In middle school, I used to make bad decisions from the people around me. I would talk about people and make mean faces, especially towards people who did wrong to me. It was such a common thing throughout the school that I attended that the majority of the school adopted it. The school air was filled with negativity, and it was like the only way you could breathe peacefully was at home, or so I thought. With that type of environment, it impacted my mental health badly. I remember when people would talk bad about me, make snide remarks, and ignore me. I used to get stressed on reasons why out of all people they would be treating me this way even before I started picking up the customs people inside the school created. Everyday I would come to school I would get stressed and have mood swings because of the constant bullying and overthinking. It was to the point where if someone was making fun of someone, I would automatically think that it was about me. I felt so ashamed of myself and felt frozen in the classroom. Too scared to even talk to my friends because I would sometimes think they were a part of the bullying. When I would go home I thought everything would stop there. While I would try to get some rest or be productive by doing my homework, I would get these negative thoughts in my head and replays of the bad things that happened from the day at school. My performance on my assignments and my sleep schedule were slowly decreasing and I didn’t know how to stop it. The more impacted I got from my school environment, I became more and more isolated. For about one week, I completely isolated myself and didn’t talk about anyone and no one talked about me. In the week, I was able to think about my actions, what was being thrown back at me, and how I could change it so that my life could actually feel livable for once. I decided to not try to fit in by not following what everyone was doing and just decided to be my true self, who is a positive, friendly person. About two weeks later, I was actually being left alone. For the most part, I wasn’t being talked about and ignored. There were just a few people who would still pick on me at times but those were people who brought negativity towards everyone so I just avoided myself from those groups. I knew from there that this was the right path. This whole journey with talking about people, people bullying me, and mental health definitely motivated me to be a better version of myself because I learned that negativity is not the answer. It causes people to feel bad about themselves when truly there is nothing wrong, we just make them believe that they are automatically wrong. When I started to feel what other people would have felt by my actions, it made me want to be a better person because I didn’t want to be known as the person who brings harm towards other people and it just wasn’t simply me. Today as a high school senior, I am proud to say that I haven’t experienced bullying and haven’t bullied anyone else. On top of that, anyone that I know might be getting bullied I try to step up as much as possible because I don’t want them to feel what I felt back in middle school.

Out of all of my high school years, this year, my senior year was mentally the hardest for me. Senior year is the year where you have to transition to adulthood. Some ways I had to prepare this year were by doing college applications, figuring out what major I wanted to study, and applying for scholarships. With that, I had to keep up with my work and both of my extracurricular activities being soccer and marching band. Having to balance all of these things out at the same time really bothered me. Every hour of the day, I always had to do something causing me to lose energy and obtain sleep deprivation. Because I had no sleep and felt exhausted, there was an increase in my negative moods, such as frustration and irritability, for those around me. Everything would bother me, even from a simple conversation. I wanted to be left alone most of the time. On top of that, my parents revealed to me that they were getting a divorce. It was a big deal to me considering that we have all lived in the same house for as long as I remember, so a sudden change like this, I didn’t take well. I believe that this also caused an increase in my negative moods. It felt so strange seeing the house get emptier every month as one of my parents would start to move out. It was depressing to see, but I couldn’t let that be my main focus so that I could finish what I was supposed to do for my senior year. All year, this remained a cycle for me. I never had or took the time to relax because I always felt that I had something to do. In most cases, I did. Throughout the year, with everything tumbling on me, I constantly felt stressed and would get burned out. This would slowly affect the relationships I had with people because of my bad energy. I didn’t always allow myself to be negative. I would say two coping strategies I used for my mental health were listening to music and being motivated. I’m a big music listener, I have always loved the art of music, considering that I am in a marching band. Music has always made me feel good about myself, so whenever I needed to take a step back from life, I would turn on a song that I liked to calm me down. Sometimes I would use it to distract myself. My other coping strategy was motivation. I highly believe that my motivation is what keeps me going daily, especially when I get achievements and awards from it. It also makes me feel good. “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” This is a quote from Muhammad Ali that I refer back to all the time. This reflects back on my life since I am suffering, but with this hard work and my motivation, it will help me in the future especially as a future mechanical engineer. My coping strategies will definitely be needed because being an engineer will not be easy, but those strategies will help me make it easier for myself. Once it becomes easier, the rates of my success will rise, helping me to become a successful, Black woman in STEM.

There are lots of Black women engineers that have inspired me, but one that I resonated close with me is Krystile McClain. Besides being Black, she has inspired me a lot because she is young and has done a lot of things that people wouldn’t expect her to do. McClain earned a chemical and environmental engineering proving that I am capable of getting more than one degree, especially in the world of STEM. It’s not an easy field. What’s more impressive is that she has made many accomplishments just from a young age. Just some of her accomplishments are serving as a site environmental coordinator for the U.S. Army Fort Detrick Forest Glen Annex, an adjunct professor of Environmental Science at American Public University, a Senior NEPA Planner for Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Pacific at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam in Hawaii and currently leads as Commander of an environmentalist team of Technicians and Engineers in Japan. This helps me boost my self-esteem and reminds me that I can seriously do anything as long as I put my mind to it. There is no age where I’m not making accomplishments like the ones McClain did. Some accomplishments that were noted, people would’ve thought the person was sixty-five but she’s only in her late thirties I believe. Everything that I learned from her, gave me another reason to achieve my dream of becoming an engineer. She reminds me that it’s possible to do anything including at any age. Well I know that earning a degree in engineering is not an easy degree to get so any inspiration will mean the world to me. Anytime a task gets too difficult, I will be reminded that even though it’s hard, that I am capable of getting through it. If McClain was able to get different degrees in engineering then I could too. I don’t and will not have a limit on how many degrees I am capable of getting. Those things will help me to get through college and eventually help to get my degree which will be mechanical engineering. If I have to for some reason take a step away from college whether if it’s financial issues or life issues, then I will also remember that I can come back at any time I still strive for hat degree that I want. With all of this inspiration, I will help to beat expectations and finally be a future representative of Black women in STEM.

Empowerment is being confident, capable, and in control of my own life without needing the hindrance of others. It’s using the knowledge and skills that I have obtained to help me make important, rational decisions that will align with what I plan to do with my life. The positive and negative outcomes that come from these decisions I will use to my advantage to make myself more capable of accomplishing what may come next in my journey. As a woman, woman empowerment is a feeling of worth; the freedom to choose our own paths in life, both inside and outside the home; the right to resources and opportunities; and the capacity to shape social change in order to establish a more equitable social and economic system on a national and worldwide scale. To compare empowerment so that I can express it even more, I will say someone who I believe represents empowerment. One common person I think of when it comes to empowerment is Beyonce. Her songs inspire women to embrace their individuality and bravely follow their aspirations by celebrating power, independence, and self-love. She has put together an array of stories that inspire and encourage women from all walks of life through her music. Two songs she shows it in are, “Run the World” and “Flawless.” I think she does a great job at showing not only what empowerment is but also what it could be for a woman. Personally, empowerment makes me want to make positive change around me since I am in control of my own life. It makes me want to stand out. For example, helping the community, protesting for what’s right, and doing kind gestures for strangers. Not only does it create positive change for yourself but for those who might look up to you, it could transfer onto them which would make a more positive, just, and equal community. Once you see that the community is improving because you’re doing what’s right, then you start to feel self-esteem. If I were to keep doing this, it would be an endless cycle of feeling refreshed from being a representative of empowerment for my community. It also allows me to take more risks in life the more I am able to go above and beyond.The more I am able to go above and beyond, it just keeps getting higher from there which allows me to grow in ways I never thought were possible.

Good afternoon, my name is Naria, and I am a current senior here in Michigan. Some things that I do are play cymbals in the marching band and play soccer. In both sports, I am a leader. I am the first ever girl to be the percussion section leader, and I’m also a captain for the girl’s soccer team. For the next four years, I plan on going to college, specifically an HBCU, to major in mechanical engineering. I don’t know exactly what company here in Michigan I would like to work for, but I do have an idea of what I would like to do. I would like to help with the rise of new inventions to help the people around me. People, such as those with disabilities or those who're just in need of better equipment to make their lives easier. I can see myself working with other STEM lovers who strive to make a difference in the world. But the question is, how did I get interested in STEM, and how did I know that I wanted to do mechanical engineering? From elementary school until now, I’ve always had a love for math. I was always at the at the top of my class when it came to math. I’m so talented in math that in seventh grade, I won an award for best mathematician out of my entire grade. So math has always stuck with me. Now, how did I get into engineering? At the start of my senior year, I didn’t know what path I wanted to take, so I talked with my college advisor. They gave me advice to do something that I enjoyed, which was math, and gave me quizzes to do so that I could pinpoint what I wanted to do. The more we had discussions and the more quizzes I took, they were leading to engineering. Then, I researched which type of engineering I was interested in pursuing, and I chose mechanical engineering. I’m genuinely excited to take this path for the rest of my life because this is something that revolves around me, especially with the love that I have for math. Not only that, but the salary of a mechanical engineer is something that I hoped to have so that I could be financially stable for myself and my family. Once I get my degree in mechanical engineering, and am financially stable. I plan on making a program for women in STEM. I was inspired to do this by something similar that I was a part of in middle school. It was a field trip for girls who were interested in STEM, and for the entire field trip, we learned about different careers and did different activities to understand what you could expect from pursuing a STEM field. When I attended the field trip, I enjoyed it, and it always had a special place in my heart, to the point where I would like to do something similar to that to prove that what men can do, women can also do.

