The goals that I have for my medical career are to make a better future for those who want to live the lives that they deserve to live, make mental health a priority in people, and to promote research for neurological disorders and diseases. When it comes to neuroscience, the brain is the most complicated organ in the human body so being able to understand such an organ comes with a lot of benefits. You can know what's wrong with someone based upon previous knowledge of how the body works in conjunction with the brain such as the neck, eyes and peripheral nervous system. Mental health in our current life is a big deal to me since a lot of people tend to ignore it and think it's not that big of a deal since you can just leave it there until it gets better. I lost a friend to mental health and I didn't really know how to take it at the time but I knew he wouldn't want me to be sad about his passing so I want to help those so they don't take their own life like my friend did. Life is a very important thing for a lot of us and we should cherish it, life isn't always the best to us but I think that we should be around people and do things that make us happy. My last goal is to help and promote the development of research in the neuroscience field because learning about the brain is very interesting to me. Being able to further that to not only have more knowledge on the brain but to help others so that they can be in the know about what scientists know is a very important factor in health. I want to let people know about how to take care of themselves with the research that I want to do. I believe that is is incredibly important to increase racial diversity in healthcare because of two main reasons: 1. Different backgrounds and knowledge and 2. Provide entry for those who think they cannot get in. Firstly, I strongly believe that increasing anything when in comes to race will other different experiences to those who don't know how other people do things, it offers a different lens of the world. Healthcare is no different, many people can work at different ways, speeds and have great mental fortitude but bottle necking that to a very view selection of people, limits that by a lot. It doesn't allow people who would be a great fit for the medical field to even have a chance to show what they have if the racial diversity was lower in healthcare. Secondly, it discourages those who want to be in the medical field, if they only see white people in a hospital, for example, it might deter a black person from entering. They might feel as if they don't belong or they can't do it so having more people representing in that field is important because it shows that no one if beneath anyone when they want to do something they truly love.

The impact that I want to make is a big one and that no one will be left behind with since I want to save everyone that I possibly can with the future that I want to create with the hope that I have in my heart for the future of humanity. I sincerely believe that everyone should have a chance of a long and fulfilling life full of love and care with people surrounded by others who love them, yet neurological diseases cut that short. I want to work hard for those who cannot work for themselves and to help those who cannot help themselves either since the brain is a complex organ that we still don't understand. I will use the education that I have been using to give back to the community by being a neurosurgeon and helping those with neurological problems since I lose a friend a neurological disease years back. I don't want that to happen to anybody else and I want to know more about the brain since I find neurology very important in understanding how certain people act when it comes to mental health. I am happy to be a part of the a future that wants to continue to help those who need it the most and I will continue to help my community in a way I can with the knowledge that I have as someone who's still learning. My vision is to work as hard as I possibly can to become a doctor and push past my limits to see what I can do for the people around me and those who need my help the most because I like helping people. We can only shape good future by seeing what we can truly do as people and to prop other people up so we can see them do great things. The people that inspire me are characters that are determined in their goals of not only helping those but forging a path for themselves in a way that inspires other people like me to pursue their goals. I am very happy to know characters like Oguri Cap and Shiho Hinomori that constantly push the boundaries of what they're know for and strive to be better people even when the hardest challenges face them. The change that I am determined to create is a change that people will be happy that someone stood up and did before it was too late or someone else wouldn't do. I know what it's like to lose someone to a neurological disease and couldn't do anything about it, it makes me sick thinking about it. That I couldn't do anything to save a friend that I loved and cared about. The phrase "Be the change that you want to see," rings in my head all the time and I want to pursue that change that I always wanted to see.

Video games as a medium are a very interesting way to discuss basically any topic ranging from design, character development, gameplay, advancements in technology, and how they can shake up different formats of player interaction. Yet, theories are a subject matter that I find incredibly interesting to do since not only do they involve you to stretch your mind a little bit but it also shows how creative people can be. I strongly believe that I am similar with a video essay that recently uploaded discussing parts Deltarune that I've seen no one else talk about in terms of the story. I use parts of the game that I think are important to pull up as well as using songs from another game that I think will show up in later parts of the game. Most importantly, I use my love of the scientific method throughout the video to explain why a character that is seemingly gone will appear in one way or another over the course of the game. I highly recommend checking out my video since not only will it be worth your time but it will also show how much of a Mad Genius I really am.

