. I get closer every day, but I also want to do everything I can to ensure that they can be fulfilled as smoothly as possible, without long delays or other such obstacles. I can only reach my goals with great daily effort. It's not easy to become an astrophysicist. There are more people that want the job than there are job opportunities. But I can do it if I put in everything I can, which is what anyone must do to get the career they want. My goal motivates me to stay strong and persevere until I finally reach my goal.

I didn't particularly care for it and it bored me, though I read it every day for years. At first, I had to be forced to read it. It has inspired many allusions, plays, movies, books, and even TV shows now. It is one that countless millions today and over the millennia have found inspiration in. It is one that has sold more copies than any other book in history has, one that has affected the world to the extent that had it never been written, the world today would be unrecognizable. It is a book read every Sunday morning. I am, of course, talking about the Bible. I wasn't a serious believer in my own religion for most of my life. Only since last summer have I been serious about it. But in the short time since then, I've realized how truly amazing the Book is. I consider it the Textbook and Manual for life and the Ultimate Source of Truth in the world, and I consider it to be The Lord's Holy Word. It teaches me how to be a strong person. It teaches me how to get through any of the challenges life throws at me. It inspires me to want to do what's right and good and not be the person who I may once have been. It inspires me to take up arms to spread my faith to others so that they may experience the many blessings God has prepared for them. In my heart I know that Jesus has kept me strong and that I have gleaned many teachings from the Word of God. I read the Bible and it shapes me into the person I want to be—and, more importantly, the person God wants me to be.

Last year, I read a book about how to be an adult. There were many pieces of advice given, and there was a whole section devoted to personal finances. Out of all the concepts I went over, which ranged from insurance, to buying a house, to loans, the best piece of advice I ever received was the value of a savings account. This is critically important for several reasons. Savings accounts allow you to weather financial storms. If you lose a job or have an unexpected medical expense, a savings account will keep you on your feet. I think that, in the context of colleges, savings can help you pay your loans off early. If you have a job and set aside money every month to be used to pay loans, you have extra money that you can use to make loan payments. It may not be much, but if you could save $5000 or so over four years, you could save thousands of dollars in interest payments, especially if you have a large loan. You would take $5000 off of your loan debt, and this makes it harder for the debt to increase at a faster rate. Savings accounts also pay interest, so if you can get a good interest rate, you can make a considerable amount of money essentially by letting the bank keep your money. Your money gets you more money without you ever having to expend much effort. You earn interest, and then you earn interest on the interest. But the main benefits of a savings account is reducing costs, such as car loan amounts and student loan payments. You can pay more up front or on a monthly basis if you save. You can use your savings account to save and earn thousands.

I have always had a very hard time with self-acceptance. I am overly self-critical and I have dragged myself down more than anyone else has. Confidence, to me, then, means being able to accept yourself for who you are and, while it does not mean lacking critical of yourself, which is necessary for learning from mistakes and evaluating plans to solve problems in the best way, does mean not being too self-critical. Confidence means being more able to accept your faults and live with them, even as you work to improve on them. It is a struggle each of us must face in our lives. We all have areas in which we can improve in our lives, from being more assertive in our relationships with others to being more open about our feelings. I try to live with self-love. I remind myself of what I am capable of and what good I have done in my life. I remember my high academic performance and my ability to think creatively and invent a very wide range of things. I am a Christian, so when I am at my worst, and even when I'm not, I pray over my troubles and ask Jesus for the ability to overcome them. I work at trying to get over it when I make bad decisions or do things I regret. I work at forgiving myself and not dwelling on my mistakes. Sometimes I have trouble with even some of the simpler things on that list. It's almost a fundamental part of who I am, being overly self-critical. Every day, I try to be kind to myself so that I can project the best parts of me to the world and live for others rather than withdraw into myself.

My mom always gives her best in everything she does. She is always willing to do for others even if she can barely get out of bed in the morning. She will only refuse to answer questions for me or talk to me if she is in the middle of something or is simply in too bad of a shape to do much of anything with anyone. I want to be like my mother, selflessly devoted to those around me. She is generous. Her brand of generosity involves always being there for everyone and being strong for them even when you don't feel strong inside yourself. It means giving the best of yourself at all times, regardless of how you feel. It's hard to do. We as humans are generally inclined to focus on ourselves. It's part of who we are, whether we like it or not, and for now, it always will be. (I have religious beliefs on this subject and I believe God will eventually cleanse us of our selfish impulses.) But for now, all we can do is do our best. That's really what being a good person is. Those who are of moral character have the selfish impulses the rest of us have, but they ignore them in favor of serving others and living outwardly rather than inwardly. If we could all live outwardly, the world would be a much better place. If we practiced my mom's brand of generosity—God's brand—there would be less crime, more peace, and less suffering. Giving large amounts of money to make yourself look good to others or to yourself doesn't cut it. I would quote Cummings' poem "rain or hail": "sam done / the best he kin / till they digged his hole." That's what we all should do.

I have been an avid reader since I was a child. At the time when other small children were still into picture books, I was already reading chapter books. I love to read, especially Christian fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and scientific nonfiction and trivia books. I have a wide range and many interesting stories that I could tell. I don't often get a chance to do it, but I also love to program. I am good at writing code. I am also good at writing prose text, which I am able to do much more often. I have invented a fully realized science fiction universe complete with its own races, cultures, religions, physics, mathematical equations, animals, plants, fungi, vehicles, and technologies. I like to enjoy nature. I walk around around my neighborhood a very great deal, and I enjoy staring at the trees and watching insects and squirrels. I found a mantis on the tree in my front yard once. I watched it climb up the tree for a time. I was interested as I had never seen one of these insects up close. I do volunteer service. I work for the website LibriVox, recording audio for books that are in the public domain. I have also at times reviewed the recordings of others to ensure they are up to the website's standards in terms of volume, bit rate, mp3 file format, and other aspects. I find this work very enjoyable and character-building—it is very difficult to make recordings as I stumble very often, and have to make seemingly endless revisions—and it allows me to do my service to God and to Jesus. I have a wide range of hobbies. Each of them is very fulfilling to me and allows me to grow as a person.

I live in a small town. I want to get out and see the rest of the world. Part of my bucket list is to see some of the great cities of the world: Athens, London, Paris, Rome, Boston, and other places. I want to see rain forests, and deserts, and savannas, and other environments. I hope to travel around the world and see as much as I can. Many of the items on my bucket list are long-term. I want to graduate high school, go on to college to study astrophysics, and then get a PhD and a job as an astrophysical researcher. I have almost completed my high school goal. I graduate in May. I am about halfway done with the final semester already. I am excited to graduate. Another of the items on my list is to get accepted to a college. I have already done that three times: I've gotten accepted to 3 of the 15 schools I applied to. I also want to learn to drive. I'm not in a position to do that just yet. I have anxiety problems and I find it difficult to take in all the details involved in driving at once. I also have a bad sense of direction. I hope to overcome these problems so that I can drive a car at some point in my life. I am working at trying to overcome these problems. I haven't been able to accomplish many of my bucket list items, simply because they are very long-term. It will take me years to get a PhD and a job as a researcher, and it will take me a long time to earn the income to visit the world. But I am steadily working at chipping away the items on the list.

I want to be an astrophysicist. I think this is the only career that will make me feel fulfilled in life. I think I would be good at it as I am very good at math and science, and I want to produce knowledge rather than learn it. (I do love to learn, but I also want to experience life at the other end of the textbook, producing the knowledge contained in a book.) I want to get a job for the government or for a university so that I can be an astrophysical researcher. I want to help solve one of the major problems in astrophysics, such as the identity of dark matter. Above all, I want to serve The Lord by revealing the workings of His creation to humanity. I hope to make many discoveries, even if they are minor. I plan to go to college and study astrophysics. I will try to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree so that I am well-prepared for graduate school. (Depending on where I get admitted, I may obtain a BA degree if my school doesn't have a BS program in astrophysics.) I will then get a Master of Science degree and eventually a PhD. This way, I will be very well-prepared and experienced in conducting research. I also plan to pursue undergraduate research for more experience in this area. I will try to take on as little debt as possible, especially in my undergraduate years, so that I have more money to pay at least part of my graduate school costs and not have to take on as much debt to pay for graduate school. I am applying to many scholarships so that I can graduate with no debt and go on to graduate school. It's hard, but doable.

There was a unit I did in AP Biology that was extremely vicious. It wasn't that the concepts were particularly difficult to understand; they were actually fairly easy. The problem was the extreme amount of reading. I covered about 100 pages of the textbook in three days. I had to take seemingly endless notes on plants, animals, and fungi. I know all the main plant, animal, and fungal phyla and their distinguishing characteristics. I know how all of them reproduce, general details of development, and many other bits of knowledge. I thought I would never get through the unit. It was about as much textbook reading in three days as I had done for all of last semester, at least as part of my official work. I only read the textbook occasionally as part of the official instruction, though I did read it for more information on my own time. I wasn't sure how to handle the situation, but it was very stressful, and I had a very hard time getting through the lessons, each of which took me about 4-5 hours. (I attend an online school and we have teacher-independent lessons on the school's website.) The first day, I actually had to wait to finish the lesson for the next day. I felt overwhelmed and needed to go for a walk. But bit by bit and page by page, I worked through all of those lessons, and even though my brain felt fried from the sheer amount of work I did, I even managed to score nearly a 100% on the unit test. (I scored a 97% and very nearly got right the one question I got wrong.) It was a brutal haul, but I am proud that I persevered and emerged with a strong knowledge of the subject.

I once found what was possibly one of those insects that looks like a ladybug but has a very painful sting on the pew in front of where my family sits in our church. I went and got some tissue paper, and I gently picked it up and took it outside. I left it on the pavement without killing it and went back inside. I don't want to kill any of these small creatures that I'm so much bigger and stronger than. I appreciate nature and I don't want to damage it. It has been very important to me in helping me decide on a career and it is a consistent comfort for me. I want to utilize it properly. I appreciate everything I have, whether or not I always think about it. I'm grateful for a chance at life, no matter how bad it may be at times, and for the gifts God has given me. I try to use my gifts to the best of my ability. For example, I am intelligent and I try to get the best grades that I possibly can get. I am very creative, so I exercise my creativity and I have invented my own fully realized fictional universe complete with all of the same elements of such a universe: cultures, races, religions, animals, plants, fungi, and other aspects. I invented several fictional fields of physics and I have even developed math to describe these physics. I have sometimes had a hard time showing my gratitude. I am bad at communicating with people in verbal form. I can talk to a computer better than I can talk to a person. But I live with gratitude by making the most of what I have.

I've never wanted to be rich or famous. I don't see the point of it. Riches don't last forever, and fame is passing, a "bee" as Emily Dickinson would have it. I don't want to go down in history. I can barely stand it when in the presence of 100 people, I don't want people knowing who I am on a large scale, and I don't want anybody to learn the personal details in my life, just for privacy reasons. But I do want a legacy. I'm a Christian. I want to be remembered as a man who was wholeheartedly devoted to the Good Lord above, someone who obeyed the Father and Creator and His Son, Jesus Christ. My legacy should be as someone who truly loved and served the Lord God Almighty. It should be as someone who selflessly served others and unashamedly shared the faith so that lives can be changed. I want to be known as a person who was friendly, patient, loving, caring, compassionate, devoted to friends and family and others, and un-selfish. I want, in short, to be remembered as a good person loved and admired by everyone they come into contact with. I want to have a small legacy and be remembered as a man who left a positive impact on his little slice of the world. In short, I want my legacy to be like those of people you can read about in the small news. I want to be like those who are remembered fondly locally, like those whose neighbors could recall helped them change a tire, or whose friends could recall how they always did their best for God above all and for others. If you read about these people in the papers, that's what I want my life to be.

There was a unit I did in AP Biology that was extremely vicious. It wasn't that the concepts were particularly difficult to understand; they were actually fairly easy. The problem was the extreme amount of reading. I covered about 100 pages of the textbook in three days. I had to take seemingly endless notes on plants, animals, and fungi. I know all the main plant, animal, and fungal phyla and their distinguishing characteristics. I know how all of them reproduce, general details of development, and many other bits of knowledge. I thought I would never get through the unit. It was about as much textbook reading in three days as I had done for all of last semester, at least as part of my official work. I only read the textbook occasionally as part of the official instruction, though I did read it for more information on my own time. I wasn't sure how to handle the situation, but it was very stressful, and I had a very hard time getting through the lessons, each of which took me about 4-5 hours. (I attend an online school and we have teacher-independent lessons on the school's website.) The first day, I actually had to wait to finish the lesson for the next day. I felt overwhelmed and needed to go for a walk. But bit by bit and page by page, I worked through all of those lessons, and even though my brain felt fried from the sheer amount of work I did, I even managed to score nearly a 100% on the unit test. (I scored a 97% and very nearly got right the one question I got wrong.) It was a brutal haul, but I am proud that I persevered and emerged with a strong knowledge of the subject.

Many things fuel my life. First and foremost among them is God, who has consistently given me strength to get through the day. I am un-apologetically a Christian, I want to live for Him and for His Son, Jesus Christ, because He has given me so much and all He asks for in return is for me to trust Him. I couldn't face the challenges of my life without God by my side. I have a very great deal of fun reading. I usually read religious, Christian fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction. I'm a huge DC Comics fan and I would go to Comic Con if I had enough money to. I'm an admitted, self-described nerd and I take no shame in this. It is a badge I wear with honor and pride. I also like math and science. I could read about physics all day, and I like to solve math problems. Math has many uses and I am skilled at it. I want to learn as much math as I can. In college and in life, I plan to learn as much calculus, differential geometry, and linear algebra as I can. I'm the sort of person that would buy textbooks on these matters to learn about them. I have no shame in this, either, nor in my religion. My goals fuel me. I think being astrophysics is the only career that will make me feel fulfilled. I want to dedicate my career to it and my life to God. It's extremely interesting, and I read books about it, just for fun. I want to go to college to learn as much about the field as I can.

I have been fascinated with the stars since I was a small child. About a year ago, I decided to dedicate my career to them and become an astrophysicist. I find this to be an immensely interesting field of study filled with many of the most fascinating phenomena in the universe, ranging from black holes galaxy super-clusters. I hope to get a PhD in astrophysics. After I have my PhD, I would like to obtain a research position at a college or university, or for the government, though at first, I will likely not be able to have a significant position. I will probably do a great deal of teaching until I have experience conducting scientific research professionally rather than just as an extracurricular activity. (I plan to pursue undergraduate research.) I will probably transition through several positions until I can earn a major position for the government or for a college or university. I hope to then spend years discovering more about God's great universe. I don't want to be famous for my work in astrophysics. I would rather remain in obscurity. But I would like to help resolve one of the major problems in astrophysics, such as the identity of dark matter. I hope to also use my position to educate the public about science, perhaps by writing a book about current topics in astrophysics, explained in layman's terms. I feel this is an excellent way to expand knowledge of science. It will help the public gain a better grasp of the field and what it entails. I'm not sure if I will be able to fulfill my goals. Astrophysics is a very difficult field to get into. But I will work at it because I feel this is the only career that will make me feel fulfilled.

