Supporting equality and diversity, in my opinion, does not have to involve any of the following: protesting in the streets, publishing hate posts against someone or some group, dressing a certain way, or even proving a point. I believe that a series of small and sometimes silent steps can make a good enough change. I am serving as the Vice President of the student government in my college. This position allows me to have direct conversation with some of the higher-ups who have to have certain questions or issues targeted towards them for genuine attention. A number of international students at my institution is of Muslim background. Being one myself, I know that halal food is something we are supposed to have in our diet. The town I live in is borderline rural which is why there are not very many options when it comes to halal-friendly. Most of the Muslim students have complained about having to rely on vegetables day in and day out. I have mentioned this issue in a bunch of meetings and reached out to staff and SGA representatives involved with dining. After further discussion with my mom, who is also in the graduate student organization at the same college, the dining halls have planned to to offer meals every week with halal meat. I have gotten in touch with a few restaurant owners across town to know about their halal options. Although it is limited, I have suggested students to visit those eateries and check out specific aisles at the grocery stores. Non-Muslim students can eat almost any other meat or preparation of a food, but we can't and nor do we have to. I think giving us the room to live by our religion is fair.

1. I am the donor of this scholarship and would simply like my money back :) 2. Goals? I don't know what that word means. 3. A band-aid. I had it on after some flu/covid shot and was too scared to pull it off. I waited until the third day because I was going to take a shower then. I rinsed my body with soap and water only to find out that the band-aid was still stuck in place. After drying myself, I mustered all the strength to just... yank it and it worked.

As a child, I heard my mom's friends and relatives call her 'persevering'. It sounded like a difficult word to pronounce so I never gave it much thought. I learned later that it meant 'having the ability to stick through' and wished to myself of being like that one day. Moving away to a country halfway around the world to be separated from most of my family and a low-income student working and looking for financial aid, I have come to realize that I don't give up easily - sometimes not at all. I have a way of fighting for something until either I get it or I learn that there's actually no way to get it. During the winter of 2020, my mom and I faced a very challenging financial situation. We had so little money that we weren't able to grocery shop for weeks. I asked friends/neighbors for help and went to food pantries and churches to get canned/dry foods. I spent days crying over the hardships because we hadn't struggled for food nor money like this before. We are now getting by with fewer visits to the churches and pantries for clothes or food. In high school as well as college, I have maintained my high GPA through the late nights of numerous assignments. I am always on the lookout for internships, although there aren't too many opportunities for freshmen, because I want to start early in the career life. I am constantly reading about organizations to join to get as involved as I can for good networking. I am attending several leadership workshops for successful professional development. I believe my past and present experiences are teaching me what lengths I am willing to go for helping myself in the future. I can finally acknowledge my perseverance.

One of the bigger things in life that I pride myself on is being a good listener. I can talk quite a lot to make people aware of my emotions and opinions, which most people can do, but just listening is something that is just as important if not more. People want to be heard almost all the time and not only in the way where someone will hear their voices but instead, pay attention to what exactly they're saying, why they're saying that, and how they can help that someone. In my family and my friend circle, I am known as the person who really listens to them. Long before I understood and acknowledged that I have this quality, I would think to myself "well, anyone can listen, why is it such big deal?" I eventually realized that what I did was create a space where they felt important and worthwhile. Every now and then, I have one of those deep conversations with my mom who I am very attached to. She enjoys telling me all about her dissertation and teachings, what new things or challenges she's come across, and confides in me about things that she cannot tell my dad or brother. Similarly, I sit down with my best friend and ask him about college and homesickness which he loves to open up to me about. I find it extremely important to let people know how appreciated and loved they are because everyone needs to know that they are valued. Being a good listener is such a little yet big act that I love practicing. Whether it is active listening where I give someone advice or condolence, or just sitting with them to have them share things with me, I love letting people know I'm there for them.

I am the happiest when I'm either spending time with my family and close friends or when I'm working out. Being involved in either of those two helps me feel better mentally. In these two spaces, loved ones and physical fitness, I feel safe and unjudged. Ever since the pandemic started and even now, I have combined both family and fitness to get where I want to be in terms of physical and mental health. I have gone running by myself in the nearby woods, played badminton and threw frisbees with my dad, been to the gym with my mom, held short cricket matches with my brother, played tennis and disc golf with my friends. I make sure to spend as much time possible with my family and friends because I think it is important to know for myself and let them know that we're all there for each other. I am attached to these close people and appreciate them being in my life. Having some quality time with them is so helpful for me to unwind. Physical activity is something that is always successful in lifting my spirits. No matter how busy my week goes or no matter how happy and sad I am, I try and get a workout in every now and then - especially bodyweight exercises at home and running outdoors because they are easier to access. Through these two important aspects of my life, I learn to appreciate people - their emotions (encouraging, attentiveness) as well as mine - and my body - for growing stronger and more supportive day by day.

Winter of last year was one of the hardest times for my mom and I. I hadn't started earning yet and her temporary job had just ended which is why we had money lower than the average the threshold. It was one of the first times in my life that I had gone through a difficult financial situation. We had stopped going out to avoid spending even a little bit of money and hadn't gone grocery shopping for weeks. A few friends of ours informed us of food pantries that we could check out to have enough meals for the remaining month. There were days when my mom would go by herself and other days I would join. People helped us by giving us canned food, soups, frozen vegetables, breads - things that would help us get by for hopefully a week. What I found challenging from this experience was accepting the fact that we were so helpless to the point where we had to exhaust resources that I never thought we had to. Growing up in Bangladesh, I saw both my parents be the ones to help others by giving them money/ food/ clothes. But last year, we were on the receiving end for basic necessities and were forced to deal with the hardships that financial insecurity brought along with it. My mom and I both asked around for more help without worrying about whether people would help or not. There were days when we had to walk home from churches or pantries through several inches of snow with heavy boxes of food. Things got better eventually and we haven't faced a similarly desperate situation since. This was definitely a humbling experience which taught me that I can survive obstacles as long as I know people who can help.