A partner that I had took her own life. I used to date this girl that I loved with all of my heart, there was no one that could replace her and I always told her that all the time. She didn't have the best mental state so I did what I could and stood by her side, day after day, I cared for her and loved with everything I had and she did the same to me. We were practically inseparable from one another, we had out disagreements but at the end of the day, we loved each other and made each other laugh all the time but I knew she wasn't doing the best mentally. She had gotten help from other sources to make her mentality on life better among other things but I stayed out of that since I thought I shouldn't pry into someone's life like that, even if you two are dating. It was any other day, I don't recall what I was doing before I heard the news that she had passed away, I couldn't believe it at first since everything seemed so fine. I locked myself in my room for weeks on end, I barely ate, slept or did anything and I was in a state of something, even now, I couldn't describe the feeling of what it was like when I was locked up. I didn't want to do the things I loved or go anywhere, I just wanted to stay in my room and not do anything, my friends at the time tried to take me out but I couldn't do anything. Looking back on it now, I'm sure it must've felt awkward but I didn't know what else to do, trapped in my own mind and wondering what I could've done, it ate away at my psyche for who knows how long. After a very long recovery, I tried to look at paths that could help me understand the human mind more, so I could get a better idea of why it happened and that's when I took an interest in neuroscience but more specifically, mental health, why it happens and what it can do to people. That's when I realized what I wanted to do in life, to make sure something like this doesn't happen to anyone, especially to those who have people who love and care for them. She wouldn't want me to wallow in my room for the rest of my life so I decided to move on from what happened but keep the love of her in me and become a helper to those who cannot help themselves. I feel like I can make a difference in suicide prevention by trying to target many different aspects of many different people to see what they can do to manage themselves better and be there for them. It's easy to say, "Life has so much to offer," but when thinking like life doesn't matter, it doesn't come off the way you want it to but learning what life has to offer and finding something to truly live for is something that can help anyone. Sometimes, I do wonder what she thinks about how I'm doing and seeing me try to help others for something that I want to really do in the future but she'd probably laugh like I know she would.

My experience with my mental health has't been good and it has shaped who I am but I am healing in the best ways I can ever since I was young. When I was growing up, I was bullied a lot, but I didn't think much of it since I was a kid and didn't care about that kind of stuff. When I grew older and went into middle school, the bullying continued, but I still didn't care since I had friends to back me up, sometimes they did. After middle school, I was left behind by them, I expected this, but one of my closest friends found new people and started to dislike me. Which ended up making us fall out, and that made me spiral into a deep depression that lasted an entire summer into high school, I wasn't the same person after that since I thought everyone hated me. Rejection became something that I feared for the rest of my life even now, I didn't feel like a real human since I lacked that social aspect of myself that other people seemed to get so easily. Throughout high school, I had repeated thoughts of suicide, which didn't help since I was still being bullied, I almost went through with it multiple times in my life but never did end up doing it. As a kid, I've always wanted to help others, and I didn't care if I didn't know them, but I'd do it anyway. I always loved helping others, it made me feel good to do good in my life, and I'm happy I'm like that. Without it, I wouldn't be here writing this essay for this scholarship, I'm incredibly thankful that I like helping others, and it made me rethink suicide. I had the thought that if I ended my life, no one would be there to help someone in need when they need it the most. So I continued to live on, without telling anyone this life story, and I've continued to help other people, no matter what. Although I struggle with social anxiety, that doesn't stop me from helping even with a disorder that contradicts what I strive to do in life. I've even helped other people from committing suicide since I know where they're coming from and show them that there's a way out. I've met wonderful people who have interesting stories to tell from my willingness to help in Louisiana. I love the life that I live now, even after what I've been through, it's been hard with my depression, but I'm with cool people now, and I want to be a psychiatrist with what I've learned from my experiences with mental health. I'm happy to spend my time writing this scholarship, to get my voice out there, and show that there are people in the world who care.

My experience with mental health has shaped my beliefs, relationships, and career aspirations by giving me new insight into not only myself but the things that I do to other people and how I'm able to see them. When I was growing up, I was bullied a lot, but I didn't think much of it since I was a kid and didn't care about that kind of stuff. When I grew older and went into middle school, the bullying continued, but I still didn't care since I had friends to back me up, sometimes they did. After middle school, I was left behind by them, I expected this, but one of my closest friends found new people and started to dislike me. Which ended up making us fall out, and that made me spiral into a deep depression that lasted an entire summer into high school, I wasn't the same person after that since I thought everyone hated me. Rejection became something that I feared for the rest of my life even now, I didn't feel like a real human since I lacked that social aspect of myself that other people seemed to get so easily. Throughout high school, I had repeated thoughts of suicide, which didn't help since I was still being bullied, I almost went through with it multiple times in my life but never did end up doing it. As a kid, I've always wanted to help others, and I didn't care if I didn't know them, but I'd do it anyway. I always loved helping others, it made me feel good to do good in my life, and I'm happy I'm like that. Without it, I wouldn't be here writing this essay for this scholarship, I'm incredibly thankful that I like helping others, and it made me rethink suicide. I had the thought that if I ended my life, no one would be there to help someone in need when they need it the most. So I continued to live on, without telling anyone this life story, and I've continued to help other people, no matter what. Although I struggle with social anxiety, that doesn't stop me from helping even with a disorder that contradicts what I strive to do in life. I've even helped other people from committing suicide since I know where they're coming from and show them that there's a way out. I've met wonderful people who have interesting stories to tell from my willingness to help in Louisiana. I love the life that I live now, even after what I've been through, it's been hard with my depression, but I'm with cool people now, and I want to be a psychiatrist with what I've learned from my experiences with mental health. It's helped my beliefs by giving me a purpose to help other people, my relationships have improved drastically from when I was younger, and I know what I want to do in my life to help other people. I'm happy to spend my time writing this scholarship, to get my voice out there, and show that there are people in the world who care.

