Throughout my whole life I've been involved in sports. It started with soccer as a little kid and has ended with rugby as a high school senior. Having to juggle sports, school, and a part time job has been very hard but taught me how to manage multiple things at once. I started running in fourth grade but had to take a break after I broke my arm while playing on a trampoline. I started running again in fifth grade for gym class for the mile. In sixth I started running Cross Country and Track. In seventh I made varsity for the first time in cross country, running a pr of 20:48 in the 5k. Running at such a high level at such a young age was a lot and looking back I probably should've stayed running at a middle school level instead of high school. It was extremely hard on my body, especially my shins. It caused a lot of burn out, especially since I was also doing training on my own in the winter and varsity track in the spring. It was a little isolating being the only middle schooler on a team of high schoolers. It taught me how to want and fight for a spot. I learned how to portion my time and make the most of it. In school I figured out how to get the majority if not all of my homework done during study halls and free time in classes. After making captain for cross country my senior year I decided that I needed to be done running after the fall. Over the winter I researched new sports to do and decided on something completely different, Rugby. I loved playing football growing up and Rugby is very similar. After a few practices I realized it was the sport I should've been playing since I was in 9th grade. It took a lot to put myself out there and start a new sport as a senior for a school I don't even go to, Minnetonka, since my school doesn't have a Rugby team. I didn't know anyone but after a few weeks of practice I felt a part of the team. I was put on the starting line up for our first game. With in maybe a minute I actually scored, the first score of the game, of the season, of my rugby career. It was wonderful. My team being so excited for me as we took the early lead in the game was the best moment in all my time in sports. We didn't win that game but we won the next and the next and now are going to the semi finals for state. It's been hard to juggle driving to a different school to practice, to do a bunch of very challenging classes, and work on the weekends but I've manage. My thought is that doing all these challenging things now will make college next year feel less difficult. Even if not I'm so glad I got to meet so many neat people in my various sports while also having a good out lit for athletics.

I am pursuing a degree in the mental health field but not in the traditional sense like many are writing about. I want to be either a mechanical engineer or biomedical engineer. I know you're thinking how that would be considered in the mental health field. Well it's because of what I plan to do with my degree. I want to make medical equipment, or at least improve existing medical equipment. This may still not convince you completely but let me quickly give two reasons why. First, medical equipment can be used to help those with their mental health. Either helping diagnose mental health because there are signs that show up on CT scans or MRI scans. Another is helping those who have attempted suicide. The equipment that I'd be working on could be used to assist in the recovery for those who have attempted. Second and finally, is lack of proper medical equipment or not advanced enough medical equipment can cause mental health issues for many. I bring this one up because of personal experience. The medical equipment at the time of my cousin Zac's cancer was not enough and because of that he died at the age of 11. Tomorrow it will be 11 years since his death and that means he's been as long as he was alive. Because of his death it cause a rift to form in my family. Due to declining mental health that was not dealt with properly my family split in two. The two sides to not talk to each other again. Because of that my grandpa became an alcoholic for multiple years before finally deciding to deal with his own mental health and become sober. So that is another way that I could help in the mental health field with my degree. Because with more people doing what I want to than none of that would've happened. Poor mental health is something that is sadly quite common in my family. I had to talk my brother down from suicide when I was fifteen which just added to my own mental health issues, mainly because I was blamed for my brother being in that position by my parents. As of now he is better but it comes and goes in waves. It's not linear healing. I think I've improved also but obviously I know I'm not completely better. I just know that there are a lot of people who go into psychology or whatever else that is directly related to the mental health field. My way is more round about, just like recovering from mental health, but that doesn't make it any less important. Thank you for your time in reading this and your consideration for receiving this scholarship.

Pressure. I have always felt pressure with everything I do. I always strive for perfection because that's the only way I feel I get noticed. Even with perfection I still don't which causes me to put more and more pressure on myself to do better so then I am good enough to be noticed. The amount of pressure I feel isn't healthy by any means but at this point I'm so used to it that when I do feel anxiety it comes on strong and fast. It's the same feeling as getting the wind knocked out of you when you're a kid. When you fall and hit your side weird and you can't get any air in which causes you to panic so you try to breath more in but all you're doing is making it worse. That's what I feel like. So why do I put all this pressure on myself? Well my old brother wasn't the typical older brother growing up. He has APD so he can't hear well, especially in loud environments. He had a bit of a speech problem and was super shy. All of these things combined led him to struggle in school a bit. Nothing crazy but my parents were happy when he got an 80% on something. Because of this it was always about him. They always asked about his day but never about mine. If he got an A on something then we were getting take out for dinner to celebrate. I always got A's, I'm still a straight A student. My A's are never mentioned or a reason to celebrate. There's no good job or pat on the back. I got used to this quick and became very independent at a young age. I was always the kid that was told that I was, "so mature for my age." No matter what I did I was never noticed which gave me an unrealistic view, that I was not good enough. I thought I wasn't doing enough to get noticed. I wasn't a good enough daughter, sister, or student. So when things didn't go to plan and I get a 92% instead of a 96% then all those feelings creep up and I feel a lot of anxiety really fast. All that anxiety mixed with feeling alone when I moved schools. It happened with my brother too. We both couldn't find a solid friend group which made it really hard to enjoy school. The years of middle school blurred together and before I knew it was already in high school. Things started going better for me once tenth grade started but things obviously can change. During the August before my 10th grade year my brother and I were at the annual cross country camp for high schoolers on the team. At that camp my brother tried to overdose on advil which means taking 12 advil at once. I talked him down even though I was struggling with those thoughts myself. The night after I didn't sleep. While all my friends on the team where out for a night swim I laid in my sleeping bag starring at the ceiling. My parents blamed me for it when they found out. I hadn't done enough I guess. That really messed with my head for a long time. Luckily I've opened up more. I've found good friends and have been able to talk to them about all this stuff. My brother is doing better too now that he's gone off to college. It's been really hard on me for a while. But it's gotten better.

Pressure. I have always felt pressure with everything I do. I always strive for perfection because that's the only way I feel I get noticed. Even with perfection I still don't which causes me to put more and more pressure on myself to do better so then I am good enough to be noticed. The amount of pressure I feel isn't healthy by any means but at this point I'm so used to it that when I do feel anxiety it comes on strong and fast. It's the same feeling as getting the wind knocked out of you when you're a kid. When you fall and hit your side weird and you can't get any air in which causes you to panic so you try to breath more in but all you're doing is making it worse. That's what I feel like. So why do I put all this pressure on myself? Well my old brother wasn't the typical older brother growing up. He has APD so he can't hear well, especially in loud environments. He had a bit of a speech problem and was super shy also. All of these things combined led him to struggle in school a bit. Nothing crazy but my parents were happy when he got an 80% on something. Because of this it was always about him. They always asked about his day but never about mine. If he got an A on something then we were getting take out for dinner to celebrate. I always got A's, I'm still a straight A student. My A's are never mentioned or a reason to celebrate. There's no good job or pat on the back. I got used to this quick and became very independent at a young age. I was always the kid that was told that I was, "so mature for my age." No matter what I did I was never noticed which gave me an unrealistic view, that I was not good enough. I thought I wasn't doing enough to get noticed. I wasn't a good enough daughter, sister, or student. So when things didn't go to plan and I get a 92% instead of a 96% then all those feelings creep up and I feel a lot of anxiety really fast. Pursuing college is very important to me because I want to be well educated. I want to be the person who clearly knows what they're talking about because I know that that will make me noticed, even if I'm not being noticed by my parents. I want to be an engineer, either a mechanical or biomedical engineer so then I can create and improve medical equipment which will help save lives. Anxiety sucks to be frank. It's effected me a lot but without it I wouldn't be the person I am today. Without it I wouldn't have the same drive and future ambitions as I do now.

I am Lily, I'm a Minnesotan who has been working since the moment I was able to. I've been at my school for eight years but most of the kids at my school have been going here since kindergarten so I'm still a bit out of place. I have many values that have been engrained into me by my parents. These values have lead me to make my different decisions towards my future education and career. I come from a long line of military members including most recently my uncle and cousin who were in the Navy. Though a many others were or actively are serving in other branches of the military. My parents have raised me to be a hard worker like they were raised and just like the other members of my family. Because of this I have a very good work ethic. I study and pay attention in school so much that there is no possible way I don't excel in my classes. I value my education which is why I take hard courses and try to get as many college credits as I can through the various AP classes offered at my school. This year I'll end up taking five AP exams which will hopefully result in me gaining more credits towards college. I take many courses that relate to science and math since I want to be an engineer, specifically either a biomedical or mechanical engineer. With either of these degrees I will go and get a job that has something to do with medical equipment. This way I can help others with my degree by making or improving medical equipment which is something I am very passionate about due to shortcomings I've seen in the medical field when it came to the lives of my family members. It's no question I'm quite busy due to school but I still manage to do things outside of school too. I'm the captain of our cross country team and have been lettering on the team for six of the seven years I've been on the team. I'm also a part of the track and field team and I'm in the running for captain of the girls distance team for that. I've been on the high school team since 8th grade for track. I spend a lot of time running after school in order to be a good runner. I'm also a part of drama club and am most likely going to be crew backstage for the spring play like many of my friends do. At the same time I also hold a job. I work part time at Lunds and Byerlys, a Minnesota chain grocery store. I've worked in the produce department since I was 16. I've also been a part of the companies' union since I was 16. It's actually required to be a part of the union. I am now 18 and being so young I don't do too much with the union besides voting on things. So my life outside of school is pretty full too. Overall I do a lot of things which can be very stressful but luckily my values of hard work and not giving up have allowed me to continue doing all these things. I put my all into every aspect of my life. I will continue to do so as I go off to college and eventually get a job. With my job I will be making equipment to save lives and those people deserve my all. Thank you for your consideration.

Throughout my life I've had many plans and many goals. A lot fall through or fade into nonexistence due to changes age which leads to changes in wants and dreams. One goal that hasn't faded since I was five is the goal of becoming an engineer. Since it is still my goal that means that I have to have plans to achieve that goal as I get closer to actualizing it. I have many steps in my plan to become an engineer. Step one is to go to college to get a bachelors degree in either mechanical or biomedical engineering. To do that I've already taken multiple high level math and science classes to prepare for the difficult classes I'll have to take in college. A few examples of these harder courses are Calculus, AP Stats, AP Physics, and Honors Chemistry. I've already applied to multiple colleges' engineering programs and am waiting to see if I was accepted into any. The next step after that is to apply to scholarships in order to help pay for my schooling so I don't need to go into debt in order to receive a good education. I will use any money I do get to pay for my tuition and housing. I will graduate college hopefully a little early due to the college credits I have built up through doing many AP courses, all of which I've passed so far. The third step is getting a job. I will get a job lined up and ready for me so I'm not unemployed at all when I get out of college. This job will hopefully be with a medical company or hospital where I can work on medical equipment such as prosthetics. I will have changes in my life from these steps and goals but with my career I want to make a positive and impactful change in someone else's life. I would hope my job would be based in my home state of Minnesota since I don't want to be far away from family. That is the extent of my plan so far. If all of that could happen that would be so great. I know there will be bumps in the road and not everything goes to plan all the time. Much of my plan is in my hands. I know I will do everything I can to stick to it. I will study and be an amazing student. I will network and make connections so I can get a job that suits me well. I can guarantee that this scholarship will help me pay for my education which will allow me to help others which is how I plan to pay it forward to others. Though there are things that aren't in my hands, like scholarships. Yes, I can apply for them and I have been. I write long essays about why I deserve them and they're probably never read. I spend hours upon hours trying to finance my education. But it is out of my hands whether I get the scholarships or not. That part of my plan I cannot guarantee I will be able to achieve. That is where I need a little help in order to achieve my goal.

Technology is something that has always been around and it's something that's always evolving. From the first stone wheel to the airplane, we've come very far as a society with our technologies. Overall technology is a great thing. It's done so much good and saved so many people. Though it can also cause great harm too. One piece of technology that maybe isn't as commonly thought of for making the world a better place is the automobile, also know as a car. I read this prompt for this scholarship and cars were the first thing that came to mind. Though I didn't think of the good right away. I thought of my classmate actually. I thought of how he died last night in a car crash. It's been on my mind all day. I keep asking myself, how can cars be so amazing yet cause a community so much pain? With cars though, I think the good out weights the bad. Yes, there are roughly 43,000 deaths a year from car crashes. That is a lot, but that's only 1% of deaths per year. It's a lot on it's own but in perspective it's not much. And it's even less if you think of all the lives cars save. Cars went from being not much better than a horse and buggy to wiping the horse and buggy out of existence. Cars are wonderful. They allow people to travel further and safer. Think of how many that tried to go to the western coast of the United States and didn't make it during the time of Manifest Destiny. Cars then would have made it so much faster, easier, and safer. My second point for cars is ambulances. Without the car, there would be no modern ambulance which would negatively effect the lives of 3 million people per year. Cars do some harm, but so does any technology. The reason why cars are one of the best pieces of technology is because they do so much more good. Yes they are the reason there is such a thing like car crashes but they save more lives than injure. Because of that I know cars make the world a fast, better, and safer place. Cars inspire me to try and think of the next technology that will make the world better.

