Persistence I believe that persistence is my most admirable and beneficial quality. I am naturally a motivated person with many goals and dreams, which is why I regard this as my most important quality. This motivated persona that fuels my persistent nature has aided me greatly throughout my life and is a noteworthy asset. It has allowed me to power through complicated and difficult tasks and always succeed in the end, no matter what failures I encountered along the way. I believe my persistence will continue to benefit me as I face many different hurdles throughout my life. There are many ways during my eighteen years of life that persistence has enabled me to achieve so much and realize dreams. An example of this is getting into my dream school, Western Carolina University. After so many years of putting in hard work at school, I finally attained the rewards when I received a letter of acceptance from Western Carolina University. However, not only did they want me to join their school, but due to my academic and extracurricular achievements, they wanted me to be a part of the Honors College at their school. Contained in the same envelope was an invitation to their Honors Day Event in November, which I proudly accepted. I could not believe everything that was coming to fruition and knowing that I am the one who brought it to reality is all the more rewarding. Even though my persistent nature has already aided me more times than I can count, I believe without a doubt that this quality will continue to help me throughout my life. One way in which I believe my persistence will assist me is with my future career. I am currently a senior in high school and can speak four languages besides English to varying degrees: German, Dutch, French, and Esperanto. This ability, combined with the fact that I was raised in a completely English-speaking household at an English-speaking school, demonstrates incredible persistence, as I have been learning all four languages for many years. The ability to communicate in multiple languages will aid me in seeking a career as an engineer. Due to my aspirations to become a roller coaster engineer, German will be an especially useful language due to most roller coaster manufacturing firms being based in Germany and operating completely in German. In fact, the firm for whom I strive to work, Mack Rides, is based in Waldkirch in western Germany. As can be seen, my persistence has aided me throughout my life, much more than any other of my qualities, which is the reason for which I consider it my most valued quality. It has helped me in the past by enabling me to gain admission into my dream school, as well as its honors program. It will help me in the future in acquiring a career as I continue to chase after my dream of roller coaster engineering. Most importantly, it will continue to push me towards the realization of my greatest potential as I step into the next chapter of life, while at the same time, working extremely hard and never giving up.

I have been interested in STEM since a very young age. I have always enjoyed tinkering with things like electronic circuits, different programs, and simulations. When I was three years old, I was fascinated watching the garage door open and close just by pressing a button on the remote. My parents told me that I would open and close the door for hours if they let me. This began my interest in STEM. As I grew older, I quickly realized that my career was going to be related to STEM after a trip to Carowinds amusement park in 2017. I enjoyed my time there so much and was so upset to leave that I decided to do more research on roller coaster related topics, which inevitably, ended up tying to STEM. The information I learned was so fascinating that over the next few years I ended up doing incredible amounts of research on roller coaster related topics. I purchased the computer game Planet Coaster, which allowed me to create and manage amusement parks. This gave me a better understanding of the amount of logistics and time it takes to design an effective amusement park. Not only did I purchase Planet Coaster to give an understanding of amusement park design, but I also purchased the simulator NoLimits2, which gives an in-depth and realistic experience in the roller coaster design process. This program is utilized by actual engineers so it taught me various design components such as managing g-forces, statics, and the different types of coasters engineers have created. NoLimits2 gives me insights into the real world of roller coaster design. I have been taking Honors and AP courses through my high school and working very hard to ensure I maintain a high GPA in these difficult classes. Not only will the Honors and AP classes help aid my future endeavors in college, but the engineering and science high school classes will better my understanding of mechanical engineering. While my schooling will be extremely beneficial to my future career goals, I am also working in my free time to learn several different languages including German, Dutch, French, and Esperanto. My reasoning for having taught myself, and becoming fluent in, German and Dutch is because I feel like knowing these two languages will benefit me greatly due to the fact that many roller coaster design companies are based outside of the United States and countries where these are the official languages. As I enter my senior year in high school, I will continue working hard towards my personal and career goals. I cannot wait to pursue my future in roller coaster design!