“There will be a cure in five years” was somehow the only solace that doctors and nurses thought to give to a seven-year-old with a pretty bad fear of needles and a fresh diabetes diagnosis. It was little comfort for the injections, hospital stay, and blood, yet I held on to this claim for as long as possible. Those nurses were wrong, of course, this is just a common phrase that has probably been thrown around since the discovery of type 1 diabetes, but it can be hard to find the advantages of a chronic disease. Nobody mentioned the magical ability to bring food anywhere or extended time on standardized tests. Nobody acknowledged the positivity within my newfound excuses for school absences or potential for a great college application essay. Of course, these little benefits took years to appreciate, but some diagnoses do not mean the end of the world. My subsequent Hashimoto’s disease diagnosis was arguably more emotionally straining without the childhood naivety present when I first learned the term “diabetes,” but adaptation to this diagnosis was easier with my experience of auto-immune disorders. Constantly counting carbohydrates for insulin began the gradual process of understanding the nutritional components of food. I never saw other elementary schoolers who immediately scanned the nutrition labels of every snack they were handed, and it felt a little isolating. Eventually, I grew used to this routine, and my peers began reading their food too, infatuated by American diet culture, but easing my anxious isolation. Somehow, an unfortunate auto-immune disorder led to fluency in nutritional labels and an in-depth understanding of the American food industry. In August 2020, I co-founded a vegan cottage bakery. Nearly a decade of tracking carbohydrates, fiber, and sugar translated to reading ingredient labels at the speed of light. Farmers' markets were slow at first, but I soon discovered an unfortunate group of people who could benefit from plant-based desserts: people with allergies. Each week brought parents of toddlers and tweens who had never experienced a birthday cake or freshly baked cookies. I learned that there is a substantial demand for gluten-free food, and I experienced the difficulties of baking a gluten-free cake. While perfecting the baking time of a gluten-free dessert is exceptionally challenging, finding gluten-free resources and ingredients was effortless with my intricate knowledge of ingredients and nutrition. It is admittedly ironic that my type 1 diabetes helped me start a baking business. Yet, I wouldn’t have found success and acceptance within my community’s niche demand for plant-based desserts without my own food nutrition experience.

I went vegan in 2019 because I had been a vegetarian for nine months and I ran out of my favorite veggie burgers that happened to contain eggs. I did not yet fully understand why people stopped eating eggs and dairy. At the time, I only knew of a small fraction of the abuse and death bestowed upon the billions of innocent animals in the agriculture industry. I didn’t even know that Impossible burgers, vegan cheese, and non-dairy ice cream existed; I was willing to just eat bread and salad for the rest of my life if that meant I could help some of the animals mindlessly slaughtered on a daily basis. I still remember that I stopped eating meat approximately three days after watching a popular food documentary in home ec class. For a few years, I had admired the commitment and willpower of vegetarians, but I had grown up surrounded by southern culture and the same three animals served at every meal. Today, veganism is important to me because I know that I am preventing the deaths of chickens who grow too big for their legs and collapse in windowless rooms, the mindless killing of male chicks who have only lived a few days and are only guilty of their inability to produce eggs, and the painful life cycle of a cow that simply consists of forced birth and a lifeless milking machine that only stops for death. I became a vegan to help animals, but I now know that immobilizing mass animal product production is unimaginably important to slowing global warming. In 2018, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that 14.5% of annual greenhouse gas emissions stem from global livestock. This is a disproportionately large number since it appears to ignore greenhouse gas emissions caused by the processing, manufacturing, and transportation of various animal products. This report is also four years old, so the percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions produced by livestock farming has most likely increased significantly. Environmental studies, a collection of informative and helpful classes that focus on the scientific and social aspects of the environment and animals and which are now provided at many higher education institutes, is the subject that I currently plan to major in. I am not yet sure what career I would pursue with this education, but a deeper understanding of climate change, deforestation, and sustainability would directly connect to the various negative effects of industrial livestock farming and allow me to advocate for a vegan diet with a complete understanding of its benefits.

"I am concussed." My favorite book is Looking for Alaska. It is written by John Green and it is not especially emotional or popular, but it is my favorite book. My favorite part is the ending: a suicide without a clear reason. The second half of the book concerns the aftermath of the death of Alaska, but the mystery of her death is never quite solved and the book ends. The book just ends before Pudge, the main character, knows the definite cause of Alaska's death. This book is the story of a boarding school experience in Florida coupled with the depressing death of a friend, all narrated by a sixteen year old boy who does normal teenage things. The entire book is a perfect mixture of serious and funny, but always realistic. This book doesn't dwell on especially emotional moments as teen dramas do, but it tells a serious story through the point of view of a realistic teenager. I like romance books, but sometimes they are extremely solemn and unrelatable, while Looking for Alaska does not follow an obsession described as unrealistic romance. I have read this book at least six times. It has caused me to genuinely cry and laugh and some pages are damaged from when a water bottle broke in my school bag four years ago. I usually read Looking For Alaska at the end of a school year, so it is remembered with classroom movie days and anticipation of summer. I normally read library books and only buy copies of books that I really love, and Looking for Alaska is my favorite book of my favorite books. "I have suffered a mild concussion."