When I was around 18 months old I started having seizures. When I went to the doctor to get help, it was this same time that they diagnosed me with NF1. I am the first person in my family to have any genetic disorder, so it was difficult to understand at first. I was born with three cafe au lait spots, which, up until that point, we believed were freckles. I don't know how many I have now, but it feels like dozens. I began taking speech therapy lessons from the ages of three up until sixth grade. I was on an IEP during this time as well but recently switched to a 504 in high school. Nobody even told me what was going on. They'd simply begun pulling me out of the classroom more and more. My older sister is an amazing person: valedictorian, Honor Roll, and Homecoming Queen. Upon meeting people, my parents would even introduce her as an outstanding student and then motion to me, saying I have "special" classes too. I always felt that I was nothing compared to her. My parents would reassure me saying that I am my own person, but the feeling always stayed. I began seeing neurologists annually to help me progress with my ADHD, epilepsy, and neurofibromatosis. Granted, I was young and shy, but they wouldn't t let me speak. the conversation felt one way. I never got to tell them how I was feeling. I remember learning in school about different gentic disorders. I was surprised that not once NF was ever brought in any of the lectures or textbooks. This only made me feel more isolated like no one even knew what it was like. In all 17 years of living, I have never met anyone else with NF, but I know now that I am not alone. In an effort to make myself feel more accomplished, I began pushing myself a lot in high school. It was overwhelming being in advanced or dual credit classes and participating in multiple clubs, but it made me feel more like everyone else. I finally got to sit in places other than the front row of class or closest to the teacher's desk. I was my own student paving my own way. I want to attend college to continue overcoming my learning disabilities and become my own person in the world. I wouldn't say I am more deserving of this scholarship than others. There are thousands of other students who are good candidates for this scholarship. However I do hope I am one of those students. I want to continue showing others that I am capable of what they do despite our learning differences. I often have a hard time focusing and understanding, but that hasn't stopped me from becoming a member of the NHS, and I won't let it stop me in the future. My NF and other disabilities are not stronger than me; I can do things just as great as my peers. My dream is to be a sports announcer for Bally Sports or ESPN, both highly dominated by men; and the few women there tend to receive distasteful remarks from viewers. However, I hope I can be a part of the crowd to change that. I want to go to Minnesota since it has 7 professional sports teams and is a Big 10 school, so I feel like it would be a good place for a sports broadcasting program. Thank you for blessing me with the opportunity to possibly acquire the funds to help me achieve this dream.

Living a sustainable life requires being mindful. Educating ourselves is important. It's so unfortunate how many people either don't understand and/or don't care to the needs of our environment. I try to be aware of what I am doing in my life and use any available resources to keep the Earth clean. In the city I live in, you can't recycle paper or cardboard, which definitely makes things difficult, but not impossible. You can turn off vampire devices, keep lights off when you're not in the room, wash your clothes in cold water, and so much more. Being in/running environmental club over the years and taking AP Environmental Science has taught me so much. We need to keep Educating ourselves. I'm lucky enough to live in a city that uses a lot of hydropower, but there are still problems nonetheless. I think it is important to reduce our carbon footprint because of the negative change in climate we are facing. Although it is a semi-arid/desert climate, Southern Central Idaho has been in a drought my entire life. I have never seen the area in its fullest potential. Fossil combustion, such as driving cars, releases volatile organic compounds along with chlorofluorocarbons into the air creating a thermal inversion. Keeling charts over the more recent use have shown an ever increasing amount of carbon ppm in the atmosphere. More and more people are getting sick each year from breathing the polluted air. We all live on this planet and hopefully will one day raise people on it, so we need to care for it. I can't imagine my childhood without rolling around in grass fields and picking dandelions. I used to go a little Lake Beach every summer as a kid, but now that beach is littered in trash. Children of the future will one day not be able to enjoy the activities I did. We need to care for this Earth not because it affects us, but it will impact the lives of future generations. I care for the environment because Earth is my home, it is all our homes. I wouldn't keep trash on the floor of my house, I would throw it away. I wouldn't leave my car in idle, I would walk inside where it is warm. I wouldn't drive my scooter to get to the other side, I would walk because it really isn't that far. We need to think the same way with our planet. We should dispose of trash properly, use compost and recycle when possible. I wouldn't wait in my car on a cold winter morning with the engine running just to stay warm. I can simply go inside and wait in the classroom; and when possible, I will bike and walk. We can improve our carbon footprint by being mindful of our actions. We can carpool with friends or take the bus. We can use compost instead of synthetic fertilizers that leach excess nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil and groundwater.