Most of the animals where I live (Nacogdoches, Texas) are very elusive. You really only see common backyard birds, squirrels, hawks, flies, , spiders, and ants most of the time. Rarely do you find a snake, bobcat, mole, or other animal where I live. But nature has always had an impact on my life. I saw a mantis (or something that looked very much like a mantis) crawling up a tree in my front yard once. I had to stop and watch it since I had never seen one in the flesh. I enjoy doing that sort of thing. Whether I'm listening to the birds or stopping randomly and crouching in my yard to watch ants, or smelling the pine needles, nature has always been very interesting. It comforts me and can be very fun to watch, even if what is being watched is a dragonfly landing on the fence over and over again. When I'm angry, or sad, or upset, God's great creation consistently helps me calm down and it lifts my mood. I try to treat nature well. I don't kill even insects if I don't have to, for example. Very recently, I found in my church what was possibly one of those insects that looks like a ladybug but stings very painfully. I delicately picked it up with tissue paper, and rather than kill it, I took it outside and gently placed it on the parking lot. I left it there to crawl or fly away. I couldn't bring myself to kill it. Nature deserves respect for the beautiful, delicate thing that it is. It's not ours; it is God's creation that we must steward. It is a task we must work on every day.

My family has three dogs right now. We have two English mastiffs, a male and a female, and a male Shih Tzu. I love them all. They are fun, well-behaved, and are always there to pick me up. The main problem I have with them is the fact that the two mastiffs shed a very great deal and I have to spend two hours every day trying to get the fur out of their coats so that shed hair isn't left in the house. They are also both fond of drooling all over me and everything in the house. It's never fun to step in it. Dogs are fun to be around. You can usually get a dog to play with you. You can't get that with a cat or many other animals. I can run with my dogs, and walk my dogs, and throw sticks and balls for them. I can never get mine to actually retrieve the objects for me (I have had only one dog that would, and her breed was made for that sort of thing), but it's fun watching them run for it, and I never get tired of pretending to throw something to see how they react to it. My dogs will consistently interact with me. Dogs are very amusing. The female English mastiff is fond of staring solemnly at people, sometimes for no particular reason, and it's funny when she does. I will probably never find out the why of it. The male loves to prance around and play with the tiny dog that is only about a tenth as big as he is, but which is still more aggressive. I watch the little one pull on the big dog and growl and it often brings a smile to my face when I do. My dogs have been a consistent positive impact. They are always there for me when I'm down. They come and lay in my room whenever they can sense that I'm in a bad emotional position, and while our mastiffs are not very affectionate in physical terms (the Shih Tzu loves to lick everybody if he is near enough or they are), it's nice to know that they care enough to come and see me when I don't feel like anyone else really cares. They lay their heads on my bed, and across my lap, and wag their tails, and stare up at me with their wide eyes, and it always makes me smile. They'll still do that even if I'm not in a bad position. They don't lay in my room constantly, but they spend a lot of time in there, especially the female mastiff, who spends about a third of her time on my floor when the door's open. They both do this as a comfort for me, so that I'm not alone and have someone there with me. They are a consistent emotional support. My dogs can always be counted on to bring a smile to my face. They make me feel less lonely than what I might otherwise feel in a situation. They amuse me and comfort me, and they're like members of the family. I don't know how I'll be able to take it when we inevitably must lose them. It will be devastating. I can't imagine my life without my dogs. One of the hardest things about going to college will be leaving them. But I will always have memories of them, and every time I recall my big mastiff staring at me solemnly, I know it will make me smile.

In seventh grade, I believed I was terrible at mathematics. I had a hard time understanding it and I didn't think I was good at it. I decided to stop telling myself this in that same year. I now rarely encounter a math concept that I find hard to understand. The only one this year that I've found very difficult is trigonometry, mostly because it takes a fairly strong strategy to simplify trigonometric equations and expressions, and there are so many formulas to memorize that allow you to do this. But I don't leave math concepts where I don't understand them. I try to learn the various formulas so that I can use them in working with trigonometric ratios and expressions. I will find trigonometry especially important in calculus as some trigonometric formulas are very important to this area of math. I need to have a strong background in math, so I work to understand the concepts. I am building a strong foundation for future study so that I can continually be able to build rather than go back and re-learn. I try working with problems. My teacher provides review sheets for the entire unit at the start of the unit, so I work at finishing the sheets before we get to the review. I can often solve the problems in advance of the lesson (I attend online school and have teacher-independent lessons within the school's website) and the reviews, if the formulas are given. Practice makes perfect, so I like to practice and get better at solving problems. I only wait until we do a review if I absolutely can't figure out the problem on my own. This helps me to learn the formulas by working with them and it helps me to improve my skill at solving problems.

If humans wouldn't focus so much on ourselves, the world would be a much better place. We wouldn't have so many people that steal just to have something they want, we would have more honest people, and crime would be much less of a problem. In the bleak, cold, hard world in which we live, all of us are looking for encouragement. We want to know that someone cares, that the world isn't as bleak as we see it, that no matter how bad life feels, it will be better. I try to alleviate the burden for others. Primarily, my inclination would be to share my religious beliefs with others, even though I virtually never get an opportunity to due to my online school environment and the fact that I can't get out much. God and His Son, Jesus Christ, has given me an endless store of strength to get through the day, and no matter how much I really don't want to get out of bed, I can do it because I have Him with me. He can do the same for anyone that will trust in Him to do so, making Him the ultimate source of encouragement. It would take me a book to write out all of my thoughts on this subject. I plan to encourage people this way in the future. But aside from this, I try to let others know that I care. I can give them an encouraging smile, and if they are close to me. I am there to hear them, even if I don't feel good myself. I can cry with them, and joke to them in an attempt to cheer them up (if the situation is appropriate). I can lift them up, and serve them, and make life easier for them.

"Have you ever seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul?" I read this question in a book last year. The question points out that nothing we gain in life is taken with us when we die. Hearses don't pull trailers full of things for the departed to take with them. We focus on materialistic things so much in the world. We talk about "my car, my job, my degree, my insurance, my house," and so on. It doesn't really mean anything. It's something that frustrates me about humanity. How often do we tell our children that money can't buy happiness and fail to realize this for ourselves? No materialistic thing can do this for us. There's no real point in amassing wealth other than to survive and to help others and live comfortably. And two of these also don't matter. Living comfortably doesn't prevent you from dying, and everybody will die. It is the fate that no human being can change. Helping others does matter because it leaves a positive impact on the world. My religious beliefs (I'm a Christian) make it very clear to me that good works don't matter, either, but for those who don't share my beliefs, I think the meaning of life is to live for others. That provides something that leaves a positive legacy. My drive is to live life for God and for His Son, Jesus Christ, and that does include happily serving others. I think this is what we all should do. A life lived in service to others is a true life, one that leaves a strong, positive impact, even if that impact is not great. It provides at least something for us to hold on to in a world in which materialistic things have not a shred of a point to them.

Seeing the squirrels scurry about in my yard brings a smile to my face. So does seeing the birds perch on the power lines, and so does hearing them chirp. The rustling in the trees and the way they blow in the wind calms me and soothes me, and the rain that pounds on the metal roof of my house does the same. I like to watch it patter on the street outside my house through the window. The sound of a paper page turning makes me happy. The feel and texture of the paper and the smell of the ink and glue and paper holding the book together does the same. I can't get the same satisfaction from e-books, even with the look of the paper and the sound of the page turning simulated. You can't get the same sort of satisfaction from an e-book as you can a physical book. This phenomenon doesn't apply only to books. Short stories, poems, and even nonfiction articles I still prefer in physical form over digital form. It's why I print all the articles I read in school that I want to save for later. (I attend a virtual school and I have have access to all the links to such articles). The simple sensations in life sometimes bring me the greatest happiness. I like to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures God put into the world. I'm in no hurry to take in everything that I can, though I still want to do that. I instead want to enjoy as many things in as much depth as I can, whether it be books, or knowledge, or hearing the rain fall, or the birds sing, or the squirrels scurry, or the wind blowing.

"Have you ever seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul?" Have you ever seen such a thing? What do you get to take with you when you die? The answer is nothing. Naked we come and naked we go. We don't even take the clothes we're wearing. I read this question in a book about how to be an adult last year. I find it a simple, concise piece of very deep and profound wisdom. It has many implications. It implies that we should take our time and enjoy life while we can, because we won't get to take any pleasures with us when we die. It implies that we should appreciate what we have for the same reason. It's a dark conclusion, but it's there nevertheless. We should enjoy life while we can, and we should appreciate what we have, because one day, we each will lose it all, and there is no second life as there is in a video game. I think every human on the planet could stand this dose of insight into life. It's sobering and yet empowering. I think the greatest piece of advice offered by this question is the idea that we shouldn't focus on material things. What's the point in being rich, or powerful, or famous? None of it amounts to anything in the end. We should focus instead on helping others for unselfish reasons. This amounts to nothing in the end, as well, but it does provide meaning in our lives. It gives us something to fight for as we wander through this temporary—oh, so temporary!—walk through life that God has given us. It provides a goal for us and something to keep our eyes focused on. We should use our time wisely in the service of others.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, I thought that people were making too big of a deal out of it. As soon as the first case in the U.S. was documented, there was panic everywhere. In my town, thousands of miles away from where the first case was documented, where most people never go, it was like people were preparing for the end of the world. I don't feel that way anymore. The pandemic has escalated to the point that its seriousness cannot be denied anymore. It has deprived many of us of excellent opportunities we might otherwise have had. For example, I had been planning to volunteer at my local animal shelter, but COVID-19 prevented me from doing so. I have had to work around it, as have many others. I have taken advantage of the fact that I attend an entirely online school and essentially have not missed a single day of my education, even in the midst of the pandemic. (Last year, my school did start two weeks later than it was planning to, but my high school career remained essentially unaffected.) I have been able to learn at the pace I did before the pandemic. I still have a structured curriculum combined with flexibility in when I can complete my schoolwork. As I previously mentioned, I haven't had access to the volunteer opportunities I wanted to participate in. I haven't had a complete lack of such opportunities, however. I do work for the website LibriVox. I record audio for books, poems, short stories, and other written media present in the public domain. For example, I have recorded adaptations of myths for short story collections. I do have other opportunities for volunteering that I perform occasionally. I have also listened to the recordings of other volunteers to ensure that they are up to the website's standards in terms of bit rate, volume, DC bias, and other technical elements. I have to leave half of a second to one full second of silence at the start of a recording to prevent sound being taken out when it is played, and I have to leave five seconds of silence at the end. I have also spent time hunting the Internet for books that haven't yet been recorded, so that I can suggest them to the website. If enough volunteers want to work on a project, or someone volunteers to be a solo recorder for a book, the book can be taken up as a forum project. I have found several books written by very famous physicists such as Niels Bohr and Max Planck on the website Project Gutenberg (where LibriVox gets most of its projects from) to suggest for recording. I use the time I have from COVID-19 to participate in some of my extracurricular activities. I sometimes enjoy programming, but usually, I prefer to write. I am very creative and I have invented my own fully realized fictional universe complete with its own races, cultures, religions, animals, plants, fungi, diseases, psychological disorders, physics, mathematical formulae to describe the physics, and other elements. I have used the pandemic as an opportunity to greatly expand on the work I have been doing with my writing for nearly a decade now. I started in the sixth or seventh grade. I don't feel overwhelmed by the pandemic. My school, service and writing have both helped me develop a person, through creating perseverance, patience, and tolerance for a great deal of work—none are at all easy. I have used it as a personal growth opportunity.

I really struggled last semester in AP Biology. It was one of the most difficult classes I've ever taken. I felt I could hardly answer a question right on the tests and quizzes and it seemed that no matter what I tried, I wasn't able to do well. I didn't fail the course. I made a 93 in the first semester. But that's low for me, even in an AP course. I usually score a 96 or above in all my courses. I resolved to try even harder the second semester. I resolved to study more often and more intensely, to attend the virtual lectures for the class (I attend an entirely online school, and we have virtual lectures in at least one class nearly every day of the week; Wednesday and Friday are the only exceptions), and to read the textbook as deeply as I could. My efforts didn't seem to be paying off for the most part, this semester. I still had a hard time with the questions, even though I had gone over the topic (evolution) before and I thought I had learned it as best as I could in previous years. I remembered all the information, at least. I resolved to keep studying. I finally had my unit test in this area. That was when my efforts finally paid off. I didn't find the test to be difficult, and I only struggled with a few questions. I even managed to score full credit on each of the four essay questions, something I had hardly been able to do for an essay question in this class before. I scored a 98% on the test. I am proud of being able to overcome this viciously difficult course in my second semester with it.

Science has tried for years to answer this question. It has been a long, slow journey. Opinions have changed as new research changes. Foods considered unhealthy at one point are now considered healthy, while some foods haven't changed in their nutritional status. I think paying attention to the latest scientific advancements is a good way to live a long, healthy life. Research can tell you what behaviors to avoid. For example, I watched Kelly McGonigal's TED Talk over the effects of stress on the body. Science has for years decried stress, but now it recognizes stress as an emotion that can help you rise to the challenge. McGonigal has pointed out that people who see stress this way don't experience an increased risk of dying due to stress. Science has many helpful tips like this. Not only are the reports interesting to read for the purpose of learning (if they are written in layman's terms), they can help you live a long life. Science will continue to make new advancements that can lead people to change detrimental old habitats. This won't work for everyone. Some people may note that a particular way works for them. I think keeping up with the science should be a general guideline. It shouldn't be a dogmatic way of looking at the world. Nothing really should be. What works for one doesn't work for another. This is a reason I think there is no one way to live a perfectly healthy life. But we can come as close as possible to it, and I think that science can help us along in this arena.

I've never wanted to be famous. I don't think I would be able to handle it. I've seen what it's done to many famous people. That's how some people want to make their mark on the world, being famous. They want to be prominent politicians, actors, singers, and so on. I don't think that's for me. I want to make my mark on a much smaller scale. I understand that even a small change can eventually lead to big changes, and big changes usually occur in a society over a long period of time. It took America many decades to arrive at the ideology that it eventually did. If I make my mark on a small scale, I can eventually create a much larger change. It may take years, but it will be worth it to play my part. I therefore want to have an impact on individual people. I want to improve their lives, and help them through their troubles, and do the things a good person should do. I want to give and serve and inspire others with my example. I plan to treat everyone I meet with the respect and consideration that they as human beings deserve. I will treat every animal with respect and consideration, as well, and the plants and even the fungi. I hope to leave a small impact on the world by leading others on a small scale and inspire them to be their best selves. I am already working on this. I encourage my fellow students to do the best they can, and I always give my best with my schoolwork, no matter how much I may dislike the course. My impact can cause other impacts on a small scale, and the changes will accumulate over time.

