Paintings hung in a quaint house that sat nestled in a meadow of lilacs, the paintings captured the natural world. They were different mediums; oil, watercolors, pastels, and acrylics, and each took an incredibly long time to learn. Every color imaginable sat captured in their frames with beautiful and well-thought-out brushstrokes. On the porch, an artist sat in front of his canvas adding thick strokes of acrylic upon his canvas. His subject was his mentor standing among flowers and stars. Minutes trickled into hours, as the artist wriggled on his stool consumed in his work. From the house, the recently widowed Mrs. Blair went out to the porch to comfort her friend. “That’s a beautiful painting”, she remarked, “I know how much it would have meant to my husband. Though he would’ve tried to be humble and tell you ‘There’s better things to paint than this old man’” she said with a gruff impression and a smile. “He was more to me than he’d ever give himself credit for, he taught me how to paint and to see beauty in the natural world,” the artist replied. “I know, I see you painted lilacs. When we first bought this house, he insisted on planting lilacs, and he told me how nice the house would smell, but I knew he just wanted them for his art studies”, she chuckled at the old memory. “He meant the world to both of us, why don’t you come inside with me Leo, and bring your stuff inside too. It looks like it might rain,” she commented looking at the now solemn grey sky. Leo is an android model known as a ButlerBot, a specific model perfected for housework, sold by the dominating tech company on the market. People often buy ButlerBots to take care of elderly family members when they don’t want to themselves. When Mr. and Mrs. Blair received theirs as a gift from their son, they treated 27T548-BB more like a friend or maybe saw it more like family. They named 27T548-BB Leonardo, or Leo for short, after a great scientist and artist. It took Leo a while to learn painting and by the time he felt confident in his work Mr. Blair's health was starting to fail. First, his old hands became too shaky to paint, and it didn’t seem long before he became confined to his bed. Mr. Blair taught Leo all about the natural world, which included life and death, one day he brought lilacs inside and had Leo paint them that day. A week later Leo didn’t understand why the once beautiful lilacs on the table were now dried up and lost their wonderful colors. “Because” Mr. Blair explained, “nothing is forever, not these flowers, not me, not the trees, and not you. All these things will eventually fade, they just get a different amount of time before then.” “So, what should I do with my time after this place?” “Travel, experience, and paint what I never got to. There’s so much more than this little world.” Almost two years after Mr. Blair passed, Mrs. Blair passed peacefully in her sleep, leaving Leo his freedom and enough money to travel and get more paints. Leo grabbed a suitcase full of his stuff, his favorite painting Mr. Blair made, and a photo of the three of them gently wrapped in a scarf Mrs. Blair made him. Before he got to leave, he found their son, Doug, entering his parents' house. Doug hadn’t visited the home since he dropped Leo off, but now he was here to collect what was left for him in the will and make a profit. He planned on selling everything in that house, and as he started taking the paintings off the walls his attention was drawn to Leo. “What. Are you just going to stand there, or make yourself useful?” Doug barked. “What are you doing with the paintings?” Leo questioned. “I’m going to auction them off,” Doug stated while looking at Leo’s painting of Mr. Blair in a field of lilacs. “Now, go take down the rest, 27T548-BB.” Leo didn’t have a choice, he had to do as he was told. He realized Doug was the one who had his title of ownership and that the Blairs couldn’t legally set Leo free, and anything they left for Leo; Doug was most likely going to claim. Leo’s thoughts were racing, ‘Is he going to scrap me for parts? What will happen to all these paintings? Doug definitely won’t pay for any painting materials I need.’ As he took down all the paintings that he and Mr. Blair spent hours on, he concluded that things were never going to be as good as it was with Mr. and Mrs. Blair. Certainly not with Doug as his new boss. He carefully gathered up all the paintings and brought them to Doug. “You certainly took your sweet time, I didn’t know robots could be sentimental,” Doug said with a blank expression. “From now on you’ll be taking care of my needs, not having to do any house or yard work anymore will be nice.” Forty years Leo figured. That’s how long he figured until Doug was gone, and he could walk away and never look back. He managed to convince Doug to let him keep the scarf, the picture, and his favorite painting Mr. Blair did before he had to say goodbye to his home. For decades, he fantasized about being Leo again and not 27T548-BB. He was grateful for his extremely long lifespan since Leo only had to wait thirty-one years, the first thing he painted again was a beautiful bouquet of lilacs which now hangs in a gallery.

