March 13th, 2020. Everyone’s lives changed for the worse. This year, I was an eighth grader when my school announced we would be taking two weeks off of school due to the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19. On this day, there were mixed emotions throughout the grade levels: the sixth graders were filled with satisfaction, the seventh were confused about the entirety of the situation and the eighth graders were upset and crying. Yet no one knew exactly what would be happening next. When those two weeks had passed the ailment continued to spread rampantly throughout the world leaving everyone out of school. On March 17th, 2020 my school district made the decision to move to online classes. That was where my ruin began. Every teacher continued to assign new work each day; I couldn’t match the virtual toil so everything began to pile up. In these last few months of middle school, my A in Washington State History tumbled down to a low C. This work ethic hounded me into my first two years of high school, where I once again almost failed my freshman history course with a C-. The thing that altered my path was choosing to take the AP US History and AP English Language and Composition courses in my junior year. I was intimidated knowing of the work required to do well, however, by the end of the year I earned all As with the exception of one A-. My choice to take AP Courses taught me how to use both time management and hard work, and in using both I was able to do well within all six of my classes. With this newfound integrity, I hope to attend the University of Washington Seattle in the Fall of 2024 to launch the start of my civil engineering degree. I have also applied to the University of Washington’s honors program as I plan to incorporate the humanities behind engineering. Humanities is necessary for many majors including engineering as the human condition is a moving target. When you fix one dilemma another will result; meaning there won’t be answers for everything. Humanities teach that not knowing everything is ok and although engineering and humanities seem too far apart, that’s precisely why they complement each other so well. By being able to earn my civil engineering degree while still understanding the humanities, I can leave a positive impact on the world around us.

Every part of me loves community service. I started volunteering when I hadn't even graduated from middle school with an after-school program at my elementary school, however, I officially started recording hours once COVID left in my sophomore year. To this day, I now have over 200 service hours from various events. I'd have to say, each project taught me something different about myself and my core values, however, I would like to share my favorites. My first favorite was originally an annual thing but I'm unsure if it is now. This project is Unified Sports, where you would play basketball or soccer with kids with special needs at your school. One of my favorite parts of this program was there was, a lot, of variety in the people who participated. For example, with neurotypical kids in the program, there was a mix of jocks who do the sport at the school, people friends with the organizer, and more. While with the kids with special needs, each one had a different disorder. From ADHD to Autism to simple Colorblindness, each one of them was so unique. This opportunity taught me the most out of all the service events I have done. It taught me that each person is unique and it's alright to not fully understand them but to accept them with their differences. This program as well allowed me to become friends with people that I never thought I would be able to before as I have only had one class with two of them, Choir. Another one of my favorite events that is annual is the Oregon Trail Days, in Tenino, Washington. At this festival, volunteers come from all around Washington to teach the newer generations what it was like during the Oregon Trail Days. Here there are different projects such as rope-making, corn husk doll-making, candle-making, and more. Each year, a friend and I take on the busiest booth, the candle-making booth. This event runs through a full weekend and even on the slowest day, we ran through over 200 candle wix. This event taught me how to work productively and be efficient with my work as that is the only way to get through just a few hours of the festival. This followed me into my job as now in the workplace I am very well-liked as I constantly take on extra hours and work efficiently when asked to do a task. I could truly go on forever about all of the community service I have done however a life goal of mine is to become a civil engineer after college. When looking up the bare minimum requirements, you at least need a bachelor's degree in civil engineering or a related field meaning I will need to go to college. The only problem is the payment because I want to try and keep my mom and me out of debt as much as possible. I plan to continue my volunteering journey in college and I would be greatly appreciative to earn the "Reasons To Be - In Memory of Jimmy Watts" Scholarship.

