My major goals are attending graduate school in France, paying off my loans without financially burdening myself, and buying a house while renting during my foreign stay. These are the things that require well-planned strategies that range from financial management to keen research and considered action. My primary goal involves attending graduate school in France. It involves research into the universities offering the best programs in my area of study. I shall be applying to those institutions that have academic excellence reputations and are offering scholarship or financial aid provisions to international students. The application process will involve assembling academic transcripts, securing letters of recommendation, writing a personal statement, and, where necessary, proof of language proficiency in either French or English. I will have to apply for a student visa, search for housing, and make sure I have enough money to cover my living expenses once I get admitted. Another important part of this process is to look for scholarships or working opportunities that could lighten the economic load of studying abroad. The estimated cost for university applications, including application fees, language tests, and travel, could be in the range of $2,500 to $3,600. With frugal budgeting, I can be certain that the financial burden of studying in France will not get in the way of my long-term plans. Meanwhile, I also have to take into consideration my existing undergraduate loans. I must pay these off, absent any undue financial burden. The way I plan to do this is through refinancing my loan to achieve a lower interest rate that would lower monthly payments. I will also be using what's called the debt avalanche, paying down the loans with higher interest rates first, while making minimum payments to others. One other thing that I can do is automate monthly payments, making it easier to track and avoid penalty charges. Though this might be tolerable, saving for graduate school must be an option, too; thus I remain optimistic that with consistent payment, within the next couple of years, I can be able to rid myself of a portion of the loan balance. I expect to pay between $300 and $500 a month, depending on the loan terms, in addition to an added $100 to $500 to cover the refinancing fees. This payment plan, if stuck to, enables me to pay off my loans well before I have completed graduate school. Long range, my financial goals are to own my own home. While sorting out the financial realities of living abroad, I intend to save for a down payment on a house. This may be accomplished in a number of ways by continuing to build my savings, I will set aside a fixed percentage of my income each month. Further, I will be exploring the avenue of developing passive income off of rental properties. Meanwhile, renting it out would provide me with some financial security and an opportunity to build equity. In this manner, studying in France, consolidating finances, and subsequently becoming a house owner can be achieved by focusing on structured repayments of debt, savings for graduate studies, and income generation from house rentals. Being abroad in France for a couple months, I will consider renting out my main house in the United States to help offset some of the living expenses abroad and bring in some additional income, which I could save for any future investment needs, including buying a home. I can only expect it to take around 3 to 5 years, depending on market conditions, to save for a down payment and acquire a mortgage.

Success, for me, is not a static destination but a dynamic journey characterized by continuous growth, meaningful impact, and profound fulfillment. It embodies a balance between personal achievements, professional milestones, and a positive contribution to the broader community. My understanding of success is rooted in the pursuit of goals that resonate with my values and aspirations, as well as in making a tangible difference in the world around me. On a personal level, success represents a commitment to lifelong learning and self-improvement. It involves setting and reaching milestones that stretch my capabilities and enrich my understanding. Personal success is not merely about achieving specific objectives but about embracing a mindset of curiosity and resilience. This means consistently seeking new knowledge, developing new skills, and overcoming challenges. Every step in this journey—whether it’s mastering a new discipline, tackling a complex problem, or gaining new insights—contributes to a deeper sense of personal fulfillment. For me, success is intertwined with the idea of becoming a more capable and well-rounded individual who is always evolving and expanding. In the professional realm, success takes on a different but equally significant dimension. It is about making meaningful contributions to my field and achieving recognition for my work. This involves not only performing my job effectively but also driving innovation and leading change. Professional success means actively seeking opportunities to influence and advance my industry, whether through pioneering research, leading impactful projects, or developing new strategies. It is about leaving a legacy of work that is both innovative and influential and that contributes positively to the field. This sense of accomplishment comes from knowing that my work has made a significant impact, inspired others, and advanced the industry in meaningful ways. The opportunity before me is a critical step toward realizing this vision of success. It provides a platform to leverage my existing skills and knowledge while also expanding them in new and exciting ways. Engaging with this opportunity means embracing new challenges and taking on responsibilities that will push me to grow both personally and professionally. It offers a chance to tackle complex problems, collaborate with talented individuals, and explore innovative solutions—all of which are essential for my development. This experience will help me refine my skills, broaden my perspective, and advance my career in ways that align with my goals. Moreover, this opportunity aligns closely with my personal values and passions. It is not just a career advancement but also a chance to engage in work that I find deeply meaningful. When my professional endeavors reflect my personal beliefs and interests, it enhances my motivation and satisfaction. The alignment of personal values with professional activities is crucial for achieving a sense of purpose and fulfillment. By contributing to a cause or project that I am passionate about, I will find greater joy and satisfaction in my work. This synergy between personal fulfillment and professional achievement is a cornerstone of my vision of success. In essence, the opportunity before me represents a convergence of personal growth, professional advancement, and meaningful impact. It offers the potential to expand my horizons, tackle new challenges, and make a significant contribution to my field. By embracing this opportunity, I will be able to move closer to achieving my vision of success—one that encompasses continuous learning, professional excellence, and a commitment to making a positive difference in the world. This journey will not only help me achieve my goals but will also enrich my understanding, enhance my skills, and ultimately lead to a more fulfilling and impactful career.

"Sailor Moon" is a classic among anime enthusiasts, celebrated for its magical girl themes, compelling characters, and enduring messages of friendship, love, and justice. What makes "Sailor Moon" endlessly captivating for many fans, including yourself, likely stems from several key elements that define its charm and lasting impact. First and foremost, the series excels in character development. Usagi Tsukino, the protagonist who transforms into Sailor Moon, initially appears as a clumsy and carefree schoolgirl. However, as the series progresses, she evolves into a courageous leader who learns the importance of responsibility and selflessness. Her journey resonates deeply as she faces various challenges and grows stronger both emotionally and spiritually. The supporting cast of "Sailor Moon" is equally compelling. Each Sailor Guardian—Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus—brings unique strengths, personalities, and backgrounds to the team. Their camaraderie and unwavering support for one another showcase the power of friendship and teamwork, which are central themes throughout the series. Moreover, "Sailor Moon" is renowned for its intricate storytelling and mythology. The narrative weaves together elements of romance, fantasy, and adventure, with overarching plotlines that explore themes of destiny, sacrifice, and the battle between good and evil. The presence of Tuxedo Mask, Usagi's love interest who aids the Sailor Guardians, adds a romantic subplot that enhances the emotional depth of the series. Another captivating aspect of "Sailor Moon" is its memorable villains, such as Queen Beryl, the Dark Kingdom, and the enigmatic Queen Nehelenia. These antagonists pose significant threats to both the Sailor Guardians and the world they protect, adding suspense and drama to the storyline. The art style and animation of "Sailor Moon" also contribute to its enduring popularity. Naoko Takeuchi's original manga artwork is beautifully translated into the anime, with vibrant colors, fluid motion, and iconic transformation sequences that captivate viewers. The blend of magical elements with everyday life in Tokyo creates a compelling contrast that enhances the fantasy appeal of the series. Furthermore, the soundtrack of "Sailor Moon," featuring memorable opening and ending themes, complements the emotional tone of each episode and reinforces its nostalgic charm. Beyond its aesthetic and narrative elements, "Sailor Moon" holds a special place in the hearts of fans because of its positive messages. It promotes themes of courage, compassion, and empowerment, particularly through its depiction of strong female characters who inspire viewers to believe in themselves and stand up for what is right. In conclusion, "Sailor Moon" continues to captivate audiences worldwide due to its compelling characters, intricate storytelling, memorable villains, beautiful animation, and positive themes. Whether you're drawn to its magical transformations, heartfelt friendships, or timeless messages of love and justice, "Sailor Moon" remains a beloved classic that resonates with fans of all ages, making it a series you can return to time and again with joy and nostalgia.

Zendaya's journey from her roots on Disney Channel to becoming one of the most successful and influential figures in entertainment today is a testament to her exceptional talent, hard work, and dedication. Starting with her breakout role on "Shake It Up," Zendaya quickly captured the hearts of audiences with her charisma and natural acting ability. However, what sets Zendaya apart from her peers is not just her initial success, but her remarkable trajectory beyond the confines of child stardom. Transitioning from Disney Channel to broader roles in film and television, Zendaya has proven her versatility as an actress. Her role as Rue Bennett in the critically acclaimed series "Euphoria" showcased her depth and range, earning her widespread acclaim and industry recognition, including an Emmy Award. This achievement not only solidified her status as a serious actress but also highlighted her ability to tackle complex and challenging roles with maturity and skill. Beyond acting, Zendaya has made significant strides in the world of fashion. Her impeccable sense of style and effortless elegance have made her a fashion icon, gracing the covers of top magazines and becoming a muse for renowned designers. Zendaya's influence extends beyond the red carpet; she actively collaborates with fashion houses to create collections that celebrate diversity and inclusivity, further cementing her impact on the industry. Moreover, Zendaya's success as a singer and performer adds another dimension to her multifaceted career. Her musical talents have been showcased through various projects, demonstrating her ability to captivate audiences with her soulful voice and stage presence. Whether through her solo endeavors or collaborations, Zendaya continues to explore and evolve as an artist, showcasing her passion for music alongside her acting and fashion endeavors. What makes Zendaya's success even more remarkable is her ability to maintain authenticity and grace in an industry known for its challenges and pressures. She has consistently used her platform to advocate for important causes, including representation, equality, and social justice. Zendaya's commitment to activism and advocacy reflects her understanding of the impact she can have beyond entertainment, inspiring fans and peers alike to use their voices for positive change. In essence, Zendaya's journey from Disney Channel star to global icon is a testament to her talent, resilience, and commitment to excellence. She has not only achieved incredible success across multiple fields but has also paved the way for future generations of artists to pursue their dreams fearlessly. Zendaya's impact on popular culture transcends boundaries, making her a role model and inspiration to millions around the world. As she continues to evolve and redefine success on her own terms, Zendaya remains a shining example of what is possible when talent, determination, and passion converge in pursuit of one's dreams.

Losing my maternal grandmother earlier this year was a pivotal moment that reshaped my perspective on life, resilience, and personal growth. Her passing in February marked not only the end of a profound chapter in my life but also ignited a journey of introspection and determination. My grandmother was not just a family member; she was a beacon of wisdom and encouragement who instilled in me a deep-seated belief in the power of education and the pursuit of excellence. From a young age, my grandmother emphasized the importance of education as a gateway to opportunity and personal fulfillment. She was my cheerleader, celebrating every academic achievement with unwavering pride and enthusiasm. Her belief in my potential fueled my ambition and shaped my academic journey. Her sudden absence left a void that was both heartbreaking and profoundly motivating. Navigating the aftermath of her passing was a tumultuous experience, compounded by the logistical and emotional challenges it presented. My mother, devastated by the loss of her own mother, had to travel to Indonesia for the funeral. The financial strain and the need for me to remain in school created a complex dynamic within our family. I grappled with feelings of guilt for not being able to accompany my mother and say a final goodbye in person. Despite these challenges, the experience deepened my appreciation for the resilience and strength inherent in my family. We rallied together, supporting one another through our grief and finding solace in cherished memories of my grandmother. My mother's courage in handling the logistics of the funeral while managing our family's financial responsibilities was a testament to her strength and determination. In the wake of my grandmother's passing, I found myself reflecting on the values she instilled in me and the impact she had on my aspirations. Her belief in education as a catalyst for personal and professional growth inspired me to redouble my efforts in school. I immersed myself in my studies not only as a tribute to her legacy but also as a means to honor her unwavering support and encouragement throughout my academic journey. Beyond academic pursuits, my grandmother's passing prompted a deeper introspection into what truly matters in life. Her absence underscored the importance of cherishing moments with loved ones, nurturing relationships, and living a life of purpose and integrity. I realized that true success is not solely defined by external achievements but by the meaningful connections we forge and the positive impact we make on others. As I navigate the complexities of grief and healing, I am driven by a renewed determination to fight for my future. My grandmother's passing has imbued me with a sense of purpose and urgency to seize every opportunity and make the most of my potential. I am committed to pursuing my academic and career goals with diligence and passion, guided by the values of perseverance, compassion, and resilience that she exemplified throughout her life. Her memory serves as a constant reminder of the transformative power of love, resilience, and the enduring impact of those who believe in us. I carry her legacy with me as I embark on this next chapter of my life, striving to honor her memory through my actions and choices. The lessons she imparted and the love she shared continue to shape my journey, inspiring me to embrace challenges with courage, to embrace opportunities with gratitude, and to make a meaningful difference in the world. In conclusion, my grandmother's passing has been a profound catalyst for personal growth and reflection. It has strengthened my resolve to pursue my dreams with passion and determination, to embody the values she instilled in me, and to make a positive impact in my community and beyond. Her legacy lives on through me, guiding my path as I strive for academic excellence, personal fulfillment, and a future that honors her memory with every achievement and every step forward.

I have watched Sabrina Carpenter on Disney Channel when I was 10-12 years old and she is the most successful out of her Girl Meets World co-stars. Now, I have been listening to her music when she got out of Disney Channel and she has been thriving with her music career by opening for Taylor Swift in the Eras Tour and producing more hits that make people like and follow her on Instagram. As a fan of Sabrina Carpenter, her impact on my life likely stems from a combination of her musical talent, personality, and the meaningful content she delivers through her songs. Sabrina's ability to weave relatable narratives into her music creates a powerful connection with her listeners. Her lyrics often touch on themes of self-discovery, relationships, and personal growth, resonating with those navigating similar experiences. This relatability can make her music feel like a companion during my times of introspection or emotional turbulence, offering solace and a sense of understanding. Moreover, Sabrina Carpenter's journey as an artist can be inspiring. Watching her evolve from her early career in acting to becoming a respected singer-songwriter showcases resilience and determination. Her willingness to explore different musical genres and push creative boundaries encourages fans to embrace their own individuality and pursue their passions fearlessly. This aspect of her career can serve as a source of motivation, reminding me of the importance of perseverance and growth in my endeavors. Beyond her artistic endeavors, Sabrina Carpenter's positive presence in the public eye contributes to her appeal. Her genuine interactions with fans and advocacy for important causes demonstrate a commitment to using her platform for good. This aspect of her personality can make you feel proud to support an artist who not only creates great music but also strives to make a positive impact on the world around her. In essence, being a fan of Sabrina Carpenter means more than just enjoying her music; it means finding a connection to her artistry, finding inspiration in her journey, and being uplifted by her positive influence. Her career has likely impacted you by providing a soundtrack to moments in your life, offering encouragement during challenges, and serving as a reminder of the power of authenticity and perseverance in achieving your goals. Whether through her melodies or her message, Sabrina Carpenter has left a meaningful imprint on my life, shaping my perspective and enriching my experiences along the way. In conclusion, I wanted to go to her concert (taking place in October 8 at the Wells Fargo Center), but ticket prices are so high and now her concert is sold out, but hopefully if she has a concert in the future and when I have enough money, I can finally see her as I never been to her concert.

Even though I am a finance major, sales and marketing are part of this major. The fields of sales and marketing offer opportunities to engage with people directly, understand their needs, and develop creative strategies to promote products or services effectively. For individuals who thrive on interpersonal interactions and enjoy building relationships, sales and marketing provide a platform to connect with diverse audiences and make a tangible impact on business growth. The dynamic nature of these roles also appeals to those who appreciate the constant challenge of adapting to market trends, consumer behavior shifts, and competitive landscapes. Moreover, careers in sales and marketing can be deeply rewarding for individuals with a passion for communication and storytelling. Crafting compelling narratives that resonate with customers, and seeing the direct results of successful campaigns can be immensely satisfying. The ability to innovate and experiment with different marketing techniques, from digital strategies to traditional advertising, allows professionals to continuously refine their skills and stay at the forefront of industry trends. Conversely, pursuing a career as a financial analyst appeals to individuals with a strong analytical mindset and a keen interest in the world of finance. Financial analysts play a crucial role in examining financial data, assessing investment opportunities, and providing valuable insights that guide strategic decisions within organizations. For those who enjoy delving into numbers, deciphering trends, and forecasting financial outcomes, this career path offers both intellectual challenge and practical application. Additionally, I am a numbers person and I find myself pursuing a career in the finance field after graduating college, and I explored the majors and careers during my high school years, I chose finance because I found it the easiest out of nursing, psychology, and criminology even though every major has its difficulties, but I have to keep working hard. Financial analysts are often motivated by the opportunity to contribute to the financial health and success of businesses. By conducting thorough research, performing complex financial modeling, and presenting data-driven recommendations, analysts help stakeholders make informed decisions that can impact the company's profitability and growth trajectory. This responsibility fosters a sense of professional accomplishment and the satisfaction of knowing that their expertise directly influences business outcomes. Furthermore, the field of financial analysis offers continuous learning and growth opportunities. As global markets evolve and financial instruments become more complex, analysts must stay abreast of industry developments, regulatory changes, and technological advancements. This ongoing learning process appeals to individuals who value intellectual curiosity and seek to expand their knowledge base throughout their careers. In summary, whether I am drawn to the dynamic, people-oriented nature of sales and marketing or the analytical rigor and strategic impact of financial analysis, both career paths offer distinct avenues for professional growth, fulfillment, and making a meaningful contribution to organizations and industries.

The iPad (which has its new and old versions) is an excellent example of how technology can significantly enhance our lives and contribute to making the world a better place. Since its introduction in 2010, the iPad has evolved into a versatile device that has revolutionized various aspects of our daily routines, education, healthcare, and beyond. I use it a lot not only for watching non-school videos, but for studying, reading, and applying for scholarships too. To begin, The iPad has transformed the way students learn, offering interactive textbooks, educational apps, and access to a vast array of online resources. It provides a more engaging and personalized learning experience, catering to diverse learning styles. Additionally, it has improved accessibility for students with disabilities, offering features like voiceover and dictation. Additionally, in the healthcare sector, iPads have been integrated into various aspects of patient care. They are used for electronic health records, enabling healthcare professionals to access patient information securely and efficiently. iPads are also utilized for telemedicine, allowing remote consultations and monitoring of patients in real-time, particularly beneficial for those in rural or underserved areas. Furthermore, Apple has been at the forefront of accessibility features, and the iPad is no exception. With features like VoiceOver, Magnifier, and AssistiveTouch, individuals with disabilities can use iPads to navigate, communicate, and engage with digital content more effectively, promoting inclusivity and independence. Equally, with the transition to digital content; the iPad has contributed to reducing paper consumption and environmental waste. E-books, digital magazines, and online newspapers have become increasingly popular on the iPad, leading to fewer trees being cut down for paper production and less energy being consumed in printing and distribution. Overall, the iPad exemplifies how technology can empower individuals, transform industries, and create positive societal impact. Its versatility, accessibility, and innovative features continue to inspire the development of new technologies aimed at improving our world.

“You will never know if you will get a scholarship.” My mom always tells me. To begin, with the college tuition increasing; a scholarship will immensely support my pursuit of future career goals in several ways by providing me with financial assistance, giving me access to opportunities, getting recognition and validation in a positive way, along with flexibility and freedom, and convincing me to invest in my future success after college. Although pursuing higher education often comes with significant financial burdens, including tuition fees, accommodation costs, and study materials. A scholarship would alleviate some of these financial pressures, allowing me to focus more on my studies and professional development without the added stress of financial constraints. Additionally, scholarships often come with additional perks such as access to exclusive networking events, mentorship programs, internships, or study abroad opportunities. These experiences can be invaluable for building connections, gaining practical skills, and broadening my perspective within the finance industry. In fact, I have been awarded scholarships during my senior year of high school, along with my freshman and sophomore year of college, which served as recognition of my academic achievements, leadership potential, and commitment to my field of study. This validation not only boosts my confidence but also enhances my credibility as I pursue future career opportunities. For this reason, even though I come from a low-income family, we always do our best to appeal to the financial aid office with financial support from scholarships and/or grants. With these types of financial aid, I may have more flexibility to explore diverse learning experiences, such as participating in extracurricular activities, conducting research, or taking on internships that align with my career aspirations. This flexibility can enrich my educational journey and provide me with a well-rounded skill set. I always do my best and work hard to keep my high GPA, so I can maintain my scholarships until I graduate. Furthermore, by investing in my education through a scholarship, sponsors are essentially investing in my future success. As I progress in my career, I aim to make meaningful contributions to the finance industry and society at large. The support provided by the scholarship enables me to realize my potential and fulfill my aspirations, benefiting not only myself but also the broader community. By applying to scholarships as well as getting some in the past, I feel very confident that I could get one because I work very hard during my college years and even though there are times where I fail, I get back up by having higher grades at the end of each semester. In summary, a scholarship would serve as a catalyst for achieving my future career goals by providing financial assistance, access to opportunities, validation of my achievements, flexibility in my educational pursuits, and an investment in my long-term success. After I make a decent amount of money during and after college, I hope to be more independent by doing things on my own, take initiative, and have a successful career as a financial analyst because I know that my parents are not always going to be there for me and help me as they are 11-12 years from the retirement age and I will be about 31-32 years old when they retire.

