I grew up with many older siblings, so I often saw them working on their math homework and wanted to learn how to do what they were doing. So I did, as I got older I learned more and more math so that I could understand the world more. Through this understanding of the world, I have grown to love math more and more and often find myself looking for more real-world examples of mathematical concepts. The first time that a mathematical concept had a real-world example that amazed me was in Calculus 1, we were learning about sine and cosine functions, and my teacher said that when making footprints in the sand for movies they use these concepts to have an oscillating function that does not change size as time goes on. While this is a simple concept of having a sine or cosine function be used to make footprints, it showed me an application of math that was not financial, geometry, or basic functions that seemed to have no purpose other than to exist, which up to that point was the majority of math that was taught in school. Since that point, I have been introduced to many more math concepts that have shown me how the world works in ways that I did not think about before. Now I love to look at the world with the many different mathematical principles that I have learned and try to find how they interact with the world in unforeseen ways. While I am currently studying Engineering it is the mathematical concepts, such as calculating how much a particular beam can hold or finding the diameter something needs to be to optimize the performance that interests me the most. It is these concepts that are so amazing to work through and see the dependability of the equations and that there is only one right answer. My dream is to be able to design roller coasters so other people can enjoy experiencing mathematics and physics without realizing that they are enjoying math and science. I want to be able to show people that math is used in everyday life without even realizing it, like the Fibonacci sequence. I want more people to love math enough to go past the basic concepts that are needed to learn the advanced topics that are so interesting to learn how math can explain so much about the world. Without math, we would not be able to have many things that are almost a necessity in our daily lives like phones, Bluetooth, or swimming pools.

One of my favorite memories as a child was riding to the hospital to see my baby brother for the first time, all we knew was that his name was going to be Thomas. I had just turned four the previous day and one of my older siblings thought that we were going to have a train for a brother, nothing was going to calm her down from this thought. I love this memory because it reminds me of my family and the big white van that we drove during my entire childhood. As you can guess I have many more siblings than just the two that were involved in my story, to be exact I have 7 siblings. This makes me unique because I learned at a very young age that the better you make other people feel, the better you will feel. This is something that I think is missing in today's society, the idea that you are not in it for yourself but if you help those around you it will make you feel better in the long run. Some other attributes that make me unique are that I am adventurous and want to see the whole world, I am enthusiastic and passionate about many things such as dance, music, and family, and I often will take the lesser option so someone else can have the better experience. While these may seem to be common attributes, when you put them together it seems as though there is no one else is like me. I have always felt like an outsider in school because no one related to every part of me, so I always felt like I had to hide part of myself so I could at least make common ground with someone. I am learning now that when I am exactly who I am around people who truly get me, they are willing to accept me, even the parts that they do not relate to. I want to be able to help other people be able to find who they are and what they like to do, even when the people around them do not relate to what they want to do. I plan on giving back to my community by being involved with many different organizations wherever I end up. Some of these organizations may include a community band, youth sports teams that need volunteers, soup kitchens, and food pantries. I also plan on having several kids and getting involved with whatever they are interested in doing. These are just a few of my favorite things that I feel other people could benefit from my knowledge. There are many other things that I want to do with my life but these are a few that make me different from everyone else I see.

