As the carbon footprint grows yearly, causing more and more damage to our environment, we all have a choice to modify our lives and make better habits to help our planet. By choosing methods to reduce the carbon footprint, we can sustainably impact our earth. Reducing, reusing, and recycling are straightforward steps that my family and I work to maintain in our daily life to reduce our carbon footprint and waste. Recycling is an easy and simple habit to help reduce the carbon footprint. We save and recycle items in my family, including plastics, glass, aluminum, and paper. We have a recycling location that is very close to us, so we make weekly trips to ensure that any items we can recycle are placed in recycling facilities so they can be recycled properly. Making better choices in purchasing consumer products is another way my family and I try to better impact our environment. Choosing products that show a "recycling" symbol and purchasing items made from paper and not plastic is another small step that is important to lowering the carbon footprint. Buying and supporting biodegradable products such as choosing to use biodegradable forks and spoons, is another step toward reducing the carbon footprint that is super easy to do daily. Reusing items, such as refilling personal drinking bottles for water, tea, or coffee, ensure that fewer plastic water bottles are manufactured and wasted. My family and I also work together to compost leftover foods and use that for composting and then gardening in the next year. Composing is a straightforward way to ensure that fewer waste products are dumped into landfills and also turned into easily reused materials broken down to provide nutrients to grow next year's cucumbers, tomatoes, vegetables, and fruit. And of course, choosing to use an e-bike for traveling especially across campus or to and from work helps to decrease the carbon footprint. I hope to one day be able to afford an electric vehicle but for now those newer vehicles are well past my affordability as an upcoming college student focused on a part time job and paying for college tuition. I will try my best to continue to make as small of a carbon footprint as I possibly can. I hope that in my future more will be done to help keep our environment healthy. I will continue to focus on making healthy choices for my life and my environment for all of our futures.

A good leader supports their team. Leadership is about focusing on a team's goals and helping those around you toward that common goal. Whether in sports, school activities, or community volunteerism, good leadership is essential for success. I have been volunteering for various community groups in my area over the past six years. I have observed, learned, and recognized how good leadership is essential in these groups. One of my favorite volunteering groups is the community garden. I volunteer in a local community garden that directly supports a local food pantry, and I have observed truly successful leadership. The success of this group does not revolve around one single person but a team of supporters who each focus on the goal of maintaining, growing, tending, and harvesting fruits and vegetables to support the food pantry and stop hunger in our community. This garden has been growing and sharing its food for over five years, and each year, the garden and the membership have grown. Not to mention the ability to learn about new gardening techniques along with helping to provide fresh fruit and vegetables at the food pantry to support efforts to stop food hunger. The primary leadership of the group meets to discuss goals and how best to rotate planting beds, irrigation, and maintenance. Then inside each of these teams, the leaders manage their own gardening plots, organize their time and gather volunteers to support the primary goal of the community lead garden and food pantry. In this organization path, the entire project is not set on one person's shoulders; instead, it is divided into parts so that success is maintained even if one team member's volunteers drop out or in case one of the members cannot be at the garden as much as they initially had hoped. But by having the team's goal be the focus, the leadership is about sharing the work and allowing for flexibility for scheduling or items that change. Yearly or seasonal volunteer changes, adapting to weather conditions, including drought conditions or heavy rain, along with rotating the gardening plots and sharing the cost of seeds, fertilizer, and water. I have learned a great deal from my time volunteering with the community garden, and I plan to take some of the items I have learned into my educational path toward college and my future career. I hope to share what I have learned by supporting organizations with an understanding of good leadership goals in the future.

Taking breaks for mental clarity, staying physically fit and eating healthy are all key elements to being a well rounded and healthy person, both physically and mentally. It is important to keep good mental and physical health because stress affects each of us. I know as I am finishing high school and working toward college that this exerience has been rather stressful. Applying for scholarships, determining what you want to do with your life, continuing to put your information out there for others to see and also judge is hard. The experience of applying for scholarships over my last few high school years has been frustrating and sometimes it can make you feel as if you haven't done enough but I am reminded by my family, friends and through my volunteer experiences that my worth is not how other's view me but about how I must be proud of myself. My experiences during this senior year of high school have helped me to understand how important it is to keep a strong mental outlook on life. As I strive to be positive, I also try to help others around me who are experiencing the same things understand how they are not judged by how many scholarships they are awarded but instead by who they are as individuals and people. I often volunteer my time in a few places around the local community including one of my favorits spots, the community garden and food panty. This opportunity to provide service to my community helps me to understand that there is more to the world around me than my small problems and it helps me refocus and by helping others it also helps me see that my community work helps others in need. I also have been volunteering for a non-profit horse therapy ranch for the past six years. This ranch provides horse therapy for kids, teens, and adults with PTSD or trauma. They also rehome and care for many animals, including neglected horses. In my senior year, I am working to prepare for my college studies and I am applying the information I learned in high school to complete my current Senior/Capstone Project to support the ranch. My Capstone Project is managing a project to build a garden at the ranch to help them continue to support their community by providing fresh food at their local food pantry. I am a focused and eager student that intends to succeed. I am determined to work diligently at the university level to earn my degree in Environmental Safety and Health and to continue supporting my community.