The first thing I ever asked Santa Claus for was a robot that could do anything. The next year I asked for the same thing, a robot that could do anything. Over and over again I kept asking. When I wasn't asking to get it I'd draw pictures of it with crayons or markers. I'd list the things I would want it to do. It would be able to make me any food I want, it would give me money, and most importantly it would give me as many stuffed animals as I wanted. As I waited I would make my own robots. Usually out of empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls, and tape, lots of tape. I'd always ask for tape for Christmas too. I'd get that because that existed, unliked my robot that could do anything. With my different materials I found around the house I'd make pieces I could wear on my arms or legs. Honestly one of my favorite things was getting the boxes to play with after opening Christmas presents. It was physically empty but full of endless possibilities in my eyes. As I've grown up I've come to the disappointing conclusion that there is no such thing as a robot that can do anything. I don't play with pieces of cardboard as much either. But I still want to create things just as badly. I still have that same creativity inside of me. For kids who were like me and loved to create things I'd tell them to not stop being creative. I would tell them to keep making things and keep dreaming of more things to make no matter if people think what they're doing is silly. Those kids who are the ones who are creative and love to make things are the ones who change the different fields in STEM. Not giving up on creativity is extremely important for the future. Many kids play with robots as kids, but it's the kids who play with the robots who get inspired to make their own, they're the ones that that need hear what I've said above. Many kids let that creativity die as they get older. And who knows, maybe those kids might have of been the first one to solve simple problems like having to take clothes out of the wash and put them in the dryer. Or maybe they would've been the first to solve major problems like a new sustainable and clean resource. Who knows what can be done if more kids are encourage to keep their creativity alive.

Carbon footprints have been increasing every year since the beginning of time. It was a slow increase at first but the moment the first industrial revolution hit everyone's carbon footprint started to sky rocket. With this increase in greenhouse gases our planet has been threaten. This warming of the earth has led to more extinction and greater probability of drastic weather such as major hurricanes or longer lasting droughts. I find it very important to reduce ones carbon footprint and I try do my part in helping the planet. Why is it important to reduce a person's carbon footprint? Well it's important because if we don't earth will slowly become harder and harder to live on. First is the globe warming which is leading to melting of icecaps and glaciers. Ice caps and glaciers make up the majority of freshwater we have. The only water that we can actually consume. So with them melting we have less water to consume and they're melting into the oceans. With them putting so much new water into the oceans the oceans will start to rise. When thinking of oceans rising I doubt many people think it would cause much problems but they're wrong. Many major cities are super close to sea level, the oceans would rise over 200 feet and cover them in water which would displace many humans and animals. Though we aren't at that level yet we do see polar bears losing their usual territory due to less ice forming in the arctic and that ice melting earlier in the year. Lack of polar bears really messes up food webs which is super complicated and would take forever so I won't go into it but it would have drastic effects. Weather is also greatly effect by a person's carbon footprint. The warming of earth leads to irregular weather patterns which leads to more extreme weather. The world has seen it this year with the record number of major hurricanes. We've seen this in years past with more raging wildfires in Australia, California, and Canada. I've seen this in my home state of Minnesota with record amounts of snow one year and then basically no snow the next year. These irregularities can make it really hard for animals and humans to adapt to conditions. Those are two reason why it's important to reduce a person's carbon footprint. I do what I can to reduce my carbon footprint. I always recycle when I can. We have a compost bin at my house. I work in a produce section of a local grocery store and I make sure all bad produce gets put into pig barrels instead of thrown away. I drive an electric car which reduces CO2 emissions. I use lots of reusable items like water bottles, plates, napkins, forks, and knives. My family is very concerned about our water usage since our house uses water from a well. I do try my best to do my part to keep the world as clean as possible. It's definitely not easy and I'm definitely not perfect with my carbon emissions but I do my best which is all I can ask of anyone else.

Science is "the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained." I got this definition from the Oxford Dictionary. Basically it's saying that science explains everything around us. Science shapes our understanding of the past. We have to know how things were created so we can create new things. We have to how elements interact with each other so we can know how to do anything. Understanding science is knowing how to build the tallest skyscrapers or the fastest ships. Science shapes everything in the future. It shapes medicine which effects the very existence of humans in the future. It effects anything that requires engineering which is pretty much everything. Science is the backbone of the entire world. Without it we wouldn't be able to do anything. Without it we'd still be without fire and living in caves. Leadership is detrimental to our future. Without leaders we'd be no where. We have to have someone to show other how to do things. Leaders ensure the future. In order to improve and thrive we need to have leaders that can teach others to the extent of our knowledge so those taught can extend our knowledge even more. We see this with many innovations. When cars were first invented they were barely better than a horse drawn carriage. The inventor, the leader in car technology at the time, had to teach and pass down his knowledge to others who then thought of new mechanics to improve cars. As it kept getting passed down more and more improvements were made that now horse drawn carriages don't really exist in normal society. Cars once could barely go faster than a carriage can now average cars can easily exceed the speed of 100 miles an hour. Another example isn't with machines but an understanding of weather. Tornadoes were majorly under studied for many many years. A leader in trying to understand tornadoes was Ted Jujita. He was the first to document the entire life cycle of tornado which lead to break through discoveries. His work is still used today to understand weather. Others have built off of his work to create things from weather balloons to doppler radar. Without leaders the world would never change. Society would stay in the same place and without change that means that society would end up ceasing to exist. Leadership and science are the most important factors when considering the future. Without either the future is very bleak. We need leaders in science to ensure the improvement of our society. Leaders in technology will save the world and keep it from collapse. Major worries such as climate change could very much be the end of the human race but with leaders in science, one day, the problem we have caused will have a solution. Leadership and science have been and are the key to everyone's existence in the past, present, and future.

Faith is such an important thing in my life. I was raised to have faith in God for my entire life so far. I continue to have that faith as I get older. He has helped me stay grounded and focused. He has shown me my vocation and will continue to help me achieve that. Having my faith will assist me in becoming the best person I can be for myself and others. I was raised a Catholic. I went to church on Saturdays and through fourth grade I went to catholic school. As I've gotten older my schedule has become a lot busier. I'm not able to make it to church as often due to having to work or school or sports. Being a teenager is really hard, especially with having to juggle so many different things at once. Luckily I have faith in God. I have faith that he is always with me and will never let me get too bogged down with everything I have to carry. I know that everything he puts me through is for a reason. That all the work and time I put in is towards my future of helping others. Whenever it becomes a little too much I just take a step back and pray for a little help with my various issues. Having my faith is a support system that I can lean on when things get a little too hard. I know God will assist me in my future career as an engineer. More specifically I want to be either a mechanical or biomedical engineer. Using either of those degrees I would hopefully get a job that deals with medical equipment. I want to either improve or create new medical equipment so I can help others. Medical equipment falls short a lot causing a lot of pain and suffering for patients and their families. I've seen it first hand so I know how devastating it can be to a family. My faith in God will help me keep my head on my shoulders. He'll help me keep pushing to improve the medical field. He'll help me to never give up. He'll guide me to becoming the best I can be in the field. He'll guide me towards helping others. Faith has always been super important to me. It's something that has bonded my family together. It's something that will always be there for me. No matter what I'll always have God to talk to and lean on. He's helped me and I know he will continue to so I want to help others.

Throughout my life I've had many plans and many goals. A lot fall through or fade into nonexistence due to changes age which leads to changes in wants and dreams. One goal that hasn't faded since I was five is the goal of becoming an engineer. Since it is still my goal that means that I have to have plans to achieve that goal as I get closer to actualizing it. I have many steps in my plan to become an engineer. Step one is to go to college to get a bachelors degree in either mechanical or biomedical engineering. To do that I've already taken multiple high level math and science classes to prepare for the difficult classes I'll have to take in college. A few examples of these harder courses are Calculus, AP Stats, AP Physics, and Honors Chemistry. I've already applied to multiple colleges' engineering programs and am waiting to see if I was accepted into any. The next step after that is to apply to scholarships in order to help pay for my schooling so I don't need to go into debt in order to receive a good education. I will use any money I do get to pay for my tuition and housing. I will graduate college hopefully a little early due to the college credits I have built up through doing many AP courses, all of which I've passed so far. The third step is getting a job. I will get a job lined up and ready for me so I'm not unemployed at all when I get out of college. This job will hopefully be with a medical company or hospital where I can work on medical equipment such as prosthetics. This would be ideal for me because I would love to be able to help people through my work and this would be the best way for me to do so. I would hope my job would be based in my home state of Minnesota since I don't want to be far away from family. That is the extent of my plan so far. If all of that could happen that would be so great. I know there will be bumps in the road and not everything goes to plan all the time. Much of my plan is in my hands. I know I will do everything I can to stick to it. I will study and be an amazing student. I will network and make connections so I can get a job that suits me well. Though there are things that aren't in my hands like scholarships. Yes, I can apply for them and I have been. I write long essays about why I deserve them and they're probably never read. I spend hours upon hours trying to finance my education. But it is out of my hands whether I get the scholarships or not. That part of my plan I cannot guarantee I will be able to achieve. That is where I need a little help in order to achieve my goal.

The first thing I ever asked Santa Claus for was a robot that could do anything. The next year I asked for the same thing, a robot that could do anything. Over and over again I kept asking. When I wasn't asking to get it I'd draw pictures of it with crayons or markers. I'd list the things I would want it to do. It would be able to make me any food I want, it would give me money, and most importantly it would give me as many stuffed animals as I wanted. As I waited I would make my own robots. Usually out of empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls, and tape, lots of tape. I'd always ask for tape for Christmas too. I'd get that because that existed, unliked my robot that could do anything. With my different materials I found around the house I'd make pieces I could wear on my arms or legs. Honestly one of my favorite things was getting the boxes to play with after opening Christmas presents. It was physically empty but full of endless possibilities in my eyes. As I've grown up I've come to the disappointing conclusion that there is no such thing as a robot that can do anything. I don't play with pieces of cardboard as much either. But I still want to create things just as badly. That is why I want to be an engineer. They create things. I've narrowed it down to two different majors, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering. Either would allow me to get the job I want which is to improve on and make new medical equipment. I want to be able to help people and that seems like the way that I be able to do so best. Medical equipment can constantly be improved and it effects people so much. Throughout my life I've spend a lot of time playing with and coding various robots to do things. Sometimes I'd make them relay a message or dance. It was always hard to wrap my head around the fact that I could make an object do such life like actions and that made me want to do that more. Sadly my high school doesn't offer a lot of extracurricular activities in STEM which has been a challenge for me. I spend a lot of time taking classes that revolve around math and science including AP physics. Since I haven't gained much leadership skills through STEM outside of school I will tell you about how I have gained these skills throughout athletics. I am a runner. I do varsity track and cross country where I am a captain of the teams. I have lead both teams for multiple years now, setting up activities to turn the team into more of a family. I lead the younger runners on runs and help them become more confident as the go into high school. I teach them good work ethic which will hopefully help them throughout their lives. STEM is something extremely important that not very many women are involved in and even fewer of those women are homosexual. I want to diversify the STEM field. I want to help create change for the good. I want to be an engineer and create medical equipment that will save the lives of so many people in the future.

So how has being in cross country and track shaped me? Simple enough question. It's not a simple answer though. Far from it actually. I've been running since fourth grade and I've been surrounded by running my whole life. My dad ran marathons such as the Boston marathon and my mom didn't just run 5k's, she won them. So running has always been a part of my life. I've been doing cross country and track since sixth grade. I have been through so many ups and downs with the teams. So many injuries and failures but also many times where I've set new personal bests or placed well during a race. I've put in a lot of hard work towards these sports. I've done really well in them too. It's a different experience though, being in a sport with little support from the school. There are sports like football where the whole school seems to show up for their games, everyone knows about what's going on it. Cross country is never mentioned. It was never over the loud speakers about how we placed in sections or conference races. It's different with the lack of athlete participation too. It's always a small team with mediocre captains usually. Due to that I spent a lot of time leading the team when most kids my age wouldn't have. And because of starting my leadership role with the team at such an early age I learned a lot on how to be a good leader and how to be a good decision maker. I've learned how to embrace the suck during cold runs in the rain or hot muggy runs in August. I've learned how to prevail even in poor circumstances where I have to run with the guys instead of the girls due to the lack of training groups. The amount of times during the middle of a race where I would think about quitting is uncountable. But I've never gave up. As I've gotten older I've started recruiting for the xc team, and now that I'm a captain my senior year it is the largest team we've ever had. We have good runners and new coaches. Everything has changed and I'm happy to have left this team better off then what I started with. Many think that running is a solo sport, not a team sport. I used to think that too. Now leaving I see that it is a team sport and always should've been but only is now because we embrace both the pain and glory together like a team. Cross country has taught me to not give up, to embrace the pain, to lead, and to keep running forward. I plan to do these things my entire life as I go off to be leader in the field engineering. I want to lead teams to making new medical equipment and technologies to help others, to leave things better than what we started with.

