Maintaining personal wellness as a student can be very difficult. A college student has little time, little energy, and very little money. However, in my almost five semesters of college, I have figured out ways to take advantage of what is available to me. It isn't as difficult as you would think to find opportunities to exercise. As a college student, I walk to all of my classes. Some people drive or bike or even skateboard, but walking is an easy way to get my blood moving early in the morning. Walking alone is, unfortunately, not enough to get a good daily amount of exercise. This is why I always make sure I have one dance class a semester. As a dance minor and a musical theatre major, I have to have a dance class anyway, and dancing is my favorite form of exercise. Not only do I attend my dance classes regularly, but I also go out of my way to practice outside of class. I love to go down to the student and practice more advanced techniques that we don't cover in class, or rehearse the combination until I know it perfectly. This keeps me active even outside of the work I already do daily. The hardest thing in college is eating healthily. The dining halls don't often have healthy options, as the preference of many students is fried, fatty foods that are filling but not as good for the body. To eat healthy foods, I have to actively choose what to get. I have to seek out where vegetables and fresh fruits are and specifically ask for options like whole grains. The options that provide customization options such as the salad bar, deli, and omelet station have been very beneficial for me, allowing me to get the proper amount of protein and fresh vegetables. In addition, I find it important to keep healthy snack options in my room. When I first started college, it was easy to keep bags of chips and cookies on hand so that I could have snacks that I love on hand, but I realized that that was harming me more than it was helping me. Now I try to keep snacks like trail mix, dried fruit, nuts, and other healthier options on hand. This means that I can still snack, but I don't automatically reach for salty, fatty, or unhealthy foods. Another important factor that I feel is often left out in conversations about personal wellness is the topic of mental and emotional wellness. With my busy schedule, it is sometimes hard to remember this element. I don't always remember to take time for myself and make sure that I am okay, not just my body. I try to take time every day to have some alone time and do something that I enjoy. This might be crocheting, journaling, reading, or just listening to music and resting. A lot of college students want to be as social as possible and always be with their friends, but it is important to take time to be by yourself and evaluate what you need at that point. Maintaining personal wellness is difficult for a college student, but all we have to do is cut out the time to take care of ourselves, both physically and mentally.

As a kid, my family was never able to afford to pay for me to have dance lessons. I learned how to sing through the children's choir at church, and I did theatre in skits and school plays. My mom's love for Golden Age theatre led to me developing a love for musical theatre from a young age, but I was always a singer and actor. I was an active part of the theatre program in high school, but without dance experience, I was always worried about pursuing a career in musical theatre. The COVID-19 pandemic hit at the end of my senior year of high school, ruining many of the traditional experiences and derailing my plans for the future. College auditions had to be canceled and my five-year plan was suddenly thrown out the window. I lost my senior year musical, my senior recital, and a dozen other performance opportunities. Because of the pandemic, I ended up taking a gap semester to work full-time while I hoped the pandemic would pass quickly. The pandemic was hard on me, and the entire experience was discouraging and distressing, leading to me almost giving up on theatre entirely. I felt like a failure and I worried that I would never perform again. With all the extra money I had, however, I decided to enroll in some dance classes. A family friend had started a dance studio after the closing of the studio she worked at, so I signed up for one of her ballet classes and found myself the oldest person in a class full of high schoolers who had all been dancing much longer than I had. I struggled to keep up, but I found a passion for dance. I loved going to class each week, and even the physical exertion after an eight hour shift was refreshing. I soon signed up for both jazz and tap classes as well. I loved dancing. It filled in the gap that the lack of theatre opportunities had created. Once I did start college, I enrolled in two different dance clubs as well as made sure to take at least one dance class each semester. I love dance. Dancing brought back my passion for the performing arts and reminded me why I love them so much. It kept me sane during the pandemic and keeps me active every day. Dancing has brought me peace and it's taught me a new way to express myself through art. I'm so glad that I discovered this new passion.

When talking about the ways to fight climate change, often, the responsibility is shifted to the average person. The average person is instructed to be as sustainable as possible in order to save the planet. While it is true that every person should be doing their part to be sustainable -- recycling when possible, buying local foods, and being wary about what they waste -- the majority of the responsibility should fall on the corporations that produce mass amounts of pollution and waste every day. The truth is, the average person can't do much to combat climate change all on their own. They cannot make any real difference on their own. A person can live a completely vegan, cruelty-free, zero-waste life, but if we allow companies to continue to get away with producing mass amounts of pollution, dumping it into our oceans or releasing it into our skies, and not ever apologizing or even taking accountability for their actions, no significant action will ever be taken. After all, only 100 corporations produce 70% of our global emissions. It is unfair and simply illogical to place the blame on the average person. Even if every person in the United States reduced, reused, and recycled their waste, it really wouldn't do much when those who make the most waste aren't changing their harmful habits in the slightest. In addition, the average person can't make all kinds of sacrifices to prevent climate change. A vegan or vegetarian diet is far more expensive. When fatty, mass-produced food is readily available and inexpensive, it is elitist and insensitive to expect the average person to have the time or money to afford a more sustainable diet. If we want to see change, we need to force change at the source: those in power. We need to request more recycling centers so that those in more rural areas have access to recycling bins that are regularly picked up. We need to create more community gardens -- especially in food deserts -- so that fresh vegetables and fruits are readily accessible. Most of all, we need to ensure that when we discuss fighting climate change, we remember that to do so we have to do it together, and elitist or inconsiderate suggestions only isolate those who aren't as wealthy or don't live in wealthy areas. To fix the problem, we have to pressure the people who have the power to change the system.

