Judges, Senior Project Panel

First Colonial High School

1272 Mill Dam Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23454

Dear judges,
The LSA experience has been a labor of love to say the least. My time here began out of an
internal drive to always be right… I was quite the argumentative child and while my plans for
the future have changed drastically, I’ve retained that same tenacity and honed my skills. My
first three years in the academy were all drastically different from one-another, but I’m proud to
say this most recent year has been the scene for lots of positive change in my life, and I hope that
shows.

I have always loved science, which doesn’t exactly fit with the academy's theme, but I always
knew that my senior project would be drastically different than the “traditional senior project”
that we were told about as underclassman. CRISPR was first used for genome editing in 2013,
and at the time is was arguably the biggest scientific discovery of the decade. I found myself
fascinated with the technology, but I never had the opportunity to explore its capabilities to a
degree that I was satisfied with.

When we were proposing our senior project ideas to Mrs. V, she was admittedly skeptical; After
all how could I relate it to law? When I did more research and found the Dickey wicker
amendment, she was completely on board. With the proper research being given a go, I began
my passion project. Late nights and blistered fingertips resulted in my magnum opus, and I
wouldn’t hesitate to call it the basis for my continuing education and subsequent career.

The decision to host a car show took no time to decide, because I have another passion outside of
science: automotive culture. As a child I had hundreds of hot wheels and an obsession with
Formula 1. I’ve been going to car shows on a weekly basis for over 4 years now, and I figured it
was time to host a show of my own, but there was just one problem: How do you connect highly
experimental cancer research to cars? Two years ago I found a charity called Driven to Cure,
which raises money for experimental kidney cancer research through automotive event. That was
my key. My stage was set.

If the LSA has taught me anything, it’s that you should always stand for something bigger than
yourself. Something that will help future generations. To me, that means getting to the root of
cancer. To others, its funding education or eradicating anti vaxxer hysteria; Both noble causes for
sure. My belief, and the belief of many in the academy; is that you’ve got to civilly fight for what
you want, lest we see those values fall to the wayside of society.