As a child I always dreamed of being a family lawyer. I wanted to help children who had been put in unsafe situations with family members and had no way to escape. As I grew up I started to see all the issues people experienced due to mental health and really saw how hard things are for most people. My dream is no longer to be a lawyer due to the fact that I would be too biased and could not see myself helping the enemy. I now aspire to be a mental health social worker, and help those struggling on the inside and cannot properly express their feelings due to being scared or feel like they have no one to go to. My goal is still to help children who are struggling and cannot escape but to take a different approach an focus on helping them learn to cope with these tough situations and give them the resources they need to push them to become the best version of themselves they can be. LIfe is so unfair and causes people to really struggle. Most do not see what goes on in others lives because everyone hides it out of fear or shame. I want to show people that it is okay to be scared and ashamed but that is not all life is. There is still good in the world they just have to find it and I want to be that guide that helps them see those things. Children do not know how to properly express themselves emotionally and the fact that they cannot do so can grow frustrating, which then leads to anger and retaliation. I plan to help guide these kids to their happy places, and peace and show them that it is okay to feel the way you do. No one realizes how hard life can be for young people these days unless they themselves went through a rough patch and felt the same things. It is hard to relate to someone unless you went through the same or similar thing. You cannot truly help someone unless you personally know what they are going through, now helping does not mean fixing. I do not plan to fix anyone seeing as you cannot fix someone else but I intend to provide the support and guidance for those who are going through the same or similar things I went through as a child.

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to grow up and be just like my father. He served in the military for about seven years. He was my role model and still is to this day. He showed me that no matter what people say, you can accomplish anything if you truly want it. Most of my life I was told that the army was too dangerous and that a girl should not participate in such extreme and physically demanding tasks. I have tried to prove them all wrong, but it only seemed to prove them right until I discovered what I wanted to do with my life. I plan to pursue a degree in social work focused on mental health. I want to help those who are struggling to find their happy place. After school I intended to be an officer in the army, so for the first few years of my career I will be helping those who suffer from PTSD, anxiety, depression, and many other issues. I want to make an impact on people and help make a difference. Every day there are people who kill themselves because they feel like they are alone, especially veterans. The goal is to prevent the suicide numbers from growing in both veterans and children. I have grown up around people who suffer from PTSD and depression; none of it is pleasant to witness. I feel a tremendous amount of remorse for these people and my family, who went through unimaginable things. Mental health does not only affect those who are suffering from it but everyone around them as well. By providing a safe space for those who are struggling, it can also give a sense of peace to loved ones. Helping those who suffer from bad mental health is not for the weak. You yourself have to be in a place of peace in order to help, because if you are struggling, then there is no possible way to help those who come to you for guidance. I have no plans to fix people or tell them how to live. My goal is to give people a place to escape and truly express how they feel with no judgment. I know what it feels like to be judged for how you feel, to be told that none of it is valid because I had a good life. I do not want to drag others down; I intend to make sure they know that they are not alone and there are ways to get better; you just have to want it. Life is not an easy pill to swallow; it has its bad days and good days. I intend to dedicate my future to those who need a listening ear, to those who need a place to escape from society, to give them a sense of peace.

The impact of a community service event or project is so much broader than one realizes, it provides many positive aspects to one's community. As a member of National Honor Society, Blooming Grove High school chapter, we participate in many events and services throughout the year, however there is one event we host that really shows what my community is about. For the last three years Blooming Grove High School has put together a breakfast during the Friday before Vietnam Veterans day. This day is spent listening to the veterans stories, whether it be sweet light hearted moments they had, or the awful experiences they went through. This event is a small thing but veterans from our small town to Dallas come and share what life was like back then. Now none of it is easy to share or to hear, but as a community we get together to show these men that we are willing to listen and how grateful we are for their service. This event is meaningful on many levels. For the men it provides them some peace and comfort to know that they made it through and are able to stand up and share their experience. They do it for those they lost, for their families, and as sort of a life lesson for us high school kids. These men's families show up and provide support for them, this year we had one man who unfortunately passed away and his wife had still shown up to share his story and provided momentums and his uniform so that we could all show support for her and gratitude for his service. It is moments like those that help shape our respect and love for our community. After living in my small town for almost 6 years I have grown to realize that we all care for one another as if we are one big family. This Vietnam Veterans breakfast is proof of that. Hearing these men's stories and seeing the look on their faces while having to relive those memories is heartbreaking. We have on multiple occasions had some of these men tell us thank you for just listening. Now while that moment is to show support for them, it also gives you sense of what our community is really about. I sincerely hope that this tradition shows people that all you have to do is take some time and listen to people, because you may never know what they are going through. All they may need is a listening ear and someone to say it is okay. I hope that moments like these help bring my community closer and a more respectful area for any and everyone.