There are many who would do well to listen to others. We can all learn from each other by listening and we can discover many things we would otherwise never have found out for ourselves. I have had this happen to me many times. Typically, it's my mother that gives me the sagest advice. She has helped me cut the time it takes me to mow the lawn by a considerable amount, has given me the best ways to clean objects, and has pulled me out of more than a few tight places in my life. I don't know what I'd do without her wisdom. I actively listen to her and to others. I listen to their opinions without getting angry and thinking my way, is best, because generally, it is not. I am always open-minded and welcome to new ideas that can help me improve my life. I have enough things to think about right now—college, careers, friends, love, family, and school—without making life more difficult for myself by not listening. I think seriously about other peoples' opinions and make it known that they have my attention. I pay attention and I don't get distracted. Listening, to me, means doing just these things. You must be willing to listen and to give your time to hear other peoples' opinions. My way is generally not best, and most of the time, the same is true of others given a certain task. Someone may know a more effective way to dig stumps out of the ground, and another may know a good way to cook a particular dish. It's a good way to learn wisdom. Many lives can be improved by listening.

I have only recently begun to discover the value of service. It can be very fulfilling, and is better than simply watching others do work. Service builds character. As a type of work, it takes time and effort, and this can give you patience, a strong work ethic, and even experience such as working with others that is valuable for having a job and a career. I do service on the website LibriVox. I work on recording audio for books that are present in the public domain. I also sometimes listen to the recordings of other volunteers to make sure they are up to the website's standards in terms of volume, bit rate, mp3 file formats, and other requirements. I do very much enjoy doing this. It is a challenge because recording is not as easy as one would think it is. There are times when I'm simply unable to get past a certain word, for example. Some of my other acts of service are less overt. I try to serve my school by being a model student. I keep up with my work, stay caught up in courses (my school works on a flexible, but also slightly rigid, schedule), and generally do the best I can. I am also using my project for my AP Research class to help my school collect data on the mental health of a sample of students. I am working on determining whether being an online student causes feelings of isolation among students and how those feelings might contribute to or detract from any feelings of isolation created by the use of social media. My school can use the data I gather to evaluate the mental health of its student. I hope to do many more acts of service in my life.

My mother has always been the greatest giver in my life. I have never met someone so selflessly devoted to other human beings. It impresses me, and sometimes I envy her. I'm not a selfish person, but I don't touch her in devotion and fanaticism to and for other people. She puts most people I know to shame. Giving allows me to selflessly serve others. I do my absolute best to avoid thinking of what's in it for me, as most people do, whether they realize it or not. When I do an act of service, I try to do it just for the sake of doing it, as my mother does. I want to selflessly serve my community without regard for myself. I think this is very fulfilling for a person to do. When we think of others first, even those who our enemies, we can let go of negative feelings. Choosing to do an act of kindness allows you to let go of your anger, if you are doing it for somebody who has wronged you, and it allows you to find comfort when times are bad. I try to be a positive influence on others. In school, I try to get the best grades I can, and I ask questions, and I show I am doing the best I can so that others may be inspired to do the same. I try to do volunteer service when I can. I work for the website LibriVox, recording audio for books present in the public domain. I find this very intellectually stimulating and satisfying for the service I can do at the same time. I don't have as many opportunities to give as I would like to. But I plan to spend my life in service to others.

I've always preferred the feel of paper in my hand over the text on an e-book. I prefer the sound of the paper turning and the smell of ink, glue, and thick paper board covers. I like the smell of old, musty books. I could spend hours curled up with any book at all in my lap. Books aren't complicated things. They don't usually involve knowing decades of continuity, or watching hours and hours of TV to get caught up on a show you've missed. Books are simple, in the moment, and can be enjoyed anywhere you can carry a book, which is anywhere. You can even carry a book into the bottom of the ocean if you went in a submarine. You can carry one in the void of space and you can carry one home with you in a bag. Just having a book in my hand, and the sensory perceptions I get from one can give me a great deal of comfort. Books have consistently been where I go to for comfort in my dark days. I can always find something to lift me up. Whether it be a funny fact or an uplifting fiction story, books have always made me happy where few other things could have. I'm the greatest advocate for books in my family. They have an almost sacred place in my life. I read whatever I can and think about it whenever I can. I can sit for hours running the plot elements through my head and the symbols and the themes and messages the books convey. How could I not feel devoted to them, the simplest pleasure in my life that is at the same time one of the greatest pleasures?

I'm a passionate science fiction geek, have always been a passionate science fiction geek, and will remain a passionate science fiction geek for all of my life, no matter how many times someone calls me a nerd in a derogatory way. What possibilities have been dreamed up! Many of them are, admittedly, far-fetched for human science, but even these share a common connection with more realistic science fiction. Both of them reflect our desire to look at the possibilities, to see beyond what our situations entail to see what we can become. That's what the stories bring us. In many science fiction stories, the everyday person becomes something so much more than what they were before. Luke Skywalker went from an obscure farm boy to one of the most famous fictional characters of all time. These are people who, through their efforts, were able to overcome their circumstances. We don't have to be confined by our circumstances. If we work hard, we can overcome what life throws our way. Nobody is going to save a planet or a galaxy, but we don't have to be confined into a place because that's what our situation is. Someone may be poor, but that doesn't mean they have to let that define who they are. Even if they never get out of their poverty, they have still overcome their situation because they aren't defined by it. Science fiction can teach us that we don't have to be defined by who we are and what our circumstances are. They don't make us who we are. We are made who we are by our choices and actions. That's why I'm passionate about science fiction. I know of nothing created by human beings that can be as effective as science fiction at teaching this lesson.

Neither of my parents have a 4-year degree. According to the federal government, a first-generation college student means is the child of parents who have not completed a 4-year degree. My mother worked on a 4-year degree, and both of my parents have a 2-year degree, but neither has earned a 4-year degree. I don't have a parent who completed college, and I don't have anyone to tell me about what it's like to go through such a degree. Being a first-generation student, to me, means blazing new trails for yourself that your family has not gone on before. It's charting your own course through life regardless of the disadvantages you may face from being such a student: lower ability to pay for college (studies have shown that people with 4-year degrees typically have a higher income and so a first-generation student's family typically won't have as much of an ability to pay); less advice family can offer; and possibly decreased confidence and anxiety due to going a new way. I think first-generation students need confidence. College is attainable no matter what your family's status is, educational or socioeconomic. I mean no offense to parents in any matter that I have mentioned so far, of course, but many first-generation students may feel badly about their situation. It doesn't have to be that way. It is my personal belief that anybody can go to college if they put in enough hard work for it. It may be difficult, but it is possible. All of this is to say, I think being a first-generation student means having the confidence and work ethic to rise above your circumstances and not let them define your future for you. This is something many of us can work on, even if we're not first-generation students. For example, someone who went to college but hasn't been able to find a job can choose to try to overcome the feelings of loss, disenfranchisement, and lack of power that such a situation can bring. I haven't started college yet, though I have gained several acceptances. I haven't decided where I want to go and I haven't received all of my decisions yet. I plan to share my experience with other students to encourage them to work hard in their lives and overcome the obstacles they face. I think hearing a story is always more effective than reading about it. I feel so much more empowered when I can see and hear someone telling me about their experiences. There's something about the human voice that is so much more encouraging than the written word. I think that I can motivate other students in my community to try to go to college. I knew one student who came from a low-income family and felt she would never be able to go to college. I encouraged her to apply anyway. This is the sort of thing that I can do for my fellow students. I think it's the sort of thing that anyone can do. It never hurts to hear from someone else that you are capable. I find that hearing this from my family and teachers motivated me to attain the best grades I possibly could, aside from the satisfaction of a job well done. I plan to go as far as I can in college. I want to be an astrophysicist and eventually earn a PhD. I would be the first in my family I know of to have such a degree. I find this very exciting and it motivates me to reach for the highest thing I can.

I think everyone has looked up at the stars at some point in their life. You can't avoid them—they hang there in the sky at impossible distances, shining on us. I've always been interested in nature, and especially the stars: what is among them, what powers them, how they shine for us. It has only been fairly recently—in the last year or so—that I started considering studying the stars as a career. I need to do my duty to God, and I think I have found out how. I want to be an astrophysicist. I think this is the only career for me. I think it will be the only one that makes me feel fulfilled and happy. I want to devote my life to it. I need to go to college and study physics or astrophysics in order to be an astrophysicist. I am very excited to do so. I want to learn as much as I possibly can about the field. After I get my undergraduate degree, I plan to go on to graduate school and earn a PhD. This will give me experience in research that I need in order to be an astrophysicist. It will give me practice for my career and enable me to do the best job that I possibly can. I have an almost single-minded devotion to astrophysics, in terms of careers. I don't see myself in any other field nearly as clearly. I could study biology, or computer science, or mathematics, all of which I'm skilled at and interested in, but astrophysics is the career for me. I just feel it.

Years ago, I was scared of the idea of calculus. Just seeing all those complicated symbols and formulae made me feel nervous. This was before I started to love math for the powerful tool that it is. Now, whenever I see the complicated math involved, I smile and feel excited. I had to upload a picture of something that appeals to me for a college application, and I specifically sought out a picture of complicated math that involved calculus to I could complete this. While scary-looking at times, calculus is critically important for STEM fields. Calculus is the math of change. It deals with continually changed quantities. It allows you to calculate the rate of change at certain points, determine the areas, surface areas, or volumes of complicated shapes that we would otherwise never be able to solve. It is good for working with infinite quantities such as the use of an infinite number of small rectangles to solve for the area under a curve. Any STEM field relies on these concepts. Physics, for example, work with quantities that are changing constantly, such as the temperature of an object as it releases heat. Calculus allows the physicist to calculate the heat of an object at certain points in time and estimate the total amount of heat an object will loses or gains over time. This is important because it allows scientists and engineers to estimate the time it would take, for example, for an electronic device to overheat. If the device is known to be able to withstand certain temperatures, and the device builds up its own heat energy, calculus allows you to determine how long it will take for the object to become overheated. Calculus gets rockets off the ground. Calculus allows you to determine what the escape velocity of Earth is, how much the mass of a rocket is, the force created by burning a certain amount of fuel, how much force must be generated, how much fuel will be needed to create this force, how long the force should be applied, and how much fuel is needed to create this force for long enough. In other words, calculus has enormously practical applications that allow us to do things unimaginable to previous generations. With calculus, we can make people fly, and we can visit the outer void. How can we work with the continually changed quantities present in STEM fields without some mathematical reference frame for working with such quantities? Many of the technologies we rely on depend on continually changed quantities. Computers rely on the continual change of the cursor, for example. Cars rely on continually burned fuel. We can't make technology work without calculus. It's critical for the modern life which runs on advanced technology that can only work through calculus.

Many students fear math, thinking it is their most difficult subject and that they can't do it. I used to be among them. For years, I told myself I was terrible at math, and my grades suffered accordingly. It wasn't until I stopped telling myself that I was bad at math that I discovered how skilled I am at it. In the years since then, I have grown to love math and the challenges presented in it. It has become my favorite subject. I don't feel satisfied unless I am thoroughly bewildered by what I'm learning. I love learning math because it is the only subject that consistently requires problem-solving skill, the ability to plan, and the ability to understand complex topics. I have to think before I start solving any problem. Other subjects do require planning. Literature, for example, involves planning essays, thinking critically about texts, and scrutinizing every detail in a literary work. In a literary review, your plan can become entirely derailed because of some new feature of a text you found that you don't want to ignore. But math needs a well-laid, structured plan, which is how I like to work. Math teaches me how to think through a problem step by step, piece by piece, and detail by detail. Sometimes, I have to go through multiple formulas to get the answer I need, and I have to work out how to calculate each necessary value and what order to use the equations in. When I took physics last year, this was a consistent part of the problems I had to solve. Math is also very interesting. There are so many things you can do with math. I can now calculate the sum of an infinite amount of numbers provided that the numbers are related by being in a geometric sequence with a common ratio that is between -1 and 1. I can calculate the heights of buildings with nothing but angles and horizontal distances. I can estimate distances to stars. Everything in the universe involves predictable patterns, and with math I can describe those patterns. Math is the language of how the universe works. Math is important for all its applications, not just calculating distances or sums. Most careers involve math. Doctors must calculate how much medicine a patient needs, and even a road worker needs to find how much material they need to complete a job. Math is present everywhere. You can't escape it, so you must learn to adjust to it. It doesn't require love of the subject, but math is indispensable to life. Aside from careers, many things critical to modern life revolve around math. Computers use math to perform calculations important for accounting and other business activities, which is critically important to financial transactions, and, indeed, personal finances for the average person. Math gets rockets off the ground—we have to know the Earth's escape velocity, the mass of the rocket, how much force we need to get the rocket off the ground, and how much fuel we need to generate this force for long enough. This is how we launch satellites we use for GPS, communication, and monitoring of the weather. This is how we prepare for floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Math has evolved since its creation thousands of years ago into something beautiful, compelling, powerful, and unique. Few things on Earth are as powerful as math and can do as many things. Politicians can write their laws, but only math can put someone in space. I love math and want to learn as much of it as possible.

Even if you aren't a Christian, I think there is little doubt that the Bible is an endless source of wisdom. Modern financial principles advise investing and saving and being careful with your money. Environmentalists advocate stewardship rather than ownership of the environment. Some would like to say that these are new principles, but they were first laid out in the Bible, thousands of years ago. Many of the wisest things I've ever read are found in the Bible. I think one passage that is particularly poignant is the introduction to Ecclesiastes: "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!'" (Ecclesiastes 1: 2, New International Version). This is a very poignant summary of life. What really is the point in amassing anything, whether it be material or immaterial? You don't get to keep any of that when you die. Ecclesiastes, does not say that absolutely everything is meaningless, just those things that don't involve loving and serving God, which is a comfort to me. But even from a non-Christian perspective, it seems that we labor in vain. It's a sobering thought, but it's there all the same. Who remembers Voltaire, who was a major advocate of freedom of religion and one of the great influences on the Constitution? Even if people do remember the name, they probably can't list Voltaire's beliefs. One of the most critically important thinkers of the Enlightenment, and few remember him. Who remembers the Enlightenment in general, for that matter? I find this statement from the Bible particularly wise for its ability to summarize life as a whole and what it means for the individual regardless of what their beliefs are. It captures everything. While certainly sad, it puts everything in life in proper perspective when you really sit and think about it.

My mother is one of the most generous people I know. She willingly gives everything she has to everyone she meets regardless of how she personally feels, mentally, emotionally, or physically, without regard for what she might receive in return. I respect this deeply and wish I was more like this in my daily life. I'm not a selfish person per se, but I could stand to be a lot more like my mother. Generosity means being like my mother. Generosity, to me, means being always willing to give everything you have to everyone you have and meet without regard for receiving anything in return. If a person gives to make themselves look good, it's still a selfish act rather than a generous one. True generosity only comes when the act is done for selfless reasons. A five-dollar donation with selflessness is better than a 100-dollar donation with selfishness. As Jesus taught, the poor widow who, in her poverty, put in two coins of little value that were her basis for living, put more in for an offering than the rich did. I think generosity should be like that poor widow. Generosity by its very nature involves sacrifice. It doesn't need to be sacrificing so much that you have nothing to live off of, but the generous act should have the spirit of the poor widow: a genuine act of selflessness and sacrifice. Her offering must have fulfilled these criteria, because it's hard to sacrifice money if you would have a very hard time living without it. The world could do with a lot more generosity. Today, we live with constant talk about "my" job, "my" career, "my" insurance, "my" house, and so on. We should focus less on ourselves and more on generosity and selfless acts.

