When I am having fun, its almost entirely with friends and family. Many of the fondest and beautiful memories I've ever made, it involved making connections and strengthening my friend's . It's such a exhilarating thing when you take that hike with your good friend, or maybe having a day of playing volleyball just because some friends wanted to hang out. No matter what environment or condition, I take comfort in having company and making people smile. But when something seems down or is serious, I do all I can to help. When someone feels like they're at the end of there wits, I make sure I'm there, even if I can't help. I can listen. Even if I have no idea who to tell or where to go. Because one of the most important things one person can do, is be present. Because maybe one day, I might need a shoulder to cry on. But I'm not worried because I have good friends that I can count on.

“Come on, Xavier, Lets meet your future classmates!” This is one of the first things my mom did to introduce me to the GTLD program, a Special Ed program in Montgomery County, right after we moved in from Connecticut. The parents of multiple 4th graders who were already in the program or were joining just as I had were planning to have an outing the month before 4th grade began, a nearby park would be the victim of our small rampage. When I was first brought to the attention of the GTLD program, I had no discernible clue as to what it was. But after seeing my future classmates for the first time, I realized what it was: a collection of people who are incredibly alike. When I met my future classmates for the first time, I realized just how important and special they were to me. For the first time, I’d be in a group of people who could match my energy, who learned as I did, and with whom I could hold a conversation with and enjoy! When I was put into the classroom, there was a small group of 8 people, including myself, in the room. Because of such a small group size, it it allowed me to learn everyone's name, have a conversation with them, and give them each the attention they deserved. By the sixth grade, my classmates from fourth grade were still at my side. I saw them daily, even in middle school, and met even more like-minded people. I enjoyed my elementary and middle school days and remained in the GTLD program into high school. I continued to learn and flourish in the program while at Walter Johnson High School. Making friends with people who had diverse interests, Neurodivergent or not became a norm for me. Through high school I maintained a 3.7 GPA in spite of the new rigor. These grades I have to show for are thanks to my resource teacher, Mrs. Bernier, who taught me to study and helped me with homework during my guided study hall. The program was teaching me how to be successful, for college and most importantly, for my future as a bio-engineer. You see, bioengineering requires a lot of designing and trial and error to create and manufacture FDA regulated products . Knowing how to take notes, step back and think critically are important skills. I want to create efficient and effective devices for biological use. The GTLD Program has supported me in developing these skills and the confidence to pursue a very demanding major.

My community service was helped by what I learned via my high school sport. I have been doing crew, fall, winter, spring since Freshman year. I used the patience and perseverance I learned in crew to help the children I met via my community service time. The LFI program has children with autism, severe developmental delays and genetic conditions such as Down's Syndrome. In the sport of Rowing, You need more than just skill and training to get ahead, as rowing is more than a competitive sport. It’s a Team sport, and one of the very few where every single movement counts. Every stroke of an eight man boat, with every movement, may cost the whole race. It’s a sport of an integrated forward thinking attitude. One example of a forward thinking mindset is perseverance. For one willing to improve themselves and consequently the entire boat's speed. Perseverance in rowing is essential to a rowers success in the boat, as whenever there's a close race one cannot simply give up. They need to step up for their team. It's in a rowers best interest to stand up for the cause and perform at their very best or else they would have never gotten that far in that race in the first place. Perseverance may bring you to a higher level of fitness and help push for that last moment, but patience is an important factor to maintaining that fitness and understanding your limits. To break into rowing you need patience to truly understand and push yourself to newer levels of focus and self-awareness. As I've felt many times before, rowing can be a very disorienting sport. So many things occurring at once, people yelling at you to row faster, eventually in all of the chaos you find yourself unable to go on for any longer, exhausted and dazed. which is why keeping your composure can help you push your mind to greater heights, with every stroke focusing on what you can maximize, being aware of what will allow you to go fast and what will cause you to lose focus. What I learned in rowing benefitted me in caring for special needs children during a summer-program I participated in for Two summers, I watched over and played with physically and mentally disabled toddlers and elementary-aged children at my nearby school for roughly 5 hours a day. While watching over them, I began to notice how the things I’d passively learned in rowing had helped me to care for these children. I saw myself persevering whenever they had issues understanding what I was reading to them. I saw my own self forcefully learn why they became confused, where their problems were originating. As I solved the communication issue whether it was by ASL, demonstrating my meaning or, just repeating the phrase. I saw them begin to push themselves to understand me more too. I saw them try to persevere as I've done. I grew patient whenever they fussed over something, I never became exasperated when they became too much to handle or even if they became violent. I would simply stay calm and comfort them if they were crying and try to find the core problem. They seemed to learn to be more patient with me and themselves. This helped everyone to regulate their emotions better than they once had.