My favorite tech invention of the last 1o years has been wireless earbuds. I think that it’s an invention that we don’t think about a lot. It’s something that is very influential, and if you go somewhere, you will most likely find someone who’s wearing it. The reason why it’s my favorite tech invention from the past decade is because it’s very helpful and easy to use. Before wireless earbuds, I used to mainly use wire earbuds and headphones. Some things that were annoying about them were that the wires used to always get mixed up together, and the headphones themselves would be too big to carry around everywhere, so sometimes I would be forced to leave them at home. With wireless earbuds, you don’t have to worry about that. There aren’t any wires, which is nice, so every time you try to use them, you don’t have to untangle the knots that would be formed. Also, earbuds are small and won’t take up as much space as headphones would. Earbuds are so small that you can just put them in your pocket, so it’s very convenient when you try to take them anywhere. Anytime I go places and want to listen to music or watch a video on YouTube, I just pull out my wireless earbuds, connect them to my phone, and enjoy myself. The process is so simple that it doesn’t require a lot of steps. Like I previously mentioned, it’s something that lots of people use today, especially as teenagers, when we have new technology coming towards us every year. The more technical we get, the more the more inventions like wireless earbuds will help us make our lives easier step by step. As a senior that’s about to be a freshman in college, there’s a lot that I would hope to contribute to the world through engineering. First, I would hope to help the world advance. With the research that I will be doing, I will find new calculations and pathways that we can take to make life easier. Second, I will like to help build new equipment to bring forth a better society. Future engineers like me will help those who has a disability to building new structures and buildings. Finally, I just overall want to make an impact. I want to use what I learned in school, my best subjects being math and science. I want to use that for use to make society better as a whole in different ways.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see more African Americans striving in STEM? As mentioned, there aren’t a lot of African Americans represented in the STEM community. Only seven percent have STEM degrees, which can be underwhelming for some, but I would like to be an advocate to change that. I would love to pursue a career in STEM because of my love for machinery and mathematics, while also wanting to help increase the number of Black student graduates. Also, I would like to use my future mechanical engineering degree to create a better lifestyle, from fixing machines to fixing air pollution, to form a brighter future. First, I have a love for machinery and math. Since a young age, my favorite subject has been math because I thought it was fun to do. I never really had stress with it, which made it fun. It was something that I have always been talented at. Further on in my life, I was exposed to machinery during school events and field trips. Some things I would experience were college students showing us the art of robotics and looking at old car antiques made by Henry Ford. Seeing how engineers have evolved from Henry Ford cars to creating drones has always given me inspiration. Especially, as an African American kid who barely hears about the history of Black engineers. I want to be able to break this curse of not having the representation we need for our community. This thought gives me the motivation to want to work hard until I have the diploma in my hands, and hopefully, just with my contribution, I can make the percentage go from a seven to an eight. Second, I will create a better lifestyle for the community. As a senior who has dreams as big as the universe, I am open to different ways I can use my degree to make my community better. Whether it involves space, transportation, energy, world hunger, and so much more. No matter which route I go, if I can help make change in the community and become a new representative that fellow African Americans can look up to, sign me up. In conclusion, my passion for math and technology makes me want to work in the STEM fields, and I also want to contribute to the rise in Black student graduates. In addition, I hope to improve lives with my mechanical engineering degree in the future.

When my mental health decreases, it destroys my academic performance. I don’t really realize it until I see recurring low scores coming up to me. When my mental health is bad, a lot of things happen in class. When the teacher is teaching in class, I start to zone out, and I usually get distracted really easily making me not learn what I was supposed to learn that day. When this happens, it adds up. Everyday, I am not focused on the information that is being taught to me, so I end up behind. When I go home, I can’t do my homework because I don’t understand the directions. I end up giving up and would rather take an F than try again. Because of this, when it was time for upcoming tests, quizzes, or checkpoints I wouldn’t know what to do and fail. All of this would add up and reflect on my overall grade causing my gpa to decline. This would also decrease my mental health more because it made me feel like I can’t ever do anything right. While still having bad mental health, not only does it decline my academic performance, but also my performance in my personal life. During class, I won’t talk to my friends as much. Sometimes, I don’t talk to them at all. In the past, I have lost friends because of that, because they thought that I didn’t like them anymore or that I was trying to be problematic. When it came to my extracurricular activities, such as soccer and marching band, my performance also declined. My effort, energy, and discipline weren’t there anymore. While my teammates were improving and getting better, I stayed the same and would be forced to sit out or even got threatened to be kicked off of the team. With everything crumbling, I slowly started to shut down to the point where I would barely interact with people. Everyday I would feel like a walking piece of meat that’s chained up to a wall. The days would go by, and I would barely remember anything that happened in those days. When my mental health is bad it’s like torture for me. Growing up and learning more things about myself lead me to make my mental health more of a priority especially because it’s a big thing to talk about in this generation. Some things that I do to make my mental health a priority is by studying what I am feeling, listening to music, and telling a trusted peer with what I am feeling. When I am in a situation where I start to feel bad about myself whether if I failed a test, didn’t win a scholarship, got in trouble, or etc, I focus on how I am feeling and whatever bad thoughts get to my head, I reverse it by thinking about things that are positive. For example, if I were to fail my test, I automatically think about how I could do to do better next tim, how this is just only one failed test, and that it’s okay to have failures in life. Listening to music also helps me calm down in the mist of chaos with my emotions and allows me to continue with what I am supposed to do. Communicating with peers helps me to release stress and reminds me that I’m not the only person going through something which makes me feel better about myself. With these steps, it helps me better my mental health.

Law enforcement agencies can improve relationships with the African American population in the United States by being more understanding, holding law enforcement accountable for any misconduct done to African Americans, improving officer training, and eliminating bias within law enforcement agencies. As we know, African Americans have had a long history of being overpowered in the U.S. We have been beaten, separated, raped, and so much more. We were and still are being massively destroyed, both physically and mentally. Everything we have been through has been passed from generation to generation. Our beliefs, struggles, mindsets, etc. make us different from other races. We are behind because of what is lost. We didn't have the best past because of the people who did us dirty, so it affects the future as well. If law enforcement understood that and understood why half the race is the way it is, they would be more sympathetic. Another thing that has been going on in law enforcement is the misconduct that constantly happens without justice or consequence. If an officer or any type of member of law enforcement does anyone wrong, or specifically, in this case, an African American, they should be penalized for wrongdoing. There have been many cases where law enforcement has done things they weren't supposed to do without reasoning, and they still had their job. It's not fair that a Black life has to be lost, and the murderer who didn't have a reason to kill him still has their job. This also goes into eliminating bias. If you go into law enforcement with a biased mindset where you believe a group is above another, you shouldn't be accepted into that position. This causes favoritism to come about, and African Americans are usually no one's favorite, giving them the worst outcomes in certain situations. Lastly, law enforcement needs to do a better job training new officers. When I look at officers now, it seems like the first thing they do when they are nervous is pull a gun on someone because they forget what else they are supposed to do. I understand that if a person pulls some type of weapon out, they have the right to do that, but when the person doesn't have a weapon, then it's unnecessary. What happened to tazors? The lack of training is showing, and we need to fix it. I believe that if we fix all of these things, it will start to build trust within our communities. This would be the start of better environments and relationships between African Americans and law enforcement.

I would choose Eleven, Dustin, and Hopper. Eleven would definitely be my first choice because she has powers. She would be able to go toe-to-toe with the supernatural threat more than anyone else. Not only is she strong, but she also has confidence and control over her powers. Her telekinetic abilities allow her to move objects with her mind and even take down enemies like the mind flayer, the spider monster, and the demogorgon. Plus, she's determined, brave, and has a strong sense of justice.  Dustin and Hopper may not have powers like Eleven, but they still bring something to the table. He's incredibly resourceful and clever, always finding creative solutions to problems. He reminds me of a modern Albert Einstein; in every situation, he usually figures something out that can be helpful, big or small. His knowledge of science and technology would come in handy, allowing him to build devices to outsmart and take down the enemy. So not only would we have someone with powers, but we would also have someone who's good at making inventions by our side. Lastly, I would choose Hopper to join my squad. Hopper would be a great addition to the team because he's great in fights because he's tough and an experienced cop. His strength and determination make him a formidable opponent, and he always puts himself on the line for other people because he treats everyone he loves like family. He does what it takes to save the people he loves, which is good for the squad. Also, it is good to have an adult on the team to supervise and be an example for Eleven and Dustin so they can stick together and encourage each other. With the three of them, I am confident that they will be available to take down the supernatural monster together.

