A non-family relationship that impacted me on how I see the world and what I learned from it is that the world isn’t all that good to you in life. The world can be beautiful or destructive. If there is one person that taught me, it would be myself. I grew up learning at an early age that the world can be cruel towards you. I got the one thing in life taking away from me at an early age. That was my mom. I’ll never have that mother’s caring love anymore. From there on I never really talk about it but that’s when I knew that life would be hard without her. I knew that from now on the world wasn’t as such a good place as I thought. Growing up learning that no one is always going to stay in your life. That was probably the hardest lesson to learn because me, I am a caring person. My heart isn’t as cruel as others. I’ve been raised to have a good heart and to be humble, to not take things for yourself. Not to be selfish. Neither greedy. I’ve learned to see the world to be a beautiful and destructive place. It’s like a thunderstorm that roles in creating a fire from its destructive lightning strike towards the dry grass. Yet later the thunder stops, and the rain comes in stopping the fire, creating a much beautifier and greener grass. Making new life. I look at life as that lesson. Life can be cruel to you or good to you. Life is a rollercoaster full of emotions. In my opinion I’ve learned from myself on how I look at the world. Not from somebody else. Like I said I’ve learned that it can be ugly at an early age. Yet I still can find the good in life from my dad. I just hate the fact my life had to be like this but hey that’s life for you. I’m not depressed as it seems, I’m just in a state of mind on where my future will be. How would the world treat me then? Will I be able to accomplish my dreams and goals or will I end up stuck in the same place for the rest of my life.

I am an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe known as the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, located in Todd County South Dakota also considered the second poorest county in The U.S. with a graduation rate of 68%. In spite of coming from poverty, I take pride in my cultural identity. I strive to be academically prepared, an balancing holistic wellness. I'm a senior at Todd County High School and will graduate in May of 2022. Due to academic progress, I'll be graduating early, ahead of my original graduating Class. I plan to further my education and help my community.

Being patient is important in life because not everything is meant to be at a fast pace. Practicing patience is an important value to have and to take care of ourselves in the best way we can so that we don't become stressed.

I hope that one day I make it to the NBA, and that I come home and help my people and my community.

The main thing that I would stand out for is being a good relative to those around me. I try my best everyday to make sure that I take care of all my everyday responsibilities at school and at home. My doing this it helps me to feel like I'm and influence on my class mates and my family. When a person sees a good thing happening or a good things around them, it helps them to feel uplifted and inspired. That's what I hope I'm doing everyday for those around me. So that one day, they too can find a way to make things better for themselves.

Practicing self-care everyday is very important to me because it helps me to have balance in my life. Going to school everyday and preparing my mind for college is extremely important to me and sometimes becomes over whelming, but to be able to exercise everyday and to take good care of my body helps me to have a good routine so that I am able to manage my stress and feel accomplished.

The most important thing that motivates me every day is wanting a better life for myself and my people. I grew up on the second poorest reservation in the United States and I come from two very strong people that raised me. But its my people and where I come from, that's what drives me everyday to want to change our way of life. Our reservation has very little jobs available for the people that live there. But being able to finish high school, go off to college and graduate than come back an help my people with the education that I have gives me the hopes and dreams that one day I will be able to make a difference in someone's life. By showing them a better way to live. Its hard way of life to live on a reservation that suffers from economy, poverty and so much more challenges that the people face every single day. So to be able to have hopes and dreams to come back one day and help my people is a big motivation for me.