My experience with mental health has shaped my goals, relationships, and the world by giving me new insight into not only myself but the things that I do to other people and how I'm able to see them. When I was growing up, I was bullied a lot, but I didn't think much of it since I was a kid and didn't care about that kind of stuff. When I grew older and went into middle school, the bullying continued, but I still didn't care since I had friends to back me up, sometimes they did. After middle school, I was left behind by them, I expected this, but one of my closest friends found new people and started to dislike me. Which ended up making us fall out, and that made me spiral into a deep depression that lasted an entire summer into high school, I wasn't the same person after that since I thought everyone hated me. Rejection became something that I feared for the rest of my life even now, I didn't feel like a real human since I lacked that social aspect of myself that other people seemed to get so easily. Throughout high school, I had repeated thoughts of suicide, which didn't help since I was still being bullied, I almost went through with it multiple times in my life but never did end up doing it. As a kid, I've always wanted to help others, and I didn't care if I didn't know them, but I'd do it anyway. I always loved helping others, it made me feel good to do good in my life, and I'm happy I'm like that. Without it, I wouldn't be here writing this essay for this scholarship, I'm incredibly thankful that I like helping others, and it made me rethink suicide. I had the thought that if I ended my life, no one would be there to help someone in need when they need it the most. So I continued to live on, without telling anyone this life story, and I've continued to help other people, no matter what. Although I struggle with social anxiety, that doesn't stop me from helping even with a disorder that contradicts what I strive to do in life. I've even helped other people from committing suicide since I know where they're coming from and show them that there's a way out. I've met wonderful people who have interesting stories to tell from my willingness to help in Louisiana. I love the life that I live now, even after what I've been through, it's been hard with my depression, but I'm with cool people now, and I want to be a psychiatrist with what I've learned from my experiences with mental health. It's helped my goals by giving me a purpose to help other people, my relationships have improved drastically from when I was younger, and I've learned to look at the world through a new lens. I'm happy to spend my time writing this scholarship, to get my voice out there, and show that there are people in the world who care.

I once had a friend that had many mental health issues that plagued her life, she was more widely known as the weird girl at my school who didn't hang out with anybody and I felt bad for her. I wanted to talk to and help her for the longest time because I always thought that people shouldn't go through that kind of stuff by themselves, it didn't help that I wasn't very good at talking to people but I felt like I should talk to her with the little courage I had at a younger age. One day, I did talk to her, although it was short, I felt like I made progress and I didn't care if she was weird or anything like that, it just mattered who she was as a person and how she wants to better herself. The next day, I talked to her more and I learned more about her as the days went by and she told me that she wanted to commit suicide and she thought her life didn't matter because she always felt like a ghost in her own life. I didn't know what to say or do since I wasn't very good at expressing my emotions for things like this but I helped her as best I could at the time, I'm glad I was there for her when nobody else was. This experience massively shaped who I was because I'm glad I was able to help someone who was in need and needed any help that she could've gotten and ever since, I've been trying to help close friends and family with anything they're going through or things they can tell me about themselves. I think I can make a difference in suicide prevention but telling others that there are those who need help and don't be afraid to speak up like I once was back then and I'm not a licensed therapist yet but I do my best with what I know and let them know that I'll be there if they ever need help with anything they're going through. However, I know that I won't be able to save everyone I come across. There are some that are unable to acknowledged change in their life and I can't do anything about that so I'm glad I was able to recognize that as I grew older, if I attempt to save everyone then I end up giving attention to those who aren't willing to listen rather than those who actually need it and it is a thing I am going to have to deal with but that's going to be okay. It may be hard but then I remember, I once had a friend.

What I have learned from books is that no matter who you are, what things you've gone through, how many things hold you back or things that you think aren't good in your life, you can go on to create amazing things in life. Books have the ability to show the deepest parts of ourselves without us evening knowing them, they can drive us to things that we would never know that we would be capable of in the parts of our minds that tend to be creative. Writers can show a wide range of the human psyche that most wouldn't be able to experience in their lives, through the supernatural, psychological, interstellar, and the persistence of the human spirit. There are many pieces of literature that are iconic and have inspired possibly thousands of writers such as Dante's Inferno, Animal Farm, The Lord of the Rings, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harry Potter and many more. These pieces of literature stand as testament to the power of storytelling to transcend ordinary experiences, offering new ways to understand ourselves and the world around us. They provide insights into various facets of existence, encouraging us to confront challenges, embrace our creativity, and pursue our own unique paths. These pieces of literature have inspired me to create my own stories about perseverance, persistence, becoming a new person, and the concept of choice and what you do with what you're given in life. Many books that I've read have given me the opportunity to write about my own experiences that I have dealt with when I was younger, older and what I will become with what I want rather than what other people want me to do. The choice to do what i want with my life and how I want to better it for other people and make the world a better place overall. I have done things in my past that I'm not proud of but growing older, I realized that it doesn't matter, as long as I work to become a better person than I was back then, I consider that a good thing. I have reflected that in my stories that some people might have been struggling with, saying that you don't have to be stuck in the past and you can move on from them. Each story represents a part of my life that, although I have left behind, I still look back on to see how much I've grown over the years, from aspirer to giving up, to gaining hope once again and finally, to writer and future therapist.