I'm sometimes frustrated with the processing power of my computer. It sometimes takes a very long time to do simple tasks, especially if I'm running certain programs. The problem was compounded when I updated my processor to Windows 10. I believe this is because my computer is about 10 or so years old, but it's still frustrating to work with out-of-date equipment. Even when the computer is new, it sometimes can have difficulties with processing. I'm sure everybody has had to deal with a slow-moving computer, and that's why I'm excited about quantum computers. Quantum physics has been widely regarded as the most difficult branch in physics. But it has some very interesting applications. Scientists have found that it is possible to use the random actions of quantum particles such as electrons to create truly staggering processing power. The computers rely on phenomena such as quantum entanglement and photons in order to store information to store information and perform calculations at levels that increase exponentially with the number of quantum bits the computer has. The technology hasn't been perfected yet, to my knowledge. But if it ever were, quantum computers would be more powerful by far than even the most modern computer. Some have said that they would even have the potential to predict the future. This is truly staggering. I can't imagine my computer predicting anything other than what day of the week December 31, 2550 will be. I don't think any of us could. It's hard to wrap your head around how powerful those computers may be, and I've read that it won't be very long before they could become available to the public. It may take only a few decades for us to not have to worry about slow computers.

Earlier this year, my mother bought me a pair of books that present how to live a happy, healthy adult life. They cover apartment- and house-hunting, insurance, mental health, personal relationships, college, careers, and all manner of essential skills. There was an entire section in one of the books devoted to personal finances, and I think the most critically important tip involved opening a savings account. I also took a personal finance course last semester, and it seems that the core of the message on personal finances consists partly of the value of a savings account. A savings account allows you to weather situations that would otherwise critically damage your finances: the loss of a job, unexpected medial expenses, or some other large personal expense. Because you have money saved for just such a purpose, you can pay for the expenses more easily. Furthermore, a savings account is a strong investment with minimal risk. A savings account also allows you to make money by owning money through compound interest. You get paid for investing your money, and then the bank pays you money on top of that interest. You earn interest on interest. You can earn a great deal of money with this compound interest, even if it's not a great deal of money. Over the years, you may eventually earn thousands of dollars, with minimal work—you still would need to add more money to your account and maintain your watch on how much money you have. A savings account may take discipline. It's hard when you're young, and this is why credit card companies target college students. They're not as financially mature and are vulnerable. But with discipline and constant reminders of what you are saving for, a savings account can be the greatest investment of all.

I haven't had many ways to make an impact in some of the more obvious ways: starting a charity, doing a great deal of work for the community, serving in a political campaign, conducting scientific research, and so on. But I do know that I can make a positive impact on the world, even in ways that some don't pay attention to. I try to be a good example. I'm not a nationally recognized face speaking out against societal ills, but I am a good example to my fellow students. I attend an online public school, and we have virtual lectures in all of our courses. I am there when time allows. When I am there for the lectures, I always ask questions when I don't understand. I respectfully correct others when they are wrong and happily take criticism when I am wrong. I encourage others to participate by answering questions and asking questions rather than passively sitting silently in the text pods, watching other people type answers and ask questions. When I work with other students, I usually take charge and serve in a leadership capacity to lead group discussion. I'm never reluctant to use my microphone as many other students are. This helps me more effectively communicate with my peers so that we can arrive at an answer. I think deeply about the questions, and I make it clear that I do so, but not in a condescending way. I try to encourage people to think deeply and come up with good, strong, relevant answers. In influencing other students, I can help make them into hard-working, participating, passionate students, which will serve them in good stead in college and in life. It's not a large impact, but even the smallest impacts can have cascading effects.

I have always had a hard time finding friends. People seem generally to avoid me. But the few friends I have had have stuck with me and supported me. I feel fortunate to have had them. I think friendship is something very important in life. In some ways, it's more important than a career, or a house, or any material thing. It's my personal experience that emotional damage is far more crippling than physical damage. If you have nothing to alleviate the emotional pain, life is much worse than it would be. It would be better to be homeless, and have close friends, than living in an expensive, luxurious house with no friends. To quote Aristotle, "Without friends no man would choose to live, though he had all other goods." Friendship, to me, means being a close emotional support for others. Anybody can do this. Even a stranger on the street could see an upset person on the street and smile encouragingly at them. But a friend has the ability to hear and empathize in a way that nobody else can. Friends can spend time with the person, and talk with them, and support them. Even if the person is not in an emotionally low position, it's good for them to know that they have someone who is there for them and will be through the good times and the bad times. I may be wrong in saying this. There are many opinions on what being a friend is. But my strongest friends are the ones who share this sort of connection with me, and in my personal experience that's what a friend should be. A friend is a close confidant who shares your good experiences and your bad ones and is a constant source of strength and comfort.

1. A community is a group of people who live together and work together. They support and build each other up. I notice these details in the strongest communities. The ones that can survive the most strain are the ones that can pull together for the benefit of everybody in the community. This is one of the problems with humanity. There is so much hatred in the world, and even though disagreement is natural, we could do well to be more loving and contribute to each other rather than to ourselves. As the saying goes, "Have you ever seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul?" If we're focused on ourselves and our lives rather than the good of the world, we lack a strong community. I try to ensure that the people in my community have opportunities. I can't do much, in part because of the COVID pandemic, and in part because I never have been able to find volunteer opportunities in my local area, but I do work for the website LibriVox, recording audio for books, poems, and short stories that are in the public domain. I am able to provide some of the great works of literature for those who are reluctant to read, or for classrooms examining the classics, or for those who are blind. The website is global, so I can give in my community to those who live around me and access the site, but I can also give to the current global community we share. 2. I am a high school senior. I've never had much money for college, but I nevertheless want to have a better life for myself than what my parents have had. I'm a bundle of contradictions: I'm creative and artistic yet analytical and down-to-earth, I'm detail-oriented at times and yet I can focus very well on the general picture, and I find it difficult to relate to others and their experiences yet possess a solid understanding of human beings. I am very interested in science, and I want to devote my life to it. I want to be an astrophysicist. This is my way of serving God and my community. Some might say that investigating stars doesn't do much good for those of us down here on Earth. I disagree. We wouldn't know about space weather and how to cope with it if it weren't for astrophysicists. If it weren't for astrophysicists who deduced that stars are powered by nuclear fusion, we wouldn't have been able to investigate possible ways to induce controlled nuclear fusion in the lab, as well. My vision for the future largely revolves around my career. I think I will be able to make many discoveries to advance our knowledge of the universe. I feel this is what I'm meant for. I'm not sure what advancements I might help to make. But I do want to help solve as many of the modern problems in astrophysics as I can. I think that's the life for me.

The sun usually shines where I live. I like to walk outside, and enjoy the sounds of nature. I find that this relaxes me and helps calm me down when I'm distressed or angry. Self-care such as this is an important aspect of everyday life. Life is full of struggles anybody, and it's important to keep from being overwhelmed. I practice self-care in many ways. I engage in my hobbies and interests: reading, experiencing nature, writing, and, sometimes, simply sitting in my chair or on the rug in my room, thinking about whatever happens to be important to me at that moment. Usually, I think about religious topics, and this is actually my greatest expression of self-care. When I'm in any sort of emotional mood, good or bad, I read my Bible and pray, as I always find this gives me a sense of peace and comfort. Self-care prevents me from being overwhelmed by the problems of life. It makes me feel at peace even when storms are raging around me. This allows me to keep my sanity and stand strong without breaking. I have always had a strong will. It takes a very great deal to put me at emotional rock-bottom. But even so, I'm not immune to emotional struggle, it's just harder for the struggle to get to me. I need self-care to enable me to avoid hitting the emotional point where I have to rely on my will alone. Sometimes, I don't want to care for myself. It's easier to just give in. But I can't do that. I have too much at stake in my life to do so, and I think everyone does. That's why we all need to preserve our physical and emotional health, so that we can avoid snapping in the wind.

Years ago, I didn't possess a growth mindset. Up until early middle school, I didn't think I was good at academics and as a result my grades were poor. I have since learned the value of a growth mindset. By finally telling myself that I can be good if I apply myself, I have become a straight-A student. I keep a growth mindset by telling myself that even though I am very good at academics, there is always room for improvement. I still make mistakes, and even though that will always be the case, I can at least ensure that my likelihood of making a mistake is minimized. I remind myself that there is always something new that I may not understand. This prevents me from getting cocky and arrogant and thinking I can handle anything that comes my way. I fail at this sometimes, but I usually keep it in mind. I have many issues outside of school that require a growth mindset. I have a hard time of it with interacting with others, for example. I can't tell myself I'll never be skilled at these things. There are some that are more naturally inclined to social interactions, but then, there are some that are naturally inclined to drawing, and I have heard of people that were terrible at this and still became respected artists. I will never be the best in these areas, but I can always improve my skills, and I try to remind myself of this every time I feel that I will never improve. There is always room for personal improvement. Even when you are skilled at something, you can lose that skill if you don't practice in the same way that you can lose muscle mass if you don't exercise. Everything is a muscle.

As a younger teenager, my mother always exercised the greatest patience with me, no matter how difficult I could be. Even when she shouldn't have been, she was slow to anger and always filled with love. Those lessons have stayed with me. I have learned a lot about how to be a good person from my parents, not because they explicitly told me how to do so (though they did at times), but because I watched them and their interactions. I'm bad at understanding people as a general rule, but I think I have an intuitive understanding of relationships and how they should work. Patience is a big part of that. It's hard to want to be around someone whose first response to anything you do that annoys, angers, or in some way upsets them is to bite your head off. It's okay to get angry or to disagree on something with another person, of course, but a big argument is almost never necessary. Patience can help avoid unnecessary strife. Patience also promotes understanding and helps cooler heads prevail. If you react vehemently to something, you never know what the person might say. If you listen with patience, you may discover something very beneficial to you or to others that you hadn't known before. Patience has the potential to improve your life and others' lives. If you listen to your neighbor's advice on how to effectively mow a lawn, you can pass this knowledge on to others, thus easing a burden on multiple people. It's well-known that patience is a virtue. It's been a skill that many people down through the centuries must work on. But it is a skill worth perfecting due to its ability to prevent strife and improve lives. I try to practice it every day.

Years ago, I wanted to be a video game designer. I thought it was the career for me at that time. While I have since moved on from this idea, I had many ideas for science fiction games from this time, and they never left me. For me, forgetting about my (many) creations would be like a parent forgetting their child; I can't do it. I don't have that in me. But I also know I don't want my creations to stay in my head forever. They have to come out in some way. To that end, I started writing about my universe, which now comes complete with its own races, cultures, religions, vehicles, technologies, animals, plants, fungi, diseases, psychological disorders, physics, and other elements. I even developed equations to describe the physics. I originally did this so that I would remember the details, but my writing escalated from there. Over the years, I began to realize the video game format really wasn't best-suited for the story I wanted to tell. I realized that with as vast as my universe was becoming, a book, and specifically a book series, was a much better format. But even as I made this realization, I also realized I wasn't satisfied with the way my universe was turning out, so I scrapped the general plot line and started completely over, inventing many new characters, plots, and subplots. My universe is more or less complete now. I still have about 300 pages' worth of background information to get out of my head: the organisms, the histories of my races, the vehicles, and other elements. It will probably take years for me to fully do this, and it will take years more to write my full series, which will consist of 10 books in addition to spinoffs and companion books. I am more than up to this challenge. Writing brings out my creative fire and allows me to fully expend my creative energies. This strains my brain and provides me a unique mental challenge as I try to keep all the details straight. The writing itself is also grueling, mentally backbreaking labor, but this gives me patience and endurance, which are critically important traits. On a deeper level, my world has been one of my greatest comforts. I have always been an outcast, and I find it hard to relate to other people. I feel cut off from most of the rest of the human race sometimes. My world has given me a sort of peace and takes my mind off my troubles as I imbue it with as much life as I possibly can. It's something that I don't have to do as frequently now. I have worked hard at trying to relate to other people and express my concerns to them. I don't feel as much of an outcast now. But I still love my creations as a parent loves their child. I couldn't not. They are one of my greatest personal achievements.

I've always had a hard time with joy. I have always dragged myself down more than any other person in my life has. It's difficult for me to be kind to myself. In most cases, when I have sought joy, it has fled from me. This is, in large part, because I find it hard to accept myself. Everybody's opinion on joy and what brings it is different. Some may believe joy to be the ability to be happy in the worst of circumstances. Some consider it to be rejoicing over the good things in life rather than dwell on the bad. Joy, to me, means being able to accept yourself. I have many things I regret—which would be bad enough for most people—but I am also, admittedly, overly self-critical. I find the greatest joy when I can accept myself for who I am. That's when I find my greatest happiness. I try to seek out joy in my life by trying my best to be kind to myself. When a negative thought pops into my head, I try to remember the achievements I've made, and remind myself of the achievements that I will eventually make if I can press on and not shut down. I often seek comfort in my religion, which is one of the only consistent sources of comfort that I have. It's a challenge that I struggle with every day. I still haven't been able to overcome the negative feelings that have plagued me for years. I'm not entirely sure I ever will be able to. I have a unique way of seeking joy, and I'm sure everybody does. We all must seek out joy as much as we can in a world where joy can sometimes be nearly impossible to find.

Years ago, I went to Houston on a trip with some of my family to see NASA and other attractions in that city. I remember that there were cars everywhere, and it was difficult to get anywhere because of the congestion. I didn't think about this at the time, but looking back, I can't help but wonder how much greenhouse gas those cars were pumping out. Pollution is a very serious problem facing the world today. It occurs all over the world, in every country, in every city, and, likely, in every individual home. Pollution is probably most famous for causing climate change. But it is much more than that. Climate change is certainly a serious problem, but pollution can destroy habitats, kill wildlife (or at the least, hinder, perhaps severely, the ability of organisms to survive), and poison the supplies we (and the rest of nature) need. It is a problem that it sometime seems we are making little headway in solving. This frustrates me very greatly. I think we need to increase our efforts to educate the public about pollution and its effects. People need to understand that even the individual compared with the more than 7 billion people in the world can still have an effect. Even a single piece of trash generated by one person could eventually end up in the stomach of an organism and poison it. To that end, I think we should emphasize the ability of the individual to combat pollution. This reduces the tendency of humans to put responsibility on somebody else. It increases public awareness, and it can even empower people because they know they have the power to change the world. The war is always with the individual, who always has the power to effect great change.