Playing sports during high school was and continues to be a wonderful experience for me. Though it is an experience that has caused me a lot of stress due to the amount of time it takes up which leads me to push other things off. Sports have taught me things like how to prioritize, time management, and leadership. From August to November I am in cross country for over two hours a day, six days a week. From March to June I'm in Track for the same amount of time. This causes me to not get home until close to 5:30pm. By the time I've showered, had dinner, and cleaned up dinner it's close to 7:30pm and I still haven't even looked at my homework from school. I try to go to bed by 10:30pm every night and I try not to do homework later then 9:00pm just because I know it won't be as effective if I do it that late. This has led me to become a lot more efficient with school work. I do a lot of it in school, especially during my study halls. This has really cut down on the amount of homework I have. I also study multiple days before an exam instead of the night before. This lets me space out my studying so I don't have to do so much studying at once. This gives me more time in the evenings to unwind from the day. It also is a better study habit to practiced since spaced practicing is better for getting information into a person's long term memory. So my sports have taught me a lot about prioritizing and time management. My sports have also taught me leadership. I have done my sports every year for seven years. I've been on the varsity team since seventh grade for both teams. As I've gotten older I've been put in a leadership position on the teams more and more. It started out with leading runs for people who didn't know where to go. As the years have passed I've been in charge of leading the introduction activities at the start of each new season. I encourage people to talk to each and assign training groups. I was made captain of the team this year, my senior year. Throughout the year I've set up team get togethers outside of practice, something that has been lacking through all my years on the team. I organized a pool party after a home meet and encouraged everyone to go while also getting people rides from various upperclassmen. There have been times were our coaches don't show up and we didn't know that they weren't going to be there that day. It happened on a pre meet day so we did an easy run and then I led strides and the usual goal setting for the upcoming race, something that coaches do. Leadership has been a large part of my athletic career through high school, I've learned a lot about how to be a good and fair leader. I'm so extremely grateful that I am capable of being on sports teams. They have taught me so many things that are outside of just how to run well. I've learned how to be a better student through time management and prioritizing along with how to be a strong leader. It may have been challenging to handle so many things at once, and I know it will be again come spring for when track starts, but it has taught me many life lessons that I wouldn't have learned anywhere else.

Writing is power. I love so many things about writing. It has helped me in so many ways that I could write forever about it but I will keep it short for those who are reading this because I assume there are a lot of essays to read. The first thing I love about writing is that it's saved my mental health. I write a lot of my emotions down. I write out why I'm feeling a certain way. I write everything down about the situation. Then I write solutions or things I can do that can get me towards a solution. I write all the time because it's such a good way to alleviate all those words in my mind just bouncing around that I struggle to say out loud. Another reason is that it makes me feel smart. It feels smart to write pages upon pages of words, of sentences that all connect together to make a story or compelling argument. I love writing research papers. I like finding that perfect wording while writing a claim or closing argument that ties everything together. The moment I sit back and see what I've written and I know it sounds good, that I'll get that A, it's a great feeling. Writing gives me a satisfaction I don't get anywhere else. Writing gives me the feeling that I'm smart that I don't get anywhere else. Writing has helped me learn. I have always struggled with spelling. I don't know why but I do. Though I blame it on my dad because he's bad at spelling, too. While growing up autocorrect was my best friend and to an extent it still kind of is but I don't need it as much. I learn new words from writing when I'm trying to think of synonyms and I learn how to correctly spell words such as synonyms. So writing has really expanded my knowledge. Those are three things I love about writing. I think it such a wonderful thing to be able to do. To be able to tell tales, convince people to think a certain way of a topic, or to inform people of information that they maybe didn't know about is a powerful thing to be able to do. It gives the writer so much influence and so much control over the letters and words that construct whatever they wish to build. A person can write about so many things in so many different ways. Overall, to sum writing up into three simple words, writing is power. Now why do I want to continue to write in college. That's simple really. I want to continue what I've outlined up above. I want to continue doing all of those things throughout my entire life, college is just the next step to that.

Writing is power. I love so many things about writing. It has helped me in so many ways that I could write forever about it but I will keep it short for those who are reading this because I assume there are a lot of essays to read. The first thing I love about writing is that it's saved my mental health. I write a lot of my emotions down. I write out why I'm feeling a certain way. I write everything down about the situation. Then I write solutions or things I can do that can get me towards a solution. I write all the time because it's such a good way to alleviate all those words in my mind just bouncing around that I struggle to say out loud. Another reason is that it makes me feel smart. It feels smart to write pages upon pages of words, of sentences that all connect together to make a story or compelling argument. I love writing research papers. I like finding that perfect wording while writing a claim or closing argument that ties everything together. The moment I sit back and see what I've written and I know it sounds good, that I'll get that A, it's a great feeling. Writing gives me a satisfaction I don't get anywhere else. Writing gives me the feeling that I'm smart that I don't get anywhere else. Writing has helped me learn. I have always struggled with spelling. I don't know why but I do. Though I blame it on my dad because he's bad at spelling, too. While growing up autocorrect was my best friend and to an extent it still kind of is but I don't need it as much. I learn new words from writing when I'm trying to think of synonyms and I learn how to correctly spell words such as synonyms. So writing has really expanded my knowledge. Those are three things I love about writing. I think it such a wonderful thing to be able to do. To be able to tell tales, convince people to think a certain way of a topic, or to inform people of information that they maybe didn't know about is a powerful thing to be able to do. It gives the writer so much influence and so much control over the letters and words that construct whatever they wish to build. A person can write about so many things in so many different ways. Overall, to sum writing up into three simple words, writing is power.

Mental health is something that has been a factor in my life for ever. It impacts everyone's life in different ways. It usually affects mine negatively though. Ever since I moved schools in fifth grade I've struggled with my mental health. I missed my friends and as a shy kid I had a hard time making new ones. I had also broken my arm the summer prior and still was wearing a cast so I couldn't try and make a name for myself with the football guys like I wanted. So I had nothing to do at recess and really didn't know who to turn to in school. I was glad when we went to middle school because then I didn't need to worry about recess anymore. Still I struggled with friends, bouncing from lunch table to lunch table. At least by then I was able to join the Cross Country team. In seventh grade I was one of the best runners at my school, I even made the varsity team. The problem with that is being the youngest on the varsity team is really isolating, I had nothing in common with the other runners. So instead of talking I ran my feelings into the ground, running with the guys instead of girls because I felt so out of place with them. By the time covid came around I was happy with not going to school. I enjoyed the days at home. At home I wasn't seen much either. My parents' focus was always on my older brother as he struggled a lot with grades and friends. This left me out of the focus most of my life, so I was always just doing my own thing. Finally when I found my friends in second semester of ninth grade I was doing a bit better. I finally had a place to sit at lunch which was nice, never having to worry about who I could sit with. In tenth grade my brother tried to kill himself, I talked him down. When my parents found out I was blamed for it. I should've done more, it was my fault he got to the point. That really tanked my mental health. At the same time I was also struggling with my sexuality, as I was coming to accept that I was bisexual. It was something I had known since seventh grade but finally accepted that it was okay to be like that at this time. I had a lot going on which really was hard to handle. I constantly was worrying about my family's reaction to my eventual coming out since I come from a catholic family. My brother and mom were constantly fighting which kept me up late most nights. I was stressed about school since I take a lot of advanced classes. I was worried about what I wanted to do in college and where I wanted to go. I was dealing with a lot of difficult emotions on my own which was really hard. At this time I probably hit my lowest mental health. Since this time I've really leaned on my friends. I've let them in a bit more and talked about what I'm dealing with. I've also come out to my parents, my father being really supportive. My mom didn't have a great reaction but she's coming around which is good. Socially I've been doing a lot better with friends and a girlfriend. My brother went off to college which helped a lot with the arguing. Classes are still hard but I can manage. I've figured out I want to do mechanical or biomedical engineering so then I can go and get a job making medical equipment. I've applied to colleges also. It's gotten a lot better and that's because I've learned not to keep everything is because that just makes everything harder. I plan to keep talking about problems and try to think more positively. I write a lot which helps me vocalize my frustrations and feelings. I've grown a lot as a person. I've become more comfortable with myself and am less scared of acknowledging my mental health.

Mental health is important to me because I have always struggled with my own mental health. I have always struggled with opening up and letting people in. I don't like to talk about myself due to never feeling like I was important while growing up since everything was about my brother. This led me to internalize a lot of feelings like not being enough which led to me thinking no one really cared about me. Things got worse when we moved schools and I had no real friends for a couple years. I was a really bad mental place for a lot of years until I was ending my first year of high school. I finally made really good friends. This allowed me to be a lot less shy. After a year of being friends I realized that they weren't going to go away any time soon so I started to actually open up. I had kept a notes app up until then of all my not so great thoughts. My friend always drove me home from cross country practice since we were in the same sport and I didn't have a car yet even though I had my license. We had a really deep conversation where I read from my notes document a little bit. From then on whenever she drove me home we'd have a good talk about everything. It really saved me. Since then I've done my best to help others. My brother who struggled with mental health did try to kill himself. I talked him down and I helped him get the help he needed. Since then I've made sure I am always there for others like my friend was for me. Because I realized my brother didn't have someone to talk to like I did. I make sure that all my friends know they can talk to me whenever about anything. I have no judgement towards them ever. I made my own policy so I always know if it's an emergency. I call it the two call policy. If someone calls me once I may not answer. I might be in a class or at work where it's difficult to pick up and I don't know if I should risk getting in trouble to answer the phone. If i'm called again, no matter where I am or who I'm with, I will pick up the phone. Two calls means it's something that I am desperately needed for. I have had serious talks with my friends about this policy and they know about it. If they ever were to need someone I am always there. Luckily no one has felt the need to yet but if they ever do I will always be there. I will always be that one person they can call.

I have always struggled with my sexuality. Not because I'm not okay with who I am but because I was worried that people I knew would be not okay with it. I come from a catholic family who are more traditional catholics. I knew that they were okay with other people they weren't related to being gay but someone in your own family is different. Which I learned was what my mom thought when I came out to her. A friend of mine, Mckenna, was openly gay. She is two years older than me but we were in the same sports, cross country and track. She has the kind of bubbly personality that everyone is just drawn to. I had talked to her about my concerns a little bit. I knew that her father wasn't the most supportive of her when she came out which was why she was hiding her relationship from him. She told me that no matter what happened with my mom that I would have so many people by my side supporting me now and in the future that it wouldn't even matter that much down the road. She said that if she couldn't be happy for me then she wasn't worth the sadness because a mom should love someone unconditionally. It helped me a lot to know that I had her support and that she knew that other people would support me to. When I did come out to my mom it went as well as I expected, she blamed me a bit, she blamed herself a bit too. I found myself apologizing for being the way I was born. But what keep me grounded during the whole thing was I knew I had my dad and my friends on my side. That I would still have them after that conversation with my mom. Mckenna helped me a lot throughout high school and even though she is now in college she still helps me. She has inspired me to be okay with who I am and I want to do that for others. In college I want to be able to help others who are struggling with their family's lack of acceptance. I plan on joining a LGBTQIA+ club in college so I can support others who need it and don't have a great friend like I did. Coming out is hard but it is a lot easier to know others have your back, even if your family maybe doesn't. Thanks to Mckenna I am in a lot better place with my comfortability in my sexuality. I am also in a bit of a better place with my mom too as she is making an effort to try and accept that this is who I am. I know that many people don't have the people in their life like I do but I hope I can be there for them in the future, to help them feel better about who they are.

