The song that most inspires me is You Got It by Roy Orbison. I can remember my older brother introducing me to this song a few years back. We were both playing video games on our Xbox, listening to music, and my brother said, "Let me show you my favorite all-time song." He played it, and it was instantly my favorite as well. It is so important to me now because it created a unique bond between me and my brother. We have had many great experiences with this song, and the song has created a link that has reached across the gap of 3 years of age, education, and professional expertise existing between us like nothing else. The song is about the singer expressing his love for his significant other, offering to get her anything she needs or wants. The accompanying music aligns perfectly with the lyrics, making it one of the best older songs ever created--in my opinion. Whenever I feel lonely, tired, or just plain out of ideas, I play this song to remind me that there are people out there who care about me and would do "anything at all" for me. It gets me going just when I need it. It reminds me of my brother,es.the rest of my family, and the centrality of love itself in all of our lives.

Friendship is when a stranger pays a person's rent. Friendship is when an anonymous donor gives his life's inheritance to a cause he believes in. Friendship is caring for someone beyond their wildest dreams. I have witnessed all of these types of friendships, and it brings about countless good in other people that is simply extraordinary. Human beings are social beings, and as such, we crave friendship. Without it, life loses its flavor and flamboyance. One such time when I was in need of a good friend, my oldest best friend told me how much he wanted the best for me. It was in the middle of my lunch period and completely revolutionized the remainder of my day and week. It still revolutionizes me today. I know for a fact that my friend showed me the true power of friendship. In the broad world out there, with 7 billion human beings, all with their own inner and outer wounds and messes, friendship is a lifesaver. "A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure" (Sirach 6:14).

“It’s a ballistic pendulum!” my physics teacher exclaimed excitedly as she was wrapping up a lesson about energy transformation and velocity. In physics—and in all other classes—I was introduced to the splendor of the world around me, and how it all works together in a beautiful harmony. This was the opportunity that school granted me: a chance to understand the world around me, thereby understanding myself and being able to formulate my own goals for my life. School is often described as a restraining atmosphere, but in reality, it opens up students to discover their passions and interests, and how they can use them to lead a successful lifestyle. To success in my own life, my goals include to graduate from college without debt, become a manager of engineers in a firm, and learn how to listen better in order to learn from others. One of my career goals is to graduate from college without any debt. Many students either drown in student-loan debt or their parents pay for their tuition. Paying for my own college tuition will set the foundation for early success in looking for a job and for early investment. I will have no debt holding me back from building up wealth, investing, and giving back to my community and region through charities. Graduates with debt have the constant worry of paying off the student loans on top of bills and taxes. This goal also gives me a sense of accomplishment and confidence because I will accomplish it through my own hard work. I was encouraged especially by my dad, who taught the importance of economic independence and success. I saw my older sister and brother go through college completely debt-free, and now it is my turn to complete the goal. Going to college completely without debt will also enable me to focus more on my intended major of civil engineering, and to work up to the position of manager. Civil engineering interests me because I have always been curious about the infrastructure of the region around me. I live in the city of Pittsburgh, with its unique topography of hills and the three rivers: the Monongahela, Ohio, and Allegheny Rivers. Many bridges and highways had to be constructed to facilitate the fast-growing city, and the result is the “City of Bridges.” Growing up experiencing the bridges and architecture of Pittsburgh inspired me to draw my own highway systems and towns in notebooks as a kid. Over time, I developed a strong background in math, particularly in pre-calc and geometry, and an interest in the physics of mechanics and forces. My aspiration is to take this passion for engineering and lead fellow engineers in the design and construction of infrastructure, particularly roads. I want to leave my mark on a city which has left such a vast effect on me and my developing interests. One moment when I overcame adversity was in fourth grade. It was a very oppressive mental frustration that had grown in power ever since. It would become so bad at times that it would paralyze my thinking on that one mistake I made and magnify it so out of proportion that I couldn’t shake my thoughts from it to anything else. Recently, though, by the help of my parents, friends, and an increased confidence in my abilities, I am able to ignore the mental frustration more and more any time it shows up. I have learned above all to trust in my potential capacity to rise above my personal challenges, setbacks, and failings, and to turn them into personal successes.

Thomas Edison is my favorite scientist. I admire his persistence, ingenuity, and creativity with his inventions for the long-lasting incandescent lightbulb. I want to emulate his never-give-up-ness, even when it seemed that he was making no advancements with his experiments and inventions.