Empowering women in the realm of finance is crucial for societal progress and economic stability and I plan to leverage my education to contribute to this movement and empower women in my community by research and innovation, promoting education and awareness, representing and advocating for females in the business field, engaging in the community and supporting entrepreneurship. To begin, I will utilize my knowledge to educate women about financial literacy, including budgeting, saving, investing, and understanding financial products. By conducting workshops, seminars, or online courses tailored to women's needs, I can equip them with the necessary skills to make informed financial decisions. I took a financial literacy course in high school and will be taking one in the fall and what I learned from the course is to be wise when spending the money by spending it on needs rather than wants. As a woman and college student majoring in finance, I aim to be a visible advocate for gender diversity and inclusion within the industry. I will actively promote the representation of women in leadership positions and advocate for equal opportunities and pay. By being a vocal advocate, I can challenge existing biases and stereotypes in the financial sector. Additionally, I will offer mentorship opportunities for aspiring women in finance, providing guidance, support, and networking connections to help them advance their careers. Mentorship can play a significant role in building confidence and fostering professional growth, ultimately empowering women to succeed in the financial industry. I engage with local communities through outreach programs, volunteer work, or partnerships with women-focused organizations where this is a priority for me now and in the future. By understanding the specific challenges and needs of women in different communities, I can tailor financial empowerment initiatives to address these issues effectively. I take initiative in doing studies and my work since now I do not have to keep asking my parents for help with work as I did before college. Many women are entrepreneurs or aspiring business owners. I will provide support and resources to help women entrepreneurs navigate the financial aspects of starting and growing their businesses. This may include access to funding, business planning assistance, and financial management guidance. I will also be looking for jobs when I come back for my fall semester because I am doing the co-op program and the director of co-op told me that there are many autism-friendly companies, but I will have to do well on my interview, so I hope I can do well and secure a job during the spring and summer semesters, so I can earn my income Continuously staying informed about the latest trends, research, and innovations in finance will enable me to develop tailored solutions and strategies that cater to the unique needs and preferences of women. This might involve exploring new financial products, services, or technologies that empower women to take control of their finances. To conclude, by combining education, advocacy, mentorship, community engagement, entrepreneurship support, and innovation, I believe we can create a more inclusive and empowering financial landscape for women, ultimately driving positive change in both the industry and society as a whole. Women can do anything that men can do and we are all equal.

In my 2023 year, I still did not hang out with a lot of people and there are haters everywhere. I thought that the people who were my friends had deceived me as I thought they had good intentions since college people were deemed as more mature than high school students, but they did not include me. I think if my 2023 year had a soundtrack, the songs from 1989 (Taylor's Version) would be 'Bad Blood' and 'Shake it Off' because I have difficulties forgiving the ones who deceive me and I do my best to ignore the haters since they are everywhere no matter where we go. I cannot socialize with other people (which results in me not wanting to live on-campus) due to bullying in my past years and people labeling me as a chatterbox and telling me that I talk too much. I have heard Taylor Swift sing near my backyard for five years since I live near the Lincoln Financial Field (where she performs when she tours in Philadelphia). My parents opened the backyard door, so they can listen to Taylor Swift's songs and singalong to them in their head as well as having a memorable moment of her songs. As we all know this year, there was a Ticketmaster frenzy over going to her concert and not many Swifties were able to go to the concert, which resulted in people feeling disappointed and not wanting to buy the tickets since they were very expensive. My mom also wanted to go to the concert too, but could not get the tickets since the tickets for the seating to see Taylor Swift at the venue were so expensive. I think the Swifties that were not able to go to the concert are now able to shake off the feeling that they could not go to the concert as they may have other favorite artists who they want to see in concert. As a result, the bad blood between the concertgoers and the ones who did not go has decreased since there were many Swifties who saw the Eras tour movie in theaters and it felt like being at the concert mentally and all over again. To add on, even though people felt like being at the concert by singing in the movie theaters, it has received backlash since we are supposed to be quiet in the theaters, so we learned that whoever’s concert film we watch we will have to stay quiet. I have never thought about going to a Taylor Swift concert, but I would go if my mom or friend(s) invited me, but it would be difficult to find a seat since the seat next to my friend may be taken by a stranger, while the seat next to my mom will be reserved for me. I am down to go to any concert that my friends invite me to.

As an Indonesian-American born to Indonesian immigrants, immigration is one of the topics I deeply care about because many immigrants have faced deportation and detainment, which results in family members not being able to see each other, so the children are persuaded to have to find a legal guardian. I am grateful that my parents are here with me and care about me by helping me with my college fund, buying me food, and working very hard to get the pay that they need to afford necessities. Like many employed people, they have worked different jobs before I was born so they can have a good work-life balance and earn more money. With me being a student who has been going to school and my parents working, I have passed every grade then and now with the effort I demonstrate through my hard work, determination, and dedication. Unlike all of my family members, I have autism which impacts the ability for me to interact with others and express what I want to say to people I want to have conversations with, but this did not stop me from being successful. Now being a college sophomore, I was able to become a positive role model at Saint Joseph's University by considering being involved in a sorority as well as helping individuals with autism become more independent and the autism community at the campus is very strong since I am not the only student with autism there—I was the only student with autism before I started college which did not make me feel included as I am more included at college now. My parents' work has influenced me to work very hard and earn passing grades because I want to show them and everyone around me that people with autism are successful as well as equal as people without disabilities. I aspire to be a financial analyst after I graduate college and hope to get the high pay I need in order to be independent to live on my own. My parents and the ones closest to me are very proud of me because I show that I work very hard with me earning a GPA higher than 2.0 (despite the difficulties of the college classes) and they have always told me that it is fine if I do not make the dean's list as long as I pass every class and my GPA is higher than 2.0.

Currently, I am giving back by giving away my clothes that do not fit me anymore and donating money to the poor and homeless. When we see and think of the homeless people, we see that it is very important to be generous by giving them money, food, and drinks so they can live a longer life. For example, when my dad sees a homeless person during his drive, he always does his best to give them money, food, and drinks he has in his car which is where I learn to show kindness from my dad when people cannot afford necessities. When I was in high school, we always cleaned up parks for our community services as well as considered giving out blankets for the homeless. Now since the weather is very cold, we must give the poor and homeless necessities like food and drinks. This shows that we make a positive impact by showing that we care for everyone in the world. Recently, when I dropped a coin on the ground, I left it there and decided not to leave it to me, so someone could take and use it. This was where my mom labeled my action as generous and I felt selfless because I know that I do not need a lot of money now, and some people are suffering. I am considering joining a sorority at Saint Joseph's University and I am deciding between Alpha Phi and Alpha Gamma Delta due to raising funds for their philanthropy. Alpha Phi's philanthropy is women's heart health while Alpha Gamma Delta's philanthropy is feeding hunger. This results in me leaning towards joining the latter (Alpha Gamma Delta) because I think the sisters in this sorority were very welcoming and humble when I met them, seemed to be very positive role models for others, and their philanthropy is not only for women, it is for the people who need food regardless of gender. Most of the sisters there are also involved with the Kinney Center, so I felt like I had a stronger connection with the sisters in Alpha Gamma Delta compared to the sisters in Alpha Phi when I attended the Meet the sisters event for their sororities. I am an only child, so I think joining a sorority could give me the sisterly bond and strong connection that I always dreamed about. Other than considering being involved in a sorority, I went to the yearly activities fair that Saint Joseph’s has during the beginning of the fall semester and grabbed flyers of the activities that interested me. Even though I could not be involved in many campus activities due to not living on campus, I also donate to the sororities because their way of raising funds also involves smashing a pie in their face. As said in the beginning, I plan to make a positive impact by recycling, donating shoes and clothes, helping others who are struggling with their work, advocating for people with disabilities, and not littering.

A majority of people have been struggling with mental health, which can lead to suicide, but my loved ones have told me that if I or any of my close friends are struggling, they can talk to an adult that they trust. I have cried almost every day since almost everyone at the Saint Joseph's University campus perceives me as a stranger which is the same experience I had before starting college. I have since still spent all of my time alone due to the lack of response from people I want to strike up a conversation with. Good mental health is linked to having a positive self-perception and satisfying relationships with friends and other people. When I was about to start college, I chose to attend Saint Joseph’s University because I was very confident that I was able to make a lot of new friends there, but it took a toll and did not turn out as I expected. I reached out to a lot of people, but they have never responded to me which resulted in me being hurt and when I speak to people, I can only say limited words since they will bully me for my awkwardness. I am a very kind person, but people do not see that in me as they have negative thoughts towards me and I am easy to be bullied. Dealing with mental health challenges has forced me to challenge societal stigmas surrounding mental illnesses. Experiencing the profound impact of mental health on my well-being has made me acutely aware of the importance of destigmatizing mental health. Through my struggles, I have come to believe that mental health should be treated with the same level of priority as physical health by doing activities that interest me like exercise and dance. This belief has shaped my stance on mental health awareness and my commitment to spreading empathy and understanding. I have been bullied throughout my life and I will never forgive and forget the ones who have wronged me. My journey with mental health has deepened my connections with others. Throughout my challenges, I have encountered individuals who understood my experiences and effectively supported me. These relationships have taught me the power of empathy and how it can positively impact someone's mental well-being. Consequently, I have developed a sincere desire to provide emotional support and understanding to others, fostering stronger, more meaningful relationships. I learned that there are people who accept me for who I am and I will have strong connections in the future. When I have a true desire to make friendships, people always mistake my desire for obsession which results in me not having the courage to ask people to hang out with me. I always feel awkward and embarrassed after I have conversations with them. My only friends are the people who I work with at the Kinney Center since they are more kind, mature, and accepting towards me compared to people who are not involved with the Kinney Center. I always have fun conversations with them since they do not see me as a stranger or outsider compared to everyone on campus so I am less hesitant to ask them to hang out with me. My experiences with mental health have significantly influenced my career aspirations by witnessing the essential role mental health professionals play throughout my journey has influenced me to have a high-paying job and be more independent after I graduate college. I am motivated to become a financial analyst who can build strong connections with new people. My connection to mental health challenges will serve as a source of kindness, compassion, and understanding, allowing me to connect with others by having conversations I will never forget. Furthermore, my encounters with mental health issues have also led me to recognize the broader implications mental health has on society, particularly within marginalized communities. This has directed my career aspirations towards advocacy work, striving to help others in need, and working towards social change and improved mental health policies for people regardless of race, gender identity, and sexuality. My experiences with mental health have undoubtedly shaped my beliefs, relationships, and career aspirations. The challenges I have faced have instilled a deep understanding and compassion for those living with mental health conditions. By challenging stereotypes about people with autism, building stronger relationships, and pursuing a career in the business field, I aim to contribute to a more inclusive, empathetic society where mental well-being is prioritized and surround myself with the therapists who will care for my problems and not underestimate my ability to communicate. Through my journey, I have learned that our struggles with mental health do not define us, but rather, they create an opportunity for growth, resilience, and a chance to make a positive impact in the lives of others. I am still very hesitant to approach new people, but that is who I am and I do not have to change myself to make friends.

I have been applying for scholarships since my senior year of high school since my parents and college counselor convinced me to apply for them to lower the cost of college and be able to pay my tuition on time, but I have not won all of the scholarships I applied to before I started college and now, so I always do my best to apply to the scholarships that I am eligible for since this can help me lower the cost of college every year, be able to afford the said amount on the bill every year and not be in debt during and after college. Before my first year of college, I received two scholarships with one going to my college fund and the other going through my financial aid package, but luckily, I was able to afford the bill that my university sends me once it is available since my family transferred money to me so I will not be in trouble by having a registration hold when I pay my bill. I also received two scholarships during my first year of college, one which went toward my college fund and the other going through my financial aid package for my second year of college. Currently, I still have ups and downs with my classes, but I always hope the final grade gets better so I can get on the Dean's List for most of the semester which can be advantageous for companies looking to hire someone with experience. When it comes to my education, before college I always explored careers and majors such as thinking of majoring in psychology, then nursing, and finally I chose finance. I thought finance was my best fit because I am a math person and I am good with numbers. Although college material is harder than high school, I always do my best to succeed by getting a GPA higher than 2.0 by earning A's and B's in all of my classes, and during my first year of college in the Fall of 2022 semester, I made the Dean's List with a 3.62 GPA. I did not make the Dean's List in the Spring of 2023 semester since my GPA was lower than 3.5, but I passed all of my classes with a 3.13 GPA, which made my overall GPA 3.38. My family and friends always tell me that it is fine if I am not on the Dean's List because not everyone has to be perfect to succeed. To tie everything together, I believe I deserve this scholarship because not only am I serious about my schoolwork and exams, but I also demonstrate kindness, helpfulness, and confidence by helping people with Autism being kind to everyone around me, and always telling myself that I am good and enough. Everyone always tells me that I am smart and I will succeed which shows that I proved that Autism will not stop me from doing what I do now, and I hope I can become a financial analyst by working with major companies in the business field after I earn my bachelor's. My work at the Kinney Center and winning scholarships will make me continue to pursue my education because this helped me aspire to be a positive role model and all of the reasons above are how I will contribute to the business community by also being professional and positive when I talk with others. This will help me when I work with different people.

I have a lot of favorite Disney Channel shows such as Girl Meets World, Liv and Maddie, Jessie, Austin and Ally, Andi Mack, Dog With a Blog, Wizards of Waverly Place, Shake It Up, Good Luck Charlie, etc. These are most of the shows I watched on Disney Channel and Andi Mack was the last show I watched on Disney Channel since the shows now are not my taste. I think if I had to make a crossover, it would have to be between Jessie and Girl Meets World because it is a crossover we have never seen on Disney Channel since these shows did crossovers with other shows, so I thought of this crossover, so the audience who have watched these shows can see what the crossover between Jessie and Girl Meets World would be like. Also, both of these shows take place in New York, so I think it would have been the perfect crossover to happen since they can take a train to each other's house or apartment. I was waiting for a crossover between Girl Meets World and Jessie, but it never happened since these shows ended. If this crossover had happened, this episode would summarize that the Rosses' apartment floods after a storm, and Riley and her friends let them stay at the Matthews' apartment. During this episode, a storm happens throughout the day and now all of the Ross family and Jessie have to get out of the house, when they get out of the house, Riley, her parents Topanga and Cory, brother Auggie, and friends Maya, Lucas, and Farkle find them on the streets and ask Jessie and the Ross children "what happened?" Jessie tells them "There is a storm and it is very rainy". After she tells them, they all take a van together to go to the Matthews' apartment to stay there for a while until the weather gets better. The Ross kids and Riley, Farkle, Lucas, and Maya all become friends, but Luke develops a crush on Maya which makes Farkle jealous. As a result, Maya takes time to choose between Luke or Farkle, but later she chooses Luke to become her boyfriend and this makes the siblings and Jessie awe them. Jessie and the Rosses' parents approve of their relationship so Farkle develops a crush on Zuri, but she does not seem to be interested in him being her boyfriend, so she tells him that they should stay friends and he is fine with the decision. Riley and her friends and family had a strong connection with the Ross kids since they rarely got angry with each other. Weeks later, everything is back to normal, Riley along with her friends and family says goodbye to the Rosses, the Rosses' parents get back to pick them up and they are finally able to live in their newly fixed home after the weather gets better. It was a happily ever after story. The end.

My volunteer experience in high school and college has impacted my core values of kindness, positivity, and confidence, and improved my résumé on LinkedIn because these traits can help me be accepted by others for who I am as well as getting jobs picked out for me. Recently, I worked as a camp counselor at the Saint Joseph's University campus where I helped and interacted with mostly nonverbal clients on the autism spectrum who have difficulty expressing themselves, behaving the right way and understanding the difference between right and wrong, so as they get older, they will learn from their mistakes like I did when I was their age. When I did "Camp Kinney" over the summer, I was able to foster stronger connections with other students despite majoring in different fields and our aspirations of not wanting to be in the education field by being a teacher or counselor for individuals with autism. Although I and the other students had different majors, we wanted to be involved with the Kinney Center because we wanted to be positive role models, adapt to neurodivergent individuals, and strengthen our skills of patience, kindness, being a friend, and lending a helping hand towards the campers. Even though I am a finance major (which is in the business field), I volunteered in the educational and community field because I want to show that people with autism or any other disabilities can be positive role models and do what people without disabilities can do. For example, I am not the only individual with autism involved at the Kinney Center since there is also one other person who I was able to talk to with autism and he was able to adjust to college life independently, make friends by getting along with his roommates, and be respected and admired by everyone around him. Even though I do not live on campus, I am doing my best to independently adjust to college life, choose the right friends, be very kind to everyone around me, and be involved in extracurriculars where people accept and welcome me for who I am. I will always continue to be involved with the Kinney Center because as a person with autism, I can help, understand, and advocate for the individuals with autism, and I can get paid every two weeks when I work there, which will help my college fund for the upcoming academic years and until I graduate, so I do not have to worry about being in debt during and after my college years. Furthermore, I have been applying to the scholarships that I am eligible for, so I can use the scholarship fund(s) that I receive from any organization towards my financial aid package and/or my college fund for the upcoming academic years (my junior and senior year).

I think a lyric from Olivia Rodrigo's 'GUTS' album that resonates with my experience is "Cat got my tongue and I don't think I get along with anyone. Blood runnin' cold, I'm on the outside of the greatest inside joke." This still resonates with me as a college student because I am still a loner in college as people find me weird and they do not want me as their friend despite my kindness towards them. I always think that if I hang out with people or make friends with them, they would say they rather kill themselves (which relates to social suicide) than be surrounded by me along with me being the target of bullying due to my naivety and not understanding the terms people around me use, which results in me getting mocked and laughing awkwardly. In general, almost all of the lyrics in her song 'Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl' relate to my whole life wherever I go because she says "Each time I step outside, it's social suicide. It's social suicide, wanna curl up and die. It's social suicide" and "I laughed at the wrong time, sat with the wrong guy (Uh-huh). Sеarchin' "how to start a conversation?" on a website." These lyrics capture the essence of adolescence and life in general because before college life started, we always wanted to be popular and accepted by others, but the people who convince you to sit with them take advantage of you and make you look bad in front of a crowd. I always sat with the wrong people at lunch and I have trouble initiating conversations due to my autism which impacts my ability to converse and make friends. To continue from the previous paragraph, the lyrics above also relate to the movie Mean Girls as Cady (Lindsay Lohan) wanted to be accepted and join a group called "The Plastics", which had Regina, Gretchen, and Karen (Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert). When she joined that crowd, it was revealed that Regina used people to her advantage as she used Karen because she was not that bright and Gretchen for being very nice. When I took modeling classes at John Robert Powers before COVID along with when I almost finished high school, It caused me not to talk much and be extroverted because I was afraid that I was too talkative as everyone around me said I was a chatterbox and they would say shut up. Due to my change in personality from wanting to be accepted and perfect to not caring about being accepted, I did not have lasting friendships, but I learned that not all friendships last and I will potentially find new friends in the future. After graduating high school, I was glad to get out of there because of the bullying and I would never forget and forgive the ones who bullied me, if I saw them, I would sing hate songs to them to show that I want the people who hurt me out of my life and to give them a taste of their own medicine because they are/were rotten to the core.

If I had to choose one favorite K-Pop group, it would have to be Blackpink because of their catchy and dancy songs. I remember when I was in high school, I would talk about K-pop groups with my classmates and the groups I would talk about are BTS, TXT, and Blackpink. I would listen to most Blackpink songs and see people dance to their songs during the showcases at my school. The performance was very good as it caught my eye and watching dance performances catch my eye all the time. As a result, K-pop is one of the main factors that got me interested in dancing again, so this illustrates that K-pop made an impact on my life as I practice dance every day by using YouTube videos when I am at home and I take drop-in classes at a dance studio, so I can get better at it. Almost all K-pop groups have become very popular all over the world because their music videos have been shown on TV many times as well as the videos getting millions of views quickly. Even though I have never been to the concerts, I could tell they will get very crowded and the meet and greet lines are very long due to the fan base of the group(s). They have also collaborated with big music artists from all around the world and I am a fan of the artists that they collaborate with such as Blackpink having a song with Dua Lipa and then Selena Gomez as well as TXT having a song with the Jonas Brothers. The songs that the K-pop groups released with these artists have become very catchy and I have listened to these songs 24/7. To continue, I discovered K-pop when I was eleven years old by watching a video of reactions from YouTubers and the first K-pop group I heard about before BTS was named EXO, but I only listened to a few of their songs as I am not too familiar with them and I did not end up becoming a big fan of them as I found out K-pop is not my type of music like American or Latin pop. Now, I rarely listen to K-pop music because I talk about it most of the time with my family and friends as they are more a big fan of the music compared to me. To summarize, listening to K-pop music in the past and present made an impact because I was still dancing when K-pop came out, the groups dance almost all the time in their music videos where the dance is advanced, and watching dance videos from them and others made me very interested in dancing again, so I dance everyday by learning choreography step-by-step so I can get better at it and know what movements I am supposed to be doing.

