Bullying has the ability to destroy someone's self-esteem. Bullying causes people to feel insecure and lonely all the time. Fear, rage, and unhappiness entrap them in their minds. There's a paranoid feeling that everyone is against you and that no one knows how you truly feel. I'm so passionate about this topic, because I've experienced being bullied by classmates who I thought liked me in my middle school and early high school years. I remember feeling so down, and I felt cut off from people I knew around me. Bullying is something I hope fewer people have to go through consequently, as it can be an extremely terrible experience. To be honest, most bullies start out as bullies because they are insecure about themselves and have a lot of complicated feelings from psychological trauma in their personal lives. It's possible that they've been exposed to people who bullied them at first, turning them into bullies, or that their only way of expressing how they're feeling is to make others feel horrible about themselves. During the first few weeks of my junior year, I saw that one of my classmates was frequently interrupted off or teased when speaking or expressing his thoughts in class. The vast majority of comments about him were around his weight and appearance because he is proportionally larger than the rest of the class. Prior to senior year, I cautioned one of my male friends that making 'inoffensive' jokes about him could hurt his feelings, and that he might not be able to convey how he truly feels because no one understands him. I used hybrid learning during my junior year because of the Covid-19 outbreak, so I wasn't in physical school every day. But now that I'm a senior, I'm a full-fledged physical school student, and I couldn't stand what I perceived to be blatant bullying against a classmate. As a response, I created a group chat on Snapchat (which is now one of the popular ways to interact with my peers) about how it's bad to purposefully decrease someone's self-esteem and morale for the sake of fun. I went on to tell my classmates that people react to negativity in many ways, and that while there may not be an outright reaction, there is a good chance of feeling deeply hurt and embarrassed. When I explained why their actions were clearly wrong, a few of them began to understand the rationale behind how harsh and unkind they were, as well as the risk of psychological trauma. Some insisted that they were 'joking around,' it wasn't meant to be cruel, but they were aware of everything I was trying to say. When stronger policies and regulations are imposed on people, there are expectations that must be met, with each action having positive or negative effects. Bullying victims can feel safer and better protected from their adversities if schools have stricter anti-bullying regulations and protective communities that can assist prevent bullying. Ultimately, by raising awareness of bullying and supporting anti-bullying efforts, the quantity of depression and suicidal behavior among youths can be severely decreased, since there is widespread support to protect victims.

The world we live in is a rollercoaster- no lies told. As crazy as this world is, truthfully, no one is born generally wicked or as an evil person. Circumstances and the surroundings children end up finding themselves begin the elementary principles of how they shape their perspectives. However, in most primary stages of socialization, the ideal way children are trained is to have good manners and be respectful towards others. Some of these values planted in children’ lives stem up to reproduce good fruits which promote and play a role to influence our world. Some of these values include being courageous, being respectful and showing compassion towards other people. When good seeds are planted into younger people, it goes a long way in improving the state of our world as they get older. It starts with a little lesson on manners. “Learn the magic words: please, thank you, excuse me, pardon me, and I am sorry.” I was taught this in pre-school by my parents and teachers. I believe the world can greatly change with the power of philanthropy and being more caring towards the world and people in it as a whole. Prior to the pandemic, almost every time I saw a little child on the street come up to my car, I would give them my spare change or if I had a snack I had not eaten, I would give it to them. Now coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic phase, I have gone back into that behavior once more, as it always made my day when I saw little children smile from the little effort, I was able to give them. Little thoughts like these essentially are the basis of philanthropy, and a huge step to maintain peace and love in the world.

Have your parents ever scolded you, and you later realized how useful it was? I have encountered this circumstance a few times, with my school playing the role of the “parent” in some cases. When I was in middle school, the management at my school were very tenacious to expose students to a wide variety of matters, including financial literacy. Before it became a complete commitment to go for the financial literacy club, there were numerous assemblies that addressed financial literacy as a whole in middle school. Because we were required to join the club every Wednesday afternoon, attendance rates actually rose during this time. The majority of people's motivation, however, was not to gain financial literacy; rather, it was a chance to receive free snacks every week and cool gifts provided by the club. That may have served as part of my initial motivation for going to the club, but I ended up being more committed than I ever could have expected. Something I was able to learn was as humans, we all have insatiable desires that can never be entirely satisfied. Businesses and brands want to make money by selling their products to consumers, making us a pawn in their hands since they know consumers constantly want more and may overspend. Accordingly, budgeting and the capacity to build a financial plan are crucial aspects of financial literacy that need to be fully understood. I was able to learn that budgeting combines the other components of financial literacy because it allows for saving, investing, and, to some extent, being conscious of identity-theft- protection. These sound pieces of financial advice have kept with me as I've gotten older and moved past that stage of my life, and they have been really helpful in helping me make prudent financial decisions.

