I have been involved in my community often, especially within my church where I have volunteered for two years as a teen catechist assistant in religious education and participated in various other volunteer activities. The biggest community involvement I’ve ever done is Arlington Diocese’s WorkCamp 2024. This is a week long retreat for teens where they participate in four days of manual labor to help those that are less fortunate. Specifically, in my case, I helped repair a roof by replacing shingles and a couple of rotten wood panels. While I have submitted my FAFSA and a couple of other scholarship applications, I have financial need because I don’t currently have my own income source. In our household, my dad is the main source of income and works in the navy. However, I am just one of six children and college is expensive as my parents support my five younger siblings. I will need financial assistance in order to pay off my cost of attendance at a four year institution. I have worked to keep children safe in my community both from in-person bullying, online cyber bullying, and the dangers of the internet. On the topic of bullying online, I participated in a group project in 9th grade where my group members and I created an Instagram account to promote awareness. We made a handful of posts about what cyber bullying is, how to report it, why teens often don’t ask for help, and how members of the community can help others. This project also had a poll for research purposes where we learned about the negative impact and the advice others would give to those who are struggling. Within my community, especially in my personal friend groups and younger siblings, I often warn others about the dangers of the internet and how to be safe. When I am in a conversation and I hear others talking about online friends that they have never met before, I typically tell them to be careful. If it is something particularly dangerous, such as escalating inappropriately or giving away personal information, I will step in and if I am unable to get through to them, I will tell an adult. In in-person situations where bullying has occurred, from a young age I was taught to not be a bystander but to tell the other people to stop. If it escalated further, I would find an adult that would be able to properly handle the situation. There have been times before where I have had to stick up for my friends.