I am a senior at Orono High School and I come from a family of runners. My dad is currently a history teacher at Orono and my mom is a substitute teacher here too. My brother goes to St. Johns and runs cross country for them. My parents have taught me to have a good work ethic and how to be a good person so I can be successful in life. I have been a member of the Cross Country and Track team since 6th grade. I have been running for the high school varsity team since 7th grade for both. I train during the off season for both sports too, putting in many hours on the treadmill in my family's basement during the winter and running hundreds of miles in the summer. Having been on the team for so long it has led me to have a lot of influence on the two teams. I use that influence to help younger members of the team to feel like they belong. I usually spearhead the introductions of everyone at beginning of the two athletic seasons I'm a part of. I do this a lot during the first couple weeks so everyone can get to know each other on a basic level. I help organize different running groups and encourage people to run with others they don't know to help them become friends or at least friendly with each other. Doing this consistently throughout my high school years has led me to be the captain of the cross country team this year and put me in the running for the captain of the track team in the spring. During the cross country season this year I did what I usually did with leading introduction activities but also with starting team activities outside of cross country, something that previous captains hadn't thought of doing. After meets I started creating post race team hangouts. I was able to find a team member's house with a pool and together we were able to have that be the spot we'd all go to. Then I sent out a text with details on the cross country teams' group chain. Before my race I made sure to ask everyone if they got saw the text. I checked in with the younger kids especially incase they didn't have phones. I arranged for upper classmen like myself to drive the people without rides. I have done this multiple times this year to help to create not only a tight nit team but also a mini running family. I did this because I saw how close other teams were, especially the team my dad used to coach at Osseo High School. Orono is a small school and cross country has always had a smaller attendance compared to other sports at our school. Our previous captains have never done much to encourage kids to join or encourage them to stay. I don't blame them though because our coach never put much thought into doing that either. I wanted to be the person for the new generation of runners that I wish I had while coming up in the cross country program. I believe I have done that. I have made my team not just a group of people who run together but a group of close friends who spend time with each other outside of the sport.

I am Lily. I am a senior in high school. I am the captain of the cross country team and track team. That means I have practice after school for about two or so hours but sometimes I also have practice before school too. I have been working as a produce clerk since I got my divers license. I assist in other departments too like courtesy clerk, frozen, and deli but I am officially a produce clerk and am there almost every weekend for around six to eight hours a day. At school I take very hard classes including the hardest in our school being AP physics. I hold myself to a very high standard which means anything below a ninety three precent makes me feel bad about myself because I want to do well. I also finally found some friends. I moved to the school I'm at in fifth grade and I never found my friend group until the end of ninth grade year. I am one of the few openly gay people at my small high school and I have a girlfriend who goes to my school also. Being gay or more specifically bisexual has impacted me a lot. It caused a bit of turmoil in my family since I come from a catholic family. Though I am glad I came out about a year ago. I can now see myself being able to be the person I want to be. I see myself getting married to a woman and living with her. I am also able to wear suits instead of dresses to my school dances which has been very nice. A big life passion of mine is to help people. I want to be a biomedical or mechanical engineer. Getting one of those degrees would allow me to get a job where I would be able to create and improve on medical equipment and prosthetics. This would impact people's lives greatly and help others live longer and more easily. This scholarship would allow me to go to the college of my choice without having to worry about money as much. I could chose the college based off of what's best for me and my education then what is affordable. It would also allow me to not have to work as much during the school year and instead focus on getting good grades and studying. Thank you for your consideration

LeBron James is often celebrated for his incredible versatility, basketball IQ, and longevity in the sport. He can impact the game in multiple ways—scoring, playmaking, and defending—making him one of the most complete players in history. His ability to adapt his game as he ages also sets him apart. Whether he’s the greatest of all time is subjective and depends on what you value most in a player. Some argue for Michael Jordan due to his perfect Finals record and scoring prowess, while others might point to LeBron's sustained excellence and all-around contributions. Ultimately, it often comes down to personal preference and the era in which someone grew up watching basketball. Both players have made indelible marks on the game! LeBron’s impact goes beyond just statistics. He’s known for his leadership on and off the court, often elevating his teammates' performance. His ability to thrive in different team environments—whether in Cleveland, Miami, or Los Angeles—shows his adaptability and basketball intelligence. Additionally, his work in social justice and philanthropy reflects a commitment to making a difference beyond basketball, which resonates with many fans. When comparing him to Jordan, it’s essential to consider the context of their careers. Jordan had a perfect record in the Finals and was a dominant scorer, while LeBron’s longevity and ability to carry teams to the Finals in various circumstances speak volumes about his skill and resilience. Ultimately, the debate about who is the greatest can bring out passionate arguments from fans of both players, highlighting the rich history of the NBA and the greatness of its stars. Each player has a unique legacy that shapes the game in different ways!

Personal development is important because a person needs to develop to move forward. Not developing is being left being in the past. That means you're not improving. It's just the same thing every day, becoming no better than you were the say before. So it's important to me to not let that happen to myself. I think it would feel really terrible to watch everyone improving, growing, accomplishing their goals while I stay where I am, doing the same thing day in and day out. Also not developing as a person would be a disservice to my parents because they raised me to be better then someone who doesn't strive for improvement. Also I doubt they want me to live in their house with them for the rest of my life so that would be another reason to improve. Not having personal development means I never get to grow up and get a job I like to do. It means I wouldn't get to live on my own or get married or anything like that. Probably the worst part would be if there is no personal development then that means no learning new things. I wouldn't be able to learn things like how to cook or speak another language. I would be able to improve on things like math or reading. Personal development is important because without I'd live a very sad and lonely life. I'm doing a lot of things to because the best version of myself though. I'm a runner. I do track and cross country. I try to improve how far I'm running each day and how long my longest run is each week. I want to become a really good runner. I improve myself through school. I study, I take harder and harder classes each year to try and improve my knowledge. This drive for improvement has led me to be taking the hardest class in my high school which is AP physics. I can say with confidence that it's definitely hard. I try to improve my social life too. I've always struggled with finding friends since I'm very much a shy person. This has caused me to struggle with mental health also. Now I do I have friends because I have forced myself to talk to people more. And I've learned to open up to my friends to which has allowed me to become a lot happier person. I've done a lot of work to improve myself and I plan to continue to do so. I want to improve during college to become the best engineer I can be and then the best person at creating new and improving on various medical equipment. I want to not only improve on myself but improve the lives of people around me which is why I've chosen to get a degree in either biomedical or mechanical engineering. I want to improve medical equipment such as prosthetics so then that equipment can improve the lives of people who need medical help, help that they haven't been able to get because the technology isn't there yet. That is why personal development is important to me and that is how I am currently improving on myself and that is how I will continue to improve on myself. Thank you.

I embody selflessness. The first example of this is through sports, specifically cross country. I know the town I run in very well so I can easily navigate back to school if I get off course. My friend Maddy was adopted from China and new to the cross country team. We were running the homecoming football from the school we were playing that night to our school. Her and I had gotten off the bus with some guys to run the ball. It was an unfamiliar area for us and both us and the guys had missed the next stop to hop back on the bus. I could've kept up with the guys for the next six or so miles back to school. Maddy on the other hand was not fast enough to do so. So even though I could've gotten back to the school a lot quicker and safer I stayed back with Maddy. We ran slower but went the whole way back to school together. It was not fun being in a place that we both didn't know well without phones or anyone around but it would've been a lot worse if it were just her alone. So I included her on my run that day and from then on I ran with her on easy practice days and slowly she became fast enough that we became really good training buddies and friends. I made sure she always had someone to run with. I'd sit with her on the bus to races. I'd invite her to join in on conversations. Running cross country has really developed by character and desire for inclusion. I had seen my brother always left out of things and I knew how it affected him so I've made it my mission to not allow that to happen to anyone on my team. Me being selfless has led me to become the captain of the cross country team this year. I've spearheaded many team get togethers like pool parties after meets even though sometimes I don't really feeling like spending time with the team I know it's the right thing to do. I go around and make sure everyone knows about the activity too. If any younger kids don't have rides and are too shy to ask I make sure they have someone to drive them whether it be a fellow upperclassman or myself. I make sure that everyone is included. I do that for people who are in track with me also. I am also very involved with volunteering in my community. This past Saturday I worked for our local half marathon as traffic control. I stopped cars while runners crossed the intersection. I would point to which direction the runners were to go and then I'd let the cars through before more runners came by. I was in charge of the intersection this year since last year I had directed traffic at the same intersection. This meant that I was in charge of the five other volunteers at the intersection. I told them what to do and showed them how to do it. Everything went really well and all runners and cars were happy. These are a few detailed examples of me helping others. I do so as often as I can because everybody needs a little help now and then.

I got Minecraft when it first came out. My brother and I weren't allowed to have xbox or anything so we played together on the one iPad that we had in our house, our mom's. We've only ever had the original version. It's so old that the Nether doesn't even exist. So we created things. We created a huge farm system. So much wheat that we never run out of bread. Though probably our favorite part is the sheep that we keep in our Minecraft house. The day I realized I could dye the sheep was amazing. It was even better when we realized that we could feed two animals to make a baby animal. My brother and I had a lot of fun with that game while growing up. It was only on special occasions that we were allowed to play. If it were a rainy day then that's what we did, as long as we didn't fight over who's turn it was. I love Minecraft because I got to build so many things. I wish I had an updated version where I could go to the Nether or build more things. In the future, once I live on my own, maybe I'll buy the newest version so I can do all that. But building things, creating things, that's what I want to do when I go to college. I want to get a degree in engineering because that is what they do, they create things. Hopefully in the future I'll be like Steve and creating things but in the real world.

Maybe it's because I watched this movie semi recently but Schindler's list would be the best book-to-film adaptation. We watched it as a class in school for my Lit in Film class. I would've never watched it on my own because who wants to watch a movie that will leave the viewer in shreds. Not me. I don't like doing that at all. But since it was for class I had to watch it. It was hard to watch. Not because it was bad like most hard to watch movies but because it was so amazingly good. It stuck to the plot of the book. Also the holocaust is such a hard event in history to capture correctly. There were so many aspects to it and so it is really difficult for films/books to do it justice. Trying to capture all the horrible acts and the tragedy that was involved in it is a feat on its own but to capture the story of a man, a member of the Nazi party, who is coming to terms with his own morals is nearly impossible. I say nearly because this film was able to do this flawlessly. Everything was done with such respect and detail made it feel like I was actually there in the Krakow jewish ghetto, in the concentration camps, and in Schindler's factory. This movie and book made me understand the holocaust in a way that no history class ever could make me. The way it was done was as if it's a documentary. Seeing all the horrors and ruthlessness of the Nazis. It was so realistic because it was so gruesome, it didn't shy away from what happened. I feel like I understand the holocaust so much more then I ever did and I feel like I really do have a good idea of what so many people of jewish faith had to go through under Hitler's reign of terror. The scene that had the most effect on me wasn't the liquidation of the ghetto or Schindler spraying down the train cars full of jewish people with water since they were dying of heat. It was the scene where the women's train that was supposed to go to Schindler's new factory was sent to Auschwitz. When the women walked into the dark shower like room and the doors where sealed tight behind them and no one knows if it's a regular shower or the gas chambers, that's the scene when I realized how much it affected me. I felt genuine terror even though I knew the people were actors and we weren't actually watching a bunch of women from the holocaust go into almost certain death. I actually held my breath when the only noise was the pipes opening above them. When it was water and not gas that came out of the shower heads I felt such an insane amount of relief. I didn't know a movie could evoke such strong feelings from a person. I don't know if anyone else in my class was as affected by this like I was. Maybe it's because I've been to Krakow, Poland and I've seen the Jewish ghetto and the square where everyone was standing with their belongings during the liquidation of the ghetto. Maybe it's because I've been to Schindler's factory in Krakow. Maybe actually having been there made the movie even more real to me. But I think the reason it had such an affect on me was because it truly was such an amazing story. One that moved me like no other story has.

The first thing I ever asked Santa Claus for was a robot that could do anything. The next year I asked for the same thing, a robot that could do anything. Over and over again I kept asking. When I wasn't asking to get it I'd draw pictures of it with crayons or markers. I'd list the things I would want it to do. It would be able to make me any food I want, it would give me money, and most importantly it would give me as many stuffed animals as I wanted. As I waited I would make my own robots. Usually out of empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls, and tape, lots of tape. I'd always ask for tape for Christmas too. I'd get that because that existed, unliked my robot that could do anything. With my different materials I found around the house I'd make pieces I could wear on my arms or legs. Honestly one of my favorite things was getting the boxes to play with after opening Christmas presents. It was physically empty but full of endless possibilities in my eyes. As I've grown up I've come to the disappointing conclusion that there is no such thing as a robot that can do anything. I don't play with pieces of cardboard as much either. But I still want to create things just as badly. That is why I want to be an engineer. They create things. I've narrowed it down to two different majors, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering. Either would allow me to get the job I want which is to improve on and make new medical equipment. I want to be able to help people and that seems like the way that I be able to do so best. Medical equipment can constantly be improved and it effects people so much. I have seen medical equipment come up short and because of that people not get the treatment they need to live a full life or in extreme cases, survive. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. If there had been better treatments that could have stopped it from spreading he might have been able to survive. With better medical equipment he might have been a senior in college this year. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. That is another reason why I am passionate about pursuing the degrees I have chosen. I'm passionate about becoming an engineer. I want to help others and improve the world. I think it would be a great tribute back to when I was creating arms out of cardboard tubes by having my job being creating things such as prosthetics. This scholarship would help me achieve this dream of mine and pay tribute to little me.

