Physics has long been perceived as difficult, intimidating, and unapproachable for students of all backgrounds. As someone who has studied the subject for five years, I understand why. Many students, including myself, have struggled in physics classes where the teaching methods made the subject feel even more daunting. The material is challenging, and too often, the way it is taught only reinforces its reputation as inaccessible. Throughout my college career, I have been driven by a desire to change this. My freshman year, I attended the American Physical Society's Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I met a variety of like-minded physics students who shared a passion for the field while being united by a desire for more accessibility and diversity. This experience helped ignite my passion for making physics more equitable for students and professionals alike. As I considered how I could make an impact, I realized that teaching could be a powerful way to create change. I want to make physics more accessible to students, regardless of race, gender, or academic background. My passion for teaching comes not only from my love for the subject but also from my desire to help students see beyond the negative stereotypes and find the joy in physics. To support this goal, I added a major in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on educational equity, in addition to my Physics major. With the support of my professors in the Physics department and my IDST advisor, Dr. Hannah Haynes, I was able to design a program that combines all of my passions. Through this program, I have taken courses on race, gender identity, societal issues, and education, alongside conducting independent research on physics education. These experiences have allowed me to explore how students engage with physics and the barriers that prevent them from succeeding. My independent studies have also provided me with the opportunity to delve deeper into specific interests, helping me refine my goals for the future. One of the most significant realizations I’ve had at MCLA is that I want to teach Physics at the high school level. This decision was shaped by the diverse opportunities MCLA provided me to explore fields beyond my original major. My role as an academic tutor every semester has been invaluable—not only has it reinforced my love for teaching, but it has also strengthened my ability to support and guide students through challenging material. Additionally, my research experiences have given me essential skills that will support my teaching career. I have learned how to conduct research, write research papers, and present at conferences, all of which have broadened my understanding of both Physics and education. With this foundation, I plan to become a high school physics teacher, where I can directly support students in overcoming the challenges that often make physics feel inaccessible. I intend to combine my deep knowledge of physics with my understanding of the educational barriers students face, creating a learning environment that is both engaging and inclusive. I know from personal experience that many students associate their negative opinions of physics with the teachers they had. I want to change that. My own college experience has shown me the impact of educators who are not only passionate about physics but also deeply invested in their students' success. Professors who took the time to ensure I understood concepts, provided research opportunities, and encouraged my growth have shaped my path. I aspire to be that kind of teacher—the kind who makes physics approachable, engaging, and empowering.

Physics has long been perceived as difficult, intimidating, and unapproachable for students of all backgrounds. As someone who has studied the subject for five years, I understand why. Many students, including myself, have struggled in physics classes where the teaching methods made the subject feel even more daunting. The material is challenging, and too often, the way it is taught only reinforces its reputation as inaccessible. Throughout my college career, I have been driven by a desire to change this. My freshman year, I attended the American Physical Society's Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I met a variety of like-minded physics students who shared a passion for Physics while being united by a desire for more accessibility and diversity in the field. This experience helped kick-start my passion for making physics more equitable for students and professionals alike. As I realized my passion for equity in Physics, I considered how I can have an impact. This is when I started to consider teaching as a future career option. I want to make physics more accessible to students, regardless of race, gender, or academic background. My passion for teaching comes not only from my love for the subject but also from my desire to help students see beyond the negative stereotypes and find the joy in physics. To support this goal, I added a major in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on educational equity. Through this program, I have taken courses on race, gender identity, societal issues, and education, alongside conducting independent research on physics education. These experiences have allowed me to explore how students engage with physics and the barriers that prevent them from succeeding. With this foundation, I plan to become a high school physics teacher, where I can directly support students in overcoming the challenges that often make physics feel inaccessible. I intend to combine my deep knowledge of physics with my understanding of the educational barriers students face, creating a learning environment that is both engaging and inclusive. I know from personal experience that many students associate their negative opinions of physics with the teachers they had. I want to change that. My own college experience has shown me the impact of educators who are not only passionate about physics but also deeply invested in their students' success. Professors who took the time to ensure I understood concepts, provided research opportunities, and encouraged my growth have shaped my path. I aspire to be that kind of teacher—the kind who makes physics approachable, engaging, and empowering.

