It’s no surprise that with billboard charting songs like “Please Please Please” and “Espresso” I’ve become a fan of Sabrina Carpenter, but it’s not just her music that’s retained my attention to her career, it’s her deviation from precedent, her embracing of human nature, and her dedication to making great music. Like many of her fans, my first introduction to Sabrina Carpenter was on the Disney Channel original spin-off sitcom, “Girl Meets World”. Being a huge fan of its predecessor, “Boy Meets World,” I jumped headfirst into this new show and was pleasantly surprised by all of it, but particularly by Carpenter’s interpretation of the character Maya Hart. Carpenter’s character Maya was the gender-swapped modern-day version of the predecessor show’s Shawn Hunter, and her portrayal of the character did not disappoint. Carpenter’s edgy yet lighthearted performance made Maya a favorite character of mine and had me keeping note of her career after the show's conclusion. During and following “Girl Meets World,” Carpenter garnered a few more acting credits, but eventually she focused her efforts on what would catapult her into immense social relevance: the music industry. Carpenter already had a bit of a musical career on the side while acting, but when she began prioritizing her music, it was only up from there. Her lyricism, performances, and overall artistic ability are undeniable, and I, for one, am a huge fan of her pop chart dominance so far. Carpenter’s music, and by association her career, is unique to me because it requires a fine-toothed comb to see it for what it is. On the surface, her scantily clad performances and innuendo adlibs at the ends of her songs might make her seem like another artist using sex to sell records, but when you look closer and listen to her music in depth, you realize that she's putting huge pieces of herself into her songs. From the opening track on her fifth studio album “emails i can’t send” discussing her feelings about her father’s infidelity to her experience being villainized for her relationship with a fellow celebrity on the track “because i liked a boy”, Carpenter’s vulnerability on her songs is refreshing and appreciated by true music lovers. Watching her go from Disney to different world stages has been incredibly inspirational and gives fans like me hope that we can achieve our goals while being our truest selves as well.

For most, Charli XCX’s sixth studio album is famed for sold-out tour dates, wildly successful merchandising, and an unprecedented amount of online trends, but for me, the album is representative of Charli XCX’s growth as an artist and her fluidity and range with genre-bending and artistic expression. “brat” took the summer of 2024 by storm and became a talking point across almost all corners of the internet. While some fans adored Charli XCX’s dip into the ironically obnoxious house music genre, newcomers like myself found something deeper within the music; a real human touch can be found in several of the tracks, including “Hello goodbye”. As is the nature of most of the tracks on the project, “Hello goodbye” is led by its all-consuming club music instrumental with very few diverse lyrics backing it, but that balance gives the song an astoundingly human rawness that’s undeniable when you listen. The simple thread woven in the song is anxiety in a public environment that leads the narrator to leave the situation before they’re able to engage with a half-smiling mystery individual. I believe that the simplicity of the lyrics lends the song to more real emotions, as oftentimes quantifying your feelings only goes as far as saying, “I felt too scared”. The honesty and vulnerability displayed in this track are enticing, and when contrasted with the upbeat instrumental and vibrant neon aesthetic of the whole album, the essence of “the world is burning, let's have fun” is clear. This is the best track on the project for me because it perfectly balances the vibe of the album with the stark reality of the human experience.

From the page, to the stage, to the big screen, Wicked has had a monumental footprint on pop culture and the musical community, but it isn’t its worldwide success and marketability that appeals to fans like me, it’s the messaging behind the beloved story that keeps us coming back. The original book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” set the foundation for what this beloved series would become and the loyalty to the source material in the new film is what makes the movie so fantastic in my opinion. Wicked: Part I isn’t afraid to play into the stereotypical elements of the characters; Galinda is an airheaded blonde equipped with an obsession with the color pink, Fiyero is a carefree pretty boy set on dancing his life away, Elphaba is a hardened realist with a dream to make the world kinder despite its mistreatment of her, and the list goes on. What this movie does though, is while acknowledging these elements, it also takes time to subvert them and create dimensional compelling characters that audience members like myself can find themselves having a vested interest in. The secret reality of Fiyero being a empathetic and caring man with a desire to do good, Galinda realizing that her friendship means more than her status, and Elphaba realizing that the dream she held onto for so long was a smokeshow and resolving herself to manifesting a better reality by her own hands all makes these characters ones that you want to see the full story of. I adore Wicked’s music, fancifulness, and overall themes, but what draws me in the most is seeing characters grow like real people and change based on their surroundings and as a result change the narrative as I’m experiencing it.

Olivia Rodrigo’s ability to convey the epitome of what American adolescence often feels like in the simple lyrics, “Push away all the people who know me the best; but it’s me who’s been making the bed,” is honestly astounding. In her sophomore album, “GUTS,” acclaimed ex-Disney actress turned pop genre sensation Olivia Rodrigo waves goodbye to her adolescent stage while welcoming adulthood and all the ways that her experiences will color it. With tracks like “bad idea right?” and “love is embarrassing” unabashedly admitting to engaging in toxic activities out of boredom and acknowledging the cringe-worthy nature of being in love at such a young age respectively, this body of work is one for the ages and perfectly encapsulates what it feels like to be a teenager; a messy amalgamation of feelings, experiences, and choices that you can eventually look back on and wonder how you survived. My favorite song from this project is “Making the bed”, in which Rodrigo sings about engaging in reckless activities and having to face the consequences of her actions while having to come to the harsh realization that the misfortune that befalls her is completely of her design. The lyrics “Push away all the people who know me the best; but it’s me who’s been making the bed” resonate the deepest with me because my adolescence is almost entirely comprised of the toxic coping mechanism of pushing people away to protect myself from what I interpret to be the inevitable destruction of the relationship, only to discover that the isolation is much worse than the possibility that I could make a mistake in my relationships. Listening to this song helped me to realize not only that I’m not alone in my ways of thinking, but that there are better ways to live life and that self-sabotaging behaviors aren’t unavoidable; they just require accountability and self-reflection to rise above. Rodrigo's vulnerability and relatability with her experiences as a teenager are incredibly well-received with young audiences as she fosters a community of folks on the threshold of adulthood and makes space for people to admit to doing wrong and having toxic tendencies while also holding space for fixing the behaviors in question. This entire album isn’t just a love letter to her teenage years; it's a callout to those joining her in adulthood to be honest and forgiving with themselves, and I believe that that’s a beautiful thing to do with music.

