Throughout high school, I still could not place a finger on what I was truly passionate about. I’ve grown to have many interests but never any.. passion. Ultimately, it left me wandering without direction. I had all this drive with no destination to drive towards. In the midst of my future concerns, something completely detrimental happened to my life. Suddenly, on April 1st of 2024, during my senior year in high school, my aunt passed away. The melodious joy and laughter of my family stopped abruptly from that day on. Trying to navigate the events that came afterward was all just one big blur. Prom, graduation, class president speech, graduation party, summer, then college felt rushed, like a montage for a scene in a movie. Sometimes I still forget what exactly happened during that time. Going into college was something I feel I rushed into, rather than taking meticulous time to think about my options. I just thought that college was “the ticket to success.” I placed an extreme amount of pressure on that decision, with much of my validation coming from my academics. Thinking about paying for school was one of my biggest stressors. My mom was the only one really helping out with my financial endeavours. My other family members tried to help out as much as they could, but ultimately it wasn’t very much. So it was me and my mom left to pay for school. The only money I brought in was the money I had saved over the past few months, academic scholarships, and a couple of hundred dollars from some of the other scholarship awards I applied to and received. My mom was completely against taking out a loan for school. In all honesty, I believe my two older brothers ruined any kind of trust for financial support. Not sure if it was pity, sympathy, or my prayers, but my mom felt compelled to go ahead and take out a loan for my sake. I ended up going to university for a semester but ultimately withdrew as financial pressures became overbearing, my mental health was depleting, and my sense of identity was becoming progressively more unclear. I felt as though I had no idea who I was, who God created me to be. After finding myself mentally exhausted, challenged, and drained, I sank back into the depths of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and depression. After meeting doctors and therapists to help figure out why this depressive monster had constantly visited me throughout my life, I was met with the advice to improve my overall health. I elevated my exercise, stress, sleep, and diet to crawl out of the pit I was in. I began to be consistent with treating my body healthily and saw immense improvements. It was then that I realized that this is the life God had designed for everybody to operate most efficiently. I quickly recognized that the undisciplined, unhealthy, and inconsistent lifestyle I had been living was disobedient to God. I had been treating the body I had inherited from God poorly, and so it operated poorly. Little did I know this was the key God used to unlock the door to reveal my passion, overall health and wellness. All it took was an organic experience to set the foundation of my passion. Since I have experienced how impactful a healthy lifestyle has transformed every aspect of my life, I am zealous to guide others to experience that same epiphany through studying exercise science/health sciences. I shed that “someone else will do it” mentality and replaced it with “why not me?” I created a workout plan for my mom to start, and she’s already lost about 10 pounds in 1 month. She frequently talks about how much better she’s been feeling mentally, physically, and emotionally. I also started promoting and encouraging a healthy lifestyle through social media and have received impactful responses thus far. Health corresponds to mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of life. The gracious combination of these three elements creates the efficiency to be a beneficial instrument to God. When I open my own health and wellness facility, I will awaken dormant bodies of instruments to produce the melodious music God curates each soul to play. Financially, this scholarship would be a step toward covering a plan set to change lives, minds, and bodies. It’s an investment within a greater purpose, led by a passionate, dedicated, and willing individual standing confidently at the forefront, inspired to change the world.

Netflix is a global streaming service consisting of so many different interesting genres of shows and movies to watch! As I read the prompt, my mind began to flip through the pages of many movies and shows I’ve watched over the years. I thought “‘Don’t Look Up’ was an amazing movie!” Then my mind would dart to, “But ‘Umbrella Academy’ was such a good show!” Out of all the brainstorming and mind wandering, I resulted in choosing my all-time favorite, mind boggling, life changing movie, “Don’t Look Up.” I’m sure you might have heard of this movie, if not then I highly suggest you set aside time in your schedule to watch it! The movie is about a family of four deciding to take a trip out to Long Island, but their relaxation is interrupted once they hear news of a global blackout. Throughout the movie the audience witness the characters under an immense amount of pressure to survive as the outside world becomes an unexplainable war zone. The questions of, “Will they survive? Will things return to normal? Who will make it out alive?” will subconsciously race back and forth throughout your mind while watching this movie. I have watched this movie a countless number of times and have yet to truly dissect the entire intent of the director’s purpose. There are so many symbolizations, representations, and hidden meanings behind this movie that I could watch an infinite amount of times and still never grasp all there is to comprehend, such as the meaning of the deer, why the Tesla’s weren’t functioning properly, what was that ear bleeding sound, why the two strangers claimed to be the owner’s of the home the character’s vacationed in, and so much more! I’m a bit of a film nerd so I paid close attention to the camera angles and emotion behind the music. Much of the camera angles consisted of fast paced whips with few cuts which dissolves the screen between you and the movie, making you believe as though you are experiencing the same events the characters are. The emotion behind the music leaves you with an unsettling and uncomfortable feeling, causing you to be left on the very edge of your seat. Much of the movie has touched on different social aspects of the world, such as the dangers of technologies, racism, class inequity, prejudice, and civil war, that could potentially lead the people of this planet to our demise. I am a very inquisitive person so watching a movie so close to real world problems caused me to spiral into research of the creation of the movie. Barack Obama was one of the producers so he was able to use some of his former president knowledge to add to the realness of the plot. In an online article named “Esquire,” Obama said to the director, “You’re off by a few details.” That statement really creeped me out! This movie is not one that you simply just “watch” and forget about. No, this movie is one that will stick with you and will always be a thought at the back of your mind. After watching, you won’t be the same, constantly wondering, always curious as how close to reality it truly is. It’s an eye opening experience to definitely clear your weekend to watch!

Of course, growing up in the 2000s, I witnessed Minecraft being the hottest craze on everyone’s tablets, iPads, game consoles, and phones! When I was younger, around the age of eleven or twelve, I remember me and my cousins coming together to build houses and fight Endermen until around one in the morning. We definitely got the repercussions of our Minecraft all nighters from our parents, but I’d say it was worth it! As I reminisce on the memories attached to that game I begin to tear up a little. I guess I could say it’s because I just miss being a kid with the only problem I had to worry about was to attack skeletons for bones, yet it’s so much deeper than that. The game as a whole, could bring people of multitudes together to bond like never before. My favorite aspect of the game was not actually inside the game itself, but the effect the game has on a group of people. So my favorite aspect of Minecraft is actually its ability to form a deeper bond through working together to obtain a shared goal. This aspect resonates with me so deeply because this game is what brought me and my family closer. We are now connected through this nostalgic game that brings back amazing memories by simply listening to Minecraft’s peaceful opening song. Knowing that Minecraft had the ability to bring me right back to my childhood is why this game sits with me so heavily with me in my heart. I’ll never forget the affect Minecraft had on me and I hope that someday others will get to experience Minecraft just the way I did too!