When I think of creating change, I think of water erosion in the sense that change takes a lot of time, and a lot of consistency. Think of a stone slab, for example, with a tank of water above it. You could unleash all the water at once, but there wouldn't be much change to the stone, except that it is wet. But if that water is streamlined through a dropper that spits out a tiny bit of water every couple of seconds, soon, there is a dent in the stone that wasn't there before. The reason the first method doesn't create much change is because it is inconsistent. When I look at how I myself make an impact on my community, I realize I am consistently making positive change in my community. Monday nights over the summer, I'm in the kitchen at my church helping cook for and serve 60-80 people. Every summer, I'm acting out stories from the Bible to teach the Vacation Bible School students about the Word of God. I volunteer tutoring throughout the school year as well as volunteering at events in our community. And even on the days I have no time left to give, I make an effort to smile at people, say hello, or give a compliment. What I do may seem small to some. What does a drop of water have against drills and jackhammers? Well, I don't have drills or jackhammers. What I do have is drive. Drive to keep giving back to those around me. Maybe the student I tutored for NHS is now inspired to help others because she received help. I know the main reason I began volunteering for Vacation Bible School was because I attended when I was a kid, and wanted to help make the experience I had as a kid come to life for the next generation. Through ripple effects like these, a small drop of water makes an impact on someone else, who in turn shows kindness to another, and again and again to the whole community. All these drops of water start wearing at the stone, making a bigger impact overall. As I start a new chapter of my life, I've begun to think about positive impacts I will make in college. I look forward to meeting a lot of new people from different backgrounds than I. I'd like to join a student leadership organization to plan campus events to benefit students. I think I will continue volunteering my time to help others, and of course, always strive to be a beacon of light wherever I go. By volunteering my time, helping others, and lifting up those around me, I will make a positive impact on myself, my community, and the world.

Like most kids, I enjoyed playing outside. Whether it be running on a playground, swimming, or drawing in chalk, I couldn't get enough of summer. But something is different with me. I have erythropoietic protoporphyria, a rare genetic disorder that causes hypersensitivity to sunlight and an internal burning sensation mostly in my hands and face, that lasts about a week after the initial reaction. Even as I type this now, my hands feel terribly hot from the unplanned exposure that comes with the start of summer. For someone who loves to be outside in fresh air, basking in the heat of the sun—a condition like this isn't the most convenient. But I don't want to give up what I love, especially when my favorite sport throughout high school, color guard, takes place primarily outdoors. So, I learned to work around it. First off is the obvious portion, applying mineral-based sunscreen all over. I've learned the hard way that I have to be very adamant about reapplying every 2 hours to get full protection. But there's a little more than that. By the time I was in high school, I began to realize I needed a little bit more than sunscreen for my hands, which were the most sensitive. After a bit of research, I found UV protective gloves that I now wear anytime I go out in the sun. This has greatly helped me. I've struggled with this condition for so long it's hard for me to even pinpoint where it started. Through fighting the reactions, I've learned how to take care of it. Having a chronic condition like erythropoietic protoporphyria has taught me to become more aware of my body and what it needs. Even when it means taking a break from something I love, like leaving early from band camp because the pain from sun exposure became too great. More than that though, facing this condition has shown me that I have the confidence and drive to reach my goals. Even though color guard is mostly outside, I love it too much to quit, so I adapt. When I took a trip to Disney World in the hot Florida sun, I learned to adapt so I could still enjoy the trip. Having dealt with this, I know that looking forward, I'll be able to achieve any goal I set my mind to even when challenges arise through research, trial and error, and most important, perseverance. If I can overcome what is nicknamed "The Vampire Disease" because of my love of sunshine, I believe I can accomplish anything.