The sixteen words I chose for my Connections puzzle were: soy, almond, tofu, corn, sugar, vanilla, flour, eggs, wheat, rice, potatoes, oats, bread, milk, butter, and cheese. For the yellow category, I chose the theme of "Allergy Alternatives" to mean things that are usually used to substitute for common allergens. This category includes soy, almond, tofu, and corn, which almost all can fit into different categories, but fit the best in this one and provide what I believe to be the clearest connection. For the green category, I chose the theme of "Cake Ingredients" and included sugar, vanilla, flour, and eggs. This is the category I'm probably most proud of, as each element of the list can reasonably fit into at least two other categories, and this list of ingredients is rather common amongst most baked goods so while someone can guess it's a list of ingredients there's still an element of surprise for what food it's meant to represent. For the blue category, I chose the theme of "Farm Yields" to mean fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural or animal products. This category included wheat, rice, potatoes, and oats. I consider this assortment to be considerably tricky because the previous two groupings created a rather deceptive foundation for several different recipes that the words could be part of. This category, however, is special because these are all starch products as well as farm yields and are generally meant to be more satiating foods, which could also be a distraction for the puzzle groupings. For the final category, the purple category, I chose the theme of "Common Grocery List Items" and included bread, milk, butter, and cheese. This is by far my most creative category because every single item in this list can combine with almost every other item in the lists before to make some kind of connection. I was particularly inspired by the Sesame Street animation "I Remember," in which a little girl is tasked by her mother to go to the store and purchase the very specific items of a stick of butter, a loaf of bread, and a container of milk. Adding cheese to this nostalgic list just solidifies the theming and adds a layer towards the rest of the connections that can serve as deterrents for the rest of the puzzle. Overall, I think my puzzle is incredibly well-designed with several layers that can provide a lot of cognitive challenges for anyone trying to solve the puzzle.

Within the first few minutes, she had decimated her opponent, won the match, and secured a higher spot on the leaderboard for herself and Team USA while generating league of fans across the country including myself; the 76 kilogram powerhouse Kennedy Blades was nothing short of incredible during the 2024 paris olympics and I’ve loved watching her journey to the top. In my senior year of high school my school established one of the biggest girls wrestling teams in my state and being a part of that creation and getting to support some of my closest friends as they made history for both the state and themselves was a whirlwind experience, and it’s one that Kennedy Blades is quite familiar with as the first woman to win the IKWF Illinois state title in 2016. Like many women’s sports, wrestling doesn’t get nearly enough attention or support considering how amazing of a sport it is and how fantastic of a culture is developed around it, but athletes like Kennedy Blades are working hard to change that. Her ironclad determination, grit, and spirit are just some of the things that make her such a superstar athlete and my personal favorite on Team USA. Her trailblazing career astounds me and as a Black wrestler I love seeing athletes who look like me not only take the mat on such large scales but dominate on it as well. Her list of accolades is long and getting longer with each competition and I love seeing the hunger she brings to the sport of wrestling. She’s definitely inspired me to continue wrestling into my college career because seeing someone as impassioned about the sport as her just makes me want to work and continue to fill my life with love for the sport. Kennedy Blades is a stellar athlete and I can’t wait to see just how much she’s able to disrupt the wrestling world.

In my life, I’ve learned that leadership isn’t the glitz, glamor, and recognition. Leadership is selflessness, and it’s the small, monotonous, unnoticed efforts that I’ve loved doing for as long as I can remember. Since I was a kid I’ve always been a leader, whether it was taking charge of a group project to ensure it all went smoothly or energizing my team before a big competition, I’ve always found myself slotting neatly into the position of leader, but as of late I’ve come to a realization and it’s been bothering me. This realization is about the nature of leadership and selflessness and how some folks don’t understand that the two go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. I’ve come to realize that a lot of people see leadership as a title; they think being the head of something, or the captain or president, means having power over others and getting the final say in the big, earth-shattering decisions, but that’s just not the truth. The truth is that being a leader means committing yourself to the service of your community and dedicating yourself to living a selfless lifestyle, and I know this because it’s how I’ve operated in my leadership roles and how I guarantee that myself and people like me continue to be put in those positions. The brightest examples for me of my dedication to selflessness almost all come from my time in high school. Like everyone, my high school experience was a whirlwind of people I’ll never remember and experiences I’ll never forget, but the one common thread that I carried with me the whole four years was putting others before myself. In high school, I helped people with their classwork as a volunteer tutor anytime someone asked, and sometimes even when they didn’t. I stayed after to help teachers clean classrooms, gave advice to my peers when they were going through rough patches in their lives, and spent hours and hours on different planning committees helping to execute events for student both from my school and around the state, and I did this all without looking for recognition because that’s just the way that I’m wired. When I graduated top of my class and made my valedictorian speech, I didn’t talk about all the hard work I’d put in to get there; I talked about the hard work and effort I’d seen from my peers in the past four years that led us all across that stage that day. I didn’t talk about how I’d drive my friends all around the state, free of charge, before they had cars because it meant that they wouldn’t miss out on opportunities that would benefit their futures, or how I’d spent time with teachers learning how to be the best support system for underclassmen and how to properly help students with their academics in ways that would benefit them in the long run. I never unpromptedly talk about these little things because they never cross my mind; I’m doing them so subconsciously because it’s what I was born to do: help others rise to the occasion of their greatness. To me, selflessness isn’t a trait, it’s a lifestyle, and it’s one that I live every day because I don’t know any other way to live that would do this much good and make me feel as accomplished and satisfied as I do. I live to help others, and I wake up every day grateful that I get another twenty-four hours to keep doing so.

Growing up as a young black boy obsessed with computers, I thought I was weird for having such a “white” interest. My older brothers and sisters all did activities that were much more in line with what young Black kids were interested in at the time: playing different sports, listening to new music, and hanging out in public with their friends, but I was the odd one out in more ways than just being the youngest. I had a fascination with computers from the moment I saw my dad using his in his office, and that burning fire of passion has only gotten stronger and brighter since then. Initially, I was interested in the hardware of computers. I was already intrigued by how the everyday objects I interacted with worked, and computers were no exception. I wanted to get under the hood and find out exactly what parts did what and how they all came together to make the computer work. It wasn’t until I started to program computers when I was around eight in my after-school club that I realized where my interests truly lay. The hardware behind computers was fun, but the software was a blank canvas for a young, curious child like me. There was so much to do and so much I could create and the possibilities still boggle my mind to this day, but I’ve always had a desire to explore as much as I can about them and create as much as my mind would allow me, which is what led me to pursuing a degree in computer science, more specifically in game design and development because it’s the perfect combination of my creativity and my intelligence. This passion of mine that I’ve been pursuing hasn’t just been all forward motion, though. Being a Black kid interested in computers wasn’t exactly the easiest thing for me growing up. While all my siblings were out playing sports and hanging with friends, I was at home, tinkering with different programs in my bedroom. It caused a sense of ostracization from me and my siblings, and eventually me and my peers, as my interest didn’t seem to align with the things I was expected to have an interest in. This hurt, as it made me feel like I should give up on my passion in favor of the things others had decided I was meant for, but I didn’t want to give up something that made me so happy and brought me such fulfillment. I decided that instead of feeling like an outsider in the community of STEM and computer programming that I’d create the community for young Black boys and girls that have an interest in the language of the future, and show them that there’s nothing wrong or out of the ordinary about being curious and creative and wanting to push boundaries. Along with pursuing a degree in game design and development, I will also be studying to become a computer science teacher so that I can show young Black kids that being interested in STEM subjects isn’t something that’s just for a certain demographic, but it’s something that anyone with the intrigue and drive to do it is meant for, I want to be the representation and the vindication that I never saw growing up and I’m so glad that studying a STEM field is allowing me to do so.

