During the 2024 Paris Olympics, I was able to watch all of my favorite sports on the world stage. Although I lost more hours of sleep than I can count on one hand, it was worth being able to see Team USA dominate the biggest stage in the entire sports world. From witnessing history in basketball, swimming, and gymnastics I saw all the amazing athletes compete for medals. Although I loved so many athletes through the Olympics, my favorite athlete to cheer for on Team USA was Simone Biles. Since the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics, I have always said that Simone Biles would make a comeback for the 2024 Olympics and wouldn’t be considered “a quitter” by some negative fans. In my opinion, I never saw Simone as a quitter, or someone who bailed on her team but rather someone who realized that it was time to consider her mental health as a main priority. I have had the privilege to witness Simone Biles’ greatness as a gymnast since the start of her elite career in 2013, which would put me at watching her since I was nine. As a person who is currently twenty years old, seeing her change the world of gymnastics and breaking barriers has been an opportunity that not many people can say they’ve done. To be able to compete in gymnastics actively up until the age of twenty-seven is something unheard of in the sport as gymnasts usually finish their careers going into their early twenties. Secondly, Simone has broken barriers not only with her age but also with her overall achievements as a gymnast. To start she is considered the most decorated gymnast of all time with eleven Olympic medals, a whopping thirty World Championship medals, and five skills in the Code of Points named after her. Simone has inspired me to continue pursuing my dreams even when it seems like the odds are against me and people have a lot of stuff to say. I’ve been able to better prioritize my mental health as I’ve grown up and have taken a step back more times than I can count, but I know that it is beneficial for me to do such. Simone called the 2024 Olympics “the redemption tour”, a name that symbolizes a comeback that Team USA was due to make for this go around as they got the team silver medal in 2021 and Simone Biles opted out for a majority of the competition to prioritize her mental health. Not only did Team USA win the team gold medal, but Simone also won the all-around gold as well as the individual vault gold medal. Simone’s journey throughout the 2024 Olympics is a testament to her courage and dedication not only to the sport of gymnastics but to also make time to prioritize her overall health before competing. Simone prioritizing her mental health during the Olympics and going forward to advocate for athletes prioritizing mental health themselves opened up a deeper conversation about knowing your limits and when to take a step back from different aspects of your life. Overall, Simone Biles’ contribution to Team USA is important because she not only opened up the conversation for mental health for athletes but also proved that by taking the time off to regain confidence and control of your life you can achieve anything beyond great limits.

When the time came for me to start considering it, I've always thought of going with the business route for college. Up until my sophomore year in high school I always saw myself as someone majoring in entrepreneurship and starting my own business after graduating college…but then came the world of hospitality. I’ve been recognized in the world of hospitality for about three years and throughout this time I’ve learned many life lessons and have had many opportunities to grow in the world of food service and hospitality. With this scholarship, I would not only be able to handle the expenses of college way better but also be able to get some stress off of my parents back. The way they have constantly gone above and beyond to make sure that I get a good education and be able to succeed in the future is something that I want to be able to thank them for. Growing up I always wanted a career that I was able to not only get hands-on with but something that also gives me creative freedom and impacts people for the better. I wanted to see people get joy from not just events planned, but also seeing events come to life as an attendee. With this plan in mind, I decided to major in event design and experience management with a minor in hospitality management at the University Of North Texas. Along with my major, I am also a member of the University Program Council. This program strives to plan out over 100 events during the school year to the student body with the exception that all of the events are free. Along with the main program I am a member of the special programs committee. This committee specifically plans that are more on the niche and miscellaneous side. Some events that we’ve thrown during the school year are BubbleFest ( an event dedicated to bubbles that included boba, soap, and bath samples from Buff City Soap, and making bubble art ) and Frost Along ( an instructor-led event including decorating a cupcake and a sugar cookie for winter ). On the side of planning events, I am also a server at Olive Garden. Having been a server for almost two years I always love seeing happy faces after giving guests a great customer experience and being able to hear the words “We’ll be back again.” Hearing guests and just people, in general, expressing their happiness for their experiences is something I want to bring more of as I continue to dive into the world of hospitality. I’ve been able to grow my collaboration and creative skills throughout my time in this field and I’m excited to continue growing my expertise as I plan to become an event coordinator for U.P.C, but also as a post-graduation job. Overall I want to continue to bring people together with not only my time being a server but also as an aspiring event coordinator.