Growing up I did not have much as a child. We moved around a lot with my father being in the military so we always kept what we needed and not much else. I had a decent childhood, I grew up with a family that loved me and cared for me. We went to church as much as possible with us being catholic. I do not know much about my ethnicity background. My great grandmother was Mexican but had died when I was only three years old. I decided to pursue a college education because only my father has gone to school and obtained a degree. I've been told that school is pointless and a waste of money when I should just be working at home or for a small daycare that you only need a highschool diploma to work at. The drive that I have to prove my family wrong and that I can actually make something of myself is enough for me to spend five years at a university to get a degree in social work so I can help people struggling with mental health. I have seen the effects of declining mental health and it is not a heartwarming thing. Hundreds of people struggle with PTSD, depression, anxiety and any other mental health issues you can think of, and there are so few people willing to help those who need it. I intend to be a voice that helps make a difference in the mental health world and show people that they are not alone and can get through these rough times.

As a National Honor Society Member our main focus is to make our community a better place for everyone. I am very fortunate to be a member of such a great organization. The organization has shown me the value of leadership. One of my favorite things my NHS chapter does is go to a local nursing home and just talk to elders and hear all their stories. The look on their faces when they realize we are there for them brings me so much joy it is indescribable. We make them little gift bags so they feel loved. That is honestly my favorite thing about the NHS is how we dedicate our time to help those who have no one and make sure that we are there for them. My dream is to become a social worker and help those struggling with mental health. I want to make a difference in this world whether it be big or small. I intend to help veterans who are struggling during their time for service. I plan to obtain this degree at Texas Tech University.

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to grow up and be just like my father. He served in the military for about seven years. He was my role model and still is to this day. He showed me that no matter what people say, you can accomplish anything if you truly want it. Most of my life I was told that the army was too dangerous and that a girl should not participate in such extreme and physically demanding tasks. I have tried to prove them all wrong, but it only seemed to prove them right until I discovered what I wanted to do with my life. I plan to pursue a degree in social work focused on mental health. I want to help those who are struggling to find their happy place. After school I intended to be an officer in the army, so for the first few years of my career I will be helping those who suffer from PTSD, anxiety, depression, and many other issues. I want to make an impact on people and help make a difference. Every day there are people who kill themselves because they feel like they are alone, especially veterans. The goal is to prevent the suicide numbers from growing in both veterans and children. I have grown up around people who suffer from PTSD and depression; none of it is pleasant to witness. I feel a tremendous amount of remorse for these people and my family, who went through unimaginable things. Mental health does not only affect those who are suffering from it but everyone around them as well. By providing a safe space for those who are struggling, it can also give a sense of peace to loved ones. Helping those who suffer from bad mental health is not for the weak. You yourself have to be in a place of peace in order to help, because if you are struggling, then there is no possible way to help those who come to you for guidance. I have no plans to fix people or tell them how to live. My goal is to give people a place to escape and truly express how they feel with no judgment. I know what it feels like to be judged for how you feel, to be told that none of it is valid because I had a good life. I do not want to drag others down; I intend to make sure they know that they are not alone and there are ways to get better; you just have to want it. Life is not an easy pill to swallow; it has its bad days and good days. I intend to dedicate my future to those who need a listening ear, to those who need a place to escape from society, to give them a sense of peace.

