The Summer of 2020 was a peculiar time for America, but it was life changing for me and so many others. George Floyd’s murder hit a new chord in America’s exasperated citizens, including me. As usual, senseless debates of these unwarranted murders commenced, and I knew my unwavering stance. And for a while, that’s all I could offer to the movement. But that promptly changed when I was able to put action behind my feelings by leading my own protest. Not even three months after Breonna Taylor’s death, 46 year old George Floyd’s neck was kneeled on, killing him. The entire world saw the nearly nine minute video and rebuttals were made in response to his death. Despite that, major cities had daily protests to commemorate the dead, and my family wanted to do the same. Only so much could be done amidst a pandemic, but we wouldn’t be idle. While we couldn’t attend a major protest because of my mom’s rational fears of our safety, she inspired me in another way. “Organize your own protest,'' she told me, “Get in contact with our mayor and see if you can work something out with him,” and so I did. A brief email later, I started planning. Honestly, I was going to make it happen, with or without him, but thankfully it was with him. He called me the next day, telling me a few others had the same idea and asked to meet the following day. Eager to start, I met with him, the others and a few town officials and collaborated with them. After establishing that Saturday as our rendez-vous day, we had to get word around fast. We did, and found ourselves downtown in my small city, masked in black, with speakers of all sorts. Soon after it was march time. The sun fought the rain how we fought for equality that afternoon, but nothing could damper that protest. We marched to our local church, our voices screaming in anguish for the deceased and those that may woefully befall the same fate in the future. As I led, we got to the curve of a hill, then the top. I looked out to see a tsunami of people, chanting for equality. I saw people from middle school in that crowd and those who’ve since graduated, fighting a battle that should’ve been over long ago. And I cried. Mid-sentence. In front of the whole crowd. And while I finished my teary interruption, I managed to muster my thank yous to the group and bring our protest to an unimaginable end. After the protest, I thought more about who I am, what I can do, and who I want to be. I’ve learned that I’m me. And while sometimes I feel like that’s not enough, I can reflect on that protest and know that's me. I’ve never been at the top of the totem pole but this protest gave me insight; I have the power to make change. We all do, we just have to act. Act on behalf of those who don’t, won’t, and don’t think they have the power to. I see more clearly how our lack of action can affect everyone. The protest let me reflect on myself and hopefully it can for others too. I know now I want to drive my power for equality into the political storm. I want to act on behalf of everyone who doesn’t believe they have the power to enact change and inspire them to make their own changes to save our future, no matter how futile they may seem.

I have an endless supply of hobbies because I love doing new things and hate being bored. One of my favorites is sticker making! I started making stickers a year or two ago and during our lockdown year I perfected the cutting and protecting of them. They don’t bleed or peel and aren’t cut weird (most of the time). I design and print the stickers on sticker paper and use my cricut machine to cut them. It was a very long process of watching youtube videos, test cuts, and creating better designs, but it all paid off in the end! Literally! I took a leap of faith in October and asked my best friend and amazing artist if she wanted to co-own an etsy shop with me and she agreed! I of course still make my own designs but she draws our products and I handle the process of creating and shipping them. We worked together on every aspect of the shop, from pricing to the name, every bit of it represents us! NessaandNia, we decided, would encompass our love of art, stickers, and all things we support. We’ve been open since the beginning of December with only a few listings up, but decently successful for a such a saturated market. We have an instagram as well with posts of other things we’ve made and will hopefully expand our store into in the future, such as shirts, phone cases, and more! The time I spend on making these things, even when they’re a bust, is always so entertaining because I can always do something with them even if they’re messed up. I get to see where I went wrong and how I can improve to provide the best products for our customers.

1. I’m from another dimension actually- the multiverse theory has multiple of me in different universes all at once right now. So this universe’s me deserves this scholarship from all her hard work but because I’m from another dimension, it’s cancels out. 2. World domination. Different universes carry different types of me and I want to rule the world. 3. I want to dominate the world, there are no obstacles that I’ve had to overcome.

I’ve always swayed with my confidence in my skills and my looks. One day I’ll think I look great and know my skills are relatively good, especially for my age and experience! A lot of people my age don’t do the things I do, especially under my weird circumstances. I’m proud of who I am and what I can do! But the next, I can’t stop finding ways to put myself down, nitpicking at everything about myself. Intrusive and obsessive thoughts pushing themselves into my head and keeping me up at night. Regrets I shouldn’t have because I know I’m doing my best but still believing that if I just did one thing differently I’d be doing better than I am now. It’s hard to combat these things when you do see other people around you doing better, even if only by a minuscule amount. That’s why everyday I try to give myself just a bit of time to do nothing. I actually do stuff during this time, but it’s things I want to do. Maybe I’ll just sit around and read because I haven’t had the opportunity to do that in a while! Or I’ll raid my closet and come up with cute outfits while blasting my favorite songs. Practicing makeup is also fun, but a bit more on the tricky side of things. Baking, reading, crafting, those things bring me so much joy that I don’t have to think about my confidence when I’m doing what I love. It doesn’t matter what I look like or what others can do compared to me, I’m in my happy place, free of pressure and expectations from others and myself!