I grew up watching Disney. Disney films have run since 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to the present day with Haunted Mansion. Spanning over 86 years of Disney movies there is currently a total of 812 different films. To say I have watched all of them is by far impossible, but I can say that I watched the majority. Fun fact, although not a Disney Franchise, the first ever movie I watched as a kid, Disney acquired the rights when buying 20th Century Fox in 2019 and the movie was Alvin and the Chipmunks. My favorite memory of the Disney brand was my first-ever visit to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. My Grandmother and Step-Grandfather on my Mom's side live in Alabama. One summer we had come to visit, and they surprised us with the whole Disney trip. This was the first Disney trip for the entire family and it was beyond memorable. The best thing of it all is when I lost my last tooth on the bus ride to Magic Kingdom. When arriving at that area of the park, my family told a friendly staff and asked if we could receive a bag for it. This message flew through the grapevine back to the hotel room we had been staying in. We had arrived back at the resort somewhat late and when entering the room we got a little surprise. On my bed were a Tigger plushie, a "lost tooth pin", a signed card, and even a coupon to buy a free Mickey ears headband. This made my stay so much better. It showed how much love the Disney company has for its people, creating a bigger spot in my heart for Disney. The happiest place on earth is also known to bring people together. When we were taking, what I believe is called the Disney Photo Pass pictures, my step-grandfather wasn't smiling but when I accidentally knocked his hat right off his head he started laughing. The Disney Photo Pass caught this moment of him smiling and laughing. To this day I love that picture of us. Even though I am now almost grown up, I continue to watch Disney movies all the time showing me as a great recipient of the Disney Super Fan Scholarship. If you do consider me, I will be truly grateful and all funds would go into my college expenses.

My father left us before I was even born. On Wednesday, July 12th, 2006, I was born to my single mother, and now looking at it growing up was pretty difficult for both of us. With most single parents, the other parent is supposed to pay child support. However, my mother rarely gets that from my father, leaving us struggling with financial problems over the years. Even through the financial problem, I can say that my mother tried her best for me. In my childhood, I grew up in the YMCA programs, doing sports, hanging out with friends, and so much more. She kept me happy and not knowing we were struggling. My childhood could have been much different but her doing this simple thing and remaining positive made my life much better. This had me learning to look at things in a more positive way as well as to try and make a positive out of a negative. Now, even in some of the most negative situations I try and remain positive knowing that being negative will only make things much worse for myself and the people around me. Now looking back, however, I realize I grew up poor. I am now attempting to move forward from that as I got employed this May with a $ 17.50-a-hour paying job but sadly with sports, I will be unable to do this job after the summer ends creating a loss of that paycheck. With this little bit of money, I plan to save up for college and other basic needs as my biological father will not be a big help. Depending on the college, the cost can vary but roughly being $122,000 with all fees for four years. To minimize that some I plan on attending a public in-state college to keep away from paying out-of-state or private tuition. I am lucky enough, however, to have some sort of funding behind me. When I was born my mother started a college fund but it might be able to pay for two years at the most. This has left me to try and work hard to earn scholarships from different sources to try and keep myself out of debt. To close this off, I would be greatly appreciative to earn the Sola Family Scholarship as it will 100% contribute to my college years and help keep my mom and me out of debt.

The only times I was able to put this book down was when I had to. If I had to have everyone in the world read one book it would have to be The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart. Erin Stewart writes about mental health and even brings in some of her own experiences of her undiagnosed mental illness. The Words We Keep follows that description closely. This book begins with a memory of two sisters, Lily and Alice. They have swam too far from the shore and Lily begins to struggle but is luckily able to find her way back to her father on the shore. This memory quickly fades into a real-time event where Lily finds her older sister Alice cutting herself on their bathroom floor. After this Alice goes away to rehab where Lily almost forgets about her until a new student comes to their school. This new student's name is Micah. He also came back recently from the same rehab facility leading to him knowing Alice. Micah coming into the school only starts more troubles for Lily she hadn't told anyone where Alice had been for the past month. The Art and Poetry teacher assigns a project to their classes where Micah and Lily get partnered up. Over the project's period, Micah and Lily become closer and open up in the form of poetry. This project allows Lily to make a breakthrough to discover her mental health issues. I believe that this book had me looking at mental health differently and had me planning to read more of Erin Stewart. Due to this, I believe that if everyone in the world could just read one book, it would have to be The Words We Keep.