When I was a freshman I decided that I wanted to enroll in Bruin News, my school's newspaper class, for my sophomore year. My sister was graduating the following year and was also enrolled in the course, so I thought it would be nice to have a class with her before she leaves. Mr. Davis was the Bruin News Advisor. When I asked him to sign the registration paper for the class, he told me that he normally doesn't take sophomores, so if I wanted to take News, I would have to take Honors English. I was never too interested in advanced courses, but I agreed. Little did I know at the time, but this would greatly alter my life. Davis is also over Honors English 10, so every morning the first hour, I would go to his class. Davis is an incredible teacher. Not only did he teach us the material, but her taught to learn how to love what we do. My passion for writing has grown so much because of. I continued to take advanced writing courses including AP Literature, English 102, and AP English. With this meant taking more dual credit courses. Half way through my sophomore year I realized that if I were to continue to stay on this path, I would be 12 credits short of graduating with a Liberal Arts degree from the local community college. So I thought, why not? If it were for Mr. Davis I would have never had the courage to have my writing published monthly and to take on being fully enrolled in college as a high school student. I have now had Davis as my teacher for three years and eat lunch in his room everyday. I admire how he treats us like people and creates a positive learning atmosphere. My favorite thing about Davis is how he was a highschool drop-out, and is very open about it. He doesn't encourage his students, or really any for that matter, to quit school, but he also isn't ashamed. Yet he overcame his setbacks. He moved to Idaho, attended ISU and is now an AP teacher, lead of a paper that is published all across town, and head of the English department. Davis has survived cancer as well. He has set such a strong example to me and has shown time and time again to never give up, to keep on reaching for something greater. I wouldn't be where I am in my life right now without Mr. Davis. If I didn't have him as a teacher, I wouldn't be graduating with my associates before a high school diploma (thus would have an even hard time attending my dream school), I wouldn't be pushing myself as much as I am now, but most importantly, I wouldn't have any of my friends. The people closest in my life I've met through my AP English Classes and Bruin News, classes I only took because of him. Without my friends, I don't know if I would have the strength to continue fighting my own mental battle in life. Davis has taught me to love school and to never limit my potential. Ultimately, he is the most impactful teacher I have ever had the privilege of learning from. Life is hard, but it is harder when we limit our worth. However, through him I have learned that there is so much more. We can always grow into a better place, we can always improve. You just need to have an open mind.

Writing is one of my favorite hobbies. I love taking an hour or so of my day to just sit, breathe, and write. You can feel all the emotions and develop them into art. My favorite thing to write is poetry and songs. They say a picture can paint a thousand words, so why not write that picture. I love writing music by creating an image with the words I write down. It encapsulates the emotions, the feelings, in the finest of details and art. I joined my school's newspaper as a sophomore. At first, I joined because my sister was on it and I wanted to have a class with her before she gradurated. However, I quickly fell in love with the program and began to invest hundreds of hours into making the paper the best it can be. I began as a staff writer and now work as the opinion editor, which basically is the head of the opinion column. I've written over 50 articles over the past three years in our monthly editions of school headlines. Working on the newspaper team has made me love writing in ways I never thought I would. Although articles are less artistic compared to poetry, it shares how the students feel. I get the privilege of making a lasting impact on my school's tangible archives. Working with the students one on one has grown my love for journalism immensely. It gives me the chance to connect with people of all backgrounds and interests; people I otherwise would have never spoken to. To strengthen my writing, I also enrolled myself in a plethora of english classes including but not limited to: AP literature and Composition, AP English, English 102 Rhetoric, and Honors English. I even got the opportunity to speak with Drew Nash, a writer and photographer from Times News, my city's local paper to work with. I can become a better editor myself. I have loved writing so much and do not want to stop when I go to college. I have considered taking music writing class so I can learn how to add an emotional depth to my songs. I'm proud of what I've written so far, but I know I can be better. When I learned that the University of Minnesota has a news paper team as well, I knew I had to go there. I've always been obsessed with the midwest schools, UMN - Twin Cities in particular, but that sealed the deal. So many school news programs these days are digital or broadcast, which is bad by any means, but it loses the value of writing. I hope I can become a member of their paper as well. Writing has become such a huge part of me and my life, I can't imagine my education path without it. I'm grateful for are the blessing and opportunities that writing has brought into my life and I yearn that I can continue traveling this path in my post-secondary career.