I have watched both my parents go from little paying jobs to being at administrative positions in their institutions back home. I have seen my brother stay up nights finishing up his college assignments and job applications which has earned him an impressive network. I have witnessed my best friend work his way up to the top ten students in high school and get into his dream college. I have personally leaped out of my comfort zone through moving halfway across the world from Bangladesh to the United States, only to get to know so many more great people and opportunities that will hopefully flourish my academic and careeristic experiences - volunteering, financial aid, internships. I am a strong believer of the saying 'good things come to those who wait'. Being patient goes a long way, as proven by the few personal examples shared earlier. No matter how overwhelming things get for me, I know that things will get better - soon if not right away. Waiting for something or someone, I have realized, shows me how much I want that very thing and how much I am willing to give for it. Patience, such a simple word, has so much impact in terms of making someone's day or changing the course of action for something. I never want to stop being patient because I never want to stop touching people's lives nor stop helping myself grow. I will always keep working through situations, no matter how difficult, to get the end result after my wait.

I am involved in the student government and university senate here, and am on my way to be an ambassador in my college as well be a member of my honors fraternity. There are so many opportunities around me and so many people to teach and help me grab those opportunities that I can't help but feel grateful. This very gratitude keeps me going every single day. I think of my resume a lot and what I can do to get it the best it can be. I know my potential and my limits, two things I keep testing regularly to see if they can expand. I take on huge responsibilities, some that may overwhelm others, but I always make sure to ask others for help and have others show me the way so that I can be a better version of myself. Growing up, I hesitated to let my vulnerability show and therefore, didn't ask for the guidance I would have appreciated. But with time, I've realized that letting myself out there to improve on my existing skills is important. I spend a lot of time working out and researching internship offers because they both help me get closer to my goals, physical and emotional. I am optimistic about what the future holds for me because no matter how rewarding or difficult situations are, they all shape me into a more resilient and grateful person.

Growing up, there were rare occasions when I would realize that either of my parents had to spend money to obtain a good or service. It would almost never occur to me that everything we got was in exchange for money. Now that I'm an undergraduate student with a significant amount of money to pay as tuition, I know how many hours, days, even years of a job it may take to pay it. My father pays for most of my educational expenses in college and I feel guilty about it because he doesn't get much chance to spend money on himself. Moreover, he retires from his job in a couple years and I don't want him to keep paying for my tuition up until the last day of his work. Financial freedom for me would be able to pay for my education (undergraduate/ graduate and even internships) without having my parents pay for it. I don't want to worry every semester about not having enough money or always making sure to save. I am not currently working and even if I was, it would help raise a quarter of my entire tuition. I wish to start working soon when the circumstances get more favorable - two or three jobs is necessary. It might be my way of helping my parents leave some money for themselves. I look forward to applying more scholarships and job opportunities because it will get me closer to my sense of financial freedom.

My mom and I had not seen my brother, who lived in the same country as us, for over a year and my father, who was halfway around the world, for two years. There wasn't a day where that separation didn't bother either of us. I watched my mom invest most of her time taking care of our indoor plants which improved her mental health, and started helping her. It was very rewarding to see our collection of a few seedlings turn into over a hundred plants in a span of six months. While plants are more her thing, working out at home is mine. I had always been into fitness but with schoolwork taking up a lot of my time, I had stopped focusing on it for a few weeks before the pandemic. After getting done with my online classes, I got into follow-along workout videos. Gradually, the process became a religious habit and I could tell I was feeling great both physically and mentally. There were definitely times during the day where I would miss the rest of my family but luckily, we videocalled daily and knowing they were safe wherever they were was a blessing.

The summer before my senior tennis season, I started playing with my friends every week, most of whom were in the team as well. I practiced frequently and built my endurance over time. Before I knew it, I made it to the team lineup, something I wasn't even considered for the previous year. On my senior night, my coach announced me as the most improved team-player and mentioned how proud he was of my rapid progress. He knew how hard I had worked to get there and I couldn't be more grateful and happier that night!

I am the kind of person who loves staying home getting work done but love staying outdoors to get a breath of fresh air every now and then. When I'm home, I like to take breaks from homework and meetings to stretch and work out, mostly bodyweight or dumbbells. I enjoy going outside to run, even if if it's for a short distance, because it makes me get closer to my endurance goals every week. Staying active keeps me going through stress. Every now and then, I will play tennis with my friends, all of us who were on the team in high school, and just get together to catch up on each other's lives. I try and hang out with my friends at least once a month because it's important to see each other and let them know that they matter to me even if we've moved to college life. A new thing I've taken up recently is volunteering at the community garden. I go there every week with my mother and older brother. I've harvested fruits and vegetables, something I've never done before, like apples, tomatoes, beans, mint, banana pepper, etc. Meddling with soil and seeds is such a refreshing feeling for me. I never thought an activity other than exercising could make me mentally happy, but gardening is definitely it!