I’ve always abided by my mantra of “make time to make memories”. In other words, life is more pleasurable when you’re not always in a rush. Looking back at my childhood, I realize how quickly it went by without even getting the chance to reflect on everything I’ve accomplished in my first decade of living on this planet! It feels like I’m constantly looking towards the future—whether short-term (i.e: Pizza or Pasta?)—or long-term (i.e: What do I want to major in at college?). It seems like the older I get, the more time I spend worrying and the less time I have for doing silly things just for fun. As a young girl, not a week went by without creating a new clay sculpture or scraping my elbow from falling off my bike. I never thought more than one hour beyond the present moment. Nowadays, my mind is constantly clouded with subliminal thoughts of every task on my to-do list. By acknowledging this inevitable aspect of growing older, I’ve come to embrace the idea of "making time to make memories". No matter how busy or chaotic my schedule may be, there is always time to make new memories and enjoy each step of the journey, rather than only focusing on the destination.

Being actively involved in a community allows us to instill greater meaning in our lives and learn from others. Whether said community is a town, cultural group, or organization with a shared interest, surrounding ourselves with other people allows for compassion and understanding. This great big world is challenging to navigate all alone, so it's important for us as individuals to connect with others and build a source of support. For me, the community I call home is my school's Culinary Club. I joined this program during my freshman year, not knowing it was anything more than a gathering of people who all share the same interest—cooking and eating. I’ve formed close connections with people in my school and throughout the local community who share an appreciation for food. More recently, I was proud to be selected as the Culinary Club’s president, a role through which I’ve gained leadership and organizational skills from planning menus, attracting new members, keeping track of dues and attendance, and helping underclassmen in the kitchen. Like a sport, Culinary Club is built on an inherent sense of teamwork, as I’ve seen how collaboration and the division of tasks can ease the process of producing any fare. As a member of this organization for the past three years, I’ve also learned the value of taking the time out of a day to put all other distractions and stressors on pause. Serving at the Gillespie Center, our local soup kitchen, has been the most meaningful aspect of this club for me. Despite age, wealth, or any other non-defining factor, members of my town come together over the simple joy of sharing a meal. Being involved in this often-overlooked sector of our town has reminded me to be grateful that I have food on my own household table and continues to inspire me to do my part in supporting those less fortunate within my community. After cooking and serving meals every week for almost four years, a hidden passion of mine —food justice—unraveled. Seeing the startling obesity rate climb coupled with poor nutrition in the average American diet inspired change in my everyday life as well as in my professional goals. I plan to dedicate my career to making the food industry more transparent by removing the curtain between consumers and corporations. Utilizing entrepreneurial skills, for example, would enable me to achieve my goal through a social startup or nonprofit that promotes stricter regulations for companies and a shift in our food culture modeled after the beneficial diets of Asia and Europe. I want to use business skills as a vehicle to serve others, specifically improving our nation’s food industry. I’ve learned that the most important quality is the virtue of caring for others and knowing that regardless of a person's status, we are all equal and should be treated that way. Being an active member of the culinary club and volunteer at the Gillespie Center has been a true reality check: I’m able to help both others and myself by giving our lives more meaning. Through the culinary program at my school, I’ve had the opportunity to meet new people, demonstrate my capabilities as a leader, give back, and tap into a true passion, for which I will always be thankful.

Although I’ve always loved the idea of becoming a businesswoman, I never recognized my passion for leadership, problem-solving, and working with people until I brought what was once a simple startup idea to reality. During my sophomore year, I started my own dog treat business to promote both food transparency and the animal rescue cause. After researching the ins-and-outs of dog treats, I discovered a lack of all-natural treats on the market, which is why I decided my business —Bobo’s Bites— should only use natural ingredients. Designing a website, creating a presence on social media, and pitching to customers has given me a taste of the skills—namely organization and resourcefulness—necessary to succeed in business. To delve deeper in this field, I took a social entrepreneurship course at NYU, where I realized the power that business holds to change lives. Ever since, I’ve been able to see that business is a vehicle to implement solutions in every facet of society—it’s behind everything we buy, touch, see, and taste. This has solidified my motivation to study the ways in which business and philanthropy intersect. Due to my curiosity in my half-Asian identity as well as the Italian cultural enclave where I was raised, I’ve studied the Japanese and Italian language for the past several years and have become proficient in both. I’d love to explore the correlation between a country’s diet culture and their socioeconomic standing through studying international business.

