My goal for the future is to make an impact on low-income and minority communities. I plan to become a meteorologist and eventually go to law school to help prevent environmental disasters like Flint, MI.

June 2020. We were in the height of a pandemic. People were dying and getting hospitalized in numbers never before seen in recent generations. That's when it first happened. A sharp shooting pain I've never felt before. That sharp shooting pain has lead me down a two year journey to finding a diagnosis and a treatment. Most Americans have had a migraine before, but 3-5% of people in the United States have chronic migraines. While that sounds like a small amount, the pain that these people go through can be life-altering. That is why my favorite invention from the last decade is a migraine treatment device called Nerivio. I, personally, suffer with migraines. While I haven't tried this specific device, I know the benefit of finding a treatment. All people with migraines respond differently to different treatments. With technology like Nerivio, we are allowed more options to try and to be our rescue medication. Nerivio uses remote electrical neuromodulation (REN). This is a drug-free way of triggering conditioned pain modulation (CPM). CPM is basically sending just enough signals to the part of the body in pain to end the pain. Nerivio, unlike other migraine devices, is an arm band. Most of the other devices involve putting something on your head. Allodynia, the sensitivity to touch, affects 80% of people during a migraine. Therefore, the Nerivio device is unique because it can avoid this extra pain. My experiences with migraine have lead me to switch my career plans. I have always wanted to be a meteorologist. I believe it is a way for me to save lives without seeing the death and the blood that many first responders and doctors and nurses experience. While I wanted to watch severe storms and look at how to prevent them. Now, I want to study the effects on weather and health. A common migraine trigger is changes in weather. I want to find a way to prevent migraines triggered by changes in temperature or pressure. While there are products on the market to treat the symptoms, there is not anything to prevent them. I want to do research to find a preventative. Preventatives are the basis of migraine treatment. While rescue medicines are important, the goal is to limit the use of them to prevent over-usage of medication headaches and reduction in efficacy. I hope to find a way to possibly work on studies to find preventatives or other studies on the impact of weather on health.

Hi I'm Reaghan Boone. Most people would call me smart, but I prefer to call myself naturally talented in school. I enjoy being busy especially with my clubs such as DECA, Academic Knowledge Team, FBLA, and Key Club. I also enjoy learning random facts (another reason why I am on Academic Knowledge Team) and love doing bigger and better things constantly. I eventually hope to go to college to study meteorology and become a forensic meteorologist to help solve crimes. Overall, I have a big passion for learning, and I enjoy doing out-of-the-box activities and employing unconventional ideas to life.

I often see how frustrated I get with the people around me. I reflect back and say "Not everyone is like you." Even though, some of the choices they make don't make any sense, that's just how they do things, and a lot of the time, they will not change their minds no matter if you get mad or not. I work my school's snack cart and the people I work with are extremely unproductive and do not help. I could waste my voice and energy asking them to count the chips as we put them on the cart or I could just be patient and let them fail. Failure is an important aspect in life, and some people just require the patience and time of letting them learn through failure. No one wants anyone to fail, but some people must do so in order to gain a different understanding of why what they were doing was uneffective. An example would be me getting mad that they do absolutely nothing. I've realized me getting mad about them doing nothing will not change them, nor will it change me. Instead, I just let my teacher notice these things and tell her about them, and their grades are effected.

I look back to freshman year and the impacts that the people who helped me with DECA competitions had on me. I hope to give that same impact back to other students interested in DECA or other activities I'm involved with. Impacting other people gives me a sense of purpose. I get to see other people improving themselves and others around them due to my actions. I hope that I get to have an impact on not only people I come into contact with directly, but indirectly as well. For example, by inspiring younger students to join DECA, not only do I have an impact on them by giving competition advice, I also have an impact on people facing domestic abuse through our charity. That impact goes beyond confidence, information about business, and relationships that we build, but saving lives. I am so eternally grateful for my DECA mentors, and I am so sad that next year all of them will be gone, but I look at this as my opportunity to step up and be what they were for me.

