My name is Madison Rhoton and growing up, I faced significant challenges due to my unique family circumstances. Being adopted and experiencing my parents' divorce required me to navigate complex emotional landscapes from a young age. The incarceration of my father further tested my resilience, forcing me to confront societal judgments and personal pain. Despite these obstacles, or perhaps because of them, I have developed a strong sense of perseverance and an unwavering determination to succeed. These experiences have not only made me more resilient but have also instilled in me a deep empathy for others facing adversity. I am passionate about pursuing a career in environmental engineering. My goal is to develop innovative solutions to combat climate change and promote sustainability. The challenges I faced growing up have taught me the importance of addressing complex problems with creativity and resilience, skills that are essential in the field of environmental engineering. My experiences have driven me to seek out opportunities to learn and grow, such as participating in science fairs, joining environmental clubs, and taking advanced courses in mathematics and science. Through my education, I hope to make a significant impact on the world by addressing environmental challenges. I am particularly interested in developing sustainable technologies that can reduce carbon emissions and promote renewable energy sources. For instance, I aspire to work on projects that design efficient solar panels or develop methods for large-scale carbon capture. My personal journey has shown me the importance of resilience and innovation, qualities that are crucial in tackling the pressing environmental issues we face today. By leveraging my education in STEAM, I aim to contribute to creating a more sustainable and equitable world for future generations. My interest in STEAM began in childhood, when I found solace in science and math as a way to make sense of the world around me. I remember the excitement of conducting my first science experiment in elementary school and the pride of building a functional robot in a high school engineering club. These experiences, coupled with the guidance of inspiring teachers and mentors, solidified my passion for STEAM. I am fascinated by the potential of technology and engineering to solve real-world problems, and I am eager to continue exploring these fields in college and beyond. In summary, my unique background has instilled in me a strong sense of resilience and a deep passion for STEAM. My goal is to use my education to address environmental challenges and make a positive impact on the world. I am committed to leveraging my skills and experiences to develop innovative solutions that promote sustainability and improve the quality of life for people around the globe. I am grateful for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship, and I am excited about the possibility of furthering my education and making a meaningful contribution to the field of environmental engineering. Thank you for considering my application.

I am very optimistic. I have a lot of faith in myself, my friends, my peers, and society in general. And that is what drives me to move society in a positive direction. Older generations are constantly talking down to today's youth. That blindness from today's adults is what I believe is what pushes me and other teenagers to believe and have faith in a better society for all. Throughout the last couple of years, I have seen a lot of trying and awful things happening to people everywhere all over the world. I can't help but be hurt by the state that our society is in. From the struggles faced by LGBTQIA+ youth, the prejudice that youth of color struggle to overcome, and the sexism and degrading life that women have been forced to live for centuries. Even though I am hurt by this, I have a greater hope than most that it will get better. Even if it isn't in my lifetime, I do believe that change is always possible, no matter how hard the situation may be. My optimism is the driving force that is allowing me to pursue the life that I am trying to have. And the life that I want all minorities to have. An equal life. And my optimistic ideas make me part of the positive force of this generation in society, today and in the future. For as long as I can remember, I have heard nothing from the older generations of today except, "Society is doomed when you are in charge." Now, this isn't everyone, but it does have a huge effect on how many see their place in society and their ability to change it, me included. The social norm of this generation being failures even before they have the opportunity is what has shaped my optimistic way of thinking. I constantly question their beliefs by saying, "How do you know?" I don't believe in failure unless you take the chance, and kids today have not had that chance. But when the chance is available, I do not doubt that we will make some long overdue changes, like equal pay and equal opportunities. The past generations have done a lot for society, but their time is about up and it is time for another to take the thrown. My optimism is what drives me to be a positive force in society. In the present and for the future. Being able to have faith in yourself, others, and society is what drives the world to become more positive. No matter what others may say, optimism is a superpower that no one can take away. Be optimistic, let life happen, but don't lose hope.

