Being a student athlete has provided opportunities in all areas of my life. I have made incredible relationships, been exposed to amazing people, been given the opportunity to travel the world, built myself up and learned resilience, but what I love most about being a student athlete has been finding my voice and using it to make impactful change in the world. My name is Alicia Serratos and I am an elite wrestler. Through this sport, I have experienced many wonderful things and have grown tremendously. However, I have also experienced some of the not so wonderful things that one would in a male dominated sport. I have not only witnessed, but have personally experienced everything from inequities, bullying, Title IX violations and have even been touched inappropriately by a coach. These unfortunate occurrences have also provided me with tremendous growth and have inspired me to create systems to help prevent the same from happening to others. In 2022, I came up with the idea to create an online course for coaching females in the sport of wrestling. I wanted something that would educate coaches on the differences in coaching females compared to males, bring them up to speed on Title IX, highlight inequities and simply cover best practices when it came to coaching females in the sport of wrestling. Wrestle Like a Girl loved the concept, adopted the idea and with USA Wrestling, the course is now hosted online and is a requirement for certain levels of coaching. I was awarded the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, as well as an ESPY for my contributions. Now, I am developing a similar online course that focuses on the athlete, educating and empowering young women to understand their rights, become knowledgeable about inequities and Title IX and addressing how to navigate issues when they arise. My hope is to be able to cover all aspects of possible scenarios that could put an athlete in a compromising situation. Wrestling has played an imperative role in my growth as a person and sports advocate. I feel as though I have truly found my voice through the sport of wrestling. It has given me the strength and courage to speak my truth and to make my pain my purpose. I am now able to take my expereinces and make impactful change and hopefully inspire the next generation of student athletes to do the same.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. They would actually turn them away and send them to another school. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great. I wrestled for the boys team while we slowly recruited girls to build a team. The boys team was comprised of mostly seniors, who welcomed me with open arms. I earned the Varsity 103 pound spot, beating out a senior, who eventually ended up becoming one of my best friends. We also had about fifteen girls join the program, who all competed individually the first year. Things were going just as I imagined. Then my sophomore year came and everything changed. As a sophomore I had to decide to continue to wrestle with the boys or join the girls team, which would allow them to compete as a team for some prestigious titles. It would have been in my best interest to continue wrestling with the boys, however, I felt I had a bigger purpose and really wanted to give the girls an opportunity to solidify ourselves as a team. So, I joined the girls, for the growth of the sport. I immediately began to take notice of the repercussions of that decision. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. These experiences, as traumatic as they were, have inspired me to implement change so that others don’t have to go through what I did. I have joined causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. They would actually turn them away and send them to another school. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great. I wrestled for the boys team while we slowly recruited girls to build a team. The boys team was comprised of mostly seniors, who welcomed me with open arms. I earned the Varsity 103 pound spot, beating out a senior, who eventually ended up becoming one of my best friends. We also had about fifteen girls join the program, who all competed individually the first year. Things were going just as I imagined. Then my sophomore year came and everything changed. As a sophomore I had to decide to continue to wrestle with the boys or join the girls team, which would allow them to compete as a team for some prestigious titles. It would have been in my best interest to continue wrestling with the boys, however, I felt I had a bigger purpose and really wanted to give the girls an opportunity to solidify ourselves as a team. So, I joined the girls, for the growth of the sport. I immediately began to take notice of the repercussions of that decision. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. These experiences, as traumatic as they were, have inspired me to implement change so that others don’t have to go through what I did. I have joined causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. They would actually turn them away and send them to another school. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great. I wrestled for the boys team while we slowly recruited girls to build a team. The boys team was comprised of mostly seniors, who welcomed me with open arms. I earned the Varsity 103 pound spot, beating out a senior, who eventually ended up becoming one of my best friends. We also had about fifteen girls join the program, who all competed individually the first year. Things were going just as I imagined. Then my sophomore year came and everything changed. As a sophomore I had to decide to continue to wrestle with the boys or join the girls team, which would allow them to compete as a team for some prestigious titles. It would have been in my best interest to continue wrestling with the boys, however, I felt I had a bigger purpose and really wanted to give the girls an opportunity to solidify ourselves as a team. So, I joined the girls, for the growth of the sport. I immediately began to take notice of the repercussions of that decision. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. These experiences, as traumatic as they were, have inspired me to implement change so that others don’t have to go through what I did. I have joined causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