I have always been amazed with the weather, and I always knew that I wanted to persue a career in it. Fast forward to today, and now I want to study Meteorology or Atmospheric Science, and hopefully work to help create and petition climate change policies for the US Government and abroad. My passion and dream research intrest is extreme weather events. I love researching how fire weather works, and how we can end the massive amounts of US Wildfires. I also enjoy the research of how the building of megacities has effected the flooding of major hurricanes in the past 30 years. I find joy in understanding the complexities of tornados and how they work. Right now, I am taking Earth and Space Science. I love getting to have conversations with my teacher on solutions to global warming and how it affects extreme weather, and how extreme weather can affect it. Talking about what we as humans can do and encourgaging my peers into careers in Environmental Science is my passion right now. I am currently working on a way to expand from just my friends and classmates, and reach out to my community, and hopefully, eventually my state, country, and entire planet.

I've seen educational inequity first hand. Living in Tennessee, many of our tax dollars go to private, Christian schools, just because our government says you can get those tax dollars to send your kid to private schools for any reason. I got refused an online dual-enrollment class, that I qualify for, just on the basis of "We don't have that here." The opportunities afforded to students just because they go to a different, in-district, public school, is so unfair, and is restricting me and other students of reaching their full potential. Educational inequity allows so many children to fall into cracks and never reach their full potential. Many times these students are unable to attend these "better schools" for transportation or personal reasons. Adding more resources to our school systems would prevent this. Giving all students a platform to preform, as well as providing the students who need additional intervention that help as well. I know that I am in a really fortunate position; my parents help provide me with additional opportunities, and I know where to look for those opportunities. But there is still not enough. I watch YouTube videos of kids with all these activities and I get so jealous. They all have so many interesting clubs that I wish I could take a part of.

The wisest thing I've ever heard is to care about others. I think it is just very important to care about others in every aspect of our lives because you never know when you will need that in return or who is watching. It isn't just about the benefits; it is about just being kind to everyone. You never know every detail of everyone's personal lives, and what they may be facing. I really see the best in people and I'm always nice to everyone despite how they treat me because I don't know what insecurities or problems they face at home. I really enjoy giving back to my community- not for the college application benefits, scholarships, or recognition, but for the sake of helping someone who may otherwise not get the help they really need and deserve. We all deserve help, and that can come in different forms. Maybe that's going to a retirement home and talking and listening to the residents. Maybe that is going around your community advocating against the abuse of children and giving out signs. Maybe that is staying after school to help younger kids with math. With all of these situations, we are helping. It's just wise to lend a hand whenever possible. You never know what you might gain or what you will be providing to who you are helping.

The most helpful piece of financial advice was to avoid student debt as much as possible. Watching my parents struggle because of my mom's crippling student debt when I was young was very hard. So many other people in my family have even larger amounts and it's scary to think about. I'm working towards going to college to free. I am doing that by applying for scholarships, keeping my GPA, and trying to bring up my ACT score. It's hard work, but it's a big goal to pay nothing for college, especially because my parents don't have really have anything saved for my college education. I am working really hard because I have a goal of obtaining a Ph.D. in Meteorology or Atmospheric Science and possibly considering getting a Juris Doctorate as well. That is all very expensive. While I don't think I will get through four degrees debt-free, but my goal is to not pay for my bachelor's or master's degrees. Student debt scares me, but I realize there are a lot of programs to help me not pay as much for college, and I am really thankful for those opportunites and the people who are able to offer them. Student debt is a major crisis in America, and so many people will face it for the rest of their lives. People have to arrange their lives around their student debt, and I do not want to live my life like that. I am trying my best to do everything in my power to take no/as little in student loans as possible.

Generosity is just helping anyone you can at any opportunity that you can. I am a part of Munford High School DECA, a business and marketing organization, which allows me to serve my community and classmates through our community service project, No Excuse for Child Abuse, which benefits the Carl Perkins Center. We started this project a few years ago because a former officer faced child abuse in her own home. Our county, a suburb of Shelby County, home of Memphis, has a child abuse rate 4% higher than the state average, leading us to want to end child abuse in our community. I think that everyone in my chapter is generous. No one has to do community service, but we all dedicate our time to it. We all raise money for it, we all come up with various community service ideas, we just all have our own ideas and commitments to the project and the center. We do a lot of different projects like the Miricle Minute, the Princess Breakfast, the t-shirt and bracelet sales, and those all mean a lot to all of us. We put so much time, effort, and money, for technically no effort in return, minus the reward of joy and fulfillment of thinking of all the good we do in our community. We all want to make a difference in our community and I think that's my definition of generosity.