My favorite example of the combination of STEM and art is technical theatre. Most people don't consider technical theatre a STEM field, which makes sense. Technical theatre is an art form, but it's an art form that takes as much skill as any science or technology field. My junior year of high school, we did 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' for our spring musical. Our director was quite ambitious with the set that year, and decided to have four rolling set pieces that would come together to create a pyramid that could be walked on. I vividly remember our set crew staying hours after rehearsal to work on these set pieces. They were huge, and the math required to create them had our set chief in tears. They worked day in and day out to create these pieces, and they turned out amazing. After that, I figured that nothing our techies could do would surprise me anymore. That fall, they proved me wrong once again. For our competition show, our director wanted a rolling platform that could once again be used as several different pieces in the show. The platform was shaped like a trapezoid, and the calculations for it once again had our set chief and her crew up late into the night. However, the shape of the platform was not the coolest part. By far, the coolest part came when the platform had been finished. Our light designer, a seventeen year old just like me, found a way to put LED lights inside of the platform. He worked tirelessly to design, wire, and make it work, and the effect was incredible. I was in awe at the fact that someone my age knew how to do that. At competition that year, both our light designer and set chief won the top award for technicians, and all of us were so proud of them, because they absolutely deserved it. Technical theatre sits in a weird place between two worlds. It's not technically a STEM field, and it's not technically a performing art. Technical theatre takes the ingenuity, skill, and knowledge of STEM, and combines it with the creativity, dramatics, and design aspect of the arts. Every area of technical theatre uses some kind of aspect of STEM. I am a performing artist. I have always found myself in awe of the arts, and in awe of artists even in crafts that I don't practice. This rings especially true when it comes to technicians. They amaze me every time, and as I've grown, I've found myself paying more and more attention to technical elements when I see a show or watch a movie. I'm pursuing a college education for the education itself. I've told my mom many times that if I could stay in college forever, I would, just so that I could keep learning and learning and learning. I think that's what drew me to the arts in the first place. The wonderful thing about the arts, that I think rings true in STEM as well is that you can never stop learning. There's always something more. There's always a way to improve. There's always more that you can do. I'm pursuing my education not just for a career, but so that I can keep learning as long as possible.

When people talk about me, I want them to talk about everything I did for others. I want them to remember me for my kindness, and all that I did to help people. I have a lot of goals in my life, but most of them come from the same, singular desire to make the world a better place. I want to increase the availability of arts education. I want to plant pollinator gardens all over the country that will help to restore habitats to wild birds, bees, butterflies, and other important pollinators. I want to host park cleanups and food drives. I want to pay for the medical procedures of strangers and leave $100 tips for servers at restaurants. I want people to remember me for my generosity and for my love for humans, animals, and the planet. I hope that if I can create a legacy of kindness and care, that I'll inspire other people to do the same. I know that, in a way, this hope is naive and I sound like quite the idealist, but even if only one person is inspired to be kinder to people, it will have been worth it. My legacy would have had its desired effect.

There have been several points in my life when it has felt as though the world has stopped, the most recent being the complete shutdown of life as we knew it due to the coronavirus pandemic. After the shutdown, I started to lose my passion for the performing arts. I felt as if life was never going to be back to normal, and I was afraid that I would never perform again. In my theatre ensemble, we had been preparing for our spring musical, and the shutdown came so abruptly that it truly felt as if we had been cut off in the middle of a song. When I started to lose my passion for performing, I decided to start taking dance classes, and I found myself falling in love with dance. Dancing saved my love of performance and reminded me why I loved the arts so much. Reflecting on the experience, I think of a line in the opening number of one of my favorite musicals, Big Fish: "If the music stops continue with the dance." This is the phrase I want to share with the world. When everything seems to stop, you have to keep going. You have to continue with the dance. Not necessarily in a literal sense like I did, but you have to keep going. You have to keep pushing forward, because the music will start again. There have been plenty of times where, in a metaphorical sense, I have had to continue with the dance, despite how painful it might have been. Pushing through has led me to become who I am today, and it has made me stronger, and more able to keep dancing when the music starts to fade.

As an individual person, there's not much that I can do to help our planet, but every little thing I do can have a larger impact. I try to carpool whenever possible, I carry reusable bags and try to buy produce that isn't packaged in a bunch of plastic. I reuse candle jars for storage and I make washcloths and cotton rounds out of old t-shirts. I do as much as I can to help the planet, but one of the easiest things I do is carry a reusable water bottle. It's something so small that I don't even think about it most days, but it makes a huge impact. Every single minute the world uses a million plastic water bottles, and each time I use my water bottle, I cut down on that number, even if it's just by one. I carry my own water bottle, and in addition, I make a point to encourage friends and family to carry one as well. This past Father's Day, I bought my dad a reusable water bottle, and now he uses it every day at work. It makes me really happy that he's using that now, rather than buying multiple plastic bottles each day like he used to. Although using a reusable water bottle is a tiny action in the grand scheme of things, I hope that this little action has a ripple effect that will make a difference.

