I am a high school senior living in Flower Mound, Texas. I’ve moved around all my life, but I’ve stayed in Flower Mound for close to 10 years now. I am involved in the string orchestra at my high school, theatre productions, and have worked for close to two years at the Community Activity Center in my area as a head lifeguard. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been drawn to the idea of medicine and being able to help others in a position as a doctor. Specifically, I want to work with kids’ health in pediatrics, and possibly tie that knowledge in with humanitarian work around the world. I know it’s a pretty hefty dream that’s gonna require lots of luck, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to do something like that someday. If I’m fortunate enough to experience this dream, I would become the first person in my family to become a doctor. I feel as though that in and of itself is a big step, with not really any idols to look up to, but nonetheless I am ecstatic. I’ve wanted to do this for as long as I can remember, and I’m beyond ready to make it happen. I mean, let’s get some facts down on the page. Thousands of children suffer each and every year from horrible illnesses and diseases in these less-focused-on areas around the world. Countless kids die from pneumonia, birth related defects, malaria, and other various diseases every single day. So, if I could make even the smallest impact to help improve the health and subsequently lives of those children, it’ll be completely worth it. Here in America, we have it amazing. We have speedy access to the best healthcare and doctors in the world. The rest of the world doesn’t have that privilege just by living here, so I genuinely do believe that more efforts need to be put in in order to make it as to where children don’t have to suffer anymore. I wish to travel to Haiti, Sudan, Somalia, and even as far as Vietnam. Being able to see some of these struggling areas around the world will completely give me insight as to what life may be like there. Millions of children all around the world struggle. We shouldn’t have that at all, nowhere. I hope to bring a positive impact to the world through my desire to focus on pediatric health and medicine in all areas of the world. Even though we are different races, different nationalities, and live in different countries, we’re all human. Nothing changes that.

For my Connections puzzle inspired by The New York Times, I have the categories as follows: Onomatopoeias (yellow): BUZZ, POP, POW, SIZZLE Actions When Surprised (green): JERK, JUMP, JOLT, SHAKE To Find And Take (blue): BUST, SEIZE, CATCH, GRAB Words That Contain Words Relating To Drinking (purple): MUGSHOT, CANDLE, STRAWBERRY, CUPCAKE For this puzzle, I had a lot of fun not only making the categories for the words, but making it so the words themselves might be tricky due to a lot of them having several different definitions. For example, SHAKE, BUST, CATCH, and JUMP all can have different definitions depending on the method in which the reader tries to define the word. This would essentially lead to confusion when trying to determine the correct interpretation of the words as a result. Additionally, I had a lot of fun with the last category (purple), due to it being very odd words and a particularly fun category. I sought to make the words as random as possible; like how else would you be able to pair up MUGSHOT and STRAWBERRY together? All in all, this was really fun, and especially entertaining due to me being a fan of the NYT Connections puzzles and being able to create my own!

There’s this game I used to play a lot as a kid called Operation. You’ve probably heard of it; where you take those mini tweezers and try to take the different objects that are lodged in the poor man’s body without setting off the alarm. I thought this game was THE thing to play. Anytime I’d go to an arcade, I’d make sure to play this game, not only because I could call myself a pro, but because I thought it would be an awesome job to pursue in the future. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a doctor. I didn’t know what yet at the time, but I knew I desired to work to help others. As I’ve grown up, I’ve narrowed down my desired specialty to be pediatrics, knowing that my dream of becoming a doctor one day certainly did lead to that. Currently, still being a high school senior, I have a lot of time ahead of me, but I do have a general idea of what I want to do. I'm planning to obtain my undergraduate degree and attend medical school, wherever that should take me. As before I mentioned I want to work in pediatrics, but I don’t necessarily want to work in family medicine. Rather, I’m interested in working with children with more severe cases and sicknesses, particularly in a hospital setting. Additionally, I’m looking at somehow tying that career of being a pediatrician while also doing some humanitarian work alongside it as well. This has been a big desire of mine in the past couple of years, and I truly believe that it could be such a rewarding and fulfilling career. I’ll be able to travel around the world to places not seen and meet those who are struggling. In doing so, I’ll be able to help the people in any way I possibly can, because no child deserves to suffer from an illness or injury that could be prevented. If I’m fortunate enough to experience this dream, I would become the first person in my family to become a doctor. I feel as though that in and of itself is a big step, with not really any idols to look up to, but nonetheless I am ecstatic. I’ve wanted to do this for as long as I can remember, and I’m beyond ready to make it happen.

