One of my favorite books ever, or rather book series, is one called The Missing by Margaret Peterson Haddix. There are eight books in the series and they are all very exciting and follow the same general story. I read them when I was a bit younger, so a lot of the details are lost on me, but the general premise about important historical figures being lost in time was very cool and I remember the books being very interesting. The main characters of the story are all young, I believe all high-school aged, so I was able to relate to them in that way at the time of reading. Even though they were young characters, they were still very well fleshed out and were mature, which made the characters themselves more interesting. The books go to various points in times, usually where a major historical event or important time period took place, and the protagonists of the story would have to figure out why they were there and how to get back to their own time, if they were not meant to be there. The major plot points of the books was that these high school aged children in modern times were the child versions of major historical figures, so they had to be brought back to their time and put into their rightful place, while also not messing with the timeline in any other ways. And the protagonists had to do this while adjusting to the time period they were in and avoiding the people who took them from their time period in the first place. It was all very cool and something I hope to come back to in the future.

The most helpful piece of financial advice I've ever received is to created budgets and stick to them. Managing money, especially when you have a lot of things to pay, can be very daunting. But the best thing you can do is created a budget, possibly multiple budgets, so you can clearly lay out what all your money is going to and when. This way, things become a lot less stressful. You can budget for just about anything. Have a budget for your retirement, for your monthly payments like rent and subscriptions, and even for small store or food trips. Capping yourself at a certain amount and being aware or how much you're spending and how much you need to spend in the future is a great way to have peace of mind when it comes to your finances. The most important thing about it though is sticking to those budgets. It's okay to occasionally spend more than you intended, especially if it's something smaller like groceries, but it would entirely defeat the purpose of these budgets if you're consistently over-spending, and it will put you in a tough position financially. It takes a lot of self-control and smarts on your end, but if you can manage that, then the rest of the process should be easy and fun. Simply put, budgeting allows you to best manage your money, to not only cover what you need but to also help get you what you want. Somebody who manages their finances well can cover the rent with ease and have plenty saved up for fun, like vacations!

My personal favorite piece of art is a musical by the name of West Side Story. Now West Side Story has been turned into a movie, twice, but it began as a musical on the stage. West Side Story tells a beautiful Romeo and Juliet type story with some very interesting twists. Rather than it being the Capulets and the Montagues in the fourteenth century, we get the Jets and Sharks battling it out on the streets of New York in the year 1957. This musical tells the same tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet, but does a fantastic job of portraying the intense emotions of their story through multiple songs. Not only that, but the dancing and fight choreography used in this musical do a great job of enhancing the intense rivalry between the two factions. You get invested in the characters and you feel for what they're going through. The newest film adaptation of the musical does a great job going even further with the characters, fleshing them out to be more relatable, but still fitting for the time period. This show has amazing music that easily stands the test of time and tells a story that is universal to all and a story that can be told for thousands of years and still be understood.

I've always considered myself an optimist, and the main thing that gets me through tough times is just enjoying the little things. There are a lot of small things in life that are really great that you have to remind yourself of sometimes when it feels like nothing is great at all. Listening to music that you really enjoy, eating your favorites foods, talking to your favorite people. Even when there are lot of stresses in your lives, these are some things that you can always do that are certain to improve your mood a bit. And I like to think of the future in a positive light. Think about what my life could be, think about how great it could be, rather than thinking about how bad it is in the moment. If there's something bad coming up, or something I'm just not looking forward to, then I do the opposite. I live in the moment and I enjoy what I have going on around me. Sometimes it's okay to be sad and to not be okay. But being an optimistic has given me many different ways to cope with the bad parts of life. Also, that optimism has taught me that there's nothing I can't get through. And it has given me an appreciation of life that I just did not have in my earlier years of life. Optimism has done a lot of good for me.