While growing up I always enjoyed playing with my siblings and creating new games with them. One of my favorite games that we played together all the time was playing 'house' in the basement. The game was not difficult and mostly self-explanatory, each part of the basement was a different part of the 'house' and each person playing was assigned a different job or role that needed to be done for the 'house' to function. This game taught me that every part of the house is important, each person that was playing had to do their job for the day or else the game was no longer fun to play. This is an important lesson for everyone to learn that even the smallest parts are necessary for the whole to run. The quality that I see in myself that I developed while playing 'house' with my siblings is the characteristic of being able to do the job that nobody else wants to do so that everyone else can do what they want/need to do. This characteristic has come out in the various jobs that I have had so far in life and the many volunteer experiences that I have participated in where I am willing to do the job that no one else wants to do but needs to get done so everyone else can do their job. I value this in myself because every time that I do something that nobody else wanted to do it makes me feel like I did something huge even if all I did was bring a box up some stairs. Even with these little things, I show that I am willing to help everyone. I can see now that the older people in my community have the quality where they do not want to stop helping everyone even in the smallest ways. This is a quality that I want other people to see in me when I am older and be able to learn from like I am able to see and learn from the more experienced in my community. I think it will also help throughout my life journey because it will help me in the workforce and during volunteer experiences, to help other people in ways that they do not realize they need help in and in ways that other people do not want to help them in. While in the workforce I feel like this quality will help me because it will make my coworkers trust me and see me as a useful person in whatever position I end up in. Later in life, after I retire this quality will help me to be more willing to volunteer and have a need to help everyone around me as much as the people around me now have helped me to this point in my life. I feel like it is important to recognize the good and bad qualities in ourselves to that we can improve the bad qualities and help others around us with the good qualities in ourselves. It will also allow us to appreciate the qualities of the people around us because thinking about the qualities that we have makes it easier to see the good in the people around us.

Imagine relaxing every muscle in your body and allowing yourself to just breath. In, and out. Slowing down your mind and really thinking about how your day went. Thinking about all the amazing things you got to experience in the past 15 hours. After a few seconds switching which leg you were stretching and feeling the same feeling of pain but in such a way that after a few seconds you are able to just melt into that position. Once you are in this relaxed state you will not want to stop. Eventually you realize that while you could stretch forever it is time to stop for today. My favorite way to take care of my mental health is by stretching. By taking a few minutes at the end of every day to stretch and reflect on my day is one of my favorite times of the day. It is the one time in my day when I do not feel like I need to meet anyone else's expectations and there is no wrong way to relax and contemplate about how my day went. It only takes about 10 minutes at the end of the day, and it feels so amazing to just let your mind and body just relax after a stressful day.

Independence does not mean needing no help in your daily lives, it is knowing when it is you need to ask for help. When going through a difficult situation it is important to ask for help and that does not mean you are not independent. One of the hardest things about growing up for me and becoming independent that hardest part had been to know that I am able to ask for help. I can confidently say that I am an independent person, that means I am able to take care of my basic needs by myself, such as doing laundry and feeding myself, but I still need my parents to help me with things such as with taxes and emotionally. Slowly we are able to lean less on our parents for things like that, but it is important to have someone to help when things get tough. Being independent is more than being able to do everything by yourself it is also being able to know when you need help and who you are able to ask for help. In today's society we are taught we must be independent by doing everything by ourselves and not needing anyone else. That is almost the complete opposite as what independence is because while it is important to be able to feed yourself to call yourself independent you still need other people to help you even if you do not realize it. Asking for help, even with little tasks, does not mean you are dependent on someone else, it just means you are independent and need some help.

My mother has shown me that it is important to love your family and to have a fruitful career. She taught me that if you want to go for something you stop at nothing to get what you want. I learned this while my mother was raising 8 kids and was going back to school to get her master's degree. The entire time she was working on her degree she did not sacrifice her commitment to her family. It is important to keep your family close and help them whenever possible, but this should not stop you from going for what you want most in life. With my mother going for her dreams while taking care of all of her kids it showed me that it is possible to do everything you want to do in life. It is important not to sacrifice something you want to do because something else has come up. If you have a true passion for something than nothing will stop, you from achieving that goal. This true passion is the hardest thing to find in life. My mother taught me that if you are lucky enough to find this passion that you will stop at nothing to accomplish than you cannot let small details get in the way of your passion. There will always be bumps in the road of life, it is about staying strong and persevering towards what you are passionate about that matters the most. I am the person I am today because of my mother. I have a want to help everyone just like my mother did for her family. I want a fruitful career just like my mother has. My mother has inspired me to go for my dreams and has shown me that it is possible to do everything in life. My mother has also shown me that if you give your life to Jesus Christ than he will provide you with all that you need. There have been many times in my life when I have heard my mother thank the Lord that she was able to make it through the difficult times. This has shown me if you always turn back to God than he will make your life more fruitful than you could even imagine. I have learned to love the Lord with all of you heart, so you are able to love those around you without having to hold anything back. My mother has taught me to be the person I am today, and I could not imagine where my life would be without her. Mom if you are reading this, I love you.