Earlier this year, I read a book about how to live life as an adult. It covered personal finances, personal relationships, ethics, jobs, careers, college, and everything that is critically important for an adult to consider. There was an entire section devoted solely to personal finances. I think that the most important lesson I learned was the value of a personal savings account. A savings account allows you to weather financially dangerous situations such as the loss of a job, an unforeseen medical expense, destruction of your property, and other circumstances. A savings account is an important personal safety cushion that can protect your finances in the event of an emergency. If you have a savings account, you can still pay for important expenses if you lose a job, and you can pay for medical bills more easily. A savings account is also a way for you to earn money by owning money. If you put money into a savings account, you earn interest, and interest on the interest you earned. The bank pays you for having money in the account, and so a savings account allows you to get paid for doing nothing other than putting money in the account. You earn more money over time, and this enables you to have more money than you otherwise would have had when you retire. I think everyone should learn the value of a savings account. Opening one is easy, and it is easy to work with in terms of investing money. The difficult part is overcoming temptation to take out money. We can all learn to resist this temptation by reminding ourselves of the future. It's better to be without money now and have it later than it is to not have it when you need it.

I have been deeply fascinated by the stars since I was a small child. I looked up at them each night, and wondered what was out among them. Though I have considered many careers, the interest in space has never truly left me. I recently began to revisit the idea. About a year ago, I started reading about the wonderful field of physics, and I fell in love immediately. I discovered astrophysics in part by reading an old science textbook that I kept from middle school which has a unit devoted to space. I read about stars and galaxies and the universe, and I got interested. I began reading about the field in more depth, and even though I had already found I wanted to be a physicist and was interested in several fields outside of astrophysics, I knew deep down that I had found my career in astrophysics. I want to become an astrophysical researcher. I will study astrophysics in college and eventually get my Bachelor of Science degree so that I am better prepared for graduate school. I plan to eventually obtain a PhD. I think the title of "Doctor" suits me very well, and it sounds particularly good when appended to my last name, in my opinion. I hope to gain a position as a researcher at a university or in the government. I want to make as many discoveries as I can. I feel it is what God has called me to do. I also feel that being an astrophysicist is the only career that will make me feel fulfilled. It is the only one that I can seriously picture myself being in. Post-secondary education will be critical for me reaching this goal. A scientist of any field will need a college education. It is the only way to sufficiently prepare the field. You must have an in-depth knowledge of your field. You must understand what is going on in the field, what has happened in the past, and all knowledge in between. College is designed to help you specialize by giving you in-depth knowledge of a particular subject. That's why we "major" in a certain field. Post-secondary education will give me the valuable knowledge that I need in order to reach my goal. I also need post-secondary education to gain experience. I can't be a scientific researcher if I don't know how to conduct scientific research. If I major in astrophysics and pursue a Bachelor of Science degree, I will usually have to take a class in my undergraduate years in research. I will have to make a contribution to my field in this way. Beyond the undergraduate degree, the Master of Science degree and the PhD also involve doing research, and making a contribution to the field of choice. I need to go to college so I have experience conducting serious scientific research. In very short order, a college education is required for me to meet my goal of being an astrophysicist. There is no other way. Even if there were, college would still be the best way to prepare for my career, and I want to have the greatest preparation possible so that I can do my job to the best of my ability. Post-secondary education will ensure that I can be the best astrophysicist that I possibly can.

I suppose one of the first thoughts in my head each day is about astrophysics. I am completely in love with this field and everything in it and I want to learn everything in it even though I know I will never be able to. One of the things that fuels my life the most is my goal of eventually becoming a scientific researcher in this field. I don't care where I work—for the government or for a college or university. I want to devote my career to this field. My hobbies are also good fuel for my life. I read every day of the week, as much as I can. I will read books and stories in nearly any genre, be it poetry, prose, or drama. I like to write, as well. I have invented my own fully realized fictional universe complete with its own races, cultures, languages, religions, physics, plants, animals, and fungi. I walk outside very often, even if it's cold or hot, and I would do it even if it was raining (but not storming) if my parents would let me. I find being outside very calming. The greatest fuel for my life is my religion. I have always been a sort of societal outcast. I find it hard to relate to other people, and other people find it hard to relate to me. My religion is one of the only comforts I have in this area. I read my Bible every day and try to live by it. It's a constant struggle because I know perfectly following every command in the Bible is against my human nature, but it is very worth it and rewarding.

I'm a science fiction writer, aspiring physicist, and an avid reader, and I possess an insatiable, black hole-like thirst for knowledge, which I absorb like a sponge and find very difficult to let go, also rather like a sponge. I'm highly creative and very eccentric in my ability to get inspired—I am, indeed, the self-described resident crackpot of my family for this reason, and I can testify that this is true because I've been inspired to create 4 different animal species by patterns in dog saliva and dirt that I found on the window in my living room one time.

I am autistic, and empathy has always been hard for me. When others are in pain, emotional or physical, I am never able to relate to them. This can give me the impression of being insensitive or uncaring. It's not that I find their pain irrelevant or entertaining or not worth my time. It's not even that I can't understand pain. I just lack the critical ability to attach my feelings to theirs. It's like people are on the other side of a window. I can see them and what's happening to them, but I am cut off from them. But nevertheless, I try to live with empathy for others. I know what it feels like to be in deep physical and emotional pain. I can't attach my experiences to those of others, but I can show that I know what they're going through. I can tell them so, and do when I know that someone is going through something I've been through. I try to convey that I know where they're coming from. They're not alone in the world. Nobody ever really truly is. I empathize by trying to make the lives of others lives easier and better. If I know what pain is like, I know that it's no fun, and I want to be relieved when I feel it. Therefore, I try to ease the pain of others. This is one of the best ways I have to express empathy. It's a challenge for me to take the final step in empathy and connect my emotions and experiences to those of others. But I know that empathy is critically important in life and in relationships, and it's a skill that I am trying to build to the greatest height that I can, despite my limitations.

I have read about active listening many times in school. I once had an entire unit in my Health class devoted to healthy personal relationships, and active listening was an important topic in this unit. It defined active listening as working to understand everything a person says, watching their body language, and putting your attention on them so that you can communicate effectively. I actively listen to those around me by considering their words. I listen to what they say, and take their advice if I feel it is truly good advice. I watch their body language, their facial expressions, and their tone of voice so I can determine how they are feeling and act accordingly. I'm not going to be flippant with someone who's in tears due to something sad that happened to them. Listening, to me, means being humble and being willing to listen to others even if what they say hurts you, offends you, or in any way upsets you. You must be willing to listen and take advice from people who seek to benefit you and be of service to you. You can't be high and mighty and think you know best, because, in my experience, very often you don't. Listening also means showing respect to others. Listening rather than just hearing means you respect what the person has to say, and listening tells the person that you care and want to hear what they have to say no matter how it makes you feel. This is a very positive message. Listening has the power to make someone feel that they matter and that they aren't just another face in the crowd. Listening can be a skill far more important than speaking.

I like to walk around my street, even though it's not big and I've seen it a thousand times. I like to hear the birds chirp and see the squirrels run up and down trees. I like to look at the clouds. I like the feel of paper in my hand, and the grain of a pencil and the sound it makes scratching on a piece of paper. I love the noise of keys clacking on a keyboard and the sight of words. I read every day, and I love to learn. I try to learn a new fact every day, no matter how bizarre it is. I can tell you how many Americans chose toilet paper over food as a desert island necessity, I can tell you about ghost trains, and I can tell you how the African crested rat makes its hair poisonous to bite. I greatly enjoy these simple pleasures that I experience every day. They make me happy. They make me feel at peace, and I don't have to worry or be distraught in any way when I'm outside, or am writing, or typing, or reading and learning. I can rely on them for an escape from the problems of the world and of life. The simple pleasures assure me everything will be okay. If I can be happy in a small moment where otherwise I would not be, then I can be happy in the future when the problems of life have abated (at least temporarily). I know, then, that one day I will have much more reason to be happy. While many people enjoy the simple pleasures as a means of simply enjoying life, they mean so much more to me personally than that. They are a chief comfort to me.

One of the most common phrases in the world related to giving comes from the Bible: "'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:35, New International Version). Giving can be very fulfilling, and it is a way for me to serve God and do His will. Giving is important to me because it allows me to do for the One who has blessed me very greatly and still loves me despite all the bad things I've done. Giving freely makes the Good Lord happy. To give back, I try to do the right thing and live by God's Word. I try to do service to others when I can. I have a busy school schedule, but I do volunteer service when I have enough time. This allows me to put forth something good into the world, but more importantly it allows me to faithfully fulfill my religious duties with a happy heart. I try to give everybody the respect they deserve as a human being. Giving isn't necessarily reserved to giving physical things. It can mean giving respect, love, and appreciation for all people. I respect the right of the individual to believe what they want to believe. Even if I disagree with a belief and practice, I understand I have no right to force my beliefs on anybody. It is an individual choice God gave us and should be respected as such. My feelings and actions regarding giving stem from my religious beliefs. I have only recently gotten serious about my faith, but I am proud to know that in giving, I get to work for the eternal God of the universe.

In middle school, I never thought I was good at math. I found it very difficult, and as such I told myself I wasn't good at it. I didn't think I was good at anything, academically speaking. I eventually stopped telling myself that I was bad at school and at math, and I got very good at both of these things very quickly. Math and science are two of my greatest talents. I rarely encounter a topic in either of these areas that I don't understand immediately, and when I don't understand the topic, it's usually because it hasn't been taught or explained well. I practice my skills by working out problems and studying and by learning about new areas of math and science, especially physics. I am very good at writing. I was once not good at this, but I have practiced my skills constantly through writing for school, and my skills have greatly improved. I still practice my skills in this way. I also write fiction, and I get better at writing in this area by doing it. You can only get better at writing through writing, so I write very often. In school, I am presented with many opportunities for analytical thinking. Whether it's solving a science problem or writing an analytical short answer for an AP English Literature question, I can write a detailed, well-crafted analysis. I think about the texts I read, their themes, their devices, and how everything is used and how it fits together. I analyze as I read. For example, I am reading Bram Stoker's "Dracula" right now, and I was already looking for themes at the first page. I try to strengthen my talents every day. I will never be perfect, but I want to be the best I can.

I have struggled with optimism for many years. I don't know when the problem started. But I have always found it difficult to stay positive. This is mostly because I have a very hard time with self-love. I find it difficult to see myself in a positive way, and I have dragged myself down more than anyone else has. I have stayed optimist through tough times by telling myself that one day, I will finally be able to love myself and not see myself as a nobody who's incapable of doing anything great. I have stayed optimistic by pulling myself through each day, maybe not with a smile, and maybe not with vigor, but with a willingness to go on no matter what. Being optimistic through tough times has taught me that I have a very strong will. I am able to press on when I don't want to, I am able to go on when I feel there is no point, and I am able to get through situations when I feel there is no hope and no reason to hope. I can endure a very great deal before I begin to break. I can cope with a great deal of stress and emotional turmoil. Many have to work at this for their entire life. I have had to do that, too, but I've already had great experience with it. I don't know where my will comes from. But I do know that I have stayed optimistic through tough times by exhorting myself to press on through life. I will continue to do so for all of my life. I know I have the ability to.

I've never had the money to see a psychiatrist, but I almost certainly have high-functioning autism. It is difficult for me to think through problems without help from others. (This doesn't apply to academic problems and understanding highly complex topics—I am extremely good at that and always have been. It applies only to problems involving simple common sense.) I often need very explicit directions and I am much less able than others to work without such directions. I don't have to have my hand held in any way; explaining how to do something simply takes more time with me than it would with others. Being independent, to me, means being able to think for yourself without having others help you. Asking others for help is, of course, very acceptable, but being independent to me means not having to rely on others for explicit directions. It means being able to use common sense to think through problems. This is something I consistently struggle with. But I know I will need to eventually be able to use common sense to survive in life. Being independent in the way I see independence means being able to survive in our immensely complicated and intricately detailed world in which every decision can be very important some day. Independence is survival. As such, it is something that cannot be taken lightly. Independence can mean the difference between a good life and a bad one. It could mean the difference between having a job and living on the street. I need to be able to do my work with minimal directions. Being independent allows me to survive in life and have a good life on top of that.

It has always been my very strong belief that all humans are equal and are entitled to the same rights and privileges regardless of their socioeconomic status, religious beliefs, race, ethnicity, country of origin, ability or disability, or any other factor that may be mentioned. This is the logical conclusion; there are absolutely no advantages to being of a certain race, for example. Regardless of whether a person is white, black, or of another race, the biology of a human is precisely the same. Everything else is in the mind of an individual. Therefore, if I were a highly influential figure, I would stand for tolerance of others and their beliefs, practices, and traditions, provided, of course, that those cultural elements do not in any way interfere with the public safety and interest. (Any restrictions would still be consistent with the individual's rights.) I would stand for each human loving every other human, as my religion teaches me to do. I would stand for respect and a willingness to compromise with those with different beliefs. This would remove the sort of tension we see in the world right now. In America, for example, it seems to me that African Americans think whites are always racist, and that many whites think African Americans in general are criminals. I am greatly enraged by both, because there is no reason to make these conclusions. There is no real evidence to support either of these conclusions. If we promote respect, we could heal the racial divide in America. We should live in peace with each other. Everybody has dignity and deserves respect as such. Highly influential figures should always stand above the fray of partisanship, contrasting beliefs, and differences in general. That is what I would do if I were an influential public figure.

I have always been deeply fascinated by the universe. Since I was a child, I have looked at the world around me and wondered how it works and how it all fits together. That fascination has never left me. My main goal for the future is to study astrophysics and eventually obtain a PhD so I can be a researcher in this area. I find it incredibly fascinating, and I want to dedicate my career to expanding knowledge in this area. I think this is the only field that will make me feel fulfilled and give me a happy life. The public deserves to know about the latest advancements, and I think it is the duty of a scientist to ensure that it does. Therefore, in my career, one of my goals is to educate the public about science. I might write a book, or a blog explaining the field of astrophysics and what is going on in it. I think this will also be a very fulfilling role in the world. Aside from this, I want to learn as much as I can. I'm the sort of person who would buy a textbook on differential geometry just because I'm interested in it. I want to know as many things as I can. I will probably spend all my life amassing some new piece of information. My brain simply can't be satisfied. It must be fed with knowledge constantly to prevent me getting bored. Whether I will be able to do these things is something I don't know. I may never be able to get a job as an astrophysicist, and I may not be able to get a job at all. But I am confident that in any case, the future will always be an adventure.

Self-love has always been my greatest challenge. For years, even when I found something I love I love about myself, I would always dismiss it as being pointless to love because it wasn't unique. If I was good at math, so were others, and many were better than me. If I was creative, so were others, and many were more creative than me. I have dragged myself down more than anyone else has. But even though I have constantly dismissed myself as a nobody, I have still kept going. I have still tried to get through life even when I have felt I don't want to. I have developed a very strong will to keep on going even when everything seems pointless and hopeless. My will is the thing I love most about myself. I have great strength in my spirit. Many may struggle with this area of their personalities, but I don't. I think it's because I lived with significant emotional pain for a long time, but I haven't had to work on telling myself I'll get through life. I always told myself I would get through it by pushing on until I did finally work out my emotional issues and lack of self-esteem. I feel good knowing I've been through the emotional ringer and still have enough fight left in me to always press on. I don't have to worry that I can't handle emotional troubles down the road; I've already handled them.

