From the time I could first start sharing my opinion with my family whether it be my father or my grandparents, I realized that people chose to find the problems in the proposed solution rather than accept the proposed solution's necessity. My generation is marked as a generation full of “softies” who care too much about the environment. But the thing is, I want to care about it because after all, I was raised in a political climate that never stops talking about the irreversible effects of climate change. Why wouldn’t I want to better the world which seems to already be falling apart? Although climate change has been caused due to human innovation, it has also caused a new need for innovation. Recently I have had conversations with people who refuse to appreciate the importance of change. The other day, I was talking with my father about how practical electric vehicles are becoming since previously it would take upwards of a day for a car to fully charge. My father kept repeating the same “problems” of electric vehicles, however, I realized that he and many others are misinformed. I understand that it is hard to accept that the technology that you grew up with is becoming outdated, however, people mustn't impede the development of the newer technology which could push us towards a better and environmentally safer future because of misinformation I have been fascinated by the new technology being developed due to environmental issues caused by climate change. For the past couple of decades, auto manufacturers have been developing hybrid cars due to a push from public opinion. As recently as 2008, Tesla became the first company to specialize in the mass manufacturing of electric vehicles by releasing their first all-electric car, the Tesla Roadster. Although early electric cars like the Roadster or even the Nissan Leaf initially had very low range, they were only new developments of very new technology. Nothing is ever perfect on the first try, and it takes years if not decades for new technology to become both practical and affordable enough for it to become worth it for the consumer. Even now, electric vehicles are nowhere near perfect, however, they have gotten to a point of practicality which makes them a good investment not only momentarily but environmentally as well. I have grown up in a household where vehicles such as motorcycles and cars are something we enjoy investing our time into. Although I have spent nearly my whole life around gas-guzzling cars and motorcycles, I still recognize the importance of the development of electric vehicles. I am planning on earning a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering because I want to be a part of the future that makes the change. I love the mechanical aspects of machines, and I want to make a change and be a part of the development of solutions to combat the problems that older generations failed to recognize the severity of. Because I see the need for such new technology, I have chosen to pursue a degree that will allow me to be involved in the development of these much-needed innovations.

I wasn’t always confident in myself or my abilities. My first year of high school, I didn’t have any friends and I was too self conscious to put myself out there in any attempt to make any. I spent my first year trying to find people who I felt comfortable enough to hang out with. My sophomore year, I began making friends with a couple of people, and a couple of people turned into a group. Unfortunately, covid came right as I found the people I liked, but thankfully. We all stayed pretty in touch. We all began hanging out outside of school relatively frequently. These people became my best friends and help me find a sense of self confidence in myself. I began working out with one of my friends because one thing I was self conscious about was my body. The fact that I was making an attempt to better myself gave me a sense of confidence which I had never had before. I continued building my confidence through attempts to better myself because I found that to be what helped me the most. I started taking school much more seriously, as well as I began volunteering. With all the things I was doing, I began to realize that I was not looking for the approval of others, but the approval from myself. Now with college coming up, I was accepted into a dream school of mine and I frequently doubt my abilities, however I soon overcome the fear I have because I am confident in my abilities to better myself, put in the work and effort, and to accomplish my goals.

My dog’s names are Poe and Beans. Poe is a border collie-lab named after Edgar Allen Poe and she is about 10 years old. Beans is a chihuahua-wiener dog and she is about 5 years old. About a year ago, I began taking them on frequent night walks around my neighborhood as a way. For them to get some exercise and for me to have an expectable time without stress. We began to develop our route, and eventually found one long enough to have a good time, but not too long where they are absolutely exhausted. We make our way around the outside of my neighborhood to the front where there are two ponds, then after resting at the ponds, we make our way back to the house. Every so often when we take a break at the ponds, I will notice a turtle that attempted to cross the road to the other pond, but got stuck at the other side due to the high curb. It has become part of our daily routine to check for stranded turtles, and honestly my favorite part of the walk.

In 2019, sitting outside of a planet fitness, my father told me that his girlfriend was pregnant. This was startling to me as I had just spent the last 15 years in a household full of abuse and wasted potential. It took a while for me to warm up to the idea of giving my father a second chance at raising a child, however now that his new son, Nixon, has entered my life, I couldn’t see my life without him. Because I knew that my dad wouldn’t always be the best role model for Nixon, I knew he needed someone who could be. Although I will be leaving for college very soon, I have spent as much time as I possibly could being there for Nixon. Every chance I get, I play with him and teach him new words. We’ve spent more time laughing together than I have spent laughing without him. I needed a brother when I was younger, so I decided I have got to be one for him while I still have the chance. Even when I’m off at college, I have vowed to take every opportunity I have to call him and chat, because I know that I’m going to need him just as much as he will need me.

By allowing others to influence and discourage you through their destructive actions, you are allowing them to inhibit your potential and causing them to define your success. By recognizing your ability to overcome those challenges, you are able to maximize your potential by allowing yourself the opportunity to succeed. From day one, I haven’t had a good influence. My parents separated early on in my life, causing me to constantly shift between homes due to court regulations. I spent years in and out of court rooms talking to many judges behind closed doors about what life was like at home in an attempt to give one parent more custody over the other. Eventually I began spending more time with my father and visiting my mother every so often. My father was not college educated, nor was he driven. I watched as he frequently changed low paying unsuccessful jobs in an attempt to pay the bills. I knew he could do better, however, he refused to strive for the opportunity to be successful. When I visited my mother, we spent most of the time getting screamed at or spent time sitting in our room shared between my sister and I in my mother’s two bedroom apartment. In that room where my sister and I spent days on end, we had a bucket of legos. The bucket was filled with countless unfinished lego set that we had collected from birthdays and Christmas’. In our boredom, my sister and I would challenge each other to build the most abstract things to complete little tasks with a small number of pieces. As a kid, that bucket seemed like nothing more than well a bucket of legos. I saw it as nothing more that something to keep me entertained. However, that bucket wasn’t just a bunch of mismatched sets, it was an escape. The countless hours spent entertained and perplexed about the fascinating things we could create from seemingly useless pieces taught us that just like the legos, we had so much potential. Our situations never changed, frequently only getting worse, but we began to understand that the situation we were in, wasn’t because of us, and that we shouldn’t let the restrictions that were put on us by others to influence the potential we chose to maximize. Although my sister and I often fought with each other, we understood that we had to be there for each other. We grew up going to the same schools and taking the same classes. We chose to find a passion in our work and our studies, causing us to do relatively well inside of school and out. As we grew older, our view and perspectives differed, but we remained close. Last year, we spent what we thought was our last year together as she went off to college this year. It was hard to see someone who I had spent my whole life with, enduring the same abuse and struggles with, but also sharing each other’s happiest moments. When she came home from college for break this year, she spent her own free time to help me in my college application process because although it wasn’t fun, she knew she could make the process a little bit easier for me. We applied to many of my top choice colleges as well as the college she was attending, The University of Virginia, but had little hope of acceptance from there. After a couple of weeks, she flew back off to Virginia as her break was over. As my college decisions began coming in, I called her every chance I could with both the ups and downs of the decisions. After I had thought I had my mind made up of which college I wanted to attend, Texas A&M, I got and email from The University of Virginia. Admittedly, I had expected a denial, however I was overjoyed to see that they had accepted me. I immediately called my sister with the fantastic news and she was excited to say the least. We has both previously expected to spend the next few years halfway across the US from each other, but now, we would only be down the street rom each other again. Although I was put in a bad situation as well as given role models who shouldn’t be followed, I was able to recognize my potential and choose to maximize my future instead of allowing the challenges I was faced with to define me and my future.