In general, my favorite Starbucks drinks are the green tea frappuccino, caramel frappuccino, and vanilla bean frappuccino, but if I had to choose a fall-inspired drink from Starbucks, it would have to be the iced chai latte. I have drank hot chai tea for breakfast and it always had a good taste, so I wondered why not try the iced version of it. I have never been to Starbucks in a while, but the iced chai latte from Starbucks for the fall season is the most good-tasting drink to me as I enjoy the scent and taste of it. Fall is my favorite season and I cannot wait for it to come next month because it is not too hot and/or not too cold. Even though I do not like when the weather gets colder, I still eat a mix of hot and cold foods and beverages because we all have personal choices about what we want to eat and drink. I am not a big fan of pumpkin-flavored drinks, but for Thanksgiving, I sometimes eat pumpkin pie because it is a traditional food for Thanksgiving and the holiday takes place in the fall. When I was in elementary school, I would always say I am thankful for cupcakes, but I never had a pumpkin cupcake, so I had pie at my school because I like the taste of pumpkin pie too. As a result, I do not order pumpkin-flavored lattes and hot drinks at Starbucks because I would not finish the drink, so instead the iced chai latte is my best choice to order as I am more comfortable with the scent and taste of it. This holds a special place in my heart because it is a sweet drink and it makes me very calm, which also makes me more sweet towards the people I care about. I like Starbucks more than Dunkin because the drinks are not too sweet and there are more options at Starbucks during every season. I am also torn and cannot choose when it comes to tea and coffee because I drink both during all four seasons and I like both drinks since I cannot live without coffee if I did not have it throughout the day. I always drink my coffee and tea sweet because I am not a fan of bitter tastes in foods and drinks. A quote and joke I found today questioned "When is the first day of Fall?" "Honey, everyone knows it's when Starbucks starts serving Pumpkin Spice Lattes." Although I am a little sad that summer is coming to an end, I cannot wait until the fall season starts because it is when I get to experience new things like maybe even trying new fall-inspired drinks from Starbucks when I have time or when I go there with my parents.

I am an American born to Indonesian immigrants and a first-generation Indonesian American. In Indonesia, many houses have been torn down and the environment is very poor and sad as many people live in very small houses like my grandparents and there are a lot of homeless people there, which is similar to living in America due to the house being destroyed by fires, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. I always show respect to my family, friends, and teachers when I have questions about my school material, so I understand the material better, can succeed, and be a positive influence on everyone around me. This has made me overcome the obstacle of my irrational fear of failing a class despite my grades not being as perfect as before. My friends, parents, loved ones, and physician have told me that it is fine if there is a time that I do not end up being on the dean's list as long as my GPA stays in the 3.0 and higher range. I am very determined and passionate about my academics now because academics are the most important if I want to succeed and become a financial analyst after graduating from college. I was always determined in high school as I have always earned A's and B's in my courses and my GPA was a 3.5 and higher. I am continuing to work very hard in college by studying and keeping track of deadlines, so I can graduate on time and make myself a strong candidate for the scholarships I apply to. I have shown innovation by learning new skills whenever I join a new activity such as when I began to become a scholar at the Kinney Center as I have to be very patient and friendly with the client that I am supporting, and this helps me build up my socialization skills as well since every scholar at the Kinney Center gets a new client every semester and summer camp. I have been developing my social skills here and this can help me overcome my shyness when I meet new people because when I did Camp Kinney in the summer, I talked with my client along with other scholars and their clients. I became more versatile now as I tried things I did in the past and became interested in them again. For example, I played violin along with modeling, acting, and dancing, but now I do not have an interest in modeling and acting since I am more into singing and dancing despite me being a novice at dancing as it takes a lot of time to get better at every new thing we try. Throughout my life, I have faced assumptions such as me being Chinese when I am not and not being able to be liked by others, but during my college years, I have accepted and cared about people who are understanding and kind towards me. I also care for my dog as I walk him and cuddle with him, so I do my best to be friendly towards everyone and I will let my guard down because not everyone will hurt me. I plan to make an impact on the world with all of these skills, so I can be popular in a positive way and admire that even though I have autism, I can learn any skills people without disabilities can learn and earn scholarships to show the positive impact that people with disabilities can earn scholarships no matter what it takes.

Were you always a nonverbal kid when you were younger? Did you have trouble expressing yourself? Were you left out in social situations? If you have been, then you are not alone. When I was a little girl, I was very mousy, and lonely, and had more meltdowns compared to the usual kids around my class because younger individuals with autism need more time to be verbal as well as behave better. When I did Camp Kinney over the summer, I visited all of the groups and the first two groups required more patience because the campers could run on their own, not listen, grab others, throw stuff, and have more meltdowns. Additionally, when I had meltdowns in the classroom, I would have my TSS (Therapeutic Staff Support) and my BSC (Behavioral Specialist) take me out of the classroom to calm me down, so I do not draw attention to myself from my classmates and I understand what is right and what is wrong. This happened when I supported groups one and two at my summer job because the campers have to remain calm and safe at all times. Furthermore, I came from a low-income family, so besides not knowing what Camp Kinney was in the very past years, the cost of going there every week was very expensive when I discussed the high cost with my mom, she told me that the children's parents pay the director at the Kinney Center and the directors pay the SCHOLARS. I and my family also did not have enough money for someone to babysit me when I was younger, so I went to summer camp with individuals who did not have disabilities because it was cheaper, but when I was there, people found me weird and rejected me. I always wanted to be included because everyone around me had a best friend as well as characters that I have seen in movies and shows. I have been developing better connections and friendships in college compared to the past because the people in college are more mature, but my parents and doctor have told me that it always takes time to make friends and I have to be myself when I am around other people because they will be more appreciative of me when I am sincere. When I moved up from grade to grade when I was younger, I realized that this is a challenge I overcame because not many people with autism can read, do math problems, earn high grades, and eventually go to college. Also, I earned scholarships and became a finalist for one during my freshman year of college, so I hope I can earn more scholarships for my sophomore year and going forward, so I can pay my tuition on time and have the amount on my financial aid package to be lower, so it will be a burden to me and my family.

Throughout my life, I have lived in very small houses due to my family income being low to middle and my family is not big because I do not have brothers and sisters. I currently live in a very small house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; so I have very limited things I can do at my house because I hit stuff with my legs when I dance and when I exercise, I do part of the movement on the workout video I use so I do not bump into objects in the room that I learn to dance in such as my parents' bedroom and the living room. Whenever I did gymnastics during my elementary to middle school years, I always hit my legs on something and not fully doing the movement and the dance studios have a much bigger space for me to dance, so I can fully do the movements in the choreography and warmups. As a result, for my very own Barbie Dream House, which is located in Florida, I wish to have a mansion with a big backyard and pool outside, so I can invite a lot of my friends over to have fun, a dance studio, two big bedrooms and one bathroom as well as my house being very modern and clean because almost everyone wants to visit clean houses. I also want the wall colors to be pink, white, and red, a view of the city when I visit the rooftop and a fully renovated basement. To conclude, the fabulous features of my house are the dance studio, the pool, the walls that are painted pink, red, and white, the big bedrooms, so I can dance in another room when I feel like it, and the closet which I can put all of my fancy clothing and shoes there. I am ready to have fun and dance the night away as Dua Lipa said.

Even though I am not a huge Taylor Swift fan nor ever been to her concerts, her music has helped me understand something new about myself because in one of her songs 'Anti-Hero', she talks about her height insecurity by saying "Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby and I'm a monster on the hill. Too big to hang out slowly lurching to your favorite city." This relates to me when I was insecure about being the tallest girl in the school, but I overcame my fear by loving being a tall girl at 5'9"-5'10" as Taylor herself is a tall woman at 5'10"-5'11". Being a tall girl, I have the same situations as Taylor Swift and other tall people such as bumping my head on shorter objects, my leg room not fitting that much on buses, being very tall compared to the majority of my classmates, and people being very impressed with how tall I am since they want to be as tall as me. I have appreciated my height ever since because I have had tall friends/classmates at high school and college, and we also crack jokes with each other as well as shorter people to be friendly and funny with each other. Taylor Swift is very creative and could write her own music and her music results in many people appreciating and wanting to listen to it many times, which is something I can understand and relate to because I can try my best with writing my own essay with being creative as well as singing, dancing, and doing makeup. Even though Taylor Swift does not have autism, she is very talented, likable, intelligent, and during this year, almost a lot of people wanted to go to her concert, but did not get tickets due to the Ticketmaster crisis as well as the tickets being very expensive and quickly sold out. Furthermore, I was a big fan of her in my elementary to middle school years and I almost always sang her songs for the talent show at my schools because they were very catchy and her songs became hits. When I sang her songs at the talent shows everyone cheered for me after my performance no matter if they were mistakes, which relates to when I am dancing now because even though my dancing skills are not that perfect, people still cheer for me no matter what and I cheer for other people no matter what. To summarize, she was a positive role model for everyone and she has made me a kind, intelligent, sweet, bubbly, and hardworking individual that I am today. Like her, I also work hard to succeed and have a successful career after my education. I hope that I can win this scholarship because I have worked hard to earn passing grades, showed my passion to graduate college on time, and become a positive role model to everyone around me by helping others, giving back, and being kind and soft-spoken.

I represent the Autistic and Asian communities, and I have been involved in many activities in my high school years, such as DIVAs (Developing Independent Virtuous Adults), the National Honor Society, the student council, and my college counselor's senior committee. Now, in college, I am involved with Kinney SCHOLARS, where we help individuals on the Autism Spectrum and the Asian Student Association, being a participant by attending events they host, and outside of school, I dance in my free time or take dance lessons, so I have activities in and outside of college. Throughout my elementary through high school years, I was involved in basketball, gymnastics, dance, and karate. Unfortunately, I did not pursue them because I found an interest in modeling, which I am not doing at the moment. I am focusing on my studies because they are my priority and I hope to graduate college on time. Winning this scholarship will mean a lot to me and I will use this scholarship to pay off all of my college expenses for all four years since scholarships are for all college years. This will also help me contribute to my academic goals because higher education level is not cheap. That is why as a start, scholarships are becoming necessary for me throughout my four years of college and I know that going forward Saint Joseph's University offers internships and temporary jobs, and these will help me to continue to earn my bachelor's degree in finance and become a financial analyst in the future. This can work both ways where I can start saving to continue my education and also have work opportunities to gain experience because companies require job experience. Recently, I did a financial aid appeal with the financial aid office at Saint Joseph's University after the financial aid package was sent out and luckily, they were able to give me additional funding by giving me a grant and qualifying me for federal work study, so I can lower my college expenses in the future and this will help me and my family's financial situation as the first time we appealed was for the death of my maternal grandfather and my mom being unemployed for six months. I hope that I would be a strong candidate for this scholarship because I want to show that I am determined, passionate, and hardworking by maintaining a 3.0 GPA or higher and trying my best to make the dean's list. I am serious about getting my degree, joining successful work companies, and giving back to my community when it is needed. I pray every day to win scholarships because I want to make my parents proud so we can afford college. I learned that we have to keep trying no matter what it takes and we can get through the difficulties that come to us when we work hard and pass every college class.

Throughout my elementary through high school years, I was peer pressured in a negative way, I overcame it because my peers stood up for me and/or told me that those people are not my friends and they were taking advantage of me. As a result, I joined D.I.V.As (Developing Independent Virtuous Adults), which was extracurricular for people who wanted to be positive role models. In college, I had much better connections with other people compared to when I was in high school because the people in college are more mature and friendly. Since I am not involved in a lot of extracurriculars, one way I became a leader in college is by joining the Kinney Center by helping individuals with autism. Even though my major does not align with becoming a Kinney SCHOLAR, I joined because I wanted to build up my social skills as well as being a leader for the autism community and my friends and parents tell me that joining this could help with socializing. As someone with autism, I have difficulty initiating conversations, so when I walk to clients at Kinney, I start by saying hi to them as well as asking what they like. I think my work at Kinney can help me when I compete at the Miss USA and (possibly) Miss Universe pageant because as Lu Sierra once said "Miss USA/Miss Universe does not model, she speaks." This statement demonstrates that Miss USA and Miss Universe's mission is to be a positive role model for everyone around them and with this, if I were to win Miss USA and Miss Universe, I would use it to be a transformational leader as well as show everyone that people with disabilities also have success stories. In 2022, there was a teen with epilepsy and autism who won a Miss Dallas pageant and she showed everyone that she fought through her disability as well as being a leader by raising money for cancer patients while also competing in pageants to raise awareness. When I become a leader, I donate money to sick people as well as give food and money to the homeless, so they can stay healthy because food is one of the needs along with clothes and housing, and when Miss Universe travels to different countries during their reign, they always help children in need and advocate for themselves and everyone around them to show that they are more than just beautiful. To build up from everything, what makes me a leader is that I show determination, kindness, loyalty, and passion when I work hard at school as well as helping others who need it. I hope that having this scholarship will help me continue to become a leader in the autism community as well as strengthen my leadership skills when I become a financial analyst at companies.

I am a finance major, which is part of the business field and my motivation in pursuing a career in the business field is that I am good with numbers and have an interest in math. There are many careers I can do with a bachelor's degree in finance such as a financial analyst, sales agent and representative, foreign exchange trader, financial manager, and many more. I am considering doing the co-op at Saint Joseph's University during my sophomore year and going forward since co-ops are temporary jobs as well as having job experience, many people start with being a sales associate or a cashier at companies because not everyone has the advanced experience to work as the career they want to pursue after graduating college. Additionally, I have a LinkedIn profile where there are many skills required for a job other than sales like communication, and being able to speak many languages, and I want employers to know where I worked and how my skills from my previous job and volunteer experiences can make me a strong candidate for future jobs. I am highly interested in work-study programs because there is a way to get job experience, lower my tuition expenses, and be able to afford college with my family’s help, other than applying for and getting scholarships and/or grants. English and Indonesian are my native/bilingual proficiency languages, while French and Spanish are my limited working proficiency languages. Taking higher-level French courses after French 101 and 102 and me considering studying abroad in France might move me to a professional working proficiency level or full professional proficiency in French, along with getting my master’s degree in Spain, resulting in being fluent in Spanish. Being fluent in three foreign languages can be very advantageous, so I can help people who have limited English proficiency at schools and shopping places (Target, Walmart, Forever 21, etc.). In conclusion, I still need to build up my analytical, critical thinking, organizational skills, and patience when doing work and writing essays or reports since these skills are required to become a financial analyst or other careers, so I can be calmer during tense situations, doing tasks that require a lot of work, and resulting in positive and correct outcomes. Also, if I want to be certified or chartered in the finance field, I will have to study intensively with breaks in between, focus on financial concepts, take practice exams, be wise about spending my money because the exams cost money, and other than spending money wisely on the exam, I hope to use it wisely to rent, then eventually buy a house when I become independent, and use it on necessities (food, clothing, housing, transportation).

I will be a rising college sophomore finance major at Saint Joseph's University during the 2023-2024 academic year. I made the dean's list in the fall 2022 semester with a 3.62 GPA. This was my biggest accomplishment during college life since the coursework in college is more complex compared to high school, and I managed to work through the assignments by the deadlines. When I started college, I did my best to make friends by reaching out to students from my college, but they did not reach out to me, so this is one moment when I experienced weakness since I always thought college years will be perfect and I learned from other students that not all four years are perfect since we have our ups and downs. Before college I always wanted everything to be perfect such as having a best friend because characters I watched on TV had best friends and everyone around me had best friends. As said in the previous paragraph, I did my very best to overcome my problems with making friends by approaching and reaching out to others, but they rarely responded to me, so I was a bit of a loner throughout. Even though I was a bit of a loner, I looked at many clubs that interested me, but I could only get involved in a few and/or attended a few events because I do not live on campus and the events required me to wait very long hours. As a person diagnosed with high-functioning autism, it is very difficult for me to start conversations and I have an awkward approach toward new people. As a result, when I wanted to make friends in college I acted like a different person since I am not a very bubbly person and I tried to change myself a little bit because, before college, I always expected others to approach me, but now I do my best to approach others. I have learned from my experiences that not everyone will approach me and I have to put myself out there. I also learned that we do not always get what we expected such as when we apply for jobs, and scholarships, and get the person we want to be our friend to become our friend since it is almost like a math problem where it takes time to get the results we are hoping for. In this instant, I am hoping to win scholarships because it will help me and my family financially to afford college since my goal is to graduate in four years without being in debt, get my bachelor's degree in finance, become a financial analyst, go to graduate school abroad and work in a successful company after working temporary jobs. This scholarship will make a difference because it will show that I am strong, confident, and passionate about pursuing my career to become a financial analyst and maintaining a high GPA throughout college by completing complex courses with getting an A or B in the class when I do my best to participate in class, do my assignments on time, and earn high grades on my final exams or projects.

I always dreamed bout going to Disney when I was a little girl because everyone around me had been to Disney World once or more than once. I went to Disney World (in Florida) during winter break in 2013 with my parents and cousin, and since I had a very fun time there, I thought about going again, but it is very expensive to go there. During my preschool to elementary school years, I would dress up as Disney princesses like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine despite my favorite Disney princess is Rapunzel, not only due to what she could do with her hair but because of her brave and kind personality. When I was at Disney World, I took a lot of pictures with many Disney princesses because to me, going to Disney represents happiness, animation, cheerfulness, and fun times despite it being an audience for children, many grown-ups still go there for vacation. I used to watch Disney Channel a lot from when I was in preschool to my freshman year of high school because the shows and movies were very interesting to me and my parents. Although I do not watch Disney Channel anymore, I would still go to Disneyland or Disney World, so I can have a fun and happy break if I can and my mom would still be happy to go there again. Other than going to Disney, I still enjoy Disney Channel movies from my childhood despite the target audience being adolescents because it brings back happy memories and I hope I can be happier throughout my life with many strong friendships in college since Disney is about happiness and positively inspiring people by being kind towards one another. I have never been to Disneyland, but I hope to go there with friends or family if I can because I have never been to California and I would like to go to Disney World again due to going there one time and I want to experience happiness again since I have not been on vacations due to plane tickets being very high in price and my parents working. I hope I can win this scholarship because I want to show that people with disabilities can have success stories and strive for success and become positive role models for everyone. With this scholarship, I hope to use it towards my financial aid package, so I can lower the cost of my financial aid package for the 2023-24 academic year, pay the bill on time once I have received it and not worry about having to take loans. Since I do not have any scholarships for the 2023-24 academic year, I will keep applying to the ones I am eligible for to show my determination and passion about winning scholarships since the ones I applied for are only for one year, so getting scholarships going through my financial aid package will help me and my family financially since our financial situation is categorized as low to middle income.

My greatest achievement was making the dean's list for the fall 2022 semester. This experience taught me that I would continue to work hard during my college years and I hope to end every semester with a GPA higher than 2.0. Unfortunately, in the spring 2023 semester, I did not make the dean's list because my GPA was lower than 3.5. Even though I did not make it, my family and friends encouraged me that it was fine, and they also had the same situation as me when they missed a semester to be on the dean's list. Before the 2022-2023 academic year started, I was eligible to receive additional aid from most of my top colleges after my mom and I appealed because, besides the death of her father, we also showed the awards I got in my high school years along with my report cards. With tuition increasing every year, the amount on my financial aid package will get higher, so we have to appeal to the financial aid office to make sure we can afford college without student loans, and coming from a low to middle-income family, my parents always work hard to make sure that they can pay for my college funds. I also work part-time at Saint Joseph's University when I help a client with Autism and I get paid for working, which increases my funding for the following years. In November 2022, my mom lost her job because her office closed down due to the hurricane (her office was headquartered in Florida), so she worked very hard to find new jobs and I pray for her to get a new job as soon as possible, but she did not get her new job until May 2023. Her unemployment lasted for five months, which impacted our financial situation and we could use this reason for the 2023-2024 academic year to appeal the financial aid package I will receive on June 20, so we do not have to owe the university money or take loans. Other than coming from a low to middle-income family, when we apply for the PHEAA grant, they would tell me I am not eligible for it due to the Expected Family Contribution on the FAFSA being very high, so without housing expenses being on my financial aid package, this made it very expensive and when we appealed, Saint Joseph's University would give me additional grants, which made it easier for me to afford college and pay the bill on time. I always try my best to apply to as many scholarships as I can and hope the scholarships that I get will be added to my financial aid package, so this will lower the cost of college every year since the scholarships I have received were only for one year. After I get my bachelor's degree in finance, I hope to get my master's degree in another institution or abroad, so I hope to save money and spend it wisely so I can afford graduate school and live on my own. I will still keep applying for scholarships and I pray and hope that I get the scholarships I apply for every day, so I make my parents proud to show that I am smart, bold, brave, and passionate about getting scholarships because it will help us financially.

As someone coming from a low to middle-income family, I have always tried my best to succeed in school, so I can get the financial aid I need and my family can be able to afford college without taking loans. Throughout my school years, I have always wondered what I wanted to be when I grew up with me considering to become an actress, dancer, gymnast, basketball player, and model. I tried these activities, but later, I did not feel too serious about pursuing my career in either one of these. I am focused on academics now since academics are the most important factor in succeeding. I did karate and basketball in my middle school years along with a little bit of dance, but I did not get fully interested in these activities as I was more interested in becoming a model. When it came to my volunteering experience, after my middle school years were over and when I started high school, I was involved in the National Honor Society, D.I.V.As (Developing Independent Virtuous Adults), student council, and my senior committee since I wanted these to be on my résumé when applying to colleges. When I graduated high school, I graduated with a 3.79 GPA and with this, I hope to continue to maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher in college. Before I decided on what college I wanted to go to, me and my parents had to appeal to the financial aid offices, so we could afford college better and I made my decision couple days later after decision day since I was waiting to hear back from Drexel to see if they could give me additional funding. When Drexel got back to me they step that they could not give me additional funding, so I chose Saint Joseph's University due to the additional funding they gave me and the safety despite the university being a little far from my home. Although Saint Joseph's University is a little far from my home, I decided to be a commuter because the living costs are high and I do not really feel comfortable having a roommate since I have difficulties making friends. To build off from making friends, I tried to overcome my problems making friends when I started college, but I have realized that not all four years of college is perfect. For example, I did not make the dean's list for the spring 2023 semester and there are other people who did not make it for the fall 2022 semester. With the tuition increasing and financial aid package changing amounts yearly, winning this scholarship will mean everything to me and my family because college is not cheap and I hope to get scholarships every year since they are not necessary for one year, so I hope to lower the cost of college with scholarships and grants, thus I can graduate college without being in debt and being able to afford graduate school abroad and having my own house.