I am a child of adoption, divorce, and have an incarcerated parent because of that, I have always been able to use my resilience to solve and/or overcome almost every setback in my life with ease until there was a time it wasn’t as easy. To me, adoption and divorce have a lot in common, they involve a mutual trust between parent and child. Now, I love my parents and will be forever grateful for the opportunities and life they have given me and my siblings, but at one point in my childhood, one has both broken or hurt my trust in a way that greatly affected me and my resilience. Trust is a very important thing to have throughout life, to know when is it a good or bad time to trust someone or even if they are worth trusting. In the last 4 years of my life, those questions involving trust have been very hard to understand let alone answer. In the summer of 2019, my siblings and I were faced with some life-changing news that drastically changed our lives. My father did something that many would see as unforgivable. He broke every single one of my sibling's trust. Our story was on the news and in papers all over the country, and it was difficult to process the idea that my family’s story was being broadcasted all over. Everyone had an opinion of someone they didn’t even know. With my trust broken in one of my many role models in life, I had to figure out if trusting someone was even worth the effort. I cried, screamed, and went silent for too long. I didn’t want to talk, I was broken from the inside out, and my mind seemed like the only safe place that I had. It took time for me to overcome this, but throughout it, my mind was full of unanswered questions. Why do I let this setback affect my life so much? Why can’t I just find a solution? Why can’t I just be happy? Why do I feel so alone in a world full of people? That’s when I understood that for me to overcome this I need to accept it. I realized that forgiveness is different from acceptance and that every problem doesn’t have a solution. Do I forgive my father for what he has done to me and my family? No, but I do accept the fact that it has happened and that there is nothing I can do now to change it. I accept that even though it hurts and probably always will, I can use this as a way for me to understand that acceptance will always be easier than forgiving. Some things will never have a solution and that idea has been accepted by me, and because of that, I can grow into a more resilient person. As I prepare for the future ahead, moving towards furthering my education in a university setting, I can use this story to allow trials to come and welcome them into my life, knowing that I will grow and improve my resilience and bounce back into the person I need myself to be. Being able to withstand and overcome difficult situations as I grow is vital to an unpredictable society, especially as I work towards becoming a part of it. My resilience will allow me to accept my failures and setbacks, but it will not stop me from moving forward to become the person I want to be and hopefully inspire my other siblings to follow in my footsteps.

One quality that I value most in myself is my resilience. I am a child of adoption, divorce, and have an incarcerated parent because of that, I have always been able to use my resilience to solve and/or overcome almost every setback in my life with ease until there was a time it wasn’t as easy. To me, adoption and divorce have a lot in common, they involve a mutual trust between parent and child. Now, I love my parents and will be forever grateful for the opportunities and life they have given me and my siblings, but at one point in my childhood, one has both broken or hurt my trust in a way that greatly affected me and my resilience. Trust is a very important thing to have throughout life, to know when is it a good or bad time to trust someone or even if they are worth trusting. In the last 4 years of my life, those questions involving trust have been very hard to understand let alone answer. In the summer of 2019, my siblings and I were faced with some life-changing news that drastically changed our lives. My father did something that many would see as unforgivable. He broke every single one of my sibling's trust. Our story was on the news and in papers all over the country, and it was difficult to process the idea that my family’s story was being broadcasted all over. Everyone had an opinion of someone they didn’t even know. With my trust broken in one of my many role models in life, I had to figure out if trusting someone was even worth the effort. I cried, screamed, and went silent for too long. I didn’t want to talk, I was broken from the inside out, and my mind seemed like the only safe place that I had. It took time for me to overcome this, but throughout it, my mind was full of unanswered questions. Why do I let this setback affect my life so much? Why can’t I just find a solution? Why can’t I just be happy? Why do I feel so alone in a world full of people? That’s when I understood that for me to overcome this I need to accept it. I realized that forgiveness is different from acceptance and that every problem doesn’t have a solution. Do I forgive my father for what he has done to me and my family? No, but I do accept the fact that it has happened and that there is nothing I can do now to change it. I accept that even though it hurts and probably always will, I can use this as a way for me to understand that acceptance will always be easier than forgiving. Some things will never have a solution and that idea has been accepted by me, and because of that, I can grow into a more resilient person. As I prepare for the future ahead, moving towards furthering my education in a university setting, I can use this story to allow trials to come and welcome them into my life, knowing that I will grow and improve my resilience and bounce back into the person I need myself to be. Being able to withstand and overcome difficult situations as I grow is vital to an unpredictable society, especially as I work towards becoming a part of it. My resilience will allow me to accept my failures and setbacks, but it will not stop me from moving forward to become the person I want to be.

