In light of the pandemic, hospitals have been bombarded with excess patients storming the urgent care wards. From respiratory diseases such as Covid-19 to more mundane injuries like a sprained wrist, these centers are constantly bustling with stressed front-line workers and patients demanding care. The sad truth about the majority of cases that arrive at urgent care is this: had the patient gotten preventative treatment before their illness escalated to a point that required an ambulance ride to the emergency room, the patient would not have had to call 911. Given this statement, an important issue in our society nowadays is the healthcare industry. A lot of individuals lack access to affordable (or any) health insurance, making routine visits to the doctor a financial hassle. This also means that when ill, they will do anything to stay out of a hospital or a clinic until they require immediate and urgent care. The normalization of emergency treatment should not be as prevalent as it is, and it is only spurred by insurance companies and a lack of medical welfare. This is why I am working on normalizing the stigma around preventative treatment by working with my local fire department in my town. I am a volunteer and a part of their Community Health Assessment Team which prioritizes itself on providing free, instantaneous, and preventative health check-ups on community members. They can go online and create appointments where they state the reason for making the appointment and then a team member is contacted to make a house call for the check-up. Since I am not EMS certified, I cannot go on my own when these appointments come in, but I accompany a paramedic or an EMT on the house calls. On these calls, I am able to chart patient medical history, evaluate the patient by taking their vitals, and on the off-chance that the patient has a serious emergent condition, I am allowed to ride in the ambulance with the patient. Overall, the majority of our patients are geriatric individuals on medicare/aid. These preventative visits are very important for their health because it gives them the added security that someone is checking on them without having to go through the hassle of leaving to go to the doctor since the majority of them do not have the means to drive themselves to a clinic. Since this is a new program, the statistical evidence of its prevention of 911 calls is too early to calculate, but based on other programs around the world, preventative treatment prevails in the healthcare industry. Being a part of this program has given me insight into what healthcare should be about-- not just treating, but preventing medical emergencies. Our society is thrust into the arms of profit-based healthcare, but if we focus on preventing a rush of 911 calls and giving patients the support that they need medically, it is one step closer to reforming the system. I plan to continue working with my fire department as a volunteer and I am considering taking an EMT summer course so that I am able to be a part of WEMS, the emergency medical services team on my college campus throughout the school year because college kids deserve preventative healthcare too.

Fighting one's demons is hard, and when the world seems to be fighting against you, there are few things, if any, that can better the situation. I have found that the people that I surround myself with are the sources of optimism and safety in my life when I am going through a rough patch. They have taught me the value of patience when it comes to college decisions, scholarships, and awaiting answers from institutions regarding other forms of financial aid. Additionally, they have taught me the importance of self-care. I tend to lose interest in caring for myself when I become overly stressed; I begin to care for others' needs more than my own, and it causes me to slowly fade away and recede into a state of constant anxiety. This is when my friends start to notice my behaviors and pull me out of it by reminding me of my goals, the accomplishments I have achieved, and the hopeful prospect of my future. The people I surround myself with ground me and help me find myself when I have clouded my vision with the stressors in my life. These people have taught me the importance of great relationships, the values of patience and self-care, and they encourage me to continue pursuing my dreams despite the challenges and obstacles in my path. It is easy to stay optimistic when I have a great support system, and I am that support for them as well.

Independence is the quality of self-reliability and confidence to pursue life as an individual rather than depending on others. It is an important thing to have and understand as one grows and adapts to life. Relying on others is healthy until a certain point, but after that, it becomes bothersome and can interfere with relationships. I live my life independently; I do not have a significant other, I rely on myself to pay for my necessities, and I manage my time accordingly. Obviously, I am dependent on my parents for food and shelter, but in a technical sense, I am independent. I rely on myself to complete the responsibilities that fall on me, and I control what I do. Nobody tells me what to do or when to do it because I am the one who ultimately makes the decisions. I am more independent than many of my peers, and it shows in our levels of maturity. I am responsible and dependable, and many people rely on me for support and guidance because I have proven myself to be a confident individual. I have never been in a relationship, and I will not be pursuing any romantic interests until I have established myself completely independent and in control of my life; I cannot care for others until I can properly take care of myself. This is what independence means to me, and its impact has allowed me to develop a deeper relationship with myself in finding my values, defining my friendships, and managing my life as it progresses. In the future, I want to establish myself as an independent career-driven woman before I settle down and raise a family. I want to experience life for myself and not by depending on others.

