Since I was young, I have always had an urge to help people . I have known since I was young that I want to be a doctor but I never knew which one I wanted to be. My goals have changed and have become more versatile. I went from wanting to just help people to wanting to make an impact. Which is why I desire to become a surgeon. As you grow up, you realize you want to do more with the world. My relationship with God has made me seen that I am not ordinary and I am here for a reason. Me becoming a surgeon will allow me help individuals at the highest level and I believe me getting my doctorate degree, which is my desired degree in STEM, will help me get to that goal. I attend Penn State University at the Brandywine Campus. I chose Penn State because I am a creative individual who strives to learn new things. Penn State is a school with everything, and most importantly, a school of opportunity. The 2+2 plan, which is the program I chose for my Penn State education, will help me be able to experience all aspects in my major that I will need to prepare me for medical school. I will continue to be able to experience what both Brandywine offers and teaches me, as well as main campus at University Park. I am staying open minded for my choose for where I will do my schooling for medicine. However, one school I am aiming for is Harvard Medical School. I've been attracted to Harvard since I was a kid and seeing my family friend get into Harvard Design School brought that spark back for the school that I had when I was young. I'm going to be honest, I don't know much about Harvard Medical School. But I know there's something about the school that draws me to it, that makes me feel it's the place I belong. The place where I can grow and get the best education and guidance to put me in the right direction to my path to becoming a surgeon. The place where I can be challenged and dared to strive for more. The place where I can go after what's viewed as impossible. And most importantly, the place where I can be who I am. I trust God and follow his guidance and I believe I will do great things in the medical field and defy many odds in STEM.

Support is a concept that should be invested in deeply. It is a concept that heals, a concept that nurtures, a concept that matters. One of the best ways to show support is allyship. Allyship is the act of showing up for someone, and I would like to explain how I vocalized my support of the LGBT+ community on my social media platform. I am a Christian. I grew up going to church, reading the bible, learning all kinds of novenas and special prayers, and most importantly, understanding the importance of showing love to one another. I firmly condemn any condemnation of the LGBT+ community. And what I condemn more, is the words of God being weaponized to degrade a group of people. I know friends personally apart of the LGBT+ community who have been hurt by the criticism they have gotten from Christians. They have questioned whether God loves them and believed they need to change who they are. The Bible has not only been misunderstood but manipulated to fulfill other individuals' ideologies and agendas. God loves everyone. He created us all in his image and likeness, therefore we are all perfect to him. There is no excuse for any condemnation or dismissal of a community of individuals. It is an abuse of the words of God. When I started seeing the power of social media in activists movements, I decided to use my platform to create the awareness my religion was causing to the LGBT+ community. My Instagram caption for my social media post that I wrote one year ago was this: "Was going to post a new cute pic but I wanted to use today to speak about an issue that needs to be spoken about by a Christian. it is no secret that there is hostility towards the LGBT+ community from my religion. anybody who has learned about God has learned he is a person of love and acceptance. However, misinterpreted verses and words that weren’t even said by him have caused my faith to be used as a weapon towards this community. This weird mentality of “yes God loves everyone but u can’t do this!”, “The Bible says this!”, and obsession with worrying about/trying to control what other people choose to do with their lives and who they are needs to stop. And this goes to some people in my community as well. u can’t talk about and share posts about how discrimination is wrong then do the same towards another community. It is not enough to simply just be unbothered by anybody who is apart of this community considering that 40% of LGBTQ youth have considered suicide and have high rates of suicide attempts and have been harmed by policies from this administration and other states. Christians need to start addressing the homophobia and transphobia in our community and unlearn teachings that they were taught by people who use faith to fuel their own bias towards people who are different than them and call it “Christianity”. And if that’s something you chose not to do, then mind your own business. I’m sorry to anyone apart of this community who has ever been dehumanized by people in my religion. to any member of the LGBT+ community reading this, you are loved and you matter 🏳️‍🌈. I felt proud of myself for speaking about a controversial issue on my platform because I believed it was the right thing to do. I stand by the LGBT+ community and I always want to advocate that they are loved by others and loved by God.