I have been a fan of Chappell since around 2022, and her music has always been a staple in my life. I distinctly remember when "Naked in Manhattan" was released; sharing it with all of my friends. Chappell's music was some of the first I had heard from a queer woman, specifically songs about women being in love with each other. Since then, her music has played a consistent positive role in my life, and I appreciate the presence of music that I can relate to by an artist I can relate to. Additionally, I support Chappell's willingness to stand up for her beliefs, from her statement at the 2024 Governer's Ball about refusing to perfrom at the White House until they support equal rights to her speech at the 2025 Grammy awards demanding that record labels pay their artists a living wage. I also appreciate that she has started a movement of larger artists making financial donations to those who are less fortunate to help support them in an industry that does not. Through her rise to fame Chappell has been a consistent and positive light- continuing to show her true self and stand up for what she believes in, despite criticism and pushback. These attributes, along with her music, make me proud to be a fan of hers.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students. My dream is to make the field of physics more accessible and equitable to students, especially those in minority groups. In addition to my Physics degree, I am pursuing a double major in Education inequality studies, through which I hope I will continue to learn about the pressing issues in education inequality and what I might be able to do as a professor one day to ensure my students can pursue their dreams. While I know I cannot solve these issues on my own, I want to be a part of a positive change in the physics community and in the world.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. As I have faced struggles with mental illness, I have relied more and more on help from therapists and doctors to keep going. Before I started having panic attacks, I never really understood why someone would go to therapy. I felt as though everyone should be able to handle their problems. That view quickly changed when I started seeing a therapist for myself. Over the past few years, I have come to learn that admitting you need help and finding a therapist or someone else to talk to is a very respectable thing. Anyone and everyone should be able to at least try going to therapy, as it can help you to learn more about yourself. My relationship with my parents has gotten worse as my mental illness has impacted my life more and more, which has been very hard on me in many ways. My parents do not understand mental illnesses or why they impact my life so much. This has caused us to drift apart a lot in recent years. Since coming to college, I have been able to take charge of my mental health journey and see a counselor at my school which has helped a lot, and I have somewhat come to accept that they do not need to support me for me to get help. My girlfriend struggles with mental illness as well. Having a partner who can understand what I am going through has been very helpful for me. We can talk openly with each other when we are struggling and it has only made our relationship stronger over the past year. While it can be hard when we are both struggling, knowing we have each other and understand each other's struggles helps during hard times. While some of my relationships have struggled because of my mental illness, others have grown and thrived. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. As someone very passionate about going into education, I want to make sure I am in it for the right reasons and with the right goals and mindset. I believe that wanting to support and uplift students struggling with mental illness the way my professors have supported and uplifted me is a very positive driving factor for my future career. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place someday.

My name is Tea and I am a Junior Physics and Education Inequality studies major at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Since I came out as a lesbian just over a year ago, my life changed a lot in a variety of ways. Coming out as queer can be very daunting in America today, and I was closeted from many people in my life up until right before I went to college and decided I didn't want to hide from them anymore. My coming out experience with my family was extremely difficult and hurt how I viewed myself as a queer person for quite a long time. Never would I have imagined how positive being queer would end up being for me when I started college. I am very fortunate to attend a very accepting school and I felt very welcomed by the community when embracing my queerness. I became more comfortable exploring my gender expression and realized that I am most comfortable identifying as non-binary. Being able to understand this about myself and feel comfortable about it has made me overall happier, and I understand that I am very lucky to be in such a positive position in my journey. When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year, I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