Being from the deep south as a biracial girl, I've always stood out. Especially because I have a lot of different beliefs than many of my peers and their parents, it makes me feel very out of place here. What is giving me hope for a better future is the fact that there are people who don't share those beliefs. I remember the boy who said, "All black people ruin everything." I remember how many people were angry with him and the words he said. It sucks that so many people believe like that still and how many people I go to school with who think that I have to be every stereotype of a black person. But it makes me even happier to know that people will stand up to them without me or other people of color asking. I see how many people really believe in equality and don't defend or make racist jokes in my town and it gives me a lot of hope. It makes me think about how many of those people will raise their kids to not believe in racism and how many people's kids who are like that will break away from those beliefs. I just look forward to the day that racism doesn't exist at all. I hope that one day that kids like me don't have to hear comments I have had to hear growing up. A lot of the people I have met give me hope that the future will be very different. I know that racism will most likely still exist during my children and grandchildren's lifetimes, but hopefully, that keeps getting smaller and smaller and less and less extreme. While there are plenty of people who hold these negative beliefs still, there are a lot who don't and that gives me so much hope for the future.

Being a young kid, I just remember being fascinated with tornados. Learning about my region, Dixie Alley, which is the deadliest region in the nation for tornados, lead to a passion for becoming a meteorologist. Fast forward about 10 years, and I want to look at climate trends to help end the deadly storm crisis in my region of the United States. First off, my climate solution aspect to this problem is not exactly new, fascinating, or innovative, but the trends in this field definitely are. I think the US, and the globe as a whole should put higher reinforcement on the conversion to alternatively powered vehicles. I think this solution is the simplest and reasonable one to accomplish within my lifetime. With hydrogen-powered cars on the streets in California and Texas and GM's switch to an all-electric by 2035, we will definitely see gas-powered vehicles in the minority. This solution will help the environment in multiple ways. First, switching to electric leads to less fossil fuel usage when producing gasoline. We can use solar power to power our homes, so if the majority of electric cars belong to people who use renewable energy to power their homes, that just makes our cars more eco-friendly. Second, the use of electric vehicles can also reduce fuel emissions. 80% of direct carbon dioxide fossil fuels are from natural gas. So switching to EVs, we will reduce the emissions, leading to a reduction in air pollution, which leads to the slowing of the changing climate. Plus, EVs have other benefits besides climate change. There are many tax benefits to owning one, and they are a lot cheaper to maintain. Some places have special lanes for electric vehicles and they are a lot quieter. The US Government, alongside other governments internationally, should mandate all vehicle manufacturers switch to all-electric platforms. Putting these sanctions on these companies will allow for better options for those interested in electric vehicles. Giving consumers more options would get more people buying electric. Many moms do not want a mini-van, but there is no other electric vehicle on the market with 7-8 person seating. Another benefit to making this a government mandate would be making EVs cheaper. It is very hard to find used EVs (in most parts of the US) because not a lot of people buy them in the first place, so the people who do are usually the types of people who hold on to cars for a very long time or realize the benefits and cost-effectiveness, so they do not want or need to sell. Also, because of the demand, there are fewer updates to the cars. That could also be a contributing factor to why people don't buy as many EVs. Many places in the majority of the US do not have charging stations. Not being able to charge your car at work, while shopping, or while doing business, can be a deterrent for many people. You really have to plan a road trip around charging stations. You may have to find a more expensive hotel or stay in a more expensive area because none around you have a charger. While there can be many possible solutions for helping to solve the crisis involving the climate, I believe that government mandates forcing companies to only produce electric vehicles is the best one.