The classic pumpkin spice latte will definitely satisfy my taste buds. It adds warmth and coziness to chilly days, especially in a state like Michigan. The first sip of that delicious blend of pumpkin, spices, and creamy goodness instantly transports me to the fall season. Colorful leaves, sweaters, boots, Halloween, chilly wind, and pumpkin patches. I don't drink Starbucks often, but the Pumpkin Spice Latte will forever hold a place close to my heart. It was the fall of 2018, and I was in the 7th grade. My friend and I were going to a haunted maze together because we had never been to one before, but before we went, her mom asked if we wanted some Starbucks. Whenever it comes to free things, I always take advantage of that advantage to get them, so we both said yes. When it was time to order, my friend ordered a pumpkin spice latte, but I had never had Starbucks before, so I just asked for what my friend had because she hyped it up. When we got our drinks, we said "cheers" and took the first sip. I didn't expect it to be so good. The first thing that hit me was the taste of cinnamon and nutmeg on my tongue. When I drink or eat something that's really good, I end up devouring it quickly, and that's exactly what I did. Within the first 10 minutes of getting the drink, I finished it. I looked at my friend's cup, and she was still half way done. She looked back at me, and we both just started laughing. The drink was so good, I finished it like it was a sample they give out at Sam's Club. To this day, I still don't drink Starbucks that much, but when fall comes around, I will be the first person in the drive-thru line with my sweater, jogging pants, and boots to order a pumpkin spice latte. I have become so addicted to it that now when I think about fall, I don't just think about colorful leaves, sweaters, boots, Halloween, chilly wind, and pumpkin patches. Now I think about pumpkin spice lattes, colorful leaves, sweaters, boots, Halloween, chilly wind, and pumpkin patches. It's incorporated into my schedule of what to do in the fall season. Just like we put our Christmas trees up for Christmas, I now order the Pumpkin Spice Latte every fall without any hesitation or judgement. I don't care what anyone has to say about the latte because they can't lie about it being good and because it's going to execute on my taste buds every time.

I am the best girl on this planet. The Eras Tour boosted my confidence to the point where I am proud of who I am and what I have become. Any negativity that comes my way, I "shake it off" and keep moving. I don't settle for less because I am worth more than that. Growing up like any other teenage girl, I felt like a background character. Online and offline, I would look at other girls and immediately question myself. Why do I have to be Black? Why is my stomach not flat? How come I couldn't look like Coco Jones? I would always compare myself to the ones around me, making me really insecure. My thoughts made me feel like less and less of a girl because I felt like I didn't meet the standards of a pretty girl.  Music has always been therapy for me. Whenever I'm happy, sad, mad, or nervous, I always play a song to calm me down. Honestly, when I was younger, two songs by Taylor Swift that I used to always play on my Kindle Fire growing up that she sung at the Eras Tour were Bad Blood and Shake It Off. They used to make me come out of my shell before I became insecure. As soon as the songs would start playing, I would literally stop what I was doing and just sing along and dance. When I heard that Taylor was coming to Detroit for a tour, I strongly felt that I needed to go. I convinced my parents to let me go, and they did. Throughout the concert, I felt entitled and powerful, just like I used to feel when I was younger. From Bad Blood and Shake It Off to Karma and Miss Americana, I was just finally enjoying myself. No more stress on my identity; it was just me being free. It was like magic was done during the concert.  Going on that tour was one of the best decisions I ever made. Who knows where I would be right now if I didn't go? It was a wake-up call for me to remind myself that I am perfect the way I am and to continue to show people that I will forever be the best, no matter what comes my way. Whether it's depression, a bad phone call, or student debt in college, I will not let that define me. I will always be the best, and nothing will stop me from that.

I am not a pro anime watcher but from the few animes that I have watched, Demon Slayer is the show that I can watch repetitively without stopping. From the plot to the art style it makes it so enjoyable. In Demon Slayer, I like how different characters from different backgrounds come together to beat the common enemy. It's so enjoyable seeing how everyone even the demons have their own uniqueness in them. Their powers, strenghs, and weaknesses are all different and it makes me question each character on what else they might be capable of and they never disappoint. The art style is different from what I've seen in other animes. The colors that the use on the show especially during the fight scenes are very bright and bold which catches the eye of the audience. It makes you want to analyze the detail within those scenes especially because they are in slow motion. Lastly the plot is just never ending. It's different from the other shows. I like that in order to move on, sometimes some characters would have to complete the small ones to get to the big ones. It's an ongoing problem-solving situation that keeps me interested in the show.

BTS aka the Bangtan Boys, have become a global phenomenn with their catchy music, incredible performances, and meaningful lyrics. BTS's music covers a wide range of topics, including self-love, mental health, and societal issues, which resonates with fans like me all around the world. Reflecting on my life, their music has had a positive impact on mine. Their messages of self-acceptance, perserverance, and following your dreams have inspired me to be more confident and to never give up on my goals. Their music reminds me of an alarm clock. When I feel down or usually not myself I usually play a BTS song to cheer me up like "Love Myself." "Love Myself," is ultimately about taking care of yourself and indulging yourself, whether that be emotionally or physically or with material things. Songs like that help me find myself again in the dark moments in my life and reminds me that there will always be light to take over the darkness. That's why it reminds me of an alarm clock because while an alarm clock wakes you out of your sleep immediantly, BTS's songs immediantly snaps me out of a bad mood. Not only are they my favorite because of the impact they have on me but also the impact they have on others. BTS has made a significant impact on the world. They have shattered records, achieved chart-topping success, and has sold out stadiums worldwide. They have also used their platform to adress social issues and promote positive change unlike other artists who hide behind the curtains. One example of this is when they used a social media platform to stop Asian hate. Their influence has helped bring K-pop into the mainstream and has opened doors for other Korean artists to gain international recognition. When I first heard about K-Pop, I didn't have an interest in it especially because of the language barrier but when I heard what type of music they made and actually took the chance to listen to their music, I haven't stopped listening to them since then. Being a BTS fan also creates long lasting friendships because of "The Army." We are a dedicatd and passionate group of people who love and supports BTS. The Army plays a crucial role in spreading their music and message. Out of many fan groups, we are known for our immense support, charitable initiatives, and a strong sense of a loving community. Overall, BTS is my favorite K-pop group because of the impact they have on fans such like me through their music, performances, and their voices. They continue to inspire and bring people together through their music which is why I love them.

"I'm so insecure, I think that I'll die before I drink." I think it's very relatable for me, especially for other teens who have intense pressure and anxiety about fitting in or what others think of them. It makes you feel like it's the end of the world and that this is what life has to offer, especially when the world shut down in 2020. When the world got shut down, all we were doing as teens was scrolling on different social media platforms. We came into contact with comparisons, cyberbullying, and new insecuritites that were developed by being online. I can say this because I went through it. By being online, I looked at other girls who were just perfect and met the criteria for pretty standards. Scroll after scroll, it made me feel bad about myself and like I was a joke to the world. It also made me think about how I never fell in love or have been in a relationship when everyone else around me was. This thinking was evidence that I was pretty. During this time, I really started comparing myself to other people, causing me to go into depression. I wasn't suicidal, but I didn't feel like my normal self. That's why "I'm so insecure, I think that I'll die before I drink" resonates with me so much because it was my exact situation. Mentally, it felt like my life ended as soon as I started comparing people to me. I felt lost. The line "I'm so insecure, I think that I'll die before I drink" expresses doubt about yourself and a dread of being judged. We often struggle to define our identities and find our place in the world during adolescence. We are concerned about how we are seen by others and if we live up to expectations. It seems as though we are always doubting our own abilities and experiencing insecurity over our behavior, looks, and decisions. The pressure to live up to social standards is mentioned in the lyrics. It's the fear of being looked down on or rejected because we don't match the stereotypes that society has created for us. A time of increased emotions and insecurity can occur throughout adolescence. It may be very difficult to feel as though everything we do is criticized. The mental struggle that surrounds this vulnerability is captured in the sentence. As you can see, the lyrics do a great job of capturing the difficulties of adolescence and the range of emotions that surround it. This is my story, and I'm glad I told it.