When I was younger, I was a huge fan of Taylor Swift even though I never went to any of her concerts, but even though now I am not a big fan of hers, I still listen to her music because it is catchy and very good. I like her older music better since I find them better than the newer ones. If I had to choose my favorite song on her '1989' album it would be 'Bad Blood' because it is very catchy and has a very deep meaning since it represents my experience with others as I did not have many friends like other people around me since people would misunderstand and make fun of me, which caused me to despise them and I did not think of having them as my friend that I dreamed of. The song 'Bad Blood' makes me move around a lot and I express myself with this song when I am alone. Also, this song represents real-life situations as well as situations in movies where people develop a grudge against another because of something immoral they did to them, which causes them to feel enraged. People have wronged me in the past years as they were always manipulative towards me such as asking me to get their stuff, get lunch for them, and make me do something inappropriate in front of everyone. As a result, I shut down everyone around me because either they already have their group of friends or they just wanted to humiliate me. These experiences made me a loner and I could not help myself to make friends since if I were to act very kind towards others, they would use me for my kindness and mistake it for weakness. I always complied with their requests because I wanted to be accepted and I was afraid to say no because I know that if I said no, they would not accept me. That is why my parents and other peers who noticed this type of behavior have told me not to do it, which resulted in me being torn about the decision and realizing that I should have listened to them because they know that they are using me and not being a good friend to me. Other than taking advantage of me by asking me to do something for them, when I try to talk when necessary, they tell me to shut up by using profanity and saying prohibited things towards me, which causes me to ignore them if they try to talk to me. As for people who treated me badly, this song happens to be my number one favorite on the album as I do not want the people who treat me badly in my life and I want to avoid them at all costs now. Other than this song, I dedicated a song called 'I hope ur miserable until ur dead' which is not by Taylor Swift (it is by Nessa Barrett) because I would like to express my feelings towards them on how badly they treated me, it illustrates a song about hate, and it will realize that people have chosen the wrong friends which can cause bad blood between them and cut the person out of their life.

When it comes to my health journey, I learned about the amounts of food I should eat, increasing physical activity, and sleeping for seven to nine hours since these are ways that can help me lose or maintain my weight. One of my favorite foods to eat is meat and when I cook two or more slices of it, I eat one or two depending on the size of the meat, I also eat it with mashed potatoes and kale chips sometimes. When I finish the meat (steak, chicken, lamb, pork) with mashed potatoes, I save the kale chips for my post-workout snack because I do not want to become too full after my dinner and healthy snacks are very important to eat after workouts and when you are not working out. Even though I do not have a big house where I can do many physical activities as well as not many places for activities near my house, I do my best to dance and exercise so I am not laying in bed all day, which can make me more prone to weight gain. When my body feels tense, I stretch to make myself comfortable and I exercise when my body is ready to. Besides what I eat and do since I have been diagnosed with Autism at around two years old, it is hard for me to find a friend that understands me as when I tried to make friends quickly, they would take advantage of me and bully me. This resulted in me becoming a loner and not approaching too many people because I do not want to repeat the same negative experiences I had and I realized that not everyone has to fit in. When my first year of college started, I tried to be involved in as many activities as I could and one of them was being part of the Saint Joseph's University dance team, but unfortunately, I could not be a member of the team since now I have little to no experience of dancing and I could not have the strong connection that I wanted to have. This caused me to feel a little upset and down because I always thought to myself that I will have stronger bonds in college, but I talked with other people who were not part of the team when I had lunch in the dining hall. When I attended a diversity, inclusion, and equity event at my university, some upperclassmen state that not all four years of college are perfect and ways we can cope with that are by talking to mental health services and adults we trust. This session was very helpful to me because everyone is not perfect or does not meet their goal(s) during college like making the Dean's List with a 3.5 GPA or higher since the minimum GPA to pass is a 2.0. I will continue to do be productive by reading, writing, studying, dancing, looking for scholarships, cooking, doing my assignments before the deadline, and eating healthily. I am confident that in my future years of college, I will have stronger connections with my classmates and professors.

I have just finished my freshman year of college and I am going to be an incoming sophomore in the Fall 2023 semester. When I did an early arrival program at Saint Joseph's University, I met some new acquaintances and I made connections with some of them as well on the first day of college when everyone was getting to know each other. Even though I have problems making friends, I do my best to build connections with others by joining them since I do not want to be lonely all the time and reach out to a lot of people because I want to make friends. Even though I reach out to people, they rarely respond to me, which causes me to feel broken because they would always say "Feel free to reach out" and when I do, nothing happens, which causes me to feel anxious because I thought making friends in college would be easier. It is always the opposite since there is almost no response when I reach out to people who attend my college, but I would respond to incoming students who attend my college because I want to make friends. Everywhere I go, I have difficulties making friends because as a victim of bullying, it made me become a loner. After all, I do not want to feel ashamed and misunderstood when I join a group of people. Since I have high-functioning Autism, I chose not to live on campus because not only is it very expensive, but I sense feelings of awkwardness if I had a roommate and/or suitemates. I also have difficulties expressing myself and how I should say something because I would always get judged and made fun of by others, which causes me to feel embarrassed and not want to talk to people. As a result, the ways I keep my mind, body, and soul healthy are exercising, reading, dancing, listening to music, learning and trying new things, and watching my favorite shows and movies, as well as funny videos since these activities calm me down and help me relieve stress and anxiety. Living in a very small house, there are not many activities I can do there due to limited space, I also do outside activities like dancing at Koresh Dance Company and I will be doing Camp Kinney at Saint Joseph's University in June, where I will do different activities and help individuals with Autism. Overall, I have to be my authentic self when I meet new people since they look for honest friends and I demonstrate kindness towards others because I treat people the way I want to be treated and being kind to everyone can help me make friends quickly and this can make me live a healthier life mentally and physically, so I am not stressed and I can also talk to my parents if I have problems with school and going forward, I hope that I make friends easily as I am starting to be familiar with the students and some acknowledge me because I am kind.

Since I am a finance major, the four careers that interest me are financial analyst, financial planner, certified public accountant, and foreign exchange trader. These careers interest me because I am currently working on building up my analytical, detail-oriented, creative, and innovative skills. I can keep track of deadlines, plan, get experience in foreign languages, and be persistent in my work. Before applying to colleges, I was very undecided on my major such as thinking about majoring in nursing for the first time, then changing to psychology, and finally being committed to being a finance major because I like math, am good with numbers, can remember the past, and can train to have a job in the finance field when it comes to being in the workforce. Also, I chose finance because of my MBTI. I believe I am an ISTJ (Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging), and this personality type states that people with this personality can be financial analysts, accountants, engineers, managers, etc. Being an ISTJ, my strengths are being honest, direct, loyal, determined, and I like having things structured, so it does not go all over the place, and I will be less frustrated. My weaknesses are that I am resistant to change, being overwhelmed in large crowds, tending to come off as overconfident (thinking I am always right), and currently, I am easily impatient and anxious (rushing) when it comes to big tests and exams, because I worry that I will not get it done on time and think that the answers are wrong since they may not seem concrete to me, which results in grades that I am not satisfied with and me being irrationally afraid of failing the course and repeating. My areas of growth and development for being an ISTJ are to approach other people when necessary since I am slow to make friends, find the right people to talk with, not doubt myself very easily, be less frustrated with people who disagree with me, come up with innovative and bright ideas when I need to prepare, so I know what is going on in the session, be less rigid when dealing with conflicting situations, be more involved with groups, and seek help when needed. Developing these skills can make me successful inside and outside of the work environment. Other than the MBTI test, I also took the RIASEC test to determine my personality type and the career(s) I should have after I graduate from college. My RIASEC is conventional, which is almost like being an ISTJ; I like to follow routines, prefer clear directions over abstract, try my best to manage my time well, be task-oriented, like things to go smoothly, and have strengths in data and numbers. The conventional personality type states that these types of people are interested in math, accounting, concrete tasks, organizing and collecting data, etc. It also states the same careers that are best for ISTJs, such as working as accountants, financial analysts and advisors, business managers, and insurance agents. Finally, I still need to build up my analytical, critical thinking, organizational skills, and patience when doing work and writing essays or reports, so I can be calmer during tense situations, doing tasks that require a lot of work, and result in positive and correct outcomes. If I want to be certified or chartered in the finance field, I have to be wise about spending my money because the exams cost money, and I hope to use the money wisely to rent, then eventually buy a house when I become independent, and use it on necessities.

Some ways I manage my wellness while in my college years are controlling what I eat, exercising, and studying constantly, so I pass. Although the outcomes after I study are not what I expected them to be, my parents tell me it is fine as long as I study for the exams. I have just finished my final exams, but some of my grades were not efficient enough to be on the Dean's List as the GPA to be on that is 3.5 or higher at Saint Joseph's University, so my parents and friends encourage me that it is fine and I understand because everyone has their ups and downs with college life. After all, it is much different than high school with more advanced material no matter what major. My freshman year was just an adjustment through college life because even though I did not get perfect scores, I still managed to pass my classes with a 3.0 GPA or higher and overall I may have a 3.31 GPA once my final grades go in as the minimum GPA to pass is a 2.0. I also talk with some friends at college as well as trusted adults and go to the gym, as well as the library when I have a lot of time to relax or study to relieve myself from distractions. Even though I may procrastinate most of the time, I always pay attention to deadlines to submit my assignments, so I can get graded and worry less about my other necessities. When I do not understand the class materials, I would go to my professors for office hours as well as peer tutors to get help as much as I can, so I can succeed and understand the materials better. My strongest subject during my first year of college was French and the most difficult was economics, accounting, and English for the spring 2023 semester. I think it may depend on the professors' teaching style and grading system since during the fall 2022 semester, I had some professors who would drop the lowest grade(s), considered homework towards the grade, curve grade(s) by many points, and would easily grade me by giving me a B+ or A. While in the spring 2023 semester, I had professors who graded toughly despite the hard work I put in, curved by little points or did not curve at all, but a few dropped the lowest grade I received. As a result for the spring 2023 semester, I managed to get an A or B, but in some classes, I received Cs due to the grade I got on the exam(s) and the tough grading. Despite this, the grades I got were higher than 2.0 even though they did not put me on the Dean's List. As my parents and friends say it is fine to not make the Dean's List for the whole year as not everyone is perfect, but I hope to be on the Dean's List going forward because I put in my best effort, strive to get A's along with some B's no matter how difficult the material is, I registered for professors with high ratings, so I hope I have a 3.5 GPA or higher for the 2023-2024 academic year with the professors I sign up for.

I believe that it is important to have healthy eating habits, so we have more energy to keep us active throughout the day and prevent sicknesses like cancer and obesity. I have noticed that I have lost a little bit of weight and I exercised almost every day, as well as limiting the portions of food. My parents have always advised me to eat little by little food without starving myself and/or becoming bulimic or anorexic. I only ate the food if I was hungry, so I will not notice a massive weight gain and this shows that I am controlling what I eat, which will make my parents proud. Mentally, I still have difficulty making friends because every time I wanted to join a group of friends, they would reject or shun me, so this caused me to be quiet around new people because I do not want to repeat negative experiences in the past. As a person who has autism, I perceive and react to things differently, as well as having difficulties to approach people. Physically, I am still considered normal with my height and weight of 5'10" and 150 to 152 pounds as my peers, parents, and doctors tell me because I am tall and the people closest to me do not want me to starve myself, but I am controlling my eating habits by eating smaller portions of food. For example, when I eat meats, rice, and eggs, along with other foods, I do not eat all of the foods on the table because I know that the foods can be saved for the next day. Mentally and physically, I am happy and healthy despite the difficulties in college, so practicing healthy eating habits makes me pass all of my college classes as well as having a GPA higher than 2.0 even though I am not on the Dean's List. My parents always encourage me it is fine if I am not on the Dean's List as long as I have a high GPA as many people experience this when they apply for a job or scholarship, but they are not selected. I always hope for success by maintaining a 3.0 GPA or higher as well as winning a scholarship because I want to represent the autism community by showing everyone that people with autism and any other disabilities have success stories. Winning this scholarship will mean everything to me and my family because my mom lost her job almost 6 months ago, so this impacts my financial aid for the 2023-2024 academic year and as a result, scholarships and grants are necessary for me to pay my tuition as the tuition increases yearly.

I think math is important because it helps us become wiser with finances and make ethical financial decisions, and whatever pathway we go to, math is always part of the general education program and math is always involved when we go shopping, buying clothes, food, housing, rent, etc. Math was always one of my favorite subjects before college even though the classes were always boring, I managed to overcome the boredom by getting A's and/or B's because I participated constantly, worked hard during the tests, and asked for help when the instructions are not clear. The math classes that I took in high school were pre-algebra, algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2. These subjects require a lot of attention to detail, which is helpful in mathematical and non-mathematical situations. Last semester, I took music and math to fulfill my math beauty requirement, and this math class involved a lot of numbers being associated with music notes, analyzing musical compositions, determining if pitch or sound will increase, consonance scales, pitch classes, interval ratios, and many other musical terms that are abstract. Although I do not understand abstract concepts, I managed to pass the class because I worked hard, seek tutoring when I did not understand what was being taught, and tried my best to remember what my tutor taught me in the sessions. Now as a college freshman, I am currently taking general education courses like English and even though I already fulfilled my math beauty requirement for the fall semester, I have to take a differential calculus course because it is required for all finance majors. I do not have courses in my finance major until my sophomore or junior year because when I started my freshman year of college, shadowed a college student during my senior year, and attended a campus tour, students and professors state that general education classes like science, math, history, and English are mandatory to take and these subjects are taught differently in colleges compared to high school because college coursework is more complex than high school. As a finance major, the majority of my courses are math-based, so this is important when I become a financial analyst. As a financial analyst, I need to have a strong understanding, gather financial data, monitor metrics of the company, provide strategic recommendations for clients, and make sure the financial reporting is correct and accurate because, in accounting, the debit and credit sides have to balance. Although I tend to lose interest when something gets theoretical and get panicked when something takes a lot of work, I have to work through it alone or my group members can help everyone get through it, and book an appointment for office hours with my professors, so I understand the material and pass the class with an A or a B.

I am an American born to Indonesian immigrants and a first-generation Indonesian-American, currently, a freshman at Saint Joseph’s University, majoring in Finance and considering a minor in French because I want to study abroad in France and I adore the French language. I represent the Autistic and Asian communities, and I have been involved in many activities throughout my high school years, such as DIVAs (Developing Independent Virtuous Adults), the National Honor Society, the student council, and my college counselor's senior committee. Now, in college, I am involved with Kinney SCHOLARS, where we help individuals on the Autism Spectrum and the Asian Student Association, being a participant by attending events they host, and outside of school, I dance in my free time or take dance lessons, so I have activities in and outside of college. Throughout my elementary through high school years, I was very active in sports like basketball, gymnastics, dance, and karate. But unfortunately, I did not pursue them because I found an interest in modeling, which I am not doing at the moment. After all, I want to focus on my studies because they are more important than my modeling career and I hope to graduate college on time. Winning this scholarship will mean a lot to me and I will use this scholarship to pay off all of my college expenses for all four years since scholarships are not one-time only. This will also help me contribute to my academic goals because higher education level is not cheap and it is not easy for me because I didn't work during my high school years. That is why as a start, scholarships are becoming necessary for me throughout my four years of college and I know that going forward Saint Joseph's University offers internships and temporary jobs, and these will help me to continue to earn my bachelor's degree in finance and become a financial analyst in the future. This can work both ways where I can start saving to continue my education and also have work opportunities to gain experience because companies do not only require a degree, they need job experience from all of the candidates applying for the job. I hope that I would be a strong candidate for this scholarship, only for my Indonesian background, but because I want to show that I am determined, passionate, and hardworking by maintaining a 3.0 GPA or higher and trying my best to make the dean's list. I have worked hard throughout my high school years and I continue to work hard in college, getting my degree, joining successful work companies, and giving back to my community when it is needed. As a result, I pray every day to win scholarships because I want to make my parents proud so we can afford college. After graduating from Saint Joseph's University, I am thinking about getting my master's degree in France or Spain, so scholarships will be necessary for me to go to graduate school across the country, be an independent adult, make wise decisions about my budget when I look for a house in France or Spain, and I hope to improve my foreign language skills because foreign languages are significant in the workplace.

The passing of my maternal grandfather on March 23, 2019 “derailed” my family’s planning. As a result, both of my parents had to visit Indonesia to attend and cover the funeral cost of my grandfather. That was a very unexpected and un-avoided event where we needed to readjust our family saving(s) plan, in this case that would be my college fund. Coming from a low to middle income family, my parents work hard to save and put aside some funds for me to go to college, so I can achieve my dream with very minimum or no loans/debt which I am very grateful for that. I understand that my parents would like to help me as much as they can, so I can be more focused on finishing my education without worrying too much on student loans and be independent. I am committed to pursuing my education and I can prove it by getting awards and acknowledgements from my high school and college years. Throughout my high school years, I was able to be on the honor roll by having “Distinguished Honors” with a 3.75 GPA and up, and now in college, I made the dean’s list for the fall semester with a 3.62 GPA, which I hope to maintain all four years. Ever since it has been almost four years since my maternal grandfather has passed away, me and my mom have been talking with my grandmother by checking up on how we are doing and when we tell her that we are doing well, we ask her if she is also doing well, in which she responds yes. She tells me to keep doing well in school, so I can be successful within my goals in the future by working very hard no matter how hard the coursework is.

Although I am not a math major nor is it my favorite subject, I still love math because I am strong with numbers and it is very important throughout the years. No matter what school we go to, math is always in the classroom even though many people find the class boring. One reason why I love math is that it convinces me to think about the smart choices I should make when I go everywhere. For example, when we go to the store, the cashier would always scan the items and tell us how much each item cost. If we don't have enough cash for the said amount, we would use a card because if the cash is not enough, we would have to owe them money. If we do have cash for the said amount, we would pay the exact amount or more than the said amount. Another reason why I love math is that I am passionate about solving math problems, which can help me during my career as a financial analyst and it is related to how we cook something. For example, if we were baking a cake, it can state that we need one egg, two cups of sugar, two cups of flour, and one cup of milk. This illustrates that math can help us do something correctly. The final reason why I love math is that it is also involved in other subjects like science and accounting, and it will help us with our analytical, critical thinking, detail-oriented, and big-picture skills by showing us models of graphs to see if the budget is increasing or decreasing, as well as if we were to buy or rent a house under or over budget. These are essential skills to think about as you get older. All in all, I was able to earn A's and/or B's in my math class during my elementary to high school years. Hence, this will help me how to solve my problems that might not be math-related and make the right decision when I look for a house or go to graduate school abroad. I hope to get my master's degree in France or Spain, so scholarships and/or grants are very important to me so I am able to afford graduate school, make the right budget for my housing, and choose the house that is under or on budget.

I am an American born to Indonesian immigrants and a first-generation Indonesian-American, currently attending Saint Joseph’s University, and majoring in Finance with a minor in French. I am an only child, so my parents are like my brother and sisters, and they are also the biggest supporters of my success. My dad was a bass player years before I was born, but my mom never played any musical instruments. Having a parent who was a musician, I played a musical instrument and sang during my elementary to high school years. During elementary and middle school, I was involved in my school's orchestra and choir, but in high school, I was only involved with the orchestra. As a result, I follow in my mom and dad's footsteps by doing music and being successful because my parents earned their college degrees during their college years in Indonesia. They have raised me to do well in school by working hard and studying. Although I was not on the honor roll during my elementary school years at A.S. Jenks, I still managed to move up to the next grades because my grades were satisfactory enough for the school to pass me since I had A's, B's, and C's, as well my next school (Mastery Charter Thomas Elementary) since they were less strict than Mastery Charter Thomas Campus about grades and summer school. In the 1st report period of 5th grade, I had a C in my reading and writing classes since I transferred to Mastery Charter Thomas Elementary in October. Not only did I have a grade I despised, I also had to read at a very elementary proficiency level (Kindergarten to 1st grade) since I failed to summarize the story during my Fountas and Pinnell testing that happens monthly. I was at a level E for books, while other students were at a much higher reading level than me. I felt inferior to them and kept doubting myself that I would never pass this class. Couple months after I transferred, I started getting A’s and B’s in my reading and writing classes and my reading level continued to get higher because I summarized the story thoroughly. I went from level E to level K for reading, so My fifth grade literacy teacher named Ms. Reichold set a goal for me and told me “You are at level K and your goal is to be at level O.” Ms. Reichold was strict, but very kind and helpful to everyone. Also, my writing teacher Ms. Ford helped me do better in her class. As a result, I would describe Ms. Reichold and Ms. Ford as amazing and helpful teachers. Furthermore, when Ms. Ford met with my parents during report card conferences, she told them that “Jade is very eager to learn and finds my class fun.” As a result of her help, my grade for her class increased to a B. I also passed my Fountas and Pinnell reading tests, but I failed to reach level O (I was at level N), so they convinced me to go to summer school, but I did not attend because no one was there to drop me off, but luckily, they did not repeat me as they understood the conflict(s). Three months later: 6th grade came. I was not at school in late August because I was still on vacation in Indonesia (where my parents are from) with my mom. My feeling of being jet lagged was long-term, but I still went to school since I am a hardworking student who is passionate about schoolwork.

