I was first diagnosed with NF1 at the age of 17, after months of tests and counting all of the little bumps and marks that I've lived with my whole life just to find out that they aren't just beauty marks. I am the first person in my family that I know of to have NF1, hearing the Doctor describe it for the first time almost made it sound made up there were things one person might have but another won't but we all still have the same thing somehow, from masses growing on the end of our nerves, freckles on our eyes, low vitamin D, and learning disabilities. I was told not to look it up, but temptation got the best of me, the results were absolutely terrifying to me at the time, seeing the word tumor attached to something that I just found out I had made me think that the world was ending. I felt alone and in denial as there was no way that I could possibly have this, I've never heard anyone talk about it before and no one I know has it so why me? NF1 consumed all my thoughts for a while, how is someone supposed to ignore the fact that they have tumors growing all over them? Explaining it to my friends why I had to miss so much school recently and why I need surgery all of a sudden was difficult, watching their faces change when as you're talking about everything associated with it was heartbreaking. Looking back at my life now I can see that NF1 was also ways there, those days where I had to miss class to go work on my speech and reading because I couldn't keep up with everyone else, the days where I looked at all the little brown spots on my arms and envied everyone who didn't, and all those days where I felt exhausted after doing the smallest things, then I realized that this is something that is going to be a part of my life every single day. After feeling alone for months, I finally found this scholarship, it was such a relief to know that I'm not alone, and that there's people out there with the same thing I have and their living their life and have gone through the same things I have. As someone who has experience the road bumps of NF1 I plan on becoming a speech language pathologist to help kids that went through something similar to me, I would be honored to be awarded this scholarship in memory of Dylan

In 2014, at 8 years old I was sitting in the back of my family's Tahoe, daydreaming while looking out the window while the radio plays the biggest hits of the early 2000s. While lost in thought there was always a handful of songs that were able to grab my attention, one of these being "shake it off". By Taylor Swift. While it's not the most loved song by the Hardcore Swifties, it's a song that I will always find special. "Shake it Off" is one of those songs that got so popular that everyone knew it within days of it coming out, when it comes on at parties you can hear almost every person in the room singing and dancing along to it. Some of my greatest members from elementary school come from jumping around with my friends while singing fun pop songs that spread around the internet like wildfire. I believe that music is something that is meant to be shared and enjoyed by everyone, and pop music is what it is because everyone knows the words for it. The upbeat jealousy, catchy lyrics, and overall feel-good song. Sometimes all you need is to dance around you're room like you did when you were younger. Many call the lyrics simple, but the best kind of pop song is a simple one. Even the music video is something that everyone can recognize in minutes. This song is Taylor calling out to the world, saying that she hears what people say about her and that she doesn't care, as Taylor herself would put it "The hater going to hate hate hate, I'm just going to shake shake shake" Taylor Swift is a role model for girls of every age, you don't need to care about what others say about you as long as you're happy with who you are. She is also her songwriter, which not many singers can say about themselves, she can consistently write one good song after another. She uses her songs to express herself and talk about her life in a way that is most comfortable for her, in musical form. Now, at 17 years old, driving myself home from school, being stressed from homework, drama, and junior year. I listen to my Spotify playlist and there are always those songs that can pull me back down to Earth, back to the backseat of my family's Tahoe, songs like "shake it off".