It's funny that this is the prompt because me and my friends actually had a debate about this in class one day. To be honest, it's hard to pick which shows were my favorites because so many classics have come out from different years, but two shows that I have definitely enjoyed were Lab Rats and K.C. Undercover. For context, Lab Rats consisted of action and comedy, centered around a group of super-powered teens. The show was a mixture of teenage problems and the problems that come with being a bionic superhero. KC Undercover also brought action and comedy. The story was about K.C. Cooper, a high school student who is also a talented spy. This showed the challenges of being a teenager. Cooper had to balance her spy life with school, family, and friendships, which made the show feel intense at times.  My storyline would have both stories existing in the same time and universe. The title would be "Powers vs. Espoinage." I would like to see the two forces going against each other. One day, I would like the teens from Lab Rats and K.C. to go to the same high school. One of the super-powered teens from Lab Rats will accidentally make their powers go off, and K.C. will be the only one to see it. From that day on, she will spy on the teens to see what is going on. The more information that she will collect by spying on them, the more she will go back to who's in charge of her spy corporation and tell them about it. Her boss will then tell her to destroy them because they will tell her that the super teens are a danger to society. Eventually, the super-powered teens will catch K.C. spying on them one day and make them more cautious about how they move from day to day. They will also try to get information on K.C. because she seems like a threat to them. One day, both teens will set a trap for each other, only to both fall for it and end up face-to-face. From that moment forward, K.C. will try to take them down, while the teens from Lab Rats will defend themselves and stop K.C. from taking and destroying them. Near the end of all this chaos, there will be a plot twist. Eventually, the characters and the audience will find out that K.C.'s leader, who wants her to destroy the teens from Lab Rats, will be the creator who gave the teens their powers. The two forces will then collaborate together to take the leader and the corporation down. This is a lot, but this would be my story. I think this would be very interesting, not only to the people who love Lab Rats and K.C. Undercover but also to other Disney fans and possibly people who don't really watch Disney. I think that the plot will help keep the audience in tune.

A little bit about me is that I am laid-back but also know when to have fun. One character from "The Office" that resonates with me the most is Jim Halpert. Jim was known for his laid-back and sarcastic personality. He was also able to make quick remarks whenever someone tested him in any way. Just thinking about this makes me want to laugh because watching Jim made me think of myself and how I would react and interact in certain moments. I noticed as well that Jim always picked on someone, which was Dwight. I like to make fun of my friends and trick them to make me feel good. It's funny to me, so I keep doing it. One of the funniest pranks that Jim did to Dwight was when he dressed up as Dwight and copied how he moved and talked, which would confuse everyone in the office. Every time I used to watch that scene, I used to laugh while tears were falling out of my eyes. It's even better because today I like to copy my friends by blurting out certain sayings that they would use in certain situations. If Jim was your favorite character or not, he was someone who was enjoyable and was a piece of the puzzle when it came to the show. "The Office" has made me expand my mind on what can happen at work and that it's not just all about working and getting money. It has made me aware that humor is important to have while building relationships at work. It reminds me that it's good to have fun and makes me understand the importance of making memories. It makes life smoother, especially for the ones that go through potholes.

My ability to change the world for the better as a Black woman from Michigan in engineering is unmatched. I hope that by breaking stereotypes, pushing boundaries, and succeeding in my industry, I can encourage more Black women to become engineers in the future. My unique perspective and life experiences might inspire creative ideas to meet the requirements of various communities. Through my hardworking and dedicated personality, I am able to positively impact people's lives by working towards technological, structural, and sustainable breakthroughs. In particular, there are a few things I could do to address climate change, space exploration, energy, and transportation in the future. The interconnectedness of faith, family, and friends is very important in our lives. They provide us with a sense of belonging, support, and love. Faith is something important to people, whether it has a religious aspect or not. Faith is a strong force that has the capacity to change our lives and support us in overcoming challenges. It is also a power that may assist you in obtaining or realizing your dreams. Having faith in you from your peers can make you courageous for a task that may seem impossible or when you start doubting yourself. It gives people the strength to want to continue on their journey to make the people who believed in them proud as well as themselves. It boosts their confidence, which makes it important. With Godly faith, it gives us guidance on what path we need to take in our lives, from the smallest to the biggest decisions, and it also helps us find the purpose that God planned for us to fulfill. Either way, both types of faith are very important for our lives. Family will be around you from your starting point to the end. Including your best and worst moments. A family can provide emotional stability as a safety net. Family love is frequently unconditional and can last a lifetime. Family assistance is frequently the first step toward financial security. Academic achievement can benefit from family participation. Family does so much for you, both mentally and physically. They are the light of joy that you can lean on. They will help you when you impact the world and will stand behind you when you make it to the top. Besides your family, your friends will be by your side. Just like family, they will support you from the start to the end. Friends are able to dive deeper into your mind because of the time you spend with them during practice, work, or any other place. They will give you advice on topics that you might not feel comfortable sharing with your parents. Friends provide you with the opportunity to provide much-needed company and prevent loneliness and isolation. Having friends can also help you feel more purposeful and like you belong. Faith, family, and friends are vital in our lives. In comparison, they all bring us love, support, and happiness. These things are a strong foundation for our well-being.

I was the best at math. Growing up, I always excelled in math. From my earliest memory in third grade, I was always one of the first students to finish my multiplication tests while also getting all of them correct. That’s when math first hit me. In my next two years in elementary school, I was chosen to be a part of a program called Academic Games, where players win by out-thinking each other in mathematics, language arts, and social studies against other schools. Luckily, in the majority of the games, I made it to first or second place, or in Academic Games, we say six, four, or two being last place. To get first, second, or third place overall as a team, you had to make sure all players at least received a four or six, so I learned that teamwork is crucial if you want to move to the next level. Fast forward to middle school. In my seventh grade year, my school had an academic grammy’s where students got nominated for being the best in different subjects. Out of my entire seventh grade class, I was nominated with two other people for being the best mathematician. When the awards came, I ended up actually winning the award, and I was shocked. From that moment on, I learned that math was made for me in the long run. When I graduated from middle school, it was time for my high school years to begin. As soon as the first day of school began, my first class of the day was math. Throughout the class, my teacher talked about the expectations for the year and ended the class by saying that this is the time to start thinking about your future and what you want to be. As a math teacher, she showed some love to careers we might pursue if we were interested in math, like dentists, engineers, a math teacher, and an accountant. After continuing to excel in math throughout high school, I started to think about who I wanted to become. Some people that helped me with that were my college advisor and my councilor. My junior and senior years, they made me focus on what areas I was best at and made me take career tests to show which careers would be best for me. I knew that math was mostly good in STEM fields, so I decided to look into that also because of the results that I received from doing the career tests. From my tests, some careers I got were mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, accountant, and teacher. I furthered my research on what job interested me the most, and I chose mechanical engineering. I like the idea of using math to impact the world in a positive way by making things to help our community. I would like to give back to the world for giving me so much already, just as a teenager. From learning my talent in math, getting chosen to join groups, and winning awards, I am happy to say that I plan on pursuing a career in mechanical engineering. I am passionate about pursuing this career because it involves math, something that I have been good at and passionate about since I was a kid. Not only that, but through mechanical engineering, I can help the world by solving today's problems while working with people as a team, such as creating future solutions in energy, transportation, space exploration, climate change, and so much more. This is my passion, and I plan to achieve it.

Mario Kart has to be the best and most classic Nintendo game of all time. One of my first game consoles was the Wii, where we first played Mario Kart. The earliest memory I have of playing the game is with my dad. During the summer, he hooked up the Wii in my room and set everything up. I was a little nervous to start playing, but he told me that all I needed to do was press the two button to drive and to steer the wheel to move left and right. It was time to pick our characters and vehicles. I chose baby peach and picked the baby booster car to match, while my dad chose bowser and the flame flyer. When it came to picking a map, one of the first maps we always chose was Mario Circuit, a classic. The countdown started. Three, two, one, go! Me and my dad immediately pressed the two button and were on our way. Still being new to the game, here and there I would bump into objects, making me slow down, but I didn’t give up. When I caught up to my dad, he shoved me to make me lose control, and we both started laughing. Once I got an item box, I ended up getting three turtle shells and tried throwing all of them towards him. Thankfully, I hit him with my last one. Once I hit him, I yelled, “Get this beating!” He started laughing again and continued the game. By this time, it was the second lap, and he received an item box while I was in the lead. He ended up getting a squid. When he used it, it was black ink all over my screen, not letting me see where the road was. He chuckled while he drove past me, but since we were on our second lap. I didn’t laugh since I was competitive. When I thought that was the worst, he received another item box and got the big, black bullet. Not understanding what it did at first, I just saw him speed up even more ahead of me. I was shocked. I really felt like I was going to lose at that point. Now we were on our last lap. Since he was ahead, he made fun of me, joked about me being behind, and laughed while wheezing. Because of that, every move I made counted. Every turn and speed I made was sharp, causing me to be feet away from him. Ahead of us were item boxes, but he missed. I shouted “yes!” and “that’s what you get” and proceeded to get an item box. I got lightning, which caused him to become small, I passed him and continued to make everything sharp. When I felt it was safe, I started making jokes about him and even hit his controller with my elbow. We once again laughed while making a memory we wouldn’t forget. In the distance was the finish line. We were close with each other, and the last item boxes were ahead. We both caught one. I was nervous about what he was going to get, but he ended up getting bananas while I got a mushroom. Zooming away, I managed to pass the finish line first! For the first time, I beat my father, and we both laughed away from the competitive game we just had.