I am a passionate and engaging student who is excited to learn and what the future can hold for me. I am constantly looking forward and thinking about how what I am doing currently can impact how my furure will turn out to be. I am always looking to see how I can make the people lives around me a little better or easier. I am passionate about many things including learning and hanging out with the people around me. When I think about the future, I can only see how things can get better from here, I am excited to see how my life is going to play out with me actively playing a role in how it is going to change how the world operates. I desire to make the world a better place by showing that women are able to be in leadership positions in the STEM field. My goal in life is to become a roller coaster designer. I want to be a leader in this field and be able to improve the ratio of men to women in leadership positions in the STEM field. I think I can improve the STEM field by being in a leadership position because it will show other girls who want to be in a STEM field that it is possible to go for your dreams and not hold yourself back from achieving true success. I am interested in designing roller coasters because I have always loved riding on roller coasters, and every time I ride on one now, I always think about how it was designed and all the details that went into the design of the roller coaster. I want to be able to design roller coasters so amazing that it makes other kids think about how it was made and consider joining the field. This passion of mine was always there but it was sparked by riding a roller coaster. Another time I gained interest in this field is when for school I had to create a Rube Goldberg Machine and it was like creating a mini roller coaster for a marble in a way. I enjoyed being able to make a track for a marble to follow and imagining what it would be like to ride on a roller coaster designed like that. All the books that I have read show people who are able to change the world through small actions that build up and cause massive change in the world that they live in. This has shaped my goals by showing me that it is the small actions that cause the biggest changes. It is necessary sometimes to make a dramatic change to their world by none of the characters would have been able to make the big changes if they were not slowly changing on the inside. I have been working on making myself a better person every day in hopes that one day I will be able to change the world that I live in in a massive way. Reading books is an important way to learn life lessons without having to live through that experience.

With $1,000 I would put it towards Studying abroad in the fall of 2023. I am looking at doing Semester at Sea during this semester to give myself a global perspective that I could not get any other way. With $1,000 going towards this program, it would go towards getting a thorough in-country travel experience and really get to see what the country and culture is truly like. With $1,000 I would be able to experience that cultures food and get a true taste of each country. $1,000 is about half the amount of money I would need for all the in country traveling I plan on doing while I am exploring the world while studying global concepts. It would be a dream come true to get to explore the world with Semester at Sea and get to see many different cultures during the semester. I would be able to come back to my college and provide a new perspective to those around me who otherwise would not be able to see other people cultures. I think it is important to even just hear about other places to we can improve the places that we live currently. I see the importance that other cultures have and how other people cultures have an impact on my own culture, even in ways that in this moment I am unable to understand. I want to be able to understand how these cultures impact my culture.