With the official release of 1989 ( Taylor’s Version ) finally coming to life in October 2023, it’s been a journey of reexploring old songs that reminded me of so many different times in my life that I felt the utmost love while also feeling the most thrilled I’ve felt in some time. This album resembles the epitome of what the pop genre is through its talk of New York ( Welcome to New York ) the journey of dealing with scrutiny from society and throwing it back in their faces ( Blank Space and Shake It Off ), and even discussing a time where situations finally got to see the light ( Clean ). Although these are some small examples the big one is What exactly are the songs that say “This song easily represented the year for me!” As much as I would love to say that the entire album has its place in the year the three that resemble my year in one soundtrack would be Wonderland ( Taylor’s Version ), Style ( Taylor’s Version ), and New Romantics ( Taylor’s Version ). While I would love to live in the land of what is the song “Wonderland” I am residing with my life in reality, but when I think of this song I think of chaos and love rolled in one. The song “Wonderland” resembles life in a world that’s completely imaginary from the real world and something that should be lived out in rather than living in the world of actual reality. I like to think that I have a lot of times where I would love to just stay in the world of imagination and not have to face life itself, and rather than facing reality I like to stay in the presence of reality I chase more for that imaginary life of love that holds no one bothering you. Next in line is a personal favorite on my list and that is “Style” ( Taylor’s Version ). Since the time of the original album being out, this song has held a special place in my heart of nostalgia but also just the energy that I feel once I hear this song. Whether that’s hearing “...long hair, slicked back, white t-shirt…good girl faith and a tight little skirt,” ( Swift, 1:25-1:28 ) or just hearing the intro with the guitar startup I just feel at peace for a little bit. This song encapsulates tumultuous times in a relationship but also the feeling of stuff never getting old, that stuff will sometimes continue to stay like this even in its greatest moments. Third in line is a song that just reminds us of how great life is sometimes and how it’s okay to not be serious all the time, this lovely song is “New Romantics” ( Taylor’s Version ). This song just reminds me of times when I’m living for myself and taking life for what it is and essentially just being free. The lyric that sticks with me and resembles my year in one is “And every day is like a battle, but every night with us is like a dream” ( Swift, 0:57-1:03 ). Whenever I hear this lyric it reminds me that although I will face tough times and hardships I can come back from that and still live in a moment of happiness and dreams. Overall, 1989 ( Taylor’s Version ) is an album that defines not only what pop music is but what life can be like if you take a step back and have fun.

I would describe myself as someone who likes to keep themselves busy but in a creative and organized way. To start I’m an event design and experience management major with a concentration in marketing. I’m a member of the University Program Council ( UPC ), a committee that is in charge of planning the school’s events for no charge to students and that are created by students. While my main part of being in the committee is to work different events throughout the semester ( ex: I’ve worked events such as Oktoberfest, UPCoffeehouse Live which is a concert event during the mornings that includes us having a local artist perform while students have some tea and coffee, the Safetea Party which included overall tips on campus safety, and BooBash which is a trunk or treat event designated for the Denton community children to check out different student organizations but also to celebrate Halloween in an interactive way ), I also take part in participating in the Special Programs Committee. The Special Programs Committee of UPC essentially plans the school events with no specific theme ( ex: Films committee plans our movie nights and the Arts Committee plans our crafting events ). Some events we’ve planned have been different themed bingos such as video games, K-Pop, and Swiftie Singo as well as Bears for Scares which was an event where we had students stuff a stuffed animal and decorate the animals' costumes. I’ve enjoyed being on this committee as the aspect of having no specific theme for our committee opens up our ideas a lot more to planning stuff that doesn’t have to be on brand for our committee. With my participation of being in this program as well as going through my everyday life I want to be able to spread that same joy and fun in my future endeavors. With my journey of becoming an event planner I always try to implement teamwork in some way shape or form. With every event I’ve worked on, I always get partnered up with other members, and with that, we not only get to do our job but also get to know each other a bit more. For example, after the Boo Bash event, I went out with some members after the event and it allowed me to bond with other members aside from just working together. Teamwork is one of the qualities of a future event planner I want others to know that it takes a team of people to put together a successful event and you have to be able to work with others no matter what. I plan to make a positive impact by continuing to bring more events to students on campus as a startup. Not only does this give students other things to do but it also opens them up to meet other students and make friendships with other students. Lastly, a big reason why I am passionate about event planning is because I like to bring people together and I like to be creative. I feel like event planning is all about community and seeing people coming together at events and having a good time is a goal that I want to achieve when planning my events in the future. I am also big on my creative eye, I like to envision ideas but also bring them to life throughout designing and planning the different pieces of the event. Seeing a vision come to life of how an event plays out is a possibility that I want to be able to see soon.