I am an African American girl who is a current senior here in Southfield, Michigan. In small areas like this one, not a lot of people get acknowledged, so I try my best to stand out. I am introverted, but I do my best to do things socially to get things done. My future goals for my next chapter are to excel, push through, and succeed in and outside of the classroom. My freshman year of high school was coming up. We were still in quarantine and took virtual classes. Taking classes online was a challenge. It was still a new concept for everyone. Teachers were still trying to figure out how to educate us through a screen, and the students had to try to work with it despite the challenges like internet issues, physical learning issues, and social interactions. This was my issue. For the first time ever in my life, I had to do well in all my classes online while having no social interaction with anyone at a new school. So far during the school year, I was doing well in all my classes, but I had a harder time in my music class and a little bit in my math class. These were both classes that I preferred to learn in person but since covid was still in the air, I had to manage. Starting with my music class, besides learning about rhythms and notes, since I was a first-time concert band percussionist, I had to buy a percussion kit. I was required to either play xylophone or snare, and I ended up choosing xylophone because I felt that I could adjust to it more easily. I ended up having to learn how to play the xylophone by myself on a screen. Every time my teacher would give me exercises to do, I would always be stressed out because it took me hours trying to understand what I was doing, but I kept going regardless of the pain. While having to deal with that, I had to deal with learning new math concepts. One thing I remember having a hard time with was quadratic equations and the continuation of them. I know that I was smart enough to understand it, but trying to learn it online made it harder to understand, including the internet issues, bad angles, and exhaustion that came with it. Since I was having trouble in both classes, I decided to contact my teachers about it after class. I asked for after-class tutoring and even did my own research outside of class to help me have a better understanding. The more I did this, the more understanding I was getting, and I realized that I was starting to become stress-free. Near the end of my freshman year of high school, I was able to finish both classes that I had difficulty with in A’s. This issue in ninth grade contributed to my goals and dreams by pushing me closer to my dream of being a mechanical engineer. Pushing myself through the stress and problems of my life makes me stronger for the bigger ones that will come my way. This will give me a higher chance to excel and succeed in and out of school, giving me more confidence in hard situations.

I became the first woman to be the percussion section leader for my high school marching band. Ever since I joined in tenth grade since covid struck my freshman year, being a woman inside a percussion section wasn’t easy. You can experience lots of sexism. Throughout my tenth and eleventh grade years, I was seen as the younger sibling who gets tagged along whenever their older sibling goes somewhere. Although I was a great cymbal player and contributed to the section, whenever it came to who was better or who could be the next section leader, a boy was always mentioned. It was like my contributions were invisible or forgotten.  In my eleventh grade year, I managed to get chosen as the cymbal section leader. I easily saw it coming because I knew I did well on my instrument and there weren't any boy cymbal players. Being the cymbal leader, I had the power to control my section, but since I was a veteran in the band, I was allowed to correct others who weren't cymbal players as well. When it was time to correct the boys, I felt that there was bias against me. Every time I told the boys within the percussion section to do something, they wouldn’t listen, and they didn’t take me seriously. This made me feel very upset, and it made me feel like I didn't belong and that I wasn't worthy of my position. Trying not to get too upset, I reassured myself that I was doing everything to the best of my ability and that I was chosen to be the cymbal section leader for a reason. I felt that if I were to keep pushing myself, it would only get better from here.  Three weeks before band camp started for the new season, I was in Cancun, Mexico. I was enjoying my time before I started my senior year. I received a text from my percussion director stating that he chose me to be this year's percussion section leader. For a second, my heart stopped. I thought about how I beat the odds. Out of all the boys in the history of our percussion group, I was the first woman to be the section leader. I thought about all the conversations about how the boys said that the section leader was most likely going to be a boy and the times they gave me headaches from not listening. Also, I thought about the time I reassured myself. What I learned from this experience is that no matter how big the odds are or whatever people might say about you, you need to keep on going, especially when you're on the right track. Just because someone tells you something doesn't mean that it will become a reality; you just need to focus on yourself. This also reminded me that anything is possible and that whatever you work hard for, you will get it.

Trailblazing the Future: A Black Woman’s Engineering Odyssey. After graduating high school, I plan on going to an HBCU to major in mechanical engineering. Since I was a little girl, I’ve always been connected to engineering without knowing it. From my elementary school days to where I am now, I have always excelled in the classroom, especially in my math classes. In math, I have received good grades, a ticket to join Academic Games, awards for being the best mathematician for my graduating class, and have been asked multiple times to be a student tutor for the students younger than me in my school. When it was time to think about what I wanted to do with my life after high school, I asked for guidance from my college advisor and my councilor. They gave me careers that would go well with math and made me do career tests to look into some careers I could pursue. Many of my results included, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, teaching, and accounting. Going into further research, mechanical engineering caught my interest the most, so I decided to stick with it. With engineering, I am also a Black woman. As hard as it is already, I have heard from many people that there is a shortage of female engineers, especially Black women, so this makes me want to become an engineer even more. I think that “Trailblazing the Future: A Black Woman’s Engineering Odyssey” is a great title for my soon to be new chapter because it lets you know what I plan to do in my next chapter. It will prepare you for the trials and tribulations I will face, and I think it’s interesting to see how my life trying to be a Black woman engineer can be different from other future engineers that are different from me.

I became the first woman to be the percussion section leader for my high school marching band. Ever since I joined in tenth grade since covid struck my freshman year, being a woman inside a percussion section wasn’t easy. You can experience lots of sexism. Throughout my tenth and eleventh grade years, I was seen as the younger sibling who gets tagged along whenever their older sibling goes somewhere. Although I was a great cymbal player and contributed to the section, whenever it came to who was better or who could be the next section leader, a boy was always mentioned. It was like my contributions were invisible or forgotten. In my eleventh grade year, I managed to get chosen as the cymbal section leader. While doing my best to help my cymbal section, my friend, who was a girl, in the tenth grade, was chosen to be the tenor section leader. Since we were friends and both women, anything that was on her heart, she told me. She told me that ever since she became the tenor section leader, she felt that there was bias against her. Every time she told the boys within her section to do something, they wouldn’t listen, and they didn’t take her seriously. I felt really bad and understood her. Although I didn’t have any boy cymbal players, I could still see the misogyny within the section. Trying not to get too deep into the conversation as an older woman leader, I wanted to uplift her. I reassured her that everything she was doing was correct and that she shouldn’t worry about their actions. I reminded her of why we ended up getting the positions we have now. We were qualified for it through our actions and citizenship, and if we were to keep doing it, it would only get better from here. From that moment on, I could tell I sparked something within her. Three weeks before band camp started for the new season, I was in Cancun, Mexico. I was enjoying my time before I started my senior year. I received a text from my percussion director. I began to read. It stated, “I wanted to let you know that I’m choosing you to be the section leader of the drum section.” For a second, my heart stopped. I thought about how I beat the odds. Out of all the boys in the history of our percussion group, I was the first woman to be the section leader. I thought about all the conversations about how the boys said that the leader was most likely going to be a boy. Also, I thought about the conversation I had with my friend and how I told her that if we keep on doing what we’re supposed to do, it will only get better. What I told her came true. After telling my parents that I had become the new leader, I decided to tell my friend next. She was so happy and proud of me. She then sent me a long paragraph about how what I told her changed her life for the better. She became more confident in her leadership and decided that she would continue to do her best to contribute to the section. Lastly, she told me that me getting chosen to be section leader as the first woman inspired her. When the marching band season started, she continued to be the best tenor section leader and I am proud that I was able to be there for her because where would she be if I wasn’t?

