In high school, I came up with and led a team to create inspirational bathroom tiles in out public school. With over 4,000 students, feeling belonged and seen is often hard. Through my art and kind words, I was hoping to make at least one other person smile. I gathered 80 volunteers, raised $2,000 in two days from a GoFundMe, and was ready to paint. One day later, 128 tiles - in 32 bathrooms and two teachers’ rooms - were filled with inspirational quotes and art. After being featured in the school newspaper and a local magazine, my idea spread to other schools. This is just one example of how I used art to spread positivity. I hope to continue to do this throughout college and within my field. My goal is to open an architectural firm in which values inclusion, diversity, and giving back. I would want to take on pro bono projects in which I can design buildings for those in need around the world. Its a long shot goal, and one for the very far future, but I am in no doubt of myself for making this happen.

First-year as a college student, being a freshman student at the University of Cincinnati was full of hardships and overwhelmed moments in my college life, as every freshman student might have felt in the past. Peers warned me that I would spend all of my time at college studying, that I would stay up all night re-watching lectures and taking notes. But the best way for me to describe my experience - is summer camp. I'd walk into the studio and start designing, working, collaborating, and doing hands-on work. Each endeavor would provide me with new challenges. My classmates would challenge me and the professors wouldn't just come around telling me what's right and wrong, they would ask questions forcing me to think about the design and how it could be improved. Our tests were substituted by final critiques. On the day the project was due, all of the students (about 160) would gather in the Grand Staircase to display their completed work. We had the opportunity to see other's ideas. The crit would arrive and criticize each individual's project. Inquiring about the intention of details or what prompted the concept. They would "bash" on the project, which took hours to complete. But this was the process; at first, the thought of someone telling me all the wrong things I might have done towards something I had spent hours and days working on was terrifying. But then I remembered my professor went through the same thing, the crits went through the same thing, and I will go through the same thing. Finally, I learned to accept the criticism I was receiving and apply it to the next project I had to work on. My first crit was so daunting for me but I now look forward to critique days, seeing other people's ideas, and learning how I can grow. Although I did say it felt like a summer camp, the program pushed me beyond my limits. Countless hours and work were put into each project. Nearly half of my program dropped by the end of their first year, as they quickly learned they needed more than skill in this field, you need passion, dedication, and grit to be able to make it. This concept was instilled in me from a young age. I joined a competitive jump rope team when I was 10 and continued it for 8 years. This small but growing sport opened up many opportunities for me. In the first years of being on the team, I watched the leaders (high schoolers) get invited to staff at international workshops and compete against and with the best of the best. My goal since I was young was not to win but to become a leader who inspires others, to travel and teach with other great leaders. I wouldn't get those opportunities without grit. Without dedication. And without a growth mindset. 12 hours of practice a week from September to July to prepare. In my senior year, I was 1 of 15 high school and college jumpers throughout the US to be selected to teach a workshop in Berlin, Germany. The trip was fully paid for in exchange for staffing the workshop. I remembered in that moment how 8 years ago, I dreamed to be the one picked to staff an international workshop and without grit I would have never received the opportunities that I did. Without grit, an individual's skill may just as easily remain untapped. Grit is required for talent to convert into a skill that leads to success.

