It is my desire to use my passions and gifts to help others. I love science and I'm especially interested in the field of medical research. During the Covid pandemic, I was inspired by a young lady I began following on Instagram named Laurel Bristow. She is a medical researcher/infectious disease specialist working on Covid research by day, and in her free time using social media as a platform for helping to educate others regarding the science of Covid and the ever changing information as research progresses. She is an excellent teacher and I love how she simplifies complex scientific information for the general public, especially during a time of so much misinformation. Through following her and becoming more interested in scientific research topics, I also came across a talented PhD/artist on Instagram who explains complicated science using art. Sciencewithanni aka Dr. Annicka Evans showed me one simple way that my two passions for art and science could be combined to help others. So exciting! Because of both of these ladies, I am understanding that I want to remain very open to creative ways to fuse my passions and abilities to find my place in the world for changing it. I am very excited to take my next step! I have committed to the University of Texas in Austin where I was chosen as one of 50 out of over 3,000 applicants students admitted into the Polymathic Scholars Honors Program in the College of Natural Sciences at UT. I also am thrilled to have been accepted into the Freshman Research Initiative which means I will be able to begin real world medical research right away my freshman year rather than having to wait to be an upperclassman or graduate student. This is a rare opportunity and I am grateful!

Since I was 12 years old, my family and I have been involved in mission work through our church Lakepointe. I have facilitated Vacation Bible School in low income areas of Texas, have done construction work in the Rio Grande Valley, and most dear to my heart, been part of a yearly medical missions team in Leogane, Haiti. As I have served and shared God's love with others during my mission work, my heart opened towards choosing a life dedicated to helping others. My passion is in the field of medical research and I have been accepted to the University of Texas at Austin in the College of Natural Sciences Polymathic Scholars Honors Program as well as the Freshman Research Initiative with a major in Medical Laboratory Science. I am very excited for the rare opportunity that I will have to begin real life medical research in my freshman year, as I know this if very rare. It was very important to me to choose a career path where I would be able to help others above all else. This medical expertise will be something that will allow me to continue to serve in medical missions whenever I am needed throughout my life and to share God's love with others through my medical work. During my trips to Haiti, through the years, we would provide a free children's medical clinic and health fair in villages where healthcare is not available. I began in middle school by helping in health education booths where we would teach about purifying water, growing healthy foods in tire gardens, dental health, and proper hand washing. Our hand washing booth alone saved many lives as we used a blacklight technique to show the difference in germs left after just rinsing hands and after washing properly with soap. We provided a large bar of soap to each family and taught how to make a handwashing using a stick, string, and empty soda bottle. After our classes, we then collected data in the area of deaths from communicable diseases and the declined percentage was significant! It is such a joy to know that that work saved lives, and that our sharing of God's love along with our medical help would also change hearts! As I was older, I was able to assist in the clinic during these medical health fairs where we were able to do bloodwork and also provide deworming and some vaccinations in the villages of Leogane. It is very rewarding work! Over the past two years, the political climate has become dangerous and we have had to cancel our past two trips. I am excited to return to Haiti when it becomes safe again, and also plan to travel to Africa on a similar trip in the future. I want to spend my life continuing to be a team member on many medical trips, donating my time and money to medical efforts that are supported by churches so that spreading the gospel goes hand in hand. I thank you for hearing my story of how missions is important to me and for taking the time and finances to encourage students like me in their educations! God Bless!