My name is Tea and I am a Junior Physics and Education Inequality studies major at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Since I came out as a lesbian just over a year ago, my life changed a lot in a variety of ways. Coming out as queer can be very daunting in America today, and I was closeted from many people in my life up until right before I went to college and decided I didn't want to hide from them anymore. My coming out experience with my family was extremely difficult and hurt how I viewed myself as a queer person for quite a long time. Never would I have imagined how positive being queer would end up being for me when I started college. I am very fortunate to attend a very accepting school and I felt very welcomed by the community when embracing my queerness. I became more comfortable exploring my gender expression and realized that I am most comfortable identifying as non-binary. Being able to understand this about myself and feel comfortable about it has made me overall happier, and I understand that I am very lucky to be in such a positive position in my journey. When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year, I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. Especially in my freshman year of college, I had to take a lot of days off from school due to mental health struggles. I have found that I am not able to be academically productive very well if at all when I am having an especially hard time mentally. I find it incredibly hard to focus when I am anxious, which makes it very difficult to get anything done. As a Physics major, I need to be putting my best foot forward to keep up in my classes and my mental health can hinder my academic abilities which can be extremely frustrating. I have worked very hard to form a good relationship with my professors, and they have helped me immensely in being able to keep up with school on top of facing mental health struggles which means the world to me. Because of this, I have become significantly more comfortable going to them when I need help or to take a day off to focus on my mental health. This open communication has made it easier for them to help me from falling behind and makes me more confident in asking for help from them in the future. It has taken me a lot of trial and error, but I have learned that I need to allow myself breaks when I feel I need them, and that has been the best way for me to succeed as a student. It also helps me enjoy my time outside of the classroom, by taking away extra pressure and stress from school. To take care of my mental health I take this time off when I need it. Additionally, I see a counselor on campus and have learned a lot of resources through him about how to prevent my mental health from hindering me socially and academically. I have become my biggest supporter and advocate, and I have made a wonderful team to support me along the way. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place someday.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. Especially in my freshman year of college, I had to take a lot of days off from school due to mental health struggles. I have found that I am not able to be academically productive very well if at all when I am having an especially hard time mentally. I find it incredibly hard to focus when I am anxious, which makes it very difficult to get anything done. As a Physics major, I need to be putting my best foot forward to keep up in my classes and my mental health can hinder my academic abilities which can be extremely frustrating. I have worked very hard to form a good relationship with my professors, and they have helped me immensely in being able to keep up with school on top of facing mental health struggles which means the world to me. Because of this, I have become significantly more comfortable going to them when I need help or to take a day off to focus on my mental health. This open communication has made it easier for them to help me from falling behind and makes me more confident in asking for help from them in the future. It has taken me a lot of trial and error, but I have learned that I need to allow myself breaks when I feel I need them, and that has been the best way for me to succeed as a student. It also helps me enjoy my time outside of the classroom, by taking away extra pressure and stress from school. To take care of my mental health I take this time off when I need it. Additionally, I see a counselor on campus and have learned a lot of resources through him about how to prevent my mental health from hindering me socially and academically. I have become my biggest supporter and advocate, and I have made a wonderful team to support me along the way. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place someday.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

A leader is someone who pushes to improve the world around them. A leader is someone who works to make their community a better place. A leader is someone who wants to help and support those around them in a variety of ways. I am a leader, and I strive to earn that title every day. As a gender minority physicist, I have struggled throughout my education to prove that I am worthy of my position to many people around me. Throughout high school and into my undergraduate education, I have been told that I should not pursue a degree in Physics simply because of my gender. For a long time, I believed this to be true, simply because I had heard it so much. I had learned to view it as a fact rather than the opinion of those around me. However, in January of my freshman year of college, I attended the American Physical Society's Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics. This experience exposed me to a wide variety of gender-minority physicists, all of whom were in different places in their careers and all of whom were incredibly successful. All of these amazing people spoke of times in their careers when they had been discouraged from pursuing this career path simply because of their gender identities. Yet they also shared stories of how they did not allow these doubts and setbacks to stop them from pursuing their goals within their careers as physicists. Many of these women and gender minority scientists spend a lot of their time working to make the field of physics more diverse and accessible to minorities. These leaders inspired me, and many others, to understand that gender does not have to be a barrier to success, despite what many say. The more people who push for this diversity and continue to pursue the career despite stigmas are leading the way for any future minorities who want to learn and work in the field of physics. In addition to my Bachelor's Degree in Physics, I am pursuing an additional bachelor's in Interdisciplinary studies with a focus on Racial and Gender inequality. I want to use this degree to become more informed about inequalities within academia because I intend to work in academia in the future. I want to be a leader in this field and work to support diversifying the field of physics for the students who will come after me. Leaders in my field have allowed me to pursue my dream career and have made my experience much better as well. I want to become that person for future students and continue to pave the way to make the field of physics more diverse and accessible to minorities.

A leader is someone who pushes to improve the world around them. A leader is someone who works to make their community a better place. A leader is someone who wants to help and support those around them in a variety of ways. I am a leader, and I strive to earn that title every day. As a gender minority physicist, I have struggled throughout my education to prove that I am worthy of my position to many people around me. Throughout high school and into my undergraduate education, I have been told that I should not pursue a degree in Physics simply because of my gender. For a long time, I believed this to be true, simply because I had heard it so much. I had learned to view it as a fact rather than the opinion of those around me. However, in January of my freshman year of college, I attended the American Physical Society's Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics. This experience exposed me to a wide variety of gender-minority physicists, all of whom were in different places in their careers and all of whom were incredibly successful. All of these amazing people spoke of times in their careers when they had been discouraged from pursuing this career path simply because of their gender identities. Yet they also shared stories of how they did not allow these doubts and setbacks to stop them from pursuing their goals within their careers as physicists. Many of these women and gender minority scientists spend a lot of their time working to make the field of physics more diverse and accessible to minorities. These leaders inspired me, and many others, to understand that gender does not have to be a barrier to success, despite what many say. The more people who push for this diversity and continue to pursue the career despite stigmas are leading the way for any future minorities who want to learn and work in the field of physics. In addition to my Bachelor's Degree in Physics, I am pursuing an additional bachelor's in Interdisciplinary studies with a focus on Racial and Gender inequality. I want to use this degree to become more informed about inequalities within academia because I intend to work in academia in the future. I want to be a leader in this field and work to support diversifying the field of physics for the students who will come after me. Leaders in my field have allowed me to pursue my dream career and have made my experience much better as well. I want to become that person for future students and continue to pave the way to make the field of physics more diverse and accessible to minorities.