Since I was young, I have always had an urge to help people . I have known since I was young that I want to be a doctor but I never knew which one I wanted to be. My goals have changed and have become more versatile. I went from wanting to just help people to wanting to make an impact. Which is why I desire to become a surgeon. As you grow up, you realize you want to do more with the world. My relationship with God has made me seen that I am not ordinary and I am here for a reason. Me becoming a surgeon will allow me help individuals at the highest level and I believe me getting my doctorate degree, which is my desired degree in STEM, will help me get to that goal. I will be attending Penn State University in the fall with biology as my major. I chose Penn State because I am a creative individual who strives to learn new things. Penn State is a school with everything, and most importantly, a school of opportunity. The 2+2 plan, which is the program I chose for my Penn State education, will help me be able to experience all aspects in my major that I will need to prepare me for medical school. I will be able to experience what both Brandywine and main campus offer and teach me, along with the opportunities both schools provide in furthering my education. I am staying open minded for my choose for where I will do my schooling for medicine. However, one school I am aiming for is Harvard Medical School. I've been attracted to Harvard since I was a kid and seeing my family friend get into Harvard Design School brought that spark back for the school that I had when I was young. I'm going to be honest, I don't know much about Harvard Medical School. But I know there's something about the school that draws me to it, that makes me feel it's the place I belong. The place where I can grow and get the best education and guidance to put me in the right direction to my path to becoming a surgeon. The place where I can be challenged and dared to strive for more. The place where I can go after what's viewed as impossible. And most importantly, the place where I can be who I am. I trust God and follow his guidance and I believe I will do great things in the medical field and defy many odds in STEM.

I think my greatest achievement to date is getting myself involved in sports. In my younger years, I wasn't able to play sports. I was told that playing in high school is unlikely and I should wait for college. However, I chose to only believe what I told myself, which is that I will be able to play sports in high school. One thing about me is I will never take no for an answer. I always believe that there is always another way and that things will go the way I want them to. That mindset has not only helped me get involved in sports, but also get as far as being heavily recruited and committing to continue my track and field career at Penn State University. It helped teach me that I can do anything I set my mind to and that in the end I will get what I want when I do not give up. I aim at making an impact on people as something I achieve in the future. Yes, I have numerous goals in all areas involving my academics, my track and field career, entrepreneurship, etc. However, in the end I want to impact people. I want to be unforgettable. I want to be a name that people will always remember and be able to at least say 3 sentences on my impact on the world. That is something I am aiming for and something that I WILL achieve in the future.

I'm sitting on my leathered couch playing a movie I found on Netflix titled "Summer 2020". The most eye-opening summer in America. The summer where there was a Black Lives Matter protest in every state protesting against police brutality. The summer where thousands of petitions were signed demanding answers and accountability for older cases that didn't get proper justice. The summer where everyone collectively decided it's time for a change. And this drive for change worked. We voted out the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, and flipped the House and Senate. America opened a starting point for change. However, it seems we are still at that starting point that we were in January when President-elect, Joe Biden, was sworn into office. The solution to addressing criminal justice reform in America is simple: start listening. There is a major problem in America regarding listening to the black community. For example, Juneteenth became a federal holiday, yet there still has not been any major legislation passed that can help the black community regarding systematic racism. Refusal to properly listen manifests into performative actions used in attempt to prevent further, more remarkable changes from happening. It's ironic how easy the answer is to this problem. To be honest, I was almost going to write that there needs to be more education regarding all of the factors in the fight to getting criminal justice reform. However, I realized you can't educate those who choose not to listen. You can't educate those who refuse to provide real change to benefit the black community. It doesn't work and it never will. How I would address criminal justice reform is by putting pressure on lawmakers and elected officials on a consistent basis. Consistent pressure has proven to always work when it comes to getting something done because it causes people to pay attention. I've realized to myself that George Floyd's case didn't get justice because of social media, it got justice because there was constant pressure from every angle. It wasn't a case where people posted about it for a week and moved on, it was an ongoing fight. It makes me wonder "what if criminal justice reform activism got this much attention, this much consistency?" Imagine the changes we would see and the lives we could improve. Me seeing this inspires me to put pressure on leaders moving forward because too many of them do not want to act. It's a shame that we live in a world where we need to bug human beings in order to get justice, action, and peace for the black community. Criminal justice reform should have been something done a while ago. However, this is due to anything having to do with advocating for the black community still being looked at as a "trend", which causes a lack of listening and a lack of consistency. Consistent pressure is key to addressing not criminal justice reform in the United States but every problem black people face due to systematic racism.

