Before the 1980's, many crimes went unsolved. Some crimes ended up with false convictions, allowing innocent people to go to prison. Some of them have even been sentenced to death, while a real offender walks free. DNA analysis revolutionized criminal investigation. Investigators were now able to pinpoint DNA to an individual, allowing for more accurate convictions. Numbers of wrongly accused people were acquitted with DNA evidence. Even cold cases have been solved because of new analysis techniques. Forensic Biology is the application of biological principles to law. This includes analysis of physical evidence and DNA. This field helps criminal investigators to more accurately identify suspects and find culprits. Convicting real offenders, acquitting the innocent, and shedding light on cold cases is the impact this field has. Finding the truth for the victims and the families of those harmed in a crime is important to me. Making correct analyses of evidence and giving accurate information to investigators is how I will get that done. I am passionate about science and helping others, which is why I believe this field is right for me. I hope to one day work for the FBI as a Forensic Biologist so I can make an impact on our society by making it safer.

Sports teach us lessons. When it comes to wrestling, the toughest sport, those lessons can be painful or exhausting. Learning to wrestle as a newcomer with no experience is one of those moments that teaches you painful lessons. I remember getting headlocked and slammed in my first wrestling practice. It made me consider whether it was a sport for me. Fortunately, I stuck with it. Three years later, I can say that I learned a lot in my experience wrestling. These lessons are not only applicable to wrestling, they also apply to the real world. I learned to finish what I start from wrestling. My old coach used to say that phrase to us all the time. Finishing what you start is important if you want to get better at something. Dealing with setbacks and moving forward in spite of them will help you in the long run. Wrestling will present you with setbacks, whether it is giving up a takedown or taking a loss. You simply need to keep moving forward. Of course, learn from your mistakes, but don’t allow them to hold you back from getting better. Committing to your attack is necessary for a successful takedown. In the same way, you should put your all into something you want to do. Taking things lightly and not giving them 100% of yourself makes it much more difficult to succeed in them. Pursue your passion with conviction and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. Wrestling taught me to have confidence in my own skills. I never excelled at sports, so it was difficult for me to trust my own abilities. However, it is only you out on the wrestling mat. No one else is going to save you. You need to trust your own skillset if you want a chance to succeed. Having an education you can rely on will help you in the real world. If you can trust your academic skills and experience, then there’s truly nothing to be scared of. You just have to trust yourself. The most important lesson I picked up from wrestling is how to persevere when times are hard. It takes endurance to go the distance in a tight match. It takes mental toughness to stay disciplined in college and get difficult assignments complete. This is the lesson that sticks with me the most. Persevering does not start in the match. It begins in the practice room. Wrestling live and conditioning are hard, but they make you better at the sport. The same goes for college, and real life for that matter. You will always have obstacles and problems facing you in the real world. The kind of person you are dictates how you will handle the challenge. Wrestling teaches us about life. We learn lessons from wrestling that will help us grow and improve our lives. Pursuing a STEM degree requires dedication, discipline, passion, and perseverance. The ability to learn from mistakes and deal with difficulty is crucial to success in that field. In my own pursuit, I will use the lessons that wrestling taught me. I will keep moving forward and learning no matter the setback. After college, I plan to give back to wrestling through giving to the Pottsville Crimson Tide Mat club. They have done so much for me and my teammates throughout our careers and I could not be more grateful. Hopefully, my contribution will help them to continue making a positive influence on people’s lives