My elementary school years are broken, categorized into my time residing in Georgia, Colorado, Honduras, and Oregon. I never understood how to cope with the transitions. One day I am swimming with my friends, the next day I am ripped over 3000 miles away. How is a child expected to make lasting relationships when all they learned was short-term connections? By moving a lot, I learned how to adapt to new environments and schools without much struggle. When I moved to Honduras I quickly became fluent in Spanish and emerged as top of my class; when I moved to Oregon I struggled with American customs such as the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem since my most formative school years were spent in Central America. These experiences of moving from culture to culture have shaped who I am today as a patient, kind, and encouraging individual. I am accepting of everyone that comes to our school whether it be an exchange student or a new transfer because I know what it is like to be ostracized and treated as the new shiny student in a school. I help students who come from Mexico with their English by translating and being a person they can comfortably talk to throughout the day, and I drive the foreign exchange students from sports practices because I am a friendly face. My passion for inclusivity is fueled by my experiences as a stranger in a new place. I wish that the transitions in my past would have been easier sometimes. The tears I shed when I left all my friends behind still haunt me, but the difficulties I went through shaped who I am today and the morals and values I hold.

My goals for the future are to become a doctor. Everything I have done in my life has prepared me for the path to medical school, and I attempt to leave a positive impact on the world by engaging in community service and continue working towards my aspirations so that someday, I can give back by healing others. Community service is something I value deeply, and I like spending my free time by volunteering with my local fire department or other local organizations. With the fire department, I am part of their Community Health Assessment Team, and I assist paramedics and EMT's on scheduled wellness check visits. The team was put together as a preventative healthcare system so that small illnesses do not progress into severe emergent cases that require an ambulance. By being a part of the team, I take vitals, chart them, take note of a patient's medical historand enter the data into a healthcare database after the appointment is over. The patients are typically geriatric and they need routine medical check-ups, so they are patient and understanding with my learning process. I did not go into the team 100% confident in my vital-taking abilities, but the patients are kind and considerate and allow me to learn by practicing taking their blood pressures. Even if I mess up, they are patient with me and understand that every person starts somewhere, and building my confidence in those skills requires persistent trials even if I mess up.This team is a foundation towards my future in healthcare, and it is also serving my community and my neighbors. It is one way I can leave a positive impact on the world, one patient at a time.

Every day I am challenged with comments and opinions directed towards my beliefs and my morals, and it is hard to maintain a clear head when people constantly batter me down for simply existing. I believe that peace and kindness towards the world and each other should trump negative forms of expression, and it is hard to maintain that mentality with the environment I am surrounded with. At school, I stay respectful with pandemic protocols such as masks, vaccines, and social distancing, and I am constantly insulted for being a sheep, a snowflake, and a Biden-lover. I respect science, and it is difficult to argue with individuals who are right-wing extremists at my school. For instance, we were taking a quiz on bible allusions, and when referring to the seven plagues of Egypt, one of my classmates pointed at my page and said "Covid is not a plague, you know," in a condescending manner. I respect everyone's political opinions and morals, but when they jab at me unprovoked it makes it hard to stay true to my values of kindness and mindfulness. I have found that over the course of the pandemic, these values have consistently been challenged, and I have lost many of my friends. This further emphasized the people who stayed by my side and let me develop a deeper relationship with myself. I know the types of characteristics I want within the people that I surround myself with, and staying true to myself falls within the individuals in my inner circle. I have maintained level-headed responses to the people who try to get reactions out of me, and eventually, they lose interest in trying to bother me. I am more than the environment that surrounds me. I am capable of maintaining the inner virtues that I value.