The first thing I ever asked Santa Claus for was a robot that could do anything. The next year I asked for the same thing, a robot that could do anything. Over and over again I kept asking. When I wasn't asking to get it I'd draw pictures of it with crayons or markers. I'd list the things I would want it to do. It would be able to make me any food I want, it would give me money, and most importantly it would give me as many stuffed animals as I wanted. As I waited I would make my own robots. Usually out of empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls, and tape, lots of tape. I'd always ask for tape for Christmas too. I'd get that because that existed, unliked my robot that could do anything. With my different materials I found around the house I'd make pieces I could wear on my arms or legs. Honestly one of my favorite things was getting the boxes to play with after opening Christmas presents. It was physically empty but full of endless possibilities in my eyes. As I've grown up I've come to the disappointing conclusion that there is no such thing as a robot that can do anything. I don't play with pieces of cardboard as much either. But I still want to create things just as badly. That is why I want to be an engineer. They create things. I've narrowed it down to two different majors, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering. Either would allow me to get the job I want which is to improve on and make new medical equipment. I want to be able to help people and that seems like the way that I be able to do so best. Medical equipment can constantly be improved and it effects people so much. I have seen medical equipment come up short and because of that people not get the treatment they need to live a full life or in extreme cases, survive. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. If there had been better treatments that could have stopped it from spreading he might have been able to survive. With better medical equipment he might have been a senior in college this year. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. That is another reason why I am passionate about pursuing the degrees I have chosen. I'm passionate about becoming an engineer. I want to help others and improve the world. I think it would be a great tribute back to when I was creating arms out of cardboard tubes by having my job being creating things such as prosthetics. This scholarship would help me achieve this dream of mine and pay tribute to little me.

The first thing I ever asked Santa Claus for was a robot that could do anything. The next year I asked for the same thing, a robot that could do anything. Over and over again I kept asking. When I wasn't asking to get it I'd draw pictures of it with crayons or markers. I'd list the things I would want it to do. It would be able to make me any food I want, it would give me money, and most importantly it would give me as many stuffed animals as I wanted. As I waited I would make my own robots. Usually out of empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls, and tape, lots of tape. I'd always ask for tape for Christmas too. I'd get that because that existed, unliked my robot that could do anything. With my different materials I found around the house I'd make pieces I could wear on my arms or legs. Honestly one of my favorite things was getting the boxes to play with after opening Christmas presents. It was physically empty but full of endless possibilities in my eyes. As I've grown up I've come to the disappointing conclusion that there is no such thing as a robot that can do anything. I don't play with pieces of cardboard as much either. But I still want to create things just as badly. That is why I want to be an engineer. They create things. I've narrowed it down to two different majors, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering. Either would allow me to get the job I want which is to improve on and make new medical equipment. I want to be able to help people and that seems like the way that I be able to do so best. Medical equipment can constantly be improved and it effects people so much. I have seen medical equipment come up short and because of that people not get the treatment they need to live a full life or in extreme cases, survive. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. If there had been better treatments that could have stopped it from spreading he might have been able to survive. With better medical equipment he might have been a senior in college this year. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. That is another reason why I am passionate about pursuing the degrees I have chosen. I;m passionate about becoming an engineer. I want to help others and improve the world. I think it would be a great tribute back to when I was creating arms out of cardboard tubes by having my job being creating things such as prosthetics. This scholarship would help me achieve this dream of mine and pay tribute to little me.

The first thing I ever asked Santa Claus for was a robot that could do anything. The next year I asked for the same thing, a robot that could do anything. Over and over again I kept asking. When I wasn't asking to get it I'd draw pictures of it with crayons or markers. I'd list the things I would want it to do. It would be able to make me any food I want, it would give me money, and most importantly it would give me as many stuffed animals as I wanted. As I waited I would make my own robots. Usually out of empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls, and tape, lots of tape. I'd always ask for tape for Christmas too. I'd get that because that existed, unliked my robot that could do anything. With my different materials I found around the house I'd make pieces I could wear on my arms or legs. Honestly one of my favorite things was getting the boxes to play with after opening Christmas presents. It was physically empty but full of endless possibilities in my eyes. As I've grown up I've come to the disappointing conclusion that there is no such thing as a robot that can do anything. I don't play with pieces of cardboard as much either. But I still want to create things just as badly. That is why I want to be an engineer. They create things. I've narrowed it down to two different majors, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering. Either would allow me to get the job I want which is to improve on and make new medical equipment. I want to be able to help people and that seems like the way that I be able to do so best. Medical equipment can constantly be improved and it effects people so much. I have seen medical equipment come up short and because of that people not get the treatment they need to live a full life or in extreme cases, survive. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. If there had been better treatments that could have stopped it from spreading he might have been able to survive. With better medical equipment he might have been a senior in college this year. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. That is another reason why I am passionate about pursuing the degrees I have chosen. I am passionate about becoming an engineer. I want to help others and improve the world. I think it would be a great tribute back to when I was creating arms out of cardboard tubes by having my job being creating things such as prosthetics.

I have always struggled with opening up and letting people in. I don't like to talk about myself due to never feeling like I was important while growing up since everything was about my brother. This led me to internalize a lot of feelings like not being enough which led to me thinking no one really cared about me. Things got worse when we moved schools and I had no real friends for a couple years. I was a really bad mental place for a lot of years until I was ending my first year of high school. I finally made really good friends. This allowed me to be a lot less shy. After a year of being friends I realized that they weren't going to go away any time soon so I started to actually open up. I had kept a notes app up until then of all my not so great thoughts. My friend always drove me home from cross country practice since we were in the same sport and I didn't have a car yet even though I had my license. We had a really deep conversation where I read from my notes document a little bit. From then on whenever she drove me home we'd have a good talk about everything. It really saved me. I now believe that opening up to others is really helpful to a person's mental health and not having that person is really detrimental to someone's wellbeing. My brother who struggled with mental health did try to kill himself. He never had that person to talk to like I did. Luckily I talked him down and I helped him get the help he needed. Since then I've made sure I am always there for others like my friend was for me. I make sure that all my friends know they can talk to me whenever about anything. I have no judgement towards them ever. I made my own policy so I always know if it's an emergency. I call it the two call policy. If someone calls me once I may not answer. I might be in a class or at work where it's difficult to pick up and I don't know if I should risk getting in trouble to answer the phone. If i'm called again, no matter where I am or who I'm with, I will pick up the phone. Two calls means it's something that I am desperately needed for. I have had serious talks with my friends about this policy and they know about it. If they ever were to need someone I am always there. Luckily no one has felt the need to yet but if they ever do I will always be there. I will always be that one person they can call. After my friend helped me with my own mental health I realized that I wanted to help others with there health too. I decided that i'll help people with their physical health. I want to be either a biomedical or mechanical engineer. With either of those degrees I would get a job with a company that would be making or improving on medical equipment. I want to do that because my goal is to help people. I want to make a difference through helping people and I think improving and creating new medical equipment would be an amazing way to do that. There are so many advancements to be made and I want to help make them. It's a way to save people's lives that no one really thinks about. It would be such a wonderful thing to know that I'm contributing to making someone's life better, whether that is saving their life through equipment to perform a life saving surgery or just making someone's life easier by making more advanced prosthetics. That is what I want to accomplish. I want to make difference in people's lives. Physical health impacts mental health greatly. When an athlete is injured their mental state is injured also because they can't do what they love. Or when someone is in a car crash and can't walk, that physical decline in health has a direct relationship with mental health. Overall mental health has been a big part in my life. It has influenced my relationships and career aspirations along with my beliefs. In general it has greatly shaped me as a person and I wouldn't be the person I am today without my experiences with mental health.

Going to college means I am growing up. It means that I am becoming my own person who has to provide for themself. It means that I have succeeded. That I am smart and capable and that I can continue to be smart and capable. It also means that I am starting something new. Which is scary. I am moving away to be on my own and I have to navigate a new world full of new people. I have to make new friends and learn a new place all over again. Very scary. But new beginnings mean new chances. I can reinvent myself and start completely over. Like I said, nobody knows me, so I can make a bunch of new first impressions that can lead to wonderful new friendships. The newness also encourages me to start new things like maybe a new sport or start old sports that I wasn't able to continue doing. I've always wanted to play soccer and I love to play football but that was never an option at my high school. I can be different, a good different. So college means change. It's exciting and scary at the same time. It's good and bad at the same time. College also means I get to accomplish my goal of becoming an engineer. There are hundreds of kinds of engineers who are doing things in every aspect of life but I want to be either a biomedical or mechanical engineer. With either of those degrees I would get a job with a company that would be making or improving on medical equipment. I want to do that because my goal is to help people. I want to make a difference through helping people and I think improving and creating new medical equipment would be an amazing way to do that. There are so many advancements to be made and I want to help make them. It's a way to save people's lives that no one really thinks about. It would be such a wonderful thing to know that I'm contributing to making someone's life better, whether that is saving their life through equipment to perform a life saving surgery or just making someone's life easier by making more advanced prosthetics. That is what I want to accomplish. I want to make difference in people's lives. I don't need the glory the doctors get but I want to help. I want to be a part of the process even though no one realizes that without me the doctors wouldn't have been able to do what they did. I want to make the world a better place and a bit less scary for those going through tough times and changes.

Maybe it's because I watched this movie semi recently but Schindler's list changed my life. We watched it as a class in school for my Lit in Film class. I would've never watching it on my own because who wants to watch a movie that will leave the view in shreds. Not me. I don't like doing that at all. But since it was for class I had to watch it. It was hard to watch. Not because it was bad like most hard to watch movies but because it was so amazingly good. The holocaust is such a hard event in history to capture correctly. There were so many aspects to it and so it is really difficult for films to do it justice. Trying to capture all the horrible acts and the tragedy that was involved in it is a feat on its own but to capture the story of a man, a member of the Nazi party, who is coming to terms with his own morals is nearly impossible. I say nearly because this film was able to do this flawlessly. Everything was done with such respect and detail made it feel like the viewer is actually there in the Krakow jewish ghetto, in the concentration camps, and in Schindler's factory. This movie made me understand the holocaust in a way that no history class ever could make me. The way it was shot was as if it's a documentary. Seeing all the horrors and ruthlessness of the Nazis. It was so realistic because it was so gruesome, it didn't shy away from what happened. I feel like I understand the holocaust so much more then I ever did and I feel like I really do have a good idea of what so many people of jewish faith had to go through under Hitler's reign of terror. The scene that had the most effect on me wasn't the liquidation of the ghetto or Schindler spraying down the train cars full of jewish people with water since they were dying of heat. It was the scene where the women's train that was supposed to go to Schindler's new factory was sent to Auschwitz. When the women walked into the dark shower like room and the doors where sealed tight behind them and no one knows if it's a regular shower or the gas chambers, that's the scene when I realized how much it affected me. I felt genuine terror even though I knew the people were actors and we weren't actually watching a bunch of women from the holocaust go into almost certain death. I actually held my breath when the only noise was the pipes opening above them. When it was water and not gas that came out of the shower heads I felt such an insane amount of relief. I didn't know a movie could evoke such strong feelings from a person. I don't know if anyone else in my class was as affected by this movie as I was. Maybe it's because I've been to Krakow, Poland and I've seen the Jewish ghetto and the square where everyone was standing with their belongings during the liquidation of the ghetto. Maybe it's because I've been to Schindler's factory in Krakow. Maybe actually having been there made the movie even more real to me. But I think the reason it had such an affect on me was because it truly was such an amazing movie. One that moved me like no other film has.

