I am in the Officer Program in the United States Marine Corps. After the Marines I plan on going to paramedic school and then joining the fire department. On top of that I am currently a certified EMT with over 700 hours of experience. I am a young college student athlete that lives in southern California. I have a fairly good social standing and seem to fit well into crowds and with people at an individual level. I plan on using technology such as social media and other platforms to promote the truth and other positive ideas that could follow. For example, I have witnessed bullying and hazing both in high school and in college. One instance in high school, this kid was sitting in class and nobody was talking to him during our free time of that class. I decided to ask what he was watching and he said it was a livestream of a video game. I asked what game and he said I probably wouldn't know it because it was kind of nerdy. I asked for the name of the game and he said it was League of legends. I replied that I loved that game and that we should definitely play sometime. Then I showed him what character I normally play as and we exchanged usernames so we could play. The next day at lunch I went to sit with them and immediately a lot of my "friends" were making fun of me for sitting at the non-popular table. My athlete friends who were not always into video games and were looking at me funny just for being over there. I told them we had a lot in common and if you made fun of them you were making fun of me. By the end of the year we had like the whole baseball team and the "nerdy" kids all hanging out and eating lunch with each other. I was happy I was able to use my platform to spread awareness that bullying is wrong and that we as humans are more alike then we are different. No matter the background. I also plan to leverage technology in the future when I am a Marine Corps Officer. I was at Officer School this past summer and learned so many new skills that I would of not learned otherwise. I also learned the value of doing something the old fashioned way. I also learned it is a different type of rewarding feeling. I plan on leveraging technology in the future to continue to promote teamwork in the Marine Corps. Upgrading some technology that Marines have available and tailoring it to make it team oriented for certain training events could be extremely valuable to developing and maintaining effectiveness of Marines. One last way I plan on leveraging technology to improve the world is in medicine. As a health care provider it can sometimes be hard to explain to someone they need the medicine or the treatment. Sadly a lot of people just say "I saw that its terrible for people and it can kill me" or "I saw something on twitter and its bad for me". I plan on using technology to prove that the medicine is safe to take and that it can help them. It can be very frustrating when you are trying to help, even save someone life and they don't want you to help because of a Tik Tok they saw. Hopefully one day we can develop something that we can instantly show people to prove that a medicine or procedure is safe.

Adversity hit me in more than one specific event. The past three years of my life have been the most challenging years in my entire life and have pushed me to the breaking point more than just once. I was a very good baseball player in high school. I won many awards throughout my four years and had a ton of college interest my senior year. During my senior year I tore my left labrum in my throwing shoulder while pitching. The doctor looked at me and said the road to recovery would be a very long one and it is very difficult to come back from and return to full potential. I simply nodded and accepted the challenge. After loosing all college interest I decided to live with my grandma and grandpa and go to a local community college. This was good because I could be with my grandparents and help them out when they needed it, but it also gave me a place to heal and recover. The first year I missed the whole season. I ended up medical redshirting which was very discouraging at the time. I actually did not throw a pitch until 14 months post surgery. My sophomore year was actually a good start. I was pitching a good amount and my shoulder was in no pain. The doctor was happy with my progress and I was a full go. However, my velocity was down a lot. In high school I was always in the upper 80's and even hit 90 a couple times. To be throwing in the low 80's was very discouraging even though it was pain free. All of the sudden Covid-19 came out of nowhere and shut down the school and ultimately the baseball season. I was devastated because I had gone through hundreds of hours of physical therapy and rushed a recovery only to have my first season post surgery shut down. Within the same week of our season being shut down, my grandpa passed away. My whole life he was the biggest role model to me. I came to him with everything. I went to him to share successes and failures. He guided me through every step of the way. He always knew when to push me and when to ease off the gas. Loosing him and my baseball season in the same week was absolutely devastating. I returned to my local community college for my third year even though I had my AA degree completed. I was aiming to get a scholarship to a school that was right for me. I used the whole summer and improved my velocity back into the upper 80's. I pitched well throughout the season and ended up being recruited to Azusa Pacific University to continue my baseball career. The school is a great fit and I am excited to be attending there this fall. My ultimate goal in life to become a firefighter. The summer after our season got shut down I ended up going to EMT school and graduating top of my class. I worked as an EMT for roughly 6 months before having to quit for baseball season. I plan on attending paramedic school after my bachelor degree is completed. Overall I learned a ton about myself being faced with adversity. I actually realized that I can do whatever I set my mind too. It has given me confidence to face all of life's challenges and I often find myself encouraging others not to give up no matter how bad it seems in the moment.