I believe myself to be a well-rounded person; I participate in music ensembles such as my school band and my church choir, I am a three-sport athlete, and I am president of many clubs at my school. Throughout all of these activities, I struggle to find myself. Why do I pursue these things if I do not know why I do it? I believe a person does not need a reason to do some of the things they do; enjoyment is a perfectly valid reason. Over the course of the pandemic, I have struggled with many challenges, but the hardest one was losing my great grandma. She was a source of strength, peace, and faith in my life, even if she lived over 3000 miles away in Honduras. I lived with her for three years, and she taught me how to be useful with a needle. From knitting to sewing to crochet, she taught me the value of arts and crafts and how to make mundane items for daily use. Hats, bags, washcloths, all of these items were things we crafted together, and losing her as a foundational part of my moral values reignited my passion for crochet. I developed my own knitting club in the fifth grade, but after I went to middle school I kept my needles hidden in the depths of my closet. I resurfaced them about a month ago when I was feeling stressed, and I found the power of connecting with my roots through it. Crochet is a source of stress relief and scarce income for me. With my creations, I make enough money to cover the cost of my gas prices and maybe afford other small amenities every once in a while. I enjoy crochet because it allows me to escape my world for a little bit. I can create pieces and have them at the mercy of my fingertips. I have the power to create articles of clothing, household items, or stuffed animals, and I enjoy the feeling of satisfaction afterwards. Looking at my work fulfills me; I feel like I have created something useful and feel immense pride in myself-- especially if it is a new project. I use crochet as an outlet for stress relief, but also an outlet of expression. I can convey many emotions with how I crochet, what I crochet, and the people I share my creations with. My peers enjoy my hobby-- they like to watch the speed of my needle and the satisfying nature of the stitches, and they indulge by purchasing my crafts as well. Every time I use my needles I feel like I carry on the legacy of my great grandma, and nothing makes me happier than feeling her presence in the looks my parents give me. I remind them so much of her, and I enjoy feeling connected to her through my yarn work. Crochet helps me develop a deeper relationship with myself, my family, and most importantly, my values.

My dad has always told me, "nothing in life is free," even as I directed him towards the free samples at Costco. I found it irritating at times because I did not understand why he would say that to me even as a little girl, but now that I am in a different stage of life I understand. College is the large crest ahead of me, and paying for college will challenge me financially in a way that I have never familiarized myself with. The biggest personal finance lesson that I have taken to heart since I started earning money was to save as much as I can. When I get paid in the summers, I save the thousands, the hundreds, and keep the tens in my checking account for spending. For example, if my paycheck is $1387 then I will place $1300 in my savings and keep $87 in my checking for gas, food, and other expenses. My dad taught me to save as much as possible so that when your life calls for it, you always have money to spend on fun vacations, emergency car repairs, or anything that arises requiring financial changes. Saving is important to fuel a person's decisions, and the self-control required to save large amounts of money builds discipline and character. Being aware and in control of one's finances is a disciplinary strength, and it makes for an economically conscious individual.

My life has been catered towards ambitious goals. I want to attend medical school and become a surgeon, so very early on in my high school career I had to learn how to navigate the world to achieve my goal. I job shadowed doctors, participated in surgical viewing events, and completed over three hundred hours of community service. I am currently in a program with my local fire department as part of their community health assessment team where I assist paramedics on non-emergent calls that are meant to be preventative measures to pre-hospital care. It is meant to reduce the use of valuable resources and first-responders' time to be put for more emergent cases. I am grateful to work with this organization, and have gone through life support training to be a part of the team. All of these things have helped me navigate college applications and scholarships as well, and I find myself worrying over how to achieve my goal without drowning in debt by the age of thirty. Willamette University, the oldest institution in the western United States, has gratefully accepted me into their class of 2026, and have offered me a generous scholarship covering well over half of my tuition. Through persistent efforts and dedication to gain more money, I received their STEM scholarship, which essentially leaves $5,000 of tuition, not including loans. I have money saved in my bank account from the past two summers I worked at my local cannery, and I can pay off my tuition without withdrawing any loans. Additionally, I have won multiple, small, private scholarships to aid me in paying for the $45,000 tuition at Willamette University. I have a little over $2,000 to pay for fees and supplies. Similarly, I still have to find funds to pay for room and board, but with thoughtful consideration, I will be appealing to live at home with my parents. Willamette University lies within a ten-mile radius of my house, and by living at home, I can save $15,000 a year, along with saving money through working this summer. Though I do not particularly enjoy the thought of missing out on a genuine college experience within the dorms, I am sacrificing an experience for the financial security of my future. The average medical student graduates with over a quarter of a million dollars in debt simply from graduate school, not including undergraduate costs. That quantity of money can cripple a person and leave them shackled to the hands of loan officers. By living at home and acquiring outside scholarships, I am able to preserve my savings account and continue to save money throughout my undergraduate studies in order to have a cushion for when I hit medical school. If I am able to acquire enough scholarship money to fully cover my room and board, I will jump on the chance to fulfill my college experience dreams but I will not be disappointed with whatever outcome emerges. My goal in life is to make it through my career without drowning in debt, and if I can make it through with minimal financial damage, I will do everything in my power to maintain my financial security.