I’m going to pursue a higher education at Mississippi State University in order to pursue a career in the medical field, hopefully geared towards pediatrics in some way, and become a physician’s assistant for a hospital. That right there is my dream, so I will have to move on to medical school in the nearby area once I obtain my undergraduate degree. I’m going to be completely honest. I really haven’t faced many hardships and trauma in my life. I’m extremely blessed to live in the calm town of Flower Mound, but one event did shake up my family a little bit. A couple years back, when I was an 8th grader, my younger brother became extremely sick with something we had no idea how to identify. He had trouble breathing, seeing out of his eyes for long periods of time, and had horrible pain in the lower regions of his body, particularly his legs and feet. One day, it got very bad. He was having a really hard time breathing and he said it was painful in nearly every corner of his body. My dad didn’t know what to do, so he took him, again, to the doctors in hopes that something could be fixed. They took one look at him, and immediately sent him to the ER. He was going into a state of DKA, which is diabetic shock, something we had no idea he had ever had. He had so much sugar in his blood and no insulin to fight it, so his body was going into a state of shock. Fluid was swelling in his brain, he lost vision completely, and his body was shutting down. We genuinely thought he might not have a chance at life for how bad his condition was. Thankfully, it wasn’t the case, and he pulled through despite the steep odds against him. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, something that happens purely by genetics, but with even more oddity because nobody in my family has ever had the disease. My parents were hit with hefty hospital bills, ER costs, and the new addition of having to buy extremely highly priced insulin monthly. That day, my whole family changed. We took steps to understand his condition, learn from it, and adapt our lives to make his just a little bit better in any way we could. It taught me the importance of helping others and adapting one’s life to maybe have the chance at bettering another’s. This is the live of serving others and conducting service in order to maybe brighten someone else’s day. Even if it’s just a small act of kindness, or even a grand gesture, anything you can do to make another person smile is already better than doing nothing at all. Serving others has impacted me personally in how I tend to view the world and the relationships I’ve made with others. I really believe that it is completely free to be kind, and that housing such kindness can prove to have an everlasting positive impact on yourself and others around you. All it takes is a smile to brighten someone else’s day, so why not throw in a little act of service while you’re at it?

For my future, I want to become a pediatrician of some kind. Right now I’m not too sure about what specific field I want to go into, but I know I want to help ill kids and those who are sick in any possible way I can. I am thinking about doing pediatric endocrinology though. My ultimate dream with this job, however, would be to pursue humanitarian aid along with a career in pediatrics, which would involve something like traveling to struggling areas in desperate need of healthcare and medicine and being able to provide it for those people. I want to ensure that kids all around the country and world get to experience a childhood, and have the privilege of groundbreaking medicine and healthcare like we have here in the U.S.. I think by going out to these areas and directly helping the people and children in need, we can make the world a better place, by not having people still struggling to get basic medical care. When I see the word “adversity”, it’s hard not to think of the unfortunate incident with my younger brother a couple years back. He had been feeling awful for a while and complained of specific alarming symptoms: he had trouble walking, trouble seeing, and that he felt pain all around his body. Obviously, in concern for his wellbeing, my Dad took him to the local doctor’s office, where when he arrived, the doctor’s called the ambulance and sent him immediately to Children’s Hospital in Dallas, almost a 40 minute drive away from our house. He went into a state called DKA, which to our surprise, labeled him as being type 1 diabetic, something neither I nor my parents knew anything about, as he was a plain old healthy kid. It got so bad that while he was in the hospital, his brain was starting to swell, essentially meaning his body was shutting down. I genuinely thought my younger brother might die; we all did, and for something we had no idea was going on. He was only 12, and it seemed as though his life was at a stop, for there was a big chance he wouldn’t be able to live because it had gotten so bad. Luckily, this was not the case, and he managed to pull through and make it in the end, something which must’ve taken incredible strength to endure. It made me think of how lucky I am to be the way I am, and to have the health that I do. Because, for some people, that isn’t the case. For some people, their life ends before it can truly begin, and that’s something I feel like more people need to see and understand. For me, my younger brother’s journey through finding out his disease and trying to live with it knowing it won’t ever go away, is such an act of patience and complacency I don’t think I’ll ever know. I want to be a pediatrician in order to help kids like my younger brother, and to let kids be able to live on, not having to wave goodbye to their future due to a simple illness or medical problem.

