Sunlight snuck through gaps in the dense branches overhead as I walked along a winding dirt path, my light pink booties now speckled with dirt, carefully evading the roots and rocks that lay scattered in front of me. Suddenly, a giant deer emerged from the trees; a toothless grin spread across my face. Growing up with a state park as my backyard, I developed a deep love for the outdoors, nurtured even more during the pandemic, as I used the woods to escape my room. In tenth grade, I spent a day with a forestry expert evaluating the health of the Anacostia River, only to discover its riverbanks completely covered by plastic bottles. From there, my wonderment with nature shifted to protectiveness. My high school is surrounded by dense forest, and when I began driving myself to school and walking through those woods every morning, I saw the forest littered with gum wrappers, old worksheets, and trash bags. In disbelief over the disregard other students had for such a beautiful environment, I joined my high school’s Green Club and was elected a Co-President. My first initiative was organizing monthly campus cleanups. Leading these efforts has transformed our school's natural ecosystem, and month by month, I have seen the campus’s plants flourish in a soil now free from pollution. Though seemingly such a small change when contrasted with the dire environmental needs of the entire world, these campus cleanups have built a community of sustainability advocates at my school who are dedicated to protecting our surrounding environment and have been pivotal in embedding eco-friendly values into my high school’s culture. In addition to campus cleanups, my leadership of the Green Club allowed me to create a schoolwide thrift store where students and faculty have donated and purchased second hand clothes. Today, brands using unethical sources of labor and producing massive amounts of plastic waste are the most prominent in the fashion industry. Their cheap prices attract many consumers from my generation and push our first world communities further and further into overconsumption. So I am proud to say that the Green Club’s Thrift Store introduced many members of my community to thrifting as a method of shopping and has influenced many to shift their shopping habits to be more sustainable. To continue building a school-wide environmentally focused culture, I also led the Green Club in initiating an annual Green Week at my school that spans an entire week leading up to Earth Day. Each day is has a different environmental theme and is dedicated to teaching my peers about how they get involved and help fight the specific issue. For example, last year we enacted an anti-idling day where all cars waiting in drop off or pickup loops had to turn off their engines in order to reduce their carbon emissions. Another day we handed out homemade, biodegradable stickers to students that brought a reusable water bottle to school! The Green Week presents students with the reality of our environmental climate and provides them with easy strategies to protect the earth. It embeds sustainability into the daily routines of my school and has definitely shaped my school, and its students, into protectors of the environment! As nature has always been the foundation for human progress but is still increasingly sacrificed for industrial growth, advocacy for sustainability is needed now. I know that I will remain a champion for the environment, and I am proud to say that my school and its community will too!

Gasping for breath, I collapsed onto my knees as the meters on my rowing machine screen finally read zero. Streams of sweat cascading down my neck, I looked for my final time. My heart sank when I saw I added almost ten seconds to my personal record. This was the erg test I had worked towards all winter, and I failed. Though I knew dropping time with every erg test is nearly impossible, I still felt worthless and unaccomplished. In high school athletics, it is healthy to be competitive and always striving to be better. It is not, however, healthy to allow losses and setbacks to completely wreck your self-confidence. High school student athletes already struggle with finding a balance between success in academics and athletics. This, coupled with the fact that many student-athletes consistently tie their self-worth to their athletic achievements, has added to the growing issue of poor mental health within high school athletes. Due to my athletic schedule, I am out of the house from seven in the morning to eight o'clock at night. By the time I arrive home, I am already physically and mentally drained but still have to fight through the piles of homework that come with being an AP student. For many high school athletes, this overwhelming time strain takes a massive toll on academic success and mental health. Even if it doesn’t show in grades, the taxing high school athlete schedule adds tremendous amounts of stress to our lives and, consequently, decreases our overall mental health. I have seen firsthand how this challenge can quickly cause the development of various mental health disorders within athletes which grow to cause even greater problems extending far beyond sports and the classroom. Despite the exhausting schedule, I would choose time and time again to