I was the best at math. Growing up, I always excelled in math. From my earliest memory in third grade, I was always one of the first students to finish my multiplication tests while also getting all of them correct. That’s when math first hit me. In my next two years in elementary school, I was chosen to be a part of a program called Academic Games, where players win by out-thinking each other in mathematics, language arts, and social studies against other schools. Luckily, in the majority of the games, I made it to first or second place, or in Academic Games, we say six, four, or two being last place. This was an ongoing progression that I was seeing in my journey with math. Fast forward to middle school my seventh grade year, my school had an academic grammy’s where students got nominated for being the best in different subjects such as math, science, social studies, english, and a little bit more. Continuing on that, out of my entire seventh grade class, I was nominated with two other people for being the best mathematician. When the awards came, I ended up actually winning the award, and I was shocked. From that moment on, I was confident that math was made for me in the long run, whether it was future activities I was in, careers, or an important moment that I had to face. When I graduated from middle school, it was time for my high school years to begin. As soon as the first day of school began, my first class of the day was math. Throughout the class, my teacher talked about the expectations for the year like any other teachers would and ended the class by saying that this is the time to start thinking about your future and what you want to be. Since she was a math teacher, she of course showed some love to potential careers we might pursue if we were interested in math, like dentists, engineers, a math teacher, and an accountant. Coincidence or a little bit of foreshadowing, you might think. Continuing to excel in math throughout high school, I started to think about what I wanted to do and who I wanted to become. Some people that helped me with that were my college advisor and my councilor. My junior and senior year, they made me and other classmates focus on what areas we were best at and made us take multiple career tests to show which careers would be best for us. Because of my history with math, I already knew that math was something that I wanted to take with me in my career because I was good at it and I enjoyed it. Now, I was just trying to figure out, out of so many careers, which was best for me. One thing that I knew about math was that it was mostly good in STEM fields, so I decided to look into that also because of the results that I received from doing the career tests. From my tests, some careers I got were mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, accountant, and teacher. The ones that interested me the most were mechanical and chemical engineering. I furthered my research on what job interested me the most, and I chose mechanical engineering. I like the idea of using math to impact the world in a positive way by making things to help our community. I would like to give back to the world for giving me so much already, just as a teenager. Especially as a Black teenage girl, there isn’t a lot of representation within our community in the engineering field, and I would like to prove that stereotype wrong that Black women can’t pursue a career in engineering. From learning my talent in math, getting chosen to join groups, and winning awards, I am happy to say that I plan on pursuing a career in mechanical engineering in the fall of 2024. I am passionate about pursuing this career because it involves math, something that I have been good at and passionate about since I was a kid. Not only that, but because through mechanical engineering, I can help the people around me by solving today's problems, creating future solutions in energy, transportation, space exploration, climate change, and so much more. This is my passion, and I plan to achieve it.

Music has flowed around me since I was a little kid. From hearing songs on the radio, having music classes, and being in the marching band. Music has influenced me and made my life better by helping me learn, develop, and accomplish my goals. So far, music has played in my life mostly in the marching band. I started doing the marching band in the 7th grade. I remember in 6th grade we had a Black history program, and I just remember the band coming out doing what they do best, playing music. Music was always something heavy on my heart. Depending on how I'm feeling or to make things more interesting, I always had something playing in my ears for entertainment. This is why joining the band was the perfect decision for me. Throughout my years in band, as a current senior, I can say I don't regret the decision I made in 7th grade. I have gained many skills and memories. Music has made me more confident, it has helped me be strong mentally and physically, and I learned how to communicate more while making memories with the ones around me. Without band, I don't think I would be where I am. Before band, I was always to myself and hid myself away from the crowd. Don't get me wrong, I had friends that I would talk to, but whenever it came to the time where I would have to put myself out there, I never did. Band helped me with that, and now I'm the complete opposite. I can also tell that music was made for me because of the awards and achievements I made in band as well. Since covid struck my 9th grade year, band wasn't open, but in my 10th grade year, I received "best sophmore," which meant that I was the best musician in all areas out of my whole grade in band. In my 11th grade year, I was chosen to be the cymbal section leader. Lastly, at the beginning of my senior year, I was chosen to be the first ever Black woman to be the percussion section leader in my marching band's history. Also, just last week I played a piece named "Hungarian Dance Nov.5", which I learned on marimba in just in 3 weeks, and managed to get D1 from it. If these are not signs that music has impacted me, then I don't know what else to prove it with. As a future professional musician, 3 goals that I have are to be inspirational, successful, and happy. New ideas, the pursuit of objectives, artistic endeavors, problem-solving, and the invention of novel concepts can all be sparked by inspiration. We may promote innovation and progress in every aspect of life when we encourage people to think imaginatively and differently. It has the power to bring about improvement, which is how I would like to impact people. While inspiring others, I would like to be successful, I want to be able to make good amounts of money to treat myself and my family for allowing me to take this music route; without them, I wouldn't be where I am today. Also, I just want to be able to provide for myself so that I can still enjoy my life outside of music. Lastly, I want to be happy when I do this. I like to be able to do what I love, and it's perfect because I already love music.

The band is everything to me and has given me many things. The things band has given me are relationships with my peers, memories, and skills to take with me for the rest of my life. When you join a band you are exposed to many people, allowing you to connect with the people around you. Every day at practice, you will learn and develop with each other. Eventually, you guys will be really close because it happened to me. When I first joined the band, I didn’t really talk to the people I didn’t know, which was the majority of the band. After having practice every day and working hard with each other, we started to get close. I have become so close with my bandmates that now whenever we have free time to do something, we try to do it together. We have learned so much from each other by being in band. There are so many fun memories that you will make in band. When you start getting more comfortable with the band, you will have fun. Some memories I’ve just made within a few months of this season include making new friends, playing at Ford Field, becoming the first woman percussion section leader, and playing around with my friends between performances. Being in the band gives you the opportunity to talk to so many people from different groups, including the directors. Even when there are bad days, we always manage to have a little bit of fun. For example, one day the band had a battle to go to. After playing a couple of songs, it was time for the percussion battle. There were mistakes and we felt bad about ourselves. Being the leader that I am, I distracted their minds on the ride back by playing games like would you rather and who’s most likely while also doing karaoke. Moments like those are what make the band fun and memorable. Being in band lets you mature and develop. The first thing you will face in band is discipline. If you don’t do what you are supposed to do, you will be disciplined and corrected. I believe that this helps us prepare for life. It’s better to do things right the first time, and if you don’t, there will always be consequences that come with it. I believe that discipline makes us tough for hardships that come unexpectedly. Another skill that you can gain from band is communication. When practicing, it’s vital that you ask questions if you are stuck on something, otherwise, you will not only bring yourself down, but it can also bring the band down. In my future, I can see myself becoming an engineer. My goals are to eventually become an engineer, make a positive impact on the people around me, make a good amount of money to still have fun outside of work, and lastly, enjoy my job. I believe that these are important goals because they determine if this will be the right career for me. This scholarship will help me become an engineer, which will give me the opportunity to build resources that people may need. It will help me get the things I need in order to become an engineer. Scholarships like this one will help me leave college with a diploma without debt. I can enjoy my job without worrying about college debt while seeing the money I make increase in my bank account. With that money from work, I can use it to enjoy my life even more by hanging out with my friends and family.

This scholarship will make me the next successful engineeer. As you can see, when I go to college I plan on being an engineer. As a current high school senior, I'm still trying to figure out which kind of engineering I would like to go into but for right now I have chosen mechanical engineering. To make this dream become a reality, I have applied to over 100 scholarships but sadly I haven't won any. The only thing I received were an email stating "here are some other scholarships you qualify for" just to not win those either. Needless to say, this scholarship would mean so much to me coming from an African American senior who is already the 2nd choice in many topics. This money will help me to make my dream of being an engineer come true. This will help me pay for books, personal items, dorm cost, and so much more. Those are things that will help me to become a future engineer. If I were to receive this scholarship, it would play a huge role on my future. It would help me with financial support to support my future dream. With this scholarship, I will be able to focus on my education. My education is very important to me especially as a 1st future engineer in my family. I will also be able to focus on the extracurricular activities I plan on doing such as marching band in college without having the thought of being in debt. The scholarship will allow me to view new opportunities, gain vauable knowledge, and help me become successful while having a fulfilling future. Those are just a few ways a scholarship can help me and I can't wait to see what other areas where it might affect my life. Depending on how I do on my education it will determine if I am qualified to continue on into the engineering field. Once a get this scholarship and have passed my undergraduate phase, I can now soley focus on my graduate phase. This is the most important part because this is where I get my degree. With the remaining money that I may have, I can use it on tools I might need to purchase or specific books I might need for class that they do not provide at the school. This will help me to stay prepared for anyone materials that may come in my way that I don't expect on getting.

