Being born a black individual, I was brought into a world of adversity. No matter how well I performed or exceeded in anything, I was to keep in mind that people like me have to work harder to achieve what we want in life because of how much we were looked down upon; this only pushed me harder and made me crave success even more. There was an experience I had in my 10th grade year where my teacher degraded me and questioned my ability to thrive in the science field upon telling her I wanted to become a plastic surgeon. She compared my chances of achieving this goal, to her being able to become a firefighter as a 4’11 individual. As one of the few black students in that class, that humiliating experience truly changed my perspective of the world. Yes, all my life I was taught about how I was viewed and how to handle it, but to experience it firsthand was something else. Despite this incident taking place, I didn't allow her negativity to weigh me down because from past experiences I realized that the best solution in this case would be to prove her wrong; meaning I do what I do best, excel in school. As of now, I am a senior in high school continuing on the path I have chosen to pursue in, bringing happiness to people. I am taking science classes and working hard to keep my grades, which will help in getting to the places I need to get to in order to have the opportunity of putting smiles onto the faces of my future patients. I am beyond excited to explore the studies of biological and biomedical sciences because of my desire to bring a change to the world. I want to challenge myself and am ready to take on the challenge. I am passionate about bringing happiness to people because not only does it make me feel amazing, but it allows me to uplift their spirits. It has been a passion of mine ever since I was a little child and because of that, I had my mind set on the choice of becoming a plastic surgeon before entering high school and I wouldn’t allow my teacher to get to me that easily. Becoming a plastic surgeon would give me the advantage of putting smiles on the faces of people who may lack self-confidence due to major accidents or serious medical conditions and health problems which would mean I am accomplishing my goal. I would be able to give many individuals peace and happiness to what they once dreaded to see. It is not until I am able to say that I have my own hospital where I can help bring tears of happiness to people who have not been able to smile for a while that I can say, I have succeeded in life.

There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking. – Brian Tracy In the past few years of my life, I have learned that whenever I find myself doubting where I stand in a position, repeating the quote above in my head several times to remind myself that it is my mindset that will get me to where I want to be is effective, was extremely beneficial to how I went about reaching for goals. Being a POC(person of color), I have grown up being told by society what people like me can accomplish in life and where I stand in the eye of the world. From such a young age, society attempted to embed a limit of what I could achieve because of the color of my skin, but I refuse to let such standards affect me in any way. Repeating the quote above to myself has forced me to take accountability for how I perform in life and to not be permitted the chance of blaming society's view of people who look down upon me, deprive me of the opportunity to reach my goals; which are surrounded by the need of helping people feel happy and loved all over the world!

I want my community to be a place where we are known for being people who are affectionate and look out for each other. I will be a great factor in the change I wish to see in the world because I put myself out there and perform what I strive to see. During March last year, the entire world was locked down due to Covid-19. People all over the world were left helpless and weren’t able to live the same way they did. It hurt to know that I couldn’t alleviate the pain of every individual. Everyone was changed deeply by the pandemic and for most people, it was not a great change. I knew that I didn't yet have the qualifications to help as much as I’d want to, but I could start smaller in achieving my goals to do so eventually in the future. I joined the action committee and knew helping beautify my community was a great opportunity in reaching my goal of helping people in any way. It is a committee that was created to help make our community a better place with actions and not just words. As a part of the committee, I have aided in the completion of many projects such as rock painting, planting bulbs in different schools around the district, donating socks to people along with encouraging notes, and writing letters to people in nursing homes. I love helping beautify the community because hearing about how much it makes teachers and students smile, brings me jubilation and prepares me for the joy to come once I become a plastic surgeon. In addition to helping my community in the United States, every time I go to my hometown Onitsha, every Sunday I make food and give it to little children that came to my house. I want to spread love and happiness to as many people that I can because people are deserving of it. The sparkle in their eyes is honestly what fuels me. Selfless acts like these motivate and keep me on the right track. Because of the pandemic, I was not able to travel last year, so my father sent money, and my friend who helps in the cause continued the “tradition” as we called it. The happiness in the photos was beyond amazing to see. Finally, As a student who is taking classes at home, I observe how much of an effort the teachers make to try and engage with the students despite the little to no communication. You can only imagine how stressful it is to be in a position where you’re not getting any responses when asking questions to your students. I wanted to give back to them and decided to write personalized letters to a few of my teachers which spoke about how much I appreciate their hard work and admire the lengths they go to, to help make sure we understand the content despite the circumstances. It impacted them so much more than I had expected and even made a few of the teachers tear up. I was full of so much joy because in their responses they talked about how much better it made them feel. Giving back to my community every day has been my main goal and it will help me expand in my cause of bringing happiness to people all over the world! Understanding that the smallest acts of kindness are what build a community is what helps me promote change. I will not stop spreading such positivity until it is embedded into the minds of every individual because accepting failure is the day you truly lose.