Empowerment is something one cannot experience fully until they have been stripped of their power completely. Once that has happened, then and only then do you truly understand empowerment and how far it can take you. I grew up spending a lot of time volunteering and involved in community service. I initiated several projects of my own and always felt a sense of confidence in what I was doing. However, my sophomore year I experienced something that changed me forever. A volunteer coach on my high school wrestling team touched me inappropriately. Not only did I have to suffer the violation itself, but I also had to navigate reporting the issue and having it minimized to the point of dismissal. The entire experience and lack of justice left me as a shell of a person and feeling powerless. I experienced something I almost didn't recover from, but I did. Not only did I recover, but I took my pain and made it my purpose. I found a way not only to heal, but to take the worst thing I have ever experienced and gave it a different meaning. I took my power back and created my own justice. Now, I am thriving and I have a very clear understanding of what it means to be empowered. From my experience, I drew inspiration to initiate an online course for coaching females in the sport of wrestling. Wrestle Like a Girl adopted the course now known as the Teal Certification Course. UISA Wrestling hosts the course on their website and has made it a requirement for specific levels of coaching. I won the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award and an ESPY for my efforts. My ESPY sits proudly on a shelf in my room and anytime I begin to revisit my past trauma, I have a reminder of where it took me. Not only did I change the landscape for coaching, but I am also currently working on a similar course to educate and empower female athletes in the sport of wrestling. I'm calling it the Magenta Certification Course for Athletes. I am currently introducing the concept on social media while I begin the research for the course. With every new initiative I develop, I am relieved of the piercing pain of feeling powerless and that feeling is replaced with validation, certainty and strength. I am fortunate to have learned from my experiences and been given the opportunity and support to implement impactful change that has also brought me my own form of justice. In that, I have learned the true meaning of empowerment.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. They would actually turn them away and send them to another school. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great. Then my sophomore year came and everything changed. As a sophomore I had to decide to continue to wrestle with the boys or join the girls team, which would allow them to compete as a team for some prestigious titles. It would have been in my best interest to continue wrestling with the boys, however, I felt I had a bigger purpose and really wanted to give the girls an opportunity to solidify ourselves as a team. So, I joined the girls, for the growth of the sport. I immediately began to take notice of the repercussions of that decision. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. My social life became nonexistent as I began to withdraw from any social interactions. My grades suffered falling from an A and B student to Cs and Ds. I was depressed and my wrestling was affected tremendously. I went from placing 7th in the entire state of California my freshman year to not even winning a match at Masters that year (top 8 at Masters qualify for state). I had to sit at home and watch a girl I beat several times throughout the beginning of the season win a state title. I have joined different causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

My name is Alicia Serratos and I am a Senior in high school and have been wrestling for over ten years. . I am a three time National Finalist, two time California State Place, have been ranked nationally as high as 17th in the nation and am an ESPY Award Winner. While I do have some prestigious athletic accomplishments, my calling is not playing the game, but changing the game. In 2020, after witnessing several inequities within the sport, I had the idea to create an online certification course for coaches in the sport of wrestling. In 2022, I was awarded the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, along with an ESPY for my efforts. Wrestle Like a Girl adopted my proposal and it is now known as The Teal Certification Course and is available on the USA Wrestling website. It is also a required course for certain levels of coaching. In 2024, I was selected to commentate The National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship. It was a prestigious honor and I feel like I was a natural. It opened up a new area of interest within this amazing sport. I was recently invited back to commentate in March of this year, and plan on participating again. Learning that I can make an impact on the sport in ways other than competing has been life changing and i plan to keep pursuing this avenue. I have recently enjoyed branching out even more with interviewing athletes at tournaments. It has been exciting to find a passion for the sport outside of competing, getting to know athletes and providing a platform for growth. Another development I am currently working on is creating a course similar to the Teal Course, but geared towards athletes. I am calling it the Magenta certification Course for Athletes and it will serve as a tool to educate and empower females in the sport of wrestling, covering topics like inequities and Title IX. I am ready to embark on the next chapter of my life in college and continue to compete, build relationships, network and expand on impacting this sport from within. This sport has shaped my life in ways I would have never imagined. I have experienced the worst of the sport and the best of the sport and it has brought me to where I am today. I am excited for the future of women's wrestling and plan on being a part of it for generations to come.

My name is Alicia Serratos and I am a Senior in high school and have been wrestling for over ten years. I am a three time National Finalist, two time California State Place, have been ranked nationally as high as 17th in the nation and am an ESPY Award Winner. I currently have a 3.55 GPA and earned a 4.2 this recent semester. While I do have some prestigious athletic accomplishments, my calling is not playing the game, but changing the game. In 2020, after witnessing several inequities within the sport, I had the idea to create an online certification course for coaches in the sport of wrestling. In 2022, I was awarded the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, along with an ESPY for my efforts. Wrestle Like a Girl adopted my proposal and it is now known as The Teal Certification Course and is available on the USA Wrestling website. It is also a required course for certain levels of coaching. In 2024, I was selected to commentate The National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship. It was a prestigious honor and I feel like I was a natural. It opened up a new area of interest within this amazing sport. I was recently invited back to commentate in March of this year, and plan on participating again. Learning that I can make an impact on the sport in ways other than competing has been life changing and i plan to keep pursuing this avenue. I have recently enjoyed branching out even more with interviewing athletes at tournaments. It has been exciting to find a passion for the sport outside of competing, getting to know athletes and providing a platform for growth. Another development I am currently working on is creating a course similar to the Teal Course, but geared towards athletes. I am calling it the Magenta certification Course for Athletes and it will serve as a tool to educate and empower females in the sport of wrestling, covering topics like inequities and Title IX. I am ready to embark on the next chapter of my life in college and continue to compete, build relationships, network and expand on impacting this sport from within. This sport has shaped my life in ways I would have never imagined. I have experienced the worst of the sport and the best of the sport and it has brought me to where I am today. I am excited for the future of women's wrestling and plan on being a part of it for generations to come.