Marie Anne is what I was given, the one who raises grace. Like an elderly woman at church praying for her family on Ash Wednesday, the smell of rose perfume and incense hangs around it Both my grandma’s names - Maria and Ana - were conjoined into one, giving me double the grandma power. My grandma Maria is the best cook I have ever met; years of cooking Arab and Colombian cuisine for her family with nothing else to do made her the best. All she does now is travel to visit each of her five daughters, occasionally with Grandpa. She hops from plane to plane, catching flights all over the world from the USA to Jerusalem to see her family. My grandma Ana is crafty. She started her own bow business when I complained one day that I don’t have trendy accessories to wear to school. She makes them all by hand and sells them to local businesses as merchandise now. She lives down in Honduras, constantly surrounded by torrential rains. As much as I love the hot weather there, I will not subject myself to living with an umbrella attached to my hand. She always visits her children in the USA and Israel, clinging to a hint of what used to be under her roof and chasing it. Both my grandma’s are very short, already separating me from them. I’m not the tallest, but I am definitely not their stature. I have been given their names, but I do not want to take their places, trapped by a family. My goals are not to marry rich or breed like a housewife does. I have goals to be Dr. Tarrab, not Mrs. Tarrab. My name is that of an old lady, yet in Spanish it is a baby’s laugh. Why does Spanish make everything better? Even Americanized Mexican food like Taco Bell is better. I wish I could be Marie Anne in Spanish all the time. She sounds fun to be around. Marie Anne in English is the woman who yells at you in a Subway for putting too much on your sandwich. I think I’d rather be Marie— in fact I prefer just Marie. It sounds better than Marie Anne, but it brings memories of guillotines in France. Makes me crave cake. Way better than gray hair on an old woman’s head though. I have weirdly been told that I look like a Claire from multiple strangers, and I think that will do just fine as long as it is not Marie Anne.

Failure is necessary to succeed. My whole life I have tried to be a person that wins. A person who, like the letter A, comes first no matter what. First to be mentioned, first to be taught, and most importantly, a leader for the rest of the letters to come. I have had many successes in my life, most of them accomplishments I am proud of— health services president, student council, national honors society president, team captain, and clarinet section leader. I portray myself as an inspiring individual, but what people do not see under the lustrous exterior I project is the stress, anxiety, and overwhelmed sensation that flows through my veins at any given moment. These things are valid human emotions that correlate with leadership positions, yet why does it feel like failure to feel such tension? Winning is not always a measure of success. What makes a successful person is being able to recognize one's own limits and harboring self-discipline towards your boundaries. One day when I broke down crying in class from all the responsibilities on my shoulders, my teacher helped me realize that all of what I do to try and be successful is only helping me fail; all the activities and clubs I participate in are simply taking up fractions of my attention, and hence I am devaluing my work by merely giving part of my attention to a problem. My internal resources are spread thinly across a multitude of responsibilities, so I had to learn to let go of some of them. It was a hard conversation to hear, but one I needed to set myself on the right path. Real success is knowing your limits, not however many firsts you have under your belt.

