I was mostly closeted throughout highschool, since my mother teaches there, so only my best friends knew I was agender before graduation. I am not closeted at Maine Maritime, though the overall climate is far less accepting than my high school. I chose to introduce myself properly on the first day of classes, and now can include my pronouns in email signatures. As soon as I got my first pronoun pin, it went on the lapel of my coat, and there it stayed. It was hidden on the back side of the lapel for secrecy over the summer, while the coat stayed, like me, in the closet. When it’s cold enough in Castine (most of the year), I wear the aforementioned coat with its pin proudly displayed. Despite its bold black text on a white background, edged in purple in front of a black background, it still gets ignored, by both classmates and teachers. A small number try to remember, and it is appreciated. However, since MMA is a maritime academy with a majority-regimental population, underclassmen must greet all others with ‘Sir, (formal greeting), Sir!’, or ‘Ma’am, (formal greeting), Ma’am!’ based on gender presentation. I get misgendered every single time, which is not the fault of the students, but it still smarts. A more pressing problem is the bathroom situation at MMA - it can politely be described as patchy. In the nearly 50 years since women were first admitted, the quantity and quality of restrooms assigned male versus assigned female has not equalized. Many floors lack women’s bathrooms. Multiple buildings have no single-stall restrooms, and at least one still has them separated as binary, not labeled neutral or unisex. Unless I am at the waterfront or in Dismukes Hall, a bathroom break between classes is dysphoric at best and involves a lot of stairs to get to the nearest non-men’s bathroom. These challenges are manageable, and so I plan to stay here until graduation. I aim to keep mostly A’s and juggle Marine Biology and Small Vessel Operations (SVO) classwork with extracurriculars well enough to declare three minors - Oceanography, Sustainability, and Auxiliary Sail. I also plan to continue what I have started of my advocacy work, in the forms of resurrecting and leading the Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA), and through the Student Government Association (SGA). Since SAGA is so young, I mostly use my position in SGA to advocate for myself and other queer and trans students. However, the creation of a safe space is taking shape, as are advocacy and awareness projects. We have already contributed to the revival of networks between college and university GSAs, and plan to continue outreach. In my future career, I would like to study marine flora and fauna - maybe eels, seaweeds, or another understudied cold-water group - from the deck of a research vessel. To get there I might spend time as a deckhand. My dream would be to be the Captain of my own research vessel, following whatever research project I was currently working on. No matter the stage, I aim to be the pathmaker and role model that I don’t currently see in either of my degree fields, marine research or marine transportation. Once I have my degrees and license (the SVO program culminates in the license exam for a 200-ton Near-Shore USCG Third Mate’s License), I will use them to make a difference. In time when my career is established, I plan to pay it forward through a scholarship fund of my own to support LGBTQIA+ students in STEM and the Maritime industries.

Picture waves forming and crashing under the bow of a research vessel, while scientists search for any sign of previously tagged silver eels in the deep and clear waters of the Sargasso Sea. They could be recording data from the last days of the eel life cycle, or hoping to spot any groupings of eel leptocephali, maybe even collecting them with a drone, studying them onboard for a short time, then releasing them back into the waters. This is one of my research dreams. Others involve working with Maine’s fisheries to develop sustainable management and harvest practices. I am studying Marine Biology, and aim to use that degree to contribute to scientific knowledge, protect life in the oceans, and preserve those habitats and ecosystems for future generations. Additionally, I am studying Small Vessel Operations, an associate degree program that culminates in taking a Coast Guard license exam. With this license, I aim to support others in their ocean-related scientific endeavors, and support myself financially and eventually in my own research. A more immediate way I support others is through my leadership in MMA’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance - the previous iteration of the club had died out at the beginning of quarantine, so before I arrived at the beginning of my freshman year, I started working with the Assistant Director of Student Activities to resurrect the club. I am now the president of SAGA. Not only that, but I am a member of the group I serve through that position, because I am aromantic, asexual, and agender, and therefore queer, nonbinary, and transgender. I also serve my school community by representing the student body in the Student Government Association. Recently we had a major issue come our way, and organized as much of the student body as possible to make a difference in our shared situation. MMA plans to restructure tuition to bill based on credit hours instead of a flat rate, with additional fees for each credit outside of the standard range. This was supposed to start next semester, but SGA organized a meeting between the student body and administrators. Our meeting was partially successful, and led to the delay of this implementation, and its reevaluation, as it so unfairly impacted students in certain majors. One year’s delay is a significant difference, and it was made possible by my group’s action. Once the restructured tuition is eventually implemented, I will have trouble paying for my planned minors and concentration, as they are fairly credit-heavy. The additions I plan to integrate into my course load are two minors, environmental sustainability and oceanography, and an auxiliary sail concentration, aiming for an auxiliary sail endorsement added to my license. These minors would allow me to conduct science with an increased focus on preservation, conservation, and whole-ecosystem health, and auxiliary sail endorsement would allow me to lessen my impact while conducting research since it would allow my vessel to function without a turning propeller or a carbon- and noise-emitting engine. This scholarship would mean that I would be able to study environmental sustainability, oceanography, and auxiliary sail, and not worry about affording my current majors. It would allow me to continue to study the ocean from under the elms and by the sea, here at Maine Maritime Academy.