Spencer Lee inspired me to start wrestling. When a friend of mine told me that I should try out for the wrestling team, I was scared. I had no idea what to expect. I had no previous experience or knowledge of wrestling. In short, I had no idea what I was doing. I decided that the best way to get an idea of what wrestling is would be to watch some wrestling. I looked up wrestling matches on YouTube. The match that caught my eye was Spencer Lee vs. Nick Suriano. I had no idea who either one of them was, but I watched it anyway. This made me really consider taking up wrestling, which I would eventually do. Watching Spencer Lee wrestle is unexplainable. He is a true professional of the sport and he carries himself as such. He never made excuses or blamed anyone else for his performance. Lee wrestled his third national championship match with no ACLs; not just a single ACL injury, but BOTH ACLs were torn. Seeing him wrestle through that pain, and to come out on top just to say “Excuses are for wusses”, reveals his character. He is a special kind of human. Spencer Lee will always have my support, in winning as well as in loss. He is the true definition of a champion. He makes no excuses for himself and works to ensure his success. He takes no shortcuts. He has possibly the most skill in wrestling and definitely the most determination. Anyone involved in wrestling, or sports in general, should strive to exhibit the qualities that Lee shows; determination and accountability.

I grew up watching Disney channel. Girl Meets World was one of my favorite shows on that channel. Now, it feels unreal to me that the person who played Maya Hart is now one of the most popular singers in the world. The first song I heard from Sabrina Carpenter was Espresso. It was a fun, upbeat song that I felt as if I could never get tired of. From that point, I was hooked on her music. Her music has been helping me study for tests. I always turn her music on while going over flashcards or a study guide. The happier vibe just helps me really focus on something I’m doing. It helps make studying less boring. I have a few favorite songs that I always make sure are in my playlist before studying. I really like the humorous lyrics of Bed Chem. Coincidence is also a very good song. The guitar in the song makes it stand out from other songs in her album Short n’ Sweet. I like most of the songs on that album. I really appreciate how there’s something unique in each song that keeps them from being repetitive. It just makes for a very interesting and unique listening experience. From Girl Meets World to Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter has always been great. Between acting and singing, she is very deserving of the recognition that she is now receiving. Her career really made me realize that you can always try something new. If she can transition from acting to singing, then I can do something else with my life if one thing isn’t fulfilling. She is overall a beloved person and artist who deserves her popularity and presence in pop culture.

During quarantine, staying connected with friends was not as easy as it was before. We were isolated and all we could really do to stay in touch was to play video games. Minecraft was our favorite outlet to spend time with each other without physically being near each other. It was very hard to get bored when playing with each other. Those memories still stick with me. Multiplayer is the best thing to happen to Minecraft. Playing with friends makes the experience that much more meaningful. My favorite moments from when my friends and I played in quarantine was the wars we would have against each other. We would plot conspiracies against one another, set up ridiculous traps, and raid each other's bases. We destroyed an entire village with TNT once when we found out one of my friend's bases were underneath it. I died several times during this bombing, but I was laughing the whole time. There would be periods of calm between these conflicts. We spent this time collaborating on bigger projects, such as a big treehouse, nether base, or replicas of things from real life. These were often short lived, however. Some hilarious disagreement would put us at war with each other once again. We all loved it. Minecraft brings people together when they share their experience with friends. Maybe there would be battling or destruction involved, but it would always be in good fun. The most fun we had was, most of the time, when things turned out unexpectedly. It made the game more exciting than it was already. Sharing this game and moments like these with my friends made us closer and helped us get through the pandemic. Minecraft will always be one of my favorite games.