When I was younger, I never thought I could be brave and confident and face my fears, but books helped me realize that I could be just like the heroes and adventurers I read about. Growing up, I wasn’t the most social kid. I kept quiet most of the time and allowed myself to fade into the background noise of the environments I was in. I was a shadow when everyone else was a burning ball of light energy. I didn’t think I could have all the attention and spotlight that I saw my peers getting, so I resigned myself to a lifetime of obscurity. Things were better for the unnoticed, anyway. At the time, one of the few people who noticed me, despite all my best efforts to go unnoticed, was my school librarian. So, with her encouragement, I decided to fill some of my alone time with books, and lots of them. I began reading some of the most fantastical tales of monsters and aliens and the incredible heroes that defeated them all; I quickly fell in love with these fantasy lands, but my heart was heavy, no matter how much I wanted to, I thought I could never be like the characters I read about. It wasn’t until I got to high school and began reading more young adult fiction and non-fiction that I realized just how wrong I was. One of the turning point books for me was “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson. It was an incredible read, and it opened my eyes to a reality I had only dreamed of before. The author told their life story, complete with trials, accomplishments, losses, and growth, while all the while being their truest selves. I was hooked, and luckily enough, I got the opportunity to meet the author at an event a non-profit held in my city. Having read the stories was one thing, but getting to meet the person that had gone through so much adversity in their life and come out on the other side was an otherworldly experience. Meeting the author of such a moving book taught me that there wasn’t as much of a line between me and the people and characters I read about, they were often just as young as me, just as scared and doubtful, but everytime they managed to be brave and forge their happy endings, so why couldn’t I. After meeting George M. Johnson, I resolved to begin writing a new story for myself, one where I was the lead instead of a background vocal. I began being more open and outgoing, and eventually, I started making a name for myself around my community. Volunteering, public speaking, social advocacy, and athletic ventures all became a part of my story because I started believing that I could exude greatness like the main characters I’d seen. All the work I began to do paid off, and at the end of May 2025, I was valedictorian from my high school and got to give a speech in front of the whole graduating class. In that moment, I realized just how much of my story I could take charge of, how much of the narrative I was capable of determining, and most importantly, how wrong that shy little boy was. I’m not a background noise, I’m the title character in the story of my life, I just needed to see that people like me are worthy enough to be on the cover.

I didn’t start to love the person I saw in the mirror until I started exercising, but it wasn’t because I looked different; it was because I started valuing the body that had gone through so much for me. Growing up, I always knew I was different; my mind and my body didn’t align, and it led to the intense feelings of bodily dissonance that transgender individuals are all too familiar with. Baggy clothes, hunched posture, and an aversion to anything that meant moving my body in a way that would remind me of how much envy I felt towards my male peers made up a large portion of my early teen years, but for the longest time I thought it was a state of mind that I could will myself out of. Everything came to a head when I tried out for women's lacrosse in my sophomore year. I thought that if I just immersed myself in the sport and the team that I’d be able to ignore the feelings and be happy with what I had, but the season I spent with the team just reinforced the fact that I wasn’t like the girls that I played with, and that made me feel more lost than ever. After my first and only season, I fell into a deep depression and let my academic and social standing slip as I let my fears and insecurities spiral out of control. It wasn’t until I spoke with a mental health counselor and was able to put names like dysphoria and anxiety to the thoughts I was having that I began to take my life back. I started by coming out to my close friends and eventually my school, and when my true identity was warmly received by my community, I decided I’d try being a student athlete again, but this time in a way that aligned with my identity. I played for the boys lacrosse team my junior year, and it felt like slotting a puzzle piece into place. I didn’t care much for the actual sport, but being able to be active, while being recognized as the man that I was, made up for it, and I stuck it out the whole season while managing to keep my grades up. After that, I was approaching my final year of high school, and I wanted to truly test the limits of my mind and body while honoring my identity, so I tried out for volleyball in the spring and made the team. This experience really taught me the value of a supportive community, because the time I spent with my team made me feel the most at peace I had in my life. Aside from the respect my team and my coaches gave me, being able to test the limits of my body made me more confident as well, and after graduating as valedictorian from high school, I picked up strength training. As of right now, I’ve never been happier with my mind and body. Every day I push myself in the gym, I can feel my dysphoria lessen and my appreciation for my body grow. I’m not perfect and have days where my workout is lacking or my academics fall behind, but prioritizing the wellness of the body I use to do everything makes academic and athletic success that much more attainable. I get so much joy from appreciating the body that I’ve created, and every day I look forward to growing a bit more, both physically and mentally.

Despite the summer sun consistently exhausting me, going on a five-mile walk every day has made my life infinitely better. At the beginning of this year, I had one of the scariest experiences of my life. My gym buddy and I were finishing up our leg day exercises and were moving on to our affectionately named "jungle gym time", which is our name for whatever calisthenics skills we wanted to work on. As usual, my shorter stature and lighter frame meant that a good portion of the time was spent conjuring up nearly impossible skills for me to perform, while the rest of the time was spent by me, surprisingly, executing the aforementioned skill, albeit with horrendous form. Unfortunately, though, on our last skill of the session, I'd overestimated my stamina and underestimated the dryness of my hands and fell some seven feet from the top of the highest pullup bar in the gym, almost shattering my wrist in two. The next roughly seven hours were a blur from the ambulance ride, to the emergency room, to the frigid campus I stumbled across to get to my dorm room, forearm and wrist fully encased in a splint. Despite the damage done in the accident, I didn't feel much pain the whole night, mostly discomfort. What I didn’t realize was that the pain I was slated to experience wouldn’t be physical; it’d be mental. Seeing as my major is entirely based on my ability to use a computer, a skill that, for most folks, including myself, requires two hands, the next few months were a struggle. Assignments and other obligations started piling up, and worst of all, I had to stop going to the gym on my doctor's orders so as not to risk further damage to my wrist. Times were tough, and my mental health had taken a huge hit. The gym was one of my only sources of stability since moving six hours away from home to a new city with zero connections. After a while, I trudged out of that dark headspace and realized that the strength that I gained in the gym wasn't just physical, it was mental as well. I began going on walks around my campus, just to get out of my room, and instantly noticed a change. Suddenly, my life had structure again, and everything around me started to fall back into balance. I kept up the walks even after spring finals had ended, and I found myself back in my childhood home. I spent time mapping out the perfect route around my neighborhood, perfectly scheduling the walks around my working hours, and monitoring my progress day by day. Going on these walks was initially a source of comfort for me during a scary time, but now it’s given me a sense of balance in my life and helped me stay motivated enough to continue chasing my dreams; with the confidence and clarity I’ve gained, I can focus on my hobbies and responsibilities again, and will come back to campus better than ever and take advantage of all the good that I have going for me. It might not have been intentional, but these walks have made me see just how much of myself I’m able to put into the things I love, and I couldn’t be more proud of myself for making it out of such a dark place with patience and dedication as my only tools.