During March last year, the entire world was locked down due to Covid-19. People all over the world were left helpless and weren’t able to live the same way they did. It hurt to know that I couldn’t alleviate the pain of people who were left homeless, had little to no food and left with no education. I realized that I couldn’t help everyone due to the obvious circumstances, but I could start smaller in achieving my goals to do so eventually in the future. I joined the action committee and knew helping beautify my community was a great start. It is a committee that strives to help make our community a better place with actions, not just by words. As a part of the committee, I have aided in the completion of many projects such as rock painting, writing notes to teachers, planting bulbs in different schools around the district, and donating socks to people who need it along with notes of encouragement. I love helping beautify the community because hearing about how much it makes teachers and students smile, brings me jubilation. As a student who is taking classes at home, I observe how much of an effort the teachers make to try and engage with the students despite the little to no communication. You can only imagine how stressful it is to be in a position where you’re not getting any responses when asking questions to your students. I wanted to give back to them and decided to write personalized letters to a few of my teachers which spoke about how much I appreciate their hard work and admire the lengths they go to, to help make sure we understand the content despite the circumstances. It impacted them so much more than I had expected and even made a few of the teachers tear up. I was full of so much joy because in their responses they talked about how much better it made them feel. Giving back to my community now every day has been my main goal and it will help me expand in my cause of bringing happiness to people all over the world! I have come to finally understand the meaning of helping those within my reach because I will eventually expand in my goal of helping others. Although I can’t help everyone, that doesn’t stop me from helping those that I can because starting somewhere is the most important!

My mother is the most selfless and forgiving woman that I know and will ever meet. My mother is the woman in my life that I admire and look up to the most because of everything she has done for my family. My mother who came to the United States at the age of 17 on her own, competed in the world championship of a taekwondo tournament, represented Nigeria for the Olympics, and was a nurse; but once she gave birth to my sister years later, she put her life on hold for my family. She did this because she wanted us to grow up being able to rely on and trust her as she didn't have it the same way. She stayed home and made sure she taught us what was right and wrong from a very young age ,impacting the person I am today. I will forever be grateful for that because realistically, there aren't many women who would put their lives on hold with that many achievements in their life. My mother has impacted my life in so many ways and has given me the best upbringing one can ask for. With all the love and affection she's sprayed me with, it has taught me to be able to show the same to all people because everyone is deserving of happiness. When reaching for goals, I always think about how it will benefit people and make them feel before I strive for them. She has impacted my career choice and made me look forward to paying the kindness and love she has taught me forward , as I will change the lives of people, helping them pass this motive forward through happiness, confidence and love! My mother put her life on hold for me and I will make sure that she knows it was not wasted and that I make her proud!

Being born a black individual, I was brought into a world of adversity. From a very young age, I witnessed the horrifying treatment of my brothers’ and sisters’ and had to learn the do’s and don’t’s for people like us to stay safe in society. No matter how well I performed or exceeded in anything, I was to keep in mind that people like me have to work harder to achieve what we want in life because of how much we were looked down upon; this only pushed me harder and made me crave success even more. As of last year, I experienced an incident where my teacher degraded me and questioned my ability to thrive in the science field upon telling her I wanted to become a plastic surgeon. She compared my chances of achieving my goal where one of the advantages I have would be to help people who may lack self-confidence, to her being able to become a firefighter as a 4’11 individual. As one of the few black students in that class, that humiliating experience truly changed my perspective of the world. Yes, all my life I was taught about how I was viewed and how to handle it, but to experience it firsthand was something else. Despite this incident taking place, I didn't allow her negativity to weigh me down because from past experiences I realized that the best solution in this case would be to prove her wrong; meaning I do what I do best, excel in school. As of now, I am a junior in high school continuing on the path I have chosen to pursue in, bringing happiness to people. I am taking science classes and working hard to keep my grades, which will help in getting to the places I need to get to in order to have the opportunity of putting smiles onto the faces of my future patients. I am pursuing my choice of becoming a plastic surgeon even as I continue to face adversity throughout my life. I am passionate about bringing happiness to people because not only does it make me feel amazing, but it allows me to uplift their spirits. It has been a passion of mine ever since I was a little child and because of that, I had my mind set on the choice of becoming a plastic surgeon before entering high school. Becoming a plastic surgeon would give me the advantage of putting smiles on the faces of people who may lack self-confidence due to major accidents or serious medical conditions and health problems which would mean I am accomplishing my goal. I would be able to give many individuals peace and happiness to what they once dreaded to see. It is not until I am able to say that I have my own hospital where I can help bring tears of happiness to people who have not been able to smile for a while that I can say, I have succeeded in life. “There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.”-Micheal Phelps

