I have enjoyed my time at Huntington Beach High School as a member of the Academy for the Performing Arts (APA) Musical Theater program. I have been in musical theater productions at APA, like Les Miserables, Grease, and Newsies, to name a few. In APA, I am also involved in the honors class Surf City Singers and APA's Opera Class. As a member of the APA Student Council, I volunteer to raise money for the arts at our annual fundraiser, Walk for the Arts, and volunteer throughout the year at various APA performances. At Huntington Beach High School, I am a member of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance. Our goal is to support and uplift members of the LGBT Community and educate others about the identities and history of LGBTQIA+ rights. I am also President of The Ides of Myth. The Ides of Myth is a student interest group that promotes fascination with and studying ancient mythology and legends from different cultures. We work to encourage students to learn about the various aspects of the lore of different cultures and how they affect our lives today through media and other mediums. I play travel softball on my 18U Bownet team when I'm not on the stage with APA. I have played softball since I was six years old. I'm a member of Girl Scout Troop 2345. Our troop has done fantastic volunteer work throughout our community, working with animal shelters, food banks, The Ronald McDonald House, and the Huntington Beach Senior Center, to name a few. I received my Silver Award by organizing The Orange County Children's Theater to perform free shows at the Huntington Beach Central Public Library. I volunteer with Art Explorers, a mobile art business that works with elementary school students. I have been a teaching assistant during summer camps, workshops, and family paint nights. I have also volunteered for Ocean View PSTA in various positions. I enjoy reading and playing with my dog Ruby when I am not doing all of the above. Giving back to the community is something that I was brought up to do. My community saved me during the most challenging time in my life. I didn't realize how bad my home life was until we fled our home due to my dad's drinking and unstable mental state. My mental state crumbled when custody evaluators, unification therapists, and a family court judge entered my life. When I was scared, my mom quoted Mr. Roger's, "Look for the helpers." The people who were supposed to be my helpers ignored my feelings. It created anxiety and depression, and I didn't see any helpers. But they were there. They surrounded me with compassion, hope, and love. My mother didn't quit fighting for me and gave me "helpers" to survive. A psychologist and a therapist whose only job was to focus on me, to provide a safe place to talk, and to provide medication for balance. My friends supported me unconditionally. Last but not least, my dog, who loves me unconditionally. I now know there are "helpers" out there. They may not be the ones you expect, but they are there. My hope is to one day be a helper. I plan on getting my degree in psychology. I hope to be the person in the room who listens to the child and truly understands that children's voices should be listened to and heard. I want to be a helper that understands that mental health doesn't affect that one person but everyone around them, and it's ok not to be ok.

One of my most successful experiences in leadership and problem-solving was my Silver Award for Girl Scouts. It was my first time in a leadership position independent of other adults and peers. My Silver Award idea came from trying to solve one problem for one organization while simultaneously providing a service for my community from the other organization. My local children's theater was trying to figure out how to promote their upcoming musical better. They rely on ticket sales to offset their cost for production. The more successful the show is, the more money they have to invest in the next production. My library has a great little theater in the children's book section that they use for their story time. Now and again, they host shows or events. I contacted both organizations to see if it was a good fit. It was a big idea that required cooperation from many people. I had to articulate my vision and delegate responsibilities to others. Coordinating so many people was initially intimidating, but everyone involved was excited and saw how this event would benefit themselves and others. In this situation, I learned that by introducing one group to the other group, they were able to find a common purpose. Each group was able to find joy in helping the other out. As a leader for this event, I was doing something people wanted to support. These were strangers that endorsed the event because of my promotional plan. The public supporting this event validated that my leadership in this situation was successful. A problem that I would love to see solved is the family court system. My home wasn't the healthiest environment for a child to grow up in. The subsequent custody battle caused horrible migraines, and I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I was forced to work with a custody evaluator who didn't listen to me, and then I was forced to work with a reunification therapist who didn't listen to me. I continued with sessions even though my father wasn't doing the work he was supposed to do. When a therapist or judge made a deadline, and the results were not obtained, instead of reporting that to the court and the judge, she just requested more time—the time she got paid for and where I was unseen and unheard. Finally, the therapist told the court my father did not follow the rules. The judge didn't want to listen, so he ordered another therapist for the case. This added more time and an untold amount of money my mother was responsible for paying. I would like to have the family court system reimagine the protocols they have in place. I would like to see any court-ordered family counseling, therapy, or reunification therapy be provided for families at no cost. There should be a limit on how long it takes for this process to work. If a parent is not following the course of action after some time, they should be denied custody. If the parents and the children are doing the work, they should be given additional time to ensure the change will succeed. When the system is for profit, no one wins except those making that money. It is not a fair system. I am thankful for this day that my mother was able to pay. She lost a lot financially, but I can't imagine the outcome if she hadn't had the resources to pay.