I remember being 8 and going to a weather event hosted by a lot of local meteorologists. I learned so much and I knew that I should pursue meteorology. Now, as a high school junior, my goal is the same, but I want to move farther with it. I eventually want to get my Doctorate in meteorology and potentially get a Juris Doctorate as well. I want to advocate for tornado safety across the US. I live in the deadliest region in the US for tornados, Dixie Alley. The majority of tornado deaths nationwide occur in mobile homes. Another large majority happen at night. I want to work with lawmakers to help pass laws to prevent this. My idea to solve this problem is to add more storm shelters, require devices like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Homepod to include storm warnings in the software, as well as work to increase funding to help research how to find ways to make radar more accurate. My first why is the Nashville tornado outbreak of 2020. Seeing the devastation in my state was heartbreaking. My second why is a tornado touching down in my hometown, almost hitting my high school. There were so many people who went outside and filmed it, but it made me mad to see how many people were putting their lives at risk. My third why is doing research on tornado deaths. Six of the 76 tornado deaths in 2020 were not in tornado watches or warnings. Over half (39) of the 76 died in mobile homes. These were all very preventable with technology and education. The reason why Dixie Alley is more deadly than Tornado Alley and all other allies is the fact that our population is a lot bigger and we have so many people living in mobile homes. I also think it has to do with many people not believing that the tornados can come in the south and not knowing the danger of being in a mobile home during a tornado. I hope to bring down the rising tornado deaths to 0. These ideas will help not only with deaths but with injuries and property loss. Being more accurately able to predict when a tornado will come will allow for people to secure loose things, move to a safe shelter, and make sure everyone is inside. I hope that my goals will leave a lasting legacy in the United States, and end tornado deaths globally.

Joining DECA has been one of the best decisions in my life. Our DECA chapter does a general community service project where we bring awareness, collect supplies, and raise money for a local domestic abuse center, The Carl Perkins Center. One of my chapter's former officers faced child abuse in her home. That was what inspired us to start this project. So far, in my three years as a DECA member, two of which I've spent as an officer, I have had amazing opportunities to give back to my community and potentially even my classmates. My freshman year I helped set up for our annual Princess Breakfast. I also participated by being Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. I am excited to hopefully get the same opportunity to be a princess again this year. Sophomore year I took on a bigger role in the project. I helped collect money during the Miracle Minute. The Miracle Minute is where we walk around during a football game and collect money for our charity. This past year, I also got to speak at Munford City Hall to the mayor and aldermen about DECA, the Carl Perkins Center, and our project. The mayor gave us a proclamation stating that November 2020 was "Munford DECA No Excuse for Child Abuse Campaign Awareness Month." That was an amazing opportunity to get to advocate for such an important cause. While I wasn't able to do Even though we are just beginning the school year, I know that my third year will be amazing. We have already started outreach for this school year by doing our Pinwheel Passout. That is where we take our pinwheels to local businesses, explain the cause, and take pictures. We are still working on the plans for this school year and how we can adapt to COVID, but we are planning to do our princess breakfast and a lot of other normal activities like Munford Celebrate, where we have a booth every year and sell bracelets and shirts to benefit the center. We also pass out pamphlets and display different things promoting our service. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve my community, my classmates, and my friends. It's amazing being a part of something bigger than myself and getting the honor to serve my community. I hope to make a large impact in my last two years of high school DECA, but I hope to continue my journey to service in collegiate DECA wherever I am led to attend college.