For my future, I want to become a pediatrician of some kind. Right now I’m not too sure about what specific field I want to go into, but I know I want to help ill kids and those who are sick in any possible way I can. I am thinking about doing pediatric endocrinology though. My ultimate dream with this job, however, would be to pursue humanitarian aid along with a career in pediatrics, which would involve something like traveling to struggling areas in desperate need of healthcare and medicine and being able to provide it for those people. I want to ensure that kids all around the country and world get to experience a childhood, and have the privilege of groundbreaking medicine and healthcare like we have here in the U.S.. I think by going out to these areas and directly helping the people and children in need, we can make the world a better place, by not having people still struggling to get basic medical care. When I see the word “adversity”, it’s hard not to think of the unfortunate incident with my younger brother a couple years back. He had been feeling awful for a while and complained of specific alarming symptoms: he had trouble walking, trouble seeing, and that he felt pain all around his body. Obviously, in concern for his wellbeing, my Dad took him to the local doctor’s office, where when he arrived, the doctor’s called the ambulance and sent him immediately to Children’s Hospital in Dallas, almost a 40 minute drive away from our house. He went into a state called DKA, which to our surprise, labeled him as being type 1 diabetic, something neither I nor my parents knew anything about, as he was a plain old healthy kid. It got so bad that while he was in the hospital, his brain was starting to swell, essentially meaning his body was shutting down. I genuinely thought my younger brother might die; we all did, and for something we had no idea was going on. He was only 12, and it seemed as though his life was at a stop, for there was a big chance he wouldn’t be able to live because it had gotten so bad. Luckily, this was not the case, and he managed to pull through and make it in the end, something which must’ve taken incredible strength to endure. It made me think of how lucky I am to be the way I am, and to have the health that I do. Because, for some people, that isn’t the case. For some people, their life ends before it can truly begin, and that’s something I feel like more people need to see and understand. For me, my younger brother’s journey through finding out his disease and trying to live with it knowing it won’t ever go away, is such an act of patience and complacency I don’t think I’ll ever know. I want to be a pediatrician in order to help kids like my younger brother, and to let kids be able to live on, not having to wave goodbye to their future due to a simple illness or medical problem.

So far, I’ve taken both the SAT and ACT, for which I did much better on the ACT. On the SAT, I got a 1370, whereas the ACT I received a score of 32. Although the two tests are pretty comparable, I felt like I just get bogged down and do worse and worse on the SAT even though I end up studying more for it anyways! So, in hopes of getting an improved SAT score, I’ve devised a simple plan that will hopefully round up the various aspects of my score that tends to be lacking. Step 1: Work on the Reading Comprehension section. For the SAT, my the section I continuously tend to do worse on is the Reading Comprehension section. I don’t know how it happens, but I seem to completely forget only the most important parts of the reading that actually asks most of the questions. So, I was planning on starting to create a reading schedule, which would help me get to read more and work on my reading comprehension, while also working on speed reading, due to the test being pretty strict on time. Step 2: Know my math formulas. It’s always a little humbling when you get into the SAT room and you open up the booklet, only to see a math question that you know what it’s referring to, but have no idea on how to tackle it. In many cases, it’s these very niche equations and formulas that you’ve might’ve heard one time back in middle school that they use to trick you. Because of this, I was going to try and find math sections on previous years’ SATs, and try to identify the lesser-known equations and formulas just to have them in my memory bank. If I can do this, I can tackle these questions with ease, and ensure that I have plenty of time for the more difficult questions. Now, the reason I want a high SAT score is due to the fact that I can use it to get a lot of merit-based scholarships. I need as much money as I possibly can for school because I’m going to attend an out-of-state school, and then go on to medical school, where both of which will end up costing me a lot of money. With my 32 ACT, I qualify for a decent merit-based scholarship, but if I end up getting a higher score on my SAT, I can get even more money, almost making my undergraduate technically free, along with other scholarships if I’m fortunate enough to receive them.