As technology has advanced, Artificial Intelligence and its various forms have become more and more relevant in the world. As more information has come out about different applications of Artificial Intelligence, my opinions on it have changed. For a very long time, I believed that artificial intelligence was a very bad thing, and had been very opposed to it for a variety of reasons. However, as I have become more informed about this technology and its uses, I have become more open to using it and generally learning about the ways it may be used to benefit the world. I recently learned about advances in potentially using Artificial Intelligence in the mental health space, which I thought was incredibly interesting. Mental health resources are becoming increasingly less accessible, and the introduction of AI to the space could be a viable solution to making mental healthcare more accessible around the world. Some of the barriers to mental healthcare include long wait times for therapy, limited ability to physically attend therapy, and expensive costs. There are many possibilities for AI in this space to decrease and even eliminate some of these issues. I believe using Artificial Intelligence technology in this way will help people not only with accessing mental healthcare but could potentially demonstrate further ways to use AI in the healthcare space, such as diagnosing certain conditions or collecting and compiling information prior to healthcare appointments to make them more efficient and potentially decrease wait times, which would make healthcare more efficient in general, which would be very beneficial.

A leader is someone who pushes to improve the world around them. A leader is someone who works to make their community a better place. A leader is someone who wants to help and support those around them in a variety of ways. I am a leader, and I strive to earn that title every day. As a gender minority physicist, I have struggled throughout my education to prove that I am worthy of my position to many people around me. Throughout high school and into my undergraduate education, I have been told that I should not pursue a degree in Physics simply because of my gender. For a long time, I believed this to be true, simply because I had heard it so much. I had learned to view it as a fact rather than the opinion of those around me. However, in January of my freshman year of college, I attended the American Physical Society's Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics. This experience exposed me to a wide variety of gender-minority physicists, all of whom were in different places in their careers and all of whom were incredibly successful. All of these amazing people spoke of times in their careers when they had been discouraged from pursuing this career path simply because of their gender identities. Yet they also shared stories of how they did not allow these doubts and setbacks to stop them from pursuing their goals within their careers as physicists. Many of these women and gender minority scientists spend a lot of their time working to make the field of physics more diverse and accessible to minorities. These leaders inspired me, and many others, to understand that gender does not have to be a barrier to success, despite what many say. The more people who push for this diversity and continue to pursue the career despite stigmas are leading the way for any future minorities who want to learn and work in the field of physics. In addition to my Bachelor's Degree in Physics, I am pursuing an additional bachelor's in Interdisciplinary studies with a focus on Racial and Gender inequality. I want to use this degree to become more informed about inequalities within academia because I intend to work in academia in the future. I want to be a leader in this field and work to support diversifying the field of physics for the students who will come after me. Leaders in my field have allowed me to pursue my dream career and have made my experience much better as well. I want to become that person for future students and continue to pave the way to make the field of physics more diverse and accessible to minorities.

The biggest inspirational factor for me in terms of getting involved in my community is being an active member and seeing what needs to be changed or supported. I try to listen to the people around me to identify what they believe issues are and how I may be able to enact change. As a student at a very small school, there are a lot of issues that are amplified because there is less to hide the issues behind. I have spent a lot of time learning about the various problems on my campus and in my campus community. I recently joined a board that oversees student affairs and have been able to be a voice for students within that committee. This allows me to bring attention to things that students want to see changed and the best ways to implement changes from a student perspective. Additionally, I have worked to become a more well-known member of my community and to present myself as someone people can come to when there are problems that need to be given attention. Because of this, I have been able to bring more attention to student issues, simply because I know what the issues that need attention are. This work goes beyond my immediate campus, and into the town and communities surrounding the campus as well. Making the town around us a more enjoyable place to live can make the campus a better place for students to live as well, which I believe is very important. Another action I have taken to influence change in my community is to build relationships with people in higher positions of power than myself. A lot of times I have noticed that people in these higher positions of power are not necessarily aware of many of the issues that need attention. By forming these relationships, I can bring these issues to their attention directly, which I have found to be very powerful and effective thus far. I am very passionate about working to make positive change in my community. As a student, there are a variety of issues we face, from curriculum to safety issues on campus. When students are upset or concerned, the general campus environment is impacted. This affects everyone, students, teachers, and administration alike. I want to be able to solve some of the pressing issues in my campus community to improve morale and student experience at my school.