My name is Alicia Serratos and I am a Senior in high school and have been wrestling for over ten years. . I am a three time National Finalist, two time California State Place, have been ranked nationally as high as 17th in the nation and am an ESPY Award Winner. While I do have some prestigious athletic accomplishments, my calling is not playing the game, but changing the game. In 2020, after witnessing several inequities within the sport, I had the idea to create an online certification course for coaches in the sport of wrestling. In 2022, I was awarded the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, along with an ESPY for my efforts. Wrestle Like a Girl adopted my proposal and it is now known as The Teal Certification Course and is available on the USA Wrestling website. It is also a required course for certain levels of coaching. In 2024, I was selected to commentate The National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship. It was a prestigious honor and I feel like I was a natural. It opened up a new area of interest within this amazing sport. I was recently invited back to commentate in March of this year, and plan on participating again. Learning that I can make an impact on the sport in ways other than competing has been life changing and i plan to keep pursuing this avenue. I have recently enjoyed branching out even more with interviewing athletes at tournaments. It has been exciting to find a passion for the sport outside of competing, getting to know athletes and providing a platform for growth. Another development I am currently working on is creating a course similar to the Teal Course, but geared towards athletes. I am calling it the Magenta certification Course for Athletes and it will serve as a tool to educate and empower females in the sport of wrestling, covering topics like inequities and Title IX. I am ready to embark on the next chapter of my life in college and continue to compete, build relationships, network and expand on impacting this sport from within. This sport has shaped my life in ways I would have never imagined. I have experienced the worst of the sport and the best of the sport and it has brought me to where I am today. I am excited for the future of women's wrestling and plan on being a part of it for generations to come.

I come from a family of wrestlers. Not just my dad, not just an older brother, but my entire family. My mom and dad both wrestled at the college level and I am one of four children in our family that all wrestle at a high level. I was not born with the natural gift of athleticism. Instead, my natural born talents and passions were singing, theater, performing and art. This along with having a younger sister born for this sport made me an underdog from the moment I stepped on the mat. While my entire family are all wrestlers, I was the last of my sister to join. For me it just looked fun and I was drawn to the relationships that I saw my sisters developing with teammates and coaches. I immediately fell in love with the sport. I have always enjoyed the educational piece of the sport. Learning technique and always working to perfect it was something I really enjoyed. While I was a student of the sport, I was not successful by the majority standard. I didn't really start to win matches until about three or four years in, but I stuck with it. Eventually the wins started to come and I was ranked 17th in the nation. My sister came in at 8th. I can remember my youngest sister at the age of five, winning the very first match she ever wrestled. I wasn't so lucky. I remember all of the attention she would get during tournaments and even as she grew a little older, younger girls would ask for pictures with her. She began drawing a crowd, getting featured on different social media sites and even booked commercials and was on the Steve Harvey Show. At the time I supported her, but felt like I was in her shadow. Now, we are both in high school together. I am a Senior and she is a Freshman. We are each others biggest supporters. While I may not have won as many matches as her, I now realize I was actually winning. Through living in her shadow, having to work twice as hard for half of the success I have developed an incredible work ethic that I wouldn't have otherwise. Being an underdog for the entirety of my wrestling career has built me into an incredible person, not just on the mat. I know the value of hard work and have learned and truly believe if anything is possible if you are willing to work hard enough for it. This sport has shaped my life. It has helped me learn to be honest with myself, learn that there is more that comes with this sport than the wins and losses on the mat and most importantly it has taught me humility and unconditional support for my siblings, especially my youngest sister. I felt like an underdog for many, many years, and viewed that as a bad thing, Now, I view my experiences as a beneficial. Without having felt like an underdog for so long, I would have never developed into the person I am today. I am confident while I may never be as accomplished as my youngest sister on the mat, with what I have taken from my experienced, I will be successful in all aspects of my life.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. They would actually turn them away and send them to another school. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great. I wrestled for the boys team while we slowly recruited girls to build a team. Then my sophomore year came and everything changed. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. My social life became nonexistent as I began to withdraw from any social interactions. My grades suffered falling from an A and B student to Cs and Ds. I was depressed and my wrestling was affected tremendously. I went from placing 7th in the entire state of California my freshman year to not even winning a match at Masters that year (top 8 at Masters qualify for state). I had to sit at home and watch a girl I beat several times throughout the beginning of the season win a state title. Once my parents realized the gravity of everything, they pulled me from school, enrolled me at another school and we uprooted our entire lives and moved to another city. It took me a long time to process and accept all I went through. It’s been two years and I sometimes still have moments that have me reliving my experiences. These experiences, as traumatic as they were, have inspired me to implement change so that others don’t have to go through what I did. I have joined different causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