My name is Sean Pribyla and I’m going to become a pediatrician in the future. I’ve had this dream since I was little for as long as I can remember, so I’m going to pursue a major of biochemistry and attend medical school in order to become a doctor. Currently I’m planning on attending Mississippi State University for my undergraduate degree, and then moving on to a medical school, most likely within the state of Mississippi, or maybe even somewhere back home here in Texas. My ultimate goal is to work as a pediatrician in a hospital, dealing with kids that suffer more severe illnesses and diseases. Although it’s going to be hard, I genuinely think it would be so rewarding, especially to help young children and nurture them back to health. I want to work with more severe cases, not really the day-to-day stuff that family pediatricians work with. Although that is still very interesting, I just really think working in a hospital would really fit me and what I want to do. I’m not quite sure what specific type of pediatrics I want to focus predominately on, but I am looking into pediatric oncology and pediatric endocrinology. A big dream of mine, tied in with pediatrics, is to go overseas and pursue possible pediatric humanitarian aid, assisting in medically developing these countries that lack proper healthcare and means of obtaining such aid. I really want to travel to villages in Cambodia, struggling areas in Africa, and anywhere where people need help. I’ve heard stories and have seen news about groups like this, and it genuinely seems like it would be so engaging and rewarding at the end, by getting to make each person’s lives better in whatever way they possibly need it. Now this, truly, in my opinion, would be the best and most rewarding job ever. Because of that, I want to pursue a study abroad program, and possibly be able to travel to those more struggling areas and make a difference in their community. Now, if I were to win this scholarship, I’d put it towards my college education. College is VERY expensive, especially for going to an out-of-state school, and furthering my studies at a medical school somewhere else as well. For my current path, I need to have both an undergraduate 4-year degree, along with being able to pursue a future in medical school somewhere as well, so as much money as I can possibly get will be gratefully accepted. I have big plans in life, so anything that I can get to help will help me push myself towards my dreams and goals.

I love Disney movies. Ever since I was little, my siblings and I would watch them for hours on end, remembering every word to every song, and sometimes even acting out the character’s actions. My favorite Disney movie, however, is Up, a simple story about a grandpa (Carl) and a wilderness explorer (Russell) and their adventure throughout Paradise Falls. When I first watched this movie, I was instantly drawn to the world they created and the characters in general. Russell was a dorky little Boy Scout, who’s sole goal in the movie is to earn his “assisting the elderly badge”, in this case, helping the cranky old Carl, who will risk dying in order to get his house to the top of Paradise Falls. We find out in the exposition that Carl’s wife, Ellie, fell terribly ill and passed away. The whole montage showcasing their married life lasts all but a few minutes. Watching this older, it dawned on me how short life can be. Ellie and Carl both had dreams and aspirations for their future; to explore the vast wilderness and visit Paradise Falls, but fate had other plans. Carl, later an old miserable man, decided to finally pursue their dream, attaching thousands of balloons to his house and floating away. The journey is difficult to watch. Violent thunderstorms, a mass of popped balloons, countless dogs watching their every move, and the difficulty of keeping Russell safe. However, with all that in mind, Carl and Russell successfully make it to Paradise Falls, planting the house and finally fulfilling their dream. Something’s off. The house is there, Carl is happy, and all is calm and peaceful. But, one thing is missing. Ellie. He stares at her chair, still empty after all those years since her death. Even though Carl has accomplished “their” dream, he failed to realize that he’d only feel truly fulfilled if Ellie were there too. So what does this mean? I can tell you what, my six year-old brain could not comprehend such an ending. Everything was so perfect, but off at the same time! However, when I watched it more recently, I realized what the movie was trying to convey. Explore. That’s it. Now I know what you’re thinking. “If thats the whole message, then why isn’t Carl happy?” Well, when he reminiscences of the time he spent with Ellie, he has a thought looming in the back of his mind: Russell. The entire journey he spent with Russell, a tall colorful bird named Kevin, and a talking dog named Doug. Yes, he made it to Paradise Falls, but more importantly he was given the opportunity to explore and grasped it by the reigns. And that had made all the difference. After realizing that, I try to incorporate that into my life more and more. I tend to be fearful and anxious of the future ahead, with goals in mind that I’m always too scared to reach. But when you think of it, what’s stopping me? In truth, there’s nothing. I want to go explore the world. Find those places like Paradise Falls that make me truly happy. I want to explore friendships. Meet others like Russell, Kevin, and Doug that make me feel a little less alone. And most importantly, I wanna explore the things that make me happy: music, food, science, any everything alike. I’m a wilderness explorer.