Misty loves human food (at least she thinks she does). My mom made the mistake of leaving her burrito unattended for a few minutes, and Misty decided that it was her burrito.

As humans, we often take our planet for granted. We have for most of our history, but with our rapid industrial advancements in the last couple centuries, our use of the planet and its resources has only increased. As an individual person, there's not much that I can do to help our planet, but every little thing I do can have a larger impact. One of the easiest things I do is carry a reusable water bottle. It's something so small that I don't even think about it most days, but it makes a huge impact. Every single minute the world uses a million plastic water bottles. I carry my own plastic water bottle, and in addition, I make a point to encourage friends and family to carry one as well. This past Father's Day, I bought my dad a reusable water bottle, and now he uses it every day at work. It makes me really happy that he's using that now, rather than buying multiple plastic bottles each day like he used to. Although using a reusable water bottle is a tiny action in the grand scheme of things, I hope that this little action has a ripple effect that will make a difference.

In elementary school, I was an avid reader. I spent all of my free time reading, and I was notorious for checking out stacks of twenty books from the library. One summer, I decided I wanted to read the Harry Potter series, and my dad agreed to read them with me. My dad and I spent every night that summer reading a chapter or two of the series, and we had finished all seven books by the time school started up again. After finishing Harry Potter, I moved on pretty quickly, finding new books to read right away. When I got to middle school, life started to get hard. I developed an anxiety disorder, and was dealing with all of the social challenges of middle school. Classes had started to get harder, and it was taking a toll on me, as I've always been a perfectionist who hates messing up. One day, things had been really bad. I had come home crying, and didn't want to do anything other than lay in bed. I started to feel restless, so I got up and grabbed 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' from my bookshelf. As soon as I started reading, I started to feel better. I almost immediately forgot about what was making me so upset. Every time I open that book it is so easy to immerse myself in the detailed world and the adventures that Harry and his friends go through. 'Sorcerer's Stone' may not be one of the most beautiful works of literature ever written. It may not be exceptionally profound or have the best characters, but for me it always brings such happiness and nostalgia. The memories that I attach to it are why it will always hold a special place in my heart.

For me, financial freedom would simply mean being not having to worry about money. Growing up, my family was always worried about money. Both of my parents worked in retail when I was born, so they didn't get paid very much. We were always worried about having enough for groceries, being able to cover the latest repair on the car, or being able to stay afloat if there was an emergency. Growing up like this was very stressful for me. I wasn't able to play a sport or be in dance as a kid because my family couldn't afford it. I wore a lot of hand-me-downs. My mom was a firm believer in using things until they were completely exhausted of use, so I ended up wearing sneakers that were coming apart from the sole, jeans with holes in the knees, and jackets with broken zippers. My dad lost his job when I was still in preschool, and I remember him and my mom arguing every time the bills came around. My grandparents had to support us for the next several months. As I got older, things got a little better. My mom got a new job where she was paid much more, and didn't have to be on her feet all day. My dad worked several small jobs before finally getting a full-time job when I was in high school. Even so, I was encouraged to get a job from the time I was thirteen, before it was even legal for me to work. I've been babysitting since I was eleven, and got my first "real" job in the summer after my junior year. Medical and dental bills, car repairs, and paying for my college tuition have made things a little rough again. Recently, my computer gave out, and we've had to spend a lot of money buying a new one, and doing our best to get my files off of the old one. The more I've learned about money and the "real world," the more I worry about emergencies. Both of my parents are older and both have compromised immune systems because of various health issues. The recent pandemic has been extremely stressful, as a hospital stay of any length would be devastating to my family's finances. We've been as careful as possible throughout the pandemic, not simply out of fear of the disease itself, but out of fear of what would happen if we had to pay for a hospital stay. I had to quit my summer job because the owner of the store didn't respect the mask mandate, and I couldn't risk my parents health. Financial freedom would mean not having to worry about emergencies. It would mean not having to worry about covering medical bills or paying for car repairs. Financial freedom would mean that I could get a car and be able to go grocery shopping while I'm at college, rather than having to ration food until the next time I see my parents. Finally, financial freedom would mean that I could support my parents after they retire. My mom is nearing retirement age, but she probably won't be able to retire for a while. Financial freedom would mean that they could retire and I could support them without sacrificing anything vital, like rent or groceries or doctor's appointments. Financial freedom for me would just mean being able to live without worrying about whether or not I'd run out of money the next day.

As a kid, I never knew how to answer when someone asked me: "What do you want to do when you grow up?" I had ideas about what I wanted to do, but nothing ever seemed to fit right. In my freshman year of high school, I decided to audition for the high school musical. On opening night of the show, I remember sitting around with my friends, and realizing that performing was the only thing that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I've never cared about being famous or having my name on a marquee, I just want to perform. In my dream life, I am a performer. I sing and dance and act every night on Broadway, or on West End, or in Chicago. I don't care where the stage is, I just want to be on it. I have enough money to support myself and my family, and enough that I can support my parents back home. My dream life looks very similar to anyone else's. Maybe the details are a little different, but I think I want what everyone wants: to be happy and to live my life the way that I'd like.