As every day goes on, I try harder and harder to impact this world of ours positively. In my school district by graduation, students only need 20 hours of community service over their four years. For most, that's very easy looking at it as each year you will only need five hours to complete 20 hours. Now, going into my senior year, I have over 200 hours of community service. On top of all those hours, my freshman year was overtaken by COVID-19 meaning that those hours were only made up of the past two years. When speaking on how much community service I have done in such a short time many people ask if I have any favorites and I'd like to share those with you. By far one of my favorite annual service events is Unified Sports. Unified Sports is where neurotypical kids play Soccer with children with special needs depending on the season. These service events allowed me to make connections with people in my school that I never thought I would be able to connect with. I am forever grateful for that opportunity. Another one of my favorite service events that I helped with last year was timing in the PAC-12 women's swimming championship. For the majority of my life, I had been in the pool and as a junior last year my coach gave me and a few other swimmers the opportunity to time for elite swimmers at the King Aquatic Center in Federal Way Washington. While doing this service event was a major luxury for me I loved being able to see what I could be part of if I continue my swimming career. Lastly, another event that I loved was also this year at a retirement community. Here I was able to help people of older generations with technology issues who were each extremely grateful. In this moment of teaching them things I believed as 'simple knowledge', I learned that the concept of simple knowledge varies depending on the person. Another thing about me is that I work in childcare. Currently, I am employed by the YMCA childcare division as a summer camp counselor. To say I have learned some things is beyond an exaggeration. For example, at my site, we have a child currently struggling in foster care. She is only six and I can't begin to imagine what goes through her mind, however, a few days back for my club activity I had kids making binoculars from toilet paper rolls she came over wondering what we had been making and decided she wanted to make one. She seemed so sweet and happy while making one and I loved being part of that experience for her. Experiences like these have me have shown that even though the job might get tough there is a positive impact if I try for it. Finally, I would love the opportunity for the consideration of winning, Our Destiny Our Future Scholarship, it would extremely help the financial burden of college for me and my mother.

2020 wasn't the year for most people, it especially wasn't the year for me. As known by many Friday, March 13th, 2020 was when the world went to a halt for some time, however, this is my version of that day. I was in the third semester of my final year of middle school, and the announcement from our principal who we called "The Cracken" happened before lunch in everyone's third period. It said something along the lines of all the schools in our district would be closed for two weeks. Those two weeks happened to be much longer than expected and those two weeks were the beginning of my biggest struggle in mental health so far. Over these months I was isolated inside pushing everyone away and turning to the internet for more friends. Over these same few months, I learned how much of a cruel and great place the media can be. I met some people who would turn out to be great friends of mine for some time but I also met many other people who would just tear more and more away by day. This main story is about one of those second people. We can call her B for now. I met B around the year 2019 by trying to help her get out of her own mental health problems. She was a good friend of mine for a while and then turned into a horrendous person to me for no reason at all really. We began to have much more fights where she would continue to tear me down. From calling me fat to calling my face paralyzed to sending pictures of me to our mutual friends that had nothing to do with the fight even going to the point to make fun of someone close to me's suicide saying that I "should have jumped with" her. There was just too much to even digest. I ended up coping in not the best ways after this even having my second attempt be caused by one of these fights. Although this isn't a time I admire, I definitely learned from it. It changed the way I saw the media and how I generally saw people differently. This shaped me as I now know that it is okay to break away from someone, even if you love them if they cause harm to you in any way to let them go. I wish I didn't learn it in this way however I am grateful for this lesson that B had given me. I have now been no contact with B since about 2022 as she has reached out in an attempt to start more things but I do thank her for teaching me to be able to get away from those harmful people.

My name is Nicole and I have lived in Washington State my entire life. Before I even was born, my father never really wanted a kid. While he was still in contact with my mother he told her that to stop me from crying she should have locked me in a closet. I was only a few months old at that point. Over the years, my mother remained a single parent with little to no support from what was supposed to be my father. This has had us struggling financially for quite some time continuing to today. While we didn't always have the best funds my mom continued to try her best for me for my early years. Even with being poor, I believe that I still lived a happy childhood as I was allowed to go into programs such as Y-Care at my elementary school, several different artistic after-school activities, and many sports over the years. However, when moving into my high school years my mother and I fell apart leading to less and less support from her. Now that I am seventeen and going into my senior year of high school, I will be graduating next June and then heading off to college next August. The biggest struggle for me with this is the financial aid need. I can admit, in my freshman and sophomore years I didn't have the best grades allowing my GPA to be so low that there are few scholarships I can, and getting anything from merit has a very low chance. I am also not considered poor enough by the government's standards to be granted any form of federal financial aid. This means that the most realistic way for me to be able to afford college is to take out loans and begin my debt. I am lucky enough to currently be employed at a job paying a little under $2 above the $15.74 minimum wage however I am very unsure of how far this savings will take me. In my family, I would be the first to go to college and I would love the opportunity as one of my educational goals is, to someday, become a civil engineer able to make a difference for somebody. To achieve that though, takes going to college as the minimum education is a bachelor's degree in civil engineering or a related field. If you consider my application for the "Envision Scholarship Award" I would be greatly appreciative of it and all funds would be going into some part of my education.