Math. Growing up it was a subject that most students hated, and many in high school still do. Growing up, I was one of the students that dreaded math time, but as I have gotten older and chose to pursue Engineering as my career path, I have a growing love for math as well. One thing that I love about math is the fact that there is always a solution. I have faced many challenges in my life and usually, I can find a solution like in math. Sometimes though the solution is not as clear and it takes time and effort to find the correct answer. It is comforting when completing a math problem, that there is a solution. Even a no solution is a solution, because it signifies the end. And an end means that it is time to move on and challenge yourself with other problems. Math is never-ending. You never stop learning new ways to solve or a different way to look at a solution and I enjoy that aspect. I love to strive to be the best at something and with math, since it is never-ending and always evolving, I can keep myself moving and never settling. Engineering is a career path that involves a lot of math, and even though math isn't my strongest subject I am still determined to do my best. I used to only enjoy and love the creative aspects of engineering, but now that I am older I have grown to embrace the technical and mathematical side as well. Especially during my Pre-Engineering courses during my junior year of high school. I took CNC 101 and 102, Robotics, and Digital Circuits through a dual enrollment program at my local community college. Now, those don't sound like they would involve a lot of math, and that's exactly what I thought when I originally signed up to take those courses, but I was wrong. These courses were very difficult, but I learn a lot from them, especially the importance of math in engineering. Every day I was designing something in CNC or coding something for Robotics or Digital Circuits and those involved math. And over time I became comfortable with the math needed and the math level expected. In the last 2 years of my life, I have grown to love the math involved in my career path and am willing to learn it for as long as I have to. I am no longer that young 5th grader that dreaded the 2 hours of math that was required in my class, not I embrace the time I do have in my early morning Pre-Calculus class and strive to learn and understand every aspect that is being taught.

As a student taking the next step in pursuing her education, my interest is in Civil Engineering, more specifically Sustainable Civil Engineering. During my junior year of high school, I had the opportunity to take some Pre-Engineering courses at my local community college. There I took, CNC 101 and 102, Digital Circuits, and Robotics. With those classes, I was able to grow and expand my understanding of the Engineering career path, but also challenge myself with college-level course work. With my choice to continue on the path of Civil Engineering, I am hoping to find ways to help the environment and find ways to control and solve climate change. Help with pollution, overpopulation, and waste. I want to come up with a way to design or a way to build that may help the earth become more healthy. Pollution is a big problem contributing to the earth's climate change crisis, and I want to help solve it. I want to help my future peers find a way for society to move away from fossil fuels which is one of the top issues contributing to the earth's pollution. Overpopulation. There is an overpopulation issue, but more importantly that certain people can get the resources that they need due to the fact that there isn't enough available. I want to discover a way to make resources available to everyone who needs it, no matter income, race, country, religion, age, etc. Lastly, waste. Waste especially plastic waste is a huge issue in the United States and all over the world. I want to try and create a way to use plastic to create art, infrastructure, roads, bridges, etc. My goal for the future is to use my growing understanding of civil engineering and sustainability to make the earth clean and healthy again, for everyone

In the summer of 2019, my siblings and I were faced with some life-changing news that drastically changed our lives. My father did something that many would see as unforgivable. He broke every single one of my sibling's trust some to the point of never talking to him again. Our story was on the news and in papers all over the country, and it was difficult to process the idea that my family’s story was being broadcasted all over. Everyone had an opinion of someone they didn’t even know. With my trust broken in one of my many role models in life, I had to figure out if trusting someone was even worth the effort. I cried, screamed, and went silent for too long. I didn’t want to talk, I was broken from the inside out, and my mind seemed like the only safe place that I had. It took time for me to overcome this, but throughout it, my mind was full of unanswered questions. Why do I let this setback affect my life so much? Why can’t I just find a solution? Why can’t I just be happy? Why do I feel so alone in a world full of people? That’s when I understood that for me to overcome this I need to accept it. I realized that forgiveness is different from acceptance and that every problem doesn’t have a solution. Do I forgive my father for what he has done to me and my family? No, but I do accept the fact that it has happened and that there is nothing I can do now to change it. I accept that even though it hurts and probably always will, I can use this as a way for me to understand that acceptance will always be easier than forgiving. Some things will never have a solution and that idea has been accepted by me, and because of that, I can grow into a more resilient person. As I prepare for the future ahead, moving towards furthering my education in a university setting, I can use this story to allow trials to come and welcome them into my life, knowing that I will grow and improve my resilience and bounce back into the person I need myself to be. Being able to withstand and overcome difficult situations as I grow is vital to an unpredictable society, especially as I work towards becoming a part of it. My resilience will allow me to accept my failures and setbacks, but it will not stop me from moving forward to become the person I want to be.