I hope to be safely out to all of my immediate family, leading research on oceanic lifeforms from a vessel owned and captained by me, and somehow still able to come home to my partner every night - three things that I'm working toward, little by little, however I can.

The Silent Majority, by Paul McKenna Band, has an extremely important and frighteningly relevant message. This song shows a recurring historical theme of large-scale atrocities, many often overlooked, and the apathy that allowed them. One line that stands out to me in particular is the following: “And tyrannical purveyors of injustice Make the law then claim the law is on their side” Fear keeps people silent, so hate spreads. People promoting harmful messages are allowed to rise to power, even to high levels of government, where their words can reach and convince a far wider audience. It is still very relevant, with hateful and harmful people allowed to stay in power, and oppressive laws voted into effect by people who do not truly represent the populace. In some areas, that ability to vote is functionally restricted to the demographics already in power, reinforcing cycles of oppression and pathologization. Minorities are silenced and the majority is silent, so only the vocal few in power are heard.

Diversity in the workplace is important to me for multiple reasons. It brings a mixture of perspectives, and allows minority individuals to have a role model with whom they share identities. In addition, it allows people to correct previously-held biases and stereotypes. Up until July 26th, 2022, I was the only AFAB person in my workplace, even counting all known non-administrative branches within a 60 minute radius. There is now one other, who is the only non-white employee. This coworker, myself, and one other teenager make up the only three employees that I know of in the surrounding area under the age of thirty, which proved useful when we managed to solve a problem that had been left unsolved for years. I am still the only known nonbinary fishlift technician in my area. I knew that this would be the reality in a STEM field in a rural state, but the reality of being the only one in multiple ways was slightly shocking. I hadn’t expected to be able to work in my intended field until after starting college, and so had not had time to properly prepare myself for the near uniformity of my coworkers. When I started, every single one was male, with a wife or girlfriend. As far as I know, I am the only member of the LGBTQ+ community present, and likely the only one with three separate aspects of their identity as part of the community. Since there are now people with minority identities working in my workplace, more diversity will hopefully be encouraged. Based on the apparent generational demographic shift, there has been progress even in the fisheries of Maine. Working in a fishlift is not my ultimate plan for my career, but it is related to the path I want to take, and has already provided skills that I will later need. I want to study oceanic life, including non-animal life. To this end, I am going to Maine Maritime Academy to study Marine Biology and Small Vessel Operations. With this dual degree, I should be employable upon graduation, and able to pursue a career in field research. In one of my future projects, I hope to study social behavior of animals to find out if there are seemingly aromantic and/or asexual creatures in species other than humans and sheep. This is partially because I’m tired of hearing that it’s unnatural for a sexually-reproducing organism to not be attracted to any other members of their own species. I want to contribute to scientific knowledge, and to prove people wrong. To prove that I, and the thousands of others like me, are not broken or unnatural, and that we are not broken. We can be functional parts of society, because very little should revolve around sexual or romantic attraction, or around gender. Even though I know of only one or two others like me in my chosen field, and have never seen or interacted with them, I know there are ways that I can make spaces that are more welcoming for those like us. I can help AFAB, female-presenting, and LGBTQIA+ individuals find someone to identify with. There is strength in numbers, and I can be part of that force. I will advocate for minority groups, both ones that I am and am not a part of. I am determined to not let a lack of diversity stop me or anyone else from doing what they love. I will not give up. It’s just not in my nature.