When I begin to draw, my stress melts away....this is how its always been for me....art is my escape, my passion, my happy place! When I was in fourth grade, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Before then, I had been drowning in school! After my diagnosis, there was an insurmountable amount of work to catch up ahead of me! It was overwhelming and stressful. Around the same time, I chose art as an elective at school, and my passion was born. For the first time in my life, I found that I had natural talent at something. I could easily create masterpieces and when I was engaged in my art, nothing else mattered. I was at peace! Through the years since then, art became a conduit to realizing the many talents that my dyslexic brain posses. Before, I was afraid that I was dumb, that there was not anything I could do or excel at because of my disability. Through art, I realized that I also have passion for math, science, music and languages. Where I still struggle to read, write and spell, I excel in these subject areas. My exploration of art has opened my my mind as I am now wired to think creatively in all of my academic pursuits. I have continued to take art in and outside of school, and it continues to be a great passion of mine. I truly credit my time spent in art education as one of the main reasons I have become successful in all of academics. Surprising everyone including myself, this dyslexic student will be graduating shortly as number 6 in a class of 630 students. I have been accepted into the polymathic scholars honors program at the University of Texas where I plan to continue to look for ways that I may incorporate art into my life as I also study medical laboratory science. I am currently inspired by Dr. Annicka Evans aka @sciencewithanni on Instagram and how she uses art to teach complex science to the public through social media. I hope to find a way to marry my passions for art and science in a meaningful way as well, that I may be a world changer.

During the pandemic, especially during the quarantine portion, I had more time at home to explore what my passions were and what I want for my future. Half of my sophomore year and my full junior year of high school were moved to online education meaning I had more time at home. Since I knew that graduation was coming soon, I figured it was a great time to explore possibilities for my future as I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up... School has not always been easy for me, as I have dyslexia and was late to be diagnosed. I was drowning before I finally knew what was wrong with me....school was miserable. Once I was diagnosed though and got the help I needed, I discovered that my work ethic is strong and that I can do anything I set my mind to. I dug in, worked hard, and put my effort into the areas of school where I had more talent: math, science and art. Where I lacked in reading and writing, I could make up for in these subject areas and in my work ethic. By the time the quarantine was in place, I had advanced to the top of my class and was fascinated by my subjects of choice. During the beginning of Covid things were so scary and confusing and misinformation was everywhere so I took to Instagram to find some experts who were actual scientists doing covid research. In my search, I found Laurel Bristow and she became my hero. Laurel is a medical researcher/Infectious Disease Specialist working on Covid research full-time by day, and in her free time using social media as a platform for helping the world understand what is happening regarding cover and our ever changing knowledge and understanding of it. She is an excellent teacher and I love how she simplified complex scientific information for the general population so that people could have a place to go for new they could trust in a time of so much misinformation. Through following her and becoming more interested in scientific research topics, I also came across a talented PhD/artist on Instagram who explains complicated Science using Art! How fun is that?! Sciencewithanni aka Dr. Annicka Evans showed me one simple way that my two passions for art and science could be combined to help others. So exciting! Because of both of these ladies, I am understanding that I want to remain very open to creative ways to fuse my passions and abilities to find my place in the world for changing it....I am excited to take that next step! I have applied to several colleges and am planning to major in medical laboratory science with a minor in art. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for investing in students like me who want to be world changers!

I aspire to use the hardships that I have gone through as well as the gifts that God has given me to impact the world in a positive way! Dyslexia has been a hardship that seemed insurmountable to me at times, but where I have lacked in the ability to read and write well, I make up for in my abilities in math science and art as well as in my work ethic and passion for doing my best to be my best so that I might grow to be a world changer! With a churning mix of incomprehension and panic, I would sit in anguish from the pressure of every test in elementary school, feeling the ticking of time and battling to just finish. I could hardly comprehend the reading passages as I rushed to answer questions, while my peers worked quickly. The minute the first test was turned in, I began to panic! Teachers, as kind as they were, were not able to aid me, to provide me the extra time I needed to finish their assignments. It was during this time, around third grade, that I began to sink instead of swim at school; I felt hopeless! My primary goal was just to get through the day, not to fail and hopefully to graduate as quickly as possible and be done with school. The relentless burden of stress and poor academic performance were too much to bear, I wanted nothing more than for it to end. I needed help. My mom took me to a specialist and we prayed for an answer. I was quickly diagnosed with dyslexia. We were actually elated to finally have an answer for my struggle. With my diagnosis, came resources, information and assistance. It was finally the life raft I needed. I was finally able to receive the proper accommodation of extra time for reading, note taking and testing where I no longer felt the anxiety when I was unable to keep up with the pace of my peers. A sudden burst of determination occupied the place of my earlier frustration and crushing stress! I dug deep and spent the necessary time developing a work ethic that would serve me well to achieve. As I worked through understanding how my brain works differently, I found that I was strong in math, science and art. My passion for these subjects grew as did my compassion for students like me who needed help. I began to encourage my fellow learning disabled friends at school to look for areas in which they excel, and to advocate for themselves where their learning differences were concerned. Because of what I have gone through myself and also because I now realize that my passions and gifts are wonderful tools for helping others, I now have a drive to work hard to change the world! I hope to be a medical researcher and to use my education to assist in any way that I can to do research in the infectious disease sector. I will always be grateful to have a chance to learn and work hard to achieve and will show my gratefulness by giving back and helping others.