I have been involved in music my entire life. I loved singing and attempting to play instruments since I was little but the first time I had actually gotten involved was in elementary school. At my elementary school, our music teacher allowed kids in third grade to fifth grade to be able to join a before-school choir program. So in 2014, I joined it. It was always easy cheesy songs that we would be singing so it was always easy to get a hang of it. At this same school in the fifth grade, you were able to have time to join either the school's orchestra or band. I chose orchestra which ended up not being too good for me because of each teacher I had happened to have. In the year 2017, I graduated from fifth grade and got ready to go to middle school. Instead of going to the 'regular' middle school, I went to a selection school for the performing arts. There you were required to be enrolled in some sort of performing arts, I chose to be involved in choir, orchestra, and musical theater for my first one and a half years. In the middle of my seventh grade year I quit orchestra as it was never the best experience for me however continued with a second choir and musical theater. In my third year of middle school, I got the opportunity to be in three choirs, two auditioned one, and another not auditioned. In my seventh grade year, I started going to voice lessons with an amazing woman who happened to be my high school choir teacher's wife. In 2020 I officially started high school I enrolled in a choir and continued to go to voice lessons often with the choir teacher's wife but in my sophomore year, I began to become more busy and was unable to continue voice lessons. After this, my choir teacher grew some sort of hatred toward me causing me to begin to lose my passion for music. After a whole semester of torment, I quit at semester and spoke with my counselor about it. He ruined my love for music but it taught me that I have to stand up for myself to get out of toxic situations with others. I began to use this more in my life which truly changed how I viewed the world. Even though I do not sing often anymore I am still in love with music. I am constantly listening to different artists on Spotify and growing that love for music back. I plan to continue that love growth back for the future as well.

The best thing about the Barbie universe is that imagination is the only thing limiting your creativity. Barbie has been around since the year 1959 by Mattel Inc showing that Barbie is one thing that can connect any generation. Moving through the years Barbie has been known to live in that fabulous Dream House which initially inspired the "Barbie Dream House Scholarship." As I said earlier, imagination is the only thing that limits your creativity, everyone's Barbie Dream House can be pretty different from person to person. For me, my dream house would have to be on Maui Island in Hawaii. To be exact, I would love to have this house in the small town of Paia located on Maui's Northern Coast looking over the North Pacific Ocean. However a bit different from Barbie's dream house decked out in the color pink, the color scheme of my dream house would be a mixture of natural colors. This includes colors such as white, light greys, and maybe even some baby blues here and there. By looking at other houses in the town, if I have to be honest, my house would stick out from the brighter-colored houses but it'll be okay. My dream house consists of four floors. The first floor would be the garage filled with multiple cars and that also has enough room for a workout area. The second floor would be the large kitchen and dining room for when guests are over. The third floor would be mine and a few other guests' bedrooms. In my room, there would be a huge walk-in closet with tons of clothes and shoes on the racks, a balcony, a king-sized bed, and anything else I might want or need. Lastly, the fourth floor is the roof fenced in by glass having an underground pool that can look off the side of the house and an area for an outdoor movie theater. Finally, I would love to be considered for the "Barbie Dream House Scholarship" as it will help with my education that could possibly even help me build this dream house in the future.

My biggest dream has always been to grow up and become a civil engineer. From the beginning, I have loved math and always excelled in my class. From the third to the eighth grade and once more in tenth grade Washington State required students to take the Standard Based Assessment in Math and English. I never did too great in English as I always had either a 3 or 2 but in Math it was very much the opposite. The only time I got an average score was in seventh grade when I got a 3, however, every other time I had gotten above average with a 4. This last year, my junior year, I took Pre-Calculus. For the majority of the year, I had over 100% with extra credit which ended up having me receive Student Of The Month from my Math teacher. Throughout this last year in Pre-Calc, the lowest test score that I had gotten was 92% equaling an A- on the letter scale. On tests that also happened to be the only A- I had gotten as all my other tests have been A's. The thing that pushed me to want to be a civil engineer was my grandfather's friend. She currently owns her own engineering business and is doing VERY well. A few months back I spoke to her to get a more inside look at what my future career could be like which was very helpful to me. I wouldn't be surprised if she even becomes a mentor to me in the upcoming years. When looking up "What do you need to be a civil engineer" it responded with the minimum education required for entry-level jobs is a bachelor's degree in civil engineering or a related field. Depending on the specific field of study a bachelor's degree can take about four years of education in college for full-time students. However, a better degree such as a master's or Ph.D. degree usually takes longer depending on the student's dedication to the study and the exact field of study. Looking at it this way, I will be required to go to college if I want to achieve this goal. The main problem of needing to go to college is the cost. For one year of tuition, it is about $10,000 for public in-state schools. I am lucky enough to have some sort of fund currently behind me to possibly cover a year of schooling but will not cover all four years leading me into looking for scholarships. If I am considered to be a winner of the AHS Scholarship I will be very grateful and all would be going to my education.