"You're just a girl." This statement is the start. As first a woman of color, then secondly, a woman of color interested in STEM, and considered "smart" in a predominately white school, I'm used to hearing "You're just a girl." I am used to my understanding and intelligence constantly being called into question. When I was younger I questioned if I should choose STEM, I questioned if I should act like I didn't know the answers. Telling girls "you can do anything" while keeping this rhetoric on us "just being girls" meaning we don't really know what we are talking about. Ending this will be what empowers women. We need to stop promoting that women are dumb simply because of our gender. Ending the career stereotypes will also contribute to the solution of this problem. Saying that nurses are women and men are doctors is continuing the stereotype of men "knowing" more than women. Just because doctors have more education does not mean that nurses are "less smart" or "less educated", it just means that they had a different education. By promoting the idea that some jobs are "female-oriented" or "male-oriented", we are promoting an idea that people "won't be good" at a job because it isn't held by their gender. By ending the gender job division would inspire more women to not feel limited to "certain jobs" bringing in female empowerment. We first need to deconstruct these beliefs within ourselves. Once we allow ourselves to do that, we can then teach children that they can actually be whatever they want to be, no matter who mostly does a job. Another part of ending the women not being as smart as men is equalizing the number of women in positions of power. We look in healthcare and people will refuse to see nurses or let nurses do essential care that most doctors don't know how to do or haven't done since medical school. People question when women say they are the manager of an establishment. According to Americanprogress.org, "In the financial services industry, they constitute 61 percent of accountants and auditors, 53 percent of financial managers, and 37 percent of financial analysts.13 But they are only 12.5 percent of chief financial officers in Fortune 500 companies." Women seem to make up a lot of the majority, but they only have an eighth of the CFO positions in Fortune 500 companies. While we have a long way to go, I do believe that by closing the job gap and ending the dumb women stereotypes, we can bring global female empowerment.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life."-Steve Jobs I look at my life and realize that I am meant for bigger and better. I realize I am not meant to spend the rest of my life in this small town like everyone else. I hate when people give me suggestions on college. "Why don't you use your free two years?" "Why are you going so far?" "You need to look into broadcast." That's not what I want. Nor is it what I need. As I have to explain to so many people, I have no in-state college options. I am lucky enough to have realized in my college search that because of this I will be awarded grants to bring tuition to the in-state costs. While I think that Tennessee's free community college program is an excellent opportunity, because the extensive classes meteorology has from day 1, I do not see the value of community college for me. I realized that I cannot make people happy, but I must make myself happy. I know that the decision I am making is the right one for me, and that is what this quote represents. I cannot live someone else's idea for my life, because it will not be what I think is best for me.

When I was in 8th grade, I knew I wanted to be in DECA. I was obsessed with the matching suits and the competitions and knew that was where I was meant to be. What I didn't realize almost two years ago was the chance I'd be given to impact my county. I live in a "suburb" county of Shelby County, Tennessee- home to the ever famous Memphis, Tennessee, and Beale Street. In my county of approximately 60,000 people, our child abuse rate is about 4% above the state rate. Because a former officer experienced child abuse in her home, our DECA chapter has made it our mission to help end child abuse in Tipton County. Starting my freshman year, I partook in the service activities we did. I was Princess Jasmine from Aladdin for our Princess Breakfast fundraiser. I supported our other fundraisers as well, such as our bracelet sale and shirt sale. Sophomore year was limited due to COVID-19, but I got to take a higher role in my service. I became our DECA Vice President of Finance, so that meant I got to work with the other nine officers on more specific projects. I first supported our cause by collecting money during the Miracle Minute. The Miracle Minute is where DECA officers, as well as our school's cheerleaders, ran around the bleachers during a football game collecting donations for the Carl Perkins Center. Next, our chapter was granted the opportunity to speak at Munford City Hall about our campaign, No Excuse for Child Abuse, what the DECA organization is, and some of our competition statistics. Our mayor granted us a proclamation making November "Munford DECA No Excuse for Child Abuse Awareness Month." This summer, we have already started our outreach by doing our Annual Pinwheel Passout. We go around the community and pass out pinwheels to local businesses and explain the cause to them. Earlier in the summer, I went and escorted people to their seats at a performance at The Ruffin Theater in Covington, Tennessee, at a comedy show benefiting the center. As I am the chapter Vice President this year, I'd like to take on a bigger role in participating. We are still in the planning phase, but we will be hosting our Princess Breakfast again this year. We are also going to host a booth at Munford Celebrate where we sell goods to also help support the cause. I know the world isn't 100% back to normal, but I hope that we can continue a lot of our previous outreach that we have done in the past. While all of our school's clubs have a charity, I am glad I get to participate in one that probably helps my own classmates and friends. I hope that my chapter and I, as an individual, can live up to our 2021-2022 DECA theme- "Maximize Your Momentum." I look at that phrase as an opportunity to not only plan for my personal future, but for the future of my chapter, and more importantly, the No Excuse for Child Abuse project.