A 4th grade diagnosis of dyslexia could have been the last nail in the coffin of me ever being successful at anything having to do with school....it certainly felt like that at the time! Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have a wonderful support system in my life to help me realize that dyslexia didn't mean that I was stupid. It just meant that my brain was wired differently and that if I searched for areas where my passion existed, I would find subjects that I was excited to learn about and where I would even excel! Art was the gateway for me to discover these passions and it saved my life! This piece is from a series I did during my high school art class on how it feels to have dyslexia. I hope that you can feel from looking at the images, the anxiety, embarrassment and struggle that I still go through when reading or writing is involved in learning. Art is different for me though! I can express how I feel without stress, I can show what I have learned without worrying about words or spelling! Through art I have also realized that I am great at science, math and spoken languages...a whole new world of learning has opened for me! I hope to use my future college years to learn ways of fusing my love for all of these subjects to help change the world, and of course I will always use my life and resources to support art education and helping others with dyslexia through art.

Maleah Sunshine Ortiz....yep that is my name! My middle name is literally Sunshine, so from day one my parents were making it well-known to me their goals of remaining positive and joyful...optimism is a high value in my family! I'm actually quite grateful for the name, as its a constant reminder to see the good and remain optimistic in my life. I've used my name and the visual of a sunshine to remind myself to stay positive and to brighten other people's days whenever possible. Through striving to have an optimistic attitude, I have learned that your attitude really does truly affect the outcome in much of life, and even when it doesn't, the hard times are much more easily endured when looked at through a hopeful lense. I pray that I remain joyful and positive in my life and that I can be an example for others in this area always!

My family, especially my mom, loves animals!! We have two doodles Lucy and Sadie and we also usually have a foster doodle of some kind living with us as well! We love to foster for a local Doodle Rescue in Dallas called Doodle Rock Rescue!!

I am a proud Hispanic female! My favorite cousin is a black female! One of my very best friends is an adopted Asian female! I have many friends with disabilities! It is important to us to see representatives of successful people who look like us in all aspects of technology, especially on social media! My dream is that by the time my 7 year old cousin is my age (10 years from now), that it will not be unusual at all for her to regularly see people who look like herself portrayed frequently as successful role models in all aspects of technology! I want her to be able to see with her own eyes that she can do anything she puts her mind to, that perhaps the world is not as unfair and tainted as to only show us white males as successful as we all think that it is! I hope there is great change between now and then…I feel very hopeful that we are headed in the right direction! My personal passions are in the area of medical research and also in visual art. As a dyslexic student who couldn’t read as late as 4th grade but was nonetheless able to become a successful student who is now going to graduate in the top 1% of my class, I am grateful for the role that technology played in my success!! From using technology in my language therapy, taking tests in school allowing extra time for me to read, to using art programs and apps to create digital art projects which allowed my first successes in a school setting; I know I would not be where I am today had it not been for the many advances and access to technology! In the future I hope to use technology to make the world a better place! I know that tech is constantly changing and growing in advances in the realm of medical research which is what I intend to study in college. During the quarantine phase of Covid I was inspired by a young lady I began following on Instagram named Laurel Bristow. She is a medical researcher/infectious disease specialist working on Covid by day, and in her free time using social media as a platform for helping the world understand what is happening. She is an excellent teacher and I love how she simplified complex scientific information for the general population so that they would understand, in a time of so much information. Through following her and becoming more interested in scientific research topics, I also came across a talented PhD/artist on Instagram who explains complicated Science using Art! How fun is that?! Sciencewithanni aka Dr. Annicka Evans showed me one simple way that my two passions for art and science could be combined to help other. So exciting! Because of both of these ladies, I am understanding that I just need to remain very open to creative ways to fuse my passions and abilities to find my place in the world for changing it....I am excited to take that next step!