My three favorite places to shop online are: Global Goods Partners, a more corporately-respectable version of Amazon that has partnered with over 60 artisan groups in more than 20 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas to help bring to market the fair trade, handcrafted products their community members produce; the H&M Conscious Collection, which features clothing made from organic materials which support sustainability; and Aerie, American Eagle's sister store that promotes body positivity and female empowerment.

“What is that?” It’s not unusual to be met with this question along with awkward glances at my school lunch table whenever I pull out my chopsticks and a clunky bento box filled with everything from onigiri to yakisoba to tonkatsu. These days, I am eager to share my Asian culture, proudly bringing more and more obscure foods to school. Doling out samples for everybody as if I worked at Costco, I’ve started to gain a reputation as a human sample stand, but I’m unbothered by the extra attention from my peers. I remember all too well my earlier days of insecurity and shyness when this wouldn’t have been the case. Flash back to middle school. I was one of two white-Asians, or “Wasians”, in a school district more Italian than veal scaloppini and tiramisu. As a Japanese-Indian-Korean-Irish-German mutt growing up in Eastchester, NY, I found it challenging to find my place in a community so homogenous. Between always packing salami sandwiches for lunch and wearing knock-off Ugg boots, I wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible amongst my peers. Despite my best efforts to camouflage, a bizarre medical condition appearing overnight made this a difficult task. I visited countless doctors, each of whom seemed more puzzled than the last as they examined the golf-ball-sized lump on my neck. Eventually, I learned I had a rare condition known as a Branchial Cleft Cyst, an illness that spread to my thyroid and made swallowing and breathing very difficult. “You’ll need an operation immediately,” my doctor said. What I didn’t know was that this surgery would be the first of many to follow over the next few years. One turned into two, which turned into three, four, five, and when all was said and done it took half a dozen operations to resolve my recurring nightmare. To keep my upper-body from becoming a real-life bobblehead after my final surgery, I was instructed to wear a cervical collar, which to my foodie self, looked like a huge powdered donut. There I stood like a walking pastry, ready to blend in. My overly self-conscious self had nightmares that if I left home one day without my collar, a school-wide announcement in a monotone, nasal voice would be made over the loudspeaker: “Lina Singh, your parents dropped off your neck donut. Please report to the front desk to pick it up.” But as putting on my donut became as much of a morning ritual as brushing my teeth, this fashion statement became a part of my character. My prop became an on-the-spot topic of dialogue which I welcomed and grew to like as the confident side of me began to surface. Like a marketer, I capitalized on my unique appearance by striking up conversations with new people. I refused to see myself as a victim of circumstance, but an aspiring entrepreneur honing my social skills along the way. Eventually, the new me taught my Italian friends how to use chopsticks and their nonnas fed me some of the best homemade lasagnas I’ve ever had, turning this wasian into an Italian food junkie. Owning my identity—rather than disguising it—is what’s allowed my entrepreneurial spirit to manifest itself today, whether that be through running my own dog treat business, talking with community members who stop by the local soup kitchen, or simply being the friend who’s unafraid to try something new. With the disappearance of my Branchial Cleft Cyst, also came the disappearance of my former insecurities. Looking back, I saw the world through a simple lens; my limited perspective harbored a narrow-minded vision. But seeing how quickly situations can change from one day to the next helped me learn how to roll with life’s punches and keep a smile along the way. Nowadays, I might only be living with 50% of my thyroid, but I’m living confidently with 100% of my Wasian, scar-bearing self.