As a current, intelligent senior in high school, my goals are to keep getting a’s and b’s, fall within the top ten percent of my class, and to finish the year strong academically because being a senior can make you more lazy toward the end. My education goals for college are to pass my classes by doing well on my assignments and exams. I want to become an engineer, and I’ve heard that we would have to take a lot of hard math classes. Because of this, some more of my goals are to push through, try my best, and not let the classes eat me out alive. A scholarship would help me receive the education I need to even start a career. When I go to college, all the pressure is on me. I have to pay for my own education, so even though this scholarship won’t pay for everything, it will help pay for things such as books, my dorm room, meals, and many more things I would need to survive college. A scholarship would also relieve stress that I may have when it comes to paying for college. Instead of having two problems on my list, I can just worry about doing well in my classes. In my future, I can see myself becoming an engineer. I’m still trying to figure out which one I would like to pursue, but for now, I’ve been thinking about mechanical engineering. My goals for my future engineering career are to eventually become an engineer, make a positive impact on the people around me, make a good amount of money to still have fun outside of work, and lastly, enjoy my job. I believe that these are important goals because they determine if this will be the right career for me. It will also make me feel like I’m living my purpose instead of working like a slave in engineering. This scholarship will help me become an engineer, which will give me the opportunity to build resources that people may need. This scholarship will help me get the things I need in order to become an engineer. Scholarships like this one will help me leave college with a diploma without debt. That will allow me to start working without owing any college money. I can enjoy my job without worrying about college debt while seeing the money I make increase in my bank account. With that money from work, I can use it to enjoy my life even more by hanging out with my friends and family.

I’m grateful that I can say that growing up, I didn’t experience anything really traumatic that I usually hear from other applicants. I am an African African woman who just turned into a young adult less than a month ago. I grew up with my parents and my brother. We live in a middle class, and we have been trying our best to live happily in our two-story house. We try to be grateful for what we have, and we try to live our lives the best way possible. Every day I see applicants experiencing tragedy, death, and abuse, making my heart feel sorry for them, but because I didn’t experience the same thing as them, it makes me feel like I don’t have a chance when I apply for scholarships. It’s hard to stand out when you have the good qualities everyone else has. Like other applicants, I can bring my intelligence, leadership, academics, and great personality to win this scholarship. Since a young age, I’ve always had a gift for math. From the earliest memory that I have, in 3rd grade I used to excel in math. Whenever we did multiplication tests, starting from our one’s to our twelve’s, I was always one of the top three to finish and get every problem correct in a short amount of time. In seventh grade, my school did a grammy’s, which nominated students for doing well in different classes. Out of my whole grade, I managed to get nominated for best mathematician with two other people. On award day, I ended up winning best seventh grade mathematician, allowing me to really see more of my potential in math. I continued to excel in my math classes throughout elementary and middle school, and currently in my high school years. When it came to doing labs or projects in class, I always enjoyed them. I liked how everything was physical and was established by me and my classmates. I also enjoyed how we used our minds to come together to figure out how to solve problems and do experiments. I started thinking about how this could possibly tie into my interest in math and what careers I could possibly go into. Since I couldn’t think of anything from the top of my head, I ended up looking online. Some things that popped up were teacher, dentist, engineer, professor, and so much more. Out of all the options, engineering interested me the most. Just to confirm even more that engineering would be best for me, my college advisor let me take a future career test, and engineering came up. I knew right there that everything that I enjoyed up until now and the tests that I took proved that engineering was right for me. To get a deeper understanding of engineering, I made sure that I did research on it. Engineers in Michigan, where I live, can have a salary ranging from fifty thousand dollars to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. That is satisfying to me because I hope to have enough money to use for my free time while also helping my family financially. Besides money, I like that engineers are able to make an impact on the environment by improving people’s lives. I would like to help the people who helped me in many ways that I didn’t acknowledge enough. This is why I chose to take a path in the engineering industry.

Listen, if you guys like shows with action and powers, you have to watch The Umbrella Academy. I found this show randomly when I was bored one day. I was scrolling on Netflix, hoping to find something binge-watchworthy, and I found The Umbrella Academy. I was a bit skeptical at first because it was a new show that came out, and usually shows like those can be misleading and not the best, but I’m glad to say that I don’t regret watching this masterpiece. The Umbrella Academy is about forty-three babies who were born to random mothers one day who weren't showing any symptoms of pregnancy the day before. A millionaire called Sir Reginald Hargreeves adopts seven of them and sets up the Umbrella Academy, teaching the children how to save the world. In the present, the six clan members who are still alive get together after learning of Hargreeves’s death. While they work on uncovering the mystery behind their father's passing, the family's division gets worse due to differences in personalities and skill sets, and a worldwide apocalypse is another impending danger. Some things that make the show enjoyable are the characters, diversity, soundtracks, and comedy. In the show, you will notice that each character or sibling has their own background and personality. There is diversity in race, power, and culture. I like that the directors did that because everyone has something to prove in their own way. No one is a copy of anyone else. Here and there, you will see a good amount of jokes to lighten the mood between episodes. Some episodes may be upsetting to the viewer at times, so it is good to brighten the atmosphere while watching, but not too much so that you can still feel what different characters are feeling in different moments throughout the show. Also, after every episode, you will be able to experience a cool song that you can possibly add to your playlist. Some songs are familiar and will make you want to sing along. However, even though there are some good things about the show, there are some things that can be displeasing to certain viewers. Some are the show having a lot of fillers to reach the climax, and each is being about an hour long. This might not be bad to some people, but it can be to others, which is why I’m spreading awareness about it. With The Umbrella Academy, sometimes so many scenes can be overwhelming to try to remember, but don’t worry; if you are used to watching shows that are usually long in length, like this one you should be fine. Continuing on why this should be a major show to watch is because of the storyline. The show will make you feel like the end is coming just for a new chapter to begin. Certain actions by characters can cause this or lead to negative consequences coming their way. You can also expect different twists and surprises from each season that some average people wouldn’t be able to catch. As a person who enjoys this, it makes me more interested and makes me wonder what is going to happen next. At the end of every season, there is, of course, a mysterious cliffhanger that will have you at the edge of your seat while making you want to create fun conspiracies with your friends until the next season comes.

As a current, intelligent senior in high school, my goals are to keep getting a’s and b’s, fall within the top ten percent of my class, and to finish the year strong academically because being a senior can make you more lazy toward the end. My education goals for college are to pass my classes by doing well on my assignments and exams. I want to become an engineer, and I’ve heard that we would have to take a lot of hard math classes. Because of this, some more of my goals are to push through, try my best, and not let the classes eat me out alive. A scholarship would help me receive the education I need to even start a career. When I go to college, all the pressure is on me. I have to pay for my own education, so even though this scholarship won’t pay for everything, it will help pay for things such as books, my dorm room, meals, and many more things I would need to survive college. A scholarship would also relieve stress that I may have when it comes to paying for college. Instead of having two problems on my list, I can just worry about doing well in my classes. In my future, I can see myself becoming an engineer. I’m still trying to figure out which one I would like to pursue, but for now, I’ve been thinking about mechanical engineering. My goals for my future engineering career are to eventually become an engineer, make a positive impact on the people around me, make a good amount of money to still have fun outside of work, and lastly, enjoy my job. I believe that these are important goals because they determine if this will be the right career for me. It will also make me feel like I’m living my purpose instead of working like a slave in engineering. This scholarship will help me become an engineer, which will give me the opportunity to build resources that people may need. This scholarship will help me get the things I need in order to become an engineer. Scholarships like this one will help me leave college with a diploma without debt. That will allow me to start working without owing any college money. I can enjoy my job without worrying about college debt while seeing the money I make increase in my bank account. With that money from work, I can use it to enjoy my life even more by hanging out with my friends and family.

I am an unique Black women who is intelligent, admirable and pushes through everything that comes in her way. Since elementary school, I have always been one of the best students in my class. I managed to bring A’s and B’s back home to make not only myself proud but my family as well. Also, I manage to have great citizenship. I never caused any problems with my peers such as teachers, classmates, friends, and family. No matter what I go through, I try my best to be an example of the light in the world. Outside of academics, I play in the band and play soccer. I have many years of experience with both sports. I’ve been playing soccer since I was seven or eight years old. It’s nice to be able to be a role model in soccer because you don’t see a lot of African Americans who play soccer. I have been playing in the band since I was in seventh grade. Specifically, I do marching band so not only do I have to play an instrument but there are some conditioning that comes in it as well so in both sports that I play I am well active. Speaking on band, I am the current percussion section leader of the 2023-2024 year. Not only am I the leader, but I am the first ever woman to achieve this position. I am happy to break a long cycle and be an inspiration to all the women that come after me. Nonetheless, getting to this position was not easy. After being put into quarantine for a year and not being able to be in band made me start to doubt myself and my love for it was decreasing. I started to think that I wasn’t good enough and that band wouldn’t be the same like it used to be. I ignored the thoughts and went back on the first day of practice and kept coming to every practice. These practices were hard. First, the conditioning was hard. After being in quarantine for a whole year it was hard to get active when you were in your house the entire time. We had to do push-ups, laps around the track, wall sits, and so much more. Secondly, my leaders weren’t the best. I could tell that my leaders didn’t have the pride that they used to. When we would have practice, they would be to the side barely giving us instructions and not interacting with us the way leaders were supposed to. I remember one of the leaders saying, “I don’t even want to be here anymore” which made me feel upset. Their energy was starting to impact me by feeling the same way. Continuing on with the year, my fellow band members started to change my point of view. Here and there we would talk about how strong and different we were to everyone else. How we managed to stay in band even though the vibes of it all was poor and how the conditioning was very tiring. We realized what we had to put up all year and that the average person wouldn’t push through it. Ever since those moments, I believe that it made me tough and even more hardworking than I used to be. This also taught me to never give up because you never know what the future holds. The next year I became the cymbal section leader and the year after that I became the first ever woman to became the percussion section leader.