As I read about Rev. Herman A. Martin, I was humbled to learn how he dedicated his life to supporting God in his community and the great State of Arkansas. I want to dedicate my career to helping inside my community also. I have been fortunate to assist in various non-profit groups in my local area. By providing support for these non-profit organizations, I know my service matters. Though I may only volunteer for a couple of hours a week, these hours help support programs trying to stop hunger in our community. I work at the local community garden, helping to plant, grow and harvest fresh fruits and vegetables for the food pantry. Every day I am there helping by building raised beds, installing watering irrigation, planting seeds, or picking vegetables that every fresh fruit or vegetable we harvest goes directly to help fight hunger. Regardless of the weather, my friends and I dedicate time each week to tend to the garden and deliver food. Rain, mud, sun, or drought, my friends and I try our hardest to put time into making sure we can support this cause that helps so many people in our community. With the cost of food rising with inflation and financial difficulties all around us, the food we grow can help to bring good nutrition and a smile to someone who might be having a rough day, and it inspires me to continue my work. I am also working with another group to begin a new sustainable community garden a few hours away so they can begin growing and sharing produce to feed the needs of those hungry in their local area. As I work toward the next four years in college, I understand that along my journey, as I share positive experiences and help my community. I have a better understanding of myself which helps me work toward my goals. My commitment to community service has allowed me to assist some amazing non-profit groups. It helps me clearly understand that I want to apply my degree to work inside my community. I have been accepted to the University of Arkansas, where I hope to earn my degree and apply my knowledge to continue my community service work. I want to continue to learn, grow and support initiatives for growing fresh fruit and vegetables in community gardens to find more ways to help fight hunger in our community.

Journey to entrepreneurship My goals and plans are to accomplish great things in life. This scholarship would help me as I work toward my bachelor's degree and apply it to building my own business. I have been working inside my community by volunteering with some fantastic non-profit groups. I have learned a lot by volunteering at a horse ranch and the community garden, just to name a few. My experiences have helped me understand that I want to earn my bachelor’s degree, build my own business and use it to support my community. Though I may only volunteer for a couple of hours a week, each hour given and every hand applied in service positively impacts the community. As I reach for the stars and plan for college, I am learning as much as possible to prepare myself for this next journey. In order to learn more, I have volunteered to manage building a community garden from the ground up, with some help of course. This program will not only complete my high school requirement for a Senior/Capstone Project, but it also helps me to understand more about project management. I hope what I learn now will come in handy as I study to build my own business. The project concerns building a sustainable garden at one of my favorite non-profit groups. My Capstone Project will combine the items I have learned in my education and elements that I have learned in my volunteer and community service since I was young. My project illustrates my project management knowledge, including design, construction, horticulture, finance, and team building. The project entails building a sustainable community garden that will support providing food at the food pantry in one of the small local communities. My hope is the project will help others for years to come. Moving forward, I hope that the lessons I have learned in my youth will propel me to succeed in the college setting and learn skills for the future to continue giving back to my community. Giving back to my community in various programs has helped me to understand my career path. I would greatly appreciate a helping hand to accomplish my bachelor’s degree. I intend to apply my degree toward a career impacting the workforce and community. Just as you are supporting others, I plan one day to be able to give back and help others with their individual needs.

Math is Stupendous! Most people take math for granted, or they think it is boring. But math is pretty amazing. From building the pyramids to the computers we use in today's world, math is essential to making many items in our world successful. Math is not only about numbers but also about shapes, sequences, and patterns. A good portion of understanding math is finding the patterns that already exist. Tessellations in geometry are an excellent example of how amazing patterns are. Tessellations combine items found in nature with elements of art and are all beautifully balanced with math. Tessellations are one of my favorite examples showing why math is impressive. Understanding math calculations and monetary value is another reason why math is essential. Learning percentages, for example, can help a person understand the actual value of a sale at a store or making an online purchase. Counting back dollars and coins in cash purchases is a simple but vital step that shows an understanding of the value of money when purchasing and doing business. Measurements for weight and volume are another excellent example of why math is amazing. Many fantastic recipes for food have been created, but they could only be shared by understanding measurements for weight or volume such as cups, pints, or teaspoons. Having a consistent and correct ratio of salt to flour can help create either yummy bread or playdoh. Math is essential to the food we enjoy every day. Math is pretty cool. Math is essential to many things in everyday life and I hope you love math as much as I do.