Life is very stressful, and many people struggle to be happy every day. Some people just need one day where they do not think about everything that is stressing them out but are able to just enjoy themselves at an amusement park or on vacation. When they come back from this day it can help them to be able to spread positivity to everyone, making everyone's day a little better. It is important to have something to destress whether it is one day or one week on vacation or something like meditating every day. My goal in life is to become a roller coaster designer. This is my goal because I see how much joy people have when they are on roller coasters, and I want to contribute to that joy I see in the world. This has been a goal of mine ever since I started to ride on roller coasters and discovered how much I loved riding on roller coasters. Since I love riding roller coasters, I cannot imagine how many people also love riding on roller coasters. Designing roller coasters while it is a small thing that I can do to contribute to joy of people riding I think it is still important to add as much joy to the world as possible. I want to create a positive impact on my community by making the world a more positive place. Every day when I walk around, I see how much negativity there is in the world. I want to change that by adding as much positivity to the world as possible. I try to spread as much positivity to the people around me every day, but I want to be able to spread positivity to people that I would not otherwise be able to meet. I think roller coasters are an amazing way to make people happy that you do not even know and make their world a little bit better for one day. I want to be a roller coaster designer because I want people to be able to have fun and not have to think about the stressors in life for a day. I want people to be able to look at what I have made and not have to worry about anything for a day and can just enjoy themselves. After that one day I want people to go away from the roller coasters that I designed and be able to make other people happy because they were able to be happy for one day and they want to pass on that happiness to everyone they meet. People who are stressed make other people miserable. I want people to be able to destress on roller coasters and not have to worry about anything even if it is for just one day. roller coasters have always been one of my favorite things to do during the summertime and I want more people to be able to experience the joy that comes with riding a roller coaster. I want to be able to spread positivity to everyone in the world not just the people I am able to interact with. If people are able to ride a roller coaster that I helped design and can forget their worries for one day I would feel like I helped them by giving them joy for at least a little bit.

The craziest goal that I have for my future is to study abroad on Semester at Sea. This is a crazy goal because it is a very expensive program and I do not have that kind of money just lying around. I am working hard to save up as much as possible, but it would be a dream come true to be able to go on this program. I would like to get as many scholarships as possible for this coming year so that what I make over this summer I am able to save completely towards Semester at Sea. Even if I am able to save all the money, I make in the summer I am going to have to rely on scholarships to go on this adventure of a lifetime. This is a very important goal of mine that I am working hard towards and trying to apply to as many scholarships as possible. This is a goal of mine because I would like to increase my global perspective. I find that I have a very narrow view of the world simply because I have not seen other parts of the world. I would like to change that by traveling and seeing other parts of the world, and other cultures. I would like to explore my world and see why it is such a beautiful place that we live in. I think it is so important to think about other people before thinking about yourself. I find that it is easier to think about other cultures if you have at least experienced the culture for a little bit. I think my world would be a better place if I am able to have a global perspective and not a small-town perspective.

"It does not matter if you win or lose, the only thing that matters is that you had fun while doing it." This is the wisest thing that I have heard in my life so far. My dad would be said at the beginning and end of every competition that I participated in. These words meant so much to me because it changed the importance to all of life. In a way life is a competition, who can make the most money, who has the best job, or any other thing that people find to compete with. When you remember that the most important part of competition is to have fun, it reminds you to take a step back and have fun in life and not focus too much about if you are winning or losing at life, if you think about this it is not possible to win or loss at life. It is important to keep perspective of the whole picture. When we get too focused on what is happening in the moment it can be very easy to forget to have fun in the moments and then we get out of a really hard part of life, and we have forgotten why we were even doing what we were doing we lose our passion for what we were doing. If we are able to just slow down and have fun in the moments that matter more than who got done first or who made more money we are able to keep our passion alive. These wise words, while they started as a way to remember to have fun in midst of competition it can be turned also to having fun in life and slowing down to enjoy life.