I took Tang Soo Do (a Korean martial art) classes from 2016 to 2018 and I took them, so I know what to do when I get attacked. The lessons that I have learned from martial arts that I have been able to apply to my life is that I am being cautious towards my surroundings. Currently, everywhere we go is not safe since crimes are happening everywhere. If I was robbed and asked for money, I would give it to them because money is replaceable while humans are not. Also, I carry pepper spray with me so if the attacker is too close or strong for me to punch or kick, I can use my spray to protect myself and others. When I apply martial arts to my academics, I learned that everything is achievable, improvements can always give you positive results, we can have the courage to do anything, surround ourselves with positive influences, and overcome difficulties and without ambition or risks, there are no rewards. Long story short, my parents took martial arts classes when they were younger and they have persuaded me to take classes, so I can get better at self-defense I followed their footsteps by taking martial arts classes for a while and working hard in school by trying my best to pass my classes with A's and/or B's.

I am the type of person who loves to read and write. I read so many books when I was in middle and high school and I even have some favorite books, such as The Hunger Games series, Paper Towns, The Outsiders, Pretty Little Liars, Romeo and Juliet, Beloved, etc. Although I have a lot of favorite books, the book I would recommend everyone to read is Beloved by Toni Morrison because it illustrates the unfair treatment that people of African-American descent have faced in current and past events, we can learn a lot from the novel and movie even though the scenes are different, and it can lead you to become strong and do good deeds. The scenes in Beloved were disturbing to readers, but since I and my class read the novel in my senior year of high school, we handled the scenes calmly and we always had group discussions for each chapter and analyzed the scenes in a complex way since the characters were complex too. Beloved portrays the horrors of slavery very well because Toni Morrison's purpose in writing this novel was to strengthen the history of what happened to African-American women in slavery and she was recognized for her study of African-Americans with her main focus on black women. Consequently, when I and my group summarized each chapter, we always took turns on who will present to the whole class and other groups provided feedback on the main points that happened in each chapter and we got positive feedback from others. To summarize, when I did a writing section of my exam, I chose to summarize Beloved because this novel was very interesting compared to the other novels I read in the past years, I think this novel was very informative about black history, it portrays good vs. evil very well, the scenes are very intense, and readers can go through the same situations that the characters are in such as their troubled past haunting and/or getting back to them.

As a financial analyst, the required skills I need to have are attention to detail, math, communication, analytical, and critical thinking. The work I did in all of my classes over the past can help me in my future career of becoming a financial analyst because when I was writing my essays, I always planned, analyzed, and asked how I should write my papers. I also understood the importance of revision, communication, time management, and teamwork, so I succeed in college. To get a job as a financial analyst, I must get my bachelor’s degree and do temporary jobs since companies look for experienced candidates. Financial analysts are. As a finance major, I have taken courses where I have to use Excel sheets, such as in accounting and decision systems & data science, where we analyze the data of the problems given to us. This relates to how I write my essays as I try to gather information and quotes from outside sources, poems, or TED talks. In addition, during my English class, we worked on revising our essays. Revision is important in accounting and finance careers because we always need to ensure no errors. It is also especially important to double-check the numbers in the spreadsheet because the debits and credits need to balance. I built my communication and teamwork skills in this class by working with my classmates on peer reviews and group discussions. I also participate in class by writing on the discussion board posts and answering questions to build my communication skills. I think that these skills will help me to overcome difficulties I have in social situations, such as anxiety and introversion. Even though I like to work alone, I think I would need to work in groups if I want to be successful and stay at the job because currently, whenever I work alone, I tend to get frustrated and anxious since I am afraid that everything I put on the document is wrong and unnecessary, but my group members can edit the mistakes. For example, my teachers and peers give me feedback if I need to fix something, other than my English class, in my accounting class, I and my group members always try to find times that we are available, so we can get the project done before the due date, as well as in my management class, we always update each other and plan on how we would do the presentation. These skills can help me become a financial analyst because I have experience talking in front of people and I always make sure that I am punctual. Consequently, I also used my time management skills when I needed to write my essays and I always plan what to do, so I would not feel overwhelmed near the due date of the assignment. This skill can help me when I am a financial analyst because they always need to complete the paperwork on time as well as show up to their job on time. To summarize, this can help me when I become a financial analyst, so I know how I am doing at my job and I can find ways how I can do better at this job when listening to my boss and the experienced employees and the skills of revision, time management, communication, teamwork, analyzing, planning, critical thinking, and attention to detail that I learned in college can help because there are times when I need to be a leader and be independent when doing work, so I can be successful throughout my career.

In the current and past years, politicians and citizens have been debating whether climate change is real (exists) or not (does not exist), but climate change proves to be existing because many people have been convinced to speak out about climate change and answer questions relating to climate change, and the majority knows what climate change is and they have noticed it. Climate change is the long-term effect of the Earth's temperature changes and these effects can be natural occurrences. However, since the 1800s, human activities have played a significant role in today's society by burning fossil fuels as well as other factors. The whole world is deteriorating by having droughts, a massive increase and decrease in temperatures each day, warmer oceans, melting glaciers, etc. As a result, if we want to help the environment to be more green and fresh for our lives at stake, some ways we can prevent climate change are convincing people to do surveys and signing petitions. Having both of these actions can help provide the insight of one's thoughts and also make the community come together to work the issue out. During my final group project in high school, we have stated that the possible solutions from people who have completed the survey and signed the petition are to build more bike lanes, put recycling bins in every block since this can decrease household waste, use food waste as nutrients for soil, save energy at home, and do a community clean-up every week. To summarize, the solutions me, my group, and my teacher(s) came up with are to use chicken instead of beef, replace usual light bulbs with compacting fluorescent light bulbs, use electric cars, use less hot water, plant a tree, turn off electronic devices when we are not using them, and avoid products with a lot of packaging because driving less will decrease carbon footprint, using less hot water will reduce the amount of energy it takes to heat, and trees collect carbon dioxide and gives oxygen to the world. Finally, a small change can make an impact on the world and everyone can help limit climate change because the health of the Earth is equally as important of the health of all living things on the planet. That way, we are all in this together and all for one. Stop climate change and as stated in the picture above “Fight today for a better tomorrow.”

Mental health effects the way we think, feel, and act. It also determines how we handle stress, make strong connections, and make wise decisions. Throughout the years, I have always made sure that me and my family were healthy, made the right decisions, and I always opened up to them when I had conflicts. As a person with autism and was bullied before college, I have problems making friends. As a result, I was a loner for most of the time and I always kept my guard up around new people because I am worried about how they would treat me. Before college, people were immature and forced me to do things that were not appropriate, but I followed what they said because I did not have the courage to say no since I wanted to be accepted and I am a female (females usually cannot respond in a firm way). Other than that, people have labeled me “weird” and I was easy to get to probably because for them, I talk too much, I never understood words they have said and what they meant, so they made fun of me for that. Now, I am a freshman in college and the students are more mature, kind, and we respect each other. The interactions and connections that I have in college are better than I have in high school because no one in college labels me “weird” and “strange”. None of the students in Saint Joseph’s University are bullies as they are very welcoming and accepting of me. Also, my mom has told me that college students are more mature than high school students. Furthermore, when I was involved in Student Council, National Honor Society, and DIVAs and MGD, I have built my confidence and communication skills. I hope I can use these skills in college when I join the Asian Student Association (ASA), the Kinney SCHOLAR program, and possibly a sorority. To add on, I have been exercising, eating the right amounts of food, building relationships with others, and working in the summer to maintain my mental health. Although my parents want me to be involved in WorkReady during the summer when I have nothing to do, in the summer of 2023, I might go to vacation in Indonesia to see my family because my parents do not want me to stress myself out by taking classes in the summer. In conclusion, my main goal is to have a high GPA all year, so I can graduate on time and am eligible to participate in co-ops. I can see myself as a leader in the future and can help others when needed. Doing co-ops for my sophomore and junior year can develop my communication, critical thinking, leadership, professionalism, technology, and teamwork skills when I graduate college with honor roll and job experience from my college and high school years, and I hope I can get paid well in my co-ops and/or internships, so I can complete my other goal of being able to afford graduate school to get my master’s degree in international business. Also, the work in college is different and harder than high school, so I am adjusting to the work and I hope will not have to repeat a class since that will be waste money and I hope my grades can improve by studying and booking tutoring sessions when needed.

My favorite Disney character is Rapunzel because she is brave, strong, kind, diligent, smart, etc. I have watched Tangled many times when I was a child and I always loved how Rapunzel acted in the movie. She was very innovative when she used her hair as a to let the prince Flynn up her castle and as a weapon. I always dreamed of how to be like Rapunzel since I want to be proficient in many things like her. Even though her Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an ENFP and I am an ISTJ, I still aspire to be like her and admire her because of her bravery and independence. Other than having very opposite personalities, I think that she is the type to act very patient when getting to know others and listen to others' ideas. If I were to meet her, I would be attracted to her sweet, energetic, helpful, and optimistic personality. To be more wise in the future and after I graduate college, I hope I can invest my finances wisely, so I can buy my own house and save money for graduate school to get my master's degree in international business abroad (Spain or France) or in America. Furthermore, I think Rapunzel is the Disney character and princess that everyone wants as their best friend because she can motivate others, build strong connections, very good at communicating, and she is a leader in a very positive way. In conclusion, like Rapunzel, I am very passionate about becoming a fierce and independent person, and I can see myself as a leader and positive role model in the future by working well with my peers, competing in the Miss USA and/or Miss Universe pageant by advocating for many important issues and helping others who need it, so in my college years, I plan on being involved with the Kinney SCHOLARS at Saint Joseph’s University, where I get to help low-functioning individuals with Autism because I want to be an advocate for the Autism community at Saint Joseph's University and spread positivity around the community.

I love dogs because they're so cute, cuddly, funny, and like my best friend and brother or sister, etc. I've had my dog for 5 years and he's a Shiba Inu named Coconut. If I were to describe Coconut, I would describe him as quiet, affectionate, loyal, alert, bold- there are so many words to describe him. I like to take him for walks, play, hug, and cuddle with him when I can. Me and my family love him so much that when he gets sick or hurt, we take him to the hospital, take the vet's advice, act carefully, and help him, to show our love, affection, and kindness to him. Coconut (my dog) has impacted my life in a positive way because he makes me happy, we have each other's backs, calms me down when I’m stressed, etc. I also let him play with my neighbor's dogs, so he can have friends to play with. Like me, he's also anxious when he meets other dogs, so me and my parents teach him to be calm when he's around other dogs and I separate him, so the other dogs won't hurt him. I've been a dog lover since I was in elementary to middle school, I always begged my parents for a dog, but they didn't let me have one in elementary school because we rented a house from August 2010 to early July 2016- I had a rabbit during 2010, so we had to give it away to a friend, since the landlord doesn’t allow their tenants to have pets in the house. I was patient about not having a dog since me and my parents haven't trained them and never really owned one. Furthermore, my dog, along with my friend’s and neighbor’s dogs impact the person I am now because the pets surrounding me made me have higher self-esteem, learn nurturing and caring skills, being more empathetic, having an upbeat attitude, kind personality, etc. In conclusion, my dad gave me a dog (Shiba Inu) as a present on February 2017 (two months before my 13th birthday), he said that was a present for me, and that’s where I named him Coconut, even though my mom didn’t agree with the decision at first, they compromised. Also, when my dog was very little, he made messes in the house, so me and my parents disciplined and trained him where and what the right things to do are. After he outgrew his puppy years, he caused less problems and now he knows how to make the right decisions. My dog changed my life because I am an only child and I do not have too many bonding with other people, so my parents consider our dog Coconut as their son and I consider him my best friend and brother.

In the past few years before college, I was always asked “What do you want major in?” or “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I thought about majoring in nursing or psychology, but after that I switched to finance. Now, my answer of majoring in finance is permanent. I am very passionate about my college education because I want to be a financial analyst or advisor, so I can give financial advice to people and/or assess the data growth of my company. In order to become a financial analyst, I have to work temporary jobs, along with doing internships or co-ops, so I can gain work experience and can put it on my résumé and set up a LinkedIn profile because companies will not only look at the a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, they also need work experience from candidates in order to hire them. As a result, higher education is very important to me because it helps me look for employment in big companies when I have my degree and complete a financial analyst or advisor exam. I can earn a lot of money with a college education. I hope I can pursue my Master’s degree if I have enough money to go back to graduate school. Other than becoming a financial analyst or advisor, I have always dreamed about competing in Miss USA and Miss Universe when I was in elementary school. With competing in Miss USA and Miss Universe, I can make a positive impact because it is very important for Miss USA and Miss Universe to have another career besides being a contestant since they have to be beautifully confident, educated, and intelligent role models, etc. For becoming a financial analyst or advisor, are to come up with innovative ideas, communicate well with my coworkers, have math skills, along with critical thinking, leadership, etc. People always thought that being diagnosed with Autism, I could not be successful by earning honor roll, going to a 4-year college, and earning scholarships I applied for, but I proved them wrong because I proved that Autism is not my barrier and it is a strength, as I have been advocating for myself when doing my own work, meeting deadlines, and asking questions if I have difficulties with an assignment. In conclusion, during my school years, when there are big tests, I was always in a small group and got extended time, so I can finish and pass the class with no distractions.

It was in the spring 2020, where I gained a lot of weight. The cause of my weight gain was due to the beginning of the pandemic, where almost everything closed down and we had to be stuck at home almost everyday. I could not even have fun during my spring and summer break. I was supposed to go with my DIVAs and MGD group to North Carolina for our 2020 spring break trip in early April, but it was canceled a week before due to the high rise in COVID-19 cases (which resulted in places temporarily or permanently closing down) and during the summer break, me and my family did not go to the beach or pool because of many people vacationing getting tested positive for COVID-19 and every vacation spot was packed. Other than concerts and in-person events getting canceled, benchmark testing for me got canceled (due to not being in school), my mom worked from home, and my dad had to stay home to because all schools closed down in spring 2020. In the fall of 2020, I (along with everyone else did virtual learning), my mom still worked from home, and my dad worked at school. I did virtual learning for the 2020 to 2021 school year because my family did not want me to get sick and we were not vaccinated at that time. I was very stressed about not going out, as I would lay down almost all the time and now I have been gaining 10 pounds every year. As a result, almost all of my clothes did not fit me and me and my family had to go shopping to buy new clothes because clothes are one of everyone's needs. Even with my weight gain, I still ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This is important in a healthy life, so we feel energized and we will not die of starvation. My doctors and parents have told me I still have a healthy weight, and I don’t need medication to lose weight, they told me to eat healthy and not overeat. Therefore, I always kept a goal to lose 20 to 30 pounds because I want to go back to my weight before the COVID-19 Pandemic happened. Also, I kept that goal because I was very serious about my modeling career, but I put my modeling career aside because education is more important to me. Currently, I am eating fruits, vegetables, protein, and yogurt to prevent being overweight and obese. In this current situation, I try my best to stay healthy by going out often, exercising, eating as much as I can, and not going to close to people, etc. because no one knows if people who are vaccinated or not have the COVID-19 virus or not since almost all of them are not showing symptoms. On July 27, 2022, I tested positive for COVID-19 even though I am fully vaccinated and have no severe symptoms (I had mild coughs), so I isolated myself for 5 days and could not attend my summer program since I did not want to make anybody sick. After testing positive, 5 days later, I retook the test and it came back negative. When I got back to work, I distanced myself since that is the right thing to do with this current situation.

Fruits? check. Vegetables? check. Health and wellness. These are very important in our everyday lives. Exercise is essential in staying healthy, and fruits and vegetables are too. I am a food enthusiast and I also cook too, but that’s mostly on weekdays and the day after I eat out. Eating vegetables is very rare for me since I am not used to the taste of raw vegetables, I only eat cooked veggies- the cooked veggies I almost always eat are kale chips, sautéed broccoli, sautéed spinach, and carrots in soup. I use this in my lunch and/or dinner when I or my mom prepares the food for the family. Other than the superfoods of the vegetables mentioned above, besides kale, my favorite superfoods include eggs, avocado, sunflower seeds, nuts, seaweed, tea, fish, berries, yogurt, etc. I love superfoods because they prevent me from gaining weight and prevent diseases. Additionally, my parents advise me to eat smaller portions of unhealthy foods and focus more on vegetables and fruits. When we run out of fruits and vegetables, we go grocery shopping, so it will fulfill our needs of living and having a healthy life. For superfoods, most of the places me and my parents buy them at are GIANT, Acme, Target, Walmart, Trader Joe's, and Sprouts. After I am finished exercising, I always eat fruits and/or yogurt topped with honey and (sometimes) seeds since healthy snacks are recommended after finishing exercising, and to add on to my post-exercise, I stay away from unhealthy foods, like cupcakes, iced tea, chips, and frappucinos. Currently, I do not have a strict diet and I eat what my parents buy or cook whether it is healthy or not, but this is to prevent death from starvation and we are not trying to gain a lot of weight. We eat to live and we have to eat any type of food to prevent dizziness or eating disorders like anorexia and/or bulimia. When I was around 10 years old, I learned about kale chips. My mom bought kale from a store that was near our block and when she made them, I got fascinated and addicted to them. As a result, I have not been bored with eating them after she made them. From my mom making them, I have been learning how to make them as well even though one of my teachers told me that kale chips are a lot of work, they are really good. What most intrigues me about superfoods, is not just how it looks, but the benefits of eating them. It is through nutrition and tips on maintaining a healthy body. I do not eat them every day because I do not want to get bored with eating the same food(s) and I want to work on being more adventurous by trying new foods. Health and success will come to us. With this scholarship, I will use it for continuing my studies in finance and (possibly) French at Saint Joseph's University, instead of having unsubsidized loans for the rest of the year and having to pay them after graduating from college. It will be a miracle for me and my family, and I want to make them proud by winning scholarships.

When I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) throughout the time, I was a very nonverbal person and quiet as a mouse when I was a toddler (I was only two years old). I would also fidget, scream, cry, and have difficulties expressing myself before I was diagnosed with Autism. As a result, my parents and everyone else around me could not fully understand me, so we went to the doctor. In the blink of an eye, they told my parents, “I think your daughter has been diagnosed with Autism. ”That made everyone around me understand why I was quiet and why I fidgeted almost all the time. Autism is a condition that affects the ability to communicate with others and express oneself. Currently, I am very talkative with most people I already know and quiet with people I don’t know. Luckily, I was able to receive support from my mentors and parents. They would talk to me when I had problems and make the right decisions. When my classmates at school saw a few adults walking around with me, they would wonder to me, “Who are those people? Why do they follow you around?” I would tell them, “They are my TSS (Therapeutic Staff Support) and BSC (Behavioral Specialist).” “Okay.” my classmates said. I was very naive from elementary to freshman year. I always wanted to join a crowd and become the most popular student at the schools I went to since I wanted to be similar to everyone else around me, but I fell for the wrong crowd because they would force me to make poor decisions and hurt me physically, verbally, and emotionally. The people around me took advantage of me and even threw stuff at me, and made me lose my mind- I always acted like a lunatic with the demonic voices in my head. When I realized that wasn’t the right thing to do, I just stayed calm and ignored them. After freshman year, I did not care too much about being accepted and a popular student. That made me realize that I do not have to join a crowd and that I always have to be true to myself, a change that made my parents and teachers proud of me. Also, a lot of my peers would ask me almost all the time, “Do you have Autism?” I felt a little embarrassed about it and pressured to tell them, yes, but I told them I have Autism, so my peers would understand me better. I started to become braver and open about my condition because not only did I want people to understand me, but to educate them on what having Autism is like and what it is. Little did I know that even with my disability, I earned passing grades at school and even became involved in extracurriculars. Now, I’m on the student council and the DIVAs and MGD organization (Diligent Independent Virtuous Adults and Molding Gentlemen of Distinction), A brotherhood/sisterhood activity associated with the Inspiring Minds Organization. Also, during the summer break, I was involved in an incentive-based program that my mom’s friend recommended to us. Moments that will guide my way after I graduate from high school. These activities will help improve my verbal communication skills and college resume, so colleges I apply to can see that I work hard with my academics and am active with extracurricular activities. I want to show everyone that having a disability doesn’t change who you are and you can do stuff that people without disabilities can do. For example, Greta Thunberg, an 18-year-old Swedish activist with Aspergers’ Syndrome, became a positive role model for everyone in the world by speaking out about climate change. I also would like to travel around the world because I want to learn and try new things, educate people, and I can see myself becoming a leader. I am very passionate about becoming a fierce and independent person. With me being a shy and quiet person who does not have a huge group of friends, I realize I do not have to fit in, I have to stand out because standing out is more important since people will respect and admire you if you stand out. Not everyone has to fit in to make people respect and admire them.