For much of my teen years, I struggled with depression in some form or another. I have always found it difficult to accept myself for who I am, and for a long time, my feelings for myself have bordered on hatred, if I didn't fully hate myself. I have been for so long unable to say any kind words to myself, and I have often felt that there was no point to life and that everything was bleak. I lived with this for nearly a decade. Doing so taught me that I have a very strong will. Somehow, I have still kept going even when I didn't want to. Somehow, despite all the pain I've kept in me, I still get up every morning and face the day, maybe not with a smile on my face, and maybe not with vigor, but with the ability to drag myself through any hardship and strife in my life. The most valuable thing I've learned about myself is that I can keep going and pressing on even when it seems that there is no hope. I have a will that can never be completely crushed, and it has pulled me through some of the most painful situations and circumstances in my life. It will continue to pull me through life even when I don't feel I want to be pulled.

It was only a few months ago that I first heard the question: "Have you ever seen a hearse carrying a U-Haul?" It was in a book of life advice, and that was the title of the first chapter. One of the authors was recalling a friend he once had who said that to him all the time. The statement is very significant: you don't get to take anything you made with you in life when you die. Hearses don't pull trailers full of things for the deceased to take with them. One of the books that I have read that has shaped my view on the meaning of life is Ecclesiastes, one of the books of the Bible. It puts everything in life in proper perspective. The book points out that all physical riches, toil, and even wisdom are all meaningless because it doesn't matter how much you learn or gain, you still can't take it with you when you die. There was then no point in amassing any of it. If wisdom is meaningless, then all the philosophical arguments on the meaning of life are completely pointless. And yet, nobody thinks they are, not even me. Each of us tries to seek out our own meaning, and we have come up with some highly varied answers. Therefore, I think that the meaning of life is that there really is no meaning aside from meaning an individual attaches to life. I personally am convinced of Ecclesiastes' statement: that the only meaning in life is to serve God. It is the only thing for which any sort of return can be found. But I understand that not everybody shares my opinion. Each person builds a meaning for life on their own experiences. That's how we achieve a meaning of life.

I've never been one to try to conform to others' expectations of me. I don't make myself into a false person, and I have always found it easy to be myself. I've never found it easy to be fond of myself, but I am me in the presence of others. I'm not someone I make up. I try to stay true to myself by being the person I am. I love science fiction and fantasy and am the most likely person I know to go to fan conventions and other activities. I love physics and astronomy and I want to be an astrophysicist. I am obsessed with learning as many concepts in advanced mathematics as I possibly can. I have been derided for these things in the past, but I don't care. I've often been a bit of a societal outcast. I find it hard to relate to others, and these feelings are reciprocated. I am autistic, but even though many think people with this condition would show obvious signs of it, I appear almost normal. But people still sense something off about me, and they avoid me. I try to work on the issues that arise from my autism, but even though I used to fear others finding out about my condition, I don't anymore. I stay true to myself by not fearing who knows that I'm autistic. It can be hard to stay true to yourself for many people. It can be for me. But I always try to be myself. We all have personality problems we need to work on, but aside from mine, I don't see the point in not being me. It takes more energy to be a facade, a construct of someone you are not. It doesn't take energy to be who you are.

I have been an avid reader for years. I have no idea how many books I've read in my life and I have no way to estimate it. I've been reading chapter books since I was in the first grade, when most of my fellow students would hardly pick up a book. Reading so widely and far has given me a very powerful and prolific imagination. I have grown to be a science fiction writer. I have invented my own fully realized fictional universe, complete with several races, cultures, religions, languages, plants, animals, fungi, physics, biological concepts, natural phenomena, and other elements. I believe it rivals some of the great science fiction and fantasy universes, such as "Star Wars," "Star Trek," and "Harry Potter" in terms of sheer size and breadth and depth. I apply creativity in this area of my life. I also apply creative solutions to problems when I find creativity is useful. I work with the materials I have on hand and I try to find shortcuts when I am able to. For example, in solving equations, I try to find creative ways to minimize the number of individual calculations I must do. I built a sculpture out of tin cans, cloth, pipe cleaners, and nails for a Pre-Calculus project this semester, and I had to arrange the (frankly primitive) materials I had on hand in a visually appealing way that fit with the topic of my sculpture. Creativity has always been a very important part of my life. I am sure it will always be. If I had to sum up my personality in a few words, the word "creative" would be one of the first to come to mind. I apply creativity to my problem-solving skills in addition to my leisure activities.

In my Sophomore year, I attended nearly all of the virtual lectures for my classes. (I attend an online school, so I have daily virtual lessons from my teachers on the topics that we're going over in class as a form of supplementary material to the lesson content.) In my Geometry class, for example, I always asked questions when I don't understand and correct others (politely, of course) when they are wrong, even the teacher, and I encourage others to do the same. I answered the questions without relying on others to do it for me and was always an active participant. I have done this for all of my high school years when I have had the opportunity to interact with other students. I don't have a formal mentor or leader position. But I hope to encourage other students to be the best that they can be. I hope to teach them that it is okay to ask questions and that's it's not rude or impolite to correct others when they are wrong, as long as the correction is done in the right way. I would never suggest being condescending about the fact that someone is wrong. I want to ensure that our students live up to their potential. I'm not in the position of a leader; I'm not a teacher, principal, superintendent, or national official on education. But I can still be a positive example. I can show others my confidence and in doing so, have others emulate me. I'm not saying this in an arrogant way, but I am a good student who works hard and does their best in school, and I know that students need to do that, always.

A few years ago, I was struggling with choosing a career and a major to study. I was torn between engineering, computer science, math, and physics. I knew I wanted to be in a STEM field, but I couldn't decide which one. The thing I learned that changed my perspective on something significant in my life was the topic of astrophysics. I have always been interested in space. Ever since I was a small child, I have looked up at the star-filled sky and wondered what's out there. As a child, I didn't think there was much to space other than the stars and astronauts, the planets and the sun. I didn't know about dark matter, black holes, neutron stars, and galaxies. I decided that I wanted to be a physicist for my career. I simply felt very drawn to the field. But I wasn't sure which area I was most interested in until I read about astronomy and astrophysics. I fell in love immediately. There are so many extremely intriguing phenomena in the universe, and I felt that I wanted to study them. I remembered my long-time interest in space and the fact that I had once written off what I came to know as the field of astronomy because I didn't think there was much to it. Reading about the field changed my perspective on the field from an essentially indifferent perspective to one of fervent admiration. This is critically significant to my life. It has helped me decide on my career and what I want to dedicate it to. It has determined the course my college education will take, and what course my life will take. Changing my perspective changed my life and helped me find my focus, aside from my religious duties and practices.

One investment tip that I've taken to heart is the value of savings. I have taken an entire course in personal finance, and I have read books about how to manage finances responsibly. The best tip I've received is to open a savings account. There are many benefits to this. A savings account allow you to accumulate interest, and just not interest, put interest paid on interest already collected. Savings accounts allow your money to grow exponentially, though the amount of growth is only very small at first. A savings account also allows you use your money to earn more money in a reliable, risk-free way. I've taken this tip to heart. I understand that savings are a very important investment. I have observed my parents go deeply into debt and struggle with finances due to their lack of a savings account. I have learned from them. I don't have a savings account yet. I haven't been able to get a job just yet, but I will open a savings account as soon as I obtain and get my first paycheck. I plan to invest as much money as possible in my savings account so that I always have a safety cushion and so that I have money when I retire, aside from the money I have from a retirement plan. A savings account may save my life some day—it can prevent me from having to go into debt from having to pay a car bill, for example, and it can help me get through sudden financial troubles such as a loss of a job or a medical expense. Savings is key to a secure future.

I recently read a book series about how to survive as an adult in the modern world. There was an entire section devoted to finances. There was advice about buying a car, buying a house, insurance, investing, and other financial practices and considerations. The best piece of financial advice I have ever received is to invest money in a savings account. There are many benefits to saving. Starting a savings account is an excellent way to earn interest, and interest on top of interest. Compound interest grows exponentially, and it can help you earn much more money than you would if you kept your money in a checking account. A savings account allows your money to earn more money for you. It's like getting paid for doing nothing, and while laziness is never something to fawn over, it is something great when you work smarter rather than harder and save yourself some effort. A savings account is also a secure investment in that there is little, if any, risk associated with one. A savings account is the best way to prepare yourself for a day when you lose a job or incur some major expense like a medical visit. A savings account can keep you afloat because a savings account can be money set aside for just such a purpose. It prevents you from having to borrow money or take a large amount out of a checking account. A savings account is your safety cushion. I haven't started a savings account yet, because I don't yet have a job. But when I do have a job, one of my first moves will be to open a savings account. This is the best piece of financial advice I have been given because it is simple and has many benefits.

There have always been people in the world who have imposed their belief systems on others and have severely mistreated those who disagree with them. They feel their way of life is the best. I can't say that I don't possess bias toward my own way of life in any fashion. I think the American system of government is far better than a totalitarian system, for example. But I also understand I have no right to impose my beliefs on anyone. I feel especially strong about this due to my religious beliefs. Even though I would love for all the world to be Christian, Jesus explicitly taught that we shouldn't try to impose the Christian belief system on anybody. It is an individual choice. I try to make it known that nobody has any right to impose their beliefs on anyone. That shows nothing but disrespect and an inability to come to terms with the fact that we are not the highest law in the land. I try to support equality and diversity by expressing my views that people of other cultures and belief systems should be entitled to the same rights as any other group. They are just as worthy of respect as I am. People should be able to practice their religion, use their language, and otherwise exercise their uniqueness. There can be many opportunities to learn from each other and become stronger as a society. We can, for example, learn better dietary practices from cultures, or better farming practices. Diversity can the potential to make society stronger. I try to put aside my own biases and learn from others who have better methods than I do, and I try to live as an example for others.

When I was six or seven, my birth mother died. While I can barely remember her, I do know that her death was one of the events in my life with the most profound effects. After she died, most of my family shut down, and nobody really noticed me in all the chaos. This is particularly bad for me, because I'm autistic, and it wasn't until years after my birth mother died that my condition was finally caught. (I still haven't been diagnosed with the condition by a psychiatrist, but I can't afford one, and I show enough of the signs and symptoms of autism that I believe it's safe to say it's what I have.) I have many issues that arise from my autism: I can't relate to other people, I struggle with empathy, and I have a hard time understanding things other people find simple. My condition had 15 years or so to get ingrained in my life. My mother made matters worse. But her death isn't the experience I want to talk about. When I was 11, my dad remarried. His new wife eventually adopted me and became my mother. She had a hard time with me because I felt she was invading my life and because she has a hard time relating to me. But she saw potential in me that I never was able to see in myself. She pushed me to become a dedicated student and encouraged me to pursue my dreams. She brought me from a child that didn't even know how to tie his shoes to a straight high-A student with big dreams of being a scientist. The experience that shaped me most into who I am today was my mother coming into my life. She completely changed who I am.

I can tell you what the odds that any human being anywhere on Earth, selected at random, has seen a James Bond movie are. I can tell you about cursed golf courses, poisonous rodents, obscure history, strange mental conditions, and a variety of other topics. I love to learn, and I have a brain like a sponge, that wants to absorb as much knowledge as it possibly can. Every time I learn a new fact to recite, I feel happy. I love to read. I will generally read anything that I can. I am particularly fond of my Bible, science fiction, and fantasy. Two of these things have made me happy for years. I've only recently gotten serious about my religion, but in the short time since then, my Bible has become one of my greatest sources of happiness and comfort. I have probably spent more time reading than I have with any other leisure activity. I also love not just to read, but also to write. I have invented my own fully realized science fiction universe, complete with its own races, cultures, religions, physics, animals, plants, fungi, diseases, and other elements. My writing has carried me through many dark times in my life, and it still does so. I also like to walk around my neighborhood, enjoying the trees, and the small amounts of wildlife I see. (Most of the animals in my area of the country are elusive; you only see common birds and squirrels and insects, most of which are flies, wasps, and ants.) This always has a calming effect, and it is where I go most often when I am so filled up with emotion that I can't really do anything else except move.

I grew up in a family of modest means, in an average house, in a small town in the middle of the woods of Deep East Texas. I attended an average elementary school and middle school. I have struggled with self-doubt for all of my life. I never believed I was capable of doing well in school, for instance, so I didn't do well until I reached the seventh grade, at which point I finally stopped telling myself I was a terrible student and started to do very well. I still struggle with a lack of self-esteem and, half the time, a deep self-hatred. It's been one of the great challenges of my life to accept myself for who I am. This is part of the reason I want to go to college, study astrophysics, and eventually become an astrophysical researcher. I am a Christian, and want to happily perform my duties as one, but I have worked so hard to try to prove myself wrong about who I am, and if I ever were able to get my dream job, I feel I would have finally succeeded in doing so. My academic success can in large part be due to my desire to finally no longer be able to tell myself I'm nobody. I also want a better life for myself than what I have had. My family isn't exactly poor, but it isn't the richest on the block, either. I am content with my family's means, and I wouldn't have grown up any other way. But I still want to ensure a better life for whatever family I may have, and I need to rise above my situation to do so. My life so far has shaped me into a driven, determined student.

I love nature for many reasons. I have lived in Texas for ally of my life, surrounded by the tall, majestic pine trees of the Eastern part of the state. I haven't seen the forests of the upper parts of the country and all the beautiful terrain there, but I think that my forest is beautiful nonetheless, if in a more rugged, more humid way. It gives me an appreciation of nature. It also inspires me to want to learn more about nature: the way the water beads into droplets, how the plants carry nutrients against gravity, how the wind blows through the trees, and other workings. I can see stars every night, even though there don't seem to be as many as there were when I was a small child. I want to learn more about them. Nature has inspired me to learn how it works and how it fits together, and it has inspired me to become an astrophysicist to learn how the universe works physically. Nature also calms me. When I am very angry, irritated, sad, or otherwise consumed by negative emotion, nature calms me in a way that is second only to my Bible. I can go for a walk through my neighborhood and admire the trees, and eventually I calm down. I go for a walk at least once a week to be outside. I try to appreciate nature and its beauty for its inspiration and its ability to calm me. I want to protect it. Though I am no environmental activist, I want to do my part to protect and preserve the place I was raised in, grew up, was inspired, formed my passions, and loved for its ability to make me feel at peace.

In my junior-year physics course, I struggled greatly with projectile motion. I had never encountered such a difficult topic before in my life. I could hardly understand any of it, and I'm very good at math and science. I didn't do too well on the assessment for the lesson. I didn't feel I would ever be able to understand I never like to leave a topic where I don't thoroughly understand it, though. I went to my teacher for help with learning the material. The problem was mostly that the examples used in the lesson were way above where they should have been for a high school physics student. I was able to understand them well enough to mildly understand projectile motion, but not at the level that I should have. I kept at it trying to learn the information for the unit's test, over two-dimensional motion. I began to understand that I had worked with the sorts of formulae projectile motion uses in my algebra courses, quadratic functions. I realized I was making the subject more complicated than it had to be. I had been told that physics is extremely difficult, even for those who are very good at that sort of thing, and I had let that get to me in a way that prevented me from thoroughly understanding the topics I had learned in projectile motion. I had also read that this was a particularly difficult branch of physics, which didn't help. I now understand projectile motion, or at least the projectile motion I learned last year. I used persistence to overcome the obstacle because I kept up trying to learn and understand the material even when it seemed I would never be able to understand it. Persistence and determination kept me going.