Ideally, my dream is to study acting in college. Even though I haven't been accepted into a theatre program yet, I would like to continue to do theatre for fun. I have a lot of experience in dance and theatre and am very passionate about it! In 7th and 8th grade, I participated in my middle school plays. In 9th-12th grade, I was a dancer in The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, and Frozen through my school. I've done 5 plays through my high school and two outside of school. I have stage-managed for two musicals at a local professional theatre company. In 11th and 12th grade, I have been lucky enough that my school offers a dance class during the school day that I have been able to take. 9th through 12th grade, I have participated in Color Guard, a dance related sport (with added equipment) and have Captained the team for 3 years. Clearly, I have quite a bit experience in theatre and dance. I love both of them and am very passionate about them. I'd like to learn more about the specifics of acting, especially for the camera. I also want to keep practicing dance, because the best way to get better is through repitition. I have already begun to give back to the dance and theatre world. I have stage managed and been a volunteer camp counselor for kids shows, and plan to work with the same theatre company as a choreographer for their musical theatre summer camps. I enjoy giving my time to something I am so passionate in, and hopefully instilling a love of the arts in the future generation. Of course, there are some inspirational figures I look up to when I think of theatre and dance. Meredith Montana, McKenna Grace, Emma Myers, Rachel Zegler, and Ryan Breslin, to name a few. I know I want a future in dance and theatre, but it's mainly motivated by my passions. From the age of 9 I knew I wanted to act after our class acted out a trial to learn about the judicial system. Everything I've learned about acting only grows my love for the art. As for dance, my whole life I could never resist starting to move when some music comes on. Dance feels like the natural way my body is supposed to move. If my future doesn't include theatre or dance, it would feel like a part of me is missing.

What role do you think the arts play in education and community building? How would you like to use your artistic talents to make an impact in your community? Throughout history, there's a certain stereotype associated with artists. Loners, outcasts, maybe even "weirdos". People who are different; people who see things differently; people who think differently. Performing artists are even stranger. The most common fear among people is public speaking. Yet many performing artists do this with ease, a task that shakes others to the core. This is the category I fall into. And yes, I've always been a little different from my peers. But when I started theatre, that changed. For the first time, I was with people who shared my love of performing. I was part of the similarity of a group that was different. If you ask anyone what their favorite part of high school theatre is, they'll say, "the community". And it's true--the performing arts community is kind and supportive, and truly feels like everyone belongs. The bonds made with each other during 3-6 hour rehearsals are unbreakable; the memories are unforgettable. I joined my freshman year, and the upperclassmen immediately took me in and helped me through choreography and vocals, but were also a friendly face when I felt alone. High school can be a scary place, but the community I found in performing made things feel safer. As a senior this year, I hope to be the beacon for the next generation of high school theatre, because everyone deserves a community where they feel seen. It implores me how many of my peers still struggle with presentations, or even calling an adult or business. In a digital age, many teens have learned to hide behind a screen and communicate through text, email, or DM. Public speaking and communication are important skills in life, and the performing arts helps students overcome that fear. Additonally, acting teaches empathy. By pretending to be another character, you learn to understand someone else's emotions deeper. Theatre also helped me learn to take constructive criticism better and improve. Performing arts is a wonderful activity that has played an enormous role in my social education and has helped me find a community. As an artist, I want to continue to grow and learn from others. I will strive to be a kind person in the theatre and acting community to contribute to the safe space so many of us have found in this art.

There are a lot of uncertainties in life. And when you have anxiety, it seems like every little uncertainty is the whole world. Things aren't black and white, so you find yourself spinning in circles, trying to find the right answer in a world full of grays. Numbers are different. In math, there's always a right answer. One plus one equals two. Four squared is sixteen. There is a certainty I could rely on. I'm good at math, too. The numbers always made sense to me. Unlike Language Arts, there's one right answer in math (sometimes two in higher levels). It's black and white, not up to interpretation. If I get an A on a math test, I know for certain I am right. Math isn't just memorizing names, dates, and events, like my nemesis: World History. No--math is a formula. It's a puzzle for me to solve. Not only do I get the answer right, but I feel accomplished for what I did to get there. When I focus on a math problem, the gray areas dissolve along with my anxieties as I unravel numbers and formulas like a poorly knit sweater, and everything becomes clear. There's an inherent logic in math that seems to make the world make sense. With that, everything seems clear, but one thing stands out more: I love math.