I have only had one dog in my life, but I have met and loved many dogs, of many different breeds. Each dog has a distinct personality, but most just want the simple gifts of scratches or snacks. My pup likes to sit in people’s laps, especially when they’re doing homework, or whenever else he deems to be cuddle time, regardless of what anyone else may be doing. He’s a rescue, and so we expected to have to train him, and we did, to some extent. In return, he trained us to feed him some of our food (we’re careful to only give him food that is safe for dogs, and he has his own dog food) every single time we have food out, even if it’s a very small snack. This has been effective enough that even when he’s not there, I still think about saving food out for him, and have to block the force of habit. My dog is a good boy, and loves cheese and eggs, especially combined. Like most canines, my dog spends even more of the day asleep than usual when it’s raining (or cloudy) outside, asks for walks regularly, and likes to play. He reminds us that those three things are important: sleep, exercise, and breaks from school and work. They’re simple, but I tend to forget or overlook them in favor of trying to get the next thing done, sometimes staying up well past midnight working on homework, and often not going for walks for weeks at a time. I rarely take breaks, which isn’t healthy. My dog helps me to remember to do so. He lives by what’s actually important, and is able to because everything else is taken care of for him. It would be nice if I could, too. Dogs can be very helpful in stress relief, remaining calm, and comforting. Mine excels at comforting, and when I’m extremely stressed, which is not uncommon, having my dog sit in my lap and being able to pet him helps me calm down enough to deal with some of what’s causing my stress. He likes to lick peoples’ faces, which sometimes (read: almost every time) is very stinky, but the gesture is appreciated, as long as there’s a sink sufficiently close by. He doesn’t understand everything that’s going on, especially in terms of studying for exams and stress caused by schoolwork, but he does his best, and that matters. I want to mimic that quality, and do my best to help anyone who needs help, even if I don’t completely understand the cause of their distress. Dogs don’t understand everything, but they’re still awesome as they are, and help in ways they probably can’t imagine. I’m very thankful for mine, and for all the others I have met.

I have only had one dog in my life, but I have met and loved many dogs, of many different breeds. Each dog has a distinct personality, but most just want the simple gifts of scratches or snacks. My pup likes to sit in people’s laps, especially when they’re doing homework, or whenever else he deems to be cuddle time, regardless of what anyone else may be doing. He’s a rescue, and so we expected to have to train him, and we did, to some extent. In return, he trained us to feed him some of our food (we’re careful to only give him food that is safe for dogs, and he has his own dog food) every single time we have food out, even if it’s a very small snack. This has been effective enough that even when he’s not there, I still think about saving food out for him, and have to block the force of habit. My dog is a good boy, and loves cheese and eggs, especially combined. Like most canines, my dog spends even more of the day asleep than usual when it’s raining (or cloudy) outside, asks for walks regularly, and likes to play. He reminds us that those three things are important: sleep, exercise, and breaks from school and work. They’re simple, but I tend to forget or overlook them in favor of trying to get the next thing done, sometimes staying up well past midnight working on homework, and often not going for walks for weeks at a time. I rarely take breaks, which isn’t healthy. My dog helps me to remember to do so. He lives by what’s actually important, and is able to because everything else is taken care of for him. It would be nice if I could, too. Dogs can be very helpful in stress relief, remaining calm, and comforting. Mine excels at comforting, and when I’m extremely stressed, which is not uncommon, having my dog sit in my lap and being able to pet him helps me calm down enough to deal with some of what’s causing my stress. He likes to lick peoples’ faces, which sometimes (read: almost every time) is very stinky, but the gesture is appreciated, as long as there’s a sink sufficiently close by. He doesn’t understand everything that’s going on, especially in terms of studying for exams and stress caused by schoolwork, but he does his best, and that matters. I want to mimic that quality, and do my best to help anyone who needs help, even if I don’t completely understand the cause of their distress. Dogs don’t understand everything, but they’re still awesome as they are, and help in ways they probably can’t imagine. I’m very thankful for mine, and for all the others I have met.

I have only had one dog in my life, but I have met and loved many dogs, of many different breeds. Each dog has a distinct personality, but most just want the simple gifts of scratches or snacks. My pup likes to sit in people’s laps, especially when they’re doing homework, or whenever else he deems to be cuddle time, regardless of what anyone else may be doing. He’s a rescue, and so we expected to have to train him, and we did, to some extent. In return, he trained us to feed him some of our food (we’re careful to only give him food that is safe for dogs, and he has his own dog food) every single time we have food out, even if it’s a very small snack. This has been effective enough that even when he’s not there, I still think about saving food out for him, and have to block the force of habit. My dog is a good boy, and loves cheese and eggs, especially combined. Like most canines, my dog spends even more of the day asleep than usual when it’s raining (or cloudy) outside, asks for walks regularly, and likes to play. He reminds us that those three things are important: sleep, exercise, and breaks from school and work. They’re simple, but I tend to forget or overlook them in favor of trying to get the next thing done, sometimes staying up well past midnight working on homework, and often not going for walks for weeks at a time. I rarely take breaks, which isn’t healthy. My dog helps me to remember to do so. He lives by what’s actually important, and is able to because everything else is taken care of for him. It would be nice if I could, too. Dogs can be very helpful in stress relief, remaining calm, and comforting. Mine excels at comforting, and when I’m extremely stressed, which is not uncommon, having my dog sit in my lap and being able to pet him helps me calm down enough to deal with some of what’s causing my stress. He likes to lick peoples’ faces, which sometimes (read: almost every time) is very stinky, but the gesture is appreciated, as long as there’s a sink sufficiently close by. He doesn’t understand everything that’s going on, especially in terms of studying for exams and stress caused by schoolwork, but he does his best, and that matters. I want to mimic that quality, and do my best to help anyone who needs help, even if I don’t completely understand the cause of their distress. Dogs don’t understand everything, but they’re still awesome as they are, and help in ways they probably can’t imagine. I’m very thankful for mine, and for all the others I have met.