As a kid, my family always liked to call me "capretta," which means "little goat" in Italian. My grandfather compared me to a billy goat, due to my stubborn, hard-headed nature. With my zodiac sign being Capricorn, the goat, "capretta" seemed to be all-too-perfect a nickname for me. My stubbornness has long been a characteristic that my family members have long discussed. My parents often debated over whose side the trait came from. I was always told that I was stubborn, though sometimes the word was candy-coated in a kinder sounding synonym, such as "spirited" or "resilient." Being stubborn is often seen as an undesirable trait. Stubbornness is a trait that is often associated with unreasonableness, resistance to compromise, and an unlikable personality. Despite these connotations, I have come to be proud of my stubbornness. I don't believe that my stubborn personality doesn't show itself in the form of unreasonableness. Instead, my stubbornness is what allows me to pursue my goals, even when I stumble in that pursuit. I have been knocked down more times than I can count, but I've always been too stubborn to quit. I remember being told time after time during the college application process that it would be practically impossible to double major with a performing arts major. Nearly every school said that their performing arts programs were "too intense." I sought out colleges that encouraged my endeavors, and avoided the ones that didn't. I wanted a school that would encourage me towards my goals. More importantly, I wanted one that wouldn't hinder my journey. Today, I am a sophomore in college. I am double majoring in music performance and psychology, with a minor in dance. I have never earned a grade below an A-minus, while also being in three clubs. I am too stubborn to reduce my goals for any reason, and criticism only motivates me to prove myself. I am pursuing a career in the performing arts, which is one of the most difficult fields to succeed in. My success is not determined by numbers, statistics, or even my degree, but by the subjective opinions of other people. I have to be stubborn. I have to persevere. I have to keep getting back up and dusting myself off. I have to take each bit of criticism as a challenge if I want to succeed, and that's what I intend to do. In the journey I have ahead, both in college and the professional world, I'm going to get a lot of no's. I'm going to have a lot of failures. I'm going to fall, both literally and figuratively, again and again and again. I am proud to be a stubborn "capretta," because I know that my stubbornness will always help me to get back up and dust myself off, and eventually succeed.

Growing up, I always knew that I was going to college. Most of the adults in my family went to college, and I was always expected to follow suit, as were my cousins. In high school, I was in mostly honors and AP classes, meaning I was surrounded by students who planned on going to college. Even though I knew that I was going to college, my family didn't have the money to put me through all four years. Even at a state school, I would have to earn significant scholarships to avoid taking out student loans. I had come to terms with this fact, as I knew that there wasn't much I could do about it. Even though my parents had been saving since I was born, it wasn't enough to cover even one year of college. There are thousands of brilliant students throughout the country who can't afford to take out loans, and don't have any savings stocked up for college. These students deserve to pursue higher education, but are unable to seek out a better life for themselves because of college being so unaffordable. This also perpetuates the cycle of poverty, leaving these intelligent students working jobs in retail and food service, where they are underpaid and overworked, and often unable to provide for their family. Higher education should be affordable and accessible to anyone who wants to pursue it, not simply the wealthy.

As a child, I was loud and wild. I laughed and danced and sang, with no regrets about the person I was. When I started middle school, things started to change. I found that I had trouble making friends, and that I would sit in class and worry until I felt sick to my stomach. Things only got worse as I got older, and after my freshman year of high school, I was diagnosed with anxiety. My diagnosis felt dirty. I felt like I had to hide it. Going into my sophomore year, I was nothing like my childhood self. I was quiet, reserved, and terrible at socializing. The one place where I felt that I could be myself was theatre. I always felt as though the auditorium was a safe place where I could be myself; flaws and all. During that year, I ended up confiding in some of my close friends about my diagnosis. I found that when I opened up, other people did the same. They told me about their struggles with mental illness, and confided in me about the worst times in their lives. I started to do some research on psychology, and found that I loved the study. I had always wanted to do good in the world, and mental health had become something that was important to me. For the first time, I considered psychiatry as a career option. I started to work on being more open about my mental health. I want to decrease the stigma around psychiatric disorders, and the best way to do that is by talking about it, so I will never stop speaking about it. My goal is to get people to take mental health seriously, and to disseminate the shame that comes with a diagnosis. Although I'm not sure where my life will take me, I will never stop trying to erase the stigma surrounding mental health. If I can change one person's mind, cause one person to go to therapy, or help one person feel less ashamed of their diagnosis, I will consider my life a success.