Cancer is a beast. Cancer has robbed me of some important people in my life. Both of my grandmother's died of cancer and that has made a lasting impact on my life. What I know are stories, short movies and pictures. I was never given the chance to meet my Grandmother Kathy but I know she was amazing. She died of breast cancer before I was born. She was beautiful woman, cherished mom and grandmother. She was a mother to five and a foster mom to hundreds of kids that needed her support. My mom tells me stories of how she always kept a new coloring book and a little pack of crayons so that any kid that was placed with our family for a short time would have something just for them to brighten their day. She helped so many people in the community through church, schools, foster programs and beyond. My grandmother was a very special person and she fought cancer with a fury till she died. My mom has told me how she shared the ultrasound pictures with my grandmother when my grandma was feeling her worst. She cherished those pictures and it gave her hope on many hard and difficult days. She tried, she tried very hard to keep going, but the cancer would not allow her to. She passed when my mom was 6 months pregnant with me, before I was born. A few months after my grandmother passed, my other grandmother Janice was diagnosed with breast cancer. She fought hard, even was in remission for a while, but the cancer unfortunately came back. I did get to see her. I remember she shared with me her prized fresh blueberries. I loved picking ripe and fresh blueberries right off the blueberry bush as a kid with her. I was able to visit many times with my grandmother Janice but it was hard for her because the chemo and radiation made her extremely sick. She wanted to be more energetic, like she was for her other grandkids, but unfortunately dealing with cancer made her weak. Her struggle with cancer was long and difficult. She fought that cancer beast with every bone in her body, but it weakened her till it won the battle. I feel robbed of having two amazing grandmothers in my life. I think of them often, and as I am coming closer to graduation, I know they would be proud of me. Part of their tenacity and strength are with me. But it is still unfair that this horrible disease has taken two very amazing women from me. I will honor them and continue to carry their pictures and stories in my life. As I graduate and make plans for my future, I will continue to take their memories and pictures with me. I hope to always honor these women for their endurance, strength and ability to keep trying on even the worst of days.

Save, Save, and Save This is what my Grandfather taught me. It is essential to save for the future. As a full-time high school senior currently applying to colleges for a business degree, I understand the importance of saving. I work part-time, and for every paycheck I make, I put away 10 percent to save for my future. It is not a lot of money, but I am steadfast in keeping it because I know it matters. My Grandfather grew up very poor, saving every dime he could. He worked extra jobs to support his family and put away money. I have learned a lot from the information he shared with me, and I know I can achieve the things I want in life over time by saving now. I know that my future will be better if I earn my bachelor's degree. I plan to work toward my M.B.A. after I earn my bachelor's degree in business. But this will take many years, and I will need help to achieve these goals. Currently, I am working diligently to apply for as many scholarships as possible to practice healthy financial habits. I plan to work through school to help pay for college, but I will still need some assistance to earn my degree with as little debt as possible. I know that graduating with high-interest debt can be devastating. I plan to apply good financial practices to earn my degree and start my career in a positive direction and not saddled with debt. I currently manage my finances by applying sound financial decisions. I keep a log of my finances to know how much I can spend on activities with my friends and how much I need to save. My budget is set to account for necessary spending items, fun activities, and savings. I am working diligently on making good decisions regarding my money and applying my education to a career in business. I want to practice good financial decisions so that I can not only manage my own finances but also use my success to show others it can be done. I am excited to learn more at the college setting so that I can be successful in my career in business. Scholarships such as this one prove that support is available to students who are driven for success. I plan to work hard and accomplish my degree and apply it to helping others make good financial decisions for their future. Thank you for your consideration.

I'm Trying I am trying, every day, all these applications, scholarships seem awry. I put myself out there, Rampant with people that say no, Critics, and self-doubt who say nay. I keep trying, every single day, to dream bigger and keep mindful of May. I keep dreaming, Because that's who I am. And I want to make my own decisions in my own way. It is scary, and I hesitate -- but then I decide to be bold, and dream of careers that will pay. I will continue to keep trying, forever and in each and every day, to continue to set my own goals and not go astray. I want to go to college, and walk in the steps of those, who gained knowledge and built their pathway. I will achieve if I keep knowing, If I believe, if I dream, and I try, I can forge my path and keep going, towards tomorrow....by trying today.

