Something I have learned from my mother not only changed my perspective on something significant, but it changed my perspective on life which I believe is pretty significant to me. One day my mother said to me, "nothing is permanent. it’s really up to you, to devote yourself to something or someone to make it last" which really opened up my eyes to everything I view now. Before, I would have just put my hope into making something last for as long as it could or putting my hope into receiving something. But after this one sentence was said to me, I truly realized that life is short even though if you count the actual seconds it is not. But, it will feel short and in every situation 'nothing is forever' applies to it. It has made me realize how every moment is important to give my everything to and to live in every happy moment, yet not to spend so much of my time being sad or sulking over little things.

I am the current president of my Hip Hop Dance Club at my high school, and I have been told my some of them before that they look up to me as inspiration as a person and dancer. Besides dancing at school, I am in a dance team outside of school and we have a Summer Training Program. I invited 2 underclassmen from my Hip Hop Club to be my mentees at this program. The impact I want to have through my mentorship is mainly for the people I teach to learn about the influence that dance can have on their lives. I hope that my mentorship allows everyone I have taught that dance can teach you so much about yourself. Dance can teach you to know your body and love it, it can teach you to really listen to music and feel the beat within yourself and express it to others. My mentorship isn't to force people to dance, I also want people to feel comfortable within the space by not forcing anyone to dance but to voluntarily come to our Hip Hop Dance club. Even if majority of my teachings are about dancing I also talk about self love a lot when teaching because confidence is key as a dancer. I want all my mentees to realize they don't have to admit they have love for themselves, but they can express it through dance and they can express any emotions through dance.

I think personally it's really hard for me to stay optimistic during really tough times, but I do know it is possible and I have done it before. One thing that really helps me is using an outlet to relieve stress from these tough times, like dancing and or creating songs. Listening to music and moving to the flow of it or just sitting at my piano and coming up with melodies really helps me to take time to myself during tough times. These actions calm me down and they have taught me many things such as, self-care is still important during tough times and the easy times. Another way I try to stay optimistic during tough times is to just sit and think with my feelings, maybe lay down for a bit and rest. But, I tend to think about how to get myself out of tough situations and or tell myself that life is too short to be stressing about something for so long. Eventually I will be in another tough situation, so sitting down and feeling it all myself to solve how to get out of a current tough situation helps me. It teaches me that, not only can I take time away from thinking of a situation but sitting down with myself and facing how to solve it is an effective way too. Although, out of all my methods to stay optimistic the most constant thing I do is just open up. I either open up about my tough times in a journal or to a best friend. Ranting and letting go of my pent up emotions inside help me and teach me that it is okay to depend on something or someone other than myself in tough times.

My favorite piece would be from the famous Dutch painter Van Gogh titled 'Sunflowers'. Whenever I think about one of the most fascinating pieces of art this one piece always comes up to mine, mainly because of the use 2 dominant colors that are yellow and green. The painting 'Sunflowers' represented to artists and viewers all around how a simple piece can still be so beautiful. As a person who paints themself, this painting has so much detail even if multiple different colors were not used. I could tell that he made different shades of yellow and green in this painting of sunflowers. Even in the background it is a simple yellow, and personally I believe having contrast between light and dark colors make a painting have more dimension but even Van Gogh didn't have to use two different light and dark colors to create this contrast, he used it with the same color just using different shades of the color. I believe the best part to this piece of art is that there are 2 different versions of 'Sunflowers' by Van Gogh, and his first version was given away to a fellow artist while the second version is my most favorite one. This piece of art represented to me that nothing is perfect, and even sometimes you won't like your own creations and it's never gonna be perfect, but you can always try again.

Technology is evolving and so is society. Some people say it causes individuals to no longer interact with one another. But, technology helps mankind become more social and connect throughout the world using social media and apps. This is because people are using phones to talk to each other worldwide. teens are on social media more throughout the years texting, posting, and contacting other people. This causes people to create friendships, which also helps with controlling social anxiety. Especially for younger kids, it’s hard to socialize, and they usually feel like outcasts (even if they are not). So, social media allows them to “see” their friends more often. It also helps people keep friendships even if someone moves to another state or new school. Overall, technology such as mobile phones like the iPhone have made communication and socializing easier. For society to communicate with each other and individuals to become more social, we have created the one device that can help which is technology. As explained before, technology has helped growth of economy and the increase of jobs. Technology can do things we alone as humans cannot achieve. In addition, technological devices help people to communicate easier.

My goal for my future is to be happy yet supply the needs for myself and my family to survive. I do not want to live a life full of debt and stressing about being the best and smartest person in the world, success to me means to do what makes me happy while making a living out of it that benefits my family and I. We are in control of our future, meaning, it 's all a matter of perspective. If you decided you want to live your life a certain way and that way makes you happy, then you have started the pathway to your future. My plan to achieve my own success is to go to school, make my parents, friends, and myself proud and maybe even strangers on the sidewalk proud of what I do as a creator.