My definition of what a superhero is doesn't come from comic books. No web-slinger’s great power coming with great responsibility shapes my idea of what a superhero is, and neither does any man of steel’s fight for truth, justice, and the American way. My definition of superheroism isn’t based on characters or actors; it’s based on the many men and women that I see saving the world every day; my definition of superheroism comes from teachers. Their resilience in the face of adversity, composure during the most trying of times, and optimism even when nothing is going to plan have shown me that they are stronger than any cartoon character I've ever seen. Teachers and their dedication to the noble cause of educating inspire me greatly because, as a student, I understand how difficult being an educator can feel nowadays. It can be said that today’s students just don’t have the same thirst for knowledge that they once did, and one can only imagine how a reality like that must feel for teachers, seeing how they’ve devoted their lives to spreading their wisdom to as many people as they can. I believe that anyone who’s not just willing to but feels the need to commit themselves to such a daunting task has something akin to a superpower deep inside them; a passion like that isn’t something you can fake or create; it’s something that you are born with, and the bravery needed to answer that call is unmatched. As a result of all the inspiring teachers and professors I’ve had in my life, I have discovered that I, too, have this superpower, and I’m excited to rise to the challenge and become an educator when I finish my degree. Helping others and generally being of service is something that has always felt right to me, so pursuing a career in education just feels like the natural next step for me in my journey. Using my computer science degree, I hope to give kids the same passion for combining coding and creativity that I’ve had since my youth. I’ve always seen computer programming as a kind of blank canvas just waiting to be made into something great, and all my past teachers are the reason that I’ve had the confidence and the resources to be able to begin my process. Providing kids with positive support and the space to explore is a tenet of teaching, and I can’t wait to start practicing it on a scale as large as being a full-time educator. I love the idea of being able to have such a big impact on the lives of so many young people, and I can’t wait to become a superhero myself in the future.

My definition of what a superhero is doesn't come from comic books. No web-slinger’s great power coming with great responsibility shapes my idea of what a superhero is, and neither does any man of steel’s fight for truth, justice, and the American way. My definition of superheroism isn’t based on characters or actors; it’s based on the many men and women that I see saving the world every day; my definition of superheroism comes from teachers. Their resilience in the face of adversity, composure during the most trying of times, and optimism even when nothing is going to plan have shown me that they are stronger than any cartoon character I've ever seen. Teachers and their dedication to the noble cause of educating inspire me greatly because, as a student, I understand how difficult being an educator can feel nowadays. It can be said that today’s students just don’t have the same thirst for knowledge that they once did, and one can only imagine how a reality like that must feel for teachers, seeing how they’ve devoted their lives to spreading their wisdom to as many people as they can. I believe that anyone who’s not just willing to but feels the need to commit themselves to such a daunting task has something akin to a superpower deep inside them; a passion like that isn’t something you can fake or create; it’s something that you are born with, and the bravery needed to answer that call is unmatched. As a result of all the inspiring teachers and professors I’ve had in my life, I have discovered that I, too, have this superpower, and I’m excited to rise to the challenge and become an educator when I finish my degree. Helping others and generally being of service is something that has always felt right to me, so pursuing a career in education just feels like the natural next step for me in my journey. Using my computer science degree, I hope to give kids the same passion for combining coding and creativity that I’ve had since my youth. I’ve always seen computer programming as a kind of blank canvas just waiting to be made into something great, and all my past teachers are the reason that I’ve had the confidence and the resources to be able to begin my process. Providing kids with positive support and the space to explore is a tenet of teaching, and I can’t wait to start practicing it on a scale as large as being a full-time educator. I love the idea of being able to have such a big impact on the lives of so many young people, and I can’t wait to become a superhero myself in the future.

Figuring out that I was transgender wasn’t a surprise for me, because I’ve been pushing boundaries all my life, including those of the gender binary. Coming from an immigrant household, discussions about queer identities were few and far between, and when they did come up they weren’t to the tune of love and acceptance. Despite this, I knew who I was from a very young age and that there wasn’t anything in the world that could stop me from being who I was, fully and unapologetically. I grew up experimenting with gender expression through clothes and the activities I chose in school, and when I finally felt comfortable, I began exploring the realm of names and pronouns. At the time, I was lucky enough to have a fantastic support system of friends and teachers around me, and when the time came and I came out to my parents, they were rather accepting. They don’t always understand all that comes with being transgender or what being the parent of a transgender person means, but they do their best, and seeing that they’re trying is one of the most validating things for me. I’ve been more than fortunate when it comes to my experience as a trans person, I’ve rarely faced transphobia and I’ve been able to be myself it 99% of the rooms I’ve walked into so when it comes to the way that I approach different experiences and people, I’m able to do it with my head held high and the confidence of both the LGBTQ community and my found community behind me. I’m lucky enough that being trans hasn’t majorly affected the way that I move throughout the world and being conscious of that I’ve done my best to be an example for other trans and gender-non conforming people my age, to show them that it’s not only possible for them to live authentic and happy lives, but it's what they deserve. Being trans to me means defying odds and representing resilience everywhere I go, especially when it comes to environments where trans representation is lacking, like STEM fields. Ever since I played my first video game back in elementary school, I’ve been hooked, and all that growing older has given me is a passion for not only playing incredible games but making them as well. The career field that I’ve found myself striving towards is video game design and development because I have this burning desire to create and innovate while also being able to entertain the masses, and becoming a game developer is one of the best avenues to do that. Even having the chance to create a small game would be a dream come true, so I’m doing everything in my power to chase that dream and make it a reality. Even though it’s a huge dream of mine to create a super successful game I also want to be able to give back to the future generations and my community by becoming a computer science educator and giving kids who were like me when I was young the support and resources to be able to reach their greatest potential. While I know that my aspirations are high I also know that I have the determination and the drive to be able to make them a reality and I won’t stop until I’ve made the little version of me who initially fell in love with video games proud of who I’ve become and what I’ve managed to accomplish. Besides the younger version of myself who first fell in love with video games, my nieces and nephews are some of my biggest inspirations for the goals that I’m working towards. I’ve been an uncle for almost my entire life, and seeing my siblings’ kids interact with technology makes me want to create for them. I want them to have access to the best and safest material, and one of the best ways to ensure that is to create it myself. I want to make a wide variety of games in the future, but one genre that I want to dabble in is education because I know how much of an impact technology is already having on the youth of today and I want to be a part of the good that they can consume as opposed to the bad. I want to create games that are fun for kids while also teaching them valuable things and all around giving them more chances to develop and be successful as they grow older. I know that I’ve got a lot of hard-to-achieve dreams, but that’s why I plan to work as hard as possible in college so I can make those dreams a reality and give back to my community and the world in a way that’s felt for generations to come. I want to make my mark in the best possible way, and I feel so incredibly lucky that I’ve found a medium that works for me and will allow me to do that.