Every Thursday afternoon, I look forward to walking into the aromatic school kitchen where I prepare foods both sweet and savory alongside fellow members of the Culinary Club. I joined this program during my freshman year, not knowing it was anything more than a gathering of people who all share the same interest—cooking and eating. In addition to mastering the art of baking a chocolate chip cookie (crispy on the edges and gooey on the inside), I’ve formed close connections with people in my school and throughout the local community who share an appreciation for food. More recently, I was proud to be selected as the Culinary Club’s president, a role through which I’ve gained leadership and organizational skills from planning menus, attracting new members, keeping track of dues and attendance, and helping underclassmen in the kitchen. Like a sport, Culinary Club is built on an inherent sense of teamwork, as I’ve seen how collaboration and the division of tasks can ease the process of producing any fare. As a member of this organization for the past three years, I’ve also learned the value of taking the time out of a day to put all other distractions and stressors on pause. Serving at the Gillespie Center, our local soup kitchen, has been the most meaningful aspect of this club for me. Despite age, wealth, or any other non-defining factor, members of my town come together over the simple joy of sharing a meal. Being involved in this often-overlooked sector of our town has reminded me to be grateful that I have food on my own household table and continues to inspire me to do my part in supporting those less fortunate within my community. After cooking and serving meals every week for almost four years, a hidden passion of mine —food justice—unraveled. Seeing the startling obesity rate climb coupled with poor nutrition in the average American diet inspired change in my everyday life as well as in my professional goals. I plan to dedicate my career to making the food industry more transparent by removing the curtain between consumers and corporations. Utilizing entrepreneurial skills, for example, would enable me to achieve my goal through a social startup or nonprofit that promotes stricter regulations for companies and a shift in our food culture modeled after the beneficial diets of Asia and Europe. I want to use business skills as a vehicle to serve others, specifically improving our nation’s food industry. I’ve learned that the most important quality is the virtue of caring for others and knowing that regardless of a person's status, we are all equal and should be treated that way. Being an active member of the culinary club and volunteer at the Gillespie Center has been a true reality check: I’m able to help both others and myself by giving our lives more meaning. Through the culinary program at my school, I’ve had the opportunity to meet new people, demonstrate my capabilities as a leader, give back, and tap into a true passion, for which I will always be thankful.

As I write this just one week prior to Thanksgiving, I am sitting in my room quarantined from the rest of my family—unfortunately, I tested positive for the virus. While I’ve been lucky enough to only have mild symptoms, I did lose my sense of taste and smell. For a foodie like myself, this has definitely posed a challenge as everything I eat just seems bland and unappetizing. I’m hoping my taste buds will reactivate by the upcoming holiday, but if not, I will make the best of what’s usually one of my favorite meals all year. Even though I’m upset I won’t be able to savor the delicious taste of my mom’s turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and more, I realize the whole purpose of the holiday is to give thanks and share feelings of gratitude with loved ones. The table will definitely be longer this year—both literally (to stay socially distanced) and metaphorically because we have so much to be thankful for this year. I’m so grateful that of anyone in my family, I’m the one who got the virus because I have the strongest immune system to combat it. Losing my taste has also reminded me not to take food for granted because it truly adds more than we often realize to our everyday lives. As I reflect on the past few months, I’ve realized not only that I have so much to be thankful for, but how much I’ve grown as an individual. Prior to the start of quarantine in the spring, my brain was constantly preoccupied with school for the majority of the day. But ever since, I've had the time to tap into my interests, research possible majors and colleges, improve my writing skills, and spend quality time with my family. These are all things I never realized I missed during the school year. I feel like my life has more balance to it and as a result, I’ve started to discover who I am and what I want to be. While constantly hearing about the turmoil due to COVID-19 has been distressing, I’ve taken some time to think about what’s truly important in life, and that’s the notion of living in the present. As cliche` as it may sound, this mantra has never been so apparent. I put my own spin on the saying: “make time for memories”. Prior to quarantine, I was constantly worrying about the next test, homework assignment, and everything else on a high schooler’s agenda. But this extraterrestrial-like pause in time has forced me to live in the moment. I finally have the time to do the things I’ve always said I would but never had time for. I’ve opened my eyes wider to the world around me. Every day, I’m either cooking meals, talking with friends and family, or refurbishing old clothes. While the current conditions of our world are truly unfortunate, I know we will bounce back stronger than before. I know that when things return to normal for me, I will definitely be making more of an effort to halt the brakes of everyday life once in a while, wave to a stranger, and ultimately, “make time for memories.”