Black Lives Matter. I’ve always thought that, always known that, for as long as I’ve been able to recognize race. So when I was able to do something that actually felt like it could contribute to the movement my heart was ecstatic. My picture is me at my boldest. Thanking everyone for joining us and speaking about why Black Lives Matter, leading this protest was the most insane thing I’ve ever done and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Black Lives Matter. Forever and always.

There is no true definition in being a leader. You can be a leader and bring harm to your following. You can be a leader and bring your followers up as high as you can hold them. But there is no true definition to being a leader. When I think about a leader, I think about what they do for those they lead. How do you empower them, embrace them, encourage them, to be the best leader they can be? A leader, a good leader, prepares those they lead to become an even better leader than themselves. This, is how I lead. I hold several varying leadership positions in my high school clubs, including the secretary of Model United Nations, representative on our Student Council board, and the social media manager of International Club. In all of these different positions I think: how do I help my club mates learn and grow? For example, we follow parliamentary procedure in Model UN which can be quite difficult to learn unless put into use during our conferences. I and my fellow officers teach them to be outstanding delegates, capable of creating resolutions and encouraging others to follow them in their problem solving path. In International Club, we learn about different cultures from varying parts of different nations. We share our experiences with our own culture and put together what we call an “International Fair,” showcasing what we’ve learned about any country of our choosing. We give our club members full lead on what nation they want and how they organize and present their nation. This allows them to flourish in their creative and leading abilities by letting them create their own projects. In Student Council, we encourage school participation and help voice the concerns of our peers. Along with this, we also put together dances, fundraisers, and more for our students and staff. We hope that as student council members we show our virtues as leaders to our peers and they will do the same for their peers. This is how I lead, through example of what a leader should be able to help their followers do. I will be continuing clubs/activities similar to these in my senior year and in college, learning more about leadership through my leaders and leading others too. Any good leader should encourage, embrace, and empower their followers, to becoming the very best leaders they can be.

Eleanor Roosevelt has said, “The destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our communities.” Those words never rang stronger in my heart than in the summer of 2020. Hashtag after hashtag, black men and women have continued to lose someone significant by officers of the law. Citizens protested day in and day out against these unlawful and immoral murders. While it was nothing new to see in our destructive society, George Floyd’s murder hit a new chord in America’s exasperated citizens, including me. As usual, senseless debates of these unwarranted murders commenced, and I knew my unwavering stance. And for a while, that’s all I could offer to the movement. But that promptly changed when I was able to put Eleanor Roosevelt’s words to action by leading my own protest. Not even three months after Breonna Taylor’s death, 46-year-old George Floyd’s neck was kneeled on, killing him. The entire world saw the nearly nine-minute video and rebuttals were made in response to his death. Despite that, major cities had daily protests to commemorate the dead, and my family wanted to do the same. Only so much could be done amidst a pandemic, but we wouldn’t be idle. While we couldn’t attend a major protest because of my mom’s rational fears of our safety, she inspired me in another way. “Organize your own protest,'' she told me, “Get in contact with our mayor and see if you can work something out with him,” and so I did. A brief email later, I started planning. Honestly, I was going to make it happen, with or without him, but thankfully it was with him. He called me the next day, telling me a few others had the same idea and asked to meet the following day. Eager to start, I met with him, the others, and a few town officials and collaborated with them. After establishing that Saturday as our rendez-vous day, we had to get the word around fast. We did, and found ourselves in Downtown Apex, masked in black, with speakers of all sorts. Soon after it was march time. The sun fought the rain how we fought for equality that afternoon, but nothing could damper that protest. We marched to The Church of Apex, our voices screaming in anguish for the deceased and those that may woefully befall the same fate in the future. As I led, we got to the curve of a hill, then the top. I looked out to see a tsunami of people, chanting for equality. I saw people from middle school in that crowd and those who’ve since graduated, fighting a battle that should’ve been over long ago. And I cried. Mid-sentence. In front of the whole crowd. And while I finished my teary interruption, I managed to muster my thank yous to the group and bring our protest to an unimaginable end. After the protest, I thought more about who I am, what I can do, and who I want to be. I’ve learned that I’m me. And while sometimes I feel like that’s not enough, I can reflect on that protest and know that's me. I’ve never been at the top of the totem pole but this protest gave me insight; I have the power to make change. We all do, we just have to act. Act on behalf of those who don’t, won’t, and don’t think they have the power to. I see more clearly how our lack of action can affect everyone. The protest let me reflect on myself and hopefully it can for others too. I know now I want to drive my power for equality into the political storm. I want to act on behalf of everyone who doesn’t believe they have the power to enact change and inspire them to make their own changes to save our dire future.