"Success is the achievement of a desired outcome or goal. Usually the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence." Each of those things is greatly important and probably is the definition to success to a lot of people but to me success is none of those things. Success is feeling proud of yourself. It is being able to look at yourself in the mirror and being happy about the reflection staring back at you. In order for me to do that and be happy about the reflection, I need to do something meaningful with my life, I need to help people. There are thousands upon thousands of ways people can help others. I've done so through being a leader and volunteering as of now. It's not enough for me though. I need to do more which is why I chose my degree of biomedical/mechanical engineering knowing I can do a lot of good with it. I want to get one of those two degrees so then when I graduate college I can get a job with a company that makes various medical equipment. My hope is I can improve on and make new medical equipment such as surgical machines and prosthetics. I know how vital having the best medical technology can be due to personal experience. I have three examples of personal experiences that have shaped my goals to be helping people, to that being my definition of success. The first is my Aunt Therese. When she was born she needed a heart surgery due to an issue with a heart valve. The doctors made a mistake during surgery leading to her brain not having oxygen for a little bit which crippled her. She has been in a wheelchair her whole life because of that. She can talk properly or express many emotions. Due to these set backs she has had to live in an assisted living home. If there had been better medical equipment at that time she would've been able to have a completely normal life and would've been able to live on her own and go to college and have a job. Another time where medical technology had failed was with my late cousin Zac. He was diagnosed with cancer at a young age. This cancer was what killed him at the age of eleven. Cancer is one of the worst diseases out there and many cancers have either very poor treatments or no treatments at all. He needed to have more advanced medical equipment desperately and maybe if he had he would've been graduating college this year. Lastly is my late Uncle Dan. He was killed by a drunk driver while heading home from a school board meeting a little over two years ago. He has a wife and five kids. If there had been more advanced medical equipment than maybe he could've survived his injuries he sustained from the head on collision. Maybe with my degree I can create something that can save the next person who is injured by a drunk driver or has cancer or a heart defect. This scholarship would be extremely helpful with paying for college. It would allow me to worry less about money and more about finding the best school and education for me. Then in the future I would be able to look in the mirror before work and know that I am successful because I am doing something that makes a positive difference for others. Thank you.

I'm a leader in many aspects of my life. The first example of my leadership is through sports, specifically cross country. I know the town I run in very well so I can easily navigate back to school if I get off course. My friend Maddy was adopted from China and new to the cross country team. We were running the homecoming football from the school we were playing that night to our school. Her and I had gotten off the bus with some guys to run the ball. It was an unfamiliar area for us and both us and the guys had missed the next stop to hop back on the bus. I could've kept up with the guys for the next six or so miles back to school. Maddy on the other hand was not fast enough to do so. So even though I could've gotten back to the school a lot quicker and safer I stayed back with Maddy. We ran slower but went the whole way back to school together. It was not fun being in a place that we both didn't know well without phones or anyone around but it would've been a lot worse if it were just her alone. So I included her on my run that day and from then on I ran with her on easy practice days and slowly she became fast enough that we became really good training buddies and friends. I made sure she always had someone to run with. I'd sit with her on the bus to races. I'd invite her to join in on conversations. Running cross country has really developed by character and desire for inclusion. I had seen my brother always left out of things and I knew how it affected him so I've made it my mission to not allow that to happen to anyone on my team. Me being a leader has led me to become the captain of the cross country team this year. I am very involved with volunteering in my community. This past Saturday I worked for our local half marathon as traffic control. I stopped cars while runners crossed the intersection. I would point to which direction the runners were to go and then I'd let the cars through before more runners came by. Being on a sports team has allowed me to really create a large friend group that is all connected by that sport. Due to my constant pursuit of inclusion on my team I was made the captain of the team this year. I've spearheaded many team get togethers like pool parties after meets. I then go around and make sure everyone knows about the activity. If any younger kids don't have rides and are too shy to ask I make sure they have someone to drive them whether it be a fellow upperclassman or myself. I make sure that everyone is included. I do that for people who are in track with me also. It ended up being about three hours since I was there from 7 to 10 in the morning. I was in charge of the intersection this year since last year I had directed traffic at the same intersection. This meant that I was in charge of the five other volunteers at the intersection. I told them what to do and showed them how to do it. Everything went really well and all runners and cars were happy. These experiences made me realize I want to help people so I plan to become a leader in biomedical engineer in the future.

"You can do this." In tenth grade I took honors biology and I had Mr. Buch as my teacher. I had come from physics the year before which was not a good experience. The teacher was terrible and I learned nothing. It was my least favorite class probably ever. This had me not excited for my biology class even though I usually really like science. Another thing that should be known about me is I usually do minimal studying. School for me felt pretty easy to me up until this point. I am a straight A student and my study strategy has been the same forever so why would I change my study habits for this class. Well I got a seventy five percent on my first test in that class and had to retake it. That is why I needed to change my study habits. I asked Mr. Buch on what I should do. I could not understand how to change my study habits because I never had and I did not know why my study habits were not working for the first time. He gave me a few new study methods to try but I decided that his idea to take more notes was going to be what I would try. I decided that I would pay attention during class just like before but instead two nights before the test I would go through all the lecture slides and take notes. Then the night before I would then review all my notes. I never got below a ninety percent on a biology test after that and ended with an A in the class. Mr. Buch is the best teacher I have ever had. He is the reason I now love science again. Honors Biology was my favorite class that year and remains my favorite class I have ever taken. That class even made me consider doing something in biology when I'm older and I've ultimately decided on biomedical engineering. It's not a 100% biology but I don't think I would've decided on doing that for my major without Mr. Buch as my teacher. Mr. Buch made me realize that I could adapt to things, that even with challenges that I haven't dealt with I can still overcome those struggles. I have used my new study strategy in almost every class and whenever something gets hard and I feel like it would be easier to take the lower grade I remember him telling me, "You can do this."

I am someone who is very private. I don't like talking about my feelings or letting people know about the kind of person I am. This this has made it difficult to make deep and meaningful connections with people. It made it a lot harder to open up when I moved schools causing me to lose all the friends I had made. Covid didn't help me too much either though I started to make my first friend right after in eighth grade. I had really poor mental health to put it lightly. I struggled a lot with feeling like I belonged in my school and with feeling like I was good enough. My brother was always the sole focus of attention in my family which added to these feelings. It didn't help being a closeted gay kid in a catholic family. I had first told my friend I made in eighth grade during the summer between ninth and tenth grade. Her being supportive was a huge sigh of relief for me. I knew I had one person in my corner no matter what happens. After that her and I talked a lot about how I was worried about how my parents would react. It was really helpful finally talking about the major stress I had over it. My mental health started to improve a lot because I was able to fully realize who I was as a person. My mental health tanked again when I had to talk my brother down from killing himself. We were at cross country camp and he has always struggled with making friends like me. His feels of loneliness were a lot and he collected a bunch of Advil and was planning on taking them all at once. I was able to stop him and talked him down. He ended up getting the help he needed but I was yelled at by my parents for not letting them know what was going on sooner. I felt as if it were my fault that he was in that state, like I didn't do enough. That was really hard on me. I struggled a lot with feeling like I wasn't a good enough sister and that I wasn't doing enough again. After some time I was able to talk about these feelings with my friend. She really helped me again with realizing it wasn't my fault and that I did so much by just keeping him alive that August night. We continued to talk about all my issues which I never had brought up since I didn't want to burden anyone. My brother would have the car so she would drive me home from our cross country practice since she was in the sport with me. We'd talk in her car for hours before we'd eventually part ways. Because of her allowing me to open up I've been able to get a girlfriend and come out to my parents. I am now a lot happier and though I still struggle with mental health it is a lot better then what it was and I am lucky enough to have my friends and girlfriend with me to help.

I have kind of known I liked girls since around seventh grade. I didn't allow myself to accept that until probably ninth grade. It was always really difficult for me to be okay with being gay. That was mainly due to coming from a catholic family. It was hard for me to accept that it was going to be okay and that I could be who I was. I always worried that my mom was going to basically disown me since she is very catholic. I had no plans for coming out until college. But plans change. I met the best friend of my really close friend. She didn't like me at first. But to be fair she never likes anyone at first. Slowly through dirty jokes about our common friend's mom we became friends. Then I realized that I wanted to be more than friends with her. We got together towards the end of December and dated in secret for two months before my parents found out. My mom struggled with being okay with me being gay. One day while driving together she wanted to listen to the opener to the Olivia Rodrigo concert that she was going to. The opener was Chappell Roan. The first song I heard was Casual and I was immediately drawn in. I listened to multiple of her songs after that and I felt I could really relate to her lyrics. It help me come to terms with myself. It helped me accept myself. I still listen to her songs almost every day. It's been almost a year since me and my girlfriend started dating. My mom is doing a lot better with accepting me and I'm doing a lot better with accepting me also. It's been a hard time coming around to where I am now but I can truly say I am happy with who I am. I don't think I would've gotten to the place I am now without Chappell Roan's music.

I am Lily. I am a senior in high school. I am the captain of the cross country team and track team. That means I have practice after school for about two or so hours but sometimes I also have practice before school too. I have been working as a produce clerk since I got my divers license. I assist in other departments too like courtesy clerk, frozen, and deli but I am officially a produce clerk and am there almost every weekend for around six to eight hours a day. At school I take very hard classes including the hardest in our school being AP physics. I hold myself to a very high standard which means anything below a ninety three precent makes me feel bad about myself because I want to do well. I also finally found some friends. I moved to the school I'm at in fifth grade and I never found my friend group until the end of ninth grade year. I am one of the few openly gay people at my small high school and I have a girlfriend who goes to my school also. Being gay or more specifically bisexual has impacted me a lot. It caused a bit of turmoil in my family since I come from a catholic family. Though I am glad I came out about a year ago. I can now see myself being able to be the person I want to be. I see myself getting married to a woman and living with her. I am also able to wear suits instead of dresses to my school dances which has been very nice. A big life passion of mine is to help people. I want to be a biomedical or mechanical engineer. Getting one of those degrees would allow me to get a job where I would be able to create and improve on medical equipment and prosthetics. This would impact people's lives greatly and help others live longer and more easily. This scholarship would allow me to go to the college of my choice without having to worry about money as much. I could chose the college based off of what's best for me and my education then what is affordable. It would also allow me to not have to work as much during the school year and instead focus on getting good grades and studying. Thank you.

I am Lily. I am a senior in high school. I am the captain of the cross country team and track team. That means I have practice after school for about two or so hours but sometimes I also have practice before school too. I have been working as a produce clerk since I got my divers license. I assist in other departments too like courtesy clerk, frozen, and deli but I am officially a produce clerk and am there almost every weekend for around six to eight hours a day. At school I take very hard classes including the hardest in our school being AP physics. I hold myself to a very high standard which means anything below a ninety three precent makes me feel bad about myself because I want to do well. I also finally found some friends. I moved to the school I'm at in fifth grade and I never found my friend group until the end of ninth grade year. I am one of the few openly gay people at my high school and I have a girlfriend who goes to my school also. I love sleep. It's super important to get sleep to function so I always try and get my homework done before eight and I won't study for tests past eight at night too. I go to bed by ten thirty at the latest and I wake up as late as possible which happens to be seven fourteen in the morning. I am big on spending time with my family. My brother is in college and I love to spend time with my mom and dad. We always have a tv show we watch together. I am passionate about helping others which is why I want to be a biomedical or mechanical engineer. Getting one of those degrees would allow me to get a job where I would be able to create and improve on medical equipment and prosthetics. This would impact people's lives greatly and help others live longer and more easily. This scholarship would allow me to go to the college of my choice without having to worry about money as much. I could chose the college based off of what's best for me and my education then what is affordable. It would also allow me to not have to work as much during the school year and instead focus on getting good grades and studying. Thank you.

I moved to my new school when I was in fifth grade and I am now a senior in high school. I go to school in a small town full of kids who are very conservative and privileged. I am also openly gay and dating a woman. Very conservative people and gay people don't mix the best. So there has been a time or two at football games that some not so smart guys that are a grade below me have said some homophobic slurs. Luckily I'm not too bothered by those things though it is annoying. I am very passionate about becoming an engineer. I'd like to be a mechanical or biomedical engineer. I would then use that to create and improve on medical equipment and prosthetics for people. I am passionate about this because of my cousin Zac's death. He died at the age of eleven because of cancer. I also am passionate about this because of my Aunt Therese. When she was a new baby she needed a surgery and due to a botched job by the doctors she didn't get oxygen to her brain for a bit. This crippled her and led to her being in a wheelchair for her entire life and having to live in assisted living. I want to help improve survival rates for cancer and other illnesses and injuries and this scholarship will help me achieve this goal. This scholarship would give me less stress when figuring out where I can go to college so then I can choose the college based on what's best for me and my education.