As a person who has Autism and was bullied in the past, I had suicidal thoughts and feel very paranoid when I met new people because I am afraid that they would harm or take advantage of me. Luckily, I was able to receive support from my mentors and parents. They would talk to me when I had problems and make the right decisions. During my elementary and middle school years, I was always excluded and used by my peers, and since I was very naïve, I would do what they told me to do, not knowing their intentions until my other peers and parents inform me that he or she is using me. This made me lose my mind since I always acted like a lunatic with the demonic voices in my head. When I realized that wasn’t the right thing to do, I just stayed calm and ignored them, so as I got older, this made me realize that I do not have to be perfect, as well as other people. After freshman year, I didn’t care too much about being accepted and a popular student. That made me realize that I don’t have to join a crowd and that I always have to be true to myself, a change that made my parents and teachers proud of me. Also, a lot of my peers would ask me almost all the time, “Do you have Autism?” I felt a little embarrassed about it and pressured to tell them, yes, but I told them I have Autism, so my peers would understand me better. I started to become braver and open about my condition because not only did I want people to understand me, but to educate them on what having Autism is like and what it is. Little did I know that even with my disability, I earned passing grades at school and even became involved in extracurriculars. Now, I’m on the student council and the DIVAs and MGD organization (Diligent Independent Virtuous Adults and Molding Gentlemen of Distinction), A brotherhood/sisterhood activity associated with the Inspiring Minds Organization. Also, during the summer break, I was involved in an incentive-based program that my mom’s friend recommended to us. Moments that will guide my way after I graduate from high school. These activities will help improve my verbal communication skills and college resume, so colleges I apply to can see that I work hard with my academics and am active with extracurricular activities. I want to show everyone that having a disability doesn’t change who you are and you can do stuff that people without disabilities can do. For example, Greta Thunberg, an 18-year-old Swedish activist with Aspergers’ Syndrome, became a positive role model for everyone in the world by speaking out about climate change. I also would like to travel around the world because I want to learn and try new things, educate people, and I can see myself becoming a leader. This illustrates that I am passionate about becoming a fierce and independent person. Even with my difficulties, I have many successful moments, such as earning honor roll every year, getting accepted to most of the colleges I applied to, earning scholarships and grants outside and from my college (Saint Joseph’s University), thinking about my future career and major, etc. I hope I can be successful after I graduate from college by making a lot of money from becoming a financial analyst and also competing in the Miss USA or Miss Universe pageant.

In the past few years before college, I was always asked “What do you want major in?” or “What do you want to be when you grow up? I thought about majoring in nursing or psychology, but after that I switched to finance. Now, my answer of majoring in finance is permanent. I am very passionate about my college education because I want to be a financial analyst or advisor, so I can give financial advice to people and/or assess the data growth of my company. In order to become a financial analyst, I have to work temporary jobs, along with doing internships or co-ops, so I can gain experience and put it on my résumé before earning my Bachelor’s in Finance because companies will not only look at the type of degree you have, they also need experience from candidates in order to hire them. Other than becoming a financial analyst or advisor, I have always dreamed about competing in Miss USA and Miss Universe when I was in elementary school. With competing in Miss USA and Miss Universe, I can make a positive impact because it is very important for Miss USAs and Miss Universe to have another career besides being a contestant since they have to be beautifully confident, educated, and intelligent role models because Lu Sierra once said “Miss Universe does not model, she speaks.” For becoming a financial analyst or advisor, are to come up with innovative ideas, communicate well with my coworkers, have math skills, along with critical thinking, leadership, etc. People always thought that being diagnosed with Autism, I could not be successful by earning honor roll, going to a 4-year college, and earning scholarships I applied for, but I proved them wrong because I proved that Autism is not my barrier and it is a strength, as I have been advocating for myself when doing my own work, meeting deadlines, and asking questions if I have difficulties with an assignment. Receiving this scholarship would mean a lot to me, so I can use it for either my sophomore, junior, or senior year of college because my parents convince me to keep applying for financial aid for every year we are still in college because financial aid is not a one and done thing, and I will not have to pay with unsubsidized loans in the future. I will keep working very hard to prove that all of the scholarships I have applied to will take me to my ultimate success in the future, especially in the business or finance field.

Breakfast? Check. Lunch? Check. Dinner? Check. Exercise? Check. Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner is very important in my life, so I do not get dizzy and pass out when I stand up. I also plan my exercise routine(s), so I can lose weight too, but there are times where I am not exercising because my body is not in the mood for it. Around 2 to 3 years ago, I went to the gym with my teacher(s) most of the time to have a fun time with them. With me not having many activities in the summer of 2019, I went to the gym and took modeling classes in September, where I maintained my active personality and prevented boredom. I stopped going to the gym to focus on my schoolwork. Other than my schoolwork and being in the process of DIVAs, I also took modeling classes that sort of conflicted with my DIVAs and MGD activities because I was still passionate about modeling. As a result, I did both (modeling classes and DIVAs and MGD activities) at the same time. After my modeling class was over, I finally got to spend time with my school friends, or “brothers and sisters”, as they state in DIVAs and MGD. I got to go to cotillion with them and we all got nicknames, and we got to planned workshops, trips, and other fun events as well, but all were canceled due to the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We had to do our meeting virtually, as our school closed and we were stuck at home (quarantined) all month until our supposed last day of school. Being stuck at home all the time made me feel depressed and my body started to change a lot compared to when I was always in-person all day. I got so surprised when I weighed myself because my weight range was in the 130s, but when COVID-19 happened, I went up to the 140s range, and a year later, it was in the 150s range, so I tried my best to eat as many healthy foods as possible, so I would not keep gaining weight. Through my weight gain, I realized that I had a normal BMI (Body Mass Index). My parents and doctors told me I had a healthy weight, not fat. I was still maintaining and eating the right amounts of food. This made me realize that we are all beautiful in every way. My weight gain was not a problem, but it led me to find new activities and I should not starve myself to lose weight. Last summer, my mom's friend recommended a summer program that her son was involved in. I was a student in a photography group, where he was in a graffiti group. I learned a lot from the program and I am joining it again this coming summer to stay active. From the way my parents and teachers motivate me to be active. I learned that going out is necessary for having a healthy lifestyle, so I can be less depressed in future years. In college, I hope to make new friends and (possibly) go to the gym because this will make my lifestyle better, as I did not socialize too much in my high school, middle school, and elementary school years because of being rejected by others. I hope that maintaining this healthy lifestyle in the present and future years will help me become successful by earning my Bachelor’s degree and working as a financial analyst or advisor, so I can make a good amount of money and afford all my needs, such as food, clothes, house, shoes, transportation, etc.

It was in the spring 2020, where I gained a lot of weight. The cause of my weight gain was due to the beginning of the pandemic, where almost everything closed down and we had to be stuck at home almost everyday. I could not even have fun during my spring and summer break. I was supposed to go with my DIVAs and MGD group to North Carolina for our spring break trip, but it was canceled due to the high rise in COVID-19 cases and during the summer break, me and my family did not go to the beach or pool because of many people vacationing getting tested positive for COVID-19 and we did not want to get sick because every vacation spot was packed. Other than every in-person events getting canceled, benchmark testing for me got canceled (due to not being in school), my mom worked from home, and my dad had to stay home to because all schools closed down in spring 2020. In the fall of 2020, I (along with everyone else did virtual learning), my mom still worked from home, and my dad worked at school. I did virtual learning for the 2020 to 2021 school year because my family did not want me to get sick and we were not vaccinated at that time. I was very stressed about not going out, as I would lay down almost all the time and now I have been gaining 10 pounds every year. As a result, almost all of my clothes did not fit me and me and my family had to go shopping to buy new clothes because clothes are one of everyone's needs. Even with my weight gain, I still ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This is important in a healthy life, so we feel energized and we will not die of starvation. My doctors and parents have told me I still have a healthy weight (I am 5'10” and now 152 to 154 pounds). I always kept a goal to lose 20 to 30 pounds because I want to go back to my weight before the COVID-19 Pandemic happened. Also, I kept that goal because I was very serious about my modeling career, but I put that aside because education is more of a need, while my modeling career is more of a want. In this current situation, I try my best to stay healthy by going out often, exercising, eating as much as I can, and not going to close to people, etc. because no one knows if people who are vaccinated or not have the COVID-19 virus or not since almost all of them are not showing symptoms. To add on to staying healthy, my mom advised me to eat smaller portions of food, so I will not gain weight in the future, feel more self-conscious about my appearance, and not face body-shamers, etc. I still feel very confident in my body and all bodies are bikini bodies no matter what shape women are. Other than my physical health, when I have rough times and I am not feeling happy, I always talk to someone I trust and am close with because no one is alone. We are all human.

My parents and loved ones have always convinced me to do something positive and be influenced by those who do the right things. During my elementary to middle school years, I have been taken advantage of by my peers, so when they always convinced me to do stuff for them, I always did what they said because I always thought I was being nice to them, but my parents and friends told me that the people convincing me to do stuff for them are not my friends and they are using me. Although I was showing kindness, I need to learn how to stand up for myself and say no to the people who take advantage of me if they boss me around. As a result, there are many impacts I hope to leave on the world, but the impacts I hope to leave on the world is to stand up for ourselves and be kind to one another. I plan on doing that by learning from my past and present experiences, find the right crowd/friends for me, give back to the community, etc. Doing these positive and active actions make my loved ones proud of me. Although I have Autism, I earned passing grades, joined extracurriculars (DIVAs, Student Council, National Honor Society, my counselor's senior committee, and the string orchestra). To add on to my school extracurriculars, during my summer break in 2021, I was involved in an incentive-based program called WorkReady that my mom’s friend recommended to us. These are moments that will guide my way after I graduate from high school, as my school and extracurricular activities will help improve my verbal communication skills and college resume, so colleges I apply to can see that I work hard with my academics and am active with extracurricular activities.

With my DIVAs (Developing Independent Virtuous Adults) group/sisterhood, we come up with as many community services as we can. In the past, when me and my friends were in the process of becoming DIVAs and MGD (Molding Gentlemen of Distinction, the male counterpart of DIVAs, and brotherhood), we cleaned parks and gave assistance to preschoolers. In order to stay committed, we would always have to take pictures of our community service(s), so we can move on to the next phase. As a shy, anxious, and quiet person. I always try my best to be kind to everyone around me. I donate money to the sick people when I can and I learned to be more social and involved as much as I can and becoming a positive role model by advocating for many issues in the world by starting with our smaller community and then going bigger from there. I want to prove to people that having a disability does not change who they are and people with disabilities can do stuff that people without disabilities can do. That said, disabilities won’t stop me from achieving my goals, being bold, and contributing by giving my service to others like the St. Ignatius Loyola’s principles and missions. When I am not involved with my DIVAs and MGD group, me and my dad also give back to the homeless when we pass by them. We give them food, drink(s), and money. That said, giving back is important to me because I want to show everyone that I can be a positive role model, make myself and everyone happy, create a sense of belonging, etc.

At two years old, I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), so besides having difficulties expressing myself, I would also fidget, scream, and cry before I was diagnosed with Autism. As a result, my parents and everyone else around me couldn’t fully understand me, so we went to the doctor. In the blink of an eye, they told my parents, “I think your daughter has been diagnosed with Autism.” That made everyone around me understand why I was quiet and why I fidgeted almost all the time. When my classmates at school saw a few adults walking around with me, they would wonder to me, “Who are those people? Why do they follow you around?” I would tell them, “They are my TSS (Therapeutic Staff Support) and BSC. (Behavioral Specialist)” “Okay.” my classmates said. I was naive from elementary to freshman year. I always wanted to join a crowd and become the most popular student at the schools I went to since I wanted to be similar to everyone else around me, but I fell for the wrong crowd because they would force me to make poor decisions and hurt me physically, verbally, and emotionally. The people around me took advantage of me and even threw stuff at me, and made me lose my mind- I always acted like a lunatic with the demonic voices in my head. When I realized that wasn’t the right thing to do, I just stayed calm and ignored them. After freshman year, I did not care too much about being accepted and a popular student. That made me realize that I don’t have to join a crowd and that I always have to be true to myself, a change that made my parents and teachers proud of me. Also, a lot of my peers would ask me almost all the time, “Do you have Autism?” I felt a little embarrassed about it and pressured to tell them, yes, but I told them I have Autism, so my peers would understand me better. I started to become braver and open about my condition because not only did I want people to understand me, but to educate them on what having Autism is like and what it is. Little did I know that even with my disability, I earned passing grades at school and even became involved in extracurriculars. Now, I’m on the student council and the DIVAs and MGD organization (Diligent Independent Virtuous Adults and Molding Gentlemen of Distinction), A brotherhood/sisterhood activity associated with the Inspiring Minds Organization. Also, during the summer break, I was involved in an incentive-based program that my mom’s friend recommended to us. Moments that will guide my way after I graduate from high school. These activities will help improve my verbal communication skills and college resume, so the colleges I have applied to can see that I work hard with my academics and am active with extracurricular activities. If I win Miss USA and/or Miss Universe, I would like to travel around the world because I want to learn and try new things, educate people, and I can see myself becoming a leader to others. Having support from my mentors, teachers, parents, and friend group made me passionate about becoming a fierce and independent person. The support will help me when I start college, so I can be successful like those around me.

I was nonverbal and quiet as a mouse when I was very young, so my parents got very concerned about what was wrong with me. As a result, me and my parents went to the doctors, and it was at two years old when me and my parents found out that I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Autism is a condition that affects the ability to communicate with others and express oneself. For that reason, from past and present experiences, I struggle with social interactions when I meet new people and am more communicative with most people I already have familiarity with. Luckily, I would always have support from people to calm me down and make the right decisions. In my view, when people think having Autism is a weakness, I see it as my strength, as I found out many positive things can happen to people with Autism, such as having a good photographic memory, challenging themselves, becoming a positive role model by advocating for issues in the world, getting into good colleges, improving their public speaking skills, etc. I am comfortable doing public speaking in front of a big crowd. In fact, I want to prove to people that having a disability does not change who they are and people with disabilities can do stuff that people without disabilities can do. That said, disabilities won’t stop me to achieve my goals. Furthermore, in the future, I want to be a successful financial analyst or advisor, so I can use my degree to educate others on how to be more wise with their financial decisions. In conclusion, I already planned my college major and future career. I’m working on getting scholarships and/or grants to pursue my bachelor’s degree and hoping this effort will help me tremendously.

I have had difficulties in my life and have been pessimistic about them at times, but luckily I always had the time to talk to my mentors and they have helped me get rid of the negativity I had. As a person who has been rejected and taken advantage of by their peers, it has been very difficult for me to make friends everywhere I go (which results in me being a loner) because I get easily anxious as well. Although there are always many people who don’t treat me the right way, come college it will get better because college is the time to make new friends, they will be more kind to you, and there are many people who don't have their best friend(s) until college. There are many ways to live a long and healthy life. Other than trying to make new friends, I also try my best to stay mentally and physically healthy, so I find activities that will make me physically active and watch what I eat, so I maintain a healthy body.

At school, I earned awards for being a hardworking student, participating, and honor roll, and outside of school, I was chosen as Miss IMTA (International Modeling & Talent Association) at my modeling school during my advanced modeling class at John Robert Powers Philadelphia. I was also given a chance to compete in New York in the same year, but when the pandemic hit, the event was canceled. If I was given the same chance under different circumstances, maybe I would do that. Out of those recognitions and awards that I have, I'm most proud of my journey at school because I know that will take me to the next level of my education and achieve my goals. Also, doing modeling at the same time as my schools years show that I can balance my time between activities and this can help me achieve my goal of becoming a financial analyst, along with doing modeling. I would really like people to see me as a hardworking, genuine, and persistent person to achieve something that I always dreamt of. Even though a lot of people think that having a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder is a weakness, but I consider my Autism as a strength when I earned passing grades above average than other people without disabilities. My ability to memorize numbers and information usually becomes the utmost strength that I can use to do my academic work and bring good results. I try to surround myself with good influences and I learned from them to make the right decisions and I always try to push myself to go above and beyond sometimes outside of my comfort zone. I always challenge myself to do harder classes and do other things that will strengthen my character and push the boundaries, so people won't stereotype me as a person with a disability. I really want to change people's perspectives and their treatment of others that do not have the same thinking like themselves. With the first step of finishing up my 4-year college degree, I am hoping that I can keep advancing my part-time job becoming a full-time job, and saving money to go to a 4-year college as my ultimate goal. I understand this path would not be easy to do, but with persistence and hard work, I am confident that I can achieve that. If I have to go to an evening school, that's what I would do because you cannot give up your dreams just because something is in your way. That said, I believe with a combination of part-time or full-time job with the evening school could be awarding and after I save enough money, I can be a full-time student and support myself at the end of the day.

A few of the lessons in life that I learned from other people are to not easily give up even though the road ahead of us is always bumpy and challenging. I have learned that positive things can happen to people with disabilities, such as challenging themselves, becoming a positive role model for others, getting into the best college(s), etc. At school, I always look up to the people who are well-behaved, earn honor roll, and make the right decisions, rather than being discouraged when others act ignorant and never pay attention to their surroundings. It is up to us how to decide which crowd to surround ourselves with. With our smart decisions and strong personality, we can maintain our moral reputation and be a positive influence on the people around us. Basically, I learned a lot from the people around me and choose what's the best for me by not giving up easily and I'll pass the torch to others by becoming a positive role model to others in achieving our dream(s) no matter how challenging our situation(s) are. Every individual has their own uniqueness and specialty, I consider myself as a hard worker and I want to change people's perspectives on how they think about people with disabilities that they can't do anything, but actually, people with disabilities like me can do what people without disabilities can do and even succeed.

Being financially literate is important because it teaches us on how to use our money properly and wisely, be aware of our credit score, which helps us to get the best offer(s)in most of the financial inquiries, show responsibility by getting things done on time (managing our payments on time). Doing these things can prevent debt and higher interest rates. With this current global economic situation, people are expected to act smart and responsible with their financial decisions, so they can live comfortably in the long run. Without good financial knowledge, people often make poor decisions in their financial situations. If people don't think wisely about their financial decisions, it would lead to a more stressful life and they would live uncomfortably when they reach their retirement age. In the financial business, I would like to be able to help the company grow its businesses and its profits by presenting financial stats and data that support management decisions to advance their position(s) compared to their competitors. As a finance major, I would like to be a financial analyst in the future and I would like to change and educate others on how to make wise decisions with their financial situations, so they can give a much better life for their generations in years to come and create a healthy company. The global economy will have better qualities and eventually, it will diminish poverty for good. As a result, a personal finance lesson that I find important is to spend money wisely by spending it on what is necessary for you.

For the past 2 years, I have been involved in one of my school’s extracurricular club called DIVAs and MGD (Developing Independent Virtuous Adults and Molding Gentlemen of Distinction)- DIVAs is the sorority and MGD is the fraternity that high schoolers can join if they want. As a group, we always plan to do community services during the process and when we already become part of the family. The community services I did with my group were offering a helping hand with the homeless, cleaning parks, giving assistance to preschoolers when we visited a daycare, and organize events for the community. We put our integrity and give love to others when it’s needed. We learn from each other and give each other hope to create a better world to live in. In my view, when people think having Autism is a weakness, I see it as my strength, as I found out many positive things can happen to people with Autism, as I learned to be more social and involved as much as I can and becoming a positive role model by advocating for many issues in the world by starting with our smaller community and then going bigger from there. I want to prove to people that having a disability does not change who they are and people with disabilities can do stuff that people without disabilities can do. That said, disabilities won’t stop me from achieving my goals, being bold, and contributing by giving my service to others. Other than doing community services with my group, when I am by myself and/or with my parents, when we were in the highway, road, or to-go places, we give food and drinks, along with money to the homeless when we can, to show our sympathy with those in need.

I was very naive from elementary to freshman year. I always wanted to join a crowd and become the most popular student at the schools I went to since I wanted to be similar to everyone else around me, but I fell for the wrong crowd because they would force me to make poor decisions and hurt me physically, verbally, and emotionally. The people around me took advantage of me and I did what they told me to do because I did not want them to reject me. Other than taking advantage of me, they even threw stuff at me, and made me lose my mind- I always acted like a lunatic with the demonic voices in my head. When I realized that wasn’t the right thing to do, I just stayed calm and ignored them. After freshman year, I did not care too much about being accepted and a popular student. That made me realize that I don’t have to join a crowd and that I always have to be true to myself, a change that made my parents and teachers proud of me. Also, a lot of my peers would ask me almost all the time, “Do you have Autism?” I felt a little embarrassed about it and pressured to tell them, yes, but I told them I have Autism, so my peers would understand me better. I started to become more brave and open about my condition because not only did I want people to understand me, but to educate them on what having Autism is like and what it is. As a result, I have learned to be myself and it’s always be genuine to everyone around me because we are our own person and if we are true to ourselves, others will respect us.