7-year-old me used to cry profusely because I couldn’t understand Math problems. Math… that subject trapped me for so long. I imagined that as I got older, I'd be able to avoid math, but now that I'm a freshman in college, I realize that my teachers were right: Math is everywhere! Through these realizations, I spent a lot of time and effort figuring out the best strategy for success, and I still use some of those methods today. Music was my primary learning tool, which I found with my mother's help. I think you could say that music is in my blood after growing up in a musical family. My mother started teaching me math equations using music. By inventing a song at random, I started covering a large portion of what I needed to learn. I expanded this to my other subjects, and I can still remember many of the songs I wrote to aid my learning. Although I will always love this study method, my current favorite is practicing past questions, which I would recommend to anyone preparing for a test or examination. Looking at mark schemes and practicing past questions, is an unrivaled study strategy since you get to see firsthand how examiners construct their questions and how they expect responses. This gives you a good flow when responding to questions during exams and quizzes. Another piece of advice I have for this strategy is to begin practicing past papers early, so you can learn how to answer questions thoroughly and timely. Keep in mind that the purpose isn't to cram papers, but to have a reference that will assist you to understand how questions are presented. Although questions can vary, using past questions is still crucial and has really benefited me in studying.

“Look at the sky!” “What’s wrong with the sky?” “It’s so pretty! Can’t you see the shape it makes?” “I can kind of see it… just a bit.” “Look at the sunset! Look it’s raining! Look! Look! Look!” Anyone who has spent a good amount of time with me would have heard that at least once in the middle of a conversation with me. Another thing you would have seen me do is whip out my phone and take pictures of the surrounding nature. I believe that doing so forces me to be more mindful of life, the earth, and the world as a whole, and to remember that even when everything appears to be going wrong, being able to see the beautiful earth and remaining alive is a blessing that should not be neglected. Apart from receiving a good education, one of my main factors in choosing a college was to be educated in a region where I would be exposed to a lot of nature and greenery, which is why I chose Ithaca College. I didn't want to attend a city college, so I'll be attending a liberal arts college in upstate New York. Nature has a relaxing effect on me, therefore this will help me maintain a positive attitude and relieve tension when I'm stressed. Nature serves as a constant reminder that things will get better, no matter how difficult circumstances are. I will continue to do my part to respect nature and to educate others about the reasons for doing so as well.

Barney was the foundation of my childhood. As someone who is scared of mascots, it's amusing how glued I was towards this show. Barney instilled in me values that I continue to apply to my daily life, from being neat and respectful, to caring for others. I still remember some of his songs till date! Sharing, which I believe is the foundation of generosity, was another value Barney taught me. Recently, on my way home, I had rice and a bottle of Fanta with me. I began eating, but because it was a large portion, I quickly became full. I planned to save my lunch until I was hungry again, then I got stuck in traffic. Several children crowded the car to beg during the approximately 2–3-minute traffic delay. When I discovered I had no money, I remembered my meal. Hurriedly, I opened the window and handed my food to a little girl. A different child came, and all I had with me was a half-full bottle of Fanta. I handed it to this kid and felt horrible about how small I had given until the traffic lights turned green and the cars started moving. It warmed my heart to see the child dance with his other friends as I looked back at them. So, what exactly is generosity? Personally, I think it's incredible when people can plan huge charity events to demonstrate being generous, but the little things matter too. Giving to others timelessly, (no matter the size), is the true definition of generosity. Furthermore, generosity is not limited to caring about the less-fortunate; being caring to those you know. I sincerely hope that more children are raised on shows that instill vital values in them, and the world becomes more generous and kindhearted in the near future.