I am a female student who is interested in many different things including STEM. I have always loved math and science because it has allowed me to see the world and experiment for myself how things should or should not work. My favorite assignments have always been making mini roller coasters or rube Goldberg machines. These assignments allow me to just be creative and do what I want following a general set of instructions. When everyone is able to put their touch on an assignment and make it more personal, I am able to have more fun and grow more as a person overall. This may seem self-centered, but I want to be a better person for myself. This may seem a little bit strange, but I just mean that I want to be the happiest and kindest person not because other people will notice but because it makes me happy. When going through daily life in the recent months I have realized that I was considering what I should do based on how other people would react to the situation. Then a thought occurred to me if I am having this thought how many other people are thinking this same thing. I realized that most people are too concerned about how other people are going to react to them to even notice me. I do want to do nice things for other people but when it comes down to it, I want to be so happy every moment of every day that it is impossible for the people around me to not be happy. I am interested in creating roller coasters. This interests me because I have always loved making marble run courses. A marble run course is a mini roller coaster for a marble to go through. I have also enjoyed when the assignment for a class was to make a roller coaster design for a marble to go through. The most recent example of this was in my Intro to Engineering class. For this assignment we had to make a roller coaster that went the slowest. This was a new challenge because normally roller coasters are meant to go fast but instead the roller coaster needed to take as much time as possible. There have been many more assignments throughout middle school and high school that had similar guidelines where the task was to make a roller coaster for a marble to go through. I want to create roller coasters that make people so happy that they can't stop smiling and being happy. Think about the last time you saw somebody get off a roller coaster and was still mad about something. By making roller coasters I would be making the world a better place by adding more joy to the world. Even though this is not something that would change most people's daily lives it would help to improve somebodies' day every day. Sometimes it is important to focus on having one day of fun where nothing else matters and I want to help contribute to somebodies one day of fun they have in the summer or whenever they are able to make time for their day of fun.

In middle school I was able to take a class build around the STEM fields, it was the most fun I had even had in a class before. I loved it because the teacher for that class was very supportive of all of our ideas that we had. If we had an idea to complete the project, she would try her best to make sure we could complete the project with our ideas in mind. In this class we did projects like Rube Goldberg machines, making musical instruments, creating an aqueduct through the school, and many others. All of these projects allowed me to think about how the best way would be to complete a task and not just have a set of instructions to follow in a certain order. The other reason that I have always loved STEM is that Math and Science have always been my favorite subjects. I love math because I love the way you can manipulate numbers in problems to get them to do whatever you want them to do. Science also follows this logic because science is studying what the math equations will do in real world examples. Using technology to complete the goal in mind allows you to complete the task on another entire level of design. Instead of just having to use pencil and paper it is possible to design on the computer and then be able to bring the design to life through other technologies. Engineering is truly just putting it all together and being able to use different technologies to complete the goal that is at hand. All four of these are very important in order to complete the final goal. I love seeing different disciplines being able to come together and complete a common goal especially when the disciplines are like STEM where they are very similar, and they all lean on another one of the disciplines to be able to complete their goal. I hope to be able to build roller coaster in my STEM career. I have always loved riding on roller coasters, but I realized recently that whenever I ride on a roller coaster for a second or third time, I am thinking about the design process and where the designers chose to put loops and hills to make the roller coaster run the smoothest. On a variety of different occasions, I have had an assignment along the lines of making a roller coaster for a marble or something like that. I have always enjoyed these types of assignments because it gives me the freedom to manipulate the track however, I want to as long as I am able to get the marble to the end of the track. I would love to be able to take these small assignments that I loved the most and turn them into a career for the rest of my life.

I would love to travel the world. I have always loved to travel and see new places for as long as I can remember. I am currenting looking into a Semester at Sea so I can travel while studying. So far, I have been able to travel to many different places around the United States to see my family. Every chance I get to go and explore something new I take it, even if it is just in the next town over. I think by doing this simple act of exploring new places it gives me the opportunity to learn how other people live and what other people do with their time. By studying on Semester at Sea I would get to experience so many different cultures and see how so many more people live and work in their daily lives. It is so important to remember when going to a new place not to go as a tourist but to go to experience the culture of the community that you are entering. I recognize that many people would love to travel around the world but do not have the money to be able to do this long term or even for a short period of time. This is why it is so important that I am able to travel while I am in college because even though this is a huge dream of mine to see the world after I graduate, I do not think it would be possible for me to travel while I work. I would love to make this dream a reality and do it sooner rather than later.