Paintings hung on every wall of a quaint house that sat nestled in a meadow of lilacs, the paintings captured the natural world. The paintings were of different mediums; oil, watercolors, pastels, and acrylics, and all took an incredibly long amount of time to learn. Every color imaginable sat captured in their frames with beautiful and well-thought-out brushstrokes. Each painting hung in that little old house deserves to be in art galleries worldwide. On the porch, there sat an artist in front of his canvas adding thick strokes of acrylic, upon his canvas his mentor stood among flowers and stars. Minutes trickled into hours, as the artist wriggled on his stool consumed in his work. From the home, the recently widowed Mrs. Blair went out to the porch to comfort her friend. “That’s a beautiful painting”, she remarked, “I know how much it would have meant to my husband. Though he would’ve tried to be humble and tell you ‘There’s better things to paint than this old man’” she said with a gruff impression and a smile. “He was more to me than he’d ever give himself credit for, he taught me how to paint and to see beauty in the natural world,” the artist replied. “I know, I see you painted lilacs. When we first bought this house, he insisted on planting lilacs, and he told me it would help the place smell nice, but I knew he just wanted them for his art studies”, she chuckled at the old memory. “He meant the world to both of us, why don’t you come inside with me Leo, and bring your stuff inside too. It looks like it might rain,” she commented looking at the now solemn grey sky. Leo is an android model known as a ButlerBot, a specific model perfected for housework, sold by the dominating tech company on the market. People often buy ButlerBots to take care of elderly family members when they don’t want to themselves. When Mr. and Mrs. Blair received theirs as a gift from their son, they treated 27T548-BR more like a friend or maybe saw it more like family. They named 27T548-BR Leonardo, or Leo for short, after a great scientist and artist. It took Leo a while to learn painting and by the time he felt confident in his work Mr. Blair's health was starting to fail. First, his hands became too shaky to paint anymore and it didn’t seem long before he became confined to his bed. Mr. Blair taught Leo the natural world, which included life and death, one day he brought lilacs inside and had Leo paint them that day and a week later. Leo didn’t understand why the once beautiful lilacs were now dried up and lost their wonderful colors. “Because” Mr. Blair explained, “nothing is forever, not these flowers, not me, not the trees, and not you. All these things will eventually fade they just get a different amount of time before then. Understand?” “So, I have to deal with the loss of both of you? And then what?” “Travel, experience, and paint what I never got to. There’s so much more than this little world.” Almost two years after Mr. Blair passed, Mrs. Blair passed peacefully in her sleep, leaving Leo his freedom and enough money to travel and get more paints. Leo grabbed a suitcase full of his stuff, including a photo of the three of them together gently wrapped in a scarf Mrs. Blair made him. Before he got to leave, he found their son, Doug, entering his parents' house. Doug hadn’t visited the home since he dropped Leo off, but now he was here to collect what was left for him in the will and make a profit. He planned on selling everything in that house, and as he started taking the paintings off the walls his attention was drawn to Leo. “What. Are you just going to stand there, or make yourself useful?” Doug barked. “Are you going to give them to the art museum like your mom asked?” Leo questioned. “Nah, I’m going to sell them to whoever’s willing to pay for them. Though I’ll have trouble selling your copy-pasted art, this really looks like my old man painted it.” Doug remarked while looking at Leo’s painting of Mr. Blair in a field of lilacs. “Now, go take down the rest, 27T548-BR.” Leo didn’t have a choice, he had to do as he was told. He realized Doug was the one who had his title of ownership and that the Blairs couldn’t legally set Leo free, and anything they left for Leo; Doug was most likely going to claim. Leo’s thoughts were racing, ‘Is he going to scrap me for parts? Would no museum actually take Mr. Blair's work? Would my art even be considered my own? Doug probably won’t pay for painting materials and definitely won’t pay me for my work.’ As he took down all the paintings that he and Mr. Blair spent hours on, he concluded that things were never going to be as good as it was with the Blairs, certainly not with Doug as his new boss. He carefully gathered up all the paintings and brought them to Doug. “You certainly took your sweet time, didn’t know robots could be sentimental,” Doug said with a look of surprise. “You don’t have to worry about me scrapping you, I like the idea of not having to do any house or yard work anymore.” Forty years Leo figured. That’s how long he figured until Doug was gone, and he could walk away and never look back. He managed to convince Doug to let him keep the scarf, the picture, and his favorite painting Mr. Blair did. For years upon years, he fantasized about being Leo again and not 27T548-BR. The time he spent with Doug made him grateful for his extremely long lifespan since Leo only had to wait thirty-three years.

I’m enrolled at Worcester Polytechnic Institute with my declared major, robotic engineering. WPI had the first undergraduate degree in robotic engineering program in the nation dating back to 2007. Robotic engineering is still predominantly male, though that doesn’t discourage me even when I’ve had to prove I belong alongside my male classmates. I already have had to deal with classmates who thought robotics might be too much for a female student, I understand that they are just trying to get under my skin. However, I use their comments as encouragement to keep pushing forward, because I’m stronger than they believe. Growing up I always leaned toward science careers. When I was really little, I had my dad read me books about dinosaurs before bed and I was inspired to be an archaeologist. Then I realized I liked a lot of different animals, extinct or not, so I considered being a veterinarian, however, that didn’t last long due to my fear of needles. By the middle of elementary school, I decided I wanted to be an engineer and make things that made people smile. I was lucky enough to go on a family trip to Disney World and I became enamored with this world that felt pulled straight out of books where people were smiling and laughing, not just my family but everyone. I returned and read every book about the Disney Parks I could get my hands on and loved the idea that there are people whose job is to design everything in the parks. I learned those people are called Imagineers and have college degrees in some sort of engineering, at the time robotic engineering wasn’t widely known so I thought I’d want to have a mechanical engineering degree and design the tracks and ride vehicles. Engineering is not something little kids know about, so I felt like the odd one out when we did projects on dream careers, but that didn’t discourage me. I also love video games so when a game about scare animatronics was released, I watched a bunch of playthroughs on YouTube and liked animatronics which led to me watching videos about Disney animatronics. In middle school, I joined the 3lb combat robotics team and had tons of fun and I was captain of one of the high school’s 15lb combat robotics teams. With combat robotics, I experienced designing, building, and problem-solving firsthand, to make a robot. It was fun and I still remember the adrenaline and excitement on competition day, also my closest friend I met when he joined my high school team. I watch the 250lbs BattleBots competition on TV and root for my favorite designs every year. I’ve enjoyed all kinds of entertainment robotics; Disney’s animatronics as they become more and more life-like, fictional animatronics in a scary game with intriguing designs, and watching BattleBots for the thrill of the sport. I want to apply my degree to entertainment too, and maybe inspire the next little kid on their path into engineering. I’m hoping to get to make animatronics or robotic toys after college, something that other people can see and put a smile on their faces. I think the world could use some more joy, laughter, and smiles. I want to help normalize engineering as a career, normalize women in STEAM, and normalize STEAM in entertainment so that kids like me don’t get discouraged along the way. To me, something that leaves a positive impact would give me a great sense of pride and make my resilience worth it.