My favorite scientist would have to be Al Roker from the Today Show, even though he isn't a traditional scientist. Seeing a person of color being a meteorologist on national television is inspirational to me as a person of color.

March 3th, 2020, and May 9th, 2021. The two days that changed my life forever. Seeing the Nashville tornados confirmed my interest in being a meteorologist. The amount of damage and death rocked my state. I look at the statistics and think, how many of those could have been prevented. I took promoting Storm Awareness in my community seriously after an EF-1 tornado almost hit my high school on May 9th. The video of the man filming this very rare occurrence in my small town made me angry as I thought about all the possible flying debris that could have hit and killed him. Tennessee is a part of the deadliest region in the world for tornados, Dixie Alley. Of the 76 fatalities, 4 were not in Dixie Alley. Of the twenty-four deadly tornados in 2020, fifteen took place after dark. When looking into why these tornados are so deadly, I learned about how our increased population, as well as the large number of people living in mobile homes, affect the death rate of tornados. As we live in a digital age with a variety of devices, you'd think there would be more warning. While 90 million American adults own a smart home device such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple Homepod, most of these devices have extra steps or no way to alert you of severe weather. Adding alerts as well as integrating these devices with cell phones will help to improve location accuracy as well as cellular to get continuous updates even if there's a loss of power. Tech also plays a role in confirming tornados. Doppler Radar still cannot 100% confirm a tornado, which causes many meteorologists to have to use the phrase "Radar Indicated" which leads to many people ignoring the warnings. I hope to find a way to improve this technology to more accurately confirm if it is a tornado or is it a false alarm. Improving this technology would also help when there are no tornado watches or warnings issued due to lack of seeing the storm, similar to the Tennessee 2020 outbreak. The amount of technology used in meteorology is amazing. I am considering a minor in Computer Science to help me learn the essential programming skills I will need to help save lives. As a high school student, I am taking all advanced and dual enrollment classes, which are helping me prepare for the difficult coursework ahead of me in college. I'd like to own my own forensic meteorology consulting firm, after college, recreating and writing reports on previous weather events globally. Forensic meteorology can help solve crimes, figure out what exactly happened during a storm, and help with insurance claims. They use storm reports, videos, and forecasting applications to design experiments to relive the event. I knew that this job was for me because I can help solve serious crimes such as murders, helping to bring answers to grieving families. Using tech to do that is just another level of enjoyment for me.

“Hey Alexa, can you play jazz?” The Amazon Alexa is probably one of the most iconic and innovative inventions of this decade. The gift of just saying “Hey Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes,” instead of letting egg-covered hands control a traditional timer, Alexa prevents the accidental turning off of the timer and the cleaning up of raw egg. Instead of having to go scroll through apps like Pandora or Spotify for a playlist, you can just tell Alexa to play you that genre and she does it automatically. The amazing thing about STEM is the variety of innovations. In my STEM field, ours are especially important. The innovations in meteorology can be life-saving, which is my inspiration for becoming a meteorologist. I knew from a young age that I wanted to save lives but I knew I could not stand the sight of blood or the thought of watching people or animals die. After learning about living in Dixie Alley, I knew that meteorology was my calling. Dixie Alley is the deadliest region in the nation for tornados. I researched why that was- the number of people living in mobile homes and a higher population. So, my journey is to now discover a way to reduce the number of tornado deaths worldwide. The majority of tornado deaths happen at nighttime. With the reduction of visibility, you are less likely to confirm a tornado, meaning that people will not believe the warning. In 2021 alone, three out of the five deadly tornados happened after 8 PM in their time zone. Those tornados accounted for five of the twelve deaths this year, with two of those five being in mobile homes. Here is where I look to Alexa for inspiration. Approximately 90 million American adults own smart speakers of any brand. For the infamous Amazon Alexa, you must ask for Severe Weather Alerts to be turned on. Google Nest requires you to download a weather app. I think that these smart devices should already have these alerts pre-programmed and unable to be turned off. This will prove to be life-saving tech that is in a majority of American homes already. This feature would allow for the preparation and planning for people living in mobile homes to find a different structure, and everyone, in general, to get into a safe spot. While that is not just an end-all-be-all to saving lives, I think it's a great first step in the right direction to use tech to save lives.