Keep Learning I plan on continuing to educate myself and help others to become financially literate in four ways. 1. Continue to learn. Reading is a very simple and easy way to continue learning about financial information. Simply by reading the news and watching the stock market, you gain useful knowledge about today's financial industry. Conducting research to understand current financial markets and asking questions about items you don't understand can help you learn more about information or decisions regarding your money. 2. Apply the knowledge. Besides continuing to read, observe and ask questions, financial matters must also take action. Saving 10 percent of every paycheck is a very simple way of applying good financial practices to everyday opportunities. You don't need to wait till you are rich to save money away. Money for long-term and even short-term savings happens when you save, little by little. Making a habit of saving is important. And with every goal you want, it is important to write it down and then apply the ideas to action. Money will not just appear; you must take action and apply good financial methods in order to see results. 3. Remain calm and consistent. When life gets tough, that's when you must not give up. It is easy to stop trying and give up when life becomes harder. When money gets tight or the money you saved has to be applied to an emergency instead of toward the item you wanted, that can be very hard. And it is easy to get discouraged and want to give up. But sometimes, you have to re-adjust and keep trying. Keeping calm and being consistent in your saving habits is important so that you can still achieve the things you want. 4. Talk about it. It is easy in life to give up and become frustrated. But it is also essential to talk about concerns, questions, or interesting facts. Don't keep the concern or the knowledge to yourself; talk to your friends, the people you look up to, and your advisors. They want to know about what you are also learning. Share your thoughts, insight, opinions, and ideas. You can start a chat, a group or a blog and go over the items you care about. Share tips and ideas and encourage growth for not only you but for others with the same interests. It is important to always continue to learn and by doing so become financially literate. By sharing your knowledge, opinions, and guidance with others you will become stronger in your financial future.

Tenacity The personal characteristic that I value most about myself is my tenacity. I won't quit. I work hard to accomplish the things I have achieved in my life so far and I have more dreams that I intend to fulfill. You see, I am a type 1 Diabetic and while this might not seem difficult it is a challenging medical condition that requires a lot of well, tenacity. One of the biggest challenges of having type 1 diabetes is that it is never ending. Your body does not make insulin, a necessary hormone that helps to regulate blood sugar and use food for energy. Gratefully, synthetic insulin is available and it is a necessary medication for diabetics that helps to correct this missing item so you are able to do the things you need and want to do. However, it takes constant vigilance, monitoring, working with your doctor to change dosages amounts for long term and short term insulin needs especially in exercise activities. Living a long and healthy life is possible with diabetes but it means having a watchful eye and persistance. So you could say that in part, my most valued quality is having the tenacity that I have learned in managing my type 1 insulin dependent diabetes. I have used my tenacity and persistance to not let my medical condition stand in my way. I earned my Jr. Black Belt in Mixed Martial Arts at the age of 12. This was a very challenging test and I worked very hard in applying the techniques required including brazilian jiu jitsu, kickboxing, sparring and breaking 5 boards. And during all of this I also managed my diabetes. My black belt testing was hard, it required over three hours of constant testing, but I accomplished my task, earned my belt ranking and learned how to adjust my insulin, maintain athletic goals and not let my medical condition rule my life. I have also taken my tenacity and applied it to my on stage theatre accomplishments. Over the past 5 years I have worked with various community theatre groups performing on stage. In large theatre productions with shows over two hours long with physical musical and dance routines to smaller theatre preformances, I have learned to not let my diabetes stand in my way. I have learned to manage my diabetes successfully so that I can accomplish anything I want to do. And this brings me to today. I want to go to college and earn my degree. I know the road ahead will be challenging. I will need to apply hard work to the next four years so that this next goal can take me into my career and beyond. I want to apply my tenacity to accomplishing my degree and with a little help in scholarships like this one, I can and I will.