I've been swimming my entire life, that is my greatest achievement. I started swim lessons at the YMCA and Discover Aquatics before I even started school. Over the years I took those classes my love for the water grew and grew leading me to improve over time. In about fourth or fifth grade I began my first swim team at the YMCA. Here it was a recreation team that would travel to different YMCAs and compete against each other. In my first-ever meet, I had the 50 back, 50 free, and a relay. At the time I happened to be pretty slow but I've learned to grow from there. I continued to swim at the YMCA until I was in about eighth grade when COVID-19 hit. That stopped the majority of things from school to restaurants to the workplace. It also stopped the YMCAs. The funny thing is that after that year, I never came back. The coaches didn't seem to like me no matter what I had done and I had just given up with that team. My first year back was in my late freshman year with one of the best coaches. She taught me how to love the water again and pushed me on a daily to be better. My favorite memory of this pushing was when she put me up against someone that I had been neck and neck with all season in the 500 freestyle. I worked hard for it, and I won. That was one of the best moments for me that year. At the end of the season like most other sports we had a small banquet where awards and varsity letters were given. There were only five people to get varsity that year, three were returners and two were freshmen. The first freshman was what soon would become one of my best friends. The second one was me. My freshman year was hard however the hard work made me better. I'm going into my senior season now knowing what I have to do. Work hard. That will be the only way to get me where I want ending with a four-year varsity member. To continue this in the future I hope to make it into a college that has a swim team and try out for that swim team however I have a lot to improve on if I want to make that happen.

Hello, My name is Nicole, I am Alaskan Native and I lived in Washington State my entire life. Growing up I lived in a single-parent home and my father never assisted us with child support leading to a great amount of financial problems to add up over the years. The build-up of this pile of troubles has continued to my upcoming college studies. I can say that I at least have some cushion under me as when I was very little my mother began a college fund that depending on the college I attend could get me a year of tuition there. Going along with this, even though my mom has been in many difficult situations she has always tried her best with me and I want to make her proud by making it into college. To do this life goal of mine I need to find a way to get financial aid as we make too much for financial aid from the state while merit aid is many times almost impossible to get. I turned to apply for different scholarships in an attempt to build a bigger fund for college behind me. Sadly so far I haven't been too successful but I'm going to continue to work for this goal. My plan for college is to stay in-state at a public school so it will be cheaper than out-of-state or a private school for my mom and me. I intend to study engineering for a degree since I have always been skilled in math. For example, Washington State requires students from the 3rd to the 8th grade and then once again in the 10th to take the Standard Based Assessment in both Math and English. Since the 3rd grade, I have only gotten one average score of 3 in the seventh grade while every other time I had gotten an above-average score of 4. If I am considered a winner of the Barbara J. DeVaney Memorial Scholarship I plan to use the money to pay for my college tuition and if any is left over to help out my mother if I can. This will not only create a better life for myself but also for my mom. I will be able to pay for college easier which will lessen the debt I will be in afterward and my mom will have an extra boost in her savings. If I am considered for one of the twelve places for this scholarship I will be very grateful for any place.

