"You don't want to fuel the stereotype!" I was often told this about swimming. It's said that black people tend to be poor swimmers and that most can't swim at all, and for a long time, I was part of that group. I listened to all the voices in my head telling me I can't. It was only until I joined my high school's swim club that I began to feel differently about swimming. I joined as a manager since my best friend wanted to participate as a swimmer, and I began to help them learn how to swim, what materials they use, and how to time swimmers for their meets. I began to fall in love with the sport. I saw how hard my friends would work; I would get prepared for the swim club at 3 am to get to practice by 5, and I would spend my weekends at the county pool watching and scoring my teammates. It was incredible. It made me curious, so I began having my friends teach me how to swim and asking my coach for tips and tricks. I would spend 2-3 hours just trying to doggy-paddle and continuously fail over and over. After a few weeks of constant training, I began to learn more and more how to tread water, and I was even able to do a 25 metre in training. It just made me realise how incredibly hard all of my friends work to get to where they are. Before, it was something I thought that swimming wasn't very difficult, and that I could learn at any moment. But every time I would start, I would falter getting in the water, or I would use every excuse not to swim. Truefully told, I was afraid. I was afraid that I would fall into the population of Black people who can't swim, that I would drown, that I would fail. However, I also saw all my friends fail. At an important swim meet, I watched my friend cry because she couldn't finish her 100 free. I saw my teammates get last place in a county-wide meet, even though I knew how hard they had worked just to get to the point of swimming in relays. It then hit me that I don't have to be scared, because the people I love and admire have failed many times. That it's okay to fall, cry, and that we can grow from those experiences. It's all part of a process we must go through and learn from. They continue to inspire me deeply and influence how I view swimming. Now, I am not one of the black people who can't swim, and I inspire my friends to push themselves and do more. I no longer avoid pool trips and the beach; I embrace the water and swim to the best of my ability. I have a long way before I can compete competitively, but as long as I continue to tune out the voices that tell me "No," I can swim as far as my feet will take me. If I had never joined Northwestern's Swim Club, I would still be the stereotype I had been warned about in the past, which makes me eternally grateful.

Sometimes, in our health journeys, we feel like Sisyphus. It seems as if no matter how hard we try, our efforts are futile and we have to start all over again. Many times, I have felt that because I didn't meet the traditional definition of health, I needed a major overhaul. When people think of health, they often assume that being fit, thin, and free of illnesses is the only definition. However, to me, it goes much deeper than that. Being healthy means being able to be the best version of yourself. It involves being confident, striving to improve, and growing. It's incredibly important to me that I understand my health and stand up for it. To continue, as a student, it's very easy to lose yourself. Assignments will pile up, you'll retreat to your room, and you'll find yourself procrastinating on all tasks; it can be very overwhelming. Another challenge I face is finding a community to rely on. As an LGBTQ student, many people may not feel comfortable being out and open, which can lead to loneliness. To combat these challenges, I try to create a safe space for those who feel the same way and also struggle with balancing school. I like to have study sessions with my friends so they don't feel alone amidst the pressure they face. Moreover, one of the most important factors for mental wellness is community. When we come together, we don't have to struggle alone, and I believe it's a key part of maintaining good mental health. Thirdly, as an incoming college student, there are many ways to stay physically and mentally healthy that people don't always take advantage of. For example, Rochester Institute of Technology offers a variety of wellness classes for students, including Pilates, dance, swimming lessons, and more. Still, I struggle with starting courses like these. Many people, including myself, find it difficult to work out due to gender dysphoria, fear of exclusion, and lack of support. Additionally, many are unaware that these courses even exist! In the future, I want to prioritize taking courses like these as a way to relieve stress, achieve my physical health goals, and escape some of the stress from coursework that many students face. For mental health, there are also counselors and support groups for those who feel similar to me and want to work on managing their feelings and environment. It's important to me to encourage others to take care of themselves because it also inspires me. Seeing others work hard on self-care motivates me to prioritize my health and strive to become the best version of myself. Overall, I want to grow into the best me there is. Although I face challenges with managing my time, starting to exercise, and breaking out of the college loneliness that many freshmen face, the biggest challenge is to stay true to myself. By prioritizing my mental and physical health and reaching out for support when I need to, I learn that I don't have to be Sisyphus. I can rely on those resources and friends to guide me to a life that is the healthiest version of me!

