My faith story started out very straightforward, but always felt very complex to me. I was always taught that I should love Jesus, and that I should believe in a God, but I was never taught how. I grew up going to a church that valued knowledge over relationship, so while I was taught a lot about the Bible, I didn't know it was even possible to have a relationship with Jesus on a personal level. This past summer, however everything changed for me. When I started middle school, my family switched churches. At this church, I was taught the value of Godly relationships here on earth. I found friends that valued the same things I did, and showed me how I should be living as a Christian teenager. This past summer, I attended a summer camp for high schoolers. It was until this moment that I realized Jesus wanted an actual relationship with me, not just the transactional faith I had been living in until that point. I began to be able to give everything in my life to Him, instead of just giving Him what I wanted to. This decision is ultimately what helped me decide on my career path and college choice. I knew I wanted to go to a small college. My mom had attended one when she went to college, and she loved the atmosphere, so it has always been my goal to attend a private university. I hadn't originally wanted to go to a Christian college though. I was never completely opposed to it, but it wasn't exactly my dream, either. As usual, though, my plans changed. My youth pastor's wife heard I was touring a college close to the one she had attended, and recommended us to take a look. I went, and I loved it. The atmosphere, campus size, dorms, everything was exactly how I had always envisioned college for myself. It was a Christian college, though. After lots of prayer and thought, I decided that was where I was being called, and, while I still have not put in a deposit as of writing this, I know that is where I will be attending school in the fall. As for my career goals, I have always loved honoring God through science. Most people have this belief that God and science cannot coexist, but this is completely unbiblical. The more I learn about science, the more I believe in God. Everything in our lives has such a complex background that there is no way there is no Creator behind it. I plan to major in biochemistry, and go on to a pharmacy school after I complete that. I believe God has called me to work with children, and I have felt like this since I was very young, so I will, with any luck, be combining my passion for children and science into working as a pediatric hospital pharmacist. I look forward to this career, because it allows me to do what I love while following God's plan for my life. Even though my relationship with Jesus started out a little rocky, now that I have started giving everything in my life to Him, I feel so much more free. He showed me a direction to go, a path to follow where He is leading me the whole way. I feel so much more free now that I have a plan, and personally know the God who will be leading me through every step.

Leadership and science are both forces that impact individuals, families, and communities. Personally, science has always been my passion, while I use leadership to guide and assist others. I also find it very important to teach others while in a leadership position, and lead by example. I have always known that I want to do something with science in my future. I have a special place for biology and chemistry, and am looking to combine the two with a major in biochemistry. I love getting to see how and why a body does what it does, and learning how to fix problems. My ultimate goal is to be a pharmacist. I want to be able to use what I know and learn to help people get better. I also have a special place for leadership within me. Being a quiet kid growing up, I never thought leadership was for me. I was perfectly content with sitting back and letting others take control. That was until my sophomore year of high school. The end of that year, I was pushed to become a section leader for my marching band. Reluctantly, I took the paper, filled it out, and somehow was given the position. I learned so much that upcoming year about myself and leadership. I discovered the importance of both teaching and leading by example. To be a good leader, you must be comfortable with stepping up and teaching others how to do something or act, but you also have to comfortable with stepping back, and showing others through your behaviors. Overall, science and leadership, for me, have always been separate spaces, they both have the ability to impact others in profound ways. Science tends to have more physical impacts, leadership tends to have more emotional or moral impact. People can learn a lot from having experience with both, though, and I think that is why it is so important to have both, because having good examples of both can shape the future of not just a single person, but of the whole world.