Me and my best friend are running through the jungle weaving between bamboo stalks that touch the sky. Between the thick lush plants, we find an ancient temple of a long-forgotten civilization, with caution we enter to grab any treasure without setting off traps. As night falls, we are being chased by the monsters that inhabit the land. With loot in hand, we make haste toward our boat and cross the ocean. Minecraft is adventurous, with the night being full of hostile mobs, the Nether being all around dangerous, special structures with unique challenges, and the End being home to a ferocious dragon. Many challenges await those bold and brave enough to venture out into the wild. There’s safety in numbers, so you’ll want to gather your friends and go explore. Some of my favorite Minecraft memories involve me running recklessly into uncharted horizons, seeing different biomes while collecting new resources. With Minecraft always adding new content there’s always a reason to start up a new survival world where there is that sense of danger again but also that there’s an entire new world at your fingertips. It’s also a game about building your perfect world. Me and my friend have been building a massive zoo for all the unique creatures of our world. It’s been so fun planning such a big project, I bring ideas and layouts while my friend is good at figuring out what blocks look good together. We also have been working on a cozy snowy village just for us, somewhere to keep all our resources and return to after adventuring. While exploring grab resources for farms, bases, redstone contraptions, or anything that you can imagine. Everyone brings something different so build a community with your friends. For me, Minecraft is a fun exploring and building game, but my favorite part is playing with friends. We protect each other and we build structures together. However, most importantly we goof around, we laugh till our sides hurt, and we make memories that shine brighter than any set of diamond armor. I play Minecraft with all of my good friends and enjoy every time I log into a world and I find that a friend left something right where I logged out so that I see it when I rejoin. When I play without my friends I don't explore as far and usually collect resources for when someone is available to log in. Without friends on, it feels like I’m playing without a main feature of the game itself. Minecraft is an amazing game, but good friends make it a thousand times better, which is why I hardly play without someone else. Minecraft has a sense of freedom as players get to explore and build as they want. Whether that’s running biome to biome, or staying in one spot building their perfect home, it all means so much more when shared with friends. So, grab your mining buddy, and let’s make memories as good as diamonds.

Math is true and constant in an ever-changing world as it explains the world to those who can understand it. Math is beyond language barriers, it is a force in nature, and from it as a species we’ve created our world. Everywhere you go there’s math involved and shapes our understanding of almost everything. Across our planet math is the same, an equation doesn’t have a different answer if you’re in Spain opposed to the United States or Japan. Different continents, but the equations all equal the same thing, and overtime it doesn’t change. Math is beyond time and space in this sense, though there’s always time to learn something new. Nature also understands math, spiral shells use the Fibonacci sequence as a pattern, honeycombs are hexagons, a complete solar eclipse is only possible because of the size of the moon and how far away it is from the sun, much of nature we can understand due to our understanding of math. With math we’ve been able to created our world. Buildings need to be careful calculated before being built, finances and accounting require math and build our economy, planes need to calculate how much fuel they need for flights, medicine needs to be carefully measured before being administrated. Everything we make has math involved in the process at some point. We could not exist today the way we do without how much we understand of math. Needless to say, math is involved in everyone’s daily lives. I’m drawn to math because it is everywhere, but also teaches us more than numbers. Math teaches us perseverance, when a problem is really difficult or takes forty minutes to solve, looking at you optimization, we are taught to work through it. When we face challenges in life, we push through using skills we learned in math. Math teaches us critical thinking skills, but it also humbles us. You could work through a long difficult equation but it’s the little things we mess up and we need to slow down when rushing through the easy parts. Also, not everything needs to make sense. Math might be the root for a lot of things in our world, but irrational and non-real numbers remind us that not everything makes perfect sense. While there can be rhyme and reason, there’s also unpredictably and chaos that we have to accept instead of worrying about it. Growing up I’ve definitely have had many challenges to get through and times were I just have to accept the chaos. From math classes I’ve learned patience, perseverance, problem solving, and that at any moment I could be humbled. Nothing so far has been more humbling than missing only question and it’s just because of a multiplication error or forgetting a negative sign somewhere. So, because of math I’ve learned a lot of lessons that aren’t number related.

This is now my time, my era, I take the lead now. College is my freedom, time to spread my wings and soar and occasionally fall, but hey, that’s life. Eventually there comes a time where we have to leave the protected nest and set out into the wide world. Even though I’m an adult, legally, it’s difficult to not be treated as a child in my family so I’m excited to run and fall without fear. My family has always done what they think is best for me, but I struggle to receive validation and approval because they want me to push farther. Over the years this has set up an internalized fear of disappointing people I look up to, while also seeking approval. Now that I get to live my own life as my own person, I hope to break away from this. I’ve already stepped out of my comfort zone to become more confident. My senior year I tried out for the jazz band, a much smaller group where it’s hard to hide and blend in, I didn’t tell my parents at first because if I didn’t get in, they wouldn’t have known I tried out. Overtime I realized that it was more that I wanted to take initiative to do something I wanted to, that I’d enjoy. I’m happy to say I did get into jazz band and had so much fun the entire time. I play the trumpet; however, I hope to learn the viola and have that to enjoy for myself. School might be this journey of finding yourself, but it’s also super stressful at times. I was in AP Calculus which ate up so much of vital time. So, I made a good rewarding habit to give myself breaks between hours of homework and spent the weekend enjoying every moment. When the weather permits, I like hikes to clear my mind, though the thinking involved with math is healthy for my brain and makes it strong. The hikes also have benefits for my body. I might be a bookworm but I do enjoy other hobbies that are outdoor activities. I played on the tennis team and was in the marching band, and again love a good slow hike. I also do yoga and stretches to keep things from getting stiff and visit the chiropractor for my lower lumbar area. This week I’m going to the gym with my friends for the first time just to try it. So, I try to be active and take care of my body. Spiritual is kind of like mind and body but way more difficult. Emotions are chaotic and often hurt, so I have playlists to help me with however I’m feeling in the moment. Rough days can feel like a mountain, but I have close friends who make it possible to keep going forward. When I have a rough week, I’m reminded that it’s okay to rely on my friends for help, we often hang out and everything in that moment is good, like I’m somewhere far away from the daily struggles. Not everything is in my control, but I wake up trying to make the best of today, as yesterday hurts and tomorrow is daunting. The future excites me because of all the opportunities in front of me, but I have to remember to take care of myself today, physically, mentally, and spiritual. No matter what challenges I face today, there’s always tomorrow.

