I grew up watching Spider-Man as a little kid and immediately got attached to the web-slinging hero. The stories and morals the hero showed resonated with me and helped me form my moral compass. While each actor has done a brilliant job of portraying Spider-Man, my favorite overall has to be Tom Holland. I loved the portrayal of Peter Parker being a young, inexperienced kid. Being a teenager myself as I watched these movies, I was able to find a connection with Holland's Spider-Man that I wasn't necessarily able to with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Holland showed Spider-Man as an awkward, growing teenager whose inexperience with not only being a superhero, but a person in general, shone through. He was worried about getting a date to Homecoming at the same time he was worried about helping to save the world. He would geek out over The Avengers and rant to himself about the stuff he got to see with them. Peter Parker would crack jokes and cry and be awkward just as any other teenager would, despite not being a normal teenager. While the other portrayals of Spider-Man had their shining moments, Holland's showing of him felt more personal and, in a way, real to me. I was able to connect with him in ways that I could not connect with the young adult versions of Peter Parker. Even now, as a young adult myself, I still find myself connecting with Tom Holland's Spider-Man when I need guidance and a reminder of what it is to be human. After all, if the hero of New York can cry and laugh and have moments where he just wants to give up, so can I.

My history teacher is my biggest role model. I have had him for the past four years of high school, and he has been a big impact on my life because of my time spent with him. This teacher is a foster parent to three kids and expecting a child with his wife. When I asked him why he is a foster parent, he told me that he does this to give kids a loving and stable home when they may not have it otherwise. He knows that the foster care system is not always a wonderful thing, and it is not easy for children to go through it. He wants to give kids a chance to thrive and be safe and healthy and loved. He loves the kids in his care as though they were biologically his own. He and his wife are both incredible people. My teacher was the first one I came out to when I realized I was transgender. He is part of the LGBTQ+ community himself and knows how stressful it can be, and accepted me with open arms. He has helped me come out to the rest of the school. He used to do theater when he was in high school, and I am a member of the drama program myself. When I was having issues with the instructor, he helped me rationalize what to do and make a plan to talk to her. I was able to work things out with her and continued doing drama. My teacher runs a D&D campaign for an after-school program. The group is relatively small, but we’re tight-knit and very close. I am not part of this program, but I sit in on their meetings and watch them play. He makes sure to include everyone and make sure everyone is having fun. I considered joining for a while but was unable to due to the fact I would need transportation and my parents couldn’t give it. He offered to have his wife pick me up and drive me in, despite the fact it would be miles out of her way. This teacher does his best to make sure everyone feels safe, cared for, and gives them the opportunity to grow and better themselves. He’s supportive, and kind, and uses his knowledge to work through problems logically. He’s always willing to help his students in anything they may face, and this is why he is my biggest role model.

I came out as transgender in eighth grade. I was confident in my identity and happy to have realized who I was. Realizing I was bisexual was easy enough, but realizing I was trans had taken me a long time and I was happy to finally have a label for my feelings and struggles. Unfortunately, others were not as happy for me. My classmates started treating me differently, as did my parents. I had a few friends that were supportive unconditionally (a few even realized later on that they were also under the transgender umbrella) but overall, people were acting differently around me. I struggle with anxiety and became desperate to figure out what I had done wrong. I told people they didn't need to call me by my preferred name and pronouns, that it didn't matter that much to me. In all honesty, I was too willing to put my happiness on the back burner if it meant I would make others happy and comfortable. In my sophomore year, the world was in quarantine due to COVID-19, and I spent a lot of time alone in my room. I was thinking about who I was and where I was going, after all, graduation was only two years away. I realized if I wanted to be happy and myself, I was going to make a few people unhappy. I started putting myself first, insisting people used my preferred name and pronouns. In my junior year of high school, I started going by Max publically. I told my parents and they were hesitant to agree but decided that it wasn't worth the argument. I became much happier and more confident with myself, able to express who I was. After fully coming out, my mental health improved a ton. I hadn't wanted to live before, not seeing the point in living if I couldn't be myself. That wasn't the kind of life I wanted to have. I wanted to be me. Now that I'm out and generally accepted, I found a purpose to keep going. I made a promise to myself that I was going to stay alive so I could transition. I am determined to go on testosterone, change my name, get top surgery and get the body I've always wanted. I know it won't be easy. I have dealt with many struggles before and I know there are going to be more. I am fully prepared to tackle any challenges that come my way. I know I have people that have my back, people who support and love me. I am never going to stop being myself and fighting for the chance for everyone in similar situations to be themselves.

I always tried to fit in when I was younger. I was told that standing out and being different was a bad thing, that it led to bullying and a life of no friends. Until sixth grade, I believed this and did my best to fit in with everyone else. I wasn’t happy, in fact, I was far from it. I was absolutely miserable with myself. When I got to sixth grade, I gave up on trying to fit in. I let myself dress how I wanted, enjoy different music, and do different things. I stopped doing sports and started participating in drama club. I cut my hair short and dyed it black. Part of these changes led to me realizing who I was, and once I came to that realization I was able to actually be myself. For the first time in my life I was genuinely happy with myself. I began drawing characters for my own stories and reading books about cats in fantasy worlds. I let myself continue watching cartoons, something I hadn’t done in years. I lost friends but if they were so quick to leave when I was happy with myself, were they even really friends? It didn’t matter anyways, because I made friends with kids who had similar interests and had felt the same way. I let my creativity and my hobbies set me apart from the others. I went from being just another face in the crowd to the “artist” of the class. Others loved my creativity and began to recognize my talents. I’ve decided to use this creativity to give back to others. I plan to go into graphic design for my career and have already started giving back to my community through a technical school. I created posters for a musical, made posters for a local school, designed certificates for a corn maze, made posters for school projects, helped advertise the voting booths for my hometown, and I am currently working to create a new logo for the technical school. One thing I love about being a graphic designer is the fact I get to interact with all sorts of people with different businesses and groups. I love getting to know the people and what their ideas and interests are so I can incorporate that into my designs for them. I like to add that individuality into my designs to set them apart from others in the same way I have set myself apart from others. Belonging to a community is important to me, but so is that individuality.

When I was in eighth grade, we had our annual Science and Invention Fair. I chose to participate in the invention fair because I am much more creative than I am good at science. I decided to combine my love of cats with my creativity and ended up creating the Cat Safe Shirt. The shirt was made to protect cats from injecting their flea and tick medication (the kind that is placed on the back of the neck). I spent weeks working on prototypes and eventually created a model that worked. My science teacher recommended me for the 2018 Maine Invention Convention, along with one other student. The two of us went, two students among hundreds from all around Maine. We spent the day showing off our inventions and talking to people who may be interested in our products. At the end of the convention, awards and ribbons were handed out. I won first place for the creativity field. I still have the ribbon and certificate for the award. Since then, I have spent years creating things for friends and family, though not in the same way. I am going to graphic design for a job and am currently enrolled in a technical school for the subject. In the six months I’ve been there, I have done several things for local businesses and groups. I created posters for a musical, made posters for a local school, designed certificates for a corn maze, and I am currently working to create a new logo for the technical school. I have been able to be certified in both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. With the skills I have learned for both programs, I have been able to solve these problems and help people. After all, that’s all graphic design is- problem solving. I am confident that any problem I come across I could easily find a solution using the skills I’ve learned with these programs and my own knowledge. Using my creativity and ideas to help others and solve problems is something I love doing. It is fun and informational for myself. I get to interact with different people and learn about people and the companies or groups they stand for in order to create a more personalized design. I plan to use my skills and knowledge to help people for the rest of my life, and going to college for this would make a career in graphic design more possible for me.