Reading was always a big part of me. Books would keep me entertained for weeks, or even months at a time. I was starting to grow further away from reading, but #BookTok really brought it back to me. With that being said, I proudly present the books that I consider must-reads. One title that I simply must have on my shelf is the Lucifer Effect by Philip Zombardo. It recounts the sad and terrifying Stanford Prison Experiment. This book showed the dark side of human nature and what people are willing to do to when given positions of power over other people. The content really shook me, but I also have a better understanding of people's behavior when validated by a group. Mindhunter by John Douglas was another book that was especially interesting. It started off slower but once it kicked off, it got truly disturbing. This account by John Douglas described real interviews between him, his partner, and serial killers and violent criminals at state prisons. They questioned the offenders' motives and mental state at the time of the crime. The interview with Edmund Kemper, or the Coed Killer, genuinely made me uneasy. This book spares absolutely no details. It is a very educational read, breaking the stereotypes of what people imagine law enforcement as and showing the real side of an investigation. I was a fan of Gillian Flynn books before they got to TikTok, but I feel like my shelf would not be complete without her titles. Flynn is a mystery and thriller writer, whose books are always engaging and intense. One of my favorite stories by her is Dark Places. This was the first book that I read from her, and it got me hooked. It follows a girl who survived the brutal murder of her family. She testified in court that it was her brother that committed the act, landing him in prison for life. Many years later, she is being harassed by people who believe that her brother is innocent. She begins to doubt herself and seeks to find proof either for or against her brother to ease her mind. It is a really cool story and I recommend it to anyone that would like to start reading her work. Sharp Objects and Gone Girl are also extremely good. However, if I were picking one book, I would still choose Dark Places. My last book is a mystery book with a mind-boggling twist. The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton follows a man trying to save Evelyn Hardcastle from being killed. He is held in a time loop, and, at 11:00pm, she will be killed. He is held in this place by unknown forces who give him 8 days to figure out who is killing Evelyn Hardcastle, or he will be stuck there forever. It is an addicting read which I found hard to put down once I started. Other people on TikTok share that experience with me. This story brought a unique concept and vibe to the murder-mystery genre that we haven't seen in some time, and it is absolutely welcome on my bookshelf. #BookTok popularized reading in a generation where it is rarely seen. People were sharing reviews and recommendations. It was really inspiring to see how many people loved reading. I felt like this was a community where I could share my interests with like-minded people. As much as these books impacted #BookTok, it had also impacted me in a positive way.

Reading has always had power over me. Ever since I was a child, I loved to read. I would often stay up late on school nights just so I could finish a chapter of a book I found particularly interesting. Reading is and was a huge part of my life. It followed me through my high school years and lingers to this day. I enjoyed reading most genres, but I had a certain fascination with true crime. One of my favorite books is Mindhunter by John E. Douglas. He writes a personal account of cases he worked and the highs and lows of working and living as an FBI special agent. He also writes about working in the Behavioral Science Unit and how he and his partner, Robert Ressler, helped build the unit from the ground up. One of the most significant events in Mindhunter was Douglas and Ressler’s cross country road trip where they visited state prisons and interviewed violent offenders and serial killers. They were trying to find out more about the offenders’ mental states before, during, and after the crime, their motivation for committing the crime, and consistencies in psychological profiles between violent offenders. It is a very graphic read that shows the true life one would lead as an FBI agent. Despite visceral descriptions and heavy subject matter, I highly recommend this book to anyone thinking about taking up work as a policeman or any position in law enforcement. The main idea I got from reading Mindhunter is that the FBI is not for everyone. On the other hand, I believe that it is my calling. I took forensic science as a VHS class in school and my fascination only grew as I learned more about the subject. This is the time when I really started considering forensic science something I could do in the future. In terms of the career, Forensic science, or law enforcement for that matter, is not an easy profession. Dealing with horrific crimes and investigating those responsible can take a toll on a person. Referring to an example from the book, John Douglas feels the consequences of his work when he experiences seizures, a 110 degree fever, and paralysis in the left side of his body induced by the stress of independently handling 150 active cases at a time. Despite this incident, Douglas still returned to the job because helping people was important to him. Working for the FBI requires dedication. Being able to work effectively in high stress environments is a must. I admire the dedication and bravery of the agents mentioned. I am not at that level yet but I plan to get there at some point in my career. Working for the FBI is my dream and I will keep pursuing it until I can make it a reality. Mindhunter was my inspiration for taking my career where it's going. The book not only taught me about the FBI and law enforcement; it taught me about myself. I saw a career possibility that I am getting closer to making real. Admittedly, it does make me feel a little intimidated. It is gruesome work. The work I do will affect real individuals. Their lives would depend on me. There can be no mistake or fallacy in my analysis of a crime scene. However, I truly feel that it is my calling to be a forensic scientist. A qualified professional working their case is owed to the victims or relatives. I plan on exhibiting those qualities in my career.