A few years ago, I started reading about the wonderful field of physics. I remember reading about the mind-blowing phenomena physics has revealed, such as black holes, the ability of electrons to essentially exist in multiple places at once, and Einstein's theories of relativity. I felt very happy and pulled to physics in a way that I never had before felt pulled to a career path before. I was especially drawn to astrophysics, the physics of objects in space: their properties, and the physical processes that occur in these objects. I have always been very interested in space, and I wanted to be an astronaut when I was very small. I even decorated my bedroom to be space-themed. My goal in education is to get as advanced an education as possible in the field of astrophysics. I plan to major only in astronomy or astrophysics in college, and I won't attend a college that offers only a general physics program. I will eventually go on to graduate school and earn a PhD in astrophysics. My goal in life, in terms of my career, is to get a job as an astrophysical researcher so that I can use the gifts God gave me to reveal the workings of His creation to the rest of humanity. I think this is the only path for my life that will make me feel fulfilled. That's my "why." I am very much in love with astrophysics and I feel it's the only field I can dedicate my life to and feel happy doing so. I'm not going to cure a disease. I'm not going to achieve world peace, or find a solution to climate change, or lead a nation. But without astrophysicists and astronomers, we wouldn't be able to determine whether other planets might be habitable. Without these scientists, we wouldn't understand space weather and its ability to impact missions, and we wouldn't understand how to cope with the power of the sun in space where we don't have the atmosphere to protect us. I see my vision impacting the world positively in the future by giving humanity an increased understanding of the universe. I will be able to help us explore space by coping with space weather and by understanding the workings of the heavenly bodies, such as how they move and what their properties are. We couldn't explore Mars in manned missions, for example, if we tried to allow astronauts to parachute down—the atmosphere on Mars is too thin for that. I will also simply be able to increase our understanding of the physics of the universe. Some may say that this is nothing to write home about since I wouldn't be improving the lives of people on Earth. But I will be able to help us understand some of the most fundamental physics of the universe. The theories of relativity, for example, have helped us understand how gravity works. I also understand that the public needs to know about the latest advancements in all of science. This can increase their political knowledge, such as whether a particular realm of study in physics should be pursued and under what circumstances it should be pursued. If there was an economic crash in the United States, it's best to not devote as much money to building particle accelerators. I can use my position to educate the public about science and help them understand what is going on in the field and what needs to happen. I think my chosen field of study will help me make a positive impact on the world.

I've been blessed with many gifts. I am very intelligent and creative and I love to learn new things every day. I'm good at math and science and I can generally understand enormously complicated and abstract ideas with ease. I think I'm meant to be a physicist—which is my field of interest in science—and I am pursuing this career. I am living with gratitude for my gifts by using them in the way they are meant to be used. My skills are meant for science, and they should be used as such. I'm not a scientist yet, but I will be some day, and I am preparing for that day. I appreciate God's equipping me with the skills to pursue a career that will advance our understanding of the universe, and I am glad to serve Him in this way. I live with gratitude by doing all that I can to get on the career path I am meant to. I don't care about money. I come from a low-income family, but I have no desire to be rich. I simply don't see the point, other than to do more work for God. I am thankful for what I have and I show appreciation by being content with my situation and the knowledge that I would have it no other way than what I have it. I don't seek fame, or glory, or material possessions, or wealth, but only to do what which is right in the eyes of my Lord. I live with gratitude and appreciation of everything I have by working hard and being thankful for what I have.

I use several strategies to study. In class, I always take extensive notes so that I don't miss any important information. Outside of class, I review my notes and memorize the most important points. Essentially, I gather a very great deal of information and then sift through this information to find what I need most for the class. This can be very difficult to do, but I feel that it is better to have too much information to start with than it is to have too little. If I don't take extensive notes I might miss something important that I don't have later, and I often don't remember what was in a lecture if I don't take notes. Practice problems always work very well for me. Practicing math has made me very good at it. I make up problems to solve. I also experiment with what I've learned. For example, I have had many lessons on the various types of functions, such as linear, polynomial, and rational functions. I have a graphing calculator, and I use its graphing feature to study the functions and how they behave when I manipulate them. I taught myself how to find the vertex of a quadratic function before I even began this topic in my math classes. I also ask my teacher questions about what I'm having trouble with before I have any assessment. I want to ensure that I understand the content fully before I take the test or quiz over it so that I can get the highest possible grade. I am never afraid to ask questions when I have trouble, as I find that it is often my only way to understand the content if I don't understand it to begin with.

I want to be an astrophysicist. This field is filled with some of the most fascinating phenomena in the universe, such as black holes neutron stars, and radio galaxies. I am highly equipped for this field: I am very good at math and physics and understanding complicated systems and structures. I think astrophysics is the only field that I can feel truly fulfill in, and I believe God has called me to work in this field. I am going to go to college and major in astrophysics. I want to absorb as much knowledge as I possibly can in my undergraduate years. I also plan on reducing what student debt I may have to incur as much as I possibly can so that I don't have to worry about debt when I have started my career. After I have gotten my Bachelor of Science degree, I plan on going to work in aerospace, or as a research assistant, or in another field in which I can use the knowledge I have already gained. I will do this to support myself as I go through graduate school. I will also use this to get career experience so that when I have earned a PhD, as I plan to do, I will already have experience working in a professional environment. I think it will take me about 10 years or less to get a PhD, but when I do, I will get a job as an astrophysical researcher. I will then spend my career uncovering new knowledge about the universe. I am not interested in money; I only want to have enough money to live my life comfortably and do my duties as a Christian. The only thing I really have to do now is work hard.

In 2020, I began doing volunteer work for the website LibriVox. I record audio for books that are in the public domain, including works such as "The Iliad," "The Odyssey," "Paradise Lost," and "The Divine Comedy." I also sometimes volunteer to listen to the recordings of other volunteers to ensure that they are up to the website's standards. I serve during the summer, and I have logged 77 hours of service so far. I plan to do many more in college. I have a busy course schedule during the year, and I'm not able to do as much service in the year. However, I greatly enjoy doing work the website. I find it interesting to read so many of the classical works, including novels, epic poetry, and short stories that I would probably have not been exposed to through another means. My most significant takeaway from my service is the value of doing community service. I wouldn't want to work for LibriVox as a career, even if I was paid for my work. But I feel fulfilled doing my service. It is very enjoyable, as I have said, but on a deeper level, it makes me happy knowing I'm doing something good for other people and for my community. This is something that few other things can give me. I already want to devote my career to public service. I want to be an astrophysicist, and I want to increase our knowledge of the universe and how it works at some of its most fundamental levels. I'm a Christian, and I feel this is the best way I can do my service to God. It is what He equipped me for, with my skills and interests and talents. I want to be a vessel through which He can reveal the workings of His creation to humanity. I'm happy that I can already do my faithful service without waiting for the next decade or so. I am starting to feel what it's like to work for God right now. There is immense value in doing so. I can build character. Recording the audio is a great deal more complicated than it would seem. I make many mistakes, and sometimes, I have to start a sentence completely over right at the end because I stumble over a word and lose my place. I have heard blooper audio from other users, and sometimes we are barely able to say a word that otherwise would be very simple. I also have to edit all the mistakes out and I used to have to spend a solid hour just adjusting the audio because my computer is very old and not able to cope with some of the settings demanded by LibriVox. I have worked out this for the most part, but I do still have to spend a considerable amount of time changing the audio to the right volume and removing the constant background noise my computer inserts. It takes patience and dedication. I can also know I'm making some of the great works of literature available for reluctant readers, the blind, and those who are of cultures that don't read or are less inclined to read. Everybody should be able to enjoy these works. I can make it possible for them to do so. I acknowledge that I don't play a great role in doing this. Many people probably will not listen to my recordings or indeed, visit LibriVox at all. But it's nice to know that I'm still expanding opportunities for at least some people.

I have many things on my bucket list. I've only been able to fulfill a few things on my bucket list. I have gotten my first college acceptance, which is something I have been waiting for for years. I also finally completed all of my college applications, which is something else I've waited for. I decided on what career I want to pursue—astrophysics—and I have already amassed what I think is a significant amount of knowledge for someone outside the field. In terms of things I haven't been to fulfill yet, I want to go see the rest of the country. I have lived in my home town for all my life. I live in Texas and I have only been able to visit Oklahoma and Florida. I would like to see every state in the U.S. someday. I also want to go and see the rest of the world. I would particularly like to see Greece, England, France, China, and Japan. I hope to go on a study abroad trip in college. As I said, I want to be an astrophysicist. I know that many colleges allow students to conduct research with the faculty, and I want to do so in college, hopefully in my freshman year. I also want to amass as much knowledge about physics and math as I can. I plan on buying entire textbooks when I have enough knowledge and a job that pays well. I don't want to stop learning at any point in my life. I am interested in rock climbing, though I never have been able to do this. I want to go hiking in remote parts of the wilderness and see the beautiful terrain in the northern parts of the country. I would also like to see the Northern Lights.

I have always been the most self-demeaning person I know. Nobody has dragged me down over the years more than I have. I have often found it difficult for me to stand up under the weight of my own self-doubt. It has taken me down some of the darkest roads I've been down in my life. I don't remember a time I truly believed I am capable of doing something good in my life, or in the lives of other people, and I don't remember ever believing that I can fulfill my dreams. Being confident to me means trying to accept yourself for who you are and not demean yourself. It means being able to believe that you are a capable person and that if you try, you will be able to accomplish your dreams, do what you want, and work something good for somebody else. This is something I struggle with every day. I still tell myself that I'm not good enough and that I'll never amount to anything no matter how much I try. But I try to tell myself that I am not a nobody as I have always believed I am. I try to tell myself that I'm capable of so much more than I have always believed I am capable of. I try to show confidence in myself and accept myself for who I am and my faults and shortcomings and my strengths and positive traits. I work toward building a greater self-love and not deride myself as much. I understand that I will always need to criticize myself, but I can work at being less self-critical. I'm not sure how long it will take me. I am trying to undo a decade of pain and misery. But I can do it with enough effort.

I am currently taking 4 AP courses at once. I have a great deal of work to do, and this creates a stressful situation for me. I most often relax by reading. I find immense comforting power in my books. They allow me to escape from the problems I face temporarily. My books help me laugh, smile,and feel that life will be good in the end. Reading my Bible is the book that consistently calms me the most. In my darkest moments, the Bible always is able to alleviate my suffering. Being in the sun also calms me. Whenever I feel very angry or stressed, I go out for a walk. This helps me expend the excess energy I have when I am stressed and I find that it is very effective in relaxing me. I am able to think a great deal when I go out, and being able to think clearly and breathe in the fresh air calms me. Aside from reading, this is my best way to take care of my mental health. Doing mental puzzles also helps me. I most often put together a jigsaw puzzle if I calm myself this way. Recently, I have begun to do math as part of my relaxation. I have always enjoyed math and only recently have I found that it has therapeutic power for me. I recently learned how to do summations in Pre-Calculus, and I have worked on performing the operations necessary to evaluate a summation solely in my head, without writing down anything other than the summation notation symbol, the formula, and the indices. I have now gotten proficient enough at mental mathematics to solve entire equations solely in my head, and I can do it quickly.

I love to read. I read as many books as I can, and I'm not picky on what I read. There are many genres that I read much more than others, but if I am given a book, I would probably read it. I particularly like science fiction, fantasy, and religious fiction. I read nonfiction, as well, most of it related to physics. Aside from this area, I read trivia books. I have learned many very interesting things this way. I also like to write programs. I don't have the ability to do this very often, but I do know the basics of coding, and I have written a few of my own original programs. I am working on inventing a text-based game. I don't have the ability to write code that saves progress—I plan to buy many books on the subject of coding so that I can learn more about it as I don't want to write code as a career—but I have written the code for the characters and the first few levels of the game. I plan to add to my game as I am able to. I write science fiction. I have invented my own fully-realized science fiction universe that comes with its own races, languages, cultures, religions, animals, plants, fungi, methods of transportation, physics, and history. I am very creative and I have made my universe in great depth. In creating my universe, I chose not to go outside the physical laws of the universe, and instead to bend my universe into having physics as close as possible to the physics of reality. This has resulted in my having to think for long periods of time on how to do this, and I enjoy these mental puzzles and challenges.

Einstein's theories of relativity are among the most mind-blowing discoveries ever made. They seem to defy the imagination. They reveal to us some of the most fundamental physics of the universe and how it works. The theories of relativity describe how motion and mass can affect space in ways that scientists before Einstein, including Isaac Newton, one of the most well-known scientists who studied gravity that ever lived, would never have dreamed of. According to the general theory, gravity is the result of mass physically warping time and space. I personally would never have imagined this either, nor would I have imagined that the speed at which I am moving can cause me to experience space and time in ways different than someone who is standing still or is moving at a different speed than me, which is what special relativity covers. And yet, though the theories almost seem like the writings of a madman, they are greatly supported by observations in the universe. That Einstein could have come up with these theories is a testament to his immense scientific skill, and the seemingly unreal ideas put forth by the theories have greatly inspired me, in addition to the fact that the theories are incredibly interesting. I am a science fiction writer, and I have long since decided that I want to bend my world into the physical laws of the universe. I didn't want to exceed the speed of light in space travel, as other writers have. I decided that the best way to do this was to be able to physically contract space, but I had no idea how to do this until I read about general and special relativity. The theories inspired me to invent a way around the physical limits of the universe.

Many people are afraid of the future. They are afraid of what they can't predict and do not understand. The future is the unknown, a frontier of life, and it can be difficult to venture into the unknown for many people. Like venturing into the uncharted waters or the vast land nobody has ever penetrated before, the future stands a mysterious force on the horizon. People may say they can't wait for many things, but the future probably isn't one of them. It isn't for me. I don't fear the future, or what it holds for me. I don't think I ever have. I know that my future is indeterminate and I couldn't predict it to save my life, but to me, the unknown is the next great adventure. My future is my greatest adventure, and I can't wait for it to get here. I live with bravery and live boldly by putting my foot forward in helping my future to get here. I want to go to college and eventually become an astrophysicist. I'm doing all I can to get to that point, and I will continue to do so until I have finally fought my fight, run my race, and realized my dreams. I face the future with a smile on my face each time I get up in the morning. I do feel nervous about my future. But I'm never filled with fear at it. It makes sense to be nervous, but to me, it doesn't make sense to generate fear by placing too much emphasis on the future. I try to keep things in the here and now. Obviously, planning for the future is important for me, but I can't live in that place. I have to live today. And that means not being afraid.