It was second period. I walked out of my science classroom down the hallway to use the restroom. As I entered, there was a faint, almost silent cry creeping out from one of the stalls, concerned, I gently knocked on the door. “Are you okay?” The sniffles quieted as the stall door unlocked. I recognized her, but with a student body of around 4,000, we weren’t very close. A girl had called her ugly and she took it to heart. She felt she didn't belong and had escaped to the bathroom to hide from the hateful comments. The essential messages of “you are needed” and “you are wanted” often gets lost in a big school like Mason High School. Bullying happens to so many students, and many -- parents, teachers, guidance counselors, peers -- are not aware of it. The bathroom is a place where students feel they can escape from life and all its pressures. But to escape to a bathroom where you are, then, greeted by hateful messages engraved on the doors? That does not help. I wanted to change that, so I came up with the idea of painting the bathroom stall doors and enlisted my sister and our friends to help. As we were planning, we discovered the paint on the stalls was anti-graffiti restricting us from painting on them. Thinking creatively, I was inspired by a picture and decided to paint the bathroom ceiling tiles instead. After successfully painting a sample tile, I took it to my principal to pitch the idea. Mr. Dodd asked me to lead the project and make my vision come true. I gathered friends to test run one bathroom in the school. After eight hours of painting the tiles, we finished our project and were anxious to see the reactions of the students. We sent out an anonymous survey and received an overwhelming amount of positive responses. Next, I gathered 80 volunteers, raised $2,000 in two days from a GoFundMe, and was ready to paint. One day later, 128 tiles - in 32 bathrooms and two teachers’ rooms - were filled with inspirational quotes and art. After being featured in the school newspaper and a local magazine, my idea spread to other schools. This sense of inclusion did not come naturally in this moment, but through years of being a member of the Comet Skippers; an internationally ranked competitive jump rope team. As a leader of the team for the last four years, I have understood the value of making others feel wanted and seen. A memory that highlights this was when I voluntarily traveled to the AAU competition in Richfield, Ohio with younger jumpers as they competed in their last competition. I noticed many of my teammates were nervous about the upcoming competition, so I spent the night making handwritten encouraging letters to each of the 33 jumpers. The next morning, I handed out the cards to the jumpers and watched as each of their stress-filled faces turned into smiles. I did this so they can smile and feel confident going into their last competition. Giving others a sense of belonging creates a sense of belonging for myself. The need to be needed is an individual’s sense of significance rooted in the sense of being part of a community or cause beyond themselves. In more simple terms, everyone wants to feel as if they belong and are wanted. I feel lucky to be part of a community where these values have been instilled in me and I can then help others feel like a part of the community.

2020 has taught me a growth mindset can get you through anything. This past year, I experienced loss for the first time. My grandmother passed away in late December of 2020 unexpectedly from Covid-19. It was my first loss of someone I had a close relationship with. The grief was lonely. The week of the funeral, my mom asked me if I wanted to speak at her service. Immediately, I said no. My mindset at this moment was fixed. I didn't want to step outside of my comfort zone. A couple of days passed, and I couldn't stop thinking about my grandmother, so I got a notebook and started writing. I wrote about how she impacted so many lives, including mine, and how I could never give enough thanks to her. I wrote how she was one of the strongest women I knew. I wanted to be as impactful as her. After writing about her, I knew I needed to speak at her service. I wanted to share my love and gratitude I had for her. I thought about how strong she was and used that to give me the strength and courage to speak. The last paragraph was hard, I felt the tears coming, I was on the verge of a breakdown. I struggled to find my voice. I knew she was listening; she was proud. I never thought I could speak at the funeral of someone so close to me. I feared showing sadness.

Choose Growth Before I even knew what the word meant, my dad started to instill a growth mindset into me and my sister. When we would fall, he would encourage us to get right back up and try again. He would teach us when things are hard, you don't quit, you try again and use the resources around you. I didn't come to realize these small lessons were setting us up to have a growth mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe these qualities are inborn, fixed, and unchangeable. Those with a growth mindset, believe these abilities can be developed and strengthened by way of commitment and hard work. In school, a growth mindset can contribute to greater achievement and increased effort. When facing a problem such as trying to find a new job, people with growth mindsets show greater resilience. They are more likely to persevere in the face of setbacks while those with fixed mindsets are more liable to give up. Growth mindsets result in hunger for learning. A desire to work hard and discover new things. To tackle challenges and grow as a person. When people with a growth mindset try and fail, they tend not to view it as a failure or disappointment. Instead, it is a learning experience that can lead to growth and change. 2020 has taught me a growth mindset can get you through anything. This year, I experienced loss for the first time. My grandmother passed away late December unexpectedly from Covid-19. This was hard for me, it was my first loss of someone I had a tight relationship with. The grief was lonely. At first, I pushed it down, didn't think about it, forgot about it. But then, all I could do was think about how she is gone forever. I would cry in bed alone, shoving my face into my pillow to muffle the screams. I didn't want to show my sadness. The week of the funeral, my mom asked me if I wanted to speak at her service. Immediately, I said no. Normally, speaking in front of over 100 people wouldn't scare me. But the thought of crying or stuttering or not being able to finish the speech, that scared me. My mindset at this moment was fixed. I didn't want to step outside of my comfort zone. A couple of days passed, and I couldn't stop thinking about my grandmother, so I got a notebook and started writing. I wrote about how she impacted so many lives, including mine, and how I could never give enough thanks to her. I wrote how she was one of the strongest women I knew. I wanted to be as impactful as her. After writing about her, I knew I needed to speak at her service. I wanted to share my love and gratitude I had for her. I thought about how strong she was and used that to give me the strength and courage to speak. At the service, I walked up to the podium and read my five-minute speech, getting through almost all of it without a stutter. The last paragraph was hard, I felt the tears coming, I was on the verge of a breakdown. The paper started to become blurry. I struggled to find my voice. I blinked and the tears fell to the paper. I took a deep breath and read the last two lines of my speech. I walked back to my seat and smiled. I knew she was listening; she was proud. I never thought I could speak at the funeral of someone so close to me. I feared showing sadness - a weakness. But what I realized, sadness isn't a weakness, it shows strength. When we lose our ability to feel sad, we lose our tenderness. It is a major aspect of ourselves. If we can't feel sad, we become cold-hearted. Sadness does not equal weakness. Rather, processing sadness leads to strength. The importance of having a growth mindset is something I cannot stress enough. It changes one's entire way of thinking in a positive way. Never has the world been bombarded with so much change, change from all angles, change that means that school and the people that work within them must adapt, test, learn and challenge themselves on a near-daily basis. My grandmother, without knowing it, displayed a growth mindset every day. She thought about others and how she can make their lives better. I learned while we have no choice about loss or the grief that follows, we do have choices about how we grief. Choose growth. And I hope to continue her legacy by choosing growth every day.