My greatest inspiration in life would be my parents. My parents came to the United States as immigrants in hopes to secure a better future despite the many obstacles placed in front of them. Regardless of the numerous hardships they faced, they made sure to embed in my head that no matter how difficult a situation may be at any time, you can and have to find a ray of happiness. This is one of the many lessons they taught me that has stuck with me and I make sure to apply to any obstacle I face which has honestly helped in building the person I am today. If anything drives me most, it would be any odds being set against me. Nothing pushes me more than someone doubting me, because once I overcome what was once doubted of me because I always do, it’s one of the best feelings ever. Being a young black woman, I was born into adversity so it happens way more than you'd think so; luckily it gives me a lot of opportunities to prove people wrong! “I thrive on obstacles. If I'm told that it can't be done, then I push harder. ” - Issa Rae

It was 7 AM WAT( West Africa time) and my family and I had just left the airport after our 13-hour plane ride. We were so happy to be in the motherland as it was a vacation we looked forward to every summer. As we prepared to begin our unending road trip to our hometown, my brother discovers that a go fund me account had been opened by his friends for my family because supposedly our house had burned down. I laughed. “We were in that house less than 24 hours ago, what is he talking about?” Less than 10 minutes later my brother goes on snap chat and on my neighbors story she had posted a house lit up in frames. I gasped. “No no no this can't be happening. This must be fake, ” is what I told my self. My entire family was in complete shock and my father who was in the front of the car hadn't been delivered the news. We were all completely quiet until my father caught on and my mother broke the news to him. Despite this happening almost two years ago the look of worry on his face remains on my mind till today. We usually stay for a long time but my father had to go back shortly after to secure a house for us which was extremely hard due to there being 7 of us. We were essentially homeless and were in a situation where we were thinking “how could something like this happen to us.” In all honesty, it hadn't hit me that I didn't have a house until I returned to the United States later from vacation. It was a complete surprise as to where we would be going and on top of that, we returned on the first day of my sophomore year. This was extremely stressful for me. Thankfully my father was able to arrange a place for us to stay for the time with my uncle , but on top of having to pay to stay at his place, we were starting over. The only stuff we had was what we took on vacation so we didn't have many clothes, shoes, school supplies, or food. Strangely enough, I never thought about it so much as the worst thing happening to me because my family and I being safe was most important to me. Of course, I was sad that the house I had grown up in was gone along with many unrecoverable items such as our baby photos, but I know that everything happens for a reason and that as long as my family was safe and happy,that was perfect enough for me! My house burning down taught me an extremely valuable lesson; and it was that you shouldn't wait until someone/something is gone for you to appreciate them because it could be something you come to regret forever. On top of all of that, Covid struck a few months later. So we were stuck in a tiny place for seven months due to the enforced lockdown with a man who didn't try to hide the fact that he didn't want us there. The only time when he would wear a smile would be when he took money from my parents for rent. Times like these left me thinking how you never know what tomorrow will be so you need to appreciate what you have as my father told me everyday. He constantly reminded us that this is just a phase and this was going to pass. I learned to see the positive in negative situations and that helped me a lot of aspects. I know it wasn't my fault that my house burnt down, but I had chosen to learn from the experience and apply it to my everyday life. I knew from this experience I didn't want to be pitied in any way from my classmates or teachers so I made it my mission to work even harder and put myself out there more in sports and clubs. I was extremely dedicated to not let myself appear as a victim in anyway and this mindset has allowed me to be where I am today for the same reasons. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” - Robert H. Schuller

This meme is me for the entirety of 2020 and in fact, still now! I love this meme because not only does it resonate with me, but there is a humor and realistic side of it which music lovers understand! 2020 was a very rough year for everyone and everyone handled their problems in their own way. Music was my solution. Putting on my headphones and blasting music from my favorite artists was like an escape from what was going on in the world. I could always depend on my music to cheer me up despite the sadness in the world!

My mother is the most selfless and forgiving woman that I know and will ever meet. My mother is the woman in my life that I admire the most because of everything she has done for my family . My mother who competed in the world championship of a taekwondo tournament, represented Nigeria for the Olympics, and was a nurse, put her life on hold once she gave birth to her first child for my family. She did this because she wanted us to grow up being able to rely on and trust her as she didn't have it the same way. She stayed home and made sure she taught us what was right and wrong from a very young age impacting the person I am today. I will forever be grateful for that because realistically, there aren't many women who would put their life on hold with that many achievements in their life. My mother has impacted my life in so many ways and has gave me the best upbringing one can ask for. With all the love and affection she's given me, it has taught me to be able to show the same to all people because everyone is deserving of happiness. She has impacted my career choice and made me look forward to making people feel happy and better about themselves. Being able to win this money would help me advance in my goal of becoming a doctor and show her that she truly impacted my life and that I am where I am today because of her!