Hello, My name is Taylor Ouellette. I am an incoming junior at Azusa Pacific University in California. I am a baseball player and have had a long road to get to where I am today. My senior year of high school I tore my labrum in my throwing shoulder. I lost all interest from colleges and ended up going to a junior college. The first year I spent recovering from surgery and medical redshirted. The second year was off to a decent start with the baseball season and then Covid-19 arrived and shut down the whole season. The only college interest I had was to schools that were very far away from home or was just simply not a good fit for me. I decided to go back to my local community college even though I already had my AA degree and was ready to move on. I decided to go back because I wanted give myself the best opportunity for my future and to try and find a better fit for myself academically and from a baseball perspective. I ended up getting a scholarship to a DII Christian University after having a great season. This was a very rewarding feeling because over the last 3 years I had faced many hardships and setbacks when it came to baseball. There was many times where I was very discouraged and thought about quitting. My ultimate goal in life is to become a firefighter and work my way up the ladder as far as I can go. I have a plan on accomplishing that goal and my plan is already into affect. My sophomore year after Covid shut everything down, I realized I was going to have a lot of free time. I decided to take my future into account and enrolled in an EMT class. 10 weeks later I graduated EMT school top of my class and later began working at Premier Ambulance. I worked there for about 6 months and even got some 911 experience. I had to quit when baseball season began. I plan on going to paramedic school after I get my degree and applying to LA County Fire. Also during the summer, I began looking into the the Officer Program in the United States Marine Corps. After about a month of getting all my paperwork together I officially applied. I began working out with the Marines at the office and some fellow candidates. Last December I got a call that I had got selected into Officer Candidate School and would be attending the upcoming summer. Officer Candidate School is two 6 week sessions going into your junior and senior years. I graduated my first round August 13th this year and I am already looking forward to next year. I applied to Officer School because I was looking for a challenge. I wanted to better myself and grow in ways I never thought I could. Also the fire department loves men and women who have served so this was a huge bonus. What excites me most in this world is helping others. I love the feeling of helping others and it is a major reason why I want to become a Marine Corps Officer and a firefighter. As I have grown up, I have realized that you tend to forget so many details about people. I forget what exactly they look like, what they loved to do and many other details about them. But I realized you never forget the times they helped you and how much it meant to you. For me that is exactly why I am pursing the path I am on. I want people to remember me as someone who always went out my way to help others.

The wisest thing someone has ever told me was “Nobody should ever be tougher than you”. I heard this when I was a little kid sitting in my grandpas lap. He was a former Army Intelligence Officer and was a multi sport college athlete. He was a great husband to his wife and the best man I ever knew. He passed away on March 16th 2020 but his words have lived on with me since. When I was a little kid, I only thought being tough was physical. Whenever I got hurt I never tried to show any pain because I was always trying to be tough. It wasn’t till I got older till his words had a deeper meaning with me. I learned that being tough was way more than being physically strong or showing pain. It was not giving up. It was being tough enough to accept and understand that you have a deficiency in an area and being tough enough to address it. It meant not being the best test taker, but being tough enough to set aside time and make good study habits. It meant not being the best at something but being tough enough to realize you can work harder and overcome any obstacle in front of you. I have such a vivid memory of my grandfather telling me his advice as a little kid but I had no idea the amount of significance it would eventually play in my life. Whenever I fail or struggle in a subject, whether that be baseball, school or a relationship, I am reminded by his words and I don’t give up on it. I decide to get tougher and work harder till I find a solution. Thank you grandpa for your wise words.

The pandemic has been very challenging for many people including myself. I took the challenges it was giving me and decided to make efforts to change my daily habits and ultimately my life. I was a sophomore in college and was in the middle of my baseball season when covid shut everything down. A week later my grandpa had passed away (not due to Covid-19) but this was a terribly hard time. The job I had for almost 3 years also shut down in the same week. The school year ended and the summer of 2020 had finally approached us. The first thing I did during that summer was I got a new job. I began working at Chick-fil-A. I began working because I did not want to apply for unemployment and potentially take money away from someone who really needed it. I also took my baseball dedication to the next level. I was at a junior college and my first year I did not touch the field because I had shoulder surgery in the fall of the year prior. It was my first season back before Covid shut everything down and I wasn't really playing much that. I knew that there would be many kids not taking the time seriously. I also knew that I could use and benefit extremely from this free time. While others were breaking guidelines and partying or simply lost motivation, I found myself at the park throwing into a net 5-6 days a week with every intent to get better at the art of pitching. This ultimately paid off because I improved a ton over this period of time and ended up getting recruited to play baseball at Azusa Pacific University. During the summer of 2020 while I was working at Chick-fil-A, I knew I needed to take a more serious look at what I wanted to do in life. At the time, nobody had any idea how long the pandemic would last and this frightened me because nobody was sure how long college sports would be shut down for. I knew I always wanted to be a firefighter but it was now time to get my EMT license and start working and getting knowledge and experience. So I took on the challenge of EMT school while I was working part time and dedicating any other free time to baseball. Roughly 10 weeks later I graduated EMT school top of my class and got a job at Premier Ambulance where I ended up getting some 911 experience. I worked full time here while in school and continuing to practice baseball as much as I could on my own or in a training facility. My grandpa was an Army Intelligence Officer as well as a college athlete. He was the single best man I ever knew and I stride to be like him every day. I applied for Officer School in the United States Marine Corps in the summer of 2020 as well. I went through the whole process and began to get my body in an elite level of fitness both from a baseball and Marine Corps standards. I got selected and will actually be going to Officer School July 10th this year. The pandemic while being challenging has been almost good for me. It has given me the time I needed to get healthy and refocus my life. I find myself closer to my family and friends then I’ve ever been. This time has helped me jump start my life.