Most kids would be excited if a tornado hit their high school. Seeing a tornado almost hit my high school made me angry. Many people do not think about how meteorology saves lives, but that is my passion. Meteorology impacts every aspect of our lives from the way we dress, to when farmers plant their crops, to saving lives. On Mother's Day 2021, a tornado almost hit my high school. It only missed it by 100s of feet. Seeing the man on the video and the danger he put himself in made me angry. I thought about how if there was flying debris, he could be instantly killed. I thought about all the farmland in my area and the buildings associated with them. Any of the roofs could have flown off and killed someone, but luckily, it didn't. Meteorology affects farming in so many ways. Tornados can destroy crops that produce the foods we all need to survive. My hope is to help find ways to avoid this and better detect twisters. I want to improve doppler radar to more accurately confirm the existence of tornados. If I get to improve this technology, I will get to save lives and improve the potential of crop survival. Almost 50% of the land in Tennessee is farmland, with 57% of that land being used to produce essential crops such as our world-famous tomatoes, corn, and soybeans. Living here, especially in Dixie Alley, the deadliest region for tornados in the country, gives me the opportunity to learn more about how I can build upon the meeting of humans, agriculture, and weather. The first thing I'm doing to improve my education on the environment is studying in school. Taking dual enrollment classes will help lay the foundation for the harder classes I will face in college. I also am trying to learn about environmentalism. Learning about the different things affecting the environment, such as water issues is helping me prepare for a career where these issues will affect me daily. Using the best ingredients in my cooking is also important to me. Using ethically sourced, natural ingredients is important for my and my family's health and it is important to the environment. Taking care of the Earth is so important to me so I'd like to do anything possible to give back to the beautiful planet we live on. It provides everything we need to survive, but only if we serve it, the way it serves us.

A lot of people have heard about Tornado Alley and the deadly tornados it creates. As a child, learning about tornados was something that always interested me, because how could wind become a tunnel of destruction. When meteorologists started using the term Dixie Alley, I knew I found my passion and purpose. Dixie Alley is a region in the south containing parts of Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas. This region has a higher tornado fatality rate than anywhere else in the country. Growing up in Dixie Alley, more specifically Tennessee, I realized that I wanted to combat this issue and discover what it would take to reduce injuries and fatalities in the place I call home. But, being an African-American female interested in STEM, growing up and living in a small town caused issues with people questioning my knowledge and passion for meteorology. I have always pushed myself to learn more, but I began receiving a lot of negative comments on this such as, "You're only in this class as a diversity factor," or "You don't know that because you're a girl." These comments were extremely hurtful and made me question if was STEM the right choice for me. After reflecting on the people who made these comments, I realize that they themselves were insecure. I wasn't the issue for wanting to go above and beyond in preparing myself for my career and following my passion. I think this realization was not only me defeating a problem, but a realization and preparation, I will most likely continue to face as a black woman in STEM. Pushing myself to go out there and learning new things is another way I am preparing to become a meteorologist. I have contacted meteorologists from my local National Weather Service office and then been offered a post-COVID shadowing opportunity. This past October, I spoke at City Hall about my DECA chapter's nationally recognized child abuse awareness project, which is something I'd never thought I would do. From reading National Weather Service reports, to monitoring my own personal Weather Ball, a glass that measures barometric pressure, I keep up-to-date on the weather trends of the Mid-South. Competing in local pageants has also advanced my confidence in public speaking. Feeling comfortable speaking in public to varieties of people is important to me and my goals in meteorology. The first step in this is the one I am taking right now, taking difficult math and science classes. The basis of this information will allow for the college-level understanding of meteorology topics. Next, I want to go to college and eventually get my doctorate in meteorology, which will allow me the opportunity to get research knowledge. Eventually, I plan on working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association to create a way to reduce tornado fatalities, damage, and injuries in America.