My name is Samuel Bolds and I'll try to make the part about me as short as possible to get to what I'm really passionate about when it comes to helping to people and the world. I would consider myself different from some people because of how I've been treated in my early life and being alone for most of it. Being alone allows you think more about who you are as a person and it has given me the opportunity to change for the better, for others around me and for my future ahead of me. It isn't a good to be alone and I learned that the hard way when I found it hard to communicate with people when I grew older, so I didn't. That led me to a spiral that saw me being seen as the quiet kid around school but once I knew people I was very talkative because I never got to talk about anything with anyone. It allowed me to express myself in ways that were alien to me at that age and it felt nice but when I couldn't express myself in words, I expressed them through other means. Writing, music and games are the ways that I put myself in situations where I can express myself when talking is a weaker form of what I want to say. All of these are now very passionate hobbies of mine but one that doesn't allow to express myself emotionally but physically is neuroscience and how interesting it is to me. I've been into neuroscience for years now and I've never stopped loving it for how cool that one of our most important organs has so much going on that scientists still don't know much about it to this day. I am very passionate about expressing my love for neuroscience, I also have a love for helping those in need so I decided to combine the two and become a psychiatrist to help those with mental health issues. I have notice an increase of mental health problems rising in our upcoming generation and I want to reach a hand out to those from someone who has been through the same times that they have to give a sense of safety when it comes to who they're talking to. I've seen people become uncomfortable when talking to their psychiatrist when they're really there to help them for what they want to share. That sense of safety will come with me trying to connect with them since the years that we come from shouldn't be far apart since most mental health problems come form young teenagers who are growing up. Making a positive impact on my community and the people I know has been a part of me since I was young and want to keep it as I am growing up to make not only myself happy but those around me happy as well.

My thoughts about the Ode to Millennials-Gen Z are that we handle tasks differently when compared to older generations, we face them head-on rather than do things the "old way." We can recognize the things we have to face with our current generation and have a reason to act instead of accepting things the way they are, that's why we have a "rendezvous with destiny," and we know when to act, even if it is for others. The way we act has a direct correlation with our ability to communicate with technology among other things, we can express ourselves better and put out messages better for those to hear. These problems can be something like the economy that is going to fail and telling others about it with our new ways of communication and knowing when to step up. We accept that we have to take on a burden brought on by older generations with confidence and know we have a country to clean up in the wake of a broken community by making it accessible to people who once could not be a part of it. We accept that there is a problem that we have to solve even if it is a lot to handle on our own, we can tell the government to change something about our living situations and make them better for everyone. Even if they won't help us, we can make our own changes because we are a big part of the community and can make a difference for those who don't have a voice, we'll be their voice for the years to come if we try hard enough for them to be heard. Older generations want us to look back for advice but times have changed and old ways won't work so we'll do it in our way by doing things that allow us to reach out to others when the old ways wouldn't work. Things may seem bad when the current state of our country isn't ideal but we can still make a change, be confident in what we believe in strive for a better future for every one of us and become the "Greatest Generation 2.0," that the people want us to be. We have to take up a role that wants to make us suffer but it doesn't have to be that way if we try some ideas could help such as education being more prominent and open to those who don't have an education so that we can get more people to know how we can change our country for the better. Having diverse people in more fields can make them more open and accepting of more people and those people can do amazing things for the community such as improving communication, helping those in need, and improving the economy among other things that'll help those in this generation and future generations

I've had many experiences with mental health in my life that have influenced the way I think about how I treat other people and most of those experiences were within myself. When I was younger, I always put on a smile when I was around others to make them happy and I thought that would make me happy. However, as time went on, I realized that people seemed to have fun whenever I wasn't around and it had a profound impact on how I hung around people in my future. I was once a happier person but I became someone who barely talked to other people when I entered high school, it didn't help that I was beginning to become distant from those I cared about. Adults often say that your high school years are the happiest years of your life but I couldn't disagree more because most of my high school time up until this point, it has been about self-discovery. Self-discovery is very good but is horrible when you're doing it by yourself, it made me feel depressed that I felt like no one would be there for me and I wanted to give up until I met someone who was going through something worse than I was. I wanted to help them even though I wasn't at my best either, when I reached out to them to help, they were surprised that someone even talked to them and it made me feel good to reach out to someone who was suffering. I felt better and they helped me discover who I truly wanted to be in my future, a psychiatrist, to help those who aren't feeling at their best. Over time I felt better that I knew who I truly was and how it felt to help someone, I cared about myself even more from that day forward and improved how I treated myself and other people. I never knew what people were going through but it didn't bother me to make people smile, it may seem like nothing has changed but I know when to stay in my lane and to talk to them whenever they need it. Even though we don't talk much, I send my friend from middle school a video now and then to remind him that I'm still here and I care about him. Having my own positive mental health experience reminded me of what I want to do in my life, to help those that aren't okay and I won't give up on what I believe that I want to do.