Art inspires me daily! My personal art has been a vehicle for me to express my emotion and to strive to tell a story which invokes those feelings with great strength! In my AP art class at school, we were asked to create a series of personal struggle! I chose to express my feelings about having dyslexia, and to this day this series is still one of my very favorites that I have ever created and am post proud of. It’s not necessarily because it’s my best artwork, but because the work truly expresses the feelings of dyslexia. I hope that when someone whiteout dyslexia looks at this work, they may get a glimpse into how it feels and have compassion. More importantly, I hope that when another dyslexic student sees this series, that they would feel less alone in their journey! I hope you enjoy seeing this one piece from my dyslexia series! It is entitled: Alone

My favorite artist is also my favorite scientist! Dr. Annika Evans PhD aka @sciencewithanni on Instagram has become someone who I look up to and I love how she uses her artistic talents to educate the public in science. Discovering her on Instagram has changed my life as I always thought I would have to choose between a career in science OR the arts, my two passions. Now I am more determined than ever to remain open to creative ways to fuse these two passions to change the world!

If I am so blessed as to be accepted to the University of Texas at Austin, I will be a third generation Texas Longhorn! Both of my parents and both of my grandparents on my dad's side all graduated from UT! Because of this, I have been wearing burnt orange and showing my horns since I was a toddler. This is just a small snippet of my family's school spirit for UT! Hook 'Em!!

My biggest artistic ambition is to explore ways to fuse my artistic ability with my love for math and science into a creative career that would help others. During Covid, I was inspired by a young lady I began following on Instagram named Laurel Bristow aka @kinggutterbaby. She is a medical researcher/Infectious Disease Specialist working on Covid, and in her free time using social media as a platform for helping the general public understand complex scientific information in a more simplified way. Through following her and becoming more interested in scientific research topics, I also came across a talented PhD/artist on Instagram who explains complicated Science using Art! How fun is that?! @sciencewithanni aka Dr. Annicka Evans showed me one simple way that my two passions for art and science could be combined to help others. So exciting! I never really had even considered that this would be possible. I thought for sure I would have to choose between a career in science or art. Because of both of these ladies, I am understanding that I just need to remain very open to creative ways to combine my passions and abilities to find my place in the world for changing it....I am excited to take that next step! There is a great program at the University of Texas called the Polymathic Scholars Program and I believe that it is just the program that would set me on the right course to do just that! The prestigious group is explained on their website as "A polymath is someone with multiple interests. The Polymathic Scholars Honors Program is for science majors with multidisciplinary interests beyond or within the sciences. They are the Renaissance people in the College of Natural Sciences and, like the prototypical polymath, Leonardo Da Vinci, their signature trait is curiosity." I am hoping and praying to be accepted into this program! In the meantime, please enjoy some of my original artwork on Instagram @maleah.draws PS. Did I mention that I have dyslexia but through hard work and persistence am number six in my class of over 600 students. Rock on women!!

Privilege says, "I could help, but I don't need to." Courage says, "I will help, you need me." Love says "I must help, we need eachother!" -holiday phillips I saw this quote during a tumultuous time of racial bickering on social media and it stopped me dead in my tracks. I am a half hispanic young lady who basically looks white, thus benefits from the privileges that come along with looking white. My cousin, however, is black. Through living alongside her and loving her, I have come to understand things that I might not have otherwise so I have a different perspective than most of my predominantly white small community in Texas. I am constantly frustrated with the lack of concern and "this doesn't apply to me" attitude in my community when it comes to issues of race. When I saw this quote, it was the clear and compassionate answer to the callous attitude I had been facing when having conversations about race in my community. It is now my mantra and rebuttal to anyone who exhibits racism. It is how I want to live my life! I want to constantly learn and love and learn and love and learn and love over and over again until I get it right.