I am a child of adoption, divorce, and have an incarcerated parent because of that, I have always been able to use my resilience to solve and/or overcome almost every setback in my life with ease until there was a time it wasn’t as easy. To me, adoption and divorce have a lot in common, they involve a mutual trust between parent and child. Now, I love my parents and will be forever grateful for the opportunities and life they have given me and my siblings, but at one point in my childhood, one has both broken or hurt my trust in a way that greatly affected me and my resilience. Trust is a very important thing to have throughout life, to know when is it a good or bad time to trust someone or even if they are worth trusting. In the last 4 years of my life, those questions involving trust have been very hard to understand let alone answer. In the summer of 2019, my siblings and I were faced with some life-changing news that drastically changed our lives. My father did something that many would see as unforgivable. He broke every single one of my sibling's trust. Our story was on the news and in papers all over the country, and it was difficult to process the idea that my family’s story was being broadcasted all over. Everyone had an opinion of someone they didn’t even know. With my trust broken in one of my many role models in life, I had to figure out if trusting someone was even worth the effort. I cried, screamed, and went silent for too long. I didn’t want to talk, I was broken from the inside out, and my mind seemed like the only safe place that I had. It took time for me to overcome this, but throughout it, my mind was full of unanswered questions. Why do I let this setback affect my life so much? Why can’t I just find a solution? Why can’t I just be happy? Why do I feel so alone in a world full of people? That’s when I understood that for me to overcome this I need to accept it. I realized that forgiveness is different from acceptance and that every problem doesn’t have a solution. Do I forgive my father for what he has done to me and my family? No, but I do accept the fact that it has happened and that there is nothing I can do now to change it. I accept that even though it hurts and probably always will, I can use this as a way for me to understand that acceptance will always be easier than forgiving. Some things will never have a solution and that idea has been accepted by me, and because of that, I can grow into a more resilient person. As I prepare for the future ahead, moving towards furthering my education in a university setting, I can use this story to allow trials to come and welcome them into my life, knowing that I will grow and improve my resilience and bounce back into the person I need myself to be. Being able to withstand and overcome difficult situations as I grow is vital to an unpredictable society, especially as I work towards becoming a part of it. My resilience will allow me to accept my failures and setbacks, but it will not stop me from moving forward to become the person I want to be.

I had a revelation during my senior year of high school. I do so much for myself and my future, so why not do something for the futures of other students? That's when I decided to join the AmeriCorps student ambassador program and start volunteering. During the first semester of my senior year, I volunteered four days a week for about two hours in a third-grade classroom at a local elementary school. I struggled at first to be perceived as helpful. I would only show up to file, copy, and print, and occasionally assist students with their reading or math. I felt like I was a burden in this classroom because it seemed like they didn't even need my help at times. It wasn't until the end of the semester that I realized I was assisting without realizing it. My students decided to make me a card for the holidays. They each wrote me a personalized note in which they expressed their gratitude for everything I had done to help them further their education. I discovered that I was doing enough to have an impact not only on my education but also on the younger generation of students, and it was powerful and filled me with joy. It's inspiring and motivating to know that before I leave my community to further my education, I'll be leaving knowing that I helped with the educational process of developing tomorrow's leaders.

I am a child of adoption, divorce, and have an incarcerated parent because of that, I have always been able to use my resilience to solve and/or overcome almost every setback in my life with ease until there was a time it wasn’t as easy. To me, adoption and divorce have a lot in common, they involve a mutual trust between parent and child. Now, I love my parents and will be forever grateful for the opportunities and life they have given me and my siblings, but at one point in my childhood, one has both broken or hurt my trust in a way that greatly affected me and my resilience. Trust is a very important thing to have throughout life, to know when is it a good or bad time to trust someone or even if they are worth trusting. In the last 4 years of my life, those questions involving trust have been very hard to understand let alone answer. In the summer of 2019, my siblings and I were faced with some life-changing news that drastically changed our lives. My father did something that many would see as unforgivable. He broke every single one of my sibling's trust. Our story was on the news and in papers all over the country, and it was difficult to process the idea that my family’s story was being broadcasted all over. Everyone had an opinion of someone they didn’t even know. With my trust broken in one of my many role models in life, I had to figure out if trusting someone was even worth the effort. I cried, screamed, and went silent for too long. I didn’t want to talk, I was broken from the inside out, and my mind seemed like the only safe place that I had. It took time for me to overcome this, but throughout it, my mind was full of unanswered questions. Why do I let this setback affect my life so much? Why can’t I just find a solution? Why can’t I just be happy? Why do I feel so alone in a world full of people? That’s when I understood that for me to overcome this I need to accept it. I realized that forgiveness is different from acceptance and that every problem doesn’t have a solution. Do I forgive my father for what he has done to me and my family? No, but I do accept the fact that it has happened and that there is nothing I can do now to change it. I accept that even though it hurts and probably always will, I can use this as a way for me to understand that acceptance will always be easier than forgiving. Some things will never have a solution and that idea has been accepted by me, and because of that, I can grow into a more resilient person. As I prepare for the future ahead, moving towards furthering my education in a university setting, I can use this story to allow trials to come and welcome them into my life, knowing that I will grow and improve my resilience and bounce back into the person I need myself to be. Being able to withstand and overcome difficult situations as I grow is vital to an unpredictable society, especially as I work towards becoming a part of it. My resilience will allow me to accept my failures and setbacks, but it will not stop me from moving forward to become the person I want to be.