Sustainable Garden Project For the past six years, I have volunteered for a non-profit organization that supports rehoming injured animals and provides horse therapy for people with PTSD or traumas. This ranch works extremely hard to provide much-needed services for the local community. The owner, Rebecca, has always dreamed of having a sustainable garden to provide an additional source of food for the animals (chickens, pigs, sheep, and horses) and the community. She is aware of hungry people in the community, and she wants to help provide food for the local food pantry. I have seen the fantastic work the ranch provides in support to others, and I want to help support the ranch in creating the framework for the garden this spring so that it is up and running successfully before I go off to college. I visited with the owner, and we discussed the location along with environmental concerns such as drainage in the rainy season and also building a successful enclosure to protect the garden as it grows. We have come up with a plan for an 1846-square-foot garden. Inside this, we will create 4-6 raised planter beds and layer gravel around the beds to help with runoff and mud and maintain an area they can easily mow around. We will incorporate some of the older water containers as some of the planter beds and recycle as much from the older farm/ranch supplies as they have on hand. I suggested planning on a square-foot gardening approach for each planter bed. In this way, she can easily choose the plants and ensure they do not grow out of hand for the container, which would cause waste in seeds and oversaturation. The square foot method requires measuring and lining string to visually maintain usable garden space with certain vegetables to maximize output and minimize waste. I have suggested plants that would be easy for her to maintain, such as a variety of lettuce, kale, and kohlrabi, and provide long-term seasonal harvest. Then as the seasons change, she can rotate to other plants that would be sustainable in heat and drought conditions which is what we experienced in last year's weather. Plants such as sweet potatoes, beans, okra, and eggplant would work in drought conditions in our area. Once the growing beds are lined up, we will need to resource good soil. This is the point that I need financial support. I am asking people to donate funds to help purchase good soil and seeds along with scheduling volunteers to work onsite at the garden for the labor-intensive operations as it warms in the spring. The more money and volunteers I can raise, the more produce we can grow for needy families. Once we have the soil in the beds, we will create a sustainable water system. Much of the success in gardening is proper water distribution. I plan to repurpose a water container built on a platform higher than the garden so that it will naturally flow downward with a solar battery with a timer and then release a set amount of water once or 2x a day to maintain consistent water distribution to the plants. Even constant water will yield a more successful harvest and less work for the owner, especially since she is already busy tending to the animals and therapy sessions. The project entails building a sustainable garden for the ranch to help them continue their mission and positively impact the community for many years.

Keeping It Natural. I am passionate about the green industry because the goal is quite simple–keeping it natural. I want to continue to work to make the world a better place. It might seem cliché; however, it is the truth. We have only one earth; if industries continue to be greedy without considering the balance of the earth’s ecosystem, we will all suffer. There are ample statistics and reports detailing widespread destruction impacting our current generation–my generation. Landfills and plastic waste is just one of the concerns illustrating the long-term dangers when business and industry have not considered responsible methods of handling waste, for instance. Businesses that incorporate green methods are important to me. I believe in successfully integrating business and green biodiverse industries. Green industry practices incorporate thought processes and management so that industries and businesses can minimize their environmental impact moving forward. Working to create sustainable green initiatives that use environmentally-friendly practices by taking time to understand effects such as soil erosion, air quality, and waste is essential. Many businesses see incorporating these green industry qualities make good business sense. I volunteer at many wonderful organizations in my local community, and one of my favorites is assisting the community garden. I see every week how the food we grow goes directly to hungry people in the food pantry. Having helped with all aspects of the garden over the last few years, I have seen how I have directly affected the community. Some tasks I have been involved with include planting seeds, fertilizing, weeding, harvesting, and weighing the produce before handing it off to the food pantry. We keep a detailed logbook of everything donated from the garden. We are constantly motivated, inspired, and challenged to think of different ways to grow and maximize harvests. In this volunteer opportunity, I have seen that the program's growth is about having a successful business model so that the mission works. I love how they have incorporated community efforts and kept expenses down by incorporating sustainable and logical operations. My goal is to work on my BA in business to understand the business dynamics and then apply that knowledge to help the green industry's momentum continue moving forward. Applying elements of nature inside a business creates growth and sustainability and can lead to the next generation of new products. I want to use my knowledge to understand business and how to incorporate my passion and love for nature into a lifelong career that will take the green industry to the next generation.

Lifelong Journey The journey of healthy living is a lifelong goal. Life can be challenging with stress and changes in schedules and time commitments. I have learned to adapt to the changes in life and choose a style of healthy living that will continue in my lifelong journey for healthy living. Nutrition is one of the essential items to feeling and being healthy both physically and mentally. I work hard to ensure that the food I choose has a low glycemic index, is nutritional, and is in the proper portion size to provide accurate carbohydrate and sugar calculations because I am a type 1 insulin-dependent diabetic. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at six years old and found that I had to grow up quickly. I learned to accept more responsibility for my health to do the things that were never an issue. I understand how important it is to monitor, predict, and manage my blood sugars to prepare for the activities that I am working on. Training in my martial arts, taking a walk, or even being on stage in my theatre productions, I have learned how to accomplish my goals and manage my health as part of my lifelong health journey. Food and nutrition are factors that constantly affect blood sugar. Making healthy choices in food, choosing lower glycemic index foods, higher fiber, and foods with more nutritional benefits are very important to keeping blood sugars in check and feeling your best. I have learned that you feel better once you take on the challenge of managing your health. Taking breaks to monitor my blood sugar, eating healthy snacks, and staying hydrated are essential. Sometimes people might want to push through and finish tasks, but small breaks in my day help me manage a busy schedule. Taking small breaks when I need them helps me maintain better blood sugar control and lower my stress. Time is something that can seem to fly by, but setting aside time to evaluate and breathe helps me keep my stress lower, and I can make better decisions in my day by taking a little time when I need it. My journey toward working toward a healthy lifestyle is a constant goal. Success comes when you learn to take care of yourself. Eating healthy food, being honest about food portions, exercising, being positive, and taking breaks throughout the day help me achieve my goals in school and my activities. I want to impact my community moving forward in my career positively.