My journey to understanding my gender identity has been a long one that is still not fully complete. After coming out as a lesbian a few years ago, I realized that I still didn't feel completely secure in my identity, and I decided to explore the possibility that am not cisgender. Over time, I have become more and more comfortable with this way of identifying, but that does not mean it comes without challenges. Above anything else, I have found Identifying as non-binary to be discouraging in my educational experience thus far. I found that many of my peers do not take me as seriously upon learning that I am non-binary, and I am constantly misgendered by peers and professors at my university. There have been many times when I have considered telling classmates and professors that I identify as female so I don't have a reason to be upset when I get misgendered. While it has been difficult, I have tried to focus on staying true to myself and my identity, and not allowing others to get me down. I am currently a Physics and Interdisciplinary Studies major with a focus on racial and gender inequality within STEM fields. My long-term goal is to earn a Ph.D. in Physics, and possibly a master's in Gender inequality studies. Following the completion of my education, I intend to work in Academia as a Physics professor. I want to use my Physics knowledge combined with my knowledge of Inequality studies to inspire future students to be able to pursue education and careers in Physics and other STEM fields. I understand what it feels like to be isolated as a student in academia, especially because of my gender. I want to help future students understand that their identity does not make them any less capable as students or future professionals. I want to use my personal experience to inspire future students, as well as act as a role model for them. I have heard about a few non-binary professors at my college and other non-binary students have said that it is very inspiring to have a professor that understands their gender identity. I want to be able to act as that person for future students and be able to make them feel comfortable identifying however feels best for them when they are in my classroom. I understand that being a queer student can be difficult and discouraging, and I hope that I can use my knowledge and experience to inspire other students in the future.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. Especially in my freshman year of college, I had to take a lot of days off from school due to mental health struggles. I have found that I am not able to be academically productive very well if at all when I am having an especially hard time mentally. I find it incredibly hard to focus when I am anxious, which makes it very difficult to get anything done. As a Physics major, I need to be putting my best foot forward to keep up in my classes and my mental health can hinder my academic abilities which can be extremely frustrating. I have worked very hard to form a good relationship with my professors, and they have helped me immensely in being able to keep up with school on top of facing mental health struggles which means the world to me. Because of this, I have become significantly more comfortable going to them when I need help or to take a day off to focus on my mental health. This open communication has made it easier for them to help me from falling behind and makes me more confident in asking for help from them in the future. It has taken me a lot of trial and error, but I have learned that I need to allow myself breaks when I feel I need them, and that has been the best way for me to succeed as a student. It also helps me enjoy my time outside of the classroom, by taking away extra pressure and stress from school. To take care of my mental health I take this time off when I need it. Additionally, I see a counselor on campus and have learned a lot of resources through him about how to prevent my mental health from hindering me socially and academically. I have become my biggest supporter and advocate, and I have made a wonderful team to support me along the way. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place someday.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