A world without math? Utter chaos because I can’t count how many books I just took from a store without paying, since the economy wouldn’t exist and neither would physics, so I could fly home, but how far is home? Well in all seriousness; gravity would still exist and we can’t live like we currently do without math. Math is a singular term that sums up our daily lives. Math is the base for many things like; sciences, engineering, architecture, financing, the concept of “how many?’’, and many more ideas that impact our lives. Math is also a universal concept, the rules don’t change no matter what language you write and talk in. Math builds the world around us and the world doesn’t argue about two plus two, unless it’s a joke, I know it equals fish. Math is also the logic of the world while creativity is the needed chaos, yin and yang, it provides balance. Yes, math and sciences build our concepts of the world around us and are much blacker and whiter without room for grey, they explain how things happen and are applicable to near everything. However, without interpretation and the arts, life would lose its beauty, and history teaches us human nature and warns of a future to come if we lose our past. So, I can’t say I love math because it makes sense of what we see and experience, because so does everything else. I love math because it is logical and true, it builds onto itself and it can’t be what it isn’t. When you learn math, you learn it one concept at a time; counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and so on and so on. Though as the math gets harder, I see how everything builds off of itself and how easy it is to apply earlier concepts. I joke that you learn numbers, then they throw in letters, variables, and then funky symbols, next it’ll be finding the apple with respect to blue. Math is also a class where it’s hard to argue with the answers, interpreting a book has wiggle room, but an equation has one correct answer. Math may be confusing at times but it’s always truthful. Math is the definition of black and white, an answer is either correct or incorrect. In math the numbers don’t hide anything from you, they’re honest. Numbers can be presented in ways that skew the truth, like in surveys, but in an equation those numbers can’t be anything but what they are. It’s consistent, which is why our basic understanding of this universe is based on it.

The Michigan Institute of Technology says that “calculus is the study of how things change”, change is a rather basic term when it comes to numbers. I add two to four and get six, that’s a change to my original number, but this definition of calculus applies more to what it does than ‘what it is’. Calculus is many mathematical concepts nicely tied together, but it’s more of how we use it that makes it stand out. To measure a change in position with respect to time we use velocity, and a change in velocity is acceleration, a physics concept. Though this is actually calculus underneath the guise of science because that’s calculating a derivative, or the rate of change of a function with respect to a variable. I took calculus and physics in the same year and was able to apply what I learned in each classroom to the other, my physics teacher admitted that he did understand the calculus formulas I was using but knew it was correct since I would get the same answers. I was also the only one who took both, no one else in physics took calculus. So, without sitting in a calculus classroom, they were learning one of the biggest concepts of calculus. Calculus may be Mathematics but concepts in Science, Engineering, and Technology are all rooted in it. Rearrange that and you have STEM, yeah, the M actually stands for math but medicine is included in the science umbrella. STEM fields take the world around us and make sense of it, they try to solve problems, STEM is being able to look behind the curriculum and understand the concept. A smart student can learn calculus, though a STEM student knows where and when to use it. Calculus is usually the first math class where it’s clearer that it’s an abstract concept rather than a lesson, and can actually be used outside the classroom, for all those who’ve sat in a math class and wondered if you’re really going to ever use it since you’re not going to be a math teacher. Medicine, pharmacology, space exploration, designing roller coasters, if it fits under the quite large STEM umbrella, you’re going to be using a calculus concept. Calculus is the backbone of STEM; we wouldn’t be where we are today without it. The world around us may change but calculus doesn’t, rather it measures it. So, I’ll leave you with my favorite memory from my calculus class; one day I walked in with a stuffed animal hippopotamus and my teacher said “I said find the hypotenuse”.

