Describe your academic and career goals and how an NSF opportunity will help you achieve those goals.

Hi. It's sad, the childhood wonder you experience as a kid, it's so easy to lose as you grow up. There's so much in the world trying to pull you away from joy, curiosity, or grief. I felt that for a time, but I've always had this one memory that's never left me--I met somebody who showed me how to take a pause, to take a mindfulness walk. That memory helps ground me and focus on what actually matters--being able to observe and to share. Take a bird for example, an owl you've seen, and place it in your mind. You're the only being in existence that's seen the intricate field marks on it's back, or heard the whisper strokes of it's feathers brushing against the wind. Without you, that part of existence would never have materialized. And by sharing, through art or through stories, you're able to bring it to life once again. I think that's a very powerful thing.

It's taken me a while to figure this out, so it feels like I'm just getting started in life. I would like to get to the place in life where I've accomplished both, but I'm not there yet. Right now, I'm still learning.... And I like that, with each person having their own unique experience, you are able to see a tiny fragment of those unique experiences that other people share. I want to learn, it fulfills a part of my life and makes me happy--that's how I know I'm headed in the right direction. But, I also want to share the things I've learned. I've had great role models that have showed my this direction I want to take in life, so now I'm taking steps in that direction: this summer I have plans to get some volunteer experience, and then I'm committed to seeing through any opportunity that life offers. That's how I plan to learn, and share the things I've learned.