Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways:

problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to

name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

Things that express my creative side are music and art. I kind of think that it is the
only way to express myself on how I feel. I don’t really like to talk to people about
my feelings so I do it through art and music. If I am feeling down on something I
can always go do what I love. It doesn't even have to be art or a song. I can just
play my saxophone and express what I’m feeling through that too. Some creative
ways I problem solved problems were doing a project and was having some
problems so I did some innovative thinking and figured out what I should do.
Another thing I want to get into to express my creative side is to start producing
music and making beats for songs. I’ve always enjoyed music and always had an
interest in producing music but I never had the right equipment needed to do it but
I hope to one day start doing it. I used to keep a journal that documented my days
and what I did for a few months during the beginning of covid. It helped me stay
busy and it’s nice to see now two years later to read the things I did to keep myself
busy.I never used to like art or making music but as I got older I found out how it
could help express my creative side and I just feel like it improved myself when I
started it. I have always liked music because I did band in middle school and
elementary school playing the saxophone and that’s how my musical career got
started. I never started doing art though until I started highschool. I may not be the
greatest artist but it is something I enjoy doing.

What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you
developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

I believe that my greatest talent or skill is basketball. I have been playing

basketball ever since I was in kindergarten. I used to play upward basketball
from kindergarten to sixth grade. I really enjoyed playing basketball with
people I got to know and form new relationships with that I wouldn’t have
had, if I didn’t play basketball. My dad was my basketball coach for I think
three or four years. I developed and demonstrated this talent over time by
constant practicing and getting better after every practice. Every practice may
not be a good one, you may not have played well at all but you are still
getting better. You have to always practice at 100% because you play the way
you practice. If you don’t give it your 100% and you are a leader of the team
then your teammates will look up to that and that and they will show
whatever effort that you’re putting up whether that be 50% or 75% they’ll
show the same. However if you’re going 100% at practice and give it your all
then your teammates will follow and will want to go harder than you because
you’re showing you want to get better. Even though I don’t play basketball on
a team anymore I still love the sport. I still practice all the time and go to
parks and gyms to try to find people to play with. Basketball is such a
beautiful sport. Anything can happen. Anybody can beat anyone on any given
day. If you have the skill and talent and you get the opportunity you can take
your childhood passion and make it your job and make millions from it. You
may be in the 1.2% of student athletes that make it to the NBA but if not you
still have all the great memories that you made while playing and you will
never forget that.

What have you done to make your school or community a better place?

A few of the things that I have done to make my school or community a

better place is working for community service hours for the Junior Giants
baseball program. I was a volunteer assistant coach in summer of 2018 and
earned around 10 community service hours. I never used to like helping but
once I began to get involved, however, I found a true appreciation for the
work I was doing. I loved helping people and, as always, wanted to challenge
myself. I worked in Atwater for the Junior Giants baseball program two days
a week for around a month in a half, as well as helping out with large special
events put on by the city. I tried to create a community where I could help
people, but also people could help themselves so that there is no reason for
anyone to not be able to achieve their goals and aspirations. Another thing I
did that made my school or community a better place is I used to work at the
snackbar during football games. Another thing that I did to make the
community a better place is in elementary school we planted trees in the
community at the park during earth day. I also used to help pick up trash
around the parks with a large group of people that wanted to help. Years ago I
used to participate in this annual run called the “mog jog.” It was a 5k run
that was in memory of a former teacher. The run was very popular when I
was doing it and it brought the community together and overall was a great
time for people to come together. Lastly is this summer I have applied to
work for the city and organize and help recreational activities for the kids in
the community.