My name is Tea and I am a Sophomore Physics and Racial and Gender inequality studies major at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Since I came out as a lesbian just over a year ago, my life changed a lot in a variety of ways. Coming out as queer can be very daunting in America today, and I was closeted from many people in my life up until right before I went to college and decided I didn't want to hide from them anymore. My coming out experience with my family was extremely difficult and hurt how I viewed myself as a queer person for quite a long time. Never would I have imagined how positive being queer would end up being for me when I started college. I am very fortunate to attend a very accepting school and I felt very welcomed by the community when embracing my queerness. I became more comfortable exploring my gender expression and realized that I am most comfortable identifying as non-binary. Being able to understand this about myself and feel comfortable about it has made me overall happier, and I understand that I am very lucky to be in such a positive position in my journey. When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year, I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. As I have faced struggles with mental illness, I have relied more and more on help from therapists and doctors to keep going. Before I started having panic attacks, I never really understood why someone would go to therapy. I felt as though everyone should be able to handle their problems. That view quickly changed when I started seeing a therapist for myself. Over the past few years, I have come to learn that admitting you need help and finding a therapist or someone else to talk to is a very respectable thing. Anyone and everyone should be able to at least try going to therapy, as it can help you to learn more about yourself. My relationship with my parents has gotten worse as my mental illness has impacted my life more and more, which has been very hard on me in many ways. My parents do not understand mental illnesses or why they impact my life so much. This has caused us to drift apart a lot in recent years. Since coming to college, I have been able to take charge of my mental health journey and see a counselor at my school which has helped a lot, and I have somewhat come to accept that they do not need to support me for me to get help. My girlfriend struggles with mental illness as well. Having a partner who can understand what I am going through has been very helpful for me. We can talk openly with each other when we are struggling and it has only made our relationship stronger over the past year. While it can be hard when we are both struggling, knowing we have each other and understand each other's struggles helps during hard times. While some of my relationships have struggled because of my mental illness, others have grown and thrived. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. As someone very passionate about going into education, I want to make sure I am in it for the right reasons and with the right goals and mindset. I believe that wanting to support and uplift students struggling with mental illness the way my professors have supported and uplifted me is a very positive driving factor for my future career. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place someday.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. As I have faced struggles with mental illness, I have relied more and more on help from therapists and doctors to keep going. Before I started having panic attacks, I never really understood why someone would go to therapy. I felt as though everyone should be able to handle their problems. That view quickly changed when I started seeing a therapist for myself. Over the past few years, I have come to learn that admitting you need help and finding a therapist or someone else to talk to is a very respectable thing. Anyone and everyone should be able to at least try going to therapy, as it can help you to learn more about yourself. My relationship with my parents has gotten worse as my mental illness has impacted my life more and more, which has been very hard on me in many ways. My parents do not understand mental illnesses or why they impact my life so much. This has caused us to drift apart a lot in recent years. Since coming to college, I have been able to take charge of my mental health journey and see a counselor at my school which has helped a lot, and I have somewhat come to accept that they do not need to support me for me to get help. My girlfriend struggles with mental illness as well. Having a partner who can understand what I am going through has been very helpful for me. We can talk openly with each other when we are struggling and it has only made our relationship stronger over the past year. While it can be hard when we are both struggling, knowing we have each other and understand each other's struggles helps during hard times. While some of my relationships have struggled because of my mental illness, others have grown and thrived. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. As someone very passionate about going into education, I want to make sure I am in it for the right reasons and with the right goals and mindset. I believe that wanting to support and uplift students struggling with mental illness the way my professors have supported and uplifted me is a very positive driving factor for my future career. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place someday.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

My name is Tea and I am a Sophomore Physics and Racial and Gender inequality studies major at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Since I came out as a lesbian just over a year ago, my life changed a lot in a variety of ways. Coming out as queer can be very daunting in America today, and I was closeted from many people in my life up until right before I went to college and decided I didn't want to hide from them anymore. My coming out experience with my family was extremely difficult and hurt how I viewed myself as a queer person for quite a long time. Never would I have imagined how positive being queer would end up being for me when I started college. I am very fortunate to attend a very accepting school and I felt very welcomed by the community when embracing my queerness. I became more comfortable exploring my gender expression and realized that I am most comfortable identifying as non-binary. Being able to understand this about myself and feel comfortable about it has made me overall happier, and I understand that I am very lucky to be in such a positive position in my journey. When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year, I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. As I have faced struggles with mental illness, I have relied more and more on help from therapists and doctors to keep going. Before I started having panic attacks, I never really understood why someone would go to therapy. I felt as though everyone should be able to handle their problems. That view quickly changed when I started seeing a therapist for myself. Over the past few years, I have come to learn that admitting you need help and finding a therapist or someone else to talk to is a very respectable thing. Anyone and everyone should be able to at least try going to therapy, as it can help you to learn more about yourself. My relationship with my parents has gotten worse as my mental illness has impacted my life more and more, which has been very hard on me in many ways. My parents do not understand mental illnesses or why they impact my life so much. This has caused us to drift apart a lot in recent years. Since coming to college, I have been able to take charge of my mental health journey and see a counselor at my school which has helped a lot, and I have somewhat come to accept that they do not need to support me for me to get help. My girlfriend struggles with mental illness as well. Having a partner who can understand what I am going through has been very helpful for me. We can talk openly with each other when we are struggling and it has only made our relationship stronger over the past year. While it can be hard when we are both struggling, knowing we have each other and understand each other's struggles helps during hard times. While some of my relationships have struggled because of my mental illness, others have grown and thrived. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. As someone very passionate about going into education, I want to make sure I am in it for the right reasons and with the right goals and mindset. I believe that wanting to support and uplift students struggling with mental illness the way my professors have supported and uplifted me is a very positive driving factor for my future career. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place someday.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. As I have faced struggles with mental illness, I have relied more and more on help from therapists and doctors to keep going. Before I started having panic attacks, I never really understood why someone would go to therapy. I felt as though everyone should be able to handle their problems. That view quickly changed when I started seeing a therapist for myself. Over the past few years, I have come to learn that admitting you need help and finding a therapist or someone else to talk to is a very respectable thing. Anyone and everyone should be able to at least try going to therapy, as it can help you to learn more about yourself. My relationship with my parents has gotten worse as my mental illness has impacted my life more and more. My parents do not understand mental illnesses or why they impact my life so much. Since coming to college, I have been able to take charge of my mental health journey and see a counselor at my school which has helped a lot, and I have somewhat come to accept that they do not need to support me for me to get help. My girlfriend struggles with mental illness as well. Having a partner who can understand what I am going through has been very helpful for me. We can talk openly with each other when we are struggling and it has only made our relationship stronger over the past year. While it can be hard when we are both struggling, knowing we have each other and understand each other's struggles helps during hard times. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place someday. To Maintain my mental wellness I take SSRIs and meet with a therapist weekly. While these are important, there are also personal things I do for my mental health, such as taking time off when I need it. One thing I enjoy is reading, and it helps me a lot when I am struggling. I also work on prioritizing my needs over others, which has been very beneficial for me.

