My name is Montana Mitchell. I attend Kalkaska high school, located in Michigan. My future goal is to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree in Biology. I do not truly know what career I want to pursue just as long as it is in a biological pathway. I know that I have always wanted to pursue a career in sciences since I was little. I have grown up around animals all my life from hamsters to birds and then pigs. My mom was the first person who made me truly want to get a career in sciences. She used to be a vet tech but had to change career paths to support the family financially. Plants and animals are things I enjoy learning about. When I was in 10th grade, I had this Biology teacher that would show us these problems and a few different ways that people have solved them and what their impacts were on the ecosystems and the wildlife around them. The one specific topic I remember the most was the Algal Blooms problem. It is where there is an abundance of algae that populated quickly and covered the majority of lakes and beaches (mainly in a specific region), making less oxygen in the water and resulting in fish and other species dying. This made me think about how these problems can affect an ecosystem. Algal blooms do not affect us here in Michigan, other than in the summertime when there is a lot of sun, and it is extremely hot. Another teacher that I want to add is my chemistry teacher. She showed me that different pHs and temperatures can affect how the soil and water can affect plants and organisms in the water. This made me think about places right around me, and how they affect the plants that I see every day. This is where my fascination grew more about plants, animals, cells, etc. I know that my future goal is to help continue finding solutions to problems around us and helping people, animals, and plants. Overall my goals are to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree, volunteer as much as possible, and find a career that best suits my values, education, and my personal goals. I will always be curious about the world around me and hope to build a better understanding of how things work and continue to thrive in the ecosystems they live in. My plan in general is to help find solutions to the problems around us.

My name is Montana Mitchell. I attend Kalkaska high school, located in Michigan. My future goal is to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree in Biology. I do not truly know what career I want to pursue just as long as it is in a biological pathway. I know that I have always wanted to pursue a career in sciences since I was little. I have grown up around animals all my life from hamsters to birds and then pigs. My mom was the first person who made me truly want to get a career in sciences. She used to be a vet tech but had to change career paths to support the family financially. Plants and animals are things I enjoy learning about. When I was in 10th grade, I had this Biology teacher that would show us these problems and a few different ways that people have solved them and what their impacts were on the ecosystems and the wildlife around them. The one specific topic I remember the most was the Algal Blooms problem. It is where there is an abundance of algae that populated quickly and covered the majority of lakes and beaches (mainly in a specific region), making less oxygen in the water and resulting in fish and other species dying. This made me think about how these problems can affect an ecosystem. Algal blooms do not affect us here in Michigan, other than in the summertime when there is a lot of sun, and it is extremely hot. Another teacher that I want to add is my chemistry teacher. She showed me that different pHs and temperatures can affect how the soil and water can affect plants and organisms in the water. This made me think about places right around me, and how they affect the plants that I see every day. This is where my fascination grew more about plants, animals, cells, etc. I know that my future goal is to help continue finding solutions to problems around us and helping people, animals, and plants. Overall my goals are to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree, volunteer as much as possible, and find a career that best suits my values, education, and my personal goals. I will always be curious about the world around me and hope to build a better understanding of how things work and continue to thrive in the ecosystems they live in.

One book that I would have everyone in the world read is a book called Perfect by Ellen Hopkins. The reason behind this is that everything in that book could happen in real life (realistic fiction). It follows a few high school kids that are all going through different struggles. This book is basically about each kid wanting to find themself, but not thinking there good enough. One of the high schoolers named Kendra has a problem with their weight and their overall appearance. Kendra's sister, Jenna, has a problem with her dad( because she feels as though her dad doesn't love her family anymore). Conner has an issue with always trying to live up to his parent's expectations and the toll on him grew and grew until he could no longer take it. Cara, Conners's twin sister, has trouble trying to feel the connection between her and Sean. Sean doesn't feel like h can't perform the best without steroids. Lastly, Andrew has a passion and love for dance, but his parents and friends don't know. Throughout this whole book, you can see how much each person is struggling. From breakups, revenge, and deaths, each character deals with it in their separate ways. In the end, each character learns from their experiences and others. This book will just help people understand some things that people do go through. Some may find this book to be a little extreme because a lot does happen to them. I enjoyed the book and loved how some details were outlined on the first page of every chapter (where the book switches perception).

My name is Montana Mitchell, I attend Kalkaska High school. I am pursuing a career in biology. Plants and animals are things I enjoy learning about. When I was younger I always knew that I wanted to have a career that involved the outdoors. One thing that really clicked for me was when I was in Biology, in the 10th grade. We were learning about the different parts of the cell. Being able to understand how each part has a certain role to play and being able to do that over and over again until the plant dies. A way that I can make a positive impact on the world through my career, is by being able to understand how plants and animals adapt to their surroundings and how we as humans impact the world around us. I would also like to continue to find solutions to problems that are impacting the world. Whether it's a small problem or a big problem, I would like to find solutions to these problems. I enjoy having the ability to do something good for people, animals, and plants. Mr. Olds is one teacher that has pushed me to think critically about the world around me. Mr. Olds was my biology teacher, and he was one person that made me really want to do biology for a career. He brought this one topic up about the Algal Bloom. The Algal Bloom is a rapid increase of algae in a freshwater ecosystem. When he brought this topic up we had to research what it was, how it was produced, how it impacted the environment, and what are some of the ways we could reduce these rapid algal blooms. Being able to come up with different ways to help the environment and the things living in it is one of the reasons I am pursuing a career in sciences.Another teacher that has also helped me decide on a career in science is Mrs. Cotton. Mrs. Cotton would bring us out to the school forest and we would test the Ph and temperature of the water and soil. These tests made us look at local places around us and see what's going on. In that class we discussed what was impacting the soils and what soils were best for plants to live in. Being in these classes with these teachers changed my perspective about how I see the environment in which these plants and animals live.