In March 2020, I contracted Covid-19. The idea at the time was that kids my age weren't getting severely ill, but it was quite the contrary for me. For 2 months straight, I was hacking, wheezing, and having trouble getting out of bed, all while having to complete my freshman year online. Even after I tested negative, I remained sick for a while. Not only was I diagnosed with bronchitis, but I was found to have severe seasonal allergies and asthma, all of which the doctor speculated to be a result of having the coronavirus. I started taking high doses of daily oral steroids in order to suppress my condition, and I obtained a rescue inhaler. As an athlete, asthma was something I knew would directly affect me. From running the bases to pitching a tough game, everything I do is exhausting, asthma or not. To add fuel to the fire, it's pretty difficult to avoid trees, grass, pollen, and ragweed (all of which I'm allergic to) while playing an outdoor sport. Therefore, my softball seasons since have been quite tough. This spring was my first back at boarding school. My sophomore year I opted to be a remote student, and my allergies were out of control. I was coughing and short of breath, almost like I had Covid again. However, being at home allowed me to get adequate rest and receive the medication that I needed as soon as possible. As 2022's allergy season approached, I became increasingly nervous about living away from home with the possibility of severe sickness always looming. Sure enough, the cycle began again. It started with losing my voice the same week I had an a Capella solo, which affected how much I was able to practice. As my voice returned just in time for my performance, a serious cough appeared soon after. At first, I perceived it as a common cold and simply wished it away. Nonetheless, my symptoms worsened to the point where I would go into coughing fits at random times throughout the day. I wasn't able to breathe during those episodes, and each one seemed like it would never end. I was terrified. I went home that weekend and was able to get medication from my physician, as well as a diagnosis: another bout of bronchitis. The condition of my lungs made me much more susceptible to the infection, and my illness was progressing towards pneumonia. After a week of antibiotics and oral steroids (in addition to my daily asthma medication and the occasional Advil), my cough was essentially gone. Nonetheless, it was an alarming ordeal that I hope never happens again. Unfortunately, this will most likely be my reality in years to come, but I'm prepared to take my asthma and its effects head on and power through. Plenty of people have asthma, including athletes, but the late onset of my condition is the factor that makes it the most difficult for me. I haven't lived my whole life while dealing with this, and so I'm still learning how to manage my symptoms. Although it has largely affected the past 2 years of my life, I refuse to let it define or limit me. I'll continue to be an athlete and a singer despite my asthma, and I hope to connect with other people with stories similar to mine.

1. I don't. 2. I have none. 3. My life is perfect with no obstacles, just like everyone else's. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk.

Few high school students can say that they spent all 4 years away from their families, but that's the reality for myself and many of my peers at Taft. I have the luxury of living an hour from home, but some of my closest friends are from countries like Ecuador, Japan, and Australia and haven't been able to see their families for months or years since coming to America. The Covid-19 pandemic has only made things harder for the people I love so much. As a member of the student mentor program at Taft, I take care of younger students who are struggling to adjust to boarding school life. My mentee, Kamilla, is from Haiti. She, like most kids, has never been away from her family for very long. Being separated from the people you love most and having to keep up with schoolwork and extracurriculars at the same time is incredibly difficult, yet I watch her do it every day. When I look at Kamilla, I'm proud of how I have guided her as a mentor. From the time I helped put risers on her bed on move-in day to now, she's grown so much as a person and a scholar. As her sophomore year and my junior year draw to a close, I reminisce about those who mentored me in my early Taft days. I use all that they've taught me and put my heart and soul into caring for Kamilla, as well as my younger teammates, classmates and peers who might be struggling. It's always so rewarding when I make sacrifices that benefit those around me, and those people end up thriving. The time I've sacrificed for Kamilla and my other mentees was time well spent, and I would go back again and again to help them.