I am exploring the world around me, serving my community, and focusing on my goals. These passions drive me forward and into my college and career. I want to give back to my community through the experiences I gain in travel, culinary, and business education. Exploring the world around me is something that drives me. I love exploring the world around me. Traveling across the country on a road trip, flying to a unique destination, or simply exploring local museums, fishing, and hiking trails. Exploring your community makes you stronger, more confident, and ready to take on the world. I believe in getting out into the world and learning about cultures, languages, traditions, and new foods! One of the best ways to understand the information in learning a new language is by practicing with others and sharing the regional food. One of the reasons I love food is that it gives you a hands-on experience of the community or region you are in. I love botany, and learning about plants goes hand in hand with culinary and regional exploration. Learning about food from a local community helps you connect with the area more—experiences involving food help to build a desire to travel, dream and explore even more. Service to my community is something I care very much about. I volunteer with many of my local non-profit organizations, helping some very exceptional programs. I dedicate about eight months out of the year to our local community garden that grows food for the food pantry. This program is dedicated to providing fresh fruits and vegetables through the food pantry to people who might need fresh produce. Sure there are programs for canned food, but what makes our program significant is that we provide fresh fruits and vegetables at no cost to anyone in need. I have seen how many people it helps, and knowing my hard work provides much-needed food for people in need makes me want to work harder to do more. I plan to use my knowledge of botany, my love of travel and good food, and my community service work in my career. I plan to earn my bachelor's degree in business and apply that to my community. I want to use my knowledge to support programs that provide services to communities. I also want to use my degree to help people explore the world around them through both travel and fantastic food.

Community Service is essential. I am passionate about helping others. Since I was very young, I have been volunteering in my community. I currently volunteer with some amazing non-profit groups that support programs including animal care, suicide prevention, and the food pantry. I apply hard work, compassion, and integrity to my daily goals. Hard work is just that difficult. But sometimes, it is about picking up the light and continuing to press forward. I have applied my determination and hard work to my volunteer time. Going to the community garden to help weed, pick and tend to a garden when it is muddy or the temperatures are inhospitable is hard work. Cleaning out horse stalls or helping to fix a broken fence is not always fun, but sometimes these are the jobs necessary to help others keep their non-profit community service groups going. Compassion is also essential when you help others. Over the last six years, I have volunteered with a ranch that rehomes animals, especially horses. Some of them were mistreated and not well cared for. These animals have lifelong struggles. Compassion and proper treatment is important to me, and I work hard to support organizations that assist in compassionate care for animals and people. Integrity is about having strong moral principles and honesty. My family has three dogs and two cats that keep us busy but bring endless love to our family. Learning, growing, and caring for animals, big and small, has impacted my life in my youth. Owning a pet is a commitment, and my family and I take the job we accepted seriously. This sticks with me moving forward as an example of honesty and keeping a promise. I plan to take the items I have learned in my passion for community service and apply my hard work, compassion, and integrity to keep moving forward. There will be challenges, especially finding time in college when I am working on my degree. I know one of the obstacles will be time. I will need to schedule my time to ensure I can continue the service I am passionate about assisting. Finding transportation to and from the community service organizations I currently help at will be another obstacle to overcome. I do not have a car, but I would like to bike to my service project locations. But I also hope that if I tell others about the community groups I help, they will help. Because with many hands working on the same goals, we have more success. I will continue my passion for community service because that is part of who I am. Providing fresh produce through the community garden will help to feed people in need and I will support this essential service. I know how important it is to assist a non-profit groups in giving support to animals that have been abandoned. These programs and others like them matter, and I will continue to support groups that help others now and in my future career.