“It’s a ballistic pendulum!” my physics teacher exclaimed excitedly as she was wrapping up a lesson about energy transformation and velocity. In physics—and all other classes—I was introduced to the splendor of the world around me, and how it all works together in beautiful harmony. This was the opportunity that school granted me: a chance to understand the world around me, thereby understanding myself and being able to formulate my own goals for my life. School is often described as a restraining atmosphere, but in reality, it opens up students to discover their passions and interests, and how they can use them to lead a successful lifestyle. To succeed in my own life, my goals include graduating from college without debt, become a manager of engineers in a firm, and learn how to listen better to learn from others. One of my career goals is to graduate from college without any debt. Many students either drown in student-loan debt or their parents pay for their tuition. Paying for my own college tuition will set the foundation for early success in looking for a job and early investment. I will have no debt holding me back from building up wealth, investing, and giving back to my community and region through charities. Graduates with debt have the constant worry of paying off the student loans on top of bills and taxes. This goal also gives me a sense of accomplishment and confidence because I will accomplish it through my own hard work. I was encouraged especially by my dad, who taught me the importance of economic independence and success. I saw my older sister and brother go through college completely debt-free, and now it is my turn to complete the goal. Civil engineering interests me because I have always been curious about the infrastructure of the region around me. I live in the city of Pittsburgh, with its unique topography of hills and three rivers: the Monongahela, Ohio, and Allegheny Rivers. Many bridges and highways were constructed to facilitate the fast-growing city, and the result is the “City of Bridges.” Growing up experiencing the architecture of Pittsburgh inspired me to draw my own highway systems and towns in notebooks as a kid. Over time, I developed a strong background in math, particularly in pre-calc and geometry, and an interest in the physics of mechanics and forces. I aspire to take this passion for engineering and lead fellow engineers in designing and constructing infrastructure, particularly roads. I want to leave my mark on a city that has left such a vast effect on me and my developing interests. Being a civil engineer manager will enable me to help people uniquely. I will create new infrastructure and maintain older buildings that have aesthetic or historical value to a city. Through my work and that of other engineers, I will design new roads and conduct timely maintenance on existing highways and suburban roads, literally connecting society better. I will have the opportunity to bring my own vision and persistence to new construction projects, adding new perspectives to the field. Society benefits from well-planned and executed projects, and my future expertise will result in such improvements. I have been able to learn from my mentors' insights and experiences. For example, my teachers taught me about personal discipline, and through their guidance, I learned the value of incorporating other people’s experiences into my own life. These are the successful traits of an engineer, and I hope to bring them to all projects I work on, thanks to the unending support from my family, friends, and community.

Entrepreneurs are people who see something that can be added to, improved, or sometimes both, and do something about it. Entrepreneurs are people who challenge the status-quo. They are innovators. They are inventors. They are problem-solvers. They are changers. They are creators of projects that range on the spectrum from vast enterprises to small privately owned businesses. Above all else, they are people who believe in themselves enough to make an impact on the world and become successful through their crucial decisions. Entrepreneurs take on risks when they try to solve a problem, but if they do come up with a solution, the reward is well worth the risk. Alexander Graham Bell took on enormous risk when he started to brainstorm ideas for the telephone, but his impact on the world cannot be overestimated. Thomas Edison tried 1,000 different prototypes of the light bulb and called them "1,000 steps", not "1,000 failures". The Walt Disney Corporation started out as one man's dream while he was watching his kids go around on a carousel in a park - and look where the Disney company ended up today. Every single one of these three entrepreneurs, plus countless others, saw opportunity in a dream, idea, or problem that needed solved, and flew into action. There are still many problems in the world that need practical solutions. One such problem is food transportation to poorer countries. There are organizations that deliver food and supplies to countries, but they sometimes do not deliver enough food or become so overwhelmed with too many places to help out at once. If there was a company whose sole aim would be to deliver food and supplies to countries who need help, that would help solve the issue of hunger in many countries who are desperate for help. This problem is worth solving because every person on Earth deserves a chance to live a successful, fulfilling life. The way to live such a life is to have your needs taken care of. If one's needs are covered, then he or she can pursue their wants and contribute to the economy through the purchase of wanted goods and services. The wonderful and selfless organizations that give totally of themselves to assist countries torn by war or strife help to get countries and their populations on their feet again. Food - and water - is one of the common human needs that constantly needs to be addressed, along with shelter and clothing. That is why having a dedicated company to handle these organizations' transportation would greatly aid people in need. The organizations would not have to worry about their transportation needs because there would be someone there to provide the service. They could turn their valuable time elsewhere to accumulating more food and supplies for transit to the countries in need. It would also remove a significant amount of undue stress on the staff of the organizations who have to plan everything from accumulating enough food to figuring out where the food needs to go and how it is going to get there. The transportation taken care of would be a win for these crucial organizations. This is just one example of a problem that could be solved through the innovation of entrepreneurs who are passionate about who they are and what they could do to help. There are countless other situations that could use an entrepreneur's sharp focus and driven purpose to become sources of opportunity and service to others. The world has always benefited from entrepreneurs, and given the right situations, will continue to benefit from these individuals' purposeful drive.