I'm someone who has dealt with a lot of issues growing up but there was a massive one that stuck out. Initially, I loved meeting new people, talking to them and learning about who they are as people. I always went outside whenever I could to either meet new people or talk to people that I knew to play with them. I was very happy with who I was back then and didn't care what anyone thought about me because I liked who I was, even though I was looked at differently because of how I looked. As I grew older some things changed about me that I wish I could change somehow, I became more distant from those I cared about and didn't talk to them often. It was because I thought I was aggravating the people I hung around. This caused me to not talk to people unless they talked to me first and after I finished talking to them, I wondered about the conversation and what I could've said to get them to like me more. The older I got, the worse it became since I'm not the type to talk to anyone and can barely hold a conversation at times with people I meet for the first time. All these feelings have spiraled throughout my life to the point where I sometimes feel like I'm walking on eggshells around new people and some people I wouldn't consider close to me. I take the little things for a normal person and amplify them to make them a bigger deal than they should be, such as someone going quiet around me, I take that as them not being interested in the things I have to say and I think at best they don't like me and at worst they hate being around me. All this was too much for a younger me so I just did what I did best and thought to myself I realized that if people don't like me for me then I shouldn't be around them and started talking to those people less and giving them less attention. At first, it hurt me becasue I don't like ignoring people but as time went on, it felt nice to not feed the things that starved me. I talked to people who cared about me for me and not what I had or what I gave them, they listened to me and I listened to them, it was then I realized that people do care for me and what I want to do. They didn't make the things they thought of me their whole personality around me and put on a facade, they were real around me and I felt comfortable. Since I know people care for me, it has given me a newfound appreciation for what I want to be in my future and given me the energy to continue doing what I love doing. In the end, I didn't care what people thought of me since I am happy with who I am now.

Mental health is important for me as a student because it allows us to get work done in the best way we can with the mindset that we are comfortable with. Most people praise how we are young, have a whole life ahead of us, and how we are supposed to be happy since we are young but the people who say that are looking through rose-tinted glasses because they aren't us. Due to this way of adults' thinking, many teenagers' mental health gets overlooked and left behind because we are constantly thought of as happy people in our younger years. People don't realize how mental health plays an important role in a young person's life, it makes them more open, and trusting and makes them feel overall happy. As a student, hearing words of affirmation can be an amazing thing to hear because it lets them know that they're a person with feelings and deserve those feelings of happiness but many people don't realize other people go through things in their own lives and make fun of them for it. Unfortunately, I see this type of thing all the time, I get it if it's with friends but random people do it to each other. They often come out more hurt than learning something and getting to know someone so that's why I decided to treat everyone I know with any type of respect that I can show. No matter how small the gesture may be, it can matter so much in someone's life to be nice and caring to them even if they did you wrong in the past on an emotional level. Being nice to someone in any way I can has become a habit of mine that I have carried with me ever since I was 10 and I continue to do so. I've seen my friends go through things that have made them mad, sad, and even quiet when they're usually the loudest when no one else is around to help them, I reassure them that we're all here for them when they feel better. There are times when I want to stop being so nice to people because some have wronged me in the past but I keep moving forward because I might save someone when they need someone like me the most. I love to make people feel better and I'm glad to hear that people have become the best people they can be and it goes to people that I don't even know sometimes. A simple greeting, random invitation, or just a simple talk can go a long way to getting to know someone that you otherwise wouldn't know.

I love math because of all the places it can take us in life such as learning math to get into things such as Engineering, Physics, Astronomy, and subjects in technology, and giving us the ability to quickly think even under pressure. I have a connection to math since I want to get into fields that study astronomy and planetary studies so having math by my side is a huge help, I have studied AP Calculus, Pre-Calculus, Algebra I, II, III and IV, and Geometry. Other classes that involve math that I have taken are Intro to Business, Intro to Entrepreneurship and Computer Applications while getting into business myself. I like learning about math a lot and am currently studying other math fields either over the summer or doing dual enrollment classes at my school to know as much as I can to not only study in Astronomy but more math fields. I always wanted to learn more about math ever since I was a kid because my parents told me all the places that it could take me when I'm older and now I want to use what I've learned to go further in life and help the ones who helped me. Math isn't only important to me but to those whose job it is to know it and help me if I have any questions, I wouldn't be where I am today without math. People often say we won't use math in our everyday lives but I have to disagree with what I've seen.

Being the new kid has impacted me in a way that I think has forever changed me as a person and I don't think I'll ever be the same way when I was younger. I was the new kid in middle school and high school, I was incredibly nervous to go somewhere new after being treated differently for how I looked at my old school. I expected to be treated the same way but I was treated with open arms by the new school and almost everyone wanted to get to know me, I was a prime target because I didn't talk much but over time I began talking more and more to new people. I made a lot of new friends which contrasted my 1 or 2 friends at my old school and talked to anyone I could, unlike people being rude to me when I did nothing. It was nice being the new kid after not having a place where I could feel safe after 4 years. It allowed me to be more open to people about the things that I liked and people invited me to things and I invited them to places we could hang out. I could express myself around them but over time I had a feeling that they didn't want to hang around me as much, although I was at the school for a while and became a known person, I still felt out of the circle, like I was there but didn't belong there. I still talked and laughed with the people that I could but it slowly faded away and I began talking to fewer people, around 7th grade, I wasn't alone and had some people to talk to but not as much. It hurt me and by the time I realized that it was time to move on the high school, I had become a lot quieter than I was years ago. When I started high school, I was a lot more nervous than I was in middle school, I began talking to people but not as much, it was then that I realized that I have to start trying now because I can't mess up my future that I've worked so hard for. So, I became a lot more quiet but I still made friends that were a lot more outgoing than I was I had a strong desire to make myself better than I ever did when the people around me didn't want to and didn't care. Over time I found what I liked to do, Neurology and Astronomy, so I devoted my time to that when I was alone because stuff like that makes me happy I realized that having friends and people to talk to isn't a bad thing because they can also make me happy like middle school once did, it was a different experience. To this day, I still talk to people that I started high school with and my ambition hasn't faded at all. Some of my friends have helped me reach where I want to go by giving me advice and I'm glad they are there for me

