In fifth grade I cried during recess because a girl was ripping grass out of the ground. I remember telling our teacher that she was “hurting the earth”. I mean it was just grass, right? Well it wasn’t to me, I cried as if I could feel its pain. My emotional sensitivity as a child stemmed from my pent-up emotions. As a child, I never felt comfortable expressing myself because I felt a strong need to take care of others—who were way older than me. The family members I grew up with during my adolescence were addicts, and sometimes they were too numbed to care for themselves, so I took the liberty of taking on this daunting role as fresh as the age of 7. This often caused me to have random outbursts either out of a desire for attention or because I could no longer hold it in. But due to this, I never found a way to comfortably express myself without making it a worldwide statement—it was getting embarrassing. As someone going into middle soon very soon, it was something I needed to get over immediately, but it didn’t. Middle school took little me for a culture shock—there were so many ‘meaner’ people. While there was some truth to that, I was also just really sensitive. I took everything to heart—and it’s partially because of my extreme empathy to the things around me. I felt that if I treated everything with kindness around me, then everyone should do the same to me, but that’s just wishful thinking. I couldn’t see why everyone didn’t feel as hard as I did, and it hurt me even more. However as time progressed, this was something I had to accept, not everyone is going to be kind. Ever since this realization, it had occurred to me that maybe some people would react like this as their own form of discomfort with their emotions—sort of opposite to how I coped. This isn’t to say that everyone has a reason for their foul actions, everyone is going to react differently to things. The world does lack more empathy than it has, and maybe that doesn’t mean people should cry over ripped grass, but they should put other people’s situations into more thought before acting. So, would i still cry if I saw someone ripping grass out if the ground? I would say no, because it always has the opportunity to grow back, just like us. Sometimes we are presented with unfortunate circumstances, but sometimes all we can do is persevere through them and grow.

Growing up, I was the type of kid that would do anything to stay out of the spotlight. The slightest bit of attention would draw me back into the shadows. One of my biggest forms of escaping the light was with a single piece of paper. Blank sheets were my favourite things, they gave me full control to dive deep into my imagination. I would draw all sorts of things. My mom was often asleep during the day from her third shifts, so it gave me company. I was under the impression that as long as I had my drawings, I would never be alone, and that's how I planned to be for the rest of my life. I was good on my own now, so why would I need anyone else? The plan was sailing smoothly until l received a compliment from a classmate. She had told me "You draw so well!", and it was a simple compliment, but it meant the world to me. It meant so much that I drew them something immediately to express my gratitude. Their eyes almost immediately lit up to my gesture. Seeing their reaction sparked a small, yet significant flame in me. Who knew I could make such an impact in someone’s life with just a piece of paper? I wanted to be able to make others smile like this, it had become a new goal of mine. This also uncovered my love for giving back, it had become my love language. I had wasted so much time avoiding others that I never realized the impact I could make. Although I do regret some of the missed opportunities I had due to my fears, there is not benefit to sticking to these regrets. Instead, I take them as my encouragement to put myself out there even if it means doing it alone. That interaction has stuck with me to this day, and since then, I have joined all sorts of volunteering organizations, as well as thrown my artwork out there for everyone to see. I want to make everyone around me feel the way my class mate did eleven years ago, and I will continue to find ways to do so. This scholarship will be a brick to the home I am trying to build for others to feel comfortable in, to help others come into the light the way I did.

Growing up, I was the type of kid that would do anything to stay out of the spotlight. The slightest bit of attention would draw me back into the shadows. One of my biggest forms of escaping the light was with a single piece of paper. Blank sheets were my favourite things, they gave me full control to dive deep into my imagination. My mom was often asleep during the day from her third shifts, so it gave me company. I was under the impression that as long as I had my drawings, I would never be alone, and that's how I planned to be for the rest of my life. I was good on my own now, so why would I need anyone else? The plan was sailing smoothly until l received a compliment from a classmate. It was something simple as "You draw so well!", but it meant the world to me. It meant so much that I drew them something immediately as a thank you. Seeing the way their eyes lit up to my gesture sparked a tiny. yet important, flame in me. I wanted to be able to make others smile like this, and who knew it could be achieved with just a piece of paper? I had wasted so much time avoiding others that I never realized the impact I could make. That interaction has stuck with me to this day, and since then, I have joined all sorts of volunteering organizations, as well as thrown my artwork out there for everyone to see. I want to make everyone around me feel the way my class mate did eleven years ago, and I will continue to find ways to do so. This scholarship will be a brick to the home I am trying to build for others to feel comfortable in, to help others come into the light the way I did.