Being the child of a Liberian and a Guyanese immigrant, something that was instilled in me from a very young age was the importance of family. Never in my upbringing was there a time when family didn’t take precedence over all other things, and that motif is one that I find myself growing increasingly grateful for as I grow older. I was often told, “Your family is the first community you will ever be a part of, and as such, you should take great care of it.” Giving back to my first community was the first step to finding my place in the world and making something of the life I was given. I’ve made efforts to show up for my family by being present and active in everything; providing support to those in need is often a gesture quite small in effort but quite great in result. Tending to children, supporting dreams and aspirations, providing a shoulder to lean on, and a penny for thoughts are all ways that I have shown up for my family and have watched the effects of which flourish. But I haven’t neglected the communities that I’ve joined throughout my life either. In elementary school, I joined an after-school program dedicated to helping students volunteer around their neighborhoods through food drives, highway cleanups, and charity donation collections. Once I got the feel for community outreach, my world was opened up to all the possibilities, and I’ve been exploring them ever since. In middle school, I joined a similar school organization and helped put together some events while volunteering my time to others. Following that, in high school, once I had a car of my own, I made it a point to help out around both my school and my state during any free time I had. Helping teachers and community organizers strategize before events, run stations during those events, and clean up after an event well run became a staple part of my high school experience and helped shape the idea of how I’d keep the ball rolling for the rest of my academic career. Now, a rising sophomore in college, I’ve found and participated in several different local volunteer opportunities during my studies, including the daffodil project and habitat for humanity, but beyond that I’ve also taken the time to come back to my home state and give back where I can, at both non-profits and my academic institutions. Going forward, I plan to keep watering the seed of humanitarianism by continuing to volunteer with different organizations at my school and within my school itself through the executive boards of clubs and associations. My parents gave me the gift of caring for my fellow man, and I intend to use it wisely as it gives my life great meaning and shows others just how kind you can really be.

When I think of kindness, I don’t think of the Webster's Dictionary definition of the word; I think of the woman who wakes up every day and chooses to make the world a little brighter. When I think of kindness, I think of my mom. For most of my life, my parents were married and lived together under the same roof, alongside a rotating door of adult brothers and sisters that would always find their way back home after living on their own for a while. I didn’t want a lot as a child because my family felt so complete, and my life felt so satisfied. It wasn’t until middle school when my parents separated and my father moved out of the house and eventually out of the state that I realized just how much work was going into me feeling that way. I was well into my pre-teen years when my parents separated, so on top of puberty, I was also dealing with big feelings about suddenly being from a single-parent household. Most of my memories of those early days are hazy, but one thing I remember crystal clear is not wanting to miss out on things I’d still have if my parents were together. It wasn’t until I’d settled into the new way of life that I realized how unfounded my fears were. Following the separation, my parents decided it would be in my best interest to live full-time with my mom and do overnight visits with my dad. This system worked well up until my dad moved to Florida, but his move gave me the chance to see who my mother was and realize just how great of a person she is. Seeing my mother be a single mom and a full-time nurse gave me a newfound deep-seated appreciation for her and a desire to make something of all the sacrifices she made for me. Seeing how hard my mother has worked for the years following the separation has shown me that I want to be as selfless and generous as she is. She’s constantly lending a helping hand to those in need, on top of being so kind and friendly to the many different patients she cares for around the state. Her dedication to making others feel good has influenced me to want to do the same through the medium of education. I want to have an impact on the youth of today, the same way my mom has an impact on everyone she interacts with. I plan to pursue this goal in school by doing community outreach, volunteering, and tutoring while I’m getting my education and using that same education once I graduate to become a computer science teacher in my home state of Delaware. I think my mother’s passion for making the world a little brighter is the best trait she passed down to me, and I can’t wait to pass it on to my future students.

“It is now my pleasure to introduce and call to the podium, class of 2024 valedictorian, Nasir Williams.” These were the words I heard before I stood amongst over two hundred and eighty of my peers and over three thousand friends and family to deliver my section of my high school commencement speech. Graduating top of my class from my school was something that felt so incredibly surreal in the moment; sitting on the stage as students strided past, hard earned diplomas in hand, addressing a crowd of thousands with the records of achievements that the graduating class had accomplished, and facing all my friends and family as I got to transfer my tassel from the right side to the left side, symbolizing my greatest achievement to date; graduating from a school full of memories and experiences, prepared to take on the whirlwind of challenges life would have in store for me. Graduation was a bittersweet day because it made me realize all the work I had put in to get that far. The late nights I stayed up working with study groups to cram as much as possible before finals, the neverending meetings I’d had with teachers to diligently track my progress and make sure I was on the best path to success, and the hours of work put into four years of different sports constantly pushing to be the best version of myself that I could be. Reaching graduation taught me that I am many things all wrapped into one; it taught me that I am a mosaic of all the people I’ve known, all the things I’ve done, and all the experiences I’ve had. But most importantly, graduating taught me that I am more than my circumstances and that with hard work and dedication, I am capable of incredible things. Being over a year from my high school graduation, I can see that my hopes and my dreams are a lot different than what they were that fateful day when I sat up on that stage. The things I thought were most important then almost feel like whispers in the rearview mirror of my future now, and I’m constantly seeing how life forces you to inspect and reassess the things that you hold most important. For my future, I hope to keep exceeding expectations, like I’ve done so far. Being the first in my family of immigrants to graduate as valedictorian and go to the college of my dreams is just the start. I want to continue my education and graduate college with honors just as high as when I graduated high school, I want to join the ranks of the strongest group of men and women in the world, teachers, and pass this passion on to the youth of the world, but most of all, I hope to keep living a life that every version of me would be proud of. I hope that I never dim my light for anyone, never shrink myself to fit society's standards, and never forget who I am, where I come from, and how far I’ve gotten.

When I was a little kid, I was constantly taking things apart around the house. From remotes to door knobs to dresser drawers, if I could get my little hands on it I’d find a way to take it apart. This naughty habit led my parents to believe that I was some kind of destructive devil child. Still, the reality was that I was just so fascinated by the way that things worked, and the best way for me to learn about different mechanisms and mechanics was by spending time with them. Thankfully, once I reached elementary school, I put my “Bob the Breaker” days behind me in favor of a new fascination. I stopped being as interested in the things that I could take apart for answers and became more interested in the things that I had to search through for answers, like computers. I became fully enveloped in learning how computers worked and how random assortments of ones and zeros could come together to let me play games, or search the internet, or watch movies and TV shows. It wasn’t until I snuck into my dad's office around middle school to fiddle with the Command Prompt on his computer that my parents realized that there was a seed of curiosity in me begging to be watered, so they did. My parents signed me up for an after-school coding program, and the rest was history. I loved learning about different languages and creating little programs that ranged from personal websites in HTML to full-on arcade games in Java. Since getting into classes for programming, I’ve realized that a proper education is the best way for me to hone my craft enough to the point where I can live out my dream of becoming a video game developer and create games for people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy. My unique experience with computer programming and my desire to turn my passion into something that I can share with the world make me a more than worthwhile candidate for this scholarship. Some of the greatest leaders and innovators of our time only got to the places they did because they had the chance to go to college, get their education, and make connections that would lead to them becoming the fantastic trendsetters and influencers they are. I do believe that my drive for computer programming and game design will fantastically change the world, and the best way for me to fulfill that destiny is for me to spend as much time as possible in encouraging environments like college.