My favorite book to film adaption, and overall favorite film, is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Many book-to-film adaptions tend to simplify, or water down, the message shown in the book. This is not the case with TBOSAS. The powerful acting and on-point screenwriting convey the book's political message wonderfully. This is especially shown in a scene with an outburst from the character Sejanus Plinth, portrayed by Josh Andres-Rivera, followed by a juxtaposed reaction from showman Lucky Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman). This scene in particular shows the difference between those who show empathy for the lives taken in the games, and those who are just there to be entertained. Another part I appreciate about the film is the costuming. From the moment I saw it, I fell in love with Lucy Gray Baird's costume. I even recreated it myself for Halloween! The dress is bright and colorful, with lots of ruffles, matching the book's description of both her dress and character to a T. An element of the design I really appreciate was the attention to detail on her corset, which shows snakes weaving through flowers. This alludes to her love for snakes and subtly foreshadows her victory in the games. There are several other references to snakes in Lucy Gray's costumes. At one point in the film she wears a corset belt with a snake clasp, and in another shot she wears a snake bracelet around her wrist. This also foreshadows the strategy she uses in the end to escape Coriolanus. Even with the acting and costumes, what really made this film special to me was the music. Singing is a part of everyday life, and many book-to-film adaptions will cut out songs. For example, the Hogwarts theme song was not included in the book-to-film adaption of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. Singing was briefly included in the original set of Hunger Games films, but The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes goes above and beyond with music. Rachel Zegler's voice is wonderful, and she adds so much emotion to her singing. The songs in this movie range from anger at the capitol, to telling a story of heartbreak, a ballad, and more. What is especially impressive is one song she sings at the beginning is angry, a message to the Capitol about the games. She later sings the same song with the Covey band, only this time it is performative, upbeat, and danceable. On the note of instrumentals in this movie, parts of the score are used to pay homage to the original films. When Lucy Gray mentions the plant "katniss", music from the score of the original movies began playing. As a final point on the music, the credit song "Can't Catch Me Now" by Olivia Rodrigo makes clever references to the Hunger Games series, such as in the line "sometimes the fire you founded/don't burn the way you expect" referencing Katniss's nickname, "the girl on fire". There is also the line "there's snow falling over the city", a pun on the name Coriolanus Snow. The profound story of the book portrayed so well through acting, costumes, and music makes this not only my favorite book-to-film adaption, but my overall favorite film.

I would like to take a satirical approach to this project and create two contrasting puzzles to represent how I feel playing the daily NYT connections. As an avid player of all the NYT games, I find it interesting how, in Connections, especially, there is extremely varying difficulty between daily puzzles. The first puzzle includes the following words: Bass, Train, Bus, Boo, Yellow, Minnow, Few, Flounder, Green, Car, Two, Purple, Trout, Bike, Red, and Sue. From easiest to hardest, the connections would be as follows: Red/Yellow/Green/Purple are all colors, Two/Boo/Sue/Few all rhyme, Car/Bus/Train/Bike are all modes of transportation, and all have wheels. Lastly, Bass/Flounder/Minnow/Trout are all types of fish. While this is an exaggeration of an easy connections puzzle, in an example like this, I would likely find myself overthinking the answer, attempting to connect Bus, Flounder, Yellow, and Few. Busses are yellow, Flounder in the movie "The Little Mermaid" is yellow, of course, the color yellow is yellow, and the color yellow has the third-fewest energy of the ROY G BIV light spectrum. While this may seem like quite a stretch, my thought process seems reasonable compared to some of the more difficult daily puzzles. The second puzzle I will present includes the following words: Price, Power, Doubt, Women, Youth, Fungi, Prize, Woven, Hunky, Soft, Sewn, Warm, Fire, Black, Grind, Grave. Upon first glance, one may be grasping at straws to make some sort of connection between these. Warm and fire? Women and Woven? All the words have five letters, save for Soft, Fire, Sewn, and Warm. Could those be a category of their own, based solely on letter count? There are endless possible combinations one could come up with, but I'll spare you a few words by telling you the answers. However, if so inclined, I encourage you to stretch your brain by attempting to string together a semblance of a category between these. If you are ready for the solution from easiest to hardest, please read on. The easiest category of these I would call "Words to Describe a Blanket". This category includes the words Hunky, Soft, Sewn, and Warm. But shouldn't Woven be in there? And how can a blanket be Hunky? You tell me! As you can see, I've already created a significant overlap, a frustration of mine in the real daily Connections puzzle. Let's move on to the "Green" category: Price, Doubt, Women, and Power are all the last words of books on the New York Times bestsellers list for August 25, 2024. You should've known that one! The blue category for this puzzle is a personal favorite of mine: Fungi, Prize, Woven, and Youth are all words that were used for Wordle in 2022. If you are an avid player of Wordle (perhaps with an eidetic memory) this should have been easy—however, the words "Power" and "Doubt" from the previous category were also Wordle words used in 2022, creating more overlap. You can view an archive of past Wordle words at https://www.fiveforks.com/wordle/. Lastly, the hardest category follows a typical pattern seen in other Connections puzzles: "______stone" includes Fire, Black, Grind, and Grave. Of course, these puzzles are a satirical exaggeration of what easy versus difficult Connections games are; however, in some cases, not by much. Will my frustrations and complaints prevent me from participating in future games? Absolutely not.