I still don’t why to this day I signed myself up for the dreaded public speaking class. It was sophomore year and I needed just one more non-academic class, so I filled out the form, landing me in Mr. Dion’s room on the first floor. Tucked far into the back of the school, even the walk there was frightening. Approaching, however, I encountered a friendly bald-headed man and silly shoes waiting outside the door with a fist held in his right hand. I sat down in the back of the class and immediately realized I knew nobody. Great. I would have to tackle my fear of public speaking in a setting that seriously permitted it. He walked into the room and stood at the podium behind the giant empty whiteboards and explained how he wanted us to introduce ourselves and talk for 2 minutes about our summer; literally a nightmare. “Sean,” he waved, “let’s have you start us off.” Shoot. I stood up, walked to the front of the class and started explaining who I was and why on earth they should be listening to me. “I’m umm Sean, and um, well y’know, I’m a sophomore uhh and umm, my summer was uh—“ “Sit down” he ordered. Oh my god. If I failed to even explain my name, how would I ever be able to give speeches later throughout the year! He walked up to the front of the class while everyone’s eyes trailed me to the back corner. He explained how there were going to be “forbidden words”, and those included “like, y’know, uhh, umm, so…, as well as using and repeatedly” he said. My head, like a thousand pounds, fell down onto the table in pure embarrassment. I felt so stupid and sorta defeated, especially with a task as simple as just explaining who I was! This is when Mr. Dion, or Coach Dion as I like to call him, stopped me after class to talk to me. He explained that everything was going to be ok and that’s exactly what his job is. I wasn’t going to fail or anything, and he said he’d be here for me if I needed help on anything. In reality, he became my go-to guy for anything at school. Even though his class was definitely stressful on the mind, just choosing to get out of my comfort zone and do the things I’m anxious about doing, really helped me in the long run on reaching out. I had this premonition my entire life that I would just be magically perfect at each and everything I do. However, that is so unrealistic and will never be true. Just like everyone else, I am not perfect, and that’s really was Coach Dion taught me. There’s things I’m going to have to learn and experience if I wanna progress further on in life. And the thing I’ve realized is that I don’t even necessarily have to be good at it. If I can just enjoy doing that thing, then I’m already halfway there. I’m approaching my senior year of high school and I still go to his room to talk to him. I fist bump him in the halls like he used to do when I entered his class, and I try to get a conservation in anytime I can. I can truly say, Coach Dion has showed me the comfortability from being uncomfortable.

When I was little, the craze was the Nintendo 3ds. Both me and my brothers were fortunate to get one, and we always wanted to play with each other on whatever game it was. The first game we got, however, was this game called MiiTopia, which wasn’t as popular necessarily. In the world of MiiTopia, your characters were your Miis, little carbon copy mini figures of yourself and friends. The goal, however, and honestly quite disturbing now that I think of it, was to defeat the Dark Curse, a villain who stole the Mii’s faces and stuck them on trolls and goblins. You embark on this quest, with your fellow players, to find this Dark Curse, and defeat him for good, returning all of the faces to the world of MiiTopia. Sounds corny doesn’t it? The great thing about it though, was the fact that its an RPG, so although there was a storyline to follow, you could play it however you wish. And that’s exactly what we did!! My brothers and I would sit next to each other on the couch, and defeat the stolen faces of the MiiTopia world one by one. Our characters also had powers, where each of them could have a certain job. My job (which was the best job obviously) was the scientist, where you’d use explosive and damaging chemicals to kill the stolen faces! I remember, my brother was always the tank which was super funny because you could shoot yourself at the villains, which I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life. My other brother was always the cat, which used its razor sharp claws to scratch the goblins and trolls. As much fun as the game was, the best part was playing it with my brothers. It was so nice to just sit down for an hour or two and just laugh like crazy while our team swept through the MiiTopia world. With my evil scientist, my older brother’s feline, and my younger brother’s explosive tank, nothing seemed impossible. I’d laugh so hard until I cried, and there never seemed to be a dull moment. MiiTopia gave me a face with a smile, and that’s honestly all I ever wanted.

Math has always been my favorite subject in school. History is too long and complex, I still don’t know how to write perfect English (this sentence probably has horrible grammar), and Science has too many terms, but math always has an answer. No matter how long it takes one to solve whatever problem there is, there is always a definite answer to one’s question. And if you think about it, math is out there everywhere! From the things I learned early on in 2nd grade like how to multiply, to the physics i just learned last year, everything in our world uses math in order to function. I remember when I was a little kid, I was always so fascinated in harder math. I was in this program called Duke Tip, where I had the opportunity to collaborate with other kids and even have the chance to take the PSAT in 6th grade. For me, that was a dream come true. My barely 5ft self getting to walk in there and get stared at by the high school seniors was definitely scary, but rewarding. And also getting to do tough and tricky math for me at the time? Sign me up! I have a couple reasons for liking the subject of math, but if I truly had to pick the biggest one, it would be my 5th grade teacher Mr. Claxton. He was my math teacher, and he really embodied the “fun learning” environment I love. There’s something so much different about being in a fun environment as opposed to just being told the material. We’d play games and compete with other classmates to win prizes and trinkets. Mr. Claxton helped me and a lot of my classmates realize math is fun. “Math is everywhere!”, he’d say, “it just takes someone smart to find it.” And after that, he’d point at each of us in the room. I think from that day on, math became my favorite subject. Something very challenging, but extremely rewarding in the end.