Climate change/global warming is one of the most significant topics everywhere in the world. Over the past years, students have been protesting to save their schools and convincing the society that they are the future. Currently, in my government and economics class, me and my group are doing a project on climate change, and we came up with tips to prevent climate change. The tips are to reduce gas, install natural energy, have commuter transportation, and build bigger lanes for bikes. Also, we would replace gas cars with electric cars and replace fossil fuels with natural energy resources. As a result, the topic of climate change needs to be urgently addressed because our lives are on the line and the issue also impacts the environment, such as having hot weather for one day and having colder weather for the next day(s) or week(s). What I do to have a positive impact on climate is recycling more, cleaning up the environment, and using public transportation when I have to. Other than doing those actions, other ways we can positively impact the climate are promoting the issue of climate change, making surveys on YouTube and social media, bettering the health of our environment, and spreading the word by doing advertisements.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I have gained a lot of weight. Possible factors of my weight gain were stress and physical inactivity. As a result, my parents told me to limit portions of the food and watch what I eat. Also, I am currently exercising to lose weight. Although I have gained weight over the pandemic, I am still confident with my body, along with my face (my face got wider during the pandemic), and I always appreciate myself with whatever features I have, since my mom and friends encourage me to be grateful for what God gives us, convince me that my features are fine, and weight gain during the pandemic is normal. My weight range was in the 120s to 130s before the pandemic, but during it, my weight range became in the 150s to 160s (I gained around 20 to 30 pounds). When I gained weight, I had to fit some of my clothes to see if I can wear them and I could not wear some of them, so me and my mom went shopping to buy new clothes. I donated a few of my clothes, but saved some of them in case I lose weight in the future. Besides exercising, watching what I eat, and limiting portions on the food, I eat more vegetables, protein, and fruits, compared to junk and fast food. I eat what I can, so I do not overeat, since overeating can cause massive weight gain (more than 30 pounds). To add on to my weight gain, I have not been body shamed by people around me because they see that my weight is healthy/normal (I am 5’10” and my weight is around the 150s range) and I also do not want to be too skinny or too big. I will maintain the change of limiting portions of the food, exercising, finding new physical activities, etc. by doing it everyday, until I am back to normal. Although I want to lose weight, I avoid starving myself and fasting everyday because food is a need in our daily lives, since it boosts our energy, get building blocks for our body, and the substances help control the body processes. My goal is to lose 20 to 30 pounds and I will exercise when I can. I plan my workout routine and I do not follow my exact routine because it depends on if my body feels tired or not. My usual workout routine consists of workouts on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, while my rest days are on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays; since I need a break. I do not go to the gym anymore since I am currently in school, they have late times, and I do not usually get up very early (On school days, I wake up around 6 AM to 7 AM, but on the weekends, summertime, spring and winter break, I wake up at 8 AM). I am proud of my body image today and will not stop being proud of it, even if I gain or lose weight. I hope this scholarship can help me because it shows that I am passionate about body image and I want to convince people to love their body no matter what.

There are many ways I do to improve the lives of elderly people in my community, such as participating in mental and physical activity with them, forming connections, checking up on them to see how they are doing, and telling them that they are needed. Me and my parents always check up on their family via phone calls or Skype because they (my grandparents, great aunts and great uncles, and cousins) live in Indonesia. We check up on each other to see how we are doing and if we are healthy. They also wish me success for my future. As you may know, my grandfather unexpectedly passed away in 2019, so this caused a change in my family’s financial circumstances. As a result, both of my parents had to visit Indonesia to attend and cover the funeral cost of my grandfather. That was a very unexpected and un-avoided event where we needed to readjust our family saving(s) plan, in this case that would be my college fund. I hope this scholarship will help me, not only because I lost my grandfather, but to show my kindness, helpfulness, and caring personality to everyone in my community. We should always be thankful for our loved ones who wish us to have a healthy and successful future.

A change that I think would make education better is by increasing innovation, along with ethic skills, critical thinking, using our money wisely, emotional and interpersonal intelligence, etc. because these skills are requirements for some of the jobs that people apply for. In current events, we have teacher shortages because they state that they are not getting paid as much and are not respected by society. To prevent teacher shortages, some of the ways we can prevent it are increasing the funding for them and the schools, improve teachers' working conditions, convince them to do surveys, and increase teacher compensation. Another reason why I believe that increasing innovation would make education better is that it will make people who graduate high school choose where they want to go. As one of my teachers said postsecondary does not always and automatically mean going to a 4-year college. There are many postsecondary pathways, such as 2-year college, trade school/workforce, and the military. To add on, there are many people who want to go to a 4-year college after graduating high school, but do not have the ability to afford it, due to the tuition increasing every year, so in order for people to achieve their goals, they would need to be determined, ambitious, hardworking, work together with the school, and apply for scholarships because we are all one, we should make good and moral choices, and our postsecondary choice will stop us from working hard and being successful after graduating from our pathway. As a low to middle-income student, I have been attending public and charter schools because me and my family do not want to be in debt for the rest of our lives and we are currently saving money for my college funds. I plan to pay for college via financial aid and at least 50% scholarships and grants. I have already planned my future career (financial analyst) and major (finance), and I hope that I can be a strong candidate and win this scholarship because it will help me contribute to my academic goals because the higher education level is not cheap and it is not easy for me because I didn't work during my high school years. That is why scholarships are becoming necessary for me to enter college. This can work both ways where I can start saving to continue my education and also have work opportunities to gain experience because companies don't only require a degree, they need job experience from all of the candidates applying for the job.

Someone I admire from history is Greta Thunberg because even though she has Asperger's Syndrome (a mild form of Autism), she can do stuff that people without disabilities can do, such as speaking out about climate change and making her own campaign that motivated thousands of people around the world to peacefully protest about climate change and organize their own strikes. Also, she was the youngest protester, since she was only fifteen years old when she protested about climate change (the protests/strikes started in 2018 and students left early from school to protest about the issue). Another reason that I admire Greta Thunberg is because she symbolizes female empowerment by showing bravery, courage, and is open to new challenges. With her courageous personality and public speaking skills (like her, I am comfortable doing public speaking in front of a big crowd), I aspire to be like her and these skills can help me prepare for Miss USA and/or Miss Universe, since a Miss Universe contestant (Sofia Aragon from Mexico) said during an interview with Steve Harvey “They (The Miss Universe Organization) are not looking for a model, they are looking for a role model.” In conclusion, I hope that I can be a strong candidate for this scholarship, not only because of my autism, but I am determined and passionate about winning scholarships, so I will not have to worry about having loans/debt in the future. Also, I can see myself competing in the Miss USA and/ or Miss Universe (if I win Miss USA), so I can be a positive role model to the people watching the pageant, along with doing advocacies and community services, so I can make a positive impact in the world.

Although I have many favorite books, if I had to pick one, it would be The Hunger Games series because it is full of suspense, thrill, and catches my attention. In actuality, I prefer the books more than the movies, since reading books make me have a creative mind and strengthens my analyzing, vocabulary, and summarizing skills. Even though I thought I was too young to watch the movie and/or read the books, I have seen people under the age of 13 who have watched the movie and read the books, and so as a result, it does not matter how old you are to watch the movie (in the theaters) or read the books. I have read the books multiple times when I was in middle school (around 5th to 7th grade) and have watched all the movies as well. The emotions of the characters are very strong, the scenes are involve a lot of action, and it involves female empowerment as well. Katniss's sister Primrose gets chosen as a tribute for District 12 to compete in The Hunger Games, but she is scared, so Katniss sacrifices herself takes her sister's place to compete. That said, The Hunger Games series is my favorite book because the main character (Katniss) motivates women to be strong and independent. Although the portrayals of the characters are fictional, the main character (Katniss) does everything she can for herself, others, and her loved ones. She is loyal, selfless, possesses inner strength, kindness, compassion, etc. With her personality being described in many positive ways, she humbles everyone and protects the people that have a disadvantage in the games, which would be her ally Rue.

A Miss Universe contestant (Julia Gama from Brazil) once said “Mental health is still a very stigmatizing topic. It It keeps us from giving the right assistance to those in need, but we should always remember to normalize conversations about anxiety or depression. Because we all hurt sometimes but we don't need to face it alone. Let's support each other and share empathy.” In current events, many people are struggling with mental health and they end up committing suicide. To prevent suicidal thoughts, we should always talk to someone we trust about what is happening to us, so we can feel more confident in ourselves, along with staying active, getting enough sleep, and eating well, etc. To add on, practical solutions to help people who are struggling with mental health is to show care and patience, along with not being judgmental of their thoughts, actions, and troubles, we should not disregard people's feelings, be involved in support groups if we want to, and encourage them to talk with a mental health provider and/or doctor if they feel comfortable. Furthermore, there are many practical solutions to help more people who are struggling with mental health other than talking to our doctor, mental health provider, and primary care provider, such as challenging our negative thoughts, educate ourself, get involved in activities or services, ask how we can provide support, choose our words carefully, along with empowerment, and give someone space, etc. We are not alone and we should be a community, family, and help each other if we are struggling with something other than mental health.

Although there are many issues in the world that are very important to talk about, but the issues I would like to discuss here are weapons laws and racial inequality, by speaking out about this issue, we are getting into “good and necessary trouble” as also mentioned by John Lewis. My purpose is to make the world a safer place, and I want everyone to accept people for who they are and not get hurt by those around them. In past and present years, there are and were many colored people who got killed unnecessarily by the police, and now there are people on the deceased victims' side and the cops' side. If this issue was addressed correctly, without taking sides, the country will benefit from this because they have the rights that are necessary to them and it can decrease the hatred within American society. To add on, the police are taking advantage of people by using guns and/or tear gas because they think “they are taking care of themselves” and everyone is fighting to stop this. This matters to us because there will be a decrease in the mortality rate and this can benefit the governed since there will be less violence with guns or tear gas and another way to solve violence is by peaceful protests. In conclusion, there are many ways that we can work on these problems other than protesting, such as petitioning, doing advertisements, educating ourselves and others, requiring background checks, get involved in the community, use the weapons only for protection, accept people for who they are, etc. If we do these actions, we can be positive role models for those around us and we will not be segregated or discriminated anymore.

My personal experience with finances is that I have to spend them on things that are very important, there are always taxes when we buy food, and higher credit score means we pay with lower interest rates. This will be important when I hit adulthood, so I will know how to use my money wisely and not be in debt after college. I am an American born to Indonesian immigrant parents that both work very hard to be able to send me to pursue my higher education in college. My parents' income is mostly just enough to cover basic necessities, such as food, housing, utilities, clothes, transportation, and daily expenses, but we are trying to put aside our extra funds when possible. Sometimes there is not enough to put in the savings account, but my parents are very determined to send me to college, so I can fulfill my dreams and graduate. Therefore, we are hoping to get as much financial aid from scholarships, grants, and work-study, so I do not have to carry heavy student loans and I still have the ability to afford my college tuition yearly until I graduate. To add on, there was a time where I had to deal with a trade-off decision. The decisions were either go to IMTA (International Modeling Talent Association) over the summer or save the money. I chose to save the money because my education (which will be college) is more important to me and I will not have to worry about going into debt during and after my college years. Going to IMTA costs the same amount as most college tuitions, so I chose not to do it and my parents agreed with my decision, since we think that education is more important than going to special events. The reason why I am submitting this is because I would really like to be a part of either the Penn State, Saint Joseph's, Drexel, La Salle, and/or Temple family, but as my family is facing financial burden due to an unexpected event (the passing of my grandfather), our financial standing is not sufficient to cover the cost of attendance at the given package from my top five colleges (listed above) without taking a large amount of loans. That said, I hope that my top five colleges can grant me additional financial assistance (scholarships and grants), so I can pursue my bachelor's degree. This would be a tremendous help to me and my family, so I can conclude and commit to the college of my choice, prior to May 1. I am committed to doing my best to keep my grades up, along with my GPA per the college's standard(s).

I am currently a high school senior (of Indonesian descent and born to immigrant parents) who will be attending a 4-year college during the 2022-2023 academic year and as mentioned in my profile, my FAFSA told me that I am not eligible for a federal pell grant and I'm only eligible for loans, so I hope to win scholarships because winning a scholarship will mean a lot to me because of my unique background and I also worked really hard during my school years and I won't stop working hard when I start college life, getting my degree, joining successful work companies, and giving back to my community when it's needed. We have completed our FAFSA application very early, but there is some information that you might need to know on what happened in our family that we cannot put into the form, such as the passing of my grandfather in 2019 that “derailed” my family’s planning. Both of my parents had to visit Indonesia to attend and cover the funeral cost of my grandfather. That was a very unexpected and un-avoided event where we needed to readjust our family saving(s) plan, in this case that would be my college fund. Coming from a low to middle income family, my parents have worked really hard to save and put aside some funds for me to go to college, so I can achieve my dream with very minimum or no loans/debt, which I am very grateful for that. I understand that my parents would like to help me as much as they can, so I can be more focused on finishing my education without worrying too much on student loans and be independent. I am committed to pursuing my education and I can prove it by getting awards and acknowledgements from my high school, along with having a 3.9 GPA on my report card, and finish strong during my high school years. I will continue to do that if I am given a chance to be a part of the family from the college that I will commit too. Currently, I am writing appeal letters to my top colleges, which are Penn State University, Saint Joseph's University, Drexel University, La Salle University, and Temple University. I am hoping that whichever college gives me the most financial assistance, I will and can conclude my decision to that college prior to May 1. In conclusion, I hope this scholarship can help me and my family because I proved to them that I can be independent by doing my assignments on my own, already have prepared myself for college life, and continuing the same missions from high school that I can carry into my college life.

Being financially literate is important because it teaches us on how to use our money properly and wisely, be aware of our credit score, which helps us to get the best offer(s)in most of the financial inquiries, show responsibility by getting things done on time (managing our payments on time). Doing these things can prevent debt and higher interest rates. With this current global economic situation, people are expected to act smart and responsible with their financial decisions, so they can live comfortably in the long run. Without good financial knowledge, people often make poor decisions in their financial situations. If people don't think wisely about their financial decisions, it would lead to a more stressful life and they would live uncomfortably when they reach their retirement age. In the financial business, I would like to be able to help the company grow its businesses and its profits by presenting financial stats and data that support management decisions to advance their position(s) compared to their competitors. As a finance major, I would like to be a financial analyst in the future and I would like to change and educate others on how to make wise decisions with their financial situations, so they can give a much better life for their generations in years to come and create a healthy company. The global economy will have better qualities and eventually, it will diminish poverty for good. In conclusion, a personal finance lesson that I find important is how to plan and manage our money well, along with not buying something what we cannot afford.

Some of the study strategies I use to achieve academic success are looking over at study guides, taking notes, setting goals, developing a positive and confident attitude, attending class, and managing my time. Whenever I have a big assignment coming up, I look over the materials from the class, at patient as possible, not acting cocky during the test, take deep breaths, and ask for help when I don’t understand the questions on the assignment, along with how I should do it, so I can get a passing grade. Furthermore, there are times where I wish the assignment and don’t get a good grade, so I try to take the adult’s advice on not to panic and they give me time to do the assignment again, so I can get the grade that I’m satisfied with. My goal is to get A’s and/or B’s for my classes to show that my grades are high and maintain my GPA for the school year. To add on, after I come back from school, I take a break for a little while to calm myself down and go on my electronics and watch TV for a while. To avoid procrastinating, after hours of preventing stress, I’ll look over the materials and answer samples for the subjects I have a test on. In conclusion, I hope I can be a strong candidate for this scholarship because I want to show that I’m resilient, hardworking, determined, passionate, etc. I hope that I can continue working hard starting college life, earn my bachelor’s degree in finance, joining successful work companies, and want to be a successful financial analyst or advisor, so I can use my degree to educate others and give back on how to be more wise with their financial decisions.

At school, I am currently involved in DIVAs (Diligent Independent Virtuous Adults), where we do community services, such as offering a helping hand with the homeless, clean parks, give assistance to preschoolers when we visit a daycare, and organize events for the community. We put our integrity and give love to others when it’s needed. We learn from each other and give each other hope to create a better world to live in. To add on, I love nature because it relieves my stress and I try to appreciate it by making the environment a clean and safe place to live in. In current events, they’re many people who litter and leave animal waste on the streets, so that’s why people are protesting for a change and convincing people to clean up after their pet and not litter. Furthermore, nature satisfies my instincts, makes me more active and involved, maintains my mental and physical health, etc., so another way I appreciate it is by walking my dog around the block and the park, do activities with family and friends, acting carefully with my stuff, reducing pollution, etc. In conclusion, we should love nature because of its calming sounds and connecting with nature benefits our well-being and self-esteem. Other ways that we could appreciate it by volunteering, planting gardens, save electricity, water, natural resources, and using reusable bags.

I was nonverbal and quiet as a mouse when I was very young, so my parents got very concerned about what was wrong with me. As a result, me and my parents went to the doctors, and it was at two years old when me and my parents found out that I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Autism is a condition that affects the ability to communicate with others and express oneself. For that reason, from past and present experiences, I struggle with social interactions when I meet new people and am more communicative with most people I already have familiarity with. Luckily, I would always have support from people to calm me down and make the right decisions. Although my disability can’t be cured like cancer, I always try my best to get involved in extracurriculars, improve my verbal communication skills, and earn honor roll (with A’s and B’s) for the rest of the year, so I can get into the colleges of my choosing. Even though I always try my best to stay positive, there were times where I would doubt myself by thinking I was going to fail and/or repeat a great, but I found a way to improve my confidence. I would attend office hours for the class I had difficulties with and ask for help from my teachers. Therefore, I became more optimistic and I had higher confidence. In my view and in conclusion, when people think having Autism is a weakness, but I see it as my strength, as I found out many positive things can happen to people with Autism, such as having a good photographic memory, challenging themselves, becoming a positive role model by advocating for issues in the world, getting into good colleges, improving their public speaking skills, etc.

I'm a low income high school senior, my FAFSA told me I’m not eligible for a Federal Pell Grant, they told me I’m eligible for subsidized and unsubsidized loans, which I want to avoid, so I don’t have to worry about paying off my student loans after I graduate college. Education is very important to me because it motivates me to fulfill my determination goals, determination, and ambition, builds confidence, improves knowledge and skills, helps me overcome challenges, etc. When I hit college, I think of doing work study to lower college expenses, do co-ops to gain job experience, and take summer classes during my 1st year of college, so I can graduate college in 3 years. Winning this scholarship will mean a lot to me and I will use this scholarship to pay off all of my college expenses (tuition, room and board, and books) all 4 years since scholarships aren't one time only. This will also help me contribute to my academic goals because higher education level is not cheap and it is not easy for me because I didn't work during my high school years. That's why as a start, scholarships are becoming necessary for me to enter college, which I know that going forward, almost all of the colleges I've applied to, offer internships and temporary jobs, and these will help me to continue to earn my bachelor's degree in finance and become a financial analyst or advisor in the future, so I can use my degree to educate others and give back on how to be more wise with their financial decisions.. This can work both ways where I can start saving to continue my education and also have work opportunities to gain experience because companies don't only require a degree, they need job experience from all of the candidates applying for the job. I hope that I would be a strong candidate for this scholarship because I worked really hard during my school years and I won't stop working hard when I start college life, getting my degree, joining successful work companies, giving back to my community when it's needed, and I want to show that I'm determined, passionate, and hardworking. In conclusion, I already planned my college major and my future career. I’m hoping that I can be a great candidate to get this scholarship because that means a lot to me and my family, so I can continue the same missions that I can carry to my college life.

I love dogs because they're so cute, cuddly, funny, and like my best friend and brother or sister, etc, I've had my dog for 5 years and he's a Shiba Inu named Coconut. If I were to describe Coconut, I would describe him as quiet, affectionate, loyal, alert, bold- there are so many words to describe him. I like to take him for walks, play, hug, and cuddle with him when I can. Me and my family love him so much that when he gets sick or hurt, we take him to the hospital, take the vet's advice, act careful, and help him, to show our love, affection, and kindness to him. Coconut (my dog) has impacted my life in a positive way because he makes me happy, we have each other's back's, calms me down when I’m stressed, etc. I also let him play with my neighbor's dogs, so he can have friends to play with. Like me, he's also anxious when he meets other dogs, so me and my parents teach him to be calm when he's around other dogs and I separate him, so the other dogs won't hurt him. I've been a dog lover since I was in elementary to middle school, I always begged my parents for a dog, but they didn't let me have one in elementary school because we rented a house from August 2010 to early July 2016- I had a rabbit during 2010, so we had to give it away to a friend, and the landlord doesn’t allow their tenants to have pets in the house. I was patient about not having a dog since me and my parents haven't trained them and never really owned one. In conclusion, my dad gave me a dog (Shiba Inu) as a present on February 2017 (two months before my 13th birthday), he said that was a present for me, and that’s where I named him Coconut, even though my mom didn’t agree with the decision at first, they compromised. Also, my dog made messes in the house, so me and my parents disciplined and trained him where and what the right things to do are. After, he outgrew his puppy years, he caused less problems and now he knows how to make the right decisions. I'm an only child, so my parents considered our dog Coconut it’s their son and I consider him my best friend and brother.

I always try my best to get involved in extracurriculars, social services, improve my verbal communication skills, and earn honor roll, so I can get into the colleges of my choosing. I became more optimistic and I had higher confidence. At school, I am currently involved in DIVAs (Diligent Independent Virtuous Adults), where we do community services, such as offering a helping hand with the homeless, clean parks, give assistance to preschoolers when we visit a daycare, and organize events for the community. We put our integrity and give love to others when it’s needed. We learn from each other and give each other hope to create a better world to live in. In my view, when people think having Autism is a weakness, I see it as my strength, as I found out many positive things can happen to people with Autism, as I learned to be more social and involved as much as I can and becoming a positive role model by advocating for many issues in the world by starting with our smaller community and then going bigger from there. I want to prove to people that having a disability does not change who they are and people with disabilities can do stuff that people without disabilities can do. That said, disabilities won’t stop me from achieving my goals, being bold, and contributing by giving my service to others. In conclusion, I already planned my college major and future career of being a financial analyst, and I’m hoping that I can be a great candidate to get this scholarship because that means a lot to me and my family, so I can continue the same missions that I can carry to my college life.