In second grade, I was at my friend's house for a sleepover. We were out swimming in the pool all day and were getting settled in for the night. I kept complaining about a weird feeling in my hands; they felt tingly, itchy, and hot. Her mom suggested I wash my hands; it's probably something from chlorine. She gave me an ice pack and put me to sleep, but the feeling persisted that night and the next day. In fourth grade, I went to a summer camp at Upland Hills Farm. We spent all day outside, whether it was crafting, milking cows, or swimming in the lake. The camp started on Monday, and by Wednesday, I called my mom to take me home. My hands felt like they were on fire, yet none of the counselors could feel any heat on my hands. I stood by the water pump, rinsing my hands with lukewarm water while waiting for my mom to pick me up and take me to air conditioning and ice packs. We made a dermatologist appointment, and I was prescribed a hand cream, but it didn't help with further reactions. In tenth grade, I went to band camp for the first time. By now, I had connected this reaction to time in the sun. I skipped band camp freshman year out of fear of a similar reaction. Four days of nearly 10 hours in the sun...not for me! However, in sophomore year, I became Color Guard Captain, and it was inevitable that I would have to attend. I did my best to remember to apply sunscreen quickly between sessions; alas, it wasn't enough. By day 4, I was sitting in the gym, tears streaming down my face, holding an itty-bitty battery-powered fan to slightly reduce the internal heat. I was in so much pain I could hardly talk or move. Once again, my mom came to pick me up early. It was about this time in my life my parents started to research this. After years of these reactions, we had come to two conclusions: It was caused by the sun, and was not a skin condition. After a few thorough Google-ing sessions, we found something called Erythropoietic Protoporphyria, EPP for short. The National Library of Medicine describes EPP as "...an inherited condition resulting in the accumulation of protoporphyrins in red blood cells that causes acute, painful, non-blistering photosensitivity and potential liver disease" (Ahmed Jan, Masood). Although, I'm sure you figured that out from my anecdotes. My blood got tested for high blood protoporphyrins, and sure enough, they were high. We also found that this disorder is connected to low iron levels, which were also present in my blood tests. I'm on my way into junior year and my family is still trying to crack the case of EPP. Those who are close to me and have followed my story have learned with me about this disorder, and those I meet are sure to learn about it soon enough. It can be tricky to try to spread awareness about such a niche disorder, but I do my best. I am happy to explain to others why I wear gloves in the sun and why it is so important for me to consistently apply sunscreen. Sometimes, it's as simple as "I'm allergic to the sun," but if I have time, I'll talk about blood protoporphyrins, low iron, and liver disease. I make sure to spread awareness by advocating for myself both in doctors' offices and in sunny social situations so I can always make sure to find some shade.