Although I have over 200 community service hours now, this question had me stumped. To start from the beginning I grew up as an only child with a single parent leading us to not always have the right funds for everything especially since there was no support from my father. I can say that I was a pretty happy kid although for sure lonely, however when I was able to take care of myself more, I began to feel less alone and spent the majority of my time with friends. On Friday, March 13th, 2020 this all changed. It happened to be the third period when my principal announced that COVID-19 would be keeping schools closed in person for two weeks. Those two weeks turned into months. At this time this was the loneliest I had felt since my childhood. I couldn't do anything anymore, I was always cooped up in the house. In my sophomore year, however, things returned to normal but I wasn't the same. It took a bit but I was able to turn to a coping mechanism, which happened to be volunteer work. My first real service project began in the winter of 2021 when I heard of this sport that one of my favorite teachers runs, Unified Sports. In the winter with basketball and then in the spring with soccer, Unified Sports are where neurotypical high schoolers teach and play sports with kids with special needs. I was at first scared to show up, I didn't want to put myself out there but I'm glad I did. After this event, I felt something new. I didn't feel like my lonely childhood self anymore, I was more connected to the people around me. I continued to the next sport of Unified Sports, soccer, and I felt the same way. Every service event I contribute to continues to make me feel even more connected to different people around me and I am forever grateful for the high school teacher who taught me to love community service. Now after a year and a half of service events, I have over 200 logged hours and plan on continuing this into my final year of high school and even the future because I believe that helping your community brings not just yourself to others but brings everyone closer. From the oldest person on the planet to the youngest no one wouldn't benefit from the connectivity that volunteering brings. To end this off, going back to my mom being a single parent I don't have many funds available to me for my college experience and I am appreciative of being considered for the Lauren Czebatul Scholarship.

I am the definition of selflessness. I go to high school in a school district that requires all seniors to have completed 20 or more service hours before they can walk across that stage in June. From afar this isn't too difficult as over the 4 years you are in high school you'd only need 5 each year to make 20 by your senior year. Knowing that I have almost 200 service hours and am continuing to work for more. I have taken every opportunity possible to help my community from in-school events to out-of-school events. 200 might not seem like a lot to some as I am an incoming senior, however, my first year of being able to count these hours was in the fall of 2020 when COVID was keeping people away. This left me pretty much only having the last two years to have completed these hours meaning around 100 hours each year. Many around me have asked if I have any favorite service events that I participated in and my answer for that is always yes. My number was an AMAZING experience for me and even if I didn't earn service hours for it I would've still done it. On February 24th, 2023 I drove to the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way Washington to help with the Pac 12 Swimming Championships here my coach had given me and several other swimmers the opportunity to watch and time professionals in the sport. This was the first time my coach has been able to give this opportunity to her swimmers since COVID started and I am beyond grateful that I was chosen because even months later I still cherish being able to watch them that night and I am excited to do it again in the soon future. Another service event that I love dearly is the yearly Oregon Trail Days in Tenino Washington I plan on helping again in a few days. On the morning of July 22nd, 2022 I was given a ride to Tenino Washington where I would stay for the next few days until July 24th. Here daily my childhood best friend and I would set up the most popular station, the candle booth, and run it. Being my first year it was pretty difficult since each day the booth was overflowing with people wanting to make candles but I can say that I am glad to get the opportunity to help out again because it was extremely fun as well as help me learn how to work under stressful situations. The last service event that I would like to share with you is my work in Unified Sports at my school. Each year my high school holds sports like every other school however in the winter and spring they have Unified Basketball and Soccer. Here you help kids with special needs play sports that they might not have been able to before as well as be able to build friendships with those they might not have been able to before. I have made so many connections with people I have not thought I would be able to before in this sport and I am so beyond grateful for that. If you could not tell, I am very passionate about the work I do with community service and if I could I would go on forever about this topic. It would be an honor to be considered for this scholarship on a topic I am so in love with and I would forever be thankful for it.