My utopian vision for optimal mental health for my community is to let people of color get more into the therapy field so that the rates of BIPOC mental health cases can lower in the future. What I've seen is that BIPOC, especially the black community have seen less mental health care than anyone else because of the stigma that comes with feeling depressed or less motivated in their lives. Some of these may come from mental blocks, traumatic events or not being able to talk to anyone but I want people to change that by just talking to people now and then about things that bother you on a personal level. Throughout my life, I have felt like there was almost no one to talk to about how I felt because I was always told that I had nothing to be worried about my lack of motivation came from having a lot of things when it was having no one to talk to about how I felt about anything that I liked or was going through. When my feelings were blown off just having things made me not talk to anyone about how I felt and made me bottle up my emotions. I don't want anyone else to feel like how I felt, just being told to suck it up and deal with it, that's not how deal with intense emotions. Listening to what your friend has to say, no matter how small, shows that you care about them. It allows them to talk about anything with you and you can serve as a safe place to go if they ever have any troubles in their life. Sadly, some people take certain feelings like they're a joke and I don't like it when I see it because no matter how happy that person seems, everyone goes through things that you or anyone else may never see. Allowing people of color to talk to their fellow brothers and sisters creates a better connection when it comes to therapy and getting the help they need. Getting a real talk to talk with a person who understands how you feel not only on a physical level but on a background level with how they are raised can help those who are suffering to get a better connection. That's why I want to treat everyone I meet with some amount of respect and care so they know that I'll take them seriously if anything happens and talk with them if they need any help, I've been like this for as long as I can remember and that strong desire hasn't gone away even when I feel like no one cares about me. Making the world a better place isn't easy but that won't stop me from trying with the ambition that I have to make sure the people around me are okay.

I have worked to advocate for the environment by committing to community service whenever I can by removing trash whenever I see it in any place that is sacred to those who consider it sacred, as well as helping people who are unable to do it themselves or have too much to handle on their own. I want to help the environment in any way I can when it comes to things such as the area, the people and the structures. I would leave the message, "If there's anything good you can do, do it." To me, it's a simple message that you can say to anyone but I think people need it now more than ever because I don't see many people my age contributing to the things that I did. From where I stand, I've always done what I can to make the world a better place for those around me, no matter how small of things I do for them but I don't see many people do the things that I do in terms of doing something nice for other people that they may or may not know. I love helping people around me, even if it is the little things but the people that I've seen make it hard to continue doing these things and that's why I won't stop because someone has to help those and let them know that there's people out there who will help them.

I believe that mental health is important because of how it affects our well-being and how we conduct ourselves as people. When people are struck with any traumatic event, they usually play that event out over and over again without getting any help, it continues to be a constant thing that goes through their head and makes them not think straight. Any person, no matter if it seems like they are sound of mind or seem perfect to others and have a perfect life, will always be destroyed by not taking care of what's inside. I saw this video a while ago, I don't remember the name but it was about someone who is very smart and is completely quiet, with being nice at first and when they stopped taking care of themself, they became angry and lashed out and those she cared about. That video was a clear example of how mental health can destroy anyone who doesn't take care of themself, it makes them someone they weren't. You can be the perfect person, with a perfect life, someone by your side and people all around you at all times but you can still feel alone in your head because no one knows you, but they think they do and when people don't get the help they need, it causes them to lose the ones they love. It's a ruthless cycle that, unfortunately, happens all the time and it makes people feel like they are alone all the time but there are ways that they can get help. What I do is first, think, I know this might seem counterintuitive because some people tend to overthink and make problems worse but I usually see the good in the bad because, sure it may be bad for a while but it'll be over and I'll heal over time and see it as a lesson. Secondly, talk to anyone you can, like I said earlier, people don't tend to talk to people because it may seem like a weakness because their feelings are being shown and they are vulnerable and it's normal to feel that way but ONLY do it when you're ready. Thirdly, take some time for yourself and do things you love, it takes a lot of time to get over whatever happened to do things that make you happy and not think about those things. Lastly, accept the fact that something may or may not have changed in your life because whenever something bad happens in someone's life, something has changed. Take that change as a sign to change as well because change isn't always good, so turn it into something good for yourself and better yourself whenever you can. Continue to do things that make you happy and when you start to feel better, learn new things because if you dedicate your time to something you love, that'll make you a lot happier with what you love to do.