My name is Osasikianua Amene and I am from Nigeria. I am a junior who goes to school at Central Islip High School. I had my mind set at the age of 11 that I would become a plastic surgeon that is well known and brings happiness to people. From a very young age my parents began bringing me to Nigeria to get familiar with the culture and my family which was the best experience, but I learned how corrupt the medical system was from such a small age. I knew that I had to become a doctor and help people. As a child it really bothered me and I knew what I had to do, but I can't say that I've always had such a firm hold on this decision . Approaching the end of my sophomore year, it was time to pick the courses for the following year. In this case it would happen with my honors chemistry teacher. I told her I wanted to take AP biology as my science class and she goes on to ask me what I want to do for a living. I tell her that I will become a plastic surgeon and she looked at me as if I had just said a joke. She goes on to say what haunted me for a long time. “You saying that you want to be a plastic surgeon is like me saying that I want to become a firefighter.” She makes that comparison because she is no taller than 4’11. My heart broke into a million pieces. As one of the few black students in that class it was so discouraging. How can a teacher say such a thing to their student? How can any explanation make sense to such a comment? I looked up to her so much but at that point I had lost all my respect for her. It took me a long time to share this with my family because I was embarrassed. I questioned myself for so long contemplating if my career choice was feasible. It didn't take long before I knew that it would be my mission to prove her wrong. Fighting her was not a solution, BUT obtaining my PhD was one. Being aware that I have years to come before getting this degree, I knew I had to start with my community in order to advance to my goal. During the month of March last year, the entire world was locked down due to Covid-19. People all over the world were left helpless and weren’t able to live the same way as they did . It really hurt to know that I couldn’t alleviate the pain of every individual . I know that I don't yet have the qualifications to help as much as I’d want to, but I could start smaller in achieving my goals to do so eventually in the future . I joined the action committee and knew helping beautify my community was a great start in reaching my goal to become a plastic surgeon. It is a committee that strives to help make our community a better place with actions, not just by words . As a part of the committee , I have aided in the completion of so many projects such as rock painting, planting bulbs in different schools around the district and donating socks to people who are in need of it. I really love helping beautify the community because hearing about how much it makes teachers and students smile, brings me jubilation and prepares me for the joy to come once I become a plastic surgeon. In addition , back in my hometown Onitsha, every Sunday I would make food and give it to little children that came to my house. The sparkle in their eyes is honestly what fueled me. Selfless acts likes these really motivate you and keep me on the right track. Although I can’t help everyone right now because of specific limitations, that doesn’t stop me from helping those that I can because starting somewhere is the most important. Bringing smiles to peoples faces by committing selfless acts is the best way to prepare myself to become a plastic surgeon because it will allow me to remember why I started in the first place.

I was the kid in Algebra honors who struggled to maintain a C. I struggled with the concept and couldn’t understand why it wasn’t clicking. I asked questions in class, I stayed for extra help and I even sat in the front. I was so motivated that I got my math teacher to tutor me in the library every Tuesday and Thursday. Despite being tutored I still didn’t really show any improvement . It was very frustrating because I put it the work to succeed. Of course I did not give up because I believed in no such thing, but there were times where it didn’t seem so bad. I managed to get a C minus on the regents exam and was honestly content with it because I knew I was not the best test taker. The results of my friends exams was truly heartbreaking because I knew that they didn’t go the lengths I went to do better in math , BUT still managed to get much higher grades. My teacher later on told me that the secret to exceed in math was that you have to understand the foundation before anything else because without that you have nothing to build on. I was truly amazed by this information but soon after went on to see that it was not easy to do as he had said it. Geometry; a branch of mathematics that studies the sizes, shapes , positions angles and dimensions of things. Shapes? “I definitely got this,” is the mindset I had entering this class my freshman year. The fact that I was not the best at math was what drew me towards math even more. I was not going to let my inability to score high the previous year weigh on me down any longer. I’m not going to lie, geometry still kicked my butt , but it was my ability to start understanding the foundation of the course that drove me that year. That year I passed the regents with an 80! I understand that this is not the best score, but this was a great start for me because I realized that I was finally able to find a method to understand the foundation of math. Understanding math has helped me to have a better understanding of the world because I am able to think better analytically and have much better reasoning abilities; especially with people. Math being an abstract subject has allowed me to be more open minded in so many ways. Not only has math changed my life beyond school but I am also doing very well in pre calculus and I use my knowledge of math to help people who struggle as I once did.