Food insecurity as a result of excessive food waste has had a massive toll on the world, especially in the current pandemic. Over 38 million people in America alone are food insecure, and out of this, 12 million children in the country don't have enough to eat. Meanwhile, restaurants trash half-used ingredients and millions of families let food that they don't want rot in the fridge. Throughout history, the events that have ravaged our planet have only been amplified by food insecurity. In the Covid-19 pandemic, those who are most affected by the illness are those who have weak immune systems or were previously unhealthy. Without enough nutritious food items, adults and children alike can become extremely weak and unable to fight illness. While volunteering at my local food bank, I noticed that many customers who shopped for their children picked out the most unhealthy food. White bread and sugary cereals will keep their kids happy, but will do very little for their nutrition, showing that malnourishment and food insecurity go hand-in-hand. In under-developed countries, an even larger portion of their population was devastated due to the commonality of malnutrition. Contrary to common belief, food insecurity isn't about just getting food to those in need, but is about providing the best food. Most people don't even realize how many items are able to be donated to local food banks. Beyond canned items, cereal, boxed pasta, bread and meat can also be donated, as well as toiletries. The issue with this is most often that those who are financially stable don't know how to donate, and therefore they abstain. If we can educate more people about the effects of food insecurity, we can create a healthy and empathetic world.

In March 2020, I contracted the coronavirus. At that time, there were no tests and limited treatments, so I had to assume that I had the virus from the fact that all of my symptoms matched. While I was on spring break for the first part of my illness, online school was about to start and I was still unable to function like a normal human being. My lungs were in constant pain, I could barely get out of bed every day, and simply getting up to go to the bathroom was enough to send me into a coughing fit. Nevertheless, I had to begin learning again. Waking up at 7 every morning wasn't ideal for someone with an untreated viral infection, but I had to do it to keep up. I spent 12 hours every day working on homework for a few classes because I was not only physically tired, but mentally tired. Because our school deans decided to make the last part of the semester pass/fail, I could have put in less work and left some assignments incomplete, but I was determined to finish my freshman year on a strong note. Looking back, my report card shows passing in every class, but when I look at it, I see my persistence and resilience during a difficult time.

Few high school students can say that they spent all 4 years away from their families, but that's the reality for myself and many of my peers at Taft. I have the luxury of living an hour from home, but some of my closest friends are from countries like Ecuador, Japan, and Australia and haven't been able to see their families for months or years since coming to America. The Covid-19 pandemic has only made things harder for the people I love so much. As a member of the student mentor program at Taft, I take care of younger students who are struggling to adjust to boarding school life. My mentee, Kamilla, is from Haiti. She, like most kids, has never been away from her family for very long. Being separated from the people you love most and having to keep up with schoolwork and extracurriculars at the same time is incredibly difficult, yet I watch her do it every day. When I look at Kamilla, I'm proud of how I have guided her as a mentor. From the time I helped put risers on her bed on move-in day to now, she's grown so much as a person and a scholar. As her sophomore year and my junior year draw to a close, I reminisce about those who mentored me in my early Taft days. I use all that they've taught me and put my heart and soul into caring for Kamilla, as well as my younger teammates, classmates and peers who might be struggling. It's always so meaningful when someone who understands what you're going through helps you to adjust and improve, and so I hope that I've helped others find comfort in an uncomfortable place.