I am the percussion section leader for my school marching band. For band, we have to practice every week for at least two hours. One day, there was an upcoming competition coming up that we worked hard for everyday. When the competition came, we were excited and ready to win and do our best, but everything went upside down. Everything we went over and practiced consistently did not show in our performance during the competition, so my section felt bad. From the looks on their faces, they were disappointed, discouraged, and irritated. I felt bad, and I knew that after the competition I had to encourage and uplift them because I did not want them to feel like they didn’t put in the effort to be great. I wanted to acknowledge them for the hard work they put in to even get invited to the competition. I did not do this because I was a leader, but because I actually had a connection with my section and I wanted the best for them like anyone would. When we were making our way back to the bus that we took on the way to the competition, I thought about what I should say and how I should approach the situation that just happened. We sat down on the bus, and I decided to talk when the bus started to move. I started off by saying to not let the competition get to your heads. This was only one competition out of many that we had left, so I didn’t want them to think it was the end of the world. Then, I talked about how much work they put in prior to the competition. I complimented them on how they were willing to learn new things and push through when things got hard. With the work they put in, they were able to do everything right that they didn’t know they could do when we first started practicing, and I told them that they not only proved me wrong but they also proved themselves wrong. I wanted to let them know that they were capable of doing anything. Finally, I talked about how our next competition will be better than what we just did to boost their spirits. I let them think about what I told them so that it could sink into them and within minutes later they had smiles on their faces. Something that I wanted to see. For the rest of the bus ride, we played “Would You Rather?” and “Who’s Most Likely To?” to get our minds out of what happened today. I realized that what I was saying to my section applied to me too. In my life, I do my best and put so much effort into something I want to accomplish, but when I don’t get what I expected, I shut down and forget about all the work I did to even get where I was.

I love math because I have always been good at it, and I plan to go to college to major in mechanical engineering, which involves math. Starting in elementary school, I was usually one of the best students in the class who excelled in my math classes. It became clear to me in 3rd grade. Anytime we would do a multiplication test, I would usually be, if not the first, one of the first students to finish it and still get every question right. Then in 4th grade, a 5th grade teacher named Mrs.Rhagavan invited me to be a part of this team called "Academic Games." When I learned that it consisted of language arts, social studies, and most importantly, math, I gladly took the opportunity to join. Throughout the games and competitions we had, I usually was able to obtain 1st or 2nd place. The next year in 5th grade, I became one of the best on the team and became one of the captains for my 5th grade team showing how skilled I was. Furthermore, I was in the 7th grade and still loved math. My school had a school Emmy's coming soon where people from each grade were nominated for doing the best in different classes. Not thinking much of it, I soon found out that I was nominated for best mathematician out of my whole 7th grade class. I was in shock because I didn't realize that I was that good compared to everyone. I saw myself as an average math student until this moment. Continuing to the Emmy's, it was time for everyone to know who won the best mathematician award, and a few seconds later, I heard my name being called. I was filled with excitement and joy when I heard that I won out of my whole 7th grade class. Those major points in my life made me love math. I've learned from a very young age that I was good at it and continued to prosper in it by making huge accomplishments just as a kid. To this day, as a current high school senior, I'm still good at math and plan to become a future engineer because of it.

After high school, I would like to continue my education at a 4-year university. I would like to go to college to start my passion in a STEM field. I am currently thinking about majoring in engineering. From a young age, I have always had a passion for math and was usually one of the best students in my class to do it. This is why I decided that since I have potential in math, that I should continue it by continuing my education to eventually put me somewhere where I can use my skills, be successful, and have fun. I can see myself getting a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Once I get my degree, that is when my career will start. I plan to benefit and change the world around me. If I could, it would be nice to invent something that would help a future group of people or be a part of the invention. Not only will I be able to help others by being an engineer, but I will also be able to make a good amount of money to treat myself. That is what I view as successful. Doing what I love while also making money for me to do more fun things. When I become an engineer, not only will I be that, but I will also be a Black, female engineer. Many adults, especially college advisors, would tell me how there are very few engineers like me working in STEM fields today, especially in engineering fields. This is something that sparked my interest. The thought of being someone that a lot of people are not means a lot to me. This is another way of being successful for me. Becoming a Black, female engineer will make me look like I beat the odds. Doing something that a lot of people who look like me don’t do will make me feel like I’m on top. Also, being able to represent the people that look like me will make me feel good about myself, and I know that the people around me will applaud and acknowledge me for taking this big step. This scholarship will help me by paying for the resources I need to continue my education, such as books, meals, personal items, and tuition. This would give me the opportunity to become the engineer I inspire myself to be. In order to even get my bachelor’s degree, I have to go to college and pay to take classes, and money is what I really need the most. I already have the dedication, determination, and strength to take this long, hardworking journey, I just need the financial support to do so. Although this scholarship might not be able to pay for all of my expenses every year, it’s enough to support me for my education. When I become the engineer I strive to be, I will be able to inspire the people around me, such as my friends and family, who wish to work within a STEM field. I can be the light they need to know that it’s possible to be where I hope to be. So, this scholarship will not only be beneficial to me, but it will also affect the people around me.

My creative passion is music. Since I was a little girl, music has always been around me. My dad would always play it, I always had a music class, and eventually I decided to be a part of a marching band. This is where I became more consistent with my passion for music. In my 6th grade year, we had a black history program in our gym. The first couple of things they showed were the school’s choir, which I enjoyed, but I was ready for what was next. What came next was a percussion feature from my school’s marching band. I really enjoyed the cymbals. I liked the movements and flips they would do while performing; it amazed me. The way the cymbals were different from the drums and how shiny they were struck my interest. I decided from that point that I would like to see myself there next year. The next thing you know, I'm a senior still playing in the marching band. Not only that, but along the way, I have received awards and leadership roles for the band. I believe that this shows that music is something that I'm supposed to incorporate into my life in some way. I think music makes the world a better place by helping people come together. It helps us put aside our differences and draws us closer together. Since it draws people together, music has the power to transform the world. Worldwide musicians go to the stage and organize gatherings to sing about peace and optimism for the future whenever there is a crisis. Not only that, but your love for some types of music can be someone else's type of music, so it allows you to form future, everlasting relationships like the ones I made in band. If I had an extra 24 hours in the day, I would be productive by finishing anything I needed to get done, such as homework or chores, but since that doesn't take up the 24 hours in the day, I would probably try to play some songs on my xylophone that I have in my room from my percussion kit. Sometimes when I'm bored, I like to try to play a couple of seconds of a song on my xylophone from my memory to give me a challenge. When I don't feel like doing that, I just play music on my phone to dance or chill depending on what comes on. I feel the most creative when I'm at band practice showing the people around me what I can do with my cymbals. Being a current leader and a veteran on my instrument gives me the freedom to make parts and cool flashes which can catch the attention of the audience when we perform at competitions, parades, games, and other performances.

One book I would make everyone in the world read is "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. This is a book that I read my senior year in high school and it has truely been different than the rest. I also think this stood out to me because as an African American who goes to a predominately Black district, we are used to always reading slavery books so finally reading something outside of that really intrigued me. The book consist of the World State, a futuristic civilization centered on efficiency and technology, is examined in the book. Because "everyone belongs to every one else," there are no long-lasting relationships in this culture, and children are conditioned to lose their emotions and sense of individuality at a young age. The primary takeaway from Huxley's writing is a warning to everyone that mankind could vanish and be replaced by highly developed technology. It is very interesting to me because throughout the book it makes you wonder what life could be like if we lived in a world that refused to follow the current ways of the world and basically lived life the opposite way. The genres of the book consist of science fiction and dystopian fiction. You can expect lots of technology, government, and control in this book which keeps the audience attention and leaves you wondering what will happen next. In this book you will see what the World State beliefs are and will notice that it takes place in the world mostly in England. There are many different characters that will play different roles in the book that could make a difference for another character, so they all depend on each other. This book feeds you every chapter and makes you feel more hungry wondering where the story will go to next.