Community service has played a large role in my upbringing, which has led me to having a create and intentional thought process. I have engaged in several entrepreneurial activities from a very young age with the basis surrounding volunteer work or a means of giving back. I plan on utilizing those experiences as I begin my path furthering my education at a higher level and majoring in business. At the young age of eight, I created a healthy cookbook and donated the profits to our local Ecology Center. I helped find recipes, adjust them to include the healthiest options possible and sold them to family, friends and others. At the age of ten, I began collecting Lego to hand deliver to underprivileged children in Uganda. I made the trip twice with thousands of pounds of Lego. In order to afford the trip, my parents required me to raise the funds. So, I started Play Well Jewelry (Lego is Danish for Play Well) and began creating necklaces, earrings, bracelets, Christmas ornaments and even fidget spinners to sell. I raised enough money for both trips. From thirteen to fifteen, I started the Three Sisters Seed Box. The name was fitting because I am one of three siblings and more importantly, the Three Sisters is a gardening technique. The Seed Boxes were essentially a kit to start Seed Libraries in communities. A Seed Library works like a regular library, however, instead of check out and returning books, you are doing so with seeds. This was a way to provide nutritious food, seed security and to educate people about the importance of seed saving. I was able to distribute over 100 boxes across the nation with one in every state. The summer heading into high school, I started a surf camp to earn extra money. I spent every summer weekday waking up at 6:00am to get a run in, before heading to the beach from 8:00am to 12:00pm. During that time, I would split the time into two sessions and teach kids how to surf. It was so successful I ran the camp again the following summer. My Freshman year of high school, I participated in Miss California Teen USA. My platform was raising awareness about fast fashion. I collected second hand jean jackets, hand painted them and resold them to raise money for the Clean Clothes Campaign. The business I create in the future is undecided, but I do know I will be implementing equitable and sustainable practices with an emphasis on giving back.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. They would actually turn them away and send them to another school. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great. I wrestled for the boys team while we slowly recruited girls to build a team. Then my sophomore year came and everything changed. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. My social life became nonexistent as I began to withdraw from any social interactions. My grades suffered falling from an A and B student to Cs and Ds. I was depressed and my wrestling was affected tremendously. I went from placing 7th in the entire state of California my freshman year to not even winning a match at Masters that year (top 8 at Masters qualify for state). I had to sit at home and watch a girl I beat several times throughout the beginning of the season win a state title. Once my parents realized the gravity of everything, they pulled me from school, enrolled me at another school and we uprooted our entire lives and moved to another city. It took me a long time to process and accept all I went through. It’s been two years and I sometimes still have moments that have me reliving my experiences. These experiences, as traumatic as they were, have inspired me to implement change so that others don’t have to go through what I did. I have joined different causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. They would actually turn them away and send them to another school. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great. I wrestled for the boys team while we slowly recruited girls to build a team. Then my sophomore year came and everything changed. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. My social life became nonexistent as I began to withdraw from any social interactions. My grades suffered falling from an A and B student to Cs and Ds. I was depressed and my wrestling was affected tremendously. I went from placing 7th in the entire state of California my freshman year to not even winning a match at Masters that year (top 8 at Masters qualify for state). I had to sit at home and watch a girl I beat several times throughout the beginning of the season win a state title. Once my parents realized the gravity of everything, they pulled me from school, enrolled me at another school and we uprooted our entire lives and moved to another city. It took me a long time to process and accept all I went through. It’s been two years and I sometimes still have moments that have me reliving my experiences. These experiences, as traumatic as they were, have inspired me to implement change so that others don’t have to go through what I did. I have joined different causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great. I wrestled for the boys team while we slowly recruited girls to build a team. I earned the boys Varsity 103 pound spot, beating out a senior, who eventually ended up becoming one of my best friends. We also had about fifteen girls join the program, who all competed individually the first year. Things were going just as I imagined. Then my sophomore year came and everything changed. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. It was January 25, 2023 and when it happened I was paralyzed with fear. My mom had talked to me about situations like this and here I was, knew everything to do and just froze. I immediately reported it to our head coach and then my mom. My mom followed up with the coach and he assured her he would address it. Our coach was in and out of practices for the next couple of weeks and it continued. This time I didn’t report anything. I felt discouraged because nothing had been done the first time. I even questioned being at fault at one point. When I finally told my mom it had happened again during practice and even in passing she got the coach on the phone. She found out the issue had never been addressed and never went further than the coach I reported it to. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. My social life became nonexistent as I began to withdraw from any social interactions. My grades suffered falling from an A and B student to Cs and Ds. I was depressed and my wrestling was affected tremendously. I went from placing 7th in the entire state of California my freshman year to not even winning a match at Masters that year (top 8 at Masters qualify for state). I had to sit at home and watch a girl I beat several times throughout the beginning of the season win a state title. Once my parents realized the gravity of everything, they pulled me from school, enrolled me at another school and we uprooted our entire lives and moved to another city. It took me a long time to process and accept all I went through. It’s been two years and I sometimes still have moments that have me reliving my experiences. These experiences, as traumatic as they were, have inspired me to implement change so that others don’t have to go through what I did. I have joined different causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