My home wasn't the healthiest environment for a child. From a young age, I noticed how my parents didn't act like my friend's parents or the ones on TV. You don't think much of it when you're little, but it's always in your head. I didn't realize how bad it was until my Mom pulled into the sketchy local hotel after she picked me up from a friend's party. We weren't going home and wouldn't go home many more times over the next few years. My Dad was unstable mentally and used alcohol to self-medicate. When my Mom decided to leave, we were homeless for three months, living at different people's houses until she could rent a place. The custody battle caused horrible migraines, and I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. My body started shutting down, and I was missing a lot of school, activities, and sports. I struggled even more with complex subjects since I wasn't in class to hear the lesson. I missed out on social opportunities and peer bonding when I missed activities. While playing with my travel softball team, I struggled in practice and during games with migraines. I started to feel like an outsider and alone. I didn't want to share what I was going through with anyone because I could hardly understand it. I started working with a psychologist and a therapist. At first, it was overwhelming. I was learning to advocate for myself in a room full of adults who didn't want to listen to me or believe what I was saying. In the beginning, it wasn't working. That made me retreat even more. Eventually, I was placed on medication to help balance the destructive thoughts my brain was providing. Over time, I started working on setting up those boundaries and advocating for myself in safer situations. I began to build my confidence. I started to see some of the adults who didn't hear me before beginning to listen to me. I started to learn that just because others were causing chaos around me didn't mean they could sabotage me or that I needed to sabotage my life. I started taking better care of myself mentally and physically. I reduced the amount of school missed, enrolled in tutoring, attended therapy weekly, and tried to learn techniques to help me with panic attacks. I realized how vital playing sports and being physical helped my body deal with the stress. I realize this will be a lifelong condition I need to be conscious of so I do not get overwhelmed. But knowing I survived this event means I can overcome anything. I am looking forward to playing softball at Agnes Scott College this Fall. I love being on a team and having that built-in family feeling. Two of my best friends are currently on my team, and I look forward to creating those bonds with my new teammates.

When I started Kindergarten, my mother was approached by another mother who was getting ready to start a Daisy Girl Scout Troop. My mother at the time declined the offer for me to join based on her experience in the Girl Scouts. During that Kindergarten year, my mother became friends with that mother and her co-leader. As they chatted during drop off and pick up, my mother was over-hearing the things that the troop was doing and was impressed. She signed me up for that troop during 1st grade. That was my first experience and my foundation of what leadership and service meant. Most troops usually only last until the end of elementary school. To most of our peers, Girl Scouts is lame after elementary school. But for us, I can proudly say that the majority of our troop has continued and has reached the highest level as we complete our Senior year. That is mostly due to our Troop Leader Mrs. Potter. She has not only created amazing experiences for us, but she also made our scouting experience something that we ultimately took charge of once we reached high school. As a younger Girl Scout, we learned about service and community. When we reached middle school, we started learning more about leadership and were given more leadership responsibilities. Earning badges, the Silver Award, and working on our Gold Award helped us to understand the needs of our communities and how we might be able to serve them. We have volunteered throughout our school years at The Ronald McDonald House, food banks, animal shelters, school and scout events, and many other organizations. Girl Scouts gave me the foundation for serving in my community. In a way, I've never known any difference. I've been brought up by my mother and then later in Girl Scouts that being involved in my community is a responsibility that we all must do. It's given me the confidence to seek out leadership positions at my high school in various clubs and organizations as well as on my softball team. In these positions, we serve our community through fundraising, peer support, and volunteering for events. In high school, you are required to do a lot of group projects. I already had experience working with group projects from being a Girl Scout, and I realized that most of the students in my groups had no idea how to work together as a team. It was very hard to see the lack of participation and the lack of organization. I learned more about leadership in those moments of failure. Leadership is not about the leader, but the group. I didn't realize this until I had a leader who was only making decisions that would benefit himself. It was frustrating but it only made me appreciate good leaders more. That experience continues my education on how to work as a group or individually to create positive change whether that is at home, at work, or within my community. I’m looking forward to taking all of these skills with me to my next chapter in college. My number one college choice has a program called SUMMIT. It is all about female leadership and empowerment. It's about learning how to be an effective leader, gaining work experience with an internship at a female own business, mandatory study abroad with female community leaders in that country, and building a team of business leaders, alumni, professors, and students by the time I graduate. I feel that my foundation in community service will only continue to grow.