As I am transitioning into college, I reflect on my growth. High School was the most transformational time period in my life. I grew in ways unimaginable and overcame obstacles that I had doubts toward whether I could get through them. It makes me think what inspired me to become a new version of myself and to keep wanting more. And the answer is my mindset. Since I was younger, I've always known that I am destined for greatness. I believe that I was not created randomly and that God has a purpose for me. That developed a mindset for me where I never settle, look for ways to become better, and have goals that many would view impossible. I believe my mindset is the reason I am here today because it has made me strive to not quit regardless of what life tries to throw at you. Rather, I learn. I make changes necessary both physically and mentally, and redirect my focus and attention based on God's direction. And in the process, get a more creative, more wide-open view on my purpose and chase after goals that are out of the ordinary for people. I thank God for this mindset and for showing me how important your mental game is. The way I think and the ideas God put's in my head directs me to the path I should be on, inspires me and fuels my hunger for wanting to make a mark on the world, and aids in not only my success, but my growth. I look forward to more success I will gain in college and I believe my God-given mindset will help me achieve great things.

My name is Victoria Ezinee Anyiam. I am an African American Female currently in my last year of high school. Ever since I was young, I've always had high hopes for myself. To be honest, I don't want to go in depth of my goals because I am a private person. However, what I can say is I hope to life out God's purpose for my life. God has been a crucial part in my growth and accomplishments and I want to continue to show the world what he can do. Everything I am is because of him and I plan on preparing myself by living in the end. My purpose and goals are already done and my job is to live it out along with following God's guidance. I strive to make an impact in this world, help young girls break generational curses, and show that impossible is just a word.

This is Tori, a 5’8 African American girl who lives with an abusive father. The girl who was bullied for many years. The girl who nobody understood. This is me with many more experiences, but these highlight the most because they created what I’d like to call “pre-quarantine” me. A lot of traumatic experiences in my life I forgot all about. I had the attitude of “I’m doing good, they’ll see it”, having a monumental moment every year where I say “I really changed” in my bedroom mirror. And for years, I thought I was right about this. It wasn’t until a virus I made fun of months ago which landed me stuck in a hotel for 3 months changed my perspective forever. During quarantine, a YouTube video popped up in my recommended titled “Girl Get Up”. The woman speaking is Sarah Jake Roberts, a pastor for the Potter House in Denver. I sobbed my eyes out the whole video. I’ve watched a lot of feel-good videos that I admit got me working, but this video showed me the brutal truth that I didn’t actually “change”. I only moved on from situations and learned lessons from them. But what I was still carrying shocked me. I moved on with life with insecurities, loneliness, depression, anxiety, attention-seeking, putting others first. I was aware of a few of these issues due to seeing people on Instagram advocate about accepting your insecurities, but I never really understood the outcome of my trauma, how much pain was still in me. I poured my heart out to God and confronted my past trauma, how it made me who I was, and acknowledged I need to let these things go. I forgave my past and myself, sometimes once, at some points, more than 3 times. 6 months later, I moved on with life free from insecurities, loneliness, depression, anxiety, attention-seeking, and putting others first. I’m crying right now while writing this because I can’t believe how far I’ve come and the year has not even been concluded. And it all started with forgiveness. I forgave the pain, I forgave the circumstances, I forgave myself for putting up with less than I deserve. And it started something beautiful. All of us have something in common, we want something to change in our lives. But what most of us fail to realize is that change doesn’t start from watching motivational videos or having a pep talk from your friends. It comes from forgiveness. No matter how strong of a person you become, bad things will continue to happen, but those bad things can become an opportunity to reach something beyond what you can think of. But how can you truly get there if you don’t let go of the bad? The most transformational changes I have seen were not just people who were tired of themselves, but who made peace with who they used to be. This is Tori, ending this essay as the 5’8 girl who found herself. The girl who is free. The girl who is following her God-given purpose. The girl who is going to change the world.