Large goals require small steps, always moving forward. I am doing my best to put every step I can toward a career path that will help others. I plan on first working toward achieving my Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Psychology or Communication and towards a career in Human Resources and related services. Growing up, service to my community has always been a big part of my life and I want to apply my degree to a field that will help provide a safe and responsible workplace for all people. After graduating, I intend to apply my degree towards a career in HR that focuses on helping others through teamwork, communication and advocating for people inside the workplace. But why Human Resources and Services, you may ask? To give you a better understanding I would like to share with you what has sparked my enthusiasm for working in a field that helps others advocate for themselves. Human Resources and related services is a wide field that can encompass practically every business. Human Resources handles many aspects including hiring, benefits, payroll along with many services and programs. Benefits and services that can help people acquire their medical, retirement, safety, health and payroll benefits. This is a crucial job that all companies require, and having a person that can understand the various rules, along with the interpersonal skills to help people understand, advocate and apply those benefits to their jobs is very important. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 6. I saw how important it is to advocate for your health and search for the benefits and opportunities that not only help manage a long-term illness but also relieve the stress of knowing the ins and outs of ever-changing medical programs. Helping others comes naturally to me. I have dedicated many hours of volunteer work to some wonderful non-profit organizations over the past 6 years that truly help people in the local community. Inside each of these organizations I have seen that compassion, communication and teamwork are important elements that help to build stronger communities. Along with this, inside any business, HR is at the center of helping a company provide for its employees. When people feel heard, when they understand their benefits, along with knowing programs that they can connect with, it all helps in creating a healthier workplace environment. My volunteer work with Autumn’s ReRide Youth Ranch, assisting with Horse Therapy and responsible animal care has shown me that compassion and hard work are essential elements to providing support. My time volunteering with the Community Garden has shown me how organization, consistency and teamwork are essential in growing and harvesting fresh vegetables for the Food Pantry supporting community hunger relief. I have also learned from my work in community theatre that interpersonal skills and good communication are essential for successful teamwork. And I have learned advocacy, in my work moderating in an online gaming group teaching others how to be responsible gamers and not bullies. I feel these opportunities to provide volunteer work relating to my community in various roles have given me insight that I can take into my future career. I want to earn my Bachelor's and serve my community by helping provide communication, advocacy and teamwork inside the workplace. I know that the job ahead is not going to be easy. The goal of earning my degree will take a few years to complete but I believe that with focus, determination and a little help from the community in programs and scholarships such as this one, I can achieve my goal.

Saving is Achieving. This is the best advice I can give about finances. This idea that my Grandfather instilled in me is something that has also changed my life. Many times people assume that you must not spend money in order to have good finances. The misunderstanding is that saving money is difficult. And you know what? It is not. It is about delegating a portion of your finances to save along with making plans, dreaming, and setting goals. If you stop dreaming and setting goals you will not want to succeed. That is one of the reasons why many people fail at having a strong financial future. They somehow believe that saving is limiting. Saving is about achieving your goals. Dream big, set goals and save. Just set a little of your money towards a goal and in no time you will achieve those goals. In creating goals, they can be big but small goals are important also. Small goals can help you to feel accomplished when you can mark them off your list. Sometimes it is as simple as planning activities with friends or buying a new video game. In creating these goals, big and small, it is important to write them down. A short list on a notebook, phone or computer but it is also something you want to see on a daily or weekly basis. Having an envelope for cash or even using a spreadsheet to mark how you are setting aside your financial goals is worth it. Otherwise, you lose interest, but seeing your goals daily or weekly, using that money you saved and knowing that in saving again you will be able to use, enjoy and feel success. I like to use a planner. I can look at my planner daily for current events, but also watching the goals I want to accomplish in that week or month helps me stay focused. I use my planner to designate the days when I work. I have a part-time job that I enjoy. So when I write down the days I work, I also write the percentage of how much I apply toward saving. I tally that up in my spreadsheet toward the goals. And then when I receive my paycheck I am excited to allocate those funds toward my saving goals. I am currently working on saving for a new video game that I want along with money for when I go with friends. These are examples of my small goals. And then I have my larger goals, a car, my 4-year Degree and a Masters's Degree. It may take a while before I can fully accomplish all of my long-term goals but seeing how I succeed at my shorter goals, I know before long I will accomplish my larger ones also. With scholarships like this one, you can help me work toward these long-term goals. Thank you