I want deeply to be an astrophysicist. I can't see myself in any other career, and I believe astrophysics is the only career that I can ever feel fulfilled in. I don't want to go into any other field because I know that astrophysics is the only one that will make me happy. I want to go to college and eventually obtain a PhD. This is something I've wanted to do for years. I think the title of "Doctor" suits me very well. But aside from personal opinion, I want to devote my career to science. In my career, I hope to eventually make many discoveries. I used to want to make an important discovery, but I never have been one to want people to see me; I would rather happily work in obscurity, and making a major discovery might violate that. I still want to make discoveries, but I would rather not be known for them. Additionally, I plan to use my career to find out as much about my field as I can. I'm much more inclined to read scientific journals than I am to play video games, so I will read as many papers as I can to find out about new advancements. I see this as an opportunity to build our knowledge about astrophysics even further. I may recognize mistakes in the work of others, or I may see ways their research can be improved. In any case, all I know is that science is the job for me.

While it is certainly possible to have a good career and life without a college education, jobs today are increasingly dependent on students going to college. They require a higher education. However, many people don't have access to education. There can be several reasons for this. Some students come from families that don't have the financial means. Some students may not even apply because they don't feel qualified. Others may go to college but find they don't have enough time due to family issues or work issues. Regardless of why a student can't attend college, they should be able to get a college education because such an education is increasing in demand. It is hard to get a decent, well-paying job without a college degree of some sort, be it an associate's degree, a bachelor's degree, or even a doctorate. Therefore, we should stand against educational inequity to ensure that all high school students have access to the same educational opportunities as any other high school student. We need to live up to our ideal of equality of opportunity for our students. If we don't, they may suffer as a result, and their children are more likely to suffer if their parents don't have the education necessary to help their children get an education. The cycle perpetuates. If we believe in equality of opportunity, that is final. We fight educational inequity to ensure a good life for students and for future generations.

I am a high school senior. I enjoy reading, writing, science fiction, fantasy, listening to music, and walking. I have a very highly-powered imagination. I have invented my own fully-realized science fiction universe filled with its own plants, animals, fungi, physics, races, cultures, languages, methods of transportation, and even diseases and psychological disorders. I feel a deep need to make my world as close to the real world as possible. I shunned working with unrealistic technologies and anatomies for the challenge of stretching my extraordinary world into an ordinary plane. My interest in the physics and science fiction of my world is not a coincidence. I have always been very captivated by space and by physics, and I even decorated my room to be space-themed when I was a small child. I want to be an astrophysicist so that I can learn about that final frontier that has held my imagination for nearly 20 years. I think this is the only career that will make me fulfilled in life. I can barely imagine myself in another field. Astrophysics is incredibly fascinating and filled with concepts that seem as if they belong only in the mind of an eccentric science fiction writer. And yet, these objects and phenomena are completely real and scientifically proven to exist. I am planning on avoiding college debt primarily by relying on need-based aid. My family cannot—and to my knowledge, has never been able to—afford college. We are more than $100,000 in debt and we don't have a great income to start with. I know that highly selective colleges offer excellent need-based aid that can cover most of the cost in grants rather than merit-based scholarships and loans. If, for instance, I went to Rice University, I would be able to do work-study to cover what little of my costs wouldn't be covered by grant money. Even less-selective colleges can offer great need-based aid. Several colleges in Texas, my home state, offer programs that waive tuition costs, so I don't have to contribute scholarship money to that area of college expenses. I know, however, that I probably won't be able to get into a highly selective school like Rice. I am applying for merit-based scholarships from my colleges, as well. In this way, I will be able to afford more of the costs of going to school. Many of these scholarships are worth a significant amount of money that can be used to drastically reduce whatever is left after grants are taken out. I am applying to as many outside scholarships as I can find for the possibility of reducing my debt. Most of the scholarships of this variety that I have found are worth very little, especially when compared to the overall cost of college. But every little penny that I can make is one less penny in debt that I might have to incur to go to college. I am unwilling to not go to college, so applying to as many scholarships as I possibly can is the only option for me. I hope to use all of these options to get as much scholarship money as I can. I don't want to incur student debt, especially because I know jobs are hard to come by in the world, and because I'm going to go to graduate school, which will involve sums of money much greater than my undergraduate degree will. I have seen my mother incur nearly $75,000 in student loan debt, so I know I want to avoid her situation. Scholarships are the primary way that I can avoid that situation.

One of the most stressful situations of my life was the day I took the SAT. Many colleges place test scores in high priority for their admissions decisions. I knew that getting a good SAT score could mean the difference between getting into a good college and not getting into a good college. I want to be an astrophysicist, and I know I need to go to college to get that degree. I want to go to the college with the best possible degree in my chosen field. On test day, I didn't wake up feeling very nervous. It was only when I sat down in the testing center that I wished I could visit the future so I could skip the grueling experience of taking what I perceived as the most important test in my life. I couldn't wait for it to be over. I knew I was going to worry over my score for the whole of the month it would take me to get it, but it was as if a month of waiting was worse than the 4 hours or so it took for the test to come to completion. Taking the test was the easy part. I was able to actually answer all of the questions in the test (a marked improvement over my PSAT performance, in which I failed to even bubble in at least nine answers) even though they were all extremely difficult. Getting up after the test was the hard part. I was so stiff and sore that I nearly truly couldn't feel my legs under me. I did finally get the score I waited years for, 1370. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, but I did realize it was enough to get me into a good college.

When I was in middle school, I never thought that I was capable of making good grades. I have learned that mindset is in many ways more critical to academic success than skill is. I have, for example, always been very good at math, but I never knew this until I stopped telling myself I was bad at it. Before that, I really was terrible at math, and could never understand some of the simplest concepts. Since I never thought I was capable of making good grades, I didn't. I didn't make failing grades, but I wasn't quite a star student, either. I was hardly capable of making a B in some classes. Had I gone on with having the wrong mindset, I would be in a terrible position right now. Around seventh grade, I decided to stop telling myself I was bad at school and instead tell myself that I was capable of making good grades. I decided to apply myself with everything I had to making good grades. My efforts have ultimately paid off. I came from a struggling student to a student that makes straight (high) A's. I have even made a 97 in a class (AP U.S. History) that my teacher told me to expect a B in. Having the right mindset enabled me to make this very good score, and even to obtain a 5 on the AP exam for AP U. S. History. I would never have made this score and would never even have taken the class five years ago. My turnaround story was to try to see myself for who I really was behind all the negativity I expressed. Doing so enabled me to become a model student with excellent grades where once I could barely make a B in some classes.

In my opinion, astronomy is the most interesting scientific field there is. There are so many fascinating and mind-blowing things in the universe. Black holes, neutron stars, dark matter, dark energy, and other phenomena seem to defy imagination. I think the best thing about astronomy is that it is filled with so many unanswered questions. Even after thousands of years, there are still things in the universe that humans know very little about. And there are so many things waiting to be discovered. This is a comfort to me. It's nice to know that there are still things waiting to be discovered, that there is new knowledge to be gained. Life would be incredibly boring if there was nothing new to be discovered. I have always not only wanted to learn knowledge, but also to make it. I want to be a scientist and specifically an astrophysicist, because astronomy and astrophysics is so extremely interesting to me. I want a degree in astronomy so I can pursue graduate work in astrophysics and ultimately obtain a PhD to become the scientist I've always wanted to be. An astronomy degree will also provide me with a solid background in physics and mathematics, so I will be able to fully understand more of the phenomena in the universe. I wouldn’t be able to fully understand stars if I couldn’t also understand the nature of the electromagnetic radiation they emit, for example. I will have all the necessary knowledge to pursue my dreams. I want to absorb as much knowledge about physics as I possibly can. Long after I've gotten my PhD, I will still be reading about the other fields and learning more each day.

I am extremely passionate about physics. Nothing in the natural world, in my opinion, can be found that is as interesting as this branch of knowledge. Physics allows scientists to describe what the universe is at its most fundamental level. It enables us to understand the deepest structure of the universe. For instance, Einstein's theories of relativity taught us how gravity works, and quantum physics teaches us about what goes on in the realm of the unimaginably small. All fields of science are essentially dependent on physics. Chemistry often depends on bonding between atoms based on electrical charge, which physics can explain, for example. Additionally, plants must use physics to carry water upward against the force of gravity, and the human body has to develop a way to conduct materials against this same force, as well. We rely on physics in our everyday lives. Our phones rely on out knowledge of electrical charges and how they work in order for the phone to function. Our cars rely on knowledge of combustion for power. Planes couldn't fly if we didn't know how to generate lift. I could cite numerous other examples of why physics is so critically important. But not only is physics extremely important in life, it is also filled with spectacular phenomena. Black holes, for instance, are among the strangest objects known to exist in the universe. They seem like something out of the mind of an eccentric science fiction writer, but they are completely real. Physics can make reality seem much stranger than fiction ever can. This field is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to contribute my own knowledge to it one day. I feel very happy when I read about the latest advancements.

Galileo Galilei was one of the greatest astronomers of all time. He helped the world move away from the idea that Earth is the center of the universe and that it is stationary, discovered several moons of Jupiter, improved the science of motion (the story he is best known for is of dropping two objects from a tower to prove that bodies fall at the same rate), and helped to pioneer the scientific method (Van Helden). Galileo lived in a time when scientific advancement was shunned by the authorities. The Catholic Church of Galileo's time rejected the idea that Earth is not the center of the universe (Van Helden). I am not opposed to the Catholic Church—or any religion—but I also support scientific progress. Galileo sought to advance the cause of learning about the universe even in the face of overt and intense hostility. I admire his courage and his dedication to his work. I think that if people today were dedicated in the way that Galileo was dedicated, the world would be better. I want to be like Galileo. I want to make scientific progress so that we can know more about the universe. I want to dedicate my life to advancing scientific knowledge as Galileo did. He gives me courage to stand up in the face of hostility, and he inspires me to make something great of my life. His lessons aren't restricted to science as some might say they are, and he echoes down through the centuries, still being relatable today. I have included a citation of my source. Helden, A. Van (Invalid Date). Galileo. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Galileo-Galilei

I want to be an astrophysicist. I have been interested in science since I was a small child, and I want to dedicate my career to to it. I find astrophysics extremely interesting. There are so many fascinating phenomena in the universe, from black holes to supernovae to neutron stars. I want to spend my life studying these objects and their mind-blowing properties. I think this is the only career path that would make me feel truly fulfilled. I feel very happy when I read about this area of study, and I want to add to the knowledge that we already have about the universe. I can't wait for college because when I go to college I will be one step closer to seeing this dream come to fruition. I have never been one to want to have my name well-known. I am happy working in obscurity, when nobody other than those close to me know how who I am. I don't want to be famous for any reason. But I do want to have an impact on the world. I think that being an astrophysicist is the way that I can make an impact. I can make discoveries about the universe that will increase our knowledge about its wonders. I may not be curing cancer, but we would never know about how stars work, or space weather, or solar flares without astronomy and astrophysics. We wouldn't be able to understand how to send astronauts to space without knowledge of how space works. For example, we have to equip our space stations with the necessary equipment to withstand the sun's radiation. I think I can make an impact on the world in this way. Astrophysics is how I plan to leave my mark on the world.

I do volunteer work for the website LibriVox. I record audio for books in the public domain. This serves several purposes. I can record audio for the blind so that they can enjoy at least some books for free, as the website is free to use and open to all. I can also provide audio for those who would like to listen to such works as "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" for free. This allows them to always have access to works that can be found online. Those who are reluctant to read may find the stories in LibriVox's recordings very interesting and want to experience them, and LibriVox has thousands of recordings for them to treasure and enjoy. I am helping people to experience some of literature's greatest works for free and in a format accessible to those who cannot read the words on a paper. I find the service greatly enjoyable.

I want to be an astrophysicist. Being a scientist has been my highest dream for years. I come from modest means. My family has never had a great deal of money, and we also have a great deal of debt. I know that going to college to get a PhD so I can be an astrophysicist will be bitterly difficult, but it is something I am willing to work extensively for. I want to make many discoveries in my life. I don't necessarily want to make major discoveries that have my name listed in the history books of science, even though that would be nice and I would enjoy making a major discovery about the universe—I don't want to be famous or revered, and I would rather hide in the background than stand in the spotlight, even if I deserve to stand there in that light. I am perfectly happy to do my research in obscurity, making discoveries that advance our knowledge of the natural world. I'm also a writer. I already have at least 20 ideas for books that I will one day write, and I am willing to take on the immense challenge of writing them all. I am very creative and part of my dream life is finally releasing the creativity that I have kept bottled up in me for years. Again, I don't want to be famous, but I do want to expend as much of my creative energy as possible, and then always come back again with a refill. I will eventually develop my writing into my own art.

I would say that Douglas Adams's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is the most inspiring book I've read. I'm a science fiction writer, and I'm constantly looking for new material to inspire me to make more things. One of the great problem's I've encountered is trying to find a faster-than-light propulsion system that doesn't violate the physical laws of the universe. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" describes a ship powered by unlikeliness, and while this is completely ridiculous, it has inspired me to work outside of some of the more common science fiction tropes regarding faster-than-light travel. The book also includes heavy doses of insight regarding humanity and its place in the universe. The book points out that while humanity considers itself very advanced, we have nothing to weigh this conclusion against. The book and its sequels are admittedly very pessimistic (even though they are extremely funny), but in their pessimism they make me realize how far humanity still has to go in solving our problems and making more progress. The book has actually increased my desire to be a scientist so that I can solve some of the problems humanity is currently encountering in understanding the natural world. I want to be an astrophysicist so that I can advance humanity's knowledge of space and the things contained within it. It also makes me want to speak out regarding other problems. For instance, the age of information that we live in has brought in a great deal of misinformation, and if we are ever going to learn more, we must be able to weed out bad information. I think I might be able to promote a constant search for good information and to never settle for low-quality information, for example.

My favorite book is "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. I've only read it once, but it's become my favorite. I am writing an analytical essay on this book for my AP English Literature and Composition class. I love very much to analyze books, and this book is rife with complexities, themes, symbols, and all manner of literary devices. I could work on it for weeks and still extract new meaning quite frequently. It's a gold mine for an analytical reader. I can't help but notice the deep themes evoked in this book and think about it for hours, pacing my room or house or street, sometimes muttering aloud to myself about the book. "Frankenstein" is extremely meaty in terms of meaning. Mary Shelley expertly brings to life her characters. A reader can easily sympathize with the monster from his journey to an innocent, childlike being filled with the desire to do good to a bitter, rejected monster. I feel very strongly about the characters in the book, especially the monster and his creator. One really feels that the characters are realistic and their stories are very easy to visualize. The plot is also very engaging. I hardly ever wanted to put the book down when I read it, and I absorbed so much information that I was able to write a very detailed plot summary entirely from memory. I rarely react this way to a book. I love to read but I am often not stirred deep within me by most the books I read. For me to find it difficult to put down a book at all requires the book to be extremely good, and I virtually never pace for hours thinking about the book. It's my favorite because it provokes very deep reactions in me.