My experience with mental health deals mainly with anxiety. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at age 13, and sent to therapy soon after. This was prompted by a series of attacks, the first bad enough to leave me drifting in and out of waking consciousness for the next nearly six hours, and the ones in the months following were bad enough to completely take me out of the cross country season. My family has a history of it, but I’m the first I know of to have received help. One relative can barely leave her house, as the coping mechanism she developed was complete avoidance of potential triggers, and another knows what he likely has, and has sought treatment for the symptoms, but refuses help treating the cause. There are more of us that I have heard of, enough so that it’s referred to in the older generations of the family as a “weak stomach.” It is not talked about often enough for sufficient information to be known. It should be talked about much more frequently. Mental health is important, and involves actual disorders that can severely impact daily life, not stuff to brush off as ‘all in one’s head’. Mental illness can be debilitating. Support needs to be provided, and done so with both professionals, and the relationships around a person- friends are an important support system to help. All of my closest friends have one or more mental illnesses, and therefore have a better idea of what to do when something is wrong. We (mostly) understand how to talk about our respective illnesses, and we understand more of how to help. We also understand the severity of what’s ‘all in our heads’, and know not to brush it off as not a real issue, or as something to just ignore and push through. It is important to be able to understand, and at the very least accommodate and acknowledge. Mental illness makes things difficult. It makes situations in which mentally healthy people would have no trouble become situations that can very quickly cause extreme distress for an individual, and derail plans for most, if not all, of the near future. Repeated derailment of plans, without accommodation, can cause loss of friends, one to fall behind in school, loss of jobs, and much more. There are some things an individual can do to help themselves, like planning ahead, and having backup plans, but a lot depends on the ability to leave a situation before things escalate, and to avoid potential triggers. Personally, in my planned career, I don’t know if I will be able to effectively take a step away from situations, as much of my time will hopefully be spent on a singular boat for hours to days at a time. Of course, on a research vessel, routes, experiments, and all other activities should be laid out in a plan before leaving shore, but complications can arise. Storms can come quickly at sea, equipment can break, or sometimes worse, malfunction. I can’t prepare for every possibility, but I will try. I have learned some coping mechanisms, some developed while in therapy, and I try to learn more when I can. I can only hope they will be enough. Most involve planning based on known information, or running simulations of hypothetical scenarios in order to find appropriate actions in similar future situations. I am a slow processor, meaning that what’s happening around me isn’t fully processed until at least a few minutes later, so I rely fairly heavily on these simulations, my preset patterns of expected action and reaction. When events differ from these expected patterns, problems arise. I am forced to rely on half-formed thoughts, surface impressions of the changing world around me, and react to hints of stimuli, making hurried and harried guesses on reasonable courses of action. This means that it is not a rare occurrence for me to miss the actual meaning of phrases in fast conversations involving multiple people. Quieter and smaller gatherings are preferred, where there are fewer stimuli to keep track of and predict, and responses will be waited for.

Because of the lack of diversity in many areas of Maine, I have not had much opportunity to support equality or diversity for racial and religious minorities, besides supporting the few people I know on a personal level, and respecting them as best I can. I don’t know how to help on a larger scale, or where I can make a difference, but I want to learn to do so. In terms of gender and romantic and sexual orientation minorities, I have worked to educate about the existence of people with non-cis and non-heterosexual/heteroromantic identities, and the specific issues that face many of these identities, especially in schools. I am working in my school’s Gender-Sexuality Alliance to make a presentation addressing outing, pronouns and their usage, personal bias, and sensitivity. It was originally intended to be presented to teachers, but now will be hosted by the town library. These issues are problems, and need to be addressed, so LGBTQIA+ students can safely and comfortably go to school and exist, just like any other student. In the future, I will support equality and diversity in my college and workplaces both through projects such as this, and by existing as the very queer individual that I am. As someone who still presents as female, I know the issues that women face on a daily basis, especially in terms of systematic barriers. Because of this familiarity, I can address these issues effectively, and because of my gender presentation, I can provide a similar face for women to identify with, to see and know that they too can accomplish their goals. I will not allow my existence to be erased, and so can make a safe place, and be the representation for others. I am not, and will not be, broken.