Although by distance me and Malgorzata Kwiecien might not have connections with each other we have several with still allowing differences to exist. The first being I can relate to Malgorzata's challenges because I have also grown with a little support system. My mother was a single parent with little income while my father rarely paid child support leading our small family to fall deeper into the war of poverty. Still to this day, we are just getting by with her paycheck however now I have gotten a job to help out teaching me I will have to work harder for the things I want, just like Malgorzata did. There are many teenagers my age that rely on their parent's money, but I am glad not to be one of them anymore. Although I have only worked for a bit this summer, this money will be going straight to my education because without being classified as being in poverty and not being top of my class; a lot of financial aid is difficult to receive. Without much financial aid being given to me I have been applying to as many scholarships as possible because without them? I'm not sure if I'll ever be out of college debt. Another way that I found I was able to relate to Malgorzata is that she was into engineering. Throughout my school life, I have been excellent in math. For example, every year from 3rd grade to 8th then once again in 10th Washington State required students to take the Smarter Balanced Assessments in both Math and English. The test was graded on how well you did from a 1 to a 4: a 1 is below average, a 2 meeting average, a 3 met average, and lastly a 4 was exceeding average. In the 7th grade, it was my first and last time getting a 3 while every other time I got a 4. Furthermore last year, in my Junior year of high school, I took Pre-Calculus to move into AP Calculus in the upcoming year. Saying that I did well in the class was an understatement, at the end of the year the lowest test grade I ended with was a 92% while many others in my class were not doing as well. Over the course of the school year, I tutored and helped multiple people in my class because, throughout the majority of the year, I had over a 100% in the class. Our only major difference that I admit to is that Malgorzata moved here for her education while I have lived in Washington State most of my life and plan on continuing my education here. Even with this difference, I hope that my application is given a chance since I really need it.

Since I was young, I’ve always been interested in math. In elementary school I wasn’t the best in English and was sent to get special help from another teacher while the rest of my classmates were learning, however, when it came to math class it was the complete opposite. Instead of being sent out to get help, I was sent out with a small group of kids to work ahead on our own. This for me was one of the first signs that I was pretty gifted in math. In the third grade, we started the State Testing known as the SBA in both Math and English. Since then, I’ve taken that test seven different times as in High School you only need to take it your Sophomore year and pass. Over those seven times, I only got an average score of 3 once while every other time I got the highest score of 4. This year, I am now a Junior at Timberline High School in Lacey Washington enrolled in a College in the High School class of Pre-Calculus. In that class I currently have a grade of 99.61 making me the top of my class; along with that this year in Math the lowest test grade I have gotten was 90% and 92% otherwise they all have been A’s. The funny thing is that I only studied for one of my tests this year as my current teacher is truly amazing and I thank her for that. I believe that Math is so important as it is being used daily. From using it to decide which chips you should get for the best price, to determining what time you will arrive somewhere by going 50 miles per hour, to simply telling the time and cooking math is used all around us. Although most of the math used in the common day is the easiest math we learned in elementary school, math is being constantly used whether you want to use it or not. Math has shaped my world so much as now in just over a year I will be graduating High School to go on to pursue my love for math in the engineering field. I’ve spoken with a few civil engineers to see if I could get a feel for it before I dive in and truly I think that I was somewhat made to pursue this career as shown throughout my many years in math constantly achieving new things.

Ever since I was younger, I've loved learning math which is surprising to most because every time someone else asks what someone's least favorite subject is it is almost always Math, for me I would have to say mine is History. Like most math teachers say, you see this subject in everyday life just like English having these two subjects being so important. I've always been very good at math making it so easy for me to love it. Growing up, since the third grade, the state of Washington has required students to take State Testing, known as the SBA, in both Math and English. I've taken that test seven times now since then as in High School it was only required in your Sophmore Year and if you did not pass then you would make it up the next year. Over those seven times, I only got an average score of 3 once. Every other time, I got the highest score of 4. This year, I am now a Junior in High School taking a College in the High School class of Pre-Calculus. I am currently at the top of my class with a 99.6%, along with that I've never gotten below a 90% on a single one of my tests this year; I had a test on Wednesday, and I got a 96%. For instance, on my semester one final, I got a 95% but I can confirm that my teacher is very good at her job helping to earn the grade that I have. My current teacher makes it so easy to learn the material and be able to pass the tests without really a need for studying, this year I've only studied once and that was the final. This fact makes me pretty scared for next year going into AP Calculus because either teacher I get, they have the same teaching style so I don't have much wiggle room next year. Overall I think that math is so important because I've used it more days than I haven't. From debating what size of chips would be the best price, to calculating what time I'll arrive somewhere, to just telling the time math is used everywhere. I think it's funny that after doubting those teachers saying "it's used everywhere" for a few years I learned it is, even if it is just the simplest math that we learned in the second grade.