If I could have everyone in the world read one book, it would be the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I read this book recently and it allowed me to read and understand certain aspects of history differently. The way that the story is written from an African perspective, but also the ending and the impact of that allowed me to grow my understanding and hopefully by others reading it, it will help them as well. This book is all about the idea of European imperialism and the effects it had on the native tribes of Africa, which was an eye-opening read. Throughout history classes, children are taught about the imperialism of Africa from a European perspective and how it benefited them. It's not often that children will learn about it from the perspective of Africans. And within this book, you learn about African culture, their beliefs, and the hierarchy in society. You also get to see the process of the European missionaries slowly coming in and "converting" the people of the tribe. It's hard to read and allow the Europeans to do this, kill hundreds and destroy a whole culture, but they do, and that's exactly what happened. I believe that it is important for everyone to learn about these historical events from both sides. Though this book is "banned" in some schools, it is still important, especially to the minorities in today's society. The ending of this book is hard to bare for anyone who truly was able to grasp the understanding of the book. The novel ends with one of the strongest men in the tribe, killing one of the European missionary leaders and then killing himself. Later found by his brothers and the leader of the Europeans, the leader said that he could write a whole chapter about this. Then not a second later corrects himself and says that a paragraph would be more than enough. This is extremely hard to read and understand, but it is just how history went. Many will believe that this is the resolution and end of the novel, but if you were to grasp the understanding deeply then you would know that it isn't. Why? Because the main character didn't solve the issue plaguing the novel, which allows the reader to understand that there was never a happy ending to the story of European imperialism.

I believe that it is important to have diversity in STEM careers because it is important that these careers represent the world, not just a small demographic. Civil engineering, the major and career path which I have chosen to pursue, is dominated by men, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is in desperate need of a change. Throughout my education, particularly in engineering courses, I was one of the only women, and sometimes the only woman of color enrolled. This can be very frightening and stressful. I felt that my other classmates didn’t take me seriously no matter how hard I tried. As a woman of color, I was annoyed and angry. I was annoyed because the men in these courses truely didn't believe in the evolution of society and the ability for me to continue in this field. And I was mad that I was letting them treat me like this. It took time, but throughout it I was able to thrive and grow my interest in engineering, ignoring the rude comments from my fellow peers. A career path like STEM, which prides itself in building a better tomorrow and creating future leaders in that tomorrow has people that represent that tomorrow. It isn’t just white males that will have power in the future. It will be the people. Everyone. Everyone is equal. Equal pay, equal rights, and equal opportunities. The diversity in STEM will allow more and more amazing and unique ideas to come to the drawing board. Minorities have experiences that others can't relate to, and with that, we can use our story to help the next chapter in society. Whether through the medical field, engineering field, biology, and many more the ideas that will come from the young minds of minorities in this society are things that can truly move society to a better place. Throughout history, people of color have been ignored and silent. People fought and lost their lives. Sure we got rights, but are we still truly equal in this society? Change is much-needed and overdue. The people of color today have ideas that are being ignore and aren't getting to share their ideas freely without fear creeping up on them. This is our time to allow our beliefs and ideas to be heard and understood. society are things that can truly move society to a better place. This societal place that will be better because of the much-needed diversity in the STEM field will allow everyone to express ideas, emotions, and fears freely. Many ideas that today may be ignored and brushed off, will be considered and listened to.