If I had $1,000 and had to do something with all of it before much time passed, I would split it into many different causes. I would donate to LGBTQ+ rights organizations, to environmental and climate action groups, as well as conservation groups, and national and state parks. I would donate a portion to my school's arts and science departments, set up as a small endowment. I would also start a fund for the repair and upgrade of the town theater, which recently closed because the town can’t afford to bring it up to code, and add to an endowment for the town library. I would also invest some of this thousand dollars in my own education, if that was allowed. Obtaining higher education, after all, is my most immediate large goal. If further investment in myself was allowed, and there was money left, I would also set some aside in a bank account for future expenses, like a car and rent, once I graduate. If I had $1,000, I would support the causes I care about. Those include many that directly affect me, and some that do not. I would do what I could to use that thousand dollars to make the world a better place. Compared to the need that exists, 1000 isn’t a large number, but it can help. Any amount can help, and I intend to do what I can to help those around me.

During my lifetime, I plan to make a difference to the world. I will have to meet many small goals to accomplish this. My senior project includes obtaining a drone pilot’s license and documenting a local pond, gaining legal status and experience I plan to use to document oceanic lifeforms in inaccessible environments without disturbing them. I also plan to get a scuba license, HAM radio license, and 200 ton Coast Guard license, all for related purposes, from directly studying organisms, to more easily and safely reaching the habitats I would like to study, both remote and close-to-home. By gaining these licenses, one or more of which are actually included in one of the two degrees I will start studying for in the fall, the other being Marine Biology, and very important in studying the biology of marine environments, I will have compiled skills that are valuable for conducting research on the world around us, and for gaining an understanding of that knowledge. Knowledge is important, and can be shared worldwide. I aim to increase the pool of scientific knowledge, and use that knowledge to protect species and find molecules and processes that could potentially be used to develop new or more effective treatments for diseases, whether these are the diseases of now, or the diseases of the future. I want to understand, and to find. To protect, and to explore. Using the licenses and education that I plan to obtain, I will do my best to discover without disturbing, as to not disrupt already damaged and fragile ecosystems, many of which are barely or not at all described in published literature. That is my goal, to gain and share knowledge without causing harm, and to make that knowledge usable to prevent or mitigate further harm.

The life I want is a peaceful one. One where I and others like me are not hated for our sexuality, romantic orientation, or gender. One where anyone, of any ethnicity, race, religion, or really any distinguishing factor can exist without fear of unwarranted hatred. Where we can just be who and what we are, without expected relationship types and roles, especially based on gender. I want a world where there is no pollution, and enough clean water, space, and food for everyone to live comfortably. A place with plant life and open air, and a society that values more than simply working in a crowded and musty office building, on an odious job, until one dies. Where different forms of life are not ostracized, and less directly-useful talents are still valued. Where different paths are accepted, and friendships are as highly valued as romantic or sexual relationships. Where my existence is not considered lesser, just because of the types of attraction I lack. I want a life where I can be happy and accepted, and I have found part of it in my friends, who are allies and fellow queer people. All of this is very simple, but it’s far from the reality and society we live in, and so must stay only a dream. A tantalizing, impossible dream.

If I were able to influence the world, there are many things I would stand for, but most fall under the umbrella of justice and rights for all people. I would publicly support legal and social reforms that increased equality and access to resources, and those that reformed the justice system of the United States to provide more productive and healthy pathways. I would advocate for the rights of all LGBTQ+ people, not just some, and for the rights of immigrants and other minorities, including racial, ethnic, religious, and dis/ability minorities. Discrimination against other human beings should not be part of our society, so I would work to change that. If able, I would also stand for more heavily graduated tax brackets, with the richest paying the highest percentage, and the raising of pay for teachers. One of my family members is a teacher, and with the after-school hours they put in, their pay works out to about minimum wage. Teachers deserve far more than 12 dollars an hour for educating the next generation. A pay raise could be funded by the taxes on the top 1%, and would not necessarily take away funding that currently is allotted to other areas. Another area of importance that needs funding is the treatment of addiction. Instead of being punished, it needs to be treated like the disease that it is, to help people truly recover and function as part of our society. Rehabilitation clinics need support, and should receive some level of government funding. Influential figures lead others to donate and pressure the government to help, so that is one of the things that I would do. If I were a highly influential figure, I would stand for helping people, everyday people trying to live as best they can.