Winning this scholarship will mean a lot to me and I will use this scholarship to pay off all of my college expenses (tuition, room and board, and books) all 4 years since scholarships aren't one time only. This will also help me contribute to my academic goals because higher education level is not cheap and it is not easy for me because I didn't work during my high school years. That's why as a start, scholarships are becoming necessary for me to enter college, which I know that going forward, almost all of the colleges I've applied to, offer internships and temporary jobs, and these will help me to continue to earn my bachelor's degree in finance and become a financial analyst in the future. This can work both ways where I can start saving to continue my education and also have work opportunities to gain experience because companies don't only require a degree, they need job experience from all of the candidates applying for the job. Other than being a financial analyst, I also want to be a runway and print model, I took modeling classes when I was 13 years old and that’s how I became passionate about becoming a model. However, I focus on being a financial analyst because academics are more important to me, but I’m confident that I can manage my time by working these jobs on different days. I hope that I would be a strong candidate for this scholarship because I worked really hard during my school years and I won't stop working hard when I start college life, getting my degree, joining successful work companies, and giving back to my community when it's needed.

I have a lot of favorite hobbies, but the hobbies that are more productive for me are listening to music, studying by looking over the material, learning new languages, along with business-related stuff, acting, runway and print modeling, having confidence that I can become a positive role model, reading, etc. In the morning and every time I come back from school, I go on my electronics for a while to ease my stress and after a while, I'll find something to do that makes me productive, so I don’t procrastinate and miss out on very important assignments and opportunities. I also multitask a lot with my favorite hobbies such as doing my assignments, while listening to music because it can help me calm down. In conclusion, the hobbies I listed above can help me in the future because those skills can help me with my career as a financial analyst and model, so when I study abroad and go to fashion shows in different countries, I can be fluent and if I become Miss USA or Miss Universe, I'll visit different countries too, not only too learn new languages, but become a positive role model for everyone.

 I love listening to music a lot and I have a lot of favorite songs, but the song that inspires me the most is “breathin” by Ariana Grande. This song inspires me the most because it represents fighting through tough situations. I always deal with tough situations, so I ask for help from trusted adults and I listen to this song almost everyday to make me feel motivated and less anxious. Come college, I’ll be a little anxious because I’ll meet a lot of new people and the assignments are much different and harder compared to high school. In conclusion, music fuels productivity and energy. I've listened and heard this song for years and not only does Ariana Grande have a nice voice and good songs, but her song “breathin” represents the situations I have during school, calm me down when I’m frustrated, and make me feel relaxed after coming back from school, etc. This song has helped me become the determined and passionate person I am today.

Being a person of color, I support equality and diversity by accepting people for who they are and forming relationships with people from different backgrounds. Equality and diversity are important in a college because we should always treat others the way we want to be treated and respect our differences. Other ways I support equality and diversity are being aware of discrimination and racism, developing a positive attitude at all times, attending grade team meetings about the ethnic events that happen in months, such as Black History month, Hispanic Heritage month, and Asian Pacific Islander month. Also, being a person of color/minority race(s), I’ve faced stereotypes and assumptions about me, so when our month happens, we always inform people of what it is and what the different types of Asians they are. Now, it's Black History month and students are educating everyone (including people their own race) about African-American figures and the historic events that happened to African-Americans. At school, everyone of different backgrounds are respecting each other and are aware not to call each other by racial slurs.

There are many times where I had difficult situations, but one difficult situation was when I went on a trip with the DIVAs and MGD group (Developing Independent Virtuous Adults and Molding Gentlemen of Distinction), we did many activities like playing games and zip-lining. As a person who has a fear of heights, I took long to go down the zip line. When I took long, one of the employees/counselors helped me go down, so I can stay with my group later. After me and my friends went down the zip line, we had fun. To add on, I try my best not to show my negative attitude during difficult situations and I learned that I should always ask for help from trusted adults to help me with the difficult situations I'm in. Another difficult situation I was in was when I had a C, D, and/or F on my assignment(s) and the class, and I persevered through this difficult situation by talking with my teacher(s), along with doing the assignment(s) again and resubmitting them.

1. I deserve this scholarship because my FAFSA told me I’m only eligible for student loans and my financial aid packages told me I have to pay unsubsidized loans. 2. My academic and career goals are to graduate high school with honor roll, double major in finance and French, become a financial analyst and model, with being successful in both. 3. I overcame an obstacle when I had a grade I wasn’t satisfied with in the beginning of the report period and did the assignment again, and got a higher grade.

I've been part of the DIVAs (Diligent Independent Virtuous Adults) organization at my school since 10th grade and during the process, me and my friends did community services such as assisting and reading to preschoolers, cleaning parks, and donating to the people in need. Now, we're also planning to make a bench for people at our school who've passed away and plant flowers. Doing these acts of services help others because being part of this organization helps us become leaders and positive role models by being kind to one another. I also think of competing in Miss USA and Miss Universe (if I win Miss USA) because I want to show people that people with disabilities can become positive role models and Miss USA and Miss Universe always help other people from different countries they visit, along with having positive advocacies. Winning this scholarship will mean a lot to me because I can see myself as a leader in the future, show that I’m active, and I’ll use this scholarship to pay off all college expenses (tuition, room and board, and books).

There are many simple pleasures in my life such as exercising, listening to music, reading, playing and cuddling with my dog, etc. These things make me happy because doing these things make me feel less stressed and it makes me forget about stuff that makes me angry. When I do my simple pleasures it makes me express laughter and I procrastinate less. I try to stay clean, healthy, and calm as possible because this can help me with my life in the future. If I live on-campus I will start to be independent by waking myself up, putting on a little makeup, and prepare myself food. I also cook at home most of the time and I’m currently learning how to put a little makeup to look presentable to everyone. The simple pleasures I do will make my future successful and stress-free because we always need to stay active by finding new activities we can do and staying positive at all times no matter the situation we're in.

They're many things that I'm passionate about, but the things that I’m passionate about the most are modeling, health and fitness, becoming a financial analyst, issues in the world, helping others, etc. I'm passionate about these things because I always think about my future, staying, healthy, doing advocacies, becoming a positive role model to those around me, and becoming a leader. My lifelong dream is competing in the Miss USA and/or Miss Universe pageant because a past Miss Universe contestant once said “Miss Universe doesn’t look for models, they look for role models.” By competing in Miss USA and/or Miss Universe (if I win Miss USA), I want to show everyone that Autism is my strength and people with disabilities can do stuff that normal people can do. In conclusion, out of all the things I listed, health and fitness, along with helping others is something to be passionate about because we want everyone to stay healthy and clean, and if I win Miss Universe, I would use my reign to travel around the world by helping others who need it and get involved in many services as I can.

My goals for the future are to graduate high school with honor roll, get scholarships and/or grants, choose the college I want to go to, stay healthy, etc. Getting scholarships and grants is very important to me, so I don’t have to worry about paying my student loans in the future. I try my best to find scholarships (even full-ride) and grants because I’m pursuing need-based and merit-based aid for college. Also, my counselors and parents convince me to find merit scholarships as well because of my high GPA. These are my academic goals for the future. For my personal life and career, my goals are to be healthy and successful. To stay active, I exercise; find scholarships I qualify for; and think about my future career and major. I want to become a financial analyst, along with a model as my side job because academics are more important to me. In order to be a financial analyst, I have to do temporary jobs at first because companies need job experience and not only the degree. Also, I want to become a model too because I’m passionate about it and I took classes when I was 13 years old.

I used persistence when I earn something that I didn't expect, like a grade that I wasn't satisfied with, so I asked my teachers for help and I looked over other materials for that class. Also, whenever I had difficulties with something, I look over my mistakes, and when the other attempt(s) is better than the 1st, it resulted in my grade becoming higher and I've achieved my goal(s). My goal is to have A's or B's in all classes, so I can get honor roll and I feel more confident in myself. There was a time when my assignments had low grades, so I asked my teacher if I can do it again, and he allowed me to, so my grade can be better and he gave me a better grade for the assignment. At the beginning of every report period at school, I always start with a low grade but always finish up with a passing grade at the end. This is where I use my persistence the most.

To me, confidence means acknowledging your achievements and thinking that everything will have a positive outcome. I'm also working to be more confident in myself by asking for help from my teachers and parents when I don't understand something, after they've helped me, I felt more confident about what I have to do. Although confidence is a positive trait, it can be negative as well because people can describe you as being too cocky, and being overconfident can lead to negative outcomes, as we overlook the fact that we're wrong too. People have described me as overconfident because when I try to show them my achievements, they got annoyed and when this happened, my parents gave me the advice to be less open about my achievements. In conclusion, being confident means always making the right decision(s), thinking about others in a positive way, making sure others are equal to you, etc.

I try my best to treat others with empathy by acting like a leader, following positive influences/examples, helping and supporting others when they need it, etc. Me, along with my peers, parents, and the staff at school help each other when we have difficulties doing something. Empathy is one of the key factors in a person because people will respect you if you always show empathy towards others. We should understand and respect the positive things people say. Also, we shouldn't be afraid to open up about our troubles to one another because we can support each other and give helpful advice. If we're empathetic towards each other, we can live a happy life and feel better about ourselves after we talk about what happened. In conclusion, even though I don’t approach people because of my Autism, I always show empathy to them by telling people about similar experiences I had with them and telling them it's normal to feel a certain way. I also talk about my troubles with my social worker/counselor and she tells me that it's normal and fine.

I practice bravery and living boldly by taking risks, doing something I’ve never tried before, and listening to motivating advice from those around me. There was a time that I was scared to go down the zip line because I'm afraid of heights. When that happened, the staff convinced me to go down with her. This made me feel calmer and I had fun throughout the trip. My peers, teachers, and parents convince me to do something that I may find I challenging because it shows that I’m a hardworking and determined person. I listen to motivating advice from people around me and whenever I felt scared to do something, my teachers told me it's fine if I asked them for help. Also, when I did parkour with another program, I was scared at first, but overcame my fear. When my peers were scared to do it, me and my counselor told them to not be scared. We always encouraged each other positively. In conclusion, I practice bravery and living boldly by talking with trusted adults, confronting my fear(s), participating in mindfulness activities, finding something that makes me comfortable, etc.

My dreams after high school are to go to the college that gives me good financial assistance, do temporary jobs during my college years, get my bachelor's degree in finance and french, and become a financial analyst with a model as my side job because academics are more important to me. To become a financial analyst, I have to do temporary jobs first because the companies I’m applying to don’t only require a degree, but they need job experience from candidates, so the candidates can do well in the company after the jobs they did before. To become a model, I don’t need to go to college for it, but I have a strong interest in becoming a model and I took modeling classes years ago. Also, I don’t have to apply for a modeling job, the modeling agencies will choose the candidates that will have a contract with them. In conclusion, I feel like I can be a financial analyst and model at the same time because I have good time management and I can do these jobs on different days.

I stay committed to speaking my mind by always being brave when I speak out about my honest opinion(s) on something. Although, people may feel that someone is tearing them down when that person is speaking their mind, it's not a bad or good thing because honesty is very important in a person. People have told me I speak my mind too much because I open up to everyone about their information and my honesty can be mistaken for rudeness. With my brutal honesty, I stay committed to speaking my mind and I also learned that I can't be brutally honest all the time because it can lead to my downfall(s) and people not wanting to hang out with me, so I’ll try to keep quiet if I have a negative opinion on a certain person. In conclusion, speaking your mind is very important because this will be a factor if you have to write an argumentative essay, are debating on a topic, having an opinion on something, opening up to others about yourself, etc.

Whenever I have big tests coming up, I look over the material months or weeks before the real test in order to achieve academic success. My parents and teachers always tell me to study days before the test, so I understand the questions and get a passing grade on the test. If I don’t do well on the test, I go to office hours to ask my teacher(s) for help and after I’ve asked for help, I’ve received a passing grade of an A or B. During the whole report period at my school, I always pass every class and end up getting honor roll. Also, whenever I have benchmarks at the end of every report period, my teachers always curve (add more points) on my benchmark, so I get a higher grade. In conclusion, my other study strategies to achieve academic success are paying attention to class, review everything I learned, taking notes, focusing on one topic at a time, so I don’t fluster myself, etc.

I relax and take care of myself by watching TV and playing with electronics for a while after I come back from school to calm myself down, so I don't get to stress about my schoolwork. I also have pretty good time management, as if I don't have anything to do, I either read a book or search for some scholarships I qualify for, so I don't procrastinate and miss out on opportunities. Mental health is very important to us in the present because we want to be physically, socially, environmentally, and emotionally healthy. A few years ago, I did community service with my peers by cleaning up a playground, so we keep our environment and surroundings safe, for my physical health, I exercise for most days, so I can keep myself active and healthy, I try my best to have positive emotions, so I can have a successful life in the future, and socializing will be very important because college is the time to make friends and people will be kind and understanding towards you. In conclusion, I take care of my mental health by connecting with others, eating and sleeping healthily, trying new things, keeping myself active, etc.

When I encourage others around me, I always tell them something positive and never let them down. My teachers, parents, and peers encourage each other by helping, giving positive advice, celebrating everyone, acknowledging and thinking about one another, etc. I encourage those around me by talking about our futures and supporting one another when we go our separate ways because when starting college life, everyone will make new friends- parents also encourage their children to make new friends. In college, I hope to find a friend that's kind, helpful and encourages me in a positive way, so to encourage people around me I'll smile, have easygoing conversations with them, acknowledge them, etc. This is to focus on our future and reach our goals. In conclusion, encouraging others is important because people will respect and admire your personality, and it boosts their confidence when they're going through tough situations. This is to be mindful of our achievements and believe in what we can do.

I listen to people around me by participating in activities and engaging in conversations with them. Even though my Autism impacts the ability to interact with others, I always try my best to interact with people with who I'm not too familiar. It's important to listen to those around us because situations can be better if we consider taking helpful advice from others. To me, listening means paying attention to very important details and information. Like when my teachers and parents tell me to apply for scholarships, I actively listen to them and continue to find which scholarships I qualify for, so I don't have to worry about financial problems that could arise with me and my family. In conclusion, I actively listen to those around me by finding the adults' advice helpful and motivating, along with participating in my peers' activities, conversations, and projects, so it eases and changes my stress. To me, listening is hearing positive things people can say about us.

Even though I'm not 100% excited about a new technology, I’m excited about IPhones and IPads. Even though electronics aren't needs, we still use them in order to reach out to workplaces and are co-workers. Technologies to be excited about are battery advancements, authentication, connectivity and 3D and 4D printing, etc. We need battery advancements, authentication, and connectivity the most for our devices, so our devices don't shut down and break easily. These methods can also prevent hackers, so our personal information won't be put out by them and we don't get caught in any wrongdoings. Also, we can contact the police immediately if we're in trouble because of our information and find a way to solve our problems. This illustrates cybersecurity, as we need to have a resourceful method when creating accounts and not letting other people see our account information. To add on to what technologies we should be excited about, Artificial Intelligence is the main trend in the year, since the computerized system can do an imitation of human behavior and intelligence to demonstrate tasks like image recognition and speech with decision making and finding patterns. If this is one's future career, this could help them, so after they do temporary jobs during college, they can add this to their résumé and show that to the big companies they want to work for since companies don’t only need a degree in a specific major, they also need job experience from candidates applying. Other trends besides Artificial Intelligence are Cybersecurity, Augmented Reality, Predictive & Personalized Medicine, and Internet of Things, etc. These technologies can connected to the internet, make people receive data about their lifestyle or health through smartwatches, and make you adapt to strengthen securities to protect yourself from hackers. This is to make sure we don't have anything bad happening to us, thus these technologies are very important when we are using computers, IPads, IPhones, along with other smart devices.

To me, friendship means bonding with one another, helping each other with conflicting situations, and making sure we're safe. When I was younger, I was taken advantage of by others, I always did what they said because I was so naive and I wanted to be accepted, but one of my friends stood up for me and now I know who are the right people to be friends with and the wrong people to be friends with. I always thought about being popular and joining a crowd at school too because I wanted to be alike with the people around me and on TV, but I realized I have to be myself and as I got older, I didn’t care about being accepted. Also, I spent time alone and was didn't make a big deal about it. Even though I don’t care about being accepted anymore, I’ll make new friends in college because college is the time where we form relationships with strangers and people are nicer to you. Also, my parents made their best friends in college and have been motivating me to talk to new people too, so I can build up my verbal communication skills.

I practice self-care by staying healthy and clean as possible. Good hygiene is key when you're going everywhere and around people. I also put a little bit of makeup, so I don’t look sick and pale- like my mom always told me, it's to look presentable when people see you. Self-care impacts my life, so I’m not too stressed throughout my life and I can be happy. I also do a lot of exercising, drinking water, and take a bath or shower, etc. These are necessary because we want people to see us like others (good hygiene) and we can be engaged in other activities outside of school and home. Self-care reduces stress, depression, and anxiety. Even though I have anxiety when meeting very new people, I’ll try to see which friends are right for me because come college, everyone will make new friends from other schools. In conclusion, self-care impacts me positively by improving focus, minimizing anger, and strengthen relationships, etc.

Being patient is important to me because we always need to wait for our opportunities and it's better to wait than to rush through everything. I tend to act impatient when taking big tests because I feel like I just needed it to be done and I always thought I was right, but if we're impatient, it can lead to bad results. Being patient can lead to positive situations where we can be satisfied with the results. If we have big tests coming up, it's better to double check our work than to rush, (be impatient) so teachers will give you a passing score or grade. Now with my college acceptances, I'm patiently waiting for my financial aid awards and acceptance letters from each school, so I can make my decision in middle to late April or early May. I’m conclusion, it's better to be patient, so we know how to accept problems and deal with what we have to do.

I had a grade that I didn’t like and expected in a class, so I asked for help from my teacher(s) and they explained what I had to do in order to fix my grade. I always do this before grades are finalized during each report period. In the beginning, I start with a low grade and don't have familiarity with the material(s), but my teacher(s) advised me to watch videos and look at some samples and by looking at the videos and samples, my grade was higher than my previous one I had. At the end, I finish up with my expected grade and pass the class with honor roll, so me and my parents are satisfied with the result and my hard work I did in the class that is difficult for others.

I was diagnosed with Autism (a condition that impacts the ability to express oneself) at the age of two years old and I kept thinking I was different than others without disabilities, but as I got older I realized that people with disabilities can do stuff normal people can do. For example, Greta Thunberg has Autism, but she made a positive impact on the world by speaking out about climate change and convincing others to take part in the issue. My goals are to be a financial analyst with a model as my side job. My post-secondary goal is to go to a 4-year college and I plan on double majoring in Finance and French. I plan on joining extracurriculars in college as well, so I can make new friends even though my Autism impacts that ability. Furthermore, I think of competing in the Miss USA and/or Miss Universe pageant in the future to prove that having a disability doesn’t change who you are and people with disabilities can have success stories. I can see myself as a leader by helping others who need it and by becoming positive role models for people around the world, so I can educate myself and others in a kind way.

My life has been filled with difficult times because of the pandemic, but I always have a confident personality and have been working hard to get A's and B's on my report card. My life has shaped my hopes for the future because I’ve been preparing myself for college, along with my teachers. Come college, there will be more difficult assignments than high school, but I've discussed my post secondary goals with my college counselor and have strong letters of recommendation from my other teachers. Although I have Autism and I’m very quiet with people I’ve never met before, I'll try my best to overcome my difficulties because college is the time to make new friends and I hope I can join extracurriculars in order to build up my verbal communication skills. I have pretty good time management skills, so I feel confident that I can manage my time between work and extracurriculars. I want to become a financial analyst with a model as my side job in the future, but in order to become a financial analyst, I have to do temporary job(s) first because companies don't only need the degree, but they need job experience too. With these two jobs, I feel this would shape my hopes and success for the future because of the high payment, so I can use this to donate and buy necessities for people in need.

I always treat others with respect and how they would like to be treated. We are a society who wants everyone, regardless of race to be equal to one another. In current and past events, people of color have been treated unfairly and have been called racial slurs by others. There were a lot of riots and looting in the past because the victims were people of color, but that doesn't solve the problem. Another way I support equality and diversity is create a safe space for everyone, educate others and myself, and being careful about what I say and do towards others. In conclusion, I keep an open mind and follow the equality policy.

My goals for the future are to make my decision for college, graduate from high school with honor roll, and stay active and hardworking as possible. I plan to join extracurriculars in college. I'm planning on double majoring in Finance and French for college and my goal is to get my Bachelor's degree in order to become a financial analyst, but companies not only care about the degree, but they need job experience because they can tell and/or ask if you have experience in your occupation or not. Other than becoming a financial analyst, my other goal is to become a model as well. I started taking modeling classes when I was 13 years old and I started to get interested in modeling. With having two jobs, this is a way on how I plan to achieve success because it shows I can manage my time between my careers and get paid a lot. Furthermore, I would like to compete in the Miss USA or Miss Universe pageant to show that people with disabilities can be successful like people without disabilities. For example, Greta Thunberg, a 19-year-old activist with Autism, convinced people to take action in climate change. This shows that everyone has their own success stories and has their plan to achieve success.

I'm a high school senior going to college next year. I would describe myself as hardworking, determined, and introverted. At 2 years old, I was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). I always thought that having a disability was a weakness, but I found out it was my strength because I noticed I can do stuff people without disabilities can do. Over the summer, I was pretty active by working on weekdays and applying myself to colleges. Me having a job made me boost my college resume and I'm pretty excited for college because I’ll see many opportunities and I'll try my best to make new friends.