I am a Junior in High School at Timberline High School in Lacey Washington and I love Math. Whenever I say this to anyone, it’s pretty shocking as most people my age don’t like Math, but for me, I have loved math since I was little and that reflects in my grades. Maybe the fact that I have always been so good at math makes me love it so much. I don’t know but I do know that I’ve always been very good at it. In third grade, we started the State Testing and in my first year, I got the highest score of a 4, ever since then I’ve only gotten one 3 on those tests and I’m still pretty upset about that 3. For my state, it’s a requirement to take that test for the last time in your Sophomore year to graduate; last year, I got a 4 once again. This year, I am in Pre-Calculus and with all the tests I’ve never gotten below a 90% but I only really studied for the final. In college, I plan to pursue my love of math and go into the Civil Engineering field. If I’m going, to be honest, I’m pretty excited.

Growing up, I didn’t come from the best financial household as my mom was a single parent who rarely ever got support from my father through child support. With having a single parent I was constantly enrolled in DayCare programs such as the YMCA and overtime cost a large amount of money. As a child, I was enrolled in several things like daycare programs and other things to keep me occupied as my mom was working to give me a good life. Now, I am in High School. I live in Lacey Washington and this is now my third year at Timberline High School meaning that soon I will be going off to college. At school, I am enrolled in two varsity sports the Swim and Dive Team as well as the Dance and Drill Team which both take a lot of funds from my mother. I am lucky however to have some savings for that but with my two target schools, Washington University and the University of Washington, I am unsure of how far that will go based on the number of years with tuition and other expenses piling up. To help with this, this summer instead of going out with friends goofing around every day as I did in the previous summers, I will be working at my local YMCA Summer Camp program. Doing the math, there are about 10 weeks in the summer that I will be able to work in and the most I can work in a week is 40 hours making 400 hours throughout the summer if I work all 40 every week. The pay at this job is pretty good for a high school student being $17.50 an hour which by the end of summer will make it to $7,000 without counting taxes; counting taxes being 9.29% this will make up to about $6349. This money will hopefully make a good indent in my college and sports funds but of course, there will still be more to pay off. This scholarship will truly help me and my family as I will be able to pay for college without putting more stress on my mother. Along with this, I will be the first in my family to go to college and earn a degree which is something that my mother has been wanting for my entire life and I would love to make that dream come true for her and myself.

August 8th, 2015, I was nine years old going to my first ever Taylor Swift concert. I previously liked Taylor’s music however this particular concert had a large contribution to who I am today as for the last few years Taylor Swift has been a major part of my life, with even being my top artist on the yearly Spotify Wrapped since I have had Spotify. Now, being nearly 17 I don’t remember much from my childhood however one song from that August night in Century Link Stadium stuck with me most, “Out Of The Woods.” This song would probably have to be in my top five favorites out of Taylor’s complete discography as for me, “Out Of The Woods” by Taylor Swift is very relatable to past situations of my own leaving this song to forever have a soft spot in my heart. “Out Of The Woods” by Taylor Swift is said to be about a ‘relationship gone sour’ that Taylor didn’t believe she could leave and that she had to continue pushing through it. At the beginning of the song Taylor shares a flashback of her and the past significant other staring “Looking at it now / It all seems so simple” (Swift 0:10). By this sentence Taylor shows her new understanding of the past relationships and how it was not good for her health. Looking back into my own life, I share several similar experiences to this as the remembrance of those people I sometimes even think that ending our relationships had been so “simple” too. Continuing further into the song, Taylor shares another flashback of her and the past significant other about them moving furniture in order to dance; however when coming back into reality she states “Baby, like we stood a chance” (Swift 1:52). In this phrase Taylor shows more realization that no matter what they would have done, there was no chance to save their relationship. I felt a very similar way after arguing with one of my past best friends for the longest time as when the arguing continued to go on the less likelihood there was in saving our friendship. The chorus of the popular “Out Of The Woods” song consists of a repetition of the lines “Are we out of the woods yet?” (Swift 0:52) and “Are we in the clear yet?” (Swift 0:57). The mixture of these two lines relay hope to get out of the ‘woods’ and that it will so be ‘clear’ as long as they keep going. However in other words, the ‘woods’ refers to the problems in the relationship that they happened to be facing while the ‘clear’ alludes to the happy parts of the relationship where there were no issues. I find myself in this difficult situation pretty often anytime that I come across a big problem within my own life as I question when I will get out of ‘the woods.’ In closing, my favorite song out of Taylor Swift’s 2014 album,1989, is “Out Of The Woods” since I feel like my personal life can relate to many aspects of the song. With this relation I was able to express how I felt as Taylor put the words I couldn't unscramble into this astonishing song.