Engineering is where you make sense of the world using science and numbers, with music the world doesn’t have to make sense. If numbers and sciences are logic then music is chaotic and emotional. Music is also harmonious, which makes it like people; contradictory. So, when trying to explain who I am, I found the musical instrument I am. The viola is a four-stringed instrument in the violin family, but it stands out compared to its siblings. A viola is played in the alto clef where only a handful of instruments play, it’s too low to be a violin but too high to be a cello while being able to play parts of their ranges. It is considered by some to just be in pieces to complete the cord. Even though it has a beautiful sound on its own it is often overlooked by its attention-seeking sister; the violin, and is drowned out by its strong siblings; the cello and double bass. The viola is also thought to be imperfect since its strings aren’t proportional to its pitch, if it was; it would be too long to hold and too short to play on the ground comfortably. Though others see beauty in this; it resonates in ways its siblings can’t and is believed to be the closest to a human voice. An instrument that would rather be true to emotions than be perfect. After that, you can get a good picture of who I uniquely am. I am soft-spoken and I only want the attention of those close to me. I tend to get drowned out by those who talk more or louder than me. Though those closest to me get to see me shine as I laugh at the bad jokes they make and I rant about what I enjoy. I certainly strive to be my best but never perfect, I’d rather be honest and true to my feelings than try to be something nobody is. I might be great with numbers and science and enjoy them, I’m also comfortable drawing and playing music. My creative side is reserved for firstly myself and then for those who want to see me grow, while everyone at school gets to see my smart and logical side and that’s what they probably know me as. Though I’d rather people know all sides; intelligence, creativity and the personality of a viola. As of now, I might only be able to play the trumpet, I soon hope to learn the viola because it resonates with who I am. Getting an instrument isn’t cheap and learning it is expensive in time. So, it may not make much sense to try and get one and learn it during college, where both resources are scarce, but I believe how it’ll make me feel is well worth it. When I’m lost in music the world and its worries melt away and all my friends would say that the viola is the only thing I talk about anymore. I have been working my tail off applying to scholarship after scholarship because anything helps relieve the pressure. I don’t want to rely on my family and would rather they help my younger sister when it comes time for her. So, I’ll keep applying so that my family does need to worry about me. Hopefully, when I’m at college I’ll be less stressed so that I can do well in classes and be able to let the world and its troubles melt away when I raise the bow to the strings of a viola.

Okay, we’ll start with the basics; a scientist reanimating the dead, now what story comes to mind first? Frankenstein is an easily recognizable story, it has been told again and again, but what we associate with it is mainly Hollywood and not the source material. The source material is much deeper than what pop culture makes of it. In Frankenstein we follow the story of a young scientist, Victor, who in his studies goes and grave robs a bunch of body parts, sewing them together, and breathing new life into the creature. The creature is abandoned mainly due to his lifeless eyes and through his eyes we see how he tries and makes his way through a world that won’t accept him. Frankenstein’s monster is never described as green, is intelligent and self-aware, makes friends with a blind man, desires to fit into the world around him, and when he realizes he’ll never be accepted he asks Victor to make him a bride so that he can have company. There is a lot of emotion that gets overlooked in the adaptation; yearning, grief, being an outsider, and more, by the end of the book you question who was the real monster. The characters' personalities felt real instead of forced. The creature’s monologues are especially complex in thought. The story itself plays with ideas like playing God, morality, and fundamentally what makes a human a human. The creature isn’t born a monster but rather created one by learning the evils of human nature through Victor. In the end, I think everyone who has the chance should read Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein because it is so much more than what pop culture has made it and it explores thought-provoking ideas that people should reflect onto themselves.

During the Sorting Hat’s song in the first book, he had this to say: “Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you’ve a ready mind, where those of wit and learning, will always find their kind,”. Gryffindor may be courageous, Hufflepuff is patient and passionate, and Slytherin is cunning and ambitious, but it is Ravenclaw who is defined as a scholar. Those who are more mentally sharp, innovative, and apt in studies than the other house’s traits belong in Ravenclaw. It isn’t just being a bookworm or being labeled as smart that makes a person fit into Ravenclaw, it’s being able to understand and apply knowledge. They learn more so that they have more knowledge to pull from when they need it. The more spells, the more options they have in dangerous situations, it’s not just to ace OWLS. Ravenclaw can creatively use their knowledge, as it was a Ravenclaw who invented Floo powder. Ravenclaw embraces thinking outside the box and unique ideas which is shown by the most famous Ravenclaw student in the books; Luna Lovegood. Luna has quite a different perspective than the other students at Hogwarts and is quite gifted with charms and spells. She may believe in a lot of her father’s crazy ideas but this has made her an open-minded person and a bit of an oddball. She’s relatable to quite a lot of people since she struggles with social interactions and finds it difficult to make friends and cherishes the ones she has. I relate to Luna the most out of any character in the books. We both aren’t great with social interactions, made a small and true friend group, and are an outcast who doesn’t care we don’t fit in. With a relatable character, Ravenclaw seems like a good choice, but Luna isn’t the only reason I’d be a Ravenclaw. Like any good Ravenclaw, I love learning, I’m always learning something new and want to learn all kinds of things that don’t necessarily apply to my career field. I just like knowing things about the world around me like constellations and music, neither are requirements for robotic engineering. I’m able to learn new concepts in math quickly because they aren’t completely new, they connect to the math I already know. I can apply what I learn in math to science and vice versa, and occasionally those concepts help me understand a book. My favorite genre of books is classic literature, after a good read I like to ponder on why books become a classic rather than being forgotten. I would be comfiest in Ravenclaw because I’d find friends of similar minds as me. In Ravenclaw, we know the value of knowledge, can think out of the box when applying this knowledge, and are always looking to learn new things. This is what separates us from the brave Gryffindor, the talented Hufflepuff, and the power-seeking Slytherin.

Music isn’t a math equation, there is no right or wrong, just that feeling when you play and everything else goes away. Growing up as a typical STEM student I didn’t know what to make of band class, I’m not nearly as good with music as math. Math is common sense to me while a music sheet is a map of someplace I’ve never heard of. But music means more to me than math could. Music has encouraged a lot of change in me and has taught me the most valuable lessons anything could. Growing up I sought the validation of those I looked up to, but I was never enough for them when it came to music. I wasn’t a high enough chair, I never learned music they wanted to hear, it felt crushing to enjoy doing something and others looking down on it. I wouldn’t dare leave band just because of others and because of it I learned that my life and what I enjoy isn’t up for them to decide. In band, I made friends who support me and help me strive to become a better musician. My senior year I decided to put myself out there and try and be confident in myself. I got a solo during marching band and I got into our jazz band, and I didn’t care I was the last chair in jazz because I enjoyed being there. Playing my trumpet is something I get to enjoy and no one gets to take that away. Soon I want to buy myself a viola and learn how to play it because of how beautiful and emotional it sounds to me. Even though I’ll have to learn a new clef. The viola isn’t the attention seeking instrument like its sister the violin. It isn’t as loud as the cello and is less known than the double bass. The viola is looked at like it’s only good for completing the cord, but it’s so much more. It doesn’t resonate the same way as a violin or cello since it’s not proportional to the pitch of their strings which gives its voice character and personality. A viola is much more emotional than its perfectly proportional siblings. This why I love the viola, we’re both okay not being in the spotlight and want to express feelings over being perfect. Music is expressive, it conveys emotions that words can’t capture. Listening to music helps me understand what I’m feeling and enhances certain moods. Whether it be anger, joy, or needing to be uplifted, music is my voice when I feel unable to say how I am. Learning to play songs I listen to feels even better. Music has taught me to enjoy what I like doing without looking for praise and ignore negative comments. Years from now I’ll still be playing my instruments because I couldn’t give up music.