A series that I can watch over and over again is One Punch Man because of how the whole story treats his powers and how I connect with Saitama, the main character. One Punch Man is exactly what it sounds like, a person who can beat any opponent in one punch. To any normal person, that sounds like an incredible power, being able to defeat the strongest the universe has to offer in one punch but to Saitama it's the most boring power someone could have. He's been stuck with the power for years by the time the anime starts with his reasoning that he found a purpose in life after saving a child by defeating a crab monster. Saitama saved the child out of pure instinct and devoted his life to training to become the strongest hero after he got fired from his job. Another thing that makes his power so unrewarding is how he is treated because of those powers, many people ridicule Saitama because they don't believe that he can beat anyone in a single punch. Although they don't believe him, some have seen his power even when he isn't trying and just playing around, a scene when he and another character are fighting. Saitama throws a punch and stops himself before he makes contact. He then playfully hits the other character when they turn around, the camera pans and shows an incredibly massive hole where the punch would've connected. I love this series because of how I connect with the main character in some ways and others not so much, such as what I mentioned earlier about people ridiculing Saitama for not being as powerful as he looks. Some people usually think I'm not as smart as I look and I'm a bit loud but I know my stuff when it comes to thinking and am pretty quiet in most circumstances. It's not very nice to be smart all the time because it distances you from those you care about most in life and it sometimes makes people treat you differently but I don't let it get to me. I just do what I can to help those I can with what I have and I'm just someone who does this just because I can and for fun. There are some things I don't share with Saitama, I'm not bald and cannot send my opponent flying with a single punch but his training regiment seems pretty fun to do.

The dream version of my future self is someone who wouldn't be scared of saying what he means and isn't afraid to try new things that may or may not be for him, he recognizes that when he is being mistreated and does something about it rather than standing by and doing nothing.

My favorite aspect of Minecraft is the cave exploration part of the game by far, with an infinite world to explore to your heart's content, I spend mine looking for anything that looks cool to me. Exploring any cave does come with troubles such as mobs, the darkness and a lack of food unless you're desperate. Ever since I played Minecraft, I've been captivated by the caves that the game gives you and with the recent updates, there's a lot more to discover and find that I love about the game. My friends always question why I go into caves so early and risk getting myself killed but I don't listen to them all that much because they follow me and I have to help them most of the time. I resonate with caves so much because of the sense of adventure I get from being in them all the time with myself or with friends that hang around me when I go in. Going into caves and getting the chance to gain treasure such as diamonds, armor or enchanted tools will always hold a special place in my heart for the reward outweighs the risk in my eyes. That changed with the Warden, however, I like to go alone in caves like this but when I'm not alone, I stray as far away from my friends as possible because of the risk now outweighing the reward but I still go on anyway. I love adventuring in Minecraft and although you can do it in the overworld with different biomes to explore, the limits that caves put on you, add a sense of earning what you fight for when you go exploring in any cave, big or small.

Without a doubt, my favorite game to play in co-op is Mariokart due to many reasons on how it handles its playstyle as well as the things you can pull off with the right setups. I always played Mariokart with friends and family when I was young but no one could match how I played, they struggled so I had to teach them. Everyone except my cousin, who was almost as good as me at the game but I still had to help him with some things, we had a lot of fun playing together on the Wii. I would consider myself a calm person when it comes to handling the toughness the CPUs give you in the track because of the items but not my cousin. He would always get mad when the CPUs would target us when we were in 1st and 2nd place but despite all the red shells and blushes thrown at me, I would always do what I could to win. Mariokart as a whole has been a part of my life ever since the DS days and I've been known as the best Mariokart player by many people but I didn't believe it that much since I knew there were many people better than me and I have a lot to learn That was until I went to another college summer program and there was a Mariokart Wii tournament, and although there was no prize to be won, I still signed up immediately when I heard that the program was having one. Throughout the whole week leading up to the tournament, it was all I could think about and a day before the tournament, there was an event in the library where people were able to play games to have fun with other people. Naturally, there was a room with Mariokart Wii in it and I practiced with my roommate before he left, I was nervous about tomorrow but some girl from a class I was taking encouraged me to do my best and that helped a lot because I was going to need it. On the day of the tournament, I rushed to my room after getting ready and I sat down next to my roommate he encouraged me as well but I told him that I wouldn't win. I did great in the beginning rounds because we were only doing 2 races per round until the finals. That was until the semi-finals when I messed on DK Mountian and suffered 8th place, people who saw me when I got 8th place said I looked mad because I was a little mad at myself for getting a place like that but at least I tied with someone who was almost as good as me, maybe even better. I didn't know her because she was in a different class than I was but I feared her in the tournament because she looked good. To add to my fear, she played Daisy while I played Luigi so the last race felt personal. When the finals came around, I played the first three races as best as I could until the last race, when Rainbow Road showed up and I had to win because she wasn't far behind me in points so I went slow on the track, which was unusual for me since I love going fast in any Mariokart game I play. The other two competitors were just having fun, but even when I didn't believe in myself, I won only falling off one time with a huge lead in 1st place.