Community service has played a large role in my upbringing, which has led me to having a create and intentional thought process. I have engaged in several entrepreneurial activities from a very young age with the basis surrounding volunteer work or a means of giving back. At the young age of eight, I created a healthy cookbook and donated the profits to our local Ecology Center. I helped find recipes, adjust them to include the healthiest options possible and sold them to family, friends and others. At the age of ten, I began collecting Lego to hand deliver to underprivileged children in Uganda. I made the trip twice with thousands of pounds of Lego. In order to afford the trip, my parents required me to raise the funds. So, I started Play Well Jewelry (Lego is Danish for Play Well) and began creating necklaces, earrings, bracelets, Christmas ornaments and even fidget spinners to sell. I raised enough money for both trips. From thirteen to fifteen, I started the Three Sisters Seed Box. The name was fitting because I am one of three siblings and more importantly, the Three Sisters is a gardening technique. The Seed Boxes were essentially a kit to start Seed Libraries in communities. A Seed Library works like a regular library, however, instead of check out and returning books, you are doing so with seeds. This was a way to provide nutritious food, seed security and to educate people about the importance of seed saving. I was able to distribute over 100 boxes across the nation with one in every state. The summer heading into high school, I started a surf camp to earn extra money. I spent every summer weekday waking up at 6:00am to get a run in, before heading to the beach from 8:00am to 12:00pm. During that time, I would split the time into two sessions and teach kids how to surf. It was so successful I ran the camp again the following summer. My Freshman year of high school, I participated in Miss California Teen USA. My platform was raising awareness about fast fashion. I collected second hand jean jackets, hand painted them and resold them to raise money for the Clean Clothes Campaign. Success to me cannot be translated into a dollar amount, it is quantified in the impact you make. The business I create in the future is undecided, but I do know I will be implementing equitable and sustainable practices with an emphasis on giving back.

Community service has played a large role in my upbringing, which has led me to having a create and intentional thought process. I have engaged in several entrepreneurial activities from a very young age with the basis surrounding volunteer work or a means of giving back. At the young age of eight, I created a healthy cookbook and donated the profits to our local Ecology Center. I helped find recipes, adjust them to include the healthiest options possible and sold them to family, friends and others. At the age of ten, I began collecting Lego to hand deliver to underprivileged children in Uganda. I made the trip twice with thousands of pounds of Lego. In order to afford the trip, my parents required me to raise the funds. So, I started Play Well Jewelry (Lego is Danish for Play Well) and began creating necklaces, earrings, bracelets, Christmas ornaments and even fidget spinners to sell. I raised enough money for both trips. From thirteen to fifteen, I started the Three Sisters Seed Box. The name was fitting because I am one of three siblings and more importantly, the Three Sisters is a gardening technique. The Seed Boxes were essentially a kit to start Seed Libraries in communities. A Seed Library works like a regular library, however, instead of check out and returning books, you are doing so with seeds. This was a way to provide nutritious food, seed security and to educate people about the importance of seed saving. I was able to distribute over 100 boxes across the nation with one in every state. The summer heading into high school, I started a surf camp to earn extra money. I spent every summer weekday waking up at 6:00am to get a run in, before heading to the beach from 8:00am to 12:00pm. During that time, I would split the time into two sessions and teach kids how to surf. It was so successful I ran the camp again the following summer. My Freshman year of high school, I participated in Miss California Teen USA. My platform was raising awareness about fast fashion. I collected second hand jean jackets, hand painted them and resold them to raise money for the Clean Clothes Campaign. The business I create in the future is undecided, but I do know I have the experience needed to be successful and will be implementing equitable and sustainable practices with an emphasis on giving back.