Mental and physical wellness is extremely important to me because both of those things have affected my life and the lives of my family members also. Physical wellness is extremely important to me as an athlete. Being able to run and compete is very important to me. Some of my family didn't have the physical wellness to be in sports. My Aunt Therese was born with a small defect and due to a botched surgery she received brain damage that led to her being confined to a wheelchair her whole life. Due to this I know how important physical health is and I never take it for granted. Mental wellness is equally as important to me since both me and my brother have had poor mental health on and off for a long time. I have never taken any steps towards ending my life though my brother has. Luckily I was there and talked him down and was able to help him get the help he wanted and needed. I still struggle on and off with my own mental health. When things get overwhelming or I don't live up to my own standards for school I find my mental health declining quickly. I am a student athlete who is apart of NHS as well. During the fall and spring is when I have cross country and track. During those two seasons I find that I have no free time. I have work and practices on the weekends. I have practices every day after school along with times I have to miss classes for meets. Sometimes I even have before school morning practices that include weight lifting. I am a captain of the Cross Country team and will most likely be the Captain for the girls distance team in track. I take a very rigorous course load with a lot of AP classes including the hardest in the school, AP physics. I set a very high standard for myself with grades and not being happy if I get anything below an A in most cases. I also have relationships to maintain with my friends, family, and girlfriend. All of this is extremely overwhelming. To top it off I also have to apply for colleges and scholarships in my free time which a lot. Dealing with everything like this is really hard on my mental health. Trying to juggle everything is hard and I try to maintain my mental health and physical health by making sure I talk to people about all I'm dealing with. I used to keep everything in but I've learned that that isn't always the best route and I usually end up feeling worse if I don't talk about it. I also try to take time off of work once and a while on the weekends so I can have a day where I don't have to worry about anything or take time to apply for colleges and scholarships. Which is what I'm doing now.

Math is reliable. It never is really that surprising. It is straight forward, you do this and this and follow these steps and you will get an answer, even if that answer is no solution. If you understand math it is really fun. It's almost calming to a certain degree. Plugging in numbers and getting new ones out. I know what's going to happen but not really. It's like finding a pattern or a rhythm. I like to get lost in math, just problem after problem when you know you're doing it right is the best feeling ever. Time flies by when I do algebra. Calculus is another story though. Calculus can be hard, especially if you forget how to do it. Though it is really rewarding too. Figuring out a difficult math problem makes me feel really smart. Doing something hard is very rewarding and with math that happens a lot. It gives me great relief when I finally figure out the hard problem. Then being able to do other problems like it because you learned something new is such a great feeling. With math you can truly tell you learned something new. That is why I love math. It's always reliable and so rewarding.

Calculus is very important in the STEM field and I will be focusing on why it's important in the specific STEM field i'm going into, which is engineering. Calculus is used in so many aspects of engineering. A huge one in my opinion is physics which I've come to learn through taking AP physics. Calculus models change. Calculus provides the tools to to model and analyze these changes in things such as motion, population grown, or even chemical reactions. Calculus also helps find maximum and minimum values which is crucial for engineering. It is the reason we can analyze rates in change for things like acceleration and velocity which are major parts of physics. It also is very important in biology for rates of change in populations. Calculus also helps connect different concepts between different STEM fields such as physics, chemistry, and engineering. This allows people to solve very complex problems. It also is the gateway to more advanced math and theoretical understanding. Both of those being essential for research and development in technology and science in general. Specific applications in physics would be for kinematics and electromagnetism. Maxwell's equations rely a lot on calculus. For engineering things like structural analysis and fluid dynamics use calculus a lot. In biological modeling calculus is also used. Population dynamics uses calculus to find out how populations grow and interact over time while pharmacokinetics uses calculus to find out how drugs are absorbed in the body along with dosage and treatment plans. For computer science calculus is essential for many algorithms. I learned calculus my junior year of high school and decided to take AP physics this year which is my senior year. It was a very big part of our first unit in kinematics and, according to my teacher, it will continue to be a large part of the course throughout the year. Since physics is a major part of many STEM fields I know that calculus also has to be a part of STEM too. Calculus is a very difficult math, one that I still don't fully understand since I have lost some of that knowledge over the time I wasn't using it. But it is a crucial part of engineering which is what I want to do so I took calculus and took AP physics. Calculus is a foundational tool that enables scientists, engineers, economists, and many others to not only describe and analyze the world but also to innovate and solve real-world problems. Its applications are vast and diverse, making it an essential part of any STEM education.

I am a cross country runner and have been for seven years. I know the town I run in very well so I can easily navigate back to school if I get off course. My friend Maddy was adopted from China and new to the cross country team. We were running the homecoming football from the school we were playing that night to our school. Her and I had gotten off the bus with some guys to run the ball. It was an unfamiliar area for us and both us and the guys had missed the next stop to hop back on the bus. I could've kept up with the guys for the next six or so miles back to school. Maddy on the other hand was not fast enough to do so. So even though I could've gotten back to the school a lot quicker and safer I stayed back with Maddy. We ran slower but went the whole way back to school together. It was not fun being in a place that we both didn't know well without phones or anyone around but it would've been a lot worse if it were just her alone. So I included her on my run that day and from then on I ran with her on easy practice days and slowly she became fast enough that we became really good training buddies and friends. I made sure she always had someone to run with. I'd sit with her on the bus to races. I'd invite her to join in on conversations. Running cross country has really developed by character and desire for inclusion. I had seen my brother always left out of things and I knew how it affected him so I've made it my mission to not allow that to happen to anyone on my team. So being on a sports team has allowed me to really create a large friend group that is all connected by that sport. Due to my constant pursuit of inclusion on my team I was made the captain of the team this year. I've spearheaded many team get togethers like pool parties after meets. I then go around and make sure everyone knows about the activity. If any younger kids don't have rides and are too shy to ask I make sure they have someone to drive them whether it be a fellow upperclassman or myself. I make sure that everyone is included. I do that for people who are in track with me also. I also show kindness with my friends. I am super aware of mental health since it is something my brother has struggled with greatly since he felt he had no one to talk to. So with my friends I make sure they know they can always talk to me. I made a policy so I'm always available to talk. I call it the two call policy. If someone calls me once I may not answer. I might be in a class or at work where it's difficult to pick up and I don't know if I should risk getting in trouble to answer the phone. If i'm called again, no matter where I am or who I'm with, I will pick up the phone. Two calls means it's something that I am desperately needed for. I have had serious talks with my friends about this policy and they know about it. If they ever were to need someone I am always there. This is how I show kindness.

Mental and physical wellness is extremely important to me because both of those things have affected my life and the lives of my family members also. Physical wellness is extremely important to me as an athlete. Being able to run and compete is very important to me. Some of my family didn't have the physical wellness to be in sports. My Aunt Therese was born with a small defect and due to a botched surgery she received brain damage that led to her being confined to a wheelchair her whole life. Due to this I know how important physical health is and I never take it for granted. Mental wellness is equally as important to me since both me and my brother have had poor mental health on and off for a long time. I have never taken any steps towards ending my life though my brother has. Luckily I was there and talked him down and was able to help him get the help he wanted and needed. I still struggle on and off with my own mental health. When things get overwhelming or I don't live up to my own standards for school I find my mental health declining quickly. I am a student athlete who is apart of NHS as well. During the fall and spring is when I have cross country and track. During those two seasons I find that I have no free time. I have work and practices on the weekends. I have practices every day after school along with times I have to miss classes for meets. Sometimes I even have before school morning practices that include weight lifting. I am a captain of the Cross Country team and will most likely be the Captain for the girls distance team in track. I take a very rigorous course load with a lot of AP classes including the hardest in the school, AP physics. I set a very high standard for myself with grades and not being happy if I get anything below an A in most cases. I also have relationships to maintain with my friends, family, and girlfriend. All of this is extremely overwhelming. To top it off I also have to apply for colleges and scholarships in my free time which a lot. Dealing with everything like this is really hard on my mental health. Trying to juggle everything is hard and I try to maintain my mental health and physical health by making sure I talk to people about all I'm dealing with. I used to keep everything in but I've learned that that isn't always the best route and I usually end up feeling worse if I don't talk about it. I also try to take time off of work once and a while on the weekends so I can have a day where I don't have to worry about anything or take time to apply for colleges and scholarships. Which is what I'm doing now.

Mental health is important to me because I have always struggled with my own mental health. I have always struggled with opening up and letting people in. I don't like to talk about myself due to never feeling like I was important while growing up since everything was about my brother. This led me to internalize a lot of feelings like not being enough which led to me thinking no one really cared about me. Things got worse when we moved schools and I had no real friends for a couple years. I was a really bad mental place for a lot of years until I was ending my first year of high school. I finally made really good friends. This allowed me to be a lot less shy. After a year of being friends I realized that they weren't going to go away any time soon so I started to actually open up. I had kept a notes app up until then of all my not so great thoughts. My friend always drove me home from cross country practice since we were in the same sport and I didn't have a car yet even though I had my license. We had a really deep conversation where I read from my notes document a little bit. From then on whenever she drove me home we'd have a good talk about everything. It really saved me. Since then I've done my best to help others. My brother who struggled with mental health did try to kill himself. I talked him down and I helped him get the help he needed. Since then I've made sure I am always there for others like my friend was for me. Because I realized my brother didn't have someone to talk to like I did. I make sure that all my friends know they can talk to me whenever about anything. I have no judgement towards them ever. I made my own policy so I always know if it's an emergency. I call it the two call policy. If someone calls me once I may not answer. I might be in a class or at work where it's difficult to pick up and I don't know if I should risk getting in trouble to answer the phone. If i'm called again, no matter where I am or who I'm with, I will pick up the phone. Two calls means it's something that I am desperately needed for. I have had serious talks with my friends about this policy and they know about it. If they ever were to need someone I am always there. Luckily no one has felt the need to yet but if they ever do I will always be there. I will always be that one person they can call.

I have always struggled with opening up and letting people in. I don't like to talk about myself due to never feeling like I was important while growing up since everything was about my brother. This led me to internalize a lot of feelings like not being enough which led to me thinking no one really cared about me. Things got worse when we moved schools and I had no real friends for a couple years. I was a really bad mental place for a lot of years until I was ending my first year of high school. I finally made really good friends. This allowed me to be a lot less shy. After a year of being friends I realized that they weren't going to go away any time soon so I started to actually open up. I had kept a notes app up until then of all my not so great thoughts. My friend always drove me home from cross country practice since we were in the same sport and I didn't have a car yet even though I had my license. We had a really deep conversation where I read from my notes document a little bit. From then on whenever she drove me home we'd have a good talk about everything. It really saved me. Since then I've done my best to help others. My brother who struggled with mental health did try to kill himself. I talked him down and I helped him get the help he needed. Since then I've made sure I am always there for others like my friend was for me. Because I realized my brother didn't have someone to talk to like I did. I make sure that all my friends know they can talk to me whenever about anything. I have no judgement towards them ever. I made my own policy so I always know if it's an emergency. I call it the two call policy. If someone calls me once I may not answer. I might be in a class or at work where it's difficult to pick up and I don't know if I should risk getting in trouble to answer the phone. If i'm called again, no matter where I am or who I'm with, I will pick up the phone. Two calls means it's something that I am desperately needed for. I have had serious talks with my friends about this policy and they know about it. If they ever were to need someone I am always there. Luckily no one has felt the need to yet but if they ever do I will always be there. I will always be that one person they can call.

My brother tried to kill himself when he was a senior in high school while I was a sophomore in high school. I talked him down. I make sure that all my friends know they can talk to me whenever about anything. I have no judgement towards them ever. I made my own policy so I always know if it's an emergency. I call it the two call policy. If someone calls me once I may not answer. I might be in a class or at work where it's difficult to pick up and I don't know if I should risk getting in trouble to answer the phone. If i'm called again, no matter where I am or who I'm with, I will pick up the phone. Two calls means it's something that I am desperately needed for. I have had serious talks with my friends about this policy and they know about it. If they ever were to need someone I am always there. Luckily no one has felt the need to yet but if they ever do I will always be there. I will always be that one person they can call.

I am a cross country runner and have been for seven years. I know the town I run in very well so I can easily navigate back to school if I get off course. My friend Maddy was adopted from China and new to the cross country team. We were running the homecoming football from the school we were playing that night to our school. Her and I had gotten off the bus with some guys to run the ball. It was an unfamiliar area for us and both us and the guys had missed the next stop to hop back on the bus. I could've kept up with the guys for the next six or so miles back to school. Maddy on the other hand was not fast enough to do so. So even though I could've gotten back to the school a lot quicker and safer I stayed back with Maddy. We ran slower but went the whole way back to school together. It was not fun being in a place that we both didn't know well without phones or anyone around but it would've been a lot worse if it were just her alone. So I included her on my run that day and from then on I ran with her on easy practice days and slowly she became fast enough that we became really good training buddies and friends. I made sure she always had someone to run with. I'd sit with her on the bus to races. I'd invite her to join in on conversations. Running cross country has really developed by character and desire for inclusion. I had seen my brother always left out of things and I knew how it affected him so I've made it my mission to not allow that to happen to anyone on my team. So being on a sports team has allowed me to really create a large friend group that is all connected by that sport. Due to my constant pursuit of inclusion on my team I was made the captain of the team this year. I've spearheaded many team get togethers like pool parties after meets. I then go around and make sure everyone knows about the activity. If any younger kids don't have rides and are too shy to ask I make sure they have someone to drive them whether it be a fellow upperclassman or myself. That is how I've displayed empathy towards others and that's how sports as aided in that side of me.