I’m usually not one to believe in things like fate or destiny, but when it comes to me being a leader, I can’t help but think that I was made to do it. For high school, I went to a vocational school, which meant that on top of learning Science, English, Social Studies, and Math, they gave us hands-on training in fields of our choosing, which was the perfect plan for me since having prior experience and training would give me a leg up in both the professional and collegiate worlds. But not everyone taking those classes had the experience I did. One of the ways my school supported the computer science path in our training was by integrating college courses into our curriculum, earning us college credits while we worked towards our diplomas. However, not everyone adjusted to the college-level workload and difficulty as I did. I noticed that not all of my classmates were doing as well as I was, so I decided that I’d help them the best way I knew how, explaining the subject in ways that high school students would understand. Since our curriculum was based on a college level course, there were a lot of complex topics and the textbooks didn’t go as in depth as they should have, so I’d do a bit of extra research in my downtime and come back to school to explain to my peers what the daunting material meant and they started to understand their assignments. I worked with my classmates like this for three out of my four years in high school, and at times it extended past the programming course into other subjects, and I was excited to be helping the people around me in such a meaningful way. I worked with both individuals and groups, in and out of school, and while challenges like increased workload in other classes, particularly complex subjects, and time mismanagement threatened to slow me down, I rose to the occasion every time and helped my peers stay on top of their assignments. My time as a pseudo-tutor made me a much better organizer, and since planning is the backbone of that kind of work. Offhandedly explaining a topic worked in the beginning, but as more and more people became reliant on me, the need for me to become more organized increased tenfold, and like the true leader I am, I exceeded that need. I created plans based on the lessons we’d have in class, schedules that worked best for everyone, and study guides that explained the concepts even further for the students who needed it. The best part was that the effort I put in wasn’t going unnoticed either. My teachers all saw how much of a help I’d been to my fellow students, and on top of being recognized in front of the school for my efforts, I got to see all my classmates graduate, knowing I had such a big part in their success. Since then, my passion for helping others hasn’t slowed down one bit and I’ve continued working with my peers to help them better understand coursework in college as well, but my real goal is to become a computer science teacher so I can finally put all this skill to use in the best way possible. I want to make a lasting impact by educating the youth of tomorrow and helping lead them to the success stories they’re destined to have.

Throughout my entire educational career, I’ve only had two Black male teachers; one in middle school and one in high school. This never really bothered me because at the time I was more than content with the teachers I’d had and it never really occurred to me that there could be aspects of my life and my education that they just wouldn’t be able to connect with me on. It didn’t bother me that I’d only been taught by two Black men until I got to college. I knew that the school I’d chosen to enroll in was a predominantly white institution, and that that included the demographics of the staff, but it didn’t really occur to me just how much I’d been missing until I met my Resident Coordinator, Andres. One of Andres’s jobs is to manage and support two of the dorm buildings on campus, and one of those buildings just happened to be the one that I was living in. After finally meeting him during a floor event my Resident Advisor hosted, I decided to take him up on an offer he made me and schedule some time to sit and chat with him in his office. This ended up being one of the best decisions I made all semester; we ended up talking for hours about everything and nothing and when I left his office I felt a lot better about both myself and my path for college. Forming a mentor-mentee relationship with Andres made me realize that I had missed something for the last twelve years of my education; real connection with my teacher. While Andres isn’t technically one of my professors, the support that he provides me and other young queer Black men on our campus is incredibly powerful and inspirational. The work that men like Andres do is so important because it provides an immensely underserved community with a vision of what their future can be and the tools they need to reach it. The world as a whole, but especially America, has a nasty habit of denigrating and degrading young queer Black men through pipeline systems that kill us, incarcerate us, and convince us we’ll never be enough, but strong mentor figures like Andres are putting in the effort and doing the work to undo all that trauma and release the anguish that our community experiences. I’ve always wanted to use my charisma and my creativity to help people, especially the people in my community and having role models like Andres in my life has helped me to see a pathway to satiating the hunger I have for giving back to my people. Because of the strong influences the few Black male educators I’ve had have had on me I’ve been imbued with a desire to become a computer science teacher once I finish my education. I know first hand how important it is to see people who look like you in important roles and positions, and the thought of giving another young Black boy hope that he can be someone great someday really inspires me to continue to fight for him and others like him by following this path and pursuing this dream of mine. Continuing the cycle of helping break the metaphorical curses and chains placed on my community is the least I can do as a product of the work of those who’ve come before me.

There is an incredible stigma around mental health in Caribbean culture, and it’s even worse for Caribbean men. While this stigma isn’t one of malicious intent, it still causes so much harm to the community, and to young struggling boys like myself. Growing up I was a very reserved kid. Nothing in particular made me that way, I just got more enjoyment alone than I did with others, but I wasn’t a solitary child by any means. I always had loads of friends and something new to show my brothers and sisters everyday, the problem was that the world around me wasn’t designed for me. There was a timer on my friendships that stopped at the end of the school day and began again at the first bell, and my siblings were always too busy with their part-time jobs or their highschool sweethearts to indulge their baby brother. So eventually, I stopped sharing parts of myself; I continued the act at school and when people would prompt me, but besides that I kept unique specific parts of myself hidden away where no one could disregard them anymore. For a while this worked, I was keeping up the act at home and at school and everyone was happy, except me. Hiding so much of myself took a toll and eventually I started to see the system I’d cultivated as a prison of my design. It got bad enough that my teachers and eventually my mom noticed and made the arrangements to get me into therapy. Dealing with such complex feelings was more than a kid like myself could handle, so professional help was the first step to recovery. Within my first few sessions my therapist started using very distinct, diagnostic language. Frequent questions like “how did your depression influence that?” and “when does your depression feel the worst” flew right over my head at the time because I never thought of myself as someone with any mental health struggles, despite all the evidence that I’d been living in. When I finally asked why she used language like that, she explained to me that I did in fact have a depressive disorder and it was affecting aspects of my life like: my work, my relationships with others, and my perception of myself. It wasn’t until someone had a real conversation with me about it that I began to see myself and my brain in a different light. Understanding that having depression would color the way I moved through the world was the first step for me in making accommodations for myself and the way my brain worked. I took myself off the impossible pedestal that I’d let build up for so long and found that living day to day was more than ok for someone like me. Learning that perfection isn’t attainable but 100% effort is, alone time doesn’t mean that I hate everyone or that everyone hates me, and that good things are hard for a reason all made days easier. The path of giving myself patience and grace hasn’t been easy, but the tools I’ve gathered from therapy and the support systems I’ve built along the way have made it a path I can manage, and hopefully show others that they can manage it as well through my education in computer programming and my passion for learning.