Ending Hunger Hunger is an issue that will not go away easily. It will take a community to accomplish this task, and more needs to be done to encourage a community with a hands-on approach to solving this issue. For years, the approach of many has been to toss a little money toward solving hunger, but the issue is way more complex. The issue has many layers, needs many hands, and needs different approaches for all the many people that hunger affects. It is not just the poor, but people living in many geographical locations with different cultures and food needs. Food inadequacies can sometimes involve people dealing with food allergies or specific religious beliefs. Understanding some of the causes of hunger is part of the layers wrapped up inside the problem of hunger. Solving the problem of food hunger can only be found when we as a community approach it, solving the problem by changing the mindset of hunger. The answer is inevitable: community. An all-hands-on-deck approach to dealing with the issue of hunger is about community involvement. The Helping Hands Garden, for instance, has been in work for many years, incorporating many different groups to help with their cause. However, with more hands to grow and cultivate more produce and food, this could be expanded to fight world hunger. Currently, at the Helping Hands Garden, we are planning for next year’s garden. With this planning, they encourage new ideas and feedback. I discussed some ideas with Mrs. Pritchett, the director of the program Growing Up Green @ Benton County Master Gardeners. Mrs. Pritchett wants to plant sunflowers in an adjacent lot next to the garden to help beautify the community. My idea was to help plant and grow native wildflowers, but also a section devoted to the bright and sunny sunflowers. Sunflowers grab people’s attention, so when they see the flowers they might say, “let's stop and take a picture” with a bench dedicated to photo opportunities, with a sign detailing the garden and Helping Hands food pantry. The sign would have details about the program, website, Instagram, and social media links, along with a quick scan code. People could go to the link to learn about, schedule volunteer time, and donate money to the Helping Hands Food Pantry. If we can encourage more support, especially with more hands working in the garden, we can supply more fresh food. There is ample room for the garden to grow more; however, for it to succeed, it has to be organized and fulfilling, so just having land to grow is not enough. Encouraging community involvement, through church, school, homeschool, and even businesses is how the challenge of solving food hunger can be solved. To get the community to help, we need to make it a place they find interesting, and unique, and stress the importance of the effects of the fresh garden. Involving the community directly is how I believe that success can be found, with efforts relating to growing and sustainably providing easily accessible food for people. However, food insecurity is not simply about “food”, the causes are deeper than that. Many times food insecurity is related to poverty and the inability of people to provide for basic necessities. Sometimes it is a job loss, a sickness, or just the inability to sustain the high costs with inflation rising. There are many people in communities around the country that go to bed hungry, including kids. Many schools have programs with snack bags to take home, and while this helps a little, it is still a band-aid on the problem of food inadequacy as a whole. I believe that if we can eliminate the stigma of poverty and food inadequacy, the idea of not having enough can break the barriers that prevent some people from asking for help. The Helping Hands Food Pantry, for instance, has an inviting attitude, without judgment, and does not require you to use identification to get food. It is available for anyone, regardless of their circumstance, to pick up and use. This idea of having food available for people, any person, regardless of their social or economic class, is another step to stopping food hunger. The problem of hunger has been around for many years. The solution to winning this battle will take time and a change from the current process. The solution must incorporate the community growing and sharing the work, seeing it as a weekly volunteer opportunity. Creating the idea of volunteering at the garden as fulfilling and unique, along with creating accessibility to the food that is without limits, paperwork, or stigma. Food inadequacy problems require a daily, weekly, and monthly approach where it is part of an awareness that growing food and sharing food is in itself being part of the community.

At a very young age, I have always loved animals especially dogs. My household currently has three dogs, Belle, Gracie and Mochi. Along with two cats, Sally and Ozzy and one goldfish named Gil. My family has always loved animals and our combined love of animals also means dogs are top on the list. Belle is our oldest dog, we adopted her from an animal shelter when she was little. My dad picked her out because she was the smartest and calmest of the bunch, only to bring her home and find out she indeed was very spunky and had tons of energy. But this also meant she loved to run, chase, and occasionally knock my brother and I over like bowling pins when we were kids. She gratefully has outgrown this habit but still has her playfulness. At the ripe old age of 16 in people years, she has grown with our family through moving, changes and additions of other pets to the house. Yet she has always been the very kindest big sister to our second dog Gracie. Gracie also was a shelter pet. Gracie is also an extremely high energy dog, and loves to run, play, and chase. My best memory of Gracie was when she was little and would try to keep up with Belle in playing chase. Gracie is a bogle, a beagle boxer mix, and her big ears were so long that she would catch them as she ran and tumbled herself over. She grew to be big, a lot larger than the vet expected, but she is a sweet dog that sometimes is anything but graceful. Plus, she loves to talk. She is a very talkative dog and remind us at breakfast and supper time with her favorite words “no” and “now”. And to complete our household is little Mochi, who is one of the best snuggle dogs but also is a super guardian of the house and yard. My dogs always know when I need a hug and enjoy sitting and hang out with me while I watch my favorite shows. Mochi especially loves to sit by the dinner table when we play family board games or poker, and she is happily content to sit and watch family game nights and help me pick out winning cards. I love all the pets in our house, but my dogs are some of the very best buddies I could ever have. My dogs have taught me so much as I have grown up. Belle has taught me about patience, as she has grown in doggie years, I have watched her change from the spunky fast paced dog to a more relaxed sometimes confused and tired older dog. I have learned to have more patience and give her a little more time. Gracie is a super clumsy dog, and I’ve learned to have compassion because sometimes she just cannot help walking by the couch and knocking something over. From little Mochi, I have learned to be brave. She is the smallest of all our dogs, but she has no fear, and she is the largest in boldness and bravery of any dog I’ve ever known. I know when I go off to college it will be tough, but I will be home on weekends and summers to hang with my dogs. Plus, when I get my own place, I plan to always have a place for a dog in my life.