Community service is one of those things that changed my life for the better, and continues to change others. I had been homeless for the last 6 months, and so many of my food and shelter needs relied on people helping me. I am incredibly fortunate to have never needed to ask for money, but there have been times when I had to go to a donation centre to receive school uniforms or winter clothing. Since then, I have been permanently housed by a relative, and I seek to give people the same solace as I once needed. Many people don't realise that what may be a small act of kindness, whether that be aiding a care center to give out information, dental, or vaccination treatment, or even just the act of helping your neighbours who are elderly with tasks, can mean everything. I truly believe that if you are a part of your community, there is a way you can serve those around you. To move on, I have participated in all kinds of community service, such as volunteering at festivals, working with children, and creating and donating food bags to those in need. While at this current moment, I am not involved with one recurring community service activity, I would love to volunteer again for the Hyattsville Festival in August/September, as well as at Rochester Institute of Technology's food bank to organise storage and to donate food itself. I have always wanted to help out in a soup kitchen or a free meals initiative, and I would love to aid the existing one at my college, and even expand it further to include more people within that area. As someone who has utilized those services in the past, I find that I would be able to relate and understand someone in that situation better than most. Lastly, I plan to study Criminal Justice and Chemistry at RIT. I have watched many YouTube videos on various criminal justice cases where people of color are involved, and I’ve seen the mismanagement of their forensic evidence or criminal cases. Many times, families and viewers alike feel frustrated by the justice system, and ever since learning about the way the prosecuted are treated, I wanted to be a part of a group that changes things. Furthermore, in my junior year of high school, I read the book on the Innocence Project, a non-profit group that works to exonerate criminals who were unlawfully convicted. Many of these people were labelled with many nasty remarks, and lived their lives in falsehood because of evidence being lost, forged statements, and improper handling of their cases. Thus, I wanted to enter that field and open a forensic counselling office to help people and adolescents who have been in a similar situation and need help re-entering society. It would also act as an aid to those who seek compensation for their cases, and as we have a lack of offices within the Maryland region, I hope to come back and serve the area that loved me so dearly.

My favorite song is Von Dutch, and it's because it's almost like a love letter to society's view of Charli XCX. To me, the song is about Charli XCX's social and parasocial relationships. A lot of people will see their favorite celebrity and purchase every show, purse, and lipstick that they've seen them in to almost replicate that status at home. She says "It's alright to admit that I'm the fantasy," which corroborates my theory. She is the icon, the moment, and even though many fans and haters try to emulate her, it's no match. You want to be like her, so you're willing to spend money and show off these expensive or vintage brands to exude her level of confidence. It's like telling the listener "Yes, you may be willing to go to any lengths to be me, but no matter what I wear I still will be better!" this is also shown through the lyric "Von Dutch, a cult classic yet I still pop." This mentality also inspires my confidence. It's very easy to want to copy someone else's style, to want to be them, or even to loathe them. However, if you just be yourself and you believe that you're the most iconic, the best looking, etc, then your outfit, makeup, etc doesn't matter. It just matters that you're that supportive of yourself. Many people can try to, but they cannot be you or never have the same aura as you do. I felt like that is what she was saying in this song.

One of my favorite examples of overcoming adversity is through ice cream. I love Talenti Gelato, however, it's incredibly difficult to choose my favorite flavor in the grocery store when I'm shopping. They're all 5.99 a pint, I love coffee flavors just as much as I do pistachio. But it boils down to what I value most in my ice cream. Is it the texture? Smoothness? The intensity of the flavor? This might seem like an unimportant factor in deciding what I'm purchasing, however, it's my thought process that allows me to work through my options. I think about what is most viable for me, and what will I eat the most, and I think deeply about what I buy before deciding on my most purchased flavor; coffee chocolate chip. That's how I overcame the difficulty of choosing what ice cream to buy My last paragraph may have come across as silly or unprofessional, nevertheless, I want to take a different approach to adversity. We struggle with difficulties in our everyday lives, whether that be struggling to decide what toothpaste to buy or overcoming an obstacle that wasn't allowing you to get the job you want. These are all equally important at the time of the challenge. They can intensify daily. Whenever we think of the word "adversity" we think of something much more profound than it is. Sure, I could've talked about the time I prepared for a talent show in 6th grade displaying my singing, only to do poorly and get berated by my father afterward, and how that led me to work harder on my vocals so it would never happen again. Sure, I could have talked about the time in 7th grade when I was diagnosed with dyslexia and finally understood why I wrote the way I did and what I did to fix my writing. Maybe those would have been more intelligent essays. But that's not the story I wanted to convey to you, nor are those the books I chose to write. In the future, I want to educate individuals on writing college, scholarship, or program essays. When you read this essay, by this point you most likely would have never guessed I would've taken the turns that I did. However, this excited you more than reading about my aforementioned ideas and traumas. I want to foster a community of people who understand how to use emotive writing for their benefit. My craft may not be mastered, moreover, I have just begun my passion. However, I love writing. I fully believe that teaching classes on this or showing people the opportunity they have when they write their heart out to any application could work wonders. Many people don't apply for opportunities such as this one because they believe they are underqualified or that they don't have the skills. Many people don't apply because the essays are too much work. I want to show them that they are qualified, they possess the skills, and that it's not very hard at all. In the future, I see many people applying for every opportunity that they can grasp, because they truly believe it's within their reach. Writing is an adversity that many do not see the need to overcome. Yet, I am willing to jump the obstacle with them if they desire the will to relearn how to write from the heart.