My definition of what a superhero is doesn't come from comic books. No web-slinger’s great power coming with great responsibility shapes my idea of what a superhero is, and neither does any man of steel’s fight for truth, justice, and the American way. My definition of super heroism isn’t based on characters or actors, it’s based on the many men and women that I see saving the world every day; my definition of super heroism comes from teachers. Their resilience in the face of adversity, composure during the most trying of times, and optimism even when nothing is going to plan has shown me that they are stronger than any cartoon character I've ever seen. Teachers and their dedication to the noble cause of educating inspire me greatly because as a student I understand how difficult being an educator can feel nowadays. It can be said that today’s students just don’t have the same thirst for knowledge that they once did, and one can only imagine how a reality like that must feel for teachers, seeing how they’ve devoted their lives to spreading their wisdom to as many people as they can. I believe that anyone who’s not just willing to but feels the need to commit themselves to such a daunting task has something akin to a superpower deep inside them; a passion like that isn’t something you can fake or create; it’s something that you are born with, and the bravery needed to answer that call is unmatched. As a result of all the inspiring teachers and professors I’ve had in my life I have discovered that I too have this superpower and I’m excited to rise to the challenge and become an educator when I finish my degree. Helping others and generally being of service is something that has always felt right to me, so pursuing a career in education just feels like the natural next step for me in my journey. Using my computer science degree, I hope to give kids the same passion for combining coding and creativity that I’ve had since my youth. I’ve always seen computer programming as a kind of blank canvas just waiting to be made into something great, and all my past teachers are the reason that I’ve had the confidence and the resources to be able to begin my process. Providing kids with positive support and the space to explore is a tenet of teaching and I can’t wait to start practicing it on a scale as large as being a full time educator. I love the idea of being able to have such a big impact in the lives of so many young people, and I can’t wait to become a superhero myself in the future.

In my parents' cultures, the concept of “karma” or something reminiscent of it is very prevalent and many people spend their lives trying to amass as much good karma as possible in the hopes of cashing it in some day. Despite this notion being the one I’ve grown up with, it’s not the one I subscribe to now, I don’t do good unto others in the hopes that they’ll do good unto me, I do good unto others because it makes me feel whole to know that I’ve given back to something or someone. Throughout my life, but most recently in the last three years, I’ve contributed to my community by doing volunteer work throughout the states I’ve called home: Delaware and New York. I’ve worked with organizations like United Way of Delaware, an organization dedicated to providing the youth of delaware with the skills and tools necessary to succeed; The Daffodil Project, an initiative to beautify the grounds of different cemeteries around the Rochester area; and Habitat for Humanity a movement built on the premise of building affordable homes for the Rochester community, with the intention of contributing to the communities I’ve become a part of and leaving behind more than I had for the generations that will come after me. All my work and all my efforts have built me into the person I am, but the genesis of my personhood lies in what aspects of their identities my parents worked to instill in me. Being a second generation African immigrant, I often don’t feel all that connected to my culture. My father followed his father to this country from Liberia when he was sixteen, and in an attempt to give me and my siblings the best chance at a bright future, he’s neglected to properly educate and connect us to the place he calls home. Despite this, I’m still able to feel connected in some way to my culture by way of giving back to the communities that I’m a part of because I know how integral supporting your community and its members is to my father’s culture. Alongside the importance of community, getting a good education was always of the utmost importance in my parents' culture. Coming to America wasn’t just an opportunity for my parents, it was an opportunity for their children as well, and they took great care to make sure we understood that and lived our lives in a way that aligned with that message. Going to college here isn’t just for me, it’s for all the family back in Liberia who won’t get the same opportunity and it’s for my father, to show him that all his hard work and sacrifice is going to pay off. Receiving this scholarship would mean that I get to continue my studies, just like my father would want, and eventually find myself on the path to creating games and software applications that can help other second and onwards generation African immigrants reconnect to their culture and heritage, or build their own cultures like I’ve been able to. Continuing my education isn’t just about getting a diploma or a good job, it’s about returning to my community, both the one I was given and the one that I made, with a promise of a brighter future for those that will come after me.

Ever since I was a kid, I've had an eye for opportunity. Growing up such a gregarious child meant I was always meeting new people and wanting to do new things, and my parents almost always entertained my outgoing, excitable nature. I’d go with them to run errands and strike up conversations with cashiers, stock boys, servers, bank tellers, and anyone else who was interested in engaging with an eight-year-old. I didn’t know it at the time, but every person I met would give me something at the end of our interactions; whether it be well wishes, a generous compliment, or the thing that started me on the path I am now, a deeper understanding of people and the way the world works. Knowing the ins and outs of the human psyche at such a young age made me really good at one thing in particular, marketing. I learned that I was a brand and that the best way to sell a brand is to be appealing, so before I even made it to grade school I knew some of the best ways to adapt to each new “client”, and entering the education system just gave me a new playground to further refine my craft. All throughout my academic career, I've sought out different events and experiences that would put me in front of the right people at the right time, in the interest of showing just how much potential there was in me. I attended a technical school for grades nine through twelve because I knew that gaining programming skills alongside my regular education would give me and my brand a competitive edge in the sea of my peers because of how instrumental knowledge is in the pursuit of greatness, and pursuing greatness is exactly the reason I choose and am attending the higher education institution that I am. School means more to me than just learning from a textbook or a curriculum, it’s an opportunity to see how I address and adapt to adversity; like when I broke my wrist at the beginning of my spring semester. It was a terrible accident that almost led to me dropping out, but I had people to support me, professors to accommodate me, and the knowledge that success isn’t linear; it’s a winding path with obstacles you must overcome to reach greatness. Looking to the future, I want to create a business that develops games and software applications that help people connect with the world in ways they otherwise wouldn’t be able to, like exposing them to cultures across the globe or teaching them about the way the places in their own backyard operate. I want my impact to be one that spans the globe and brings people together in ways they’d never think of. I want to create a legacy of growth and development that’s revered for years to come because I know I have the potential to be one of the greats.