I think a key thing to have in mind when facing any challenge in life is that it is all for growth. From the minute I was born up until now I have grown mentally, physically, and metaphysically. I’m driven primarily by my desire to learn new things—big or small—and take on new responsibilities so that I’m constantly growing for myself and others. I think a growth mindset can be applied to any situations. Personally, I dance, and as a dancer sometimes I put myself down and think I am not good enough or not meant to dance. But over time I have learned that being in uncomfortable situations helps you grow, they challenge you and make you better. Turning down hard things to face easy things will only make you weaker and no growth will occur, I learned over time to push myself constantly even in the uncomfortable circumstance I push myself to allow myself to get better every day. There are also situations I face that aren't just uncomfortable but my state of mind takes over and negativity controls me. I think a lot of people face the hardship of fighting their own negativity, but one thing I constantly tell myself is to keep my mind on where I want to go. I look forward constantly to the positive things even when I feel like I am in the negative. Where ever I set my mental focus to, I know that that spot is where I am going, so as long as I keep a positive thought no matter what then I will grow to a positive lifestyle. I challenge myself constantly every day to expand and grow with this growth mindset, thinking about what I want and what I will have is my mindset.

It's hard to say what makes me happy because many things do. The question itself is vague and arises other questions. Even the word "happy ", makes me think because what is the true feeling of happy. I think personally being with people I truly connect to is what makes me happy, and doing things I love make me happy. I take much pride in being a good daughter, sister, and friend. I do things that I know deep down inside gives my life purpose, and that makes me happy. Caring for people and inspiring others make me happy. Dancing with my dance team every Friday night makes me happy, helping my mom cook makes me happy, seeing my dad and brother laugh together make me happy, making up after a little argument with my family makes me happy. So many little things occur in my life that give me the feeling of wanting to wake up everyday and do it again. There are also vague things like hugging people, laughing with others, making someone smile, are also things that make me happy. I think in the end, what truly makes me happy is peace. Knowing that there is no conflict behind anything with anyone, no bad motives, and no hurt. Seeing and feeling love all around me is what makes me genuinely happy and I wish that for not just myself, but for the strangers all across the world. What would ultimately make me happy is knowing that there is no bad in the world, yet in the end the world wouldn't be the world if it was all happy with rainbows and sunshine. Having the small happy things in my life are good enough to make me always happy.

As a girl in high school who is in an Engineering Program with majority of boys, I strive to use my creativeness not only to help the world but to prove that anyone can do anything. I love to create things, I like to choreograph, to paint, to draw, to use Revit in Engineering and create house layouts, to use Autocad and invent things from scratch, to even creating my own music. Creativity to me is expressing myself to others in a way that doesn't just use words, it can use the process of showing my thought process, my creations, and my art. I don't use my creativity to be celebrated by anyone but myself. Being proud of myself and challenging myself for coming up with something on my own or collaborating with someone is how I apply creativity in my life. Although, I don't use creativity just to draw or materialize the imaginations in my own head. I use creativity to make innovative ideas, learning from others and applying to my own. School itself is where I apply creativity because I generate so many ideas in just one day at school. I believe that the universe is like a library, and us humans check out ideas every single day. I apply creativity everyday by checking out ideas everyday and using them for myself to help myself, others, and for the future of society.

The immediate thought when thinking of "self-care" tends to be about beauty products nowadays. But, personally, I practice self-care in various different ways. I tend to dance, create songs, turn off social media, and walk my dog to keep my self-care routine intact. I believe that self-care is the epitome of loving yourself and putting yourself first. When I am stressed with school, family, or other personal things I take some time to myself and reassure my mind and body that everything will be okay. Dancing is one of my biggest ways to practice self-care, the act of moving my body consciously while to the rhythm and sound of music lets me express my emotions without having to talk. I automatically feel better after freestyling to a slow or even an upbeat song. It has impacted my life in a way I never would have thought, it has allowed me to get to know my body, express my emotions, and love myself more. Music is another thing I practice for self-care, sitting down and feeling the urge to write lyrics to a song on the piano helps me take my mind off the stressful thoughts that run around in my mind constantly. Creating music has impacted me so much that I now accept it as a self-care method because it automatically makes me feel better. Finally, going outside in nature with no technology and just my dog is another way I practice self-care. Nowadays, I am on my phone all the time which tends to give me more stress because it makes me procrastinate more. But, going outside to smell the air and acknowledge the sky, trees, and other people while walking my dog, allow me to regain my spirit to a well-leveled thought process.