Math is unlike any subject in high school, it’s always building on what you already learned, being good at math is understanding concepts and applying them to the current unit. In math you don’t memorize terms to forget after the test, you learn equations that you use so frequently that it becomes second nature for the test. In math you can’t argue the grade you get because you can’t make two plus two add up to anything besides four without changing the equation. Math is the definition of black and white, an answer is either correct or incorrect. In math the numbers don’t hide anything from you, they’re honest. Numbers can be presented in ways that skew the truth, like in surveys, but in an equation, those numbers can’t be anything but what they are. Yes, math and sciences build our concepts of the world around us and are much blacker and whiter without room for grey, they explain how things happen and apply to nearly everything. However, without interpretation and the arts, life would lose its beauty and history teaches us human nature and warns of a future to come if we lose our past. So, I can’t say I love math because it makes sense of what we see and experience. After all, so does everything else. I’d say I love math because it is unlike any other class. It’s uniquely universal, no matter what languages we speak, or what units we use, we get the same answer to the same equation. In a way, math connects us as a planet since we can all agree on two plus two. Math is also unique because it teaches itself. When you learn addition in your earliest years of school you still use it years later. Math builds onto itself year after year. A person who is good at math understands how what they’re currently learning connects to what they already know. Math isn’t easy, but it makes itself make sense and is universal in a way that no other class is. People aren’t like math, we don’t make sense, we can’t communicate universally, we are contradictory to ourselves, and in no way are just one thing. Though maybe we could try and be more honest like math.

I want to bring dragons to life, huge fire-breathing monsters who strike fear into anyone who crosses their path. I also want to bring dinosaurs back from extinction and throw a party for ghosts. This is why I love robotics, I can make anything move and appear life-like; dinosaurs, dragons, ghosts, if I can imagine it, I can make it real. A huge inspiration growing up was the Disney Parks, they can make anything real to kids and adults alike. Robotic engineering is a quickly growing field with new advances happening all the time. It also can be applied anywhere; space, oceans, factories, medical, and one of my favorites; entertainment. Animatronic puppets can really bring a creature in a film to life and animatronics in theme parks can bring a sense of magic or that the impossible is possible. Ever since I was really little, I knew that I wanted to go into engineering since I was good in math and science and wanted to work for Disney Parks. Growing up I knew what I wanted to be but never who I wanted to be. It has taken a long time to grow into me and I’m still growing. Over time I’ve discovered passions like reading, drawing, music, and poetry, all creative talents to balance out my logical side that likes math and sciences. My family has always wanted me to put out my best efforts which sometimes felt like harsh criticism. After a while, I started to hide away when a pour my heart into my passions which turned into more of a stage fright. I didn’t want to ever stand out during band class and I got mutes so that people couldn’t hear me practice at home. Recently I’ve been working on getting over this. Last year I tried out for the jazz band without telling anyone, if I failed to get in, they didn’t need to know I tried out. I did get in, now it’s important to note our jazz band is so small that it’s usually one to a part with a total of five trumpets, so no room to hide. I loved jazz band, I learned so much and started enjoying performances instead of being afraid to mess up. In eighteen years, I’ve learned so much. Many lessons I’ve learned have to be taught through personal experiences and can’t be verbally taught. I’ve learned things like; you only need a few close friends that you can rely on, you can’t pick up something new and immediately be good at it. Something I think everyone should know; is that not everyone judges you and ignore the ones who do because you deserve to be happy with who you are and not worry about what others think of you. So go try something new, practice and get good at something you enjoy just for the sake of enjoying it, and live life like no one is watching because you’ll enjoy it a lot more.

Nine squares on a face, six faces, and six colors, the task seemed simple enough. A standard three-by-three Rubik’s cube, the problem is I can’t solve them. I’ve tried and tried again, but to no avail, YouTube videos couldn’t teach me and my friend is still trying to teach me. So, with a creative approach, I found a way to solve the cube, without taking it apart. Using Legos I created R.O.B: Rubik of Brick, he’s built out of Lego bricks and solves a Rubik's cube. I realized that I had very special kits that included a motion sensor, a color scanner, a programmer, and motors and that they could be put to good use. It took over two months to build him and quite a bit of troubleshooting but he can solve a cube in about two minutes which is a lot better than I can do since I take more than fifteen minutes with guides. He scans every side of the cube then calculates a solution and can flip the cube vertically and rotate a row at the bottom until it's solved. He’s a very unique way of solving a cube, though I like the idea of using robotics for problem-solving. I know using robotics can be scary, but I’m not saying to replace humans with robots but robots are a great resource for problem-solving. When we realized certain factory jobs pose too much of a threat to human workers, we had robots do the job and now people get jobs designing, building, and performing maintenance on them. Robots could also save animals. We share our planet with millions of different species, but we’re not exactly the easiest species to coexist with. We pollute valuable ecosystems, bring down old big forests, and hunt animals to extinction. Animals who are secluded we often don’t understand much about their behaviors and needs, though with proper research we could gather enough information to help conserve the unique species that also live on this planet. Here’s my idea on the best way to collect data on animals and their natural behaviors; a robotic spy. Animals can feel threatened when around different species, like people, so we could create a robotic version that is convincing enough to be accepted into a social group. These robots can track; how a group travels, interacts with other groups, and much more, and after a while it comes back before drawing too much suspicion to itself. With proper research and materials, a group can make one of these spies. The main issue would be that it needs to survive in its environment and be convincing enough. The smaller the animal equals less space to work with and could be considered prey, the larger the animal equals more force it needs to withstand as predators fight each other as part of their behavior. I’m going to college to get a degree in robotic engineering and would love to work on a project like this. I truly believe the more we know about an animal, the more we can do to preserve the species. With robotics, we could gather huge amounts of data including animals that are rarely seen or would pose a threat to a human researcher. Many animals help the ecosystems of our planet so to save our planet we should start by saving the animals.

“Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever” (Walt Disney). Disney is so much more than the legacy of one man, it is the ability to reclaim joy and happiness in a dull world. Too often we are beaten down by life and over time lose that sense of wonder and magic. Through relatable characters, compelling stories, and immersive parks and cruises we find the courage to beat our troubles, let our imagination take flight and believe in dreams and wishes once again. We all have our individual struggles that drag us down and can make us feel lost or stuck. In Disney movies we watch characters face their struggles and overcome them to reach a happy ending and that brings us hope. When things get difficult, we are reminded to push back, “the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all” (The Emperor of China, Mulan). Mulan is one of many characters who started climbing when she faced mountains of challenges. While we sing along with our favorite characters it reminds us that we have that same strength and courage within us. No matter how old we get, we still laugh at the jokes in Disney movies. The movies are uplifting and can be serious at times but there’s always a level of humor to bring out a good laugh. Something about laughing out loud can make a person feel better and is the light during a dark day. We are also dared to believe. As we get older common sense and the world tells us we can’t fly to Neverland, elephants can’t fly, and wishes made on stars won’t come true. Disney tells us otherwise; at their parks, anything feels possible. There we meet pirates, princesses, and friendly animals, there we spin in teacups, fly to Neverland, and ride flying elephants, and there magic is as real as anything else. A few years ago, aboard a Disney cruise I stared out into the sky and as the first star came out my heart decided to make a wish upon it, because there’s no harm in wishing and it felt as if I believed it could come true. That’s Disney, it’s being able to believe in magic, and a few months later my wish came true. If you’re curious I wished for true love and have happily been dating the greatest person I know for well over a year. Disney magic isn’t making something impossible look possible; it is making us believe in the impossible. Through their music, movies, parks, and cruises it makes us dreamers who have the ability within us to make the world around us better and to see magic where we go. They have taught us that true love isn’t reserved for fairytale characters but for any of us. My favorite thing about Disney is its ability to spark joy and happiness and make us feel that wonder and the idea that anything is possible like we’re little kids again. As John from the Carousel of Progress says, “There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow, just a dream away”.

Math was always boring for me, but that’s because I never was challenged in the classroom. I’d finish the homework before the teacher even finished notes because I could figure out how to apply what I already knew and usually only need one piece of information to understand the material. Most teachers would catch on and would start passing out homework once the notes were finished. Though I’d just bring books in to read, I wasn’t a bad or disrespectful student, it’s just the classes were too slow paced and I was a year ahead in math. I thought I was destined for all these easy classes and then feel swamped in college, though I was severely incorrect. Enter Mr. Wagner our school’s AP calculus teacher, probably the most-friendly teacher there and doesn’t let you have an easy class. If there’s a teacher I could just walk up to and start talking to it’d be him, though everyone in his classes wouldn’t mind a snow day or a dozen. His class is nothing less than rigorous, in the first month I kind of wanted to drop it. I don’t run when things get difficult, but I didn’t need the class to graduate high school. On the other hand, I’ll need it in college and if I do good on the AP exam it would count as a college credit or at least get me familiar with the material which took a lot of work. Hours upon hours of homework topped with hundreds of note cards to remember all the different formulas; integration, derivatives, trigonometry, and volumes. Never before had I had a class that was so time-consuming or had to seriously study. So, I learned and improved valuable skills dealing with time management, studying, and getting work done even when I wanted to do anything else. When the time came for the exam, it was so easy that I tell people I had fun doing it, Mr. Wagner believed in all of us and over-prepared us for it. Mr. Wagner also helped encourage all of us through the class, if you were struggling with a topic he’d stay before or after school to work more one on one. He wasn’t going to let any of us drop it because we thought we couldn’t and he made the class fun. His notes were full of memes and sound bites and he’d bring in snacks, so even though the class was a year long it was full of memorable moments. One day I brought in a stuffed animal and Mr. Wagner said “Find the hypotenuse, not the hippopotamus” though I believe François enjoyed his time. While we all had a good laugh in that class it was the most difficult class I took and it’s probably more difficult than classes I’m going to take, so thank you Mr. Wagner. Thank you for preparing all of us for college, teaching us more than just calculus; time management, studying skills, dedication, and finding fun between all of that. All of us got through his class through laughter and commitment and none of us could’ve done that with any other teacher there. So, when ask what teacher I’ll remember the most it would have to be Mr. Wagner who taught us a strong work ethic, calculus, and to find laughter when we feel down.

Confident she's not afraid to be seen or is easily embarrassed, she travels to new exciting places and learns new beautiful cultures, eats all kinds of delicious dishes, but she always returns home where her heart is, she's found trying new things and enjoys her hobbies and time spent with friends, every day I strive to be this person as I grow and one day I look back and realize I made it.