For most people empowerment means a lot of things. Most take it as holding the power to do anything, which I guess you can say is true in many scenarios. Empowerment is more than having power, it is having a sense of self and proving that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to as long as you have the drive. Empowerment is the feeling of determination and success. When one achieves a goal in life, they get this sense of pride and may feel like they just won a Nobel prize. These feelings are then fueled to drive us to achieve more and more. This is empowerment and this feeling has helped me achieve many things in my life. When I first started high school I was terrified of everything. I was petrified that I was going to fail because grades actually matter now, and those are what helped determine whether I got into college or not. As time went on and I grew more comfortable in that chapter of my life, I realized that if I put in the work and time that I could achieve anything I wanted. I started getting all A's in class and I had a lot of friends life was great. Came along sophomore year and life took a major turn, I thought it was the end of the world at this moment. My grades had slipped, I grew distant with everyone around me and I have no drive to do anything. The whole time I thought my future was over I had people whispering in my ear telling me that it will be ok, that all I have to do is try and I'll be right back to where I was. I never believed it, until I had a talk with my father and he told me that if I really wanted things to get better then I had to work for it. I had to prove to myself that it was worth it or nothing ever will be and I will get nowhere. Those words hit me hard. After months of working on myself and school I slowly began to rise back up and get back to where I was. The feeling that came over me was like a wave of relief. I felt normal again and I had to drive back. I had never felt more empowered until then. All it takes is a little faith and determination to get where you are going to go. Achieving great things give you such a sense of pride it can be overwhelming. That is what you want in life, to feel as though you made it and that you are on top of the world. That is what empowerment is, not that you can control who works where, who gets paid what. It is not about control it is the ability to achieve what you want with just a little drive and a lot of hard work. You have those things and you can achieve anything you set your mind to.

As a child I always dreamed of being a family lawyer. I wanted to help children who had been put in unsafe situations with family members and had no way to escape. As I grew up I started to see all the issues people experienced due to mental health and really saw how hard things are for most people. My dream is no longer to be a lawyer due to the fact that I would be too biased and could not see myself helping the enemy. I now aspire to be a mental health social worker, and help those struggling on the inside and cannot properly express their feelings due to being scared or feel like they have no one to go to. My goal is still to help children who are struggling and cannot escape but to take a different approach an focus on helping them learn to cope with these tough situations and give them the resources they need to push them to become the best version of themselves they can be. LIfe is so unfair and causes people to really struggle. Most do not see what goes on in others lives because everyone hides it out of fear or shame. I want to show people that it is okay to be scared and ashamed but that is not all life is. There is still good in the world they just have to find it and I want to be that guide that helps them see those things. Children do not know how to properly express themselves emotionally and the fact that they cannot do so can grow frustrating, which then leads to anger and retaliation. I plan to help guide these kids to their happy places, and peace and show them that it is okay to feel the way you do. No one realizes how hard life can be for young people these days unless they themselves went through a rough patch and felt the same things. It is hard to relate to someone unless you went through the same or similar thing. You cannot truly help someone unless you personally know what they are going through, now helping does not mean fixing. I do not plan to fix anyone seeing as you cannot fix someone else but I intend to provide the support and guidance for those who are going through the same or similar things I went through as a child.