"We are in this together." This phrase has been all over during the COVID-19 pandemic, from schools and theaters to street signs and billboards. The varying degrees that individual people have really been involved in this pandemic are different, but everyone had their own problems and challenges to deal with during this never-before-seen time. There has been immense suffering and difficulty for many people, but also unseen courage and selflessness character in volunteers and ordinary people. Many perspectives changed about how the world and country work and how their own lives should be led. For me, the quarantine was very much out of the air. It was talked about in school in March before we had to go online, but it seemed something that we would not have to deal with. Yet, on March 13, at 3:00 PM, as we were getting ready to leave, there was an announcement that we would be out of school for two weeks and transferred online. Those "two weeks" turned in two more weeks, then a month, then the rest of the school year. I learned that I could handle a lot more situations at once than I thought I could. With virtual learning, I was forced to focus on multiple classes and assignments at the same time and had to multitask. I also learned patience with my computer and wifi, as the wifi would frequently be slow or shut down. Probably most importantly, I realized that teachers, faculty, and other students would go to great lengths, to their own disadvantage, to assist other families and people in need. If someone needed help with a homework assignment, the teacher would either get into an online meeting or send a quick text back with advice. If a family did not have enough computers for online learning, they could go to the school and our principal would lend one or two to them for use. I learned that the world was very fragile. The balance between countries are normally on a tight level normally, but the pandemic increased the tension to high levels that led to many unneeded arguments. Governments could not give all the help that was needed by the populace of countries due to deficits and shortages. Travel was shut down. Commerce and economies suffered drastically and are still recovering from the initial shock. Businesses shut down where there was once economic boom. It was such a surprising event and very unique to every other period in history. I doubt that something similar to this will ever happen again because humans inevitably learn through experience. The lessons, though, will always stay with us as time goes onward. I hope for a better future where this suffering does not happen again because we took steps to prevent it. This was a devastating pandemic for many businesses, communities, and countries, but much positive, extensive information has been garnered that will aid people in preparing for what may come. People came together in such a way that has never been seen before; helping hands from every corner of the globe. That is probably one of the most outstanding things: people unified and came together to assist each other in every way possible. We must remember that lesson and apply it now so that the future may look promising for better things to come.

Volleyball has been and continues to be my favorite sport to play. Since the fourth grade, it has provided me not only with chances to play, but also with ways to develop as a person and to mature in the skills of teamwork, cooperation, and leadership. Every day spent on the court had its ups and downs, but were each separately memorable and brought home the importance of persevering and training instead of merely trying. There is, though, one moment that showed the significance of volleyball in my life. When I entered high school as a freshman, the school did not have a volleyball team. One of my friends passionate about the sport started a team for the first time in school history, so we were able to practice and field a team for volleyball matches. A lot of the players on the team were brand new to volleyball, and there was limited time to develop skills. But I had five years of experience behind me, so I was able to help. I showed the players the basic skills of volleyball, such as the spike and serve, and gave them some additional pieces of advice to control the court. My favorite moment was helping one of my friends to serve. He was struggling getting the ball over the net, but I stayed with him until he could consecutively get the ball over the net. We both felt great because he was able to surmount the challenge. I carried on the team into its second year, but unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we had to shut down all practices and the rest of the season 2 weeks into it. I am hoping to reopen the team this third year, and have a great, complete season. I have had many opportunities to lead the team during the past, such as helping out the coaches train the team or lead the team during games. Volleyball has given me a place to reach out of myself and to give to others; this is a skill that is vital for a successful and fulfilling life. I know that volleyball has been a constant in my life in the past, and I hope that it will continue to help me develop as a person in the future.

Being a misfit happens to all humans from every walk of life. All humans have a desire to love and be loved and accept and be accepted as part of the community. When that does not happen, we feel left out, or, even worse, rejected. Yet there are always ways in which being a misfit can positively affect and shape us beyond our wildest dreams. When I entered high school for the first time, there were kids who had known each other for years and had developed strong friendships. Naturally being on the shy side, I really did not talk to many people when I first walked in. I realized that I could use my misfit-ness to positively help myself, such as forming new friendships that otherwise would not have been made. Even after making strong friendships, people have some lonely moments where they feel left out of the "drama" or action in their friend groups. This happened to me frequently and still happens, but I feel that these moments give me an opportunity to better myself and develop my own strengths and talents. Having opportunities to develop as a person gave me a unique viewpoint from which to see the world and have a chance to better it. I could bring new ideas to the table with my perspective, which was independent of my friend group's perspective. Going against the common Groupthink by being a misfit does have its benefits. You should try to find friends who you agree with, but some alone time can develop some of the brightest and promising young adults of our generation.