Growing up in Lebanon, Ohio has put me on a path of understanding and interest in little things that I would not have had if I had grown up anywhere else. My small town was my whole world as a young child. I still saw popular movies taking place in a faraway land in theaters and took family vacations down to the Great Smoky Mountains and up to my family in the Cleveland suburbs. However, as a child, I had pretty much everything I needed a brief car ride away. Since I lived in a rural neighborhood, I could not walk to most of my friends' houses or bike into town. This made me learn to make my own fun. I could play out the most interesting things all in my head. This became a useful quality to foster creativity in my writing and problem-solving in elementary school. Today, this skill has transferred into my major, strategic communication. It is quite a different environment in college than the slow days of 3rd grade, but I believe I still have that imagination when I sit down with peers and work on a group project. Despite playing by myself when I was young, I had several things to do. My best friend's aunt would care for us during the summer. We spent the whole day under the shade of the woods in her backyard, building forts. When my parents were off work, they would take me down to the Little Miami River valley no matter the weather. The woods were predictable yet unpredictable at the same time. I could count the seconds between every birdcall, yet get caught in the worst storm after a sunny morning. Today, I still find the outdoors, specifically the woods in Lebanon, very grounding. If I ever feel lost, I know where I belong. As I got older, my appreciation for my town waned. I wanted to see the world and live in the cities with like-minded people. School activities like marching band opened my eyes to other communities and composers and musicians living in faraway cities. Would I be held back by staying in my small town? It was not until the world come to a stop that I got my answer. In March 2020, I was grounded to my small town, which at the time felt like a clip of the wings. But looking back, it was my small town that got me through the pandemic. The support of the tight-knit marching band community, the community hosting a parade and giving gifts to the graduating seniors, the creativity myself and my friends used to have fun- usually by driving side by side through empty parking lots, and the woods- which was the only thing that remained open the whole time. I looked at some large towns which were torn apart in 2020, then to mine which came together without physically coming together. I realized that everything I loved was in Lebanon, Ohio. The answer was not running away, but investing my time into it. I go to college to learn the skills to invest in those teachers who supported my creativity, my band director who expanded my mind, the natural resources which comfort me, and those winding roads I learned to drive on. Every break, I revisit my town and help out with community events and reconnect with the community that raised me. I hope to continue to support resources in the town by learning community engagement and applying it back home.