A personal finance lesson that I find to be very important is to spend less than you make. This is a pretty common lesson and saying that many people abide by, but it may be the most important thing to remember. It's easy to get ahead of yourself and to want lavish things in life, but you have to be realistic and smart with your money, which means creating budgets and goals that fit your job and/or lifestyle. That's not to say you can't have any expensive or nice things, but you should be aware at all times of how much you're making and how much you're spending over certain time periods. The simple objective of this lesson is to make sure you're saving a portion of the money you make every week/month/year. These savings can be put into big payments down the road, retirement, or just be there in case of emergencies. That way you're never overly stressed about your finances and have something to fall back on in the worst of times. On top of it being important, it's easy to understand and easy to do. You just decide on a set amount or percentage of your incomed to put into these savings every time money for your work comes in. Of all the financial lessons I've learned, this one remains at the top of that list in terms of importance.

My passion is performing and doing theatre, those things kind of go hand-in-hand. As a sophomore in high school I thought I knew what I wanted to do in life. I was going to pursue a career in computer engineering or software development or cyber security, but all of that went out the window when I auditioned for the school musical. I had always liked the idea of performing, but never thought it was worth going after, given how introverted and shy I was at the time. But I did get into choir in 8th grade and continued doing it in high school. I enjoyed it a lot, and my friends in the choir are what made me feel confident enough to do the audition. Sure enough, I got into the ensemble of that production, and the rest of the story writes itself. I instantly fell in love with theatre. The comradery, the singing and dancing, getting to put on a show with an audience. Even the hard parts of learning the music and memorizing the script were genuinely fun to me. I was hooked on performing from that first musical and I haven't let go. I dropped most other extra-curricular activities to make time for theatre and it was more than worth it. Luckily I was able to keep participating regularly in choir, including going to contest and performing in multiple concerts each semester. It was equally as rewarding to get to perform with the choir, and many of my friends did both theatre and choir as well. The path I wanted to take in life quickly formed before me, and before I knew it, it was my senior year of high school. I had been in many shows at this point, both with the high school and with outside theatre companies, so my passion for the art of theatre and performing only continued to grow. Before my senior year even came to be, I auditioned for the theatre programs at the University of Central Missouri. And Luckily for me, they accepted me into their BFA Theatre Performance program. As soon as I graduated from high school, I went into college with an open mind and ready to focus solely on what I loved, and that's exactly what I've gotten to do. I'm now entering my senior year of college at UCM and I've had countless opportunities to grow, not only as a performer, but in many aspects of theatre. I've performed in nearly a dozen shows, I've written a couple plays that were brought to life on stage, and I've had the honor of directing multiple shows in the black box theater on our campus. On top of that, I've received what I consider to be top notch education and have worked with many dedicated and very experienced professors. It's probably gotten old to hear it by now, but my intense passion for what I do has never dwindled. I went into college expecting to come out a much better performer. Not only will that be true, but I will be able to use what I've learned and the experiences I've had in college to continue writing plays, to direct shows at any theatre company, and even to hopefully one day run my own theatre company. Until that day comes though, I'm going to continue to put myself on the stage, in front of an audience, and give passionate performances that I know I'll be proud of.

1. Frankly, I don't. But this scholarship would go a long way towards funding my Takis and Doritos Dinamitas addiction. As well as my Taco Bell addiction. All things that are necessary to get me through college. That's what I tell myself. The money would also probably go towards my medical bills when I have numerous stomach issues as I get older. 2. My goals in life are too blow up and then act like I don't know anybody. Become a recluse that is filthy rich and only comes out during the night, like Batman. Unlike Batman though, I would probably use my richness to fund ACTUALLY important things, like organizations and charities. I'm not sure spending all my money on expensive weapons and gadgets would be the best use of it. 3. I'll never forget the obstacle course that I went through as a kid at the state fair in 2009. My time was always terrible, I was never able to improve. The next year, the obstacle course wasn't there, and that haunts me to this day. Every year I go back in search of that stupid obstacle course, praying it will return so I can conquer it. It's a coward.