Community service has played a large role in my upbringing, which has led me to having a create and intentional thought process. I have engaged in several entrepreneurial activities from a very young age with the basis surrounding volunteer work or a means of giving back. At the young age of eight, I created a healthy cookbook and donated the profits to our local Ecology Center. I helped find recipes, adjust them to include the healthiest options possible and sold them to family, friends and others. At the age of ten, I began collecting Lego to hand deliver to underprivileged children in Uganda. I made the trip twice with thousands of pounds of Lego. In order to afford the trip, my parents required me to raise the funds. So, I started Play Well Jewelry (Lego is Danish for Play Well) and began creating necklaces, earrings, bracelets, Christmas ornaments and even fidget spinners to sell. I raised enough money for both trips. I then began diving into environmental activism. I started school gardens, planted community fruit trees, installed Seed Libraries in four local schools, and more. I was featured on social media, in magazines and books and was even on a kids show for Telemundo. I was named Heal the Planet's Young Planet Leader and earned Global Youth Award's prestigious Global Youth Leader, From thirteen to fifteen, I started the Three Sisters Seed Box. The name was fitting because I am one of three siblings and more importantly, the Three Sisters is a gardening technique. The Seed Boxes were essentially a kit to start Seed Libraries in communities. A Seed Library works like a regular library, however, instead of check out and returning books, you are doing so with seeds. This was a way to provide nutritious food, seed security and to educate people about the importance of seed saving. I was able to distribute over 100 boxes across the nation with one in every state. My Freshman year of high school, I participated in Miss California Teen USA. My platform was raising awareness about fast fashion. I collected second hand jean jackets, hand painted them and resold them to raise money for the Clean Clothes Campaign. I have earned my Presidential Volunteer Service Award seven times over for volunteering over a hundred hours per year. Each of these endeavors were tackled out of the pure spirit of making a difference. I can still remember m every being lighting up with excitement when i realized I had impacted someone's life. While that excitement may no longer translate to physically jumping for joy, it has my jumping for joy inside with fulfillment. While my future is undecided, I do know I will be implementing equitable and sustainable practices with an emphasis on giving back.

Adversity is an interesting thing. It’s something you hope to never experience, but without it, you may not become the best version of yourself or experience growth. In my case, the adversity I experienced broke me and almost cost me my life. However, now that I am on the other side, I have grown from my experience and made my pain my purpose. I am a wrestler and have been in the sport most of my life. It is a big part of who I am and how I live my life. My freshman year of high school, I decided to attend a school known for not allowing girls to wrestle. They would actually turn them away and send them to another school. Along with having friends at this school, I felt there was a great opportunity for me to implement change and start the first girls team there. Initially, things were great, until they didn't. As a sophomore I had to decide to continue to wrestle with the boys or join the girls team, which would allow them to compete as a team for some prestigious titles. It would have been in my best interest to continue wrestling with the boys, however, I felt I had a bigger purpose and really wanted to give the girls an opportunity to solidify ourselves as a team. So, I joined the girls, for the growth of the sport. I immediately began to take notice of the repercussions of that decision. The boys on the team began to treat me very differently than the year prior. They would dismiss my accomplishments, mock me as a female wrestler, began to exclude me, call me names and even drew inappropriate images on my belongings. My coaches even began treating me differently. They began questioning my practices, my choice of weight class, my opinions were dismissed and when I discussed the treatment I was receiving from the boys, I was told I was being too sensitive and emotional. I was also told to clean out my Varsity locker from the year prior because they were only for the boys. None of these actions were appropriate or acceptable, but would build resilience and could somewhat be addressed and rectified. However, midseason, I experienced something that would change my life forever and almost ended it. A volunteer coach began to touch me inappropriately. This series of events affected every ounce of my being. My social life became nonexistent as I began to withdraw from any social interactions. My grades suffered falling from an A and B student to Cs and Ds. I was depressed and my wrestling was affected tremendously. I went from placing 7th in the entire state of California my freshman year to not even winning a match at Masters that year (top 8 at Masters qualify for state). I had to sit at home and watch a girl I beat several times throughout the beginning of the season win a state title. I have joined different causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course teaching coaches of female wrestlers best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience.

Having been raised with an emphasis on volunteerism and giving back, continuing my education is key to building a platform to do more good in the world. Being a first generation college student, I am tasked with breaking the mold and setting an example for my three siblings. With all three of them entering college in the next four year, this scholarship will assist in reaching my goal of attending a four year university. With the completion of my education, I hope to create a platform to continue the path of advocating for equity in sports and find ways to give back. I have volunteered over a thousand hours over the course of my life thus far, participating in anything from beach clean ups, starting community gardens, planting community fruit trees, stocked a community refrigerator, assembled care kits for the homeless, coached youth wrestlers at various clubs, initiated an online course for coaching females in wrestling, to hand delivering Lego to underprivileged children in Uganda. Each were time consuming tasks require a lot of funding to accomplish. With all this experience, success in college offers me a way to implement change at an even more impactful way. As an elite athlete, there has been a big emphasis on furthering my education and athletic journey in college. I feel a sense of responsibility to make my parents proud, but also to set a standard for my younger siblings. I want to create a new norm for our family, one where a continued education is not even thought about and just expected. I am the eldest of four and the first to embark upon this journey. Finances and finding a way to pay for college now is troublesome and I can't imagine once all four of us are attending at the same time. Every cent, from every scholarship will make a great impact on not only my opportunity to attend college, but it will have a lasting impact and effect on my siblings as well. I am excited for the next chapter in my life and am looking forward to finding ways to impact the lives of others. I know that my success will have a domino effect on my community, as I plan to always give back and help advocate for change. For me it's not about leaving a legacy, but making an a lasting impactful change in the lives of others.