I would like to bring awareness to the importance of the arts in a young person's education, and increase the affordability and availability of the arts in my community and beyond. In today's world, I hear so much about science and math. In middle school, I took ninth grade algebra in seventh grade, which meant that I had finished all of the high school math classes by the end of my sophomore year. When talking to my guidance counselor, he encouraged me to take AP Statistics and AP Calculus, because "colleges like to see a student take math all four years." My guidance counselor put so much emphasis on math, that he was ignoring the fact that I loved and excelled in the arts. I'm studying music performance in college, which I don't need advanced math for. The arts have always been my safe place, and they have always been something that I've excelled at, but American society hardly pays the arts any attention. We ignore the fact that the arts are one of the most important things to our modern society. The arts are crucial to a young person's growth, and we are so quick to ignore that fact. Time and time again, studies have shown a positive correlation between artistic training and academic success. Learning an instrument can enhance memory and spatial reasoning. Dancing has been shown to improve cognitive abilities at all ages. Theatre helps develop emotional intelligence, and introduces students to new forms of literature. The arts also help a student become more confident and help them to develop a sense of pride about what they can and have accomplished. Unfortunately, the arts can also be incredibly expensive. Even beginner level instruments can cost hundreds of dollars, and if arts programs aren't available in schools, students may have to shell out thousands of dollars for lessons. This means that children who come from lower income families don't have the opportunity to study the arts. I want to make the arts accessible for all students, by implementing programs in public schools throughout the country. The arts make a student's education so much more valuable. Every person I knew who participated in an arts program benefitted from the experience in some way. Arts programs help students make friends, develop confidence, and grow into mature young adults. The recent COVID-19 pandemic showed us how valuable the arts are to the human experience. Throughout the pandemic, artists worldwide have suffered. Theaters, opera houses, concert halls, dance studios, and other artistic and educational venues were shut down, putting millions of actors, directors, musicians, dancers, technicians, artists, teachers, and service workers out of work. Despite this full stop of live performance, humanity still turned to the arts for comfort. Many people took up a new craft, whether it be painting, dancing, learning an instrument, composing, or playwriting, millions of people worldwide explored the arts. The arts are seen as a luxury, and most people are too busy to dedicate time to their study. With the pandemic putting a stop to normal life, people finally had the opportunity to explore the arts. The arts were also heavily consumed throughout the pandemic, despite the lack of live performance. Musicals like 'Hamilton' and 'The Phantom of the Opera' were made available for the general public to watch. All around the world, people watched movies, musicals, concerts, ballets, and other performances from the comfort of their own homes. The arts allowed us to still feel close to one another, even in the chaos of a pandemic. The arts help make the human experience something precious, rather than simply an existence, and I would love to see my efforts cause the blossom of new cultural movements and beautiful original works of art from communities that have gone unheard for too long. Students all over the world deserve to have affordable access to the arts.

My biggest artistic ambition is to make a living doing what I love, which is performing. When I was a kid and people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I never knew what to say. I had always known that I didn't want to work in an office, or do any job where I had to sit still. I have always loved performing, but I was always told that being an actress or a singer was impractical. In high school, I discovered that performing professionally isn't the far away, out of reach dream I thought it was. There are tons of people who perform professionally, and although they may not be household names, they still are successful and happy. I met and spoke to professional actors and performers, and for the first time in my life, I knew what I wanted to do. I was initially afraid to pursue an arts degree in college. I felt as though I had to pursue a degree that had a career associated with it, such as music education or music therapy. After a lot of chaos, discussions with my counselor, and changes to my graduation plan, I finally decided to follow my passions and pursue a music performance degree. Unfortunately, a music degree comes with a lot of extra expenses. I have to pay extra for private lessons, and my textbooks are expensive. I have to pay for extra classes, recital attire, sheet music, instrument repairs, and general equipment. At the moment, I desperately need to buy myself a new music stand. My music degree will help me to learn the intricacies of performing, composing, and appreciating music. In addition, the experience will provide me with performance and networking opportunities that will help me in my path to a professional music career. This scholarship will help me to afford my degree and these opportunities. Below, I have submitted a link to a piece that I composed for my high school's production of 'Ernest and the Pale Moon.' In addition to composing this piece, I composed other short pieces, acted, and played violin in the show.

I've always been an overachiever, and I don't think that anything proves that more than my long list of goals. I want to end world hunger. I want to provide housing for people all over the world. I want to put an end to the stigmatization of mental health. I want to buy up every bit of empty land and turn all of it into flourishing pollinator gardens where wildlife can thrive. In short, I want to change the world. All this being said, the goal that I am most passionate about seems small in comparison to my other dreams. I want to increase availability and affordability of arts education throughout the United States, and one day the world. In today's world, I hear so much about science and math. In middle school, I took ninth grade algebra in seventh grade, which meant that I had finished all of the high school math classes by the end of my sophomore year. When talking to my guidance counselor, he encouraged me to take AP Statistics and AP Calculus, because "colleges like to see you take math all four years." But here's the thing: I hate math. I've never been good at it. I don't know how I ever made it through math with decent scores. I went to an underfunded elementary school, and so I missed a lot of the crucial concepts that build the foundations for upper level math. My high school friends had to reteach me long division with a two digit divisor, as I barely knew how to do it without a calculator. My guidance counselor put so much emphasis on math, while he was ignoring the fact that I loved and excelled in the arts. I wanted to go to college for music theatre or music education. I'm pretty sure you don't need very much math to do well in those subjects. The arts have always been my safe place, and they have always been something that I've excelled at, but American society hardly pays the arts any attention. We ignore the fact that the arts are one of the most important things to our modern society. The arts are so crucial to a young person's growth, and we just ignore that. Time and time again, studies have shown a positive correlation between artistic training and academic success. Learning an instrument can enhance memory and spatial reasoning. Dancing has been shown to improve cognitive abilities at all ages. Theatre helps develop emotional intelligence, and introduces students to new forms of literature. The arts also help a student become more confident and help them to develop a sense of pride about what they can and have accomplished. Unfortunately, the arts can be incredibly expensive. Even beginner level instruments can cost hundreds of dollars, and if arts programs aren't available in schools, students may have to shell out thousands of dollars for lessons. I want to make the arts accessible for all students, by implementing programs in public schools throughout the country. The arts make a student's education so much more valuable. Every person I knew who participated in an arts program benefitted from the experience in some way. Arts programs help students make friends, develop confidence, and grow into mature young adults. The arts help make the human experience something precious, rather than simply an existence, and I would love to see my efforts blossom into new cultural movements and beautiful original works of art from communities that have gone unheard for too long. Students all over the world deserve to have affordable access to the arts.