My mom currently has cancer. She's had it on and off but its been about a year since her first diagnosis. She is probably the toughest person I know. She has always been careful with not getting cancer since it is sadly a common thing that's in our family. We've had two family members die from cancer out of the four who have been diagnosed. So having my mom get cancer was very scary since it's a fifty percent death rate in my family. It's really caused me to realize that sometimes you can do everything right and still get cancer. My mom doesn't smoke and always wears sunscreen and she still got cancer. I'm now a lot more careful with sunscreen so I don't get skin cancer or anything like she has had. I am a lot more careful with the time I spend with her because I realize more now that I don't have all the time in the world with her. Time is a lot more important to me now. I value my time a lot more and I value the time I spend with people a lot more. It also makes me want to do something about cancer. I want to be a biomedical or mechanical engineer which would allow me to go into a career where I make medical equipment. I would be able to make new hospital machines along with improving old ones. Another thing that I would love to be a part of is the creation of new prosthetics. That would be something really fulfilling and would greatly benefit cancer patients. Pursing this career was impacted by my mom's cancer. It gave me the push to commit to doing this kind of engineering. I also now know you never really know what someone is going through. I never talk about this with my friends so I don't think anyone knows that my mom has cancer. I know I am probably not the only one who is dealing with something like this. So I know never to judge people too quickly. Anyone could be dealing with their parent having cancer and you could never tell by looking at them. My mom is a very strong person and I want to be like her when I'm older. So I want to be strong and take the hard classes to become an engineer so I can help people be strong and fight cancer just like she is doing.

I want to be a biomedical/mechanical engineer. I've chosen this field to go into for a few reasons. The first reason is I want to be an engineer. I always have ever since I was a toddler. I love creating things and that's what an engineer does. Another reason is I want to help people. I would get a job working with a hospital where I would be able to create new medical technologies or I would be improving on old ones. I think working on medical machines and prosthetics would be super neat. Another reason is I don't think doing that would ever get boring. It would be interesting every day and that is something I need. I really want to make an impact with this degree. I want to help change lives and this would be the way I do that. My family has been impacted greatly by issues with health. My Aunt Therese was crippled during a botched surgery as a baby and since then cannot walk or talk correctly. She has been confined to a wheelchair her whole life. My cousin Zac was killed from cancer at the age of eleven. These are two instances in my family where better medical equipment would have greatly improved their lives. I want to be the reason other families can go on and live normal and full lives. I can do that through getting a degree in biomedical or mechanical engineering and using that degree to benefit the greater good.

My cousin Zac died from cancer when he was eleven. I was seven at the time. His cancer was all over his body. It got in his bloodstream which led to the cancer easily traveling all throughout his body which of course means his brain too. I don't remember him much outside of the hospital. It felt like that was where he lived. He never got to be in a classroom because of his cancer. If he was out of his hospital bed then he was confined to his wheelchair due to the cancer being in his legs. It was everywhere in the end. The hospital released him to go home for the last few days of his life. He died in his home in early November. I was there when took his last breaths. Seeing this at a very young age gave me a unique perspective about this disease. I had seen how it affected every aspect of his life, degrading it slowly, then there was nothing left to take. It gave me this motivation to do something about this seemingly unstoppable disease. He is the reason I want to help people. For many years after that I was a part of a foundation that we made in honor of him. It is called Zac Strong. It's a wonderful organization that raises money to fight cancer every year. That foundation that me and my family made has gone on to raise tens of thousands of dollars towards cancer research. I want to be a part of the medical field but not in the usual way. I will be going to college and getting a degree towards biomedical engineering. I will use this degree to then improve prosthetics and medical equipment while also creating new equipment to revolutionize the survivability rates of all kinds of cancer with a focus on brain cancer. I hope to be the reason a kid can go to school with friends instead of being cooped up in a hospital bed their entire childhood. I want to be the reason kids can grow into adults instead of dying before middle school. I know what cancer can do to not only kids but to their families also. Tragedy either brings a family together or tears them apart. It tore mine apart. I want to be the reason that families don't need to worry whether cancer will destroy them because I want to help destroy the cancer first. That is how cancer has affected my life so far. I want to turn it into a positive. Zac fought for as long as he could against cancer and I want to be a fighter like him. We named the organization Zac Strong for a reason. It's my turn to be strong now.

My cousin Zac died from cancer when he was eleven. I was seven at the time. His cancer was all over his body. It got in his bloodstream which led to the cancer easily traveling all throughout his body which of course means his brain too. I don't remember him much outside of the hospital. It felt like that was where he lived. He never got to be in a classroom because of his cancer. If he was out of his hospital bed then he was confined to his wheelchair due to the cancer being in his legs. It was everywhere in the end. The hospital released him to go home for the last few days of his life. He died in his home in early November. I was there when took his last breaths. Seeing this at a very young age gave me a unique perspective about this disease. I had seen how it affected every aspect of his life, degrading it slowly, then there was nothing left to take. It gave me this motivation to do something about this seemingly unstoppable disease. He is the reason I want to help people. For many years after that I was a part of a foundation that we made in honor of him. It is called Zac Strong. It's a wonderful organization that raises money to fight cancer every year. That foundation that me and my family made has gone on to raise tens of thousands of dollars towards cancer research. I want to be a part of the medical field but not in the usual way. I will be going to college and getting a degree towards biomedical engineering. I will use this degree to then improve prosthetics and medical equipment while also creating new equipment to revolutionize the survivability rates of all kinds of cancer with a focus on brain cancer. I hope to be the reason a kid can go to school with friends instead of being cooped up in a hospital bed their entire childhood. I want to be the reason kids can grow into adults instead of dying before middle school. I know what cancer can do to not only kids but to their families also. Tragedy either brings a family together or tears them apart. It tore mine apart. I want to be the reason that families don't need to worry whether cancer will destroy them because I want to help destroy the cancer first. That is how cancer has affected my life so far. I want to turn it into a positive. Zac fought for as long as he could against cancer and I want to be a fighter like him. We named the organization Zac Strong for a reason. It's my turn to be strong now.

Category 1: Spikes, skates, cleats, hiking. These are all types of shoes for activities, Spikes are for cross country and track, skates is for hockey, cleats are for soccer, hiking is for hiking shoes. All of these are shoes I've worn growing up. They all mean a great deal to me, Spikes because I am a runner and those are my racing shoes. The first sport I played was soccer so as a five year old I though cleats were super cool. Skates are an essential for any person from Minnesota because you have to know how to skate here. I also travel a lot and have gone on some amazing hikes and the proper footwear is so important for being able to hike long distances on rough surfaces. Category 2: Net, boogie board, towel, soccer ball. These are things you'd find on a beach. Net is for the net in beach volleyball, a staple all around the world on beaches. Boogie boards are arguably one of the most fun things to do when there are waves on a beach in my opinion. That a favorite activity in my family. Towels are always on the beach to lay on and dry off. Soccer is the largest sport in the world. I have never been to a beach and not seen kicking a ball around. The beach is one of my favorite places ever and its a rare occasion when I'm on one so that is why it is a category. Category 3: Nice, Dijon, Avignon, Montpellier. These are all french cities and two of them look like other words and not cities which would be tricky. My family is very french and we travel to France a lot. We've been to all of these cities and they were all very beautiful and places I would give anything to go back to. Category 4: homework, tarea, devoirs, praca domowa. Homework in different languages. Homework is a huge part of my life as a student. It seems I'm doing it all the time so since it's such a big part of my life it should have it's own category.

When I was in 10th grade my brother tried to kill himself but I kept him from doing so. We were at a cross country camp and he felt lonely. He's always struggled with friends and he decided that he was going to take a bunch of Advil. I was able to talk him down and he did end up getting help a while after. I am now in 12th grade and he is a sophomore in college. He has a bunch of friends and is doing great. He's even dating someone. Though now I know how much mental health can do. I always understood that having bad mental health can lead to such terrible things. In my own relationships I make sure to ask about mental health and make sure whoever is doing okay. I look for signs that something is bothering someone and allow them to talk about it with me. My goal is that no one around me would ever go as far as my brother did. I understand that the world is a scary and unforgiving place but I know that things always have to get better. People can always make the choice to stay alive and someone will always be willing to help them through their tough time. That night he planned to kill himself and I spent the whole entire night staring at the ceiling while everyone around me was oblivious. I make sure to check in on him no matter what. I check in on my friends and I let them know I'm always available to talk. I made a policy due to that event. I call it the two call policy. If someone I know calls me once I may not pick up since I can be in an inappropriate situation to answer a call. If i'm called twice I will answer. Two calls means it's very important. Because of my brother I've made the two call policy but I'm glad no one has had to use it yet.

Katie Ledecky is by favorite athlete to cheer for on Team USA. I love watching swimming. It's such an interesting things to watch. It's a sport I could never do and I have so much respect for her since she is the best at it. She is a distance swimmer and I am a distance runner which allows to relate to her a little bit too. I've watched her for many many years. She has been swimming for a long time so I grew up watching her. Swimming is my mom's favorite Olympic sport to watch also so we've bonded over it. Every four years we make sure to record her races so we don't miss them. Katie inspires me greatly to be a dedicated and successful athlete like her. She is such a strong person and I try to model that strong nature in myself. It is so inspiring to see her as a teenager be so successful while being a high schooler. Her staying successful while growing up and going through college into becoming an older athlete. It shows me that no matter what you can always become successful. Katie Ledecky is a very inspiring athlete and my favorite olympic athlete to watch.

My favorite Billie Eilish songs are You Should See Me in a Crown, Bad Guy, and Lunch. You Should See Me in a Crown is one of my favorite hype songs. I always listen to it before I have a Cross Country or Track race. If I have a really hard test I listen to it on the way to school. It gets me in a mindset that I am great and capable. It always hypes me up and gets me mentally ready for what ever is to come. Bad Guy is another favorite of mine. It is the only Billie Eilish song me and my dad both like from her. Him and I go on drives on weekends sometime. It is the only time when it's just him and I and we actually bond. We listen and sing along to that song while we drive around. Lunch is another song I resonate with for a more funny reason. It is a song me and my girlfriend listen to a lot because it's lyrics are very gay which is relatable to us. My girlfriend sings along while I drive to where we're going. It's a song that gets us in a fun and good mood. It reminds me and her of summer since that's when we listened to it most. These are my favorite Billie Eilish songs and that is why the resonate with me.

I am a senior at Orono High School. I have been running for my school since 6th grade. I have run varsity for my Cross Country team since 7th grade and lettered since then also. I have run varsity track since 7th grade also but my 7th grade season was cut short due to Covid. I have lettered since 9th grade for track. Each year in high school I have received the MSHSL spotlight award. This is given out by the state to athletes who have a 3.7 GPA or higher while participating in their sport. I have held a 3.982 GPA. While in sports and school I am also volunteering. I am part of NHS which is a volunteer organization where we get 20 hours of volunteer work per semester. I volunteer frequently with Feed My Starving Children and Salvation Army. I also volunteer with a local 5k and half marathon. I man water stations and direct traffic to ensure the safety of the participants. I do that every year in the early morning on the Saturday of the race. It is always towards the end of October when it is quite cold out too. Usually I then have Cross Country practice once i'm done with volunteering for that. For track I volunteer a lot during my meets. I help with moving hurdles on and off the track while I'm not getting ready for a race. I stay after to pick up the wrappers from lane stickers left behind by runners. I also help bring hurdles into the hurdle shed. I volunteer at middle school meets also. I help with timing and getting kids in their correct lanes. I have had my fair share of injuries throughout my seven years of running but I have never stopped. Even on vacations from the middle of nowhere to extremely populated cities I continue to train. I love to travel. I love to run. This scholarship would help me greatly. This scholarship would give me more financial freedom, allowing me to choose where I want to go and not just where I can go. I would be able to use this scholarship money towards housing and books. This would be a huge weight off my shoulders if I were to get this scholarship. It would also mean so much to get a scholarship because of the years of commitment I've put in towards running. It would make the money so much more meaningful.