One of the many problems facing society stems from the hundreds of thousands of stray animals that are abandoned and left to suffer on the streets. Ever since I adopted my rescue dog Bobo from North Shore Animal League of America, I’ve wanted to give back to this incredible organization that brought my best friend into my life and hopefully brings the same joy to other families. During my sophomore year, I was inspired to start my own dog treat business as a way to promote the animal rescue cause. The combination of watching talented entrepreneurs on Shark Tank and the faces of sheltered dogs on the heart-wrenching ASPCA commercials ignited my zeal for bringing what was once a fantastical idea to reality. After researching the ins-and-outs of dog treats, I discovered a lack of all-natural treats on the market. As an active supporter of healthy eating and improved regulations for big-name brands of our nation’s pet food industry, I decided my dog treat business—Bobo’s Bites— should use nothing other than natural ingredients to promote this additional passion of mine. Designing a website, creating a presence on social media, pitching to customers and companies, and whipping up a batch of dog treats every weekend has taught me invaluable skills including organization and resourcefulness. I plan to use these skills to improve my business and in turn, raise more awareness for animal rescue and dog food transparency. Despite being careful to maintain safety in production, packaging, and distribution, my business has lost some momentum because of customer health concerns related to the ongoing pandemic. Yet over the past few years, my efforts have attracted a group of friends and local adults who are also on board with my cause, which has developed a sense of community amongst my peers, dog owners, and other small businesses. Most importantly, Bobo’s Bites has allowed me to shed light, even on a local level, on the importance of adopting animals from shelters and the need for an improved diet for our four-legged friends.

1. “Sold” by Patricia McCormick is a book that has had the most profound impact on my life. Prior to reading this novel, I was never able to fully place myself in the shoes of a girl living in the slums of India, having little to no rights and in turn, little to no respect from others. In this book written about a true story, a teenage girl living in Nepal is sold into sexual slavery and struggles to find her way out of what is a never-ending trap. After reading this book (all in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down), I was personally frustrated and angry at a system so corrupt and immoral taking place in the very country I have family roots from. While I am proud to be part Indian, I am also aware of the degree of corruption and crime that persists in India. A few months after reading this book, I traveled to India with my family for the first time, as my dad wanted to expose me to the harsh reality of the lives of millions of other kids my age. It was during this trip that I was able to apply the images I pictured and part of the culture I read about in “Sold” with my very own eyes. Furthermore, I’ve been motivated every since reading this book and seeing the corruption in India first-hand, to make some change in some way, that will target the income disparity, poverty, corruption, and lack of human rights in the very country that I both hate and love. 2. I’ve always lived by my mantra of “make time to make memories”. In other words, life is more pleasurable when you’re not always in a rush. Looking back at my childhood, I realize how quickly it went by without even getting the chance to reflect on everything I’ve accomplished in my first decade of living on this planet! It feels like I’m constantly looking towards the future--whether short-term (i.e: Pizza or Pasta?) or long-term (i.e: What do I want to major in at college?). It seems like the older I get, the more time I spend on worrying and the less time I have for doing silly things just for fun. When I was younger, not a day went by without either riding my bike, cooking up a storm with my mom, or watching T.V. with my dad. Nowadays, this is no longer the case. However, my childhood taught me that no matter how “busy” I may be, there is always time to make new memories and halt the brakes of school or work once in a while. 3. From fourth to seventh grade, I went through seven surgeries on my neck and a series of doctor visits for a birth defect I had called a “Bronchial Cleft Cyst”. By the time I had went through my fifth surgery, I was filled with confusion and frustration with the never-ending procedures, that seemed to go on and on, with no end in sight. Although difficult, whenever my mind would gather thoughts of, “Why me?”, I slowly learned to fight off that feeling and tell myself that it would all work out. After finally learning to accept the situation, and forcing myself to persevere, I realized that my “hurdle” in overcoming my feeling sorry for myself taught me a valuable lesson in patience and optimism. By the time the doctors had told me I needed my sixth operation, my response was, “Bring it on!”. Going through this exhausting obstacle has made me a mentally stronger person- which I’ll always be thankful for. Even though the obstacle I faced wasn’t preventable, it was the change in attitude towards it, that allowed me to grow as a person, rather than let it drag me down. 4. If I won the Life Reimagined First-Gen Scholarship, I would be eager to glean from someone who has gone through high school and college being a first-generation student. I find that many of my peers have either parents that attended college or siblings who have already gone through the college process. Being the only-child in a family who would be the first to attend college is a bit overwhelming, however, I am not one to give-up, so I am driven towards any challenge! I would love and greatly appreciate having a mentor who could guide me on different aspects of the college process, and gaining a unique perspective from a person who I’d admire to follow in their footsteps. I would want to learn more about the business field from Calvin, and also receive his input on what I can do to follow a similar track down the road, as I hope to someday travel the world and make an impact while being financially stable enough to give back to my parents for all they have done to support me.