I was first diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder when I was fifteen. It wasn't a surprise at the time, but when I look back at the fearless child that I was, I'm floored at how much I've changed over the years. As a child, I seemed to have no sense of self-preservation. I learned how to swim by throwing myself in the deep end and flailing to stay afloat. At the age of nine, I climbed a 55-foot tower at Girl Scout camp, and -- knowing that I was on belay -- leapt off the top of it. I loved to climb playground equipment, trees, fences, and anything else that I could hoist myself over. I was loud and wild. I laughed and danced and sang like a child should, with no regrets about the person I was. When I started middle school, things started to change. I found that I had trouble making friends, and that I would sit in class and create terrible scenarios in my head that made me sick to my stomach. Things only got worse as I got older, and after my freshman year of high school, I finally convinced my parents to let me see a therapist. I was finally diagnosed with anxiety. At first, my diagnosis felt dirty. I felt like I had to hide that I had anxiety. I felt like it was a scarlet letter that I had to cover up as best I could. Going into my sophomore year, I was nothing like what my childhood self would have pictured. I was quiet, reserved, and terrible at socializing. The one place where I felt that I could be myself was theatre. Theatre people are weird in the best way, and I always felt as though the auditorium was a safe place where I could be myself; flaws and all. During that year, I ended up confiding in a few of my very close friends about my diagnosis. I found that when I opened up, other people did the same. Other people opened up about their struggles with depression, anxiety, OCD, and bipolar disorder. My friends confided in me about the worst times in their lives. We built a community together, and it was one that made me feel validated, seen, and loved. Talking about something that was so private and personal, yet was something we all had in common, brought us together. It also helped that two of our four shows that year focused on mental health. I started to do some research on psychology, and found that I loved the study. I had always wanted to do good in the world, and mental health had become something that was important to me. For the first time, I considered psychiatry as a career option. I also learned that millions of people around the world suffer with anxiety and other mental health disorders. I learned that I had an incredibly medieval view of mental health. I had always thought that mental illness was something to hide away; something that only a few people around the world suffered with. After my sophomore year, I started to work on being more open about my mental health. I started to speak about it more readily. I want to decrease the stigma around psychiatric disorders, and I know that the best way to do that is by talking about it. In my senior year, I spoke about my anxiety in a sermon that I gave to my church congregation. I've written about my anxiety in essay after essay, and I will never stop speaking about it. My goal is to get people to take mental health as seriously as they take physical health, and to disseminate the shame that comes with a diagnosis. No one should have to live in shame because of something they can't control, least of all a disorder. Although I'm not sure where my life will take me, I know that whether I end up as a psychiatrist, actress, therapist, musician, or teacher, I will never stop advocating for mental health. I will never stop trying to erase the stigma surrounding mental health. If I can change one person's mind, cause one person to go to therapy and get the help that they need, or help one person feel less ashamed of their diagnosis, I will consider my life a success.

I was first diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder when I was fifteen. It wasn't a surprise at the time, but when I look back at the fearless child that I was, I'm floored at how much I've changed over the years. As a child, I seemed to have no sense of self-preservation. I learned how to swim by throwing myself in the deep end and flailing to stay afloat. At the age of nine, I climbed a 55-foot tower at Girl Scout camp, and -- knowing that I was on belay -- leapt off the top of it. I loved to climb playground equipment, trees, fences, and anything else that I could hoist myself over. I was loud and wild. I laughed and danced and sang like a child should, with no regrets about the person I was. When I started middle school, things started to change. I found that I had trouble making friends, and that I would sit in class and create terrible scenarios in my head that made me sick to my stomach. Things only got worse as I got older, and after my freshman year of high school, I finally convinced my parents to let me see a therapist. I was finally diagnosed with anxiety. At first, my diagnosis felt dirty. I felt like I had to hide that I had anxiety. I felt like it was a scarlet letter that I had to cover up as best I could. Going into my sophomore year, I was nothing like what my childhood self would have pictured. I was quiet, reserved, and terrible at socializing. The one place where I felt that I could be myself was theatre. Theatre people are weird in the best way, and I always felt as though the auditorium was a safe place where I could be myself; flaws and all. During that year, I ended up confiding in a few of my very close friends about my diagnosis. I found that when I opened up, other people did the same. Other people opened up about their struggles with depression, anxiety, OCD, and bipolar disorder. My friends confided in me about the worst times in their lives. We built a community together, and it was one that made me feel validated, seen, and loved. Talking about something that was so private and personal, yet was something we all had in common, brought us together. It also helped that two of our four shows that year focused on mental health. I started to do some research on psychology, and found that I loved the study. I had always wanted to do good in the world, and mental health had become something that was important to me. For the first time, I considered psychiatry as a career option. I also learned that millions of people around the world suffer with anxiety and other mental health disorders. I learned that I had an incredibly medieval view of mental health. I had always thought that mental illness was something to hide away; something that only a few people around the world suffered with. After my sophomore year, I started to work on being more open about my mental health. I started to speak about it more readily. I want to decrease the stigma around psychiatric disorders, and I know that the best way to do that is by talking about it. In my senior year, I spoke about my anxiety in a sermon that I gave to my church congregation. I've written about my anxiety in essay after essay, and I will never stop speaking about it. My goal is to get people to take mental health as seriously as they take physical health, and to disseminate the shame that comes with a diagnosis. No one should have to live in shame because of something they can't control, least of all a disorder. Although I'm not sure where my life will take me, I know that whether I end up as a psychiatrist, actress, therapist, musician, or teacher, I will never stop advocating for mental health. I will never stop trying to erase the stigma surrounding mental health. If I can change one person's mind, cause one person to go to therapy and get the help that they need, or help one person feel less ashamed of their diagnosis, I will consider my life a success.