My grandparents and parents are all of Mexican heritage. Beginning with my grandmother, there has always been an emphasis on giving back. She would take my mom and uncle to help predominantly Mexican families in need on holidays and in the summer. That was what my mom equated to her heritage. Thus, that's what was translated to me. My future goals stem from my upbringing and I feel as though my experiences throughout life thus far have molded me into the person I am and will continue to guide me to the person I am meant to be. Community service, volunteerism and advocacy have played a large role in my life. As a child I was involved in environmental activism. I started a community garden, planted community fruit trees, installed seed libraries across the nation and more. I later ventured into raising awareness about fast fashion and the impact it has on our environment and its workers. Once in high school, my interests shifted again, focusing on sports activism. I have wrestled for over eight years and it has been a big part of my life. Along with learning how to be a good teammate and leader, I learned resilience, empathy and independence. I also received first hand experiences in inequities, discrimination and sexism. Through those experiences and having been raised to take action, I was able to use my voice to take action, implement change and make an impact on a national level. I made my pain my purpose and initiated Wrestle Like a Girl’s Teal Certification Course. It is an online course to teach wrestling coaches best practices with regards to coaching females in the sport of wrestling. It was even adopted by USA wrestling and is a required course for certain levels of coaching. I also won an ESPY for my involvement. All that being said, every aspect of my future goals will take shape from my journey thus far. While I’m not sure what exactly that might be yet, I know that I will implement environmentally friendly practices, run an equitable business and find a way to give back to the community I am involved with. With three siblings entering college in the next four years and being in a single income home, this scholarship is essential to my continued education.

Community service has played a large role in my upbringing, which has led me to having a create and intentional thought process. I have engaged in several entrepreneurial activities from a very young age with the basis surrounding volunteer work or a means of giving back. At the young age of eight, I created a healthy cookbook and donated the profits to our local Ecology Center. I helped find recipes, adjust them to include the healthiest options possible and sold them to family, friends and others. At the age of ten, I began collecting Lego to hand deliver to underprivileged children in Uganda. I made the trip twice with thousands of pounds of Lego. In order to afford the trip, my parents required me to raise the funds. So, I started Play Well Jewelry (Lego is Danish for Play Well) and began creating necklaces, earrings, bracelets, Christmas ornaments and even fidget spinners to sell. I raised enough money for both trips. From thirteen to fifteen, I started the Three Sisters Seed Box. The name was fitting because I am one of three siblings and more importantly, the Three Sisters is a gardening technique. The Seed Boxes were essentially a kit to start Seed Libraries in communities. A Seed Library works like a regular library, however, instead of check out and returning books, you are doing so with seeds. This was a way to provide nutritious food, seed security and to educate people about the importance of seed saving. I was able to distribute over 100 boxes across the nation with one in every state. The summer heading into high school, I started a surf camp to earn extra money. I spent every summer weekday waking up at 6:00am to get a run in, before heading to the beach from 8:00am to 12:00pm. During that time, I would split the time into two sessions and teach kids how to surf. It was so successful I ran the camp again the following summer. My Freshman year of high school, I participated in Miss California Teen USA. My platform was raising awareness about fast fashion. I collected second hand jean jackets, hand painted them and resold them to raise money for the Clean Clothes Campaign. The business I create in the future is undecided, but I do know I will be implementing equitable and sustainable practices with an emphasis on giving back.

Community service has played a large role in my upbringing, which has led me to having a create and intentional thought process. I have engaged in several entrepreneurial activities from a very young age with the basis surrounding volunteer work or a means of giving back. At the young age of eight, I created a healthy cookbook and donated the profits to our local Ecology Center. I helped find recipes, adjust them to include the healthiest options possible and sold them to family, friends and others. At the age of ten, I began collecting Lego to hand deliver to underprivileged children in Uganda. I made the trip twice with thousands of pounds of Lego. In order to afford the trip, my parents required me to raise the funds. So, I started Play Well Jewelry (Lego is Danish for Play Well) and began creating necklaces, earrings, bracelets, Christmas ornaments and even fidget spinners to sell. I raised enough money for both trips. From thirteen to fifteen, I started the Three Sisters Seed Box. The name was fitting because I am one of three siblings and more importantly, the Three Sisters is a gardening technique. The Seed Boxes were essentially a kit to start Seed Libraries in communities. A Seed Library works like a regular library, however, instead of check out and returning books, you are doing so with seeds. This was a way to provide nutritious food, seed security and to educate people about the importance of seed saving. I was able to distribute over 100 boxes across the nation with one in every state. The summer heading into high school, I started a surf camp to earn extra money. I spent every summer weekday waking up at 6:00am to get a run in, before heading to the beach from 8:00am to 12:00pm. During that time, I would split the time into two sessions and teach kids how to surf. It was so successful I ran the camp again the following summer. My Freshman year of high school, I participated in Miss California Teen USA. My platform was raising awareness about fast fashion. I collected second hand jean jackets, hand painted them and resold them to raise money for the Clean Clothes Campaign. With all of the experience I have in creating these smaller projects, I feel confident I will succeed in the business world. The business I create in the future is undecided, but I do know I will be implementing equitable and sustainable practices with an emphasis on giving back.

