I embody selflessness in my community by volunteering as a cabin leader at a science camp for fifth and sixth graders from all over California. I get to help mentor, guide, and make sure students are safe all day for one week at a time. I have dedicated over 400 hours to the program, and I've gotten the privilege of seeing the students grow into themselves and become more comfortable in nature. I have been on my county's youth environmentalism team ever since I started high school, working to improve school sustainability by implementing compost bins on my school campus. I worked with the county office of education, as well as my school's maintenance team, in order to ensure proper waste systems are in place for students to use. I presented to all the ninth grade health classes on the importance of waste management to reduce our carbon footprint. After three years of working with this project, I have been able to see it come to fruition and have established a system that will continue to serve students long after I have graduated. Seeing long-lasting impacts started because of my work is something that I take pride in. One way I have helped my community in a time of need was volunteering at the Second Harvest Food Bank to pack bags of fresh produce that are available to any family in Santa Cruz. The work done behind the scenes is often the most important, especially since altruism most often moves in silence. I also have used poetry as a means of fundraising for children in conflict, headlining a poetry reading that raised over $700 for children to get access to healthy meals. I use poetry as a medium to raise awareness in my local community and volunteer whenever I can to provide free writing workshops to youth in Santa Cruz county so that they can explore creative writing. I have hosted these workshops across multiple libraries across the county and worked with student clubs to promote poetry on their campus. Getting to expose students to a world of art they may never have considered otherwise is something that brings me personal joy, and something that I want to continue to do in college and beyond. I have worked tirelessly in my community to provide quality services to people locally, especially students. Volunteering has become an integral part of who I am and how I see the world.

I was I was born to be a writer. When I was four years old, I began to make up my own language to write my secret stories in. By the time I reached first grade, I knew that this was something I wanted to do all my life. In middle school, I was introduced to poetry and found my love for it in eighth grade. I knew that English was what I wanted to study when I went to college, something further honed by the classes I took at Aptos, namely AP English Language and AP Literature. I am beyond excited to be committed to the University of Cambridge across the pond in England where I'll be starting in the fall to continue language studies. When I am there, I plan to continue to write poetry and short stories, with the intention of publishing my work in literary magazines. The course itself starts during the Medieval period and follows the evolution of language up until today. The intersection of history and the impact that language has on the world is something that greatly interests me and I seriously cannot wait to be studying there. The total immersion into the literary and linguistic world is something that I intend to fully dive into during my time in college.

I've always loved being a student. I was the kid who asked questions every chance I could, the one who stayed after school to get one-on-one time with teachers. I especially loved writing and, with it, my English classes. I knew since I was eight years old that I wanted to go to college to study English. By the time I got to high school, I was already set on what schools I wanted to apply for; little did I know that would change during the summer. Before sophomore year, I was just browsing around the internet and on a whim searched what the best schools for English were. The University of Cambridge across the pond in England constantly ranked number one. The gears in my head started turning. This was a long shot, but one I wanted to try and make anyway. Thus began one of the longest processes of my life. The actual application my senior year started in October. There were five separate stages I had to pass to be considered. I was attending an online American Sign Language college course when I got the email that I was being invited to interview. I was ecstatic. After three applications and an admissions assessment, I knew I could handle an interview. Cambridge was the first university that I was accepted into. I'm committed there to study English in the fall. The only downside to this is the cost. This alone has made the application feel much longer than it is. Now, I'm working to rack up enough money to cover living costs by myself. I've always had an independent streak, and I want to be able to pay for at least a portion of my schooling by myself. One of the ways I've built myself up is by volunteering in my community. I've been on the leadership team for my county's organization Youth for Environmental Action since I was 14. Through the group, I've implemented compost bins at my high school and improved our waste management to be more sustainable. I've also been a volunteer cabin leader for the Santa Cruz County Outdoor Science School since 2023. For one week at a time, I get to supervise and lead a group of fifth and sixth grade students to help them learn and explore the natural world. My time with the kids sparked my love for working with children and made me pursue a job as a camp counselor. Both experiences have sharpened my sense of responsibility to others, especially to my community at large and my community at home. I want to alleviate some of the burden on my parents that pursuing higher education brings, especially since I have an older sister studying at a UC. In the future, I want to be able to say how I put in the work to further my education. With this scholarship, I would be able to continue my journey towards an education in English so that I can continue to give back to my community, and to myself.