People have always described me as being strange. When I was younger, I was strange for my lack of interest in playing with dolls and other things expected of young girls, and because I spent my time outside catching frogs and digging up worms instead. I was also very passionate about video games and drawing, much more than my peers. This also made me a bit strange to people. My whole life, I've been considered weird by many people for my uncommon interests. However, I've stuck to them, despite how weird people thought I was for it. I've not always been the most popular person for my unique interests, but I greatly value these traits in myself. That passion of mine for art has practically spanned my whole life, since I could hold a pencil up until now. Even as I go off to college and explore career options outside of the art field, there's no doubt that it will always be something I love. Even now, I have art projects I'm working on. Another passion I've held onto is my love for animals. What once manifested as picking up pill bugs and finding frogs and toads in my grandparents' yard has developed into a deep interest in the natural world. I've taken AP Biology and I'm currently taking AP Environmental Science because I wanted to learn as much about the environment and how living things work as I could. One dream of mine, something that could combine my interest in art and animals, has been to participate in a fundraising event or project for conservation efforts by selling my art. I see so many beautiful species that are in danger of disappearing from our world forever and need to be protected in order to continue existing, and I want to use my art to help raise money for the people and organizations who are trying to protect them. As I've gotten older, my art has improved, and I've been able to sell more of my art over time. Over the years, I've seen other artists create art in order to raise money for conservation and environmental protection, and I would like to do the same. Right now, I could create sticker designs and other similar products to sell, but I'm going to college to take my art to the next level. I'm going to learn more about game design and obtain a computer science degree in order to become a video game developer. With the games I create, I'd like to collaborate with environmental organizations in order to protect wildlife in the United States, and in my home state Wisconsin. I've been enjoying the wildlife of Wisconsin my entire life, and I want all of the animals I grew up loving to still be there for the next generation of Wisconsinites. I'll create games that bring attention to endangered species that are often overlooked, and donate money from the sales towards organizations that protect those animals.

The quality I value most in myself is my curiosity. When I was younger, I was always one of those kids who always asked "Why". It wasn't enough for me to know that something worked; I wanted to know how and why it worked. I've always loved random facts and information about basically anything, and even now I find myself spontaneously searching up information on random questions I ask myself when I can't find the answer elsewhere. I love being curious; it makes life a lot more interesting when you love to learn about anything and everything. I still love to collect random facts about plants and animals, and it makes me very happy when I learn about a new fruit I'd never heard of or see something interesting I just have to take a picture of, or when I get an opportunity to ask questions about something I'm interested in. My curiosity is one of my best traits because it means I never stop learning, and I pick up new skills along the way. I've always enjoyed drawing; I've been drawing since I could hold a pencil. However, my curiosity is what led me to try out other artistic mediums, such as ceramics and painting. While my medium of choice is still primarily digital drawings, I've learned a lot about myself as a person and an artist through trying these new mediums. I've also had some unique experiences and opportunities due to my curiosity; it led to me to spend a week over the summer at a freshwater camp, where I got to wade in rivers and learn about freshwater ecosystems and make memories with the other campers I met while I was there. Overall, curiosity has done a lot for me, and has often been a vehicle that drives me towards opportunity and self-discovery. Now that I'm 17, I'm thinking about my future. I'm a senior in high school, I'm completing applications, both for colleges and scholarships, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing with my life. However, I have no doubt that my curiosity will continue to serve me well, through college and beyond. I know that because of my curiosity, there's never going to be a day when I stop learning new things, and I'll never stop checking out opportunities to engage in my interests and even discover new ones. My curiosity will always have me opening new doors I didn't even know were there, and that's what makes it my best quality.