A piece of art that inspires me is Salvador Dali’s “Swans Reflecting Elephants”, because the double image provides an additional perspective of the subject matter. The aptly named painting is of swans on a lake with dead trees directly behind them. However, the reflection of the swans in combination with the trees in the shows three elephants that are facing the viewer. This image displays the idea that just because something is portrayed a certain way, when it is viewed from a different angle it takes on an entirely different appearance. I find this image inspiring because it demonstrates that appearances are not everything, and that many times something else lies below the surface. Oftentimes swans are shown as graceful and fragile creatures, while elephants are considered wise and strong. While one is not inherently better than the other, it poses the possibility of being perceived differently than how one perceives themseves. While multiple interpretations exist for artwork, the notion that what is on the inside is different from what is displayed on the outside resonates with me.

The most inspiring book I have read is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The main character is not your typical hero; he is short, likes being comfortable, and has no aspirations for greatness. However, when he is pulled out of his comfort zone to help the dwarves reclaim their treasure, he finds the strength to be brave in the face of adversity while still holding true to his morals. Despite being seen as unfit for the job at first, Bilbo is able to prove that he is more capable while remaining true to himself. Even though he never slays a dragon, or leads an army into battle, he becomes a hero by using his own talents and by not giving up. At first he pushes himself to be brave because he wants to prove that he is not a coward, but as the book progresses he goes above and beyond by rescuing the dwarves when they get captured by giant spiders, by planning and executing their escape from the wood elves, and by making a deal with both Bard and the king of the wood elves to prevent the dwarves from being slaughtered for refusing to share the treasure. While this book is a fantasy, the idea of being brave and adapting despite your size and what others think of you is one that continues to inspire me to not give up.

While legacy usually has a positive connotation (i.e. football legacy, having a legacy at a college), for me the meaning is neutral. Legacy is simply another word for history; It is your past, it is something that shaped you, and it is something that you are unable to change. A legacy is a double-edged sword; it inspires you, but also traps you. Having a history of people in your family who have done great things is inspiring, and it motivates you to try harder because you want to live up to your predecessors. Whether that be by studying hard in school to get into college, or spending all your free time perfecting that shot from the free throw line in the hopes of being scouted. At the same time, knowing that you have accomplished family members causes anxiety and fear because of the pressure of having to live up to their achievements. Maybe you have no desire to play basketball, or become a doctor, but because that is what your parents and grandparents did, that is what you are expected to do. Because you are unable to choose your ancestors or how you were raised, it is something that will affect you. However, just because you can not change the past does not mean that you have to continue a legacy. It is hard to push back against what your family expects you to do with your life prior to college, but once you finish high school you are finally in a position where the decisions you make will have a far more lasting impact on your future; playing a sport in high school eats up your time after school and on weekends, but the major you choose affects your career options. It is easier to accept that your parents get to choose how your free time for four years when you have no way to support yourself, but when they are trying to push you into a specific line of work that you are expected to work in for the next sixty years of your life that is the time to not let them make decisions for you. I hope to continue the legacy of not giving up that has pushed the women in my family to be resilient in the face of hardship by getting my master's degree despite the nontraditional route required to do so, but I also hope to break the legacy of having my financial security dependent on someone else by getting a degree that will help me support myself.

Giving is important to me because it allows me the opportunity to show my appreciation for what others have done for me. The person who has given the most to me in my life is my mother, and so in return I try to help her out. I give back by doing what I can to help my mom out with household expenses; while I do not make a lot of money, I make sure that whenever I go home I bring home supplies that she has difficulty getting where she lives. In addition, I help out by doing additional chores around the house and prepare dinner so that she can relax when she gets home for work. While that does not seem like much, I also plan to help her out financially once I complete my degree. In order to help out my mom as much as I can, my goal is to complete my degree as fast as possible while having to take out as few loans as possible.

While generosity is espoused as a virtue, many people are not actually generous. Generosity means doing things for other people when it is not required, and without the expectation of receiving something in return. A task is not generous if you have to do it. If a high school requires the student to do community service in order to graduate, the community service done by the students is not considered generous because they had to do it in order to get their degrees. When someone commits a crime and the judge assigns them community service hours in lieu of prison time or a fine, they are doing it because the alternative is worse. Community service is not generous if you are doing it in order to apply for a scholarship, or for the purpose of padding your college application, that is not being generous. While the person you helped may genuinely appreciate your efforts, it was not a generous action on your part because you did it with the specific intention of gaining something upon completion of the task. However, it is possible to be generous while still receiving compensation. There are several organizations, such as Teach for America, that provide services to underprivileged communities. While these positions are paid, the people who take these jobs will not make as much money as they would if they had gone into the private sector. By choosing these lower paying jobs to help people instead of maximizing the amount of money they could make, they embody generosity.

The biggest problem facing the world right now is climate change; animals are going extinct, large swaths of land are engulfed in fires, and the temperature across the world is increasing. While there are a number of things that we can do individually to help solve the climate crisis, the most decisive way to change the trajectory we are on is by banding together and implementing politicians who will pass regulations to prevent corporations from continuing to destroy the planet. Corporations are responsible for a vast majority of the greenhouse gases that have caused the dramatic shift in temperatures, and they have proven repeatedly that they will not do the right thing unless they have a financial reason to do so. The purpose of corporations is to make as much money as they can, and everything else is an afterthought. An individual choosing not to purchase products from a corporation will make no difference in its bottom line, but a boycott by many people will result in them making changes. However, this process takes a long time and is not always successful. If society as a whole elects people into positions of power at the state and federal level laws can be passed that will affect all businesses to prevent them from continuing to destroy the environment. While we should each try our best to reduce our consumption of single use items, and rely less on fossil fuels, individual efforts will not be enough to prevent the planet from becoming an inhospitable wasteland. The fate of Earth rests in our hands, and no one person can stop it alone.

One quote that means a lot to me is from J. R. R. Tokien’s "The Fellowship of The Ring". This scene occurs late in the book when The Fellowship is making their way through the mines of Moria, and Frodo is feeling despondent about the journey that lies ahead. ““I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”” This quote accurately portrays how people do not get to choose whether they must go through tribulations, as well as serving as a reminder that you are not the only person who feels upset about having to go through them. More importantly, the quote points out that even though we do not get the option of whether or not we have to live in difficult times, it is our choice to decide how we handle the situation. For me, this quote served as a comfort when my family was struggling financially when I was in school. While it was tough seeing other kids being able to afford private tutors to help them prepare for college, this quote helped me to put my situation in perspective and do the best I could with the resources I had. This quote once again holds meaning for me during the current pandemic; we did not get the choice of having to live during such a harrowing time, but what matters is our actions during such a time. I chose to get vaccinated, and to try my best to encourage those around me to follow health precautions. While that may not be enough to make a discernible difference in the progression of the pandemic, I will be able to look back at this time and know that I did the best that I could to make things better.

I need this scholarship to help pay for school. I am in a program that helps students without engineering backgrounds obtain a master’s degree in engineering; students in the program take a number of undergraduate engineering and math classes to obtain the necessary foundational knowledge, after which they transition into the master’s level classes. My initial plan was to work full time while doing the program part-time, but after being in the program for two years I have only made it through six classes due to my difficulty balancing work, personal life, and school. This upcoming semester I found that none of the classes fit outside of my work schedule, so I decided to take the plunge and quit my job at the end of this summer to attend school full time. While I intend to pick up a part time job to help offset some of the loans I will be taking out, any scholarship amount I can get would help out immensely.