Mental illness is tough to deal with. It distorts reality for the person affected, but it is invisible to the outside world. Invisible, but not fake. ‘Just in our heads,’ yet it affects every aspect of daily life, from mundane tasks to social interactions. Hidden, but painful all the same. In my own experience, mental illness has been debilitating. My first anxiety attack left me fading in and out of consciousness for hours. The ones that followed confined me to bathroom stalls for significant periods of time, taking me out of the events I meant to attend and participate in. I had no idea what was going on, other than my body did not like me. I had never heard of anxiety as anything more than a passing emotion, or of mental illness, not even in health classes. Because of this, it was months before my parents sent me to therapy, another thing I had never heard of outside of the context of recovery from knee surgery. I was the first of my family to attend therapy for mental illness, but I am far from the first to be affected. On one side in particular, most of us have inherited what was referred to as a nervous stomach, but seems to actually be anxiety and other mental illnesses manifesting in gastrointestinal… distress… of varying severity. Some cope effectively, but others are unable to leave the safety and predictability of their homes because of it. If mental health struggles were not taboo, help could be obtained. They wouldn’t be trapped. I wouldn’t have had to suffer for so long, because symptoms and coping mechanisms would be common knowledge. The people around me would know how to effectively help, and how to do less harm. But because of the stigma surrounding mental health and mental illness, none of this is common knowledge. Few people recognize when to leave someone alone, and far too many think that crowding around someone expressing concern is genuinely helpful. This may be why I have the friends that I do; we all have experience dealing with mental illnesses. We know what it feels like, and how counterproductive most of the messages that we are bombarded with on a daily basis are. We have figured out what helps, by trial and error, made necessary by the lack of information and awareness around us. This lack of information and awareness is deeply ingrained in the society around us, and it is hard to make a difference. But just by existing, fighting our own battles, and not hiding every struggle, we can start. If mental health and illness are recognized and acknowledged, children and teenagers like us could find help before more serious threats develop, and some of the contributors to suicide rates could be eased. Students and adults living with mental illnesses could be less isolated and alienated. My friends who can’t go to therapy because health insurance doesn’t cover it could get help for cPTSD, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and self-harming tendencies. If the stigma is removed, we can get help.

Education is one of the most practical solutions to help people who struggle with mental health. Education about common symptoms of mental illnesses, about how to live with one or more, and how to support others who may be dealing with something. This should be an integral part of any class that covers wellbeing, starting as soon as listeners are able to comprehend what is said, and continuing through life. To help people who struggle with mental health, the world must be more accommodating. More usable resources need to be given to everyone, not just those who are at higher risk of developing mental health issues. Support systems need to be commonplace, and struggles, visible and invisible, must not be stigmatized. Education leads to increased understanding. If people understand, then they are less likely to cause further harm. If people understand, then they will let someone who is on the brink of an anxiety attack leave the room. They will stop yelling at someone on the edge of sensory overload. They will not bulldoze the boundaries set by the people around them. However, as I have seen in my own life, attempting to educate one person at a time tends not to be particularly effective. This education must be institutionalized, incorporated into the normal conversations and lessons children are exposed to. Children younger than 5 can have diagnosable mental illnesses. They need to be given the tools to cope and the space to recover as soon as possible. Their classmates need to know that just because their illness isn’t visible, that doesn’t mean it isn’t real, or that it is fair game for teasing. Education must be everywhere, and it must start early.

There’s only one person outside of my immediate family I actually verbally express my love for, so most of my expression of love relies heavily on taking care of the people I care about. This includes listening to concerns, helping when it is wanted and allowed, and spending time with them. I put effort into keeping them safe, happy, and healthy, all of which is especially important because of the fact that I and all of my close friends struggle with mental health, and most of us have at least one diagnosed mental illness. Hugs are an important part of making the important people in my life feel loved, as an expression of comfort and trust. Most of us let very few people close, both physically and emotionally. In times of trouble, showing affection and reassuring through physical contact is important, as is even simply letting each other know that something’s going on, instead of hiding it the same way we do from the rest of the world. I show love by being there for the people I care about.

In my life, I do what I can to make a positive difference for the climate. I am not the primary decision-maker in my household, but I was raised in a way that encourages low impact on the climate. We have always had a garden of some kind, and composted food scraps, adding this instead of fertilizer to our garden. Growing our own food reduces emissions from shipping produce to stores hundreds of miles away. Because of our geographic location, eliminating travel by car is not an option, but using a hybrid vehicle is, which reduces our emissions, and helps us depend less on gas. Unfortunately, electric infrastructure is not widespread enough yet to rely on a fully-electric vehicle in Maine. Partially because of my influence, we use bar soap instead of liquid for washing ourselves, which greatly reduces the amount of plastic packaging and shipping emissions needed for each product. To directly reduce our heating emissions, we insulate our windows in the winter, and recently switched to heat pumps as our main heating and cooling mechanism. Although we cannot afford solar panels, we entered a program that allows a portion of the amount of electricity we use to be drawn from a solar farm, instead of gas- or oil-fired plants. In order to reduce plastic waste, we keep leftovers in reusable containers, instead of single-use bags, and have used reusable grocery bags since long before it became encouraged by Maine law. Speaking of repurposability, since the wrappers of pads and other sanitary products must be thrown in the trash anyway, the biologically-female members of my family use them to wrap used sanitary products before disposing of them, instead of using toilet paper for that, thereby reducing the amount we use. Every effort, large or small, can make a difference.