When thinking of home most people think of a street and address, I think of my mom and my dog Ruby. Home for me hasn’t always been the suburban middle-class house with a white picket fence. It wasn't the healthiest environment for a child to grow up in. I just knew my home wasn’t like my friends. At one point, we were living in different hotel rooms. My mental state began to crumble. Later when custody evaluators, unification therapists, and a family court judge entered my life things got even worse. I felt unseen and unheard. At this point in my life, I had always wanted a dog but could never have one. When we were finally settled in a safe place, my mom knew what was needed to help me deal with all that was going on. She knew that a dog who loves me unconditionally and surrounds me with light when it starts to get dark would help me through this difficult time. We meet our dog Ruby when she was a puppy. An amazing family friend who knew our story felt that we were meant to have one of her pups. When I held Ruby in my arms the day I met her, I thought my heart would burst. I fell in love immediately. I’m an only child so when we were trying to come up with names for her, my mother suggested Ruby. She had said if I had ever had a sister, she thought of naming her Ruby. Since she was now my fur sister, Ruby seemed like the best name. She is now 3 years old and I can not remember a time when we did not have her. When I’m feeling depressed or anxious, Ruby is there to calm me. When I see her snuggled up in her bed, it makes me feel so happy. Every day Ruby does something so cute that both my mother and I have to stop what we are doing to comment on it. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. Right now, I’m ok. In my life, things are starting to settle down. My home is safe with my mom and my dog. Ruby changed our home and our lives and we are so thankful for her.

When thinking of home most people think of a street and address, I think of a feeling. Home for me hasn’t always been the suburban middle-class house with a white picket fence. It wasn't the healthiest environment for a child to grow up in. From a young age, I noticed how my parents didn’t act like my friend’s parents or the ones on TV. When you're little you don’t think much of it, but it’s always in the back of your head. I didn’t realize how much they didn’t love each other until my mom pulled into the sketchy local hotel after she picked me up from a friend's party. We weren’t going home, and we wouldn’t go home many more times over the next few years. We had fled our home due to my dad’s drinking and unstable mental state. At the time, I was too young to understand the details. I just knew my home wasn’t like my friends. Although I wasn't sleeping in my bed, I didn’t feel as scared as I thought I would during this time. If anything, I was excited to make a pillow fort in the closet and get a “free” muffin for breakfast in the morning. Being with my mom has always made me feel safe and where I feel safe is where I feel at home. The innocents of that short time of building forts and “free” muffins did not last long. My mental state began to crumble later when custody evaluators, unification therapists, and a family court judge entered my life. I felt unseen and unheard. When I was scared, my mom quoted Mr. Roger’s when he said “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” But these people who were supposed to be my helpers didn’t listen to my story, they ignored my feelings and told me what I was supposed to be feeling. It created an anxiety disorder and ultimately to my being diagnosed with depression. In the darkest moments, I couldn’t see any helpers. But they were there and they surrounded me with compassion, hope, and love. My mother didn’t quit fighting for me and surrounded me with other “helpers” to give me the tools to survive. Helpers like a psychologist and a therapist, whose only job was to focus on me, provided me with a safe place to talk and medication to balance the destructive thoughts. Family friends who cheer me on at sporting events and performances. They pick me up when I get pushed down and they lift me up. Ruby, my unofficial therapy dog who loves me unconditionally and surrounds me with light when it starts to get dark. I do know there are “helpers” out there. They may not be the ones you expect, but they are there. My hope is to one day be a “helper”. I plan on getting my degree in psychology. I’m hoping to be the person in the room that listens to the child. Who truly understands that children’s voices should be heard and listened to. I want to be a helper that understands that mental health doesn’t affect that one person, but everyone around them and it’s ok to not be ok. Right now, I’m ok. In my life things have always been decided for me, I’m ready to be the one who makes my own path now, starting with my home and what that means to me.