When I was much younger, I had a relative who was affected by ALS and although I don't remember much about her because she wasn't in my life for a long time to remember. She was an encouragement to me and how I saw the world, she always smiled when she saw me and I wish I could've done something to help her and make her life better. I have very vague memories of her but all the memories that I do have are very positive with family around her and she talked about things in life that I couldn't understand anything around that time. It always saddened me when I saw her but she always assured me that she would be okay, which was most likely to keep me happy when she was going through her disease. I started this interest in neurology years ago when I was just starting to get a grasp on how the human mind works and figuring out that no one I know wanted to get into the same things that I did motivated me to get into this field of study. I was also told a while later by my Dad that not many people of color get into the medical field, which didn't shock me but intrigued me as a person who was told that this journey that I am about to go on will be tough. Being told these things didn't stop me from wanting to know about becoming a neurosurgeon, so having this scholarship that will help me have a life that will be easier for things that I have been through will be hard. Having less money to spend will remove the weight off my shoulders about what I should and shouldn't be doing with my life at that point in my life when it comes. Many years later, now that I am 17, I now understand what she was going through and think about her all the time when I want to pursue a career in neurology and to help those who with an organ that we do not know much about. It pains me to look at people go through many things that happen in the brain when I don't see many people talk about them with the people I hang around as well as my family, so having this type of knowledge will help me have a better chance in getting into the neurosurgeon field. Having any type of knowledge that I would consider rare in our current years, would help unknowing people about anything that their family members might deal with.

If there was a show that I would highly recommend binge-watching over the weekend would be a simple concept yet turned on its head in a comedy. The series is called Saiki K., It revolves around a psychic teenager in high school named Kusuo Saiki and at first his psychic powers may seem like a blessing. Being able to life cars, buildings, teleport and everything else you can think of with powers like those with the lift of a finger may seem incredible. Even Saiki comments on this but he stops us by pointing out that his powers have drawbacks and things that are a constant annoyance in his everyday life, such as his telepathy being borderline uncontrollable, with him hearing any thoughts in a 200-meter radius. Other powers are locked behind a time limit, like the teleporting I said earlier, forcing Saiki to wait a maximum of 3 minutes before he can do it again and powers are only useable under specific circumstances. This isn't even mentioning the side characters, they are all unique in their way which spices the show with Saiki not wanting to be bothered by others but they always show up. My favorite has to be Kaido because he believes that he is being targeted by something called "Dark Reunion", which is a running gag throughout the show, and this belief is always shot down from his high and mighty attitude because of his strength, or lack thereof. My second has to be Nendo, he is a wild card in the show and not even Saiki can't read his thoughts, it's because he's not smart. In one episode, Saiki hypnotizes people into thinking his dad is him because of a party they think is Saiki's, Nendo spots both Saiki and the fake Saiki but with quick thinking, Saiki uses a mirror and it works on him easily. There are other instances of this happening in the show and I adore all of them because they always make me laugh even though it is kinda simple humor because of Saiki's powers. Earlier I mentioned that Saiki's powers, such as telepathy, cannot be controlled and this is where Saiki's defining feature comes into play, his inhibitors. The two antennae pointing out of Saiki's head aren't just for show, they help him control his powers, and stop him from destroying the world with one or two muscle spasms. There are multiple episodes where Saiki either breaks or loses one of his two inhibitors and this can be bad news for anyone around him. For example, when his class is attending a trip and when Saiki goes outside to sleep after some psychic troubles, Teruhashi, described as the most perfect, pretty girl, takes one of Saiki's inhibitors and when he wakes up, the entire hotel is gone. I would love to go on and on about why this show never fails to make me laugh with episode after episode but you'll have to watch it for yourself to fully enjoy it. I don't watch Amine as often as I used to but Saiki K helped me get into anime again, unfortunately, Saiki K's season 2 isn't dubbed. This means you'll either have to watch it with subtitles or know Japanese to fully enjoy it. There is a mini-series of 6 episodes called "Saiki K Reawakened", I haven't finished it yet but I enjoy it so far so you should give it a watch soon.

My name is Samuel Bolds, I am a 17-year-old-senior at St. Augustine High School and I am about to enter a new stage in my life next year. When I was young, I was always considered different by many people around me, even now, people get mad at me when I don't respond to them. It's not out of rudeness, it's because I know that they're trying to make fun of me because I'm not social and how I look. I never connected with people, as well as my sister, did, she was always a more talkative person and was never afraid to speak her mind in certain situations, like protecting me. This made me a more listener of a person rather than talking to those around me, people praised me throughout my life because of this but I don't get that praise. I would sometimes get scolded because I was being too quiet and I understand why people would do that but I didn't get it when I was younger. Later in my life, I did try to talk to people but it didn't end well most of the time, so I took to other things that did make me happy. Things like games, listening to music and writing are some of my favorite interests because they allowed me to be a lot more sound of mind as a person rather than looking like I was some random little kid who was afraid to go outside. Allowed me to connect with people and have a reason to have a conversation about our favorite things that we had in common, which is how I have the friends that I do now in high school. Writing is more of a personal hobby because my friends wouldn't get to write stories as I do, I have 3 stories completed and a 4th one getting that's halfway done. As I grew older the more I understood things about the characters and songs in what I did and it made me think about my future in college, I want my major to be in neurology. I didn't know where this came from but I felt like I wanted to do it for some reason and I stuck with it for years now. So, this scholarship will help me with pursuing that major in college and make it easier for myself with the college that I want to go to in my future and with the leftover money from other scholarships that I've been applying to and give that money to my parents. I chose a science degree because I always wanted to get a better understanding of the world around me with the help of science. I would always watch videos with things revolving around science such as astronomy, anatomy, and neuroscience in my free time simply because I liked them and they helped me learn a lot and even helped me out in helping others. When I graduate I will use my degree in neuroscience to either become a neurosurgeon or a psychiatrist, partly to learn about the human mind because it is a very complex system that science still doesn't understand fully.