My generation is willing to fight to make the future better than the present. We look at the current state of the world, and compare it to our vision of what it could be. We will do our collective best to make it into that vision. There is potential in our generation to make great progress, both social and scientific. My generation understands the difference between respecting someone as an authority, and respecting someone as a person. We understand that the current power balance in most environments, be it work, government, or education, is often misused by the people in power. We aim to correct this, and demand that our fundamental human rights, and those of others, are respected, regardless of any uncontrollable factor, like race, or difference in beliefs, like religion. Nobody should be discriminated against for anything other than the reasons behind the choices they have made. In the future I see ahead , there is progress made toward this ideal. Even today I see more acceptance of different genders, sexualities, and races than in generations that came before us. There is rational involvement of youth and young adults in the push for the eradication of inequality. Around me, I see less hatred directed at people with different ideologies, and different worldviews. I see a calmer, more logical, and less hateful group of people, finally arriving at the ability to truly make a difference. This group of people is involved in world issues. We as a generation have grown up in a world where the prices of necessities are rising faster than wages, and where the sea threatens to swallow low-lying and coastal areas, regardless of the multitudes of inhabitants. We have grown up in a world where leaders deny the disasters around us, the changing climate, and even outright deny the existence of entire groups of people. We have grown up in a world where a future without having to worry about daily survival has become held with only the faintest glimmer of a hope, and where mental illness, partially caused by this, is a fact of life. Despite all this, somehow we still have hope. We still are trying to fix the world. We still have compassion for our fellow beings. We want to make the world a better place, not just for us, but for the generations that come after. We are Gen Z, and we will make the world a better place.

In my future career, I could be studying anything, from the smallest speck of a phytoplankton, to the largest whale, in any aquatic environment, from tide pools to underneath miles of arctic ice. I simply want to research life in water, preferably an ocean. I could help lobster fishermen, farmers of edible seaweeds, or ships struggling with barnacles. Anything that is interesting to me, while also being useful enough to merit research. I find a particular interest in marine fungi, and hope my path includes their study. However, I would likely be happy to study anything in the ocean that is in need of more research. If I go to the college I am most interested in, I can combine a marine biology degree with one in Small Vessel Operations, and acquire a coast guard license to drive boats within a certain size range, which should be more than sufficient to operate most research vessels. If this is indeed the path I go down, my career can also include being the captain of my own research projects, or if I am unable to find a viable research project for a while, I could depend on that license to make a living for myself and my plants. With whatever I end up doing, I plan to make it into an enjoyable career, one that is also useful to the world around me. I do hope that this career is in marine biological field-research, but life may send me down a different path. All that is certain is that I will try my best in the time and place I land.

From my perspective as a fairly young person, to live a long and healthy life, one should eat healthy food, and enough of it, and also regularly exercise, especially aerobic training. Injuries should be tended, not ignored, and regular medical checkups are helpful in keeping problems from developing, and for treating them if they do develop. Management of stress is also important, through self-care and changing the situation to remove or reduce the stressor. Living in a society that isn’t antagonistic to the very idea of one’s existence helps; however, that is something that is very hard to change without moving to an isolated island with a population of one, and changes slowly, so a support network, especially of friends, is very important. Even for introverts, like myself, occasional social interaction can help with mental health, and with finding solutions to problems that one would not think of on their own. Solving problems that are solvable, letting pass the ones that are out of reach, and knowing which are which is an important part of continuing to develop as a person, which is what keeps life from becoming boring, and makes longevity a thing that one works toward. Without working toward it, a long life is far from likely, making effort the most important tool in leading a long and healthy life.

In my life, there are some simple pleasures. Some, like spending time with friends, are common. However, for me, social interaction with almost anyone is draining, and can cause physical pain, so spending time with the three people who aren’t is very important, more so than for most. It’s a simple thing, but sometimes simple things are some of the most helpful, like drinking herbal tea, which has become part of my routine to offset the annoying frustration of homework. Sometimes my dog sits in my lap, and I pet him, which is calming. When I have free time, I enjoy writing in my book, and building the worlds of my book in Minecraft, so that I can see the things that I have created in my mind. I also sing near-constantly, and play the flute, both of which I have managed to do as part of school, and thus more regularly. Something that school has interfered with, though, is reading. I love to read, but rarely have time anymore, besides reading an assigned section for a class. At least tending my plants only takes a few minutes, and I can look at them when I need a break from my work, but don’t really have time to stop. A few I’m particularly proud of are a mango I grew from seed, over 40 firecracker cacti, and a ton of garlic. They’re getting really tall now. I enjoy looking at them, because they’re things I grew, and am proud of.