Many people have told me that my personality is nurturing. I am welcoming and kind-hearted despite all the turmoil I have been through. I care for my friends as if they were my own family; I cook for them and feed them because of my experiences with eating disorders; I offer to take them places because I am a safe and responsible driver; I give them sound advice based on my experiences and offer my perspective on their issues, because there are lessons to be learned in every hardship we face. I even help them clean, because too many of my friends suffer from depression and anxiety, and they deserve to feel the warmth of a clean environment. Due to this, I have been nicknamed the mom of my friend group because of my homely personality and the empathy I exhibit. It is an honor that I carry through the halls of my school and down the streets of my town. Knowing that I have lessened the burden on a person, even for a fraction of a second, is why I strive to leave an impact on others— because help is always needed, whether it be rides to school or helping them fold laundry. Oftentimes, I will overstep my boundaries and push a person past their limits—it feels tense in the moment, but when they look back in retrospect, they always thank me for what I pushed them to do. My personality is like a pendulum, swinging back and forth between the loving and abrasive parts of who I am, but there is always a balance between the two. I project my emotions honestly, and this straight-forward communication is what has helped me become as loving and nurturing as I am. These traits are valuable to me because I do not act on them for selfish reasons; I truly enjoy helping and being there for others, which is why I aspire to be a physician. I find peace in knowing my actions are driven for a cause, knowing that they mean something to someone. Perhaps it is selfish to feel validation over something as simple as helping someone; perhaps I have a savior complex, but nevertheless, I will offer my time and energy to those I love and care for at the expense of my own happiness every time. These characteristics of my personality will help me in my life journey because as I move forward in life through college and relationships, I will slowly utilize my empathy, honesty, and communication skills to guide me through interviews, break-ups, friendships, and any interaction that requires basic compassion for one another. My long-term goals of becoming a surgeon are going to be faced with many challenges through board exams, interviews, and patient interactions that can jeopardize my entire career. These communication skills are not only useful in a clinical and professional setting, but they are essential to human connection. Communication skills and empathy are what makes a human a social being, and without those basic guides to social interaction, there would be no progress in this modern world. Having empathy shows that you understand a person despite not having paralleled their circumstances. A person can learn many things just from showcasing empathy, and it takes determination to put those lessons to real-life applications, which is what I strive to do for the remainder of my life. There are always new lessons to be learned, even if you think you know it all.

I enjoy putting on community health events in order to help others. I have coordinated multiple Red Cross blood drives, and I have partnered with a local hospital to coordinate covid testing and vaccine clinics in order to increase the health and safety of my community. I recently got involved with the hospital to completely head up and be in charge of our next covid testing drive through clinic. I have arranged with the school district to allow the hospital to set up in my high school's parking lot, and I have submitted forms to continue with the process of executing the event. I am putting this event on the Saturday before Thanksgiving break because it allows people to test themselves before visiting grandparents and relatives that they do not usually see very often. This will allow for the protection of families and prevention of the spread of COVID-19. This brings me peace and satisfaction knowing that families will not be put at risk and grandparents will not get seriously ill. I enjoy doing these things for my community, and helping others through health events is the way I give back to my community and everything they have done for me.

There is a man on TikTok named Joshua Kyan Alampour who makes music on Spotify; he is a classical music composer who makes piano notes blend together in beautiful melodies, orchestrating original symphonies that are inspired by the greats-- Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky. I discovered him when he posted a cover of The Merry-go-round of Life, and I fell in love with the stylistic choices he uses when playing. He starts every video by flipping his coattail behind him when sitting at the piano bench, and when his fingers grace the ivory keys, the notes sound gentle and fierce, leaving you wanting more when the symphony comes to a close, making you feel like a whole orchestra had played when it was only him. He is truly remarkable in his craft, and I feel inspired every time he comes across my For You page, because he leaves a sizable impression.

Honesty is a double edged sword, one side holding the virtue of trust and wellbeing, the other a condescending abyss of disrespect. Maintaining balance along the swords edge is a precarious journey. It slices as the blade slides across the bottoms of ones feet— is the truth worth hurting yourself over? Secrets are morsels of information that are hidden, tucked away in the confines of ones mind, waiting to wreak havoc on physical life despite being intangible. Secrets can break a relationship, toppling a couple over the wrong edge of the sword—tripping best friends for life. Honesty is a pact made when two individuals have trust in each other. A pact made with loyalty. Two individuals standing on the hilt of a sword. My best skill is a communication skill— a soft skill if you may. Being honest is who I am. I do not sugar coat or hold back from the truth even if it hurts those who It befalls. I walk on a blade where my honesty can break me or break the recipient of my words. It has helped those who are close to me become better versions of themselves, realizing their habits need to change, that their actions hurt others. It helps me become a better version of myself, giving counsel to those who need it, relieving me of the pressure of lies. Lies that sit heavy and guilty on my chest. Why would I lie if it hurts you? I improve on my honesty by learning how to communicate. I adjust my wording to be less aggressive, less abrasive, depending on the situation at hand. I work constantly to maintain my relationships with my peers, my parents, my friends, and my teachers. Honesty is a symbol of trust and loyalty, which defines my character precisely.