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Melissa Blanco

1,055

Bold Points

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Finalist

Bio

My life goals are to have a successful career in taking care of marine life and the conservation of the oceans. I want to make an effort to help our marine life with the rising of climate change. I am a great candidate because of my resilience, time and time again, I have accomplished my goals and passed my hardships. Just a girl trying to help a little bit in our big world!

Education

University of California-San Diego

Bachelor's degree program
2023 - 2027
  • Majors:
    • Marine Sciences

Peter Johansen High

High School
2019 - 2023

Miscellaneous

  • Desired degree level:

    Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)

  • Graduate schools of interest:

  • Transfer schools of interest:

  • Majors of interest:

    • Marine Sciences
    • Chemical Engineering
  • Planning to go to medical school
  • Career

    • Dream career field:

      Marine Biology

    • Dream career goals:

    • Docent for Sea Lions

      Sierra Club
      2023 – Present2 years
    • Currently Intern at Eighth College

      UC San Diego
      2023 – Present2 years
    • Crewmember

      UC San Diego Dining Services
      2023 – Present2 years

    Sports

    Kickboxing

    Intramural
    2014 – 20195 years

    Swimming

    Junior Varsity
    2019 – 20201 year

    Wrestling

    Varsity
    2019 – 20212 years

    Awards

    • WAC: 3rd place

    Volleyball

    Varsity
    2021 – 20232 years

    Arts

    • Johansen High School

      Drawing
      2019 – 2023

    Public services

    • Advocacy

      Sierra Club — Docent for Sea Lions
      2023 – Present
    • Volunteering

      Hughes Bernard Elementary School — Staff
      2022 – 2023

    Future Interests

    Advocacy

    Politics

    Volunteering

    Philanthropy

    Ventana Ocean Conservation Scholarship
    I care. I always did and I always will. Nothing brings me more joy than protecting the oceans and especially the wonderful sea creatures in our oceans. I am currently a marine biology student at the University of California- San Diego and in hope of completing my bachelors and getting the experiences I want. With climate change already affecting our planet and our daily lives, whether it may be the heat on land or the pollution in our skies, as sad as is sounds I have decided to focus on marine life who have no fault for the errors of humankind. I want to help the marine mammals who unfortunately suffer the most due to our errors. There is no reason those innocent animals have to go through getting stuck on our plastic to even digesting it. I love to spread advocacy and awareness about sea life to the public, what better way to protect than giving the information to the public to change their ways. I am currently a docent for the harbor seals during their birthing seasons in San Diego. I am slowly getting my experiences up and most importantly educating the public as to how they should act around these seals in their habitat. It may seem tiring sometimes hearing people's astonishing way of thinking but, at the end of the day, I feel a little but better after making a person change their ways of thinking and giving accurate information to them. I alone can't do much but together, we can heal our home called Earth. I plan to use my marine biology degree to get into an aquatic veterinary program at the University of California- Davis. I want to be hands on and ensure I can change the lives of sea life physically and even mentally. At first glance, this seem ambitious but it is such a better way to live life. I want to be on a boat hearing on the radio that my help is needed to help an injured mammal. I want to run into the water and help secure that sea life who was injuries in their own habitat just living life. Unfortunately, most of the time these sea creature are injured due to boat propellors or even plastic. I want to be there for them, advocating and taking care of them. Maybe someone who loves the lab can go make something that gets rid of plastic, but for now, I want to be the relive that helps hands-on for our oceans.
    Taylor Swift ‘1989’ Fan Scholarship
    My favorite Taylor Swift ‘1989’ album is “Wildest Dreams'' because in this song it talks about not being forgotten after a relationship. I think,in general, everybody’s fear is the fear of being forgotten. So when Taylor Swift says “Say you’ll remember me…” “Say you’ll see me again” … “Even if it’s in your wildest dreams.” She keeps repeating these verses but alternating between scenes of these two people just being in love and in the moment. She knows that this isn’t gonna last a long time but all she wants is to be together and even if everything does go down the drain, she doesn't want to be forgotten. She just hopes for him to not forget all the times they had together and not take it for granted. Once a relationship ends, all we want is to at least be someone significant. Not just a random person who was just played with. Nobody wants that. I personally have been in a situation where I put all this time and good memories into a relationship and I ended up being heart broken. It turned out that everything was worth nothing and that. . . that is what mostly broke my heart out this breakup. Not the fact that I was single and lonely now, but just discarded like I didn’t even exist. I just can’t comprehend how a human being can forget somebody like that. So this song really resonates deeply for me. I actually played it during my hard times after the break up. Taylor Swift truly captures that feeling after a break up, the little voice in your head. The way the song is in general is amazing. It is just right. The melody is something that I remember even after 9 years! Oh, and don’t get me started on the music video, when it came out I fell in love with her black hair and the way everything was filmed. The whole point of the music video is basically an actress who fell in love with her co-actor. They had some good times together but when the shooting ended they went back to their lives. They attend a premiere and the man turns out to have a wife and she cries and leaves the movie. For somebody aspiring to be an actress deep down, it really is a shocking and interesting topic for Talyor to come up with this idea. So, thank you Taylor Swift.
    Melissa Blanco Student Profile | Bold.org