I have struggled with Anxiety Disorder and Depression for years and was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder as well. These diagnoses have greatly impacted my life in many ways. As I have faced struggles with mental illness, I have relied more and more on help from therapists and doctors to keep going. Before I started having panic attacks, I never really understood why someone would go to therapy. I felt as though everyone should be able to handle their problems. That view quickly changed when I started seeing a therapist for myself. Over the past few years, I have come to learn that admitting you need help and finding a therapist or someone else to talk to is a very respectable thing. Anyone and everyone should be able to at least try going to therapy, as it can help you to learn more about yourself. My relationship with my parents has gotten worse as my mental illness has impacted my life more and more. My parents do not understand mental illnesses or why they impact my life so much. Since coming to college, I have been able to take charge of my mental health journey and see a counselor at my school which has helped a lot, and I have somewhat come to accept that they do not need to support me for me to get help. My girlfriend struggles with mental illness as well. Having a partner who can understand what I am going through has been very helpful for me. We can talk openly with each other when we are struggling and it has only made our relationship stronger over the past year. While it can be hard when we are both struggling, knowing we have each other and understand each other's struggles helps during hard times. There have been times when my mental health has caused me to struggle in school. In the future, I want to become a college Physics professor and one of my goals within that role is to support students who may be struggling academically due to mental health struggles. Having professors who are supportive and able to support you when you are having a hard time has made a very big impact on my educational experience thus far, and is something I will never take for granted. I want to be able to play that role myself in the future for students who will be in my place some day.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

My ideal bookshelf titles from #BookTok would be Divine Rivals, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Better than the Movies, The Silent Patient, Normal People, Carrie Soto is Back, Written in the Stars, The Vanishing Half, The Maid, Ward D, Happy Place, Lessons in Chemistry, and The Perfect Marriage. All of these books are ones I have seen mentioned countless times on #BookTok, and I cannot wait until I can get my hands on a copy of them all and so many more books I have heard so much about through #BookTok. Booktok has helped me learn not only about new titles, but new authors I have turned out to love. One of my favorite authors has become Taylor Jenkins Reid because I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo on #BookTok and fell in love with her writing style. My ideal #BookTok bookshelf would have every one of her books on it! Another author I fell in love with through #BookTok is Ashley Herring Blake. I found Delilah Green Doesn't Care through booktok and it was one of my favorite reads ever. I love Blake's writing style and I love when I am able to find books with good queer representation like Delilah Green Doesn't Care. Popular #BookTok titles such as Fourth Wing, Heartstopper, Red White and Royal Blue, and Beach Read have become gateways for #BookTok readers to find books they may have never heard of otherwise. While books widely discussed on #BookTok become popular, similar books and/or books by similar authors become more popular as well. I have found some of my favorite books such as People We Meet on Vacation and The Final Girls, because other books by their authors have blown up on #BookTok and gotten more attention. I love that Booktok allows me to see not only books that are popular, but to get other recommendations from readers who have similar tastes in books to me. I think this fact makes the #BookTok community that much more impactful on its members such as myself. I think #BookTok has become an amazing way for readers to gain a sense of community and to find their next reads! As someone who finds themself on #BookTok all of the time, I love being able to learn what books other readers around the world are loving to find myself more recommendations! I also think it is wonderful that #BookTok allows smaller and independent authors to get exposure they may not get otherwise.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.

