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"How has your journey with CF shaped the problems you want to solve and the impact you hope to have on others?"

For most of my youth, I didn't know what cystic fibrosis was. Adults would discuss it, sandwiching "cystic fibrosis" and "rare genetic disease" between terms I didn't understand, but "having CF" just seemed like an exercise in following doctors' orders. Countless lung treatments, four sinus surgeries, and