HRCap Next-Gen Leadership Scholarship It was second period. I walked out of my science classroom down the hallway to use the restroom. As I entered, there was a soft and faint, almost silent cry creeping out from one of the stalls, concerned, I gently knocked on the door. “Are you okay?” The sniffles quieted as the stall door unlocked. I recognized her, but with a student body of around 4,000, we weren’t very close. A girl had called her ugly and she took it to heart. She felt she didn't belong and had escaped to the bathroom to hide from the hateful comments. Bullying. The essential messages of “you are needed” and “you are wanted” often gets lost in a big school like Mason High School. Bullying happens to so many students, and many -- parents, teachers, guidance counselors, peers -- are not aware of it. The bathroom is a place where students feel they can escape from life and all its pressures. But to escape to a bathroom where you are, then, greeted by hateful messages engraved on the doors? That does not help. I wanted to change that, so I came up with the idea of painting the bathroom stall doors and enlisted my sister and our friends to help. As we were planning, we discovered the paint on the stalls was anti-graffiti restricting us from painting on them. Thinking creatively, I was inspired by a picture and decided to paint the bathroom ceiling tiles instead. After successfully painting a sample tile, I took it to my principal to pitch the idea. Mr. Dodd asked me to lead the project and make my vision come true. I gathered friends to test run one bathroom in the school. After eight hours of painting the tiles, we finished our project and were anxious to see the reactions of the students. We sent out an anonymous survey and received an overwhelming amount of positive responses. Next, I gathered 80 volunteers, raised $2,000 in two days from a GoFundMe, and was ready to paint. One day later, 128 tiles - in 32 bathrooms and two teachers’ rooms - were filled with inspirational quotes and art. After being featured in the school newspaper and a local magazine, my idea spread to other schools. This sense of inclusion did not come naturally in this moment, but through years of being a member of the Comet Skippers; an internationally ranked competitive jump rope team. As a leader of the team for the last four years, I have understood the value of making others feel wanted and seen. A memory that highlights this was when I voluntarily traveled to the AAU competition in Richfield, Ohio with younger jumpers as they competed in their last competition. I noticed many of my teammates were extremely nervous about the upcoming competition, so I spent the night making handwritten encouraging letters to each of the 33 jumpers. The next morning, I handed out the cards to the jumpers and watched as each of their stress-filled faces turned into smiles. Spending my time to write each jumper a personalized letter and encourage them throughout the competition was not something I felt I had to do, it was something I wanted to do. I just wanted them to smile and feel confident going into their last competition. Giving others a sense of belonging creates a sense of belonging for myself. The need to be needed is an individual’s sense of significance rooted in the sense of being part of a community or cause beyond themselves. In more simple terms, everyone wants to feel as if they belong and are wanted. Inclusion and diversity are strong values instilled in me and throughout my life and career, I hope to implement these values to change lives one by one. I feel lucky to be part of a community where these values have been instilled in me and I can then help others feel like a part of the community.