Good day, I'm McKinzie Adams and I've been having seizures ever since I was 18 months old. I was born mostly deaf, and though I have since had procedures to improve it, it was difficult to grow up not being able to fully understand the world and function in it. I was on a IEP from preschool up until the start of middle school to fit my needs. I couldn't play certain sports in school since difficulty breathing would be a trigger. I would be anxious a lot of the time since I'm also triggered by fatigue, and my insomnia plus sleep apnea made me average about 5 hours of sleep at night. The first doctor I remember going to didn't even believe me at first. He thought I was simply either unknowingly faking it, or doing it for attention. Since he was a professional, my parents went along with it. They took off my medicine for months. Eventually they took me to a different doctor. Scheduling appointments has always been difficult. The closest neurologist is a 3 hour drive from my house and often has a waiting period extending multiple months. Thankfully, I secured an appointment and schedule and EEG. On June 15, 2023, I was officially diagnosed, for the second time, with epilepsy. I started taking 500mg of Keppra everyday twice a day, but showed little improvement, so they moved me up to 750mg twice a day. I am currently on 1000mg everyday twice a day. Having epilepsy does have some limitations. The biggest by far, at least for me, is driving. I haven't been able to drive since 2022 because of my seizures. It makes me feel like I'm stuck between a rock and hard place because I either choose between going against my doctor's orders and driving, which is a hazard to me and others, walking everywhere, or relying on others to take me. Since I'm alone at home and both my parents work, it is a struggle to get to places on time. Some of my classmates even make fun of me for this as well. Idaho lets you get your license at 15, which is freshman year for some people. However, I'm a senior and still rely on my friends to take me places. They say they don't mind, but it always makes me feel like a burden, especially since I live in the opposite direction of town. I began wearing a medical alert bracelet two years ago and finally got put on a 504 this year. I had to reconsider my career options. Growing up I wanted to be a nurse, but many states won't let you work in the medical field if you have issues such as epilepsy or are seizure prone. I am currently leading towards something in either psychology, sports media, or environmental science. These are some of my biggest passions, I find so much joy in them. I've taken similar classes at the College of Southern Idaho. I've done well in them, which makes me feel so proud and accomplished, it makes me feel like I can actually do something. However, I want to go to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, which has a steep cost for out of state students. I am 10's of thousands of dollars short of affording tuition, and my parents say they won't be endorsing the loan. I don't blame them for this, in fact they shouldn't have to pay my debts, but it leaves me struggling to find the funds to go to my dream school. If I were to receive this scholarship, I would like to try and advocate for people with epilepsy. Although it creates setbacks, it doesn't have to stop you. You are stronger than epilepsy and still amount to great things and achieve an education and/or a great job. People who struggle with seizures should still be able to live life to the fullest. I would like to teach people the importance of understanding seizures. I've had classmates have grand mal seizures in the middle of class, without a teacher in the room, and never did anything to help, nor get someone to help, because they didn't understand. Knowing how to help can make such a difference in people's lives. Thank you so much for providing the opportunity to apply for epilepsy-specific scholarships and giving us a chance at a post-secondary career.

Good day, I'm McKinzie Adams and I'm from southern Idaho. I try to stay involved in school by attending various sporting events from volleyball and wrestling to baseball and basketball. I admire how lovely the student section is and love being apart of a loud crowd. Despite being a relatively small town compared to other states, we actually get really big into sports here. I'm involved in five different clubs, but my favorite is the Environmental Club. I joined Environmental Club late in my sophomore year of high school and am now the president. One thing I love about this club is all the chances we have to give back to the community. We have spent dozens of hours over the years picking up trash alongside the beloved Snake River Canyon and even go down to state parks from time to time, such as the Sawtooth Forest. At least in Twin Falls, the Environmental Club tends to attract the crowd of people I otherwise would never really hang out with. However, they are so incredibly nice, talented people who I have had the greatest pleasure of working with. One thing I've been trying to do is plant a tree on our school campus. Idaho is a semi-arid climate, so we don't get a lot of trees. I really want to go to the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities. While visiting the campus this summer I fell in love with the vast fields, floral creations, and the trees. The Midwest in general has a large multitude of trees in juxtaposition to Idaho. I hope that if I can plant a tree on my high school's campus, I can leave something good behind after I graduate and add to the green scenery I love. My junior year of high school I took AP Environmental science, APES for short. My teacher would often complain about the way our baseball and football teams fertilize their field. They would mow the fields very often to keep it trim and appealing, but would always throw away the clippings. The grass is filled with synthetic fertilizer and paint. This will eventually be consumed by the ground and enter the watershed. This isn't good for anyone, but especially in farming communities like the ones in Idaho. After taking APES and attending over 17 baseball/football games at my school, I got to thinking on how can I make this better. Most athletes don't like turf due to the carpet burn like markings and extreme temperatures. The MLB uses chalk, so that would solve the paint issue to an extent, but football moves around too much. The chalk wouldn't work for very long. By weighing out the possibilities, I still haven't found anything that would to well in long term aspect. I haven't quite decided what I want to do in college yet, but sports media and environmental studies are on my list. I hope if I follow this pathway I can find a way to maintain the beauty which can be found in nature and improve its role in sporting entertainment. I have found so much joy in my environmental works and attending sports games over the recent years. If it all works out in my post-secondary education, I would love to combine these two interest in some way to make the hundreds of sports field across the nation better, cleaner place.