My future self will be a college physics professor who works to inspire students and fight gender inequality within the physics field.

You never know what someone else is going through, and all they may need to turn their day around is a helping hand. I have struggled with mental illness for many years, so I understand the need for someone to lean on sometimes. One of the hardest things in those difficult times is asking for help. Whether you need an extension on an assignment, someone to talk to, or just a friend who can remind you to brush your teeth and take a shower, it can feel embarrassing to admit that you need that assistance sometimes. Being someone willing to help others is an invaluable trait. Being someone people close to you can feel they can ask for help from is very important. It is also important to be someone who can offer help to others without always being asked. When I am having a hard time, sometimes all I need is a hug or a shoulder to cry on, but that is something I always struggle to ask for. My partner has gotten better at seeing when I am having a hard time and offering those things to me rather than asking, which means the world to me during those times. Beyond that fact, the more she helps me the more comfortable I feel asking for her help. Over time, I have grown to learn that I can always ask for a hug, a shoulder to cry on, or an ear to listen and she will do her best to be there. These simple actions can make a huge difference to me, and it is something I will never take for granted. Additionally, students go through a very wide array of struggles. From mental health concerns to social issues, academic issues, and more, the majority of students have some type of struggle that might not be obvious to those around them. If students have access to resources such as tutoring and counseling services, they are more likely to succeed as a student and be happier. People rely on others for a variety of reasons, and no one can go through life all on their own. Helping others is a way to keep the world moving and to keep those around you happy. Chances are, if you help someone close to you who is in need, they will be likely to return the favor when you are the one struggling.

If I could have everyone in the world read just one book, it would be The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Not only was this book just an enjoyable read, but a powerful story about being Indigenous in Modern America and how that plays a role in the character's lives. The way Angeline brought her own experiences into the story made it incredibly impactful for me, and as a white person in America, it gave me a unique insight into what indigenous people my age experience. This was one of those books I just couldn't put down, and when it ended I immediately gave it five stars. While I know that everyone has different tastes when it comes to reading, I feel like this story has something for everyone! It follows a gripping mystery, discusses different Indigenous beliefs and traditions, and is narrated by a very interesting and likable main character. While it might not be everyone's favorite as it is mine, I do believe there is something for everyone within this book. I believe it is important to uplift indigenous authors, and Angeline sharing her story was very inspiring in my opinion. Lastly, I had never heard about this book anywhere, I only saw it at the bookstore. I think this book deserves more attention and appreciation, for both its fantastic story and the way it was written. If everyone in the world could read this book, It would get the recognition it deserves, and everyone would have the chance to read an incredible book written by a very talented author.

When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me I wasn't smart enough to take an Advanced Placement physics class, so that is exactly what I did. It was a hard subject to get into, and for the first year I wasn't sure if joining that class was the right choice for me. My class was mostly my male peers, and all of the physics teachers at my school were men. Those facts gave me the impression that the physics classroom was not a place for a woman to be. Physics is a very hard field to get into, especially for women. Over the past three years, I have taken a variety of Physics classes that have all deepened my love for the subject. In my freshman year of college, I was fortunate enough to attend the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, where I gained immense insight into the inequalities within the physics world. Many of these inequalities contribute to women being less motivated to enter the field. As a non-man intending to become a physicist, this is a hard reality for me to face. As someone who was discouraged from even trying to take a physics class, this conference helped me understand that I want to work to encourage students to take physics, rather than pushing them away. Over the past year, I have become a Physics tutor at my college, which has further driven my desire to become a teacher. I have discovered that teaching is a passion of mine, I am always happy and excited to be able to share the knowledge I have with others. There is no better feeling to me than helping a student grasp concepts they had been struggling with before. For this to become my career would be a dream come true for me. Finally, I want to make physics a more approachable and enjoyable subject for students. It can be a very daunting subject, especially due to its heavily math-based nature. However, when students can understand how fundamental physics is to everyday life, and to see all of its applications in the real world, it often becomes less daunting and more fun to learn about. Physics is a love and a passion of mine, and I want to be able to share it with as many people as I can. I would love to be able to encourage and inspire other students in the future to see how amazing physics can be and help make it more approachable to future students.