Scientific research is a result of passion about a specific subject. The more interest a topic generates, the more often it will be studied. With so few STEM workers being black, there is very little regard for scientific issues that affect black people. For example, what is the psychology behind those who experience racism as a child? Why are significantly more black women dying during childbirth? If no attention is paid to these problems, they'll never be solved. What seems pressing for the black community may not concern white researchers, and so these issues persist. My dream is to become a genetic counselor. I want to help families understand their genetic history and assess their risk for inheriting certain conditions. Diseases prominent among African-Americans, such as sickle cell disease, are critical to test for, but they may be overlooked by white geneticists. Additionally, discrimination in health is crippling the black population. Black men have a cancer death rate that is 40% higher than that of white men. Furthermore, African-Americans are 3 times more likely to die from asthma than white Americans. These statistics have little to do with genetics. The root of the issue is a lack of diversity and education in white medical professionals. Not only are there much fewer black doctors than white doctors, but these white doctors are uninformed and may have false perceptions about their black patients. In one study, 73% of white medical students believed that black people had a higher pain tolerance than white people. This myth is anything but harmless. These students most likely continued on to become practitioners who may have, intentionally or not, treated their black patients differently. This is the cause of black children with appendicitis getting inadequate pain treatment, or black mothers being denied epidurals during labor. How can we fix these problems that are so prominent in the medical world today? It all starts with interest and education. Programs to integrate more STEM education into schools in black areas can transform the STEM world forever. If today's youth can become infatuated with math, science or medicine, they can continue on to become educated scholars and future doctors, researchers and teachers. Working to raise the number of black STEM workers will result in more passion for issues that influence black people. This is relevant for all minorities: Asian, Latinx, and many more types of patients experience medical discrimination on a regular basis. By diversifying the STEM field, there will be increased awareness for issues that affect marginalized groups, resulting in research and a passion to fix the divided health care industry.

The development of germ theory is extremely intriguing. The fact that, until the 1860s, it was widely believed that disease was caused by "bad air" or spontaneous generation shows how little we know, and how much more we have to learn about the scientific world. In 1860, a French chemist named Louis Pasteur conducted an intricate experiment to prove that microorganisms were responsible for disease by boiling nutrient broth in a sealed vessel and observing no growth of microorganisms. In addition to that, Robert Koch developed a set of four postulates in 1884 to establish a correlation between a microbe and a disease. I find this development so interesting because of the extended history of the miasma theory. The miasma theory is often presented in history, from the use of herbs and flowers in plague masks to cholera and typhoid outbreaks in crowded areas. The theory of pathogenic microbes is so widely accepted now that it seems quite ridiculous that there was ever a different ideology. However, science evolves quickly, and there's still much more to discover.

As a student of color at a predominantly white institution, discussions about race and diversity in our community are incredibly generic, awkward, and avoided by my white peers. In 2020, my black and LatinX classmates formed an organization called the Black Alliance Club, which is set on promoting productive conversations about racism at a PWI. This differs from affinity groups, which are only open to members of a specific identifier. We welcome peers of any culture into our meetings and separate into groups to discuss questions that we as leaders created. Our initial goal with Black Alliance Club was just for more than 10 people to show up, as we had a rough couple of meetings over zoom during the summer. However, we were pleasantly surprised when our first meeting of our sophomore year yielded over 40 attendees. Not only that, but we were met with eager students who were excited to learn about the views of their peers and discuss their own. From this meeting on, the Black Alliance Club has held school-wide activities and presentations, such as a lecture on Native American Heritage month, a slideshow about how black people are represented in the media, and diversity activities in honor of MLK day. I have observed better conversations not only in our club space, but in classrooms around the school as our peers become more comfortable talking about race. Whether it's a debate about Othello or a discussion about Frederick Douglass, the Black Alliance Club has helped shape the Taft community into one with an appreciation for diversity and culture.

Homesickness is constantly hanging over the heads of boarding school students, and it's no different at Taft. Students come thousands of miles to study and are separated from their families for months at a time. It's one of the sacrifices that we all make, though it's bigger for some than for others. I'm fortunate enough to live close enough to home so that I can leave often, but I know my close friends aren't as lucky. Because they're so far from their loved ones, the best thing I can do for my friends is to take care of them as would their families. One particular memory from earlier this year resonates with me. One of my volleyball teammates from Japan was spending her first year at Taft, and I made sure that she had someone to talk to from the moment she stepped on campus for our preseason. I recalled my experience as a new student and knew that I would have wanted someone to help me navigate through freshman year, so it was imperative for me to spend time with her and get to know her better. On the last day of preseason, her mother was about to depart to return back to Tokyo. After embracing and exchanging words with her daughter, she turned to me, hugged me, and whispered, "Take good care of my baby." Her words have stuck with me ever since they were uttered. Visiting, spending time with and checking up on my teammates and friends had become just another part of my everyday life, and it seemed to come naturally to me. When I can make others feel a little better each day, I can breathe easy and relax knowing that the people I love are happy.