Growing up, one of the most influential forces on my growth as a young woman has been other women. Getting to know and learning from other strong women has taught me how to carry myself and how to take pride in who I am. Therefore, I think that the best thing society can do for young women is to stop pitting us against each other, and stop perpetuating cruel stereotypes. Every time you turn on the TV or open up a young adult novel, you see another story about two women competing with each other. Sometimes the competition is over a man, popularity, or some other superficial goal, but hardly ever are they competing over something worthwhile. The two women are almost always portrayed under stereotypes. The "hero" of the story is often quiet, well-read, and plain, but nonetheless, conventionally attractive and secretly a knockout behind her thick framed glasses and cardigan sweaters. The "villain" is the pretty, popular, blonde girl, who has an army of loyal popular girls, a shallow boyfriend, and tons of money. These portrayals don't help the stereotypes that have been pushed onto women since the beginning of time. Rather, they hinder our progress forward. Although one might think that portraying the pretty girl as evil would teach young girls that "looks aren't everything," instead, it demonizes stereotypically feminine interests. These stories teach young girls that cheerleaders are mean, that blonde girls are stupid, that wearing makeup is shallow, and that other girls are the enemy rather than friends and allies who can help us towards our goals. In recent years, there's been a mass outcry on the Internet from young girls who declare themselves "not like other girls." In middle school, I also fell victim to this trend, thinking that because I liked reading and wearing jeans that I wasn't like other girls. There's nothing wrong with those interests, but the problem came when I demonized other woman because they enjoyed more stereotypically feminine interests. I was quick to judge another girl based on her looks and how she spoke, even if she hadn't done anything to lead me to the conclusions I was making. I had been taught for years by the media that being pretty, wearing skirts, and enjoying shopping and makeup made you shallow and vapid. Luckily, I learned before starting high school that I shouldn't judge other women based on shallow stereotypes that were taught to me by the media. Other women have been my best resource throughout my childhood, and I didn't learn that until I was almost an adult. The women in my family raised me and instilled morals in me. My female teachers have taught me both academic lessons and life lessons, and have encouraged me to reach for the most difficult and ambitious goals. My female friends have supported me, befriended me, and helped me when I've most needed it. Society has to stop dividing us. The well-intentioned "looks aren't everything" lesson has transformed into a deliberate division of women who enjoy different things. No woman should be criticized for her interests, whether she enjoys shopping, playing sports, gardening, or any other assortment of hobbies. We as women need to be a sisterhood, and should never let outside forces try to divide us.

"If the music stops, continue with the dance." There have been several points in my life when it has felt as though the music has stopped, the most recent being the complete shutdown of life as we knew it due to the coronavirus pandemic. After the shutdown, I started to lose my passion for the performing arts. I felt as if life was never going to be back to normal, and I was afraid that I would never perform again. In my theatre ensemble, we had been preparing for our spring musical, and the shutdown came so abruptly that it truly felt as if we had been cut off in the middle of a song. When I started to lose my passion for performing, I decided to start taking dance classes, and I found myself falling in love with dance. Dancing saved my love of performance and reminded me why I loved the arts so much. When asked later that year what my favorite quote was, my thoughts went back to my freshman year musical, 'Big Fish.' One of the lines in the opening number is "When the music stops, continue with the dance." That quote has remained one of my favorites, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

My parents have always worked tirelessly to give me a good life. When I was born, both of them worked in retail. My mom finally moved to working a better job when I was in elementary school, but she still worked all day to provide for our family. Even though they always worked hard, various expenses always kept them from being able to save. After one semester at college, my college fund is nearly depleted, and I still have four years to go. My mom is nearing retirement age, but she most likely won't be able to retire any time soon. My parents have done so much for me and I want to take care of them and provide for them like they have for me all these years, but I know that I can't do that until I get a degree. I know that I can make a name for myself out in the world, but I have a long and expensive journey ahead. I also know that I can't provide for them if I'm paying off my student loans for years after graduation, so I need to get as many scholarships and grants as I possibly can.