My plan for my career is to help those struggling with mental health. I want to provide a safe place for people who are struggling and cannot express their emotions or do not know how to control them. There are people everyday who think the world hates them or they are useless and there is only way out. I am going to help prove to them that none of that is true. I see everyday people who are struggling but put on a fake face so no one knows how they truly feel because they feel like outsiders. It breaks my heart to see that all the time. I want help but a stop to that and show those people they are not alone. My father goes to work everyday and helps people with the exact same thing. He is The reason I want to become a social worker because he helped me see that it is not a burden to help those in need, but it is all about giving someone an ear that will listen and not judge them because of how they feel. I plan to help provide a safe space for those who feel lost and give them a chance to truly express themselves no matter what that may be. Social work is not an easy career especially working in the mental health side for things. I want to help people who feel like there is none to listen to, my goal is not to fix them but to give them someone to confide in and help give them the tools they need to grow. I plan on being a social worker in the army which is a whole new level of stress and anxiety. It is on average that 22 veterans kill themselves everyday because of the things they experienced while serving. It is a need of mine to help those men and women cope with their emotions and help them see that it is not the end of the world and that they can get through this no matter what it takes. I grew up with a military family and those people can hide their troubles very well, but I want to help be voice that tells someone who went through they same things as my family members that they are not alone and it is ok to express your sections no matter how hard and painful it might be but in the end it can be the one thing that can save them. That is my plan for my degree, to help show people that the world can be a lonely and dark place but there is still a light at the end of the tunnel you just have to want it in order to make it. And my job is to help make them want to make it out of that tunnel.

Volunteer work is a selfless act people do in order to create a better community for those around them. Simple but impactful ways you can help someone in your community is by cleaning up the trash on the side of the road, doing fundraisers to help fund school programs or help raise money for improvements on organizations. As a National Honor Society Member I do many volunteer work through my school and outside. During the winter break of 2024 I volunteered at the local Corsicana animal shelter. They had been only two ladies working there but I had spent around 5 hours cleaning dogs and cat kennels just to help give those ladies a break. That experience made me realize how hard most people work without anyone noticing. I truly felt for those women and animals because it takes a lot for work to care for that many animals and on such short staff. More people need to help with situations like that because things like that can become overwhelming for most people. Helping with those animals helped me see that not everything is what it seems and it draws me to want to help make things so much better for those people. Volunteer work is not for those who only do it so they can get a pat on the back and a good job, volunteering is something you do for the sake of others not yourself. I will never forget the look on that ladies face when she saw me and my mother at that front door ready to get to work. The last at the shelter told me and my mother that they don't get a lot of volunteers these days and most of them are just high school kids looking for community service for school and they need a paper signed to get their hours, they never to it just because. Those words honestly made me feel so selfish and heart broken because all year that's what I had been doing. But that one time I'd did it because I wanted to help and it made me feel good. We need more people who are willing to step up and do things like that's for others. People can do some many things to help their community, you can simply help some old lady to her car while carrying her groceries, or help overworked parents by babysitting their kids. It doesn't have to be huge impactful things for it to help. It can simply be a here let me carry that for you or helping clean up some trash on the highway.

The Lion King is the one movie that has had the greatest impact on my life. This movie has such a deep meaning to it, one that I did not understand until I got older. The Lion King is about a young child who lost their father and was blamed for it. He was cast away by his uncle and told to never return. No child should go through that. As a child I never felt like I belonged anywhere so this movie really touched my heart even at a young age. I felt like so many people can relate to this cinema. It expresses that there are horrible people in this world who will push you aside and blame you for their mistakes. You end up feeling alone and hopeless. This movie showed me that no matter what you went through or what people think of you, you are good and you can fix what was once broken. Simba's character is probably one of the most relatable characters I have ever seen. Now I have not had a parent die but I shut out a very important person in my life who made me feel like I was not loved and cast aside. It was only a few years later that I realized it is not about what the person did to you that will affect you. It is all about how you react to the situation and how you grow from it. This is exactly what Simba had done after he met Timon and Pumba. he had realized his worth and after having a heart to heart with someone he truly loved did he realize that he was never the problem, and what happened to him was not his fault. He took action and fixed what was broken. I relate to this movie on many levels. I spent a long time thinking I was the problem, until I realized it was never me, and that I was worth so much more than people made me feel. I over came my demons and fixed what was once broken. That is why this movie has impacted me so much. It is so much more than a children's movie, it has a deeper meaning to it that everyone can learn from and I will proudly say that this movie helped me realize that no matter what life throws at me, I can handle it because I am so much stronger than what I thought. And that everything is going to be okay as long as you have no worries.