During my time at a ritzy private boarding school in New England, I have come across several gross displays of performative service. Feeling the need to tell everyone you meet about your service trip to Africa to help the "needy children" gets less impressive each time. The issue with these self-proclaimed saviors is their everyday behavior, which lacks compassion and kindness. The best way to help others is with a conversation, or even a simple smile. In our world today, service is often corresponded with a grand effort to solve global issues, like world hunger and poverty. However, you can help others without leaving your community. More individuals struggle with mental health than we realize, sometimes not even realizing it themselves. The truth is, everyone needs help in one way or another, but this is often overlooked. The simplest and most efficient way to help others is to talk to someone. Even if they seem to be upbeat and chipper, only they truly know what they are feeling inside. A small amount of kindness can go a long way, and it doesn't need to be broadcasted or posted on social media platforms for likes. One of my favorite pastimes is conversation. It may sound old-fashioned, but a face-to-face talk is better than any text message or FaceTime call. I enjoy giving applicants to Taft tours of the school, showing them the most memorable parts of our campus and explaining why it's such a special place to me. After a long volleyball practice, I'll often have a meal with a teammate to recap their day. In the world of boarding school especially, more people struggle than meets the eye. Homesickness and anxiety constantly hang over our heads, so sometimes, all it takes is a "hello" or a smile.

I'm happiest when I'm writing. Even now, as I'm typing out this college scholarship essay, my brain is filled with dozens of ideas, all of which excite me. Just the mere sound of my keyboard or the scritch-scratching of a pencil gives me so much serotonin, as writing has been a major part of my life for years. Although I enjoy all types of writing, the magic of researching a historical event and placing a character from my imagination into said event is my favorite way to write. Before shaping my life as a writer, historical fiction shaped my life as a reader. At 13 years old, I found myself indulging in a couple dozen WWII books in the span of 2 months, several of which I reread to this day. The deep emotions these characters experience is unlike any other, and the novels inspired me to create my own works. As of now, I have written two short screenplays on the Chinese Communist Revolution and the Cuban Revolution, a few short stories, and several dozen poems. I look forward to my writing portfolio expanding as I grow and gain experience and knowledge. Besides, nothing is more exhilarating than being the sculptor of someone else's life, molding their personality and actions until I create their picture-perfect reality.

Alicia Keys' "Underdog" inspires my actions each day in my quest to become the best person I can be. Since a young age, I have been a fan of Keys' music. A classically trained pianist herself, I looked up to her for all of my musical inspiration, listened to her songs religiously, and even attended one of her concerts at age 12. However, it is difficult to understand the depth of music as a child, as I have gradually learned, and for years of listening to Keys' music, I never delved into the lyrics to find the true meaning. "Underdog" was released right before the global pandemic that we are currently experiencing, and has been my driving force throughout this time. It describes groups of people who are underappreciated in our modern world, despite doing so much for so many community members. My favorite lyric from this song is "The things that change us if we notice//When we look up, sometimes." This line delivers a strong sense of reality to those who hear it, as we live in a world distracted by social media and electronic devices. With this lyric, Alicia Keys wanted to show how much someone's day can be positively affected by a simple conversation with a friendly stranger. This song serves as a template for who I want to be. I aspire to be someone who can appreciate the underappreciated. I hope to notice the ones who keep to themselves and speak quietly, even if it seems that they'd rather go unnoticed. I want the ability to make someone's day, or maybe their week and, eventually, change someone's life.

dinosaur: a poem it was natural and wild now it’s natural wild and dead we marvel and wonder, their bodies on display meanwhile, wasting several hours every day they thought they had hours and hours to spare but really? not even a moment for a prayer are we next?