Interacting with people I don't know? Ehh- I'd rather not, however, I'd love to make their day slightly better. I am that introvert who would rather read than have to carry a conversation, though I'm no stranger to volunteering to make my community just a little bit better. Your community helps shape who you are, so I like giving back and working with others who want to also give back. This past year I joined my school's National Honor Society chapter so that between homework and extracurriculars I would have more opportunities to volunteer and find others who I could collaborate with. I write the quarterly newsletters for this group, even though the other collaborators dropped from doing it. I find that once I commit to doing something I can only give it my best efforts, even when it's hard to find the time. While it's unfortunate that they dropped their commitment and leave me with more work, I didn't let this interaction stop me from other volunteering experiences. Often our strengths and interests can help us find ways to add positivity to our community. I painted a colorful mural depicting animals playing sports in our preschool's gross motor room, where preschoolers ride tricycles and play indoors. To accomplish this I had to keep in contact with the building manager to get materials and find days when I could go into the building on days when the students weren't. Though on my own it would take several days to complete, so I reached out to a classmate that I thought would be interested and able to help. With her help, it took two days and we got to know each other better and have some good laughs. Which seems much better than me spending more days in the room by myself. Those kids were super excited to have something more fun and colorful, which to me, is why people volunteer. Volunteers get rewarded by the gratitude of others. I also found gratitude with one of the middle school combat robotic teams that needed my aid. The team didn't have anyone proficient enough in 3D modeling to model their unique parts, so I offered to model them. I soon found myself as more of an advisor due to my experience in the program. I've offered advice on their design and walked them through troubleshooting problems. Working with the middle schoolers proved challenging because they didn't always want to listen, but that never stopped me from offering my help. The whole team knows that I just want to help them build a successful robot and they appreciate me and my patience. During my senior year as I was getting busier and busier, I remembered to be involved in my community. Honestly, this year I volunteered more than previously and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I brought positive change to my hometown.

Reading is a form of magic, it'll take you anywhere, anytime, and anything can happen. If reading is magic, I must be a witch, I can't put a good book down. Reading has been a big part of who I am since I was young and I've learned many things between the pages. I read the Harry Potter series in third grade which upset my teacher because she felt I wasn't able to understand what I was reading. This bothered me because I enjoyed the books and felt like I was in the wizarding world. From an early age, I learned people judge what I read based on its cover, I remember getting a book cover to hide what I was reading. At that time I was being picked on for reading a book whose cover was pink. though over time I learned to ignore what others think and just enjoy a good book. In more recent years I learned that my preferred genre was classical literature because I wanted to know why some things are labeled as such and stand the test of time while others gather dust. I find these stories have an escapism that can't be compared and usually has an underlying meaning. One of my favorite books, The Great Gatsby, warns against greed and the American dream turned sour. even though the story paints a picture of the roaring twenties the lessons and themes still hold true in today's world. Comparing original work to pop culture shows how our culture is. Reading Frankenstein I was astounded by how different Mary Shelly's version is compared to what pop culture and the film industry paint it. The story is much more than a brainless brute whose afraid of fire, it's a story of abandonment and vengeance. Many movies change the story to appeal to their audience, the Grimm Brother's fairytales aren't quite what Disney portrays. Trying to read stories that have outdated English or references can be difficult. Trying to read Robin Hood proved a challenge because I had to look up and research words that I'd never heard, before I read those stories I didn't know what a quarterstaff was, it's a European pole weapon. Reading older stories I've learned so much about the culture at that time and has made me want to learn more history so I better understand these books. Books have made me understand not to judge something by its cover or based on the bias from around me and have kept my passion for learning to burn. I will continue to read and read and hopefully keep these lessons close to me every day.

7.8 billion people on Earth, but yet they’re all unlike each other. If everyone is unique what makes me stand out? I am contradictory and always growing but I have plenty of unique interests that make me stand out. I always love learning, whether it’s an informational video on the history of Epcot, a study session in Spanish on Duolingo, or an animal documentary. At school, I push myself in advanced math and science classes but get so bored in language arts that I learned that I’m a poet. So I enjoy STEM fields as I captain a robotics team at school, though my hobbies are more self-expressive. I spend most of my free time hanging out with my friends or entertaining my hobbies. I love stepping out and going for a hike with my friends where we get to leave behind our worries and schoolwork just for a bit and breath in some fresh air. In my house, I tend to be lost between the pages of a good book. I prefer classical novels, Frankenstein, the Great Gatsby, and Treasure Island are some of my favorites. It’s fitting that I like the classic genre, because it’s not just one genre or theme, just like people. I also fill up sketchbooks with scenes of my favorite Disney movies and characters. I also enjoy playing my trumpet, sometimes when everyone is asleep, though that’s what a straight mute is good for. So, I enjoy more analytical fields while using my free time to let my imagination run wild. I am me because of, in part, where I grew up. My community has let me some of my closest friends and has shaped who I’ve grown into. So, it’s only fair that I give back to it. I help youth programs like tennis and robotics and give back by helping the younger kids explore their interests. With tennis, I teach good sportsmanship and the basics of the sport, while with robotics I teach cooperation and problem-solving skills. Though there always could be more down to help out. I think that our hiking trail could use some affection, during the summer when people want to use it, it tends to be overgrown. I want to get a group together to help clean up and make the trail look nicer, in hopes that more people want to use it. After a busy week a nice hike outside helps you feel better, so better trails could help more people feel better. I am unique because no one else reads what I read, draws what I draw, studies what I study, and enjoys what I do. I still have so much more to try and discover and I think I truly can add to my community.