My name is Alicia Serratos and I am a Senior at Santa Ana High School. I grew up in a household with a heavy emphasis on community, volunteerism and activism. From a very young age I was involved in several activities from athletics, to Girl Scouts, to teaching the basics of car maintenance to young girls and grown women and hand delivering Lego to underprivileged kids in Uganda. I had my had in just about every avenue of community support, but environmental activism was what I was passionate about. I began my volunteerism and environmental activism at about the age of five. I did anything from a basic beach clean up to then evolving into projects of my own like cookbooks, school gardens, Seed Libraries, Community Fruit Tree planting and more. I earned several awards and recognition for my efforts, but ultimately, making a difference in my community and across the nation was what fulfilled me. As I grew older and my interests evolved, I began focusing on things that aligned more with my interests. As a young teen, I became more interested in clothing and fashion. As a way to tie that interest with activism and community, I began learning about how fashion affected our planet. I started initiatives raising awareness about fast fashion and the impact it has on our environment. I even entered my Miss California Teen USA competition with the initiative to raise awareness, adorned only in second hand clothing. I repurposed/upcycled clothing as another way to raise awareness as well. Eventually, I landed on Sports Activism and for the past four years have been involved in raising awareness about equity in sports for women with an emphasis on women’s wrestling. I started the first girls wrestling team at Laguna Hills High School, a school known for turning female wrestlers away. I also initiated and contributed to Wrestle Like a Girl’s Teal Certification Course, an online course for coaches to become certified in best practices for coaching females in the sport of wrestling. I am now a VIS (Vision In Sports) Advocate and Dick’s Sporting Goods Girl’s Power Panelist. I plan on continuing advocating for equity in women’s sports in the years to come. My personal journey through sport, specifically when a male coach began touching me inappropriately, is what eventually lead me to advocating for women in sports. I have joined different causes and platforms to address Title IX issues, inequity and misconduct. I initiated and contributed to the Teal Certification Course which focuses on best practices when coaching female wrestlers. s best practices. I have become a sports advocate hoping to instill change and improve our sport. I plan to continue to strive for all of these things throughout my college experience. I plan on becoming a women’s wrestling coach at the Division I and Olympic level to implement change from within and ensure other athletes will have a little less adversity to experience. I’m am about more than just volunteerism and advocacy, but that has been a tremendous role in my upbringing and who I am today. To sum myself up in a sentence or two, I would say I am an emphatic and thoughtful person who is willing to work hard for what she wants, will not take no for an answer and will always work to make change for the betterment of society.

Community service has played a large role in my upbringing, which has led me to having a create and intentional thought process. I have engaged in several entrepreneurial activities from a very young age with the basis surrounding volunteer work or a means of giving back. At the young age of eight, I created a healthy cookbook and donated the profits to our local Ecology Center. I helped find recipes, adjust them to include the healthiest options possible and sold them to family, friends and others. At the age of ten, I began collecting Lego to hand deliver to underprivileged children in Uganda. I made the trip twice with thousands of pounds of Lego. In order to afford the trip, my parents required me to raise the funds. So, I started Play Well Jewelry (Lego is Danish for Play Well) and began creating necklaces, earrings, bracelets, Christmas ornaments and even fidget spinners to sell. I raised enough money for both trips. From thirteen to fifteen, I started the Three Sisters Seed Box. The name was fitting because I am one of three siblings and more importantly, the Three Sisters is a gardening technique. The Seed Boxes were essentially a kit to start Seed Libraries in communities. A Seed Library works like a regular library, however, instead of check out and returning books, you are doing so with seeds. This was a way to provide nutritious food, seed security and to educate people about the importance of seed saving. I was able to distribute over 100 boxes across the nation with one in every state. The summer heading into high school, I started a surf camp to earn extra money. I spent every summer weekday waking up at 6:00am to get a run in, before heading to the beach from 8:00am to 12:00pm. During that time, I would split the time into two sessions and teach kids how to surf. It was so successful I ran the camp again the following summer. My Freshman year of high school, I participated in Miss California Teen USA. My platform was raising awareness about fast fashion. I collected second hand jean jackets, hand painted them and resold them to raise money for the Clean Clothes Campaign. The business I create in the future is undecided, but I do know I will be implementing equitable and sustainable practices with an emphasis on giving back.