Hello! My name is Ava B. I am 16 years old. I am from NJ. I am here to tell you a little bit about me! My favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip, but I also really love strawberry ice cream as well. It is so hard to choose! As for my dream job, It would definitely be in the medical field. My main goal is to become a cardiothoracic surgeon. I have always been passionate about science, and helping others. Practicing medicine has always been a big dream for me. Some things that I miss from before quarantine would be hanging out with my friends, going to school, and going out to eat. It really shows how we must never take basic everyday activities in life for granted, because they can be taken away in a heartbeat. As for my extracurricular activities, I am an executive board member of the minority achievement community, bylaws chair for Jack and Jill of the Americas Inc., and I am also a biology tutor. At first, dealing with quarantine was very hard for me. It was a huge adjustment. I had to be away from school, my friends, and deal with complete isolation. However as the months went by, it got a lot easier for me. I started reading my Bible more and developing a closer relationship with God, spending more time with my family, and working on my self confidence. Overall, quarantine has really benefited me. It allowed me to take a pause on my life, and really work on myself. In terms of remote learning, my school did a pretty good job. I felt that some of the teachers could have made themselves more available, but they did do a good job helping the students through this tough time. For my extracurricular activities, everything was either on zoom or google meet. It was quite an adjustment, but got easier over time. Something new that I learned about myself is that I am very good at teaching others. Over quarantine, a lot of people needed my help with science and math. I was able to do tutorials for them on the topics that they were struggling with and really help better their understanding. Something that has kept me sane during this time was knowing that everything was going to get better. As a Christian, I am very optimistic that God has a plan for us all. One of my favorite Bible verses is Proverbs 3:5-6 which says “ Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.” This verse got me through a lot of sadness and doubt through this time. I trusted that God would heal this world and get us through this difficult time. Just holding on to that hope was really the thing that got me through this quarantine.