Faith. Trust. And pixie dust. My favorite movie of all time is Tinker Bell! I can’t pick a favorite of the multi-movie series but I’ve been obsessed with Tinker Bell since I was young. I had several Tinker Bell costumes, a lunch box, book bag, and t-shirts and pajamas, even back to back years of Tinker Bell birthday cakes; Tink (and Peter Pan of course!) is one of the reasons my favorite color is green! While I didn’t grow to love building like her, I do enjoy DIY crafts and making things myself. Currently, I make stickers and t-shirts and hope to start making water bottles and more in the future! I admired how creative she had to be as a tinkerer and even when she didn’t think she belonged, her friends were there to help her. Tinker Bell was always dorky when it came to stuff she enjoyed and I was the exact same way. I love reading and history so when I start talking about either (or a history based book), it’s a never ending ramble. I also grew to hold a high appreciation for my friends because I knew they’d have my back the way Tinker Bells’ had hers. Though this may have been problematic with fake friends, I can genuinely say that I held all my friendships in high regard, ignoring any rumors that may have followed them. Tinker Bell and her movies have taught me so much in my life and I’ll never once forget anything she’s taught me. I know that when something isn’t looking up, all I need is my faith, trust, and maybe some glitter if I can’t find my pixie dust, to help me find my way.

Eleanor Roosevelt has said, “The destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our communities.” Those words never rang stronger in my heart than the summer of 2020. Hashtag after hashtag, black men and women have continued to lose someone significant by officers of the law. Citizens protested day in and day out against these unlawful and immoral murders. While it was nothing new to see in our destructive society, George Floyd’s murder hit a new chord in America’s exasperated citizens, including me. As usual, senseless debates of these unwarranted murders commenced, and I knew my unwavering stance. And for a while, that’s all I could offer to the movement. But that promptly changed when I was able to put Eleanor Roosevelt’s words to action by leading my own protest. Not even three months after Breonna Taylor’s death, 46 year old George Floyd’s neck was kneeled on, killing him. The entire world saw the nearly nine minute video and rebuttals were made in response to his death. Despite that, major cities had daily protests to commemorate the dead, and my family wanted to do the same. Only so much could be done amidst a pandemic, but we wouldn’t be idle. While we couldn’t attend a major protest because of my mom’s rational fears of our safety, she inspired me in another way. “Organize your own protest,'' she told me, “Get in contact with our mayor and see if you can work something out with him,” and so I did. A brief email later, I started planning. Honestly, I was going to make it happen, with or without him, but thankfully it was with. He called me the next day, telling me a few others had the same idea and asked to meet the following day. Eager to start, I met with him, the others, and a few town officials and collaborated with them. After establishing that Saturday as our rendez-vous day, we had to get word around fast. We did, and found ourselves in Downtown Apex, masked in black, with speakers of all sorts. Soon after it was march time. The sun fought the rain how we fought for equality that afternoon, but nothing dampered that protest. We marched to The Church of Apex, our voices screaming in anguish for the deceased and those that may woefully befall the same fate in the future. As I led, we got to the curve of a hill, then the top. I looked out to see a tsunami of people, chanting for equality. I saw people from middle school in that crowd and those who’ve since graduated, fighting a battle that should’ve been over long ago. And I cried. Mid-sentence. In front of the whole crowd. And while I finished my teary interruption, I managed to muster my thank yous to the group and bring our protest to an unimaginable end. After the protest, I thought more about who I am, what I can do, and who I want to be. I’ve learned that I’m me. And while sometimes I feel like that’s not enough, I can reflect on that protest and know that's me. I’ve never been at the top of the totem pole but this protest gave me insight; I have the power to make change. We all do, we just have to act. Act on behalf of those who don’t, won’t, and don’t think they have the power to. I see more clearly how our lack of action can affect everyone. The protest let me reflect on myself and hopefully it can for others too. I know now I want to drive my power for equality into the political storm. Mrs. Roosevelt told us, “The destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our communities,” and I intend to continue to act on her words.