Growing up, the one person I didn't want to be like was my mother. I always saw her as annoying, interrupting day trips to talk to people she recognized and ceaselessly pestering our neighbors and other community members about their personal lives. I thought she was incredibly rude, and going out with her was more often than not my least favorite way to spend an afternoon. I just didn’t understand why she couldn’t be quieter and reserved, why she couldn’t just give a simple wave and carry on about her day. It never made sense to me until one day her childcare for me had to cancel, and she took me with her on one of her work appointments. Up until that point, I just knew that my mother was a nurse, but I never knew what kind of nurse she was. I eventually learned that her full title was a CNA, or a certified nursing assistant, but her job required much more of her than the assistants I’d seen on television, creating schedules and sending out emails. She worked with disabled people, folks who’d been in accidents and with conditions rendering them wheelchair bound and in need of almost around-the-clock care, and she helped them start and end their days. In the mornings, she’d go all around the state getting her patients out of bed, helping them wash up, and making them nutritious breakfasts, just to hours later do it all over again but in reverse, cleaning up dinners and setting people to bed for the night. The day that I saw her in action doing the job she loved was the day my perception of my mother changed forever. In that moment, she wasn’t talking her patients' ears off about menial things; she was being charismatic and giving them a reason to smile when there otherwise might not have been one. She wasn’t pestering them about their personal lives; she was, in her unique way, making people feel cared for and listened to while keeping track of their health and keeping them on the right path to be as healthy as possible. After that day, I realized something about my mom: she was a beacon of light in the lives of everyone who knew her, because that was always her dream. Immigrating from South America, one of thirteen children, my mom sometimes faded into the background, so coming to America was her brand-new start, and she was going to be as bright and bold as she never got to be back home. Seeing her in this light made me realize that being like my mom would be one of the greatest honors of a lifetime, and having just an ounce of the energy she brings into a room would make me one of the best people in the world, second only to her, of course. Seeing my mom for who she really is made me realize that I can touch the lives of others in my unique way as well. I might not be as extroverted and as friendly as my mother but I understand people on a deep level and I have a great passion for computers and game development, so in honor of my mom it is my dream to create games for people that bring out the same light that my mom has always been so good at kindling. It’s my dream to have as much of an impact on the world as my mom has had on the people around her.

My (chosen) name is Nasir Williams and I am a first-generation American pursuing a bachelor's degree in game design and development from the illustrious Rochester Institute of Technology, which, as someone who has only attended underfunded public schools their entire life, is a huge change of pace. This and the fact that it is the farthest I have ever lived from home means that doing well and making something of my studies is an absolute non-negotiable for me. Despite majoring in computers, I have always been a people person, with a huge passion for political advocacy and community outreach. I am constantly looking for ways and opportunities to give back to the communities I consider myself a part of, and communities that just need the support. In light of this I constantly find myself taking up leadership roles as I see an opportunity to help or give back and I jump on it. Which, in turn, leads to me helping lead others in a combined effort to give back. Separate from my love of community service, I have got a passion for game design and development, but I have found a way to combine the two by using the skills and experience I have gained in school and in the workforce. to create games that can respond to a need within the community and seeing the effort be well rewarded by the change the lives of others. Going forward with my education, I plan to learn how the video game industry and development process works so I can create games that are utilized throughout the country (and eventually the world) to teach people about the world around them. Whether it be a game about practical skills like financial literacy or a more worldly game about different cultures and their histories, I want to be able to bring the world to everyone, especially the people who might not experience it well or at all. Creating games like these will have a lasting impact on my community and my industry because they will help generations of people get a leg up on life that they otherwise would not have had, and it will create a cycle of other developers wanting to make similar games, thereby expanding the market to places I might not have initially been able to reach and filling in the gaps, giving people the widest range of options and possibilities.

In all my twelve years of computer programming, never once have I designed or developed something just because I wanted to. Every single time I’ve loaded up an IDE, it’s been to complete a project for school or work. I've never created a program just for myself, which is wild since the reason I got into computer programming and game design in the first place was because I wanted to make the millions of ideas running around in my head daily into realities. Somewhere along the way my priorities changed, and there was always something more pressing to work on rather than entertaining any of those half-baked ideas, but this summer something changed. I found myself with a month of freetime before my software development internship began, and I decided that this would be the time that I honor the desire that led me down this road in the first place; I was going to make a game. Thankfully, I already had two semesters of an education at Rochester Institute of Technology in my game design and development degree program so I’d already gotten a taste for what a proper development cycle should look like. I began by creating a github portfolio and creating a project in my language of choice, the C# framework MonoGame. Despite all the exposure to proper game development cycles I got during my freshman year, I jumped straight into the deep end of this project without a second of consideration towards timeline, architecture, or mechanics. All I knew was that I wanted to make something that would make me happy and appease the eight year old version of me who spend all their time playing around with programs in Scratch. So in the interest of procedurally appealing to an eight year old, I began my process by looking for assets. Once I found some ones that I liked, a foundation began to form in my mind, a foundation on which I’d spend the next month building this game on. I found some character, object, and background sprites and got to work. Building the game out, piece by unorganized piece, moving on to implementing whatever feature I was most interested in at any given moment. First it began with being able to move around and pick up little fruits, then it moved onto adding sound effects for when you walked around or collected a fruit, then it blossomed into adding calming music in the background, and the train just kept going. With each new addition I was invigorated and wanted to implement even more to the game. Eventually I found myself in a place where I was happy with my progress and felt that I could cross “make a game (for yourself)” off my list, but that didn’t mean that I was done with this little venture. Having created my “fruit basket simulator” indie game was just the first step in a much larger journey; a journey to discover why I love programming again. Working on this project reminded me that I love programming because of how inspired I get by the technology behind it. I love how the computer of my brain can work with the computer of my actual computer to create something amazing,I love how my computer is able to understand such complex algorithms and give me exactly the output I hope for, and most importantly, I love that the only thing standing in-between me and something great, is the inspiration to start.

My nieces and nephew have been the biggest influence in my life. I consider them my driving factor for everything that I do. Children are incredibly receptive to the world around them and the environment that they’re in so I make it a priority to be the best role model I can be for them, even when doing small things like holding the door and offering to help with small tasks. I also know that today’s children are being raised in an age of technology and video games and it’s important that while they’re being entertained they’re also gaining valuable information and life skills while they do it. The amount of untapped potential that I can see in them is unbelievable and it’s become a true passion of mine to help them achieve all that they’re capable of, whether it be helping drive them around from place to place when their parents can’t, sitting and working through tough homework problems with them, or creating a whole video game to teach them the importance of financial literacy. I want to do all that I can for those kids because I see so much of myself in them and know how much I would’ve loved having someone invest in me like I am in them. When I think about investing in my nieces and nephews using skills and passions I already have I immediately think of all my creative skills. Drawing, sculpting, sewing, programming, designing, woodwork, the list of ways that I can turn my creative exports for them and other kids around the world feels endless sometimes. I’m currently majoring in video game design and development but I’m taking the opportunity going to an expansive institution like Rochester Institute of Technology has given me to enroll in as many creative and “well-rounded” classes as possible so I can combine all my knowledge and create something amazing with all that I’ve learned. I understand how lucky I am to be able to go to college so I want to use what I learn and give back to people who might not be as fortunate as I am, or people who just want a chance to get a bit ahead of the game. When I graduate, I intend to design and develop indie games that cover a wide range of topics and teach people about the world around them. From computer programming to cultural mythology to political advocacy, I want to be able to take all of my passions, game-ify them, and give them back to the community to be able to enjoy. More specifically, my passion for learning and knowledge puts me apart from the crowd because while the average person wants to learn as much as they can about any one particular subject, I want to immerse myself in as many different topics as possible and pull out the brightest shining parts to be able to present them to folks who might not have thought of how interesting it can be. I want to be able to help others grow, explore the world, and have fun doing it, and I think having such a genuine desire like that is rare in this day and age.