Music has been in my life since I was very young, and I've always had a deep passion for it. I've struggled with a lot of mental health issues in the past, and one of the worst periods of this the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school. I had gone through a really terrible experience in the spring, during which I was subjected to a lot of emotional abuse. This left me in a lot of pain during that summer, and struggling with related health issues such as chronic nausea and insomnia. During that summer I talked a lot to my voice teacher. She's like a big sister to me, and I always felt like I could confide in her. I told her about what I had gone through and she encouraged me to channel my feelings into music. She had always encouraged me to experiment and try new things, and she had been encouraging me to write my own music for a long time. I was always too nervous to try to write my own music, but I finally decided to try my hand at songwriting. I wrote a piece about my experience and performed it at a small festival. The experience was cathartic and afterwards, I felt like I could finally move on and start to heal from the trauma that I had experienced. The cathartic nature of music is why I love it so much. I have playlists for any and every emotion that I may be feeling on a particular day. I constantly have music playing. Creating my own music was simply the next step on my creative journey. Each song that I write allows me to move on past an obstacle that had been holding me back. The more I talk to other artists, the more I find that that feeling is universal. Other songwriters I know talk about how music allows them to release the tension and unpleasant emotions that have built up. I hope to use my platform in the music industry to advocate for arts education throughout the country. The arts are so crucial to the development of young minds and of our society. The arts allow for self-expression and innovation. I also believe that making sure that arts education is available for every student across the country will help to bring more experiences and backgrounds to the music and performing arts industries. Often, students who come from low income families are not able to afford to study the arts. Making the arts available to all students will give more students opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise.

The pandemic ruined a lot of opportunities for me. I was a senior in high school in 2020, and because of COVID-19 I never got to perform in my senior musical, my senior recital, or my senior choir concert, and I missed important events like graduation and prom. I missed important end-of-year traditions at my school, church, and as a part of my theatre ensemble. The chaos even meant that I had to take a semester off of school and spend that time working. I thought the pandemic was going to be the end of my world, but it allowed me to step back and reevaluate my perception of life. Before the pandemic, I thought that I had to get into the best college, graduate at the top of my class, get a fantastic job right out of school and then work tirelessly until I retired to be successful. After the pandemic I realized that I could slow down. I've learned that I don't need to work myself to the breaking point to be successful. I've learned that taking my time is okay, and will keep me from burning myself out.

I grew up studying music and theatre, but as a child my parents didn't have enough money to be able to send me to dance classes. I was able to get my music and theatre education through my school and church, but dance was out of reach because of our low income. The recent pandemic hit me really hard. COVID-19 ended up spelling the end for my high school arts career. I finally had a lead in the spring musical, I was preparing for my senior recital, my senior choir concert, and an opportunity to perform at the Durham Performing Arts Center, and the lockdown meant that none of those events could happen. I ended up having to take a gap semester because of the pandemic, and I started to lose my love of the arts. I felt like a failure and felt that I should just give up on pursuing a career in the arts. In the summer, we got word that a family friend was starting a dance studio. I decided that since I was at home for the fall, I should take some classes to keep myself busy. I had my own job, so I could pay for ballet and jazz classes. Enrolling in those classes was the best decision I have ever made. Not only was I able to rekindle my love of performing, but I also found that I loved dance. I wanted to dance at every opportunity I got. It was a new form of expression that I had never dared to try before, and I fell in love with it. When I finally got to Elon University in the spring semester, I decided to join a dance club. This club was an opportunity to explore new styles of dance, learn combinations, and experience community with other students. I loved dancing so much that I even decided to add it as a minor to my degree. Dance saved my love for the arts and for performing. It made me feel whole again when I felt like I was falling apart. This summer, I'm interning at my studio, and taking as many dance classes as I can in the process. I love dancing. I have big dreams for my life, and one of those dreams is to share my love of the arts with as many people as I can. I want to advocate for the arts to be taught in public schools all over the country. I want students to be able to find themselves through the arts like I did. Through the arts I have been able to find peace. I want to communicate to the rest of the world how important the arts are to young minds. Through the arts students can innovate and express themselves. I want to use whatever platform I have to speak to those who need it most that the arts are a respite for troubled hearts and minds.

I have loved music for as long as I can remember. When I was six, I joined the children's choir at my church, and I've been singing ever since. I've sung in my church's choir since then, and I've been in my school choirs, theatre programs, and dance programs. Through my experiences in school and my musical training, I found a love for musical theatre, and my dream is to one day perform on Broadway. At the beginning of my senior year of high school, I applied for three college musical theatre programs, but I unfortunately did not make it into any of them. I took a semester off, and then began studying at Elon University, where I am majoring in Music Performance and Psychology with a minor in Dance. Even though my first plan failed, I haven't given up on my dream of being on Broadway. I'm working harder than ever to achieve my goals. What excites me most about the world is the sheer amount of knowledge that is available to me. I can learn anything with just a few clicks of a button, and I can have experiences that people a hundred years ago never would have dreamed of. I want to get out of my hometown and explore the world around me, especially the diverse array of artistic and cultural experiences that are out there. I want to learn about music and art all over the world. I don't just want to experience it from the safety of my home, I want to be able to get out and see it in real life. I also want to give back to the communities that raised me and fostered my love of the arts. I want to fund and advocate for arts programs in public schools throughout my hometown, and throughout the nation. I believe that every student should have access to the arts. The arts provide an outlet for students to express themselves and to innovate. I'd love to volunteer to direct a children's choir in my free time, where I can pass on my love of music to a new generation.