My experience with mental health deals mainly with anxiety. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at age 13, and sent to therapy soon after. This was prompted by a series of attacks, the first bad enough to leave me drifting in and out of waking consciousness for the next nearly six hours, and the ones in the months following were bad enough to completely take me out of the cross country season. My family has a history of it, but I’m the first I know of to have received help. One relative can barely leave her house, as the coping mechanism she developed was complete avoidance of potential triggers, and another knows what he likely has, and has sought treatment for the symptoms, but refuses help treating the cause. There are more of us that I have heard of, enough so that it’s referred to in the older generations of the family as a “weak stomach.” It is not talked about often enough for sufficient information to be known. It should be talked about much more frequently. Mental health is important, and involves actual disorders that can severely impact daily life, not stuff to brush off as ‘all in one’s head’. Mental illness can be debilitating. Support needs to be provided, and done so with both professionals, and the relationships around a person- friends are an important support system to help. All of my closest friends have one or more mental illnesses, and therefore have a better idea of what to do when something is wrong. We (mostly) understand how to talk about our respective illnesses, and we understand more of how to help. We also understand the severity of what’s ‘all in our heads’, and know not to brush it off as not a real issue, or as something to just ignore and push through. It is important to be able to understand, and at the very least accommodate and acknowledge. Mental illness makes things difficult. It makes situations in which mentally healthy people would have no trouble become situations that can very quickly cause extreme distress for an individual, and derail plans for most, if not all, of the near future. Repeated derailment of plans, without accommodation, can cause loss of friends, one to fall behind in school, loss of jobs, and much more. There are some things an individual can do to help themselves, like planning ahead, and having backup plans, but a lot depends on the ability to leave a situation before things escalate, and to avoid potential triggers. Personally, in my planned career, I don’t know if I will be able to effectively take a step away from situations, as much of my time will hopefully be spent on a singular boat for hours to days at a time. Of course, on a research vessel, routes, experiments, and all other activities should be laid out in a plan before leaving shore, but complications can arise. Storms can come quickly at sea, equipment can break, or sometimes worse, malfunction. I can’t prepare for every possibility, but I will try. I have learned some coping mechanisms, some developed while in therapy, and I try to learn more when I can. I can only hope they will be enough. Most involve planning based on known information, or running simulations of hypothetical scenarios in order to find appropriate actions in similar future situations. I am a slow processor, meaning that what’s happening around me isn’t fully processed until at least a few minutes later, so I rely fairly heavily on these simulations, my preset patterns of expected action and reaction. When events differ from these expected patterns, problems arise. I am forced to rely on half-formed thoughts, surface impressions of the changing world around me, and react to hints of stimuli, making hurried and harried guesses on reasonable courses of action. This means that it is not a rare occurrence for me to miss the actual meaning of phrases in fast conversations involving multiple people. Quieter and smaller gatherings are preferred, where there are fewer stimuli to keep track of and predict, and responses will be waited for. Mental health problems are not just all in our heads. They impact every part of our lives, and need to be dealt with accordingly, with support from the people around.

I have (diagnosed) anxiety. Because of this, what’s necessary to take care of myself might be slightly more complicated than for mentally-healthy people. In addition to the normal methods of talking to friends, eating well, and exercising, I have to add plan A through Z for every scenario I can dream up, especially expected realities, and possibilities that my anxiety forces me to confront. Bathrooms and exits must be found, in every room or building I enter, in order to escape escalating situations, and deal with them if I fail at averting an attack, as they're messy, and can leave me in suboptimal states. I don’t sleep easily, even at home, and never in public. My first attack left me fading in and out of waking consciousness for the next ~6 hours, in the middle of a team tent, with much activity and loud noise, which is often something that can induce sensory overload. Far from an environment I could normally fall asleep in if I tried. Averting these became crucial. I do what I can to control my situation, to not have anything unexpected. I have some routines to help with daily life. When I come downstairs and unplug my phone, I check if there are any emails from teachers about events or assignments, and then move on to the next thing, one following another, in logical order- the least stressful way. Managing stress is also a part of self-care, and school impacts it heavily. Homework often is a large load, so managing it is paramount. Getting stuff done, planning, and existing well. That’s a large part of what I do to take care of myself.

Friends are the ones who you can count on. The people you know have your back, who will care about what’s happening in your life, and help you through it. If they can, they’ll try to help you fix it. They’re the ones who willingly stay up far later than intended, just to help you through your emotions, and you’ll do the same for them. You’ll drop whatever you’re doing to support them if they need it. They are the safe place you can go to vent, to rage against the world, to heal, and you provide the same for them. Comfort is found with them, and you can enjoy just existing with them. You don’t hate the silence, and value the weird conversations. You can be yourself with friends. And they can be themselves around you, without fear of being criticized for their zany tastes, unpopular opinions, or not-so-great fashion choices. Friends are safe and comfortable to be around. Friends protect each other, and can trust each other. They are there through both the good times and the bad. They can and will enjoy a movie marathon with you just as surely as helping you through a fight with parents. Friendship is a type of relationship, just as important as a romantic relationship or any other type. It is the relationship with the people who are there. The people whose opinions actually matter. Who build you up, and support you, but can also kindly take you down a peg. They can explain when you’re being ignorant without also being mean. They’re the people who matter.