be a high school athlete as rowing has shaped me into a better student, friend, and person. Being a student athlete teaches you how to rely on those around you. Competing in a team sport has forced me to trust in the fact that my boatmates are working just as hard as I am and are just as committed to getting faster as I am. Without learning to rely on others, people run the risk of failing to reach their full potential as success is far more likely when people work together. It has been a lesson I am grateful to have learned because I now understand that, as athletes especially, our greatest strength is the people we surround ourselves with; they are the ones who push us to be the best versions of ourselves. Consistently striving to be better also forces student athletes to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Sports puts athletes through physically and, more importantly, mentally draining situations daily. But it is by pushing past that pain where true progress is uncovered. I learned very quickly with rowing that there is no way to achieve success without first fighting for it. Developing this strong work ethic is a vital lesson applicable to all facets of life. Undoubtedly, the highlight of my high school career has been being a part of my crew team. It has built my strong character and welcomed me into a accepting community of encouraging people that I will cherish for the rest of my life. The challenges of being a high school athlete will never outweigh the mountains of benefits that are gained through competing in competitive sports throughout high school, and I can not wait to continue my student athlete journey on the collegiate level!

Having wanted to be a rocket scientist, an orthodontist, and a defense lawyer, it's safe to say that my interests have always been limitless and my academic standards high. So, in high school, I have joined a wide range of clubs and been elected into leadership positions for many, giving me countless opportunities to enact positive changes within my community and provide my peers with strong support systems in addition to maintaining a high academic standing as a prospective valedictorian of my class. As I have personally been a victim to bullying, I understand how it feels to have someone pick apart your worst insecurities and how their harsh words can make you feel completely alone in the world. Undoubtedly, schools need to be safe spaces where students can feel free to be themselves without fear of ridicule from their classmates; however, reality is that most students witness and/or fall victim to bullying at some point in their educational careers. Knowing firsthand how that fear of bullying can negatively impact someone’s perspective on themselves, their education, and their relationships, I have made it a priority to make the organizations I lead safe spaces for everyone in order to foster united and supportive communities. As Co-President of the Green Club, I have been able to not only boost the health of my school’s natural environment through monthly campus cleanups, but also foster a community of sustainable advocates within my school who are dedicated to protecting the environment by relying on one another. As a team captain for my crew team, I get to volunteer to teach inner Baltimore City students how to row. This experience allows me to introduce them to a new athletic opportunity that includes a community of kind, encouraging people that push one another to reach high and that turn to each other for support. I have also seen how rowing has also given these students a positive outlet to funnel their strong emotions which aids in preventing them from unleashing those emotions onto others. With my community leadership, I have been able to fight bullying from both sides of the issue, but my fight against this pressing societal issue has not halted there. I grew up heavily exposed to social media, and, consequently, I have constantly seen comment sections overflowing with hate. Insulting comments or targeted posts have become normalized forms of cyberbullying within social media, but as a Comet Culture Leader for my school, I directly fight this issue through educating my peers. Every month, I teach a new lesson to the freshmen class, and one of the topics centers around the dangers of cyberbullying. This lesson is the most impactful as I walk students through recognizing cyberbullying, how to effectively speak out against attacks, and the resources they can access if they find themselves a victim of cyberbullying. Using real world examples of the devastating effects of cyberbullying, I have been able to demonstrate why eliminating it is vital in fostering a generation of self-confident and strong individuals, and I work to ensure that my younger peers will do their part in shaping social media into a safe space for all. I know that opportunities to help my community will only be multiplied in college where I plan to study Environmental Science with the goal of becoming an environmental lawyer. However, I have two older siblings currently enrolled in four year colleges, each with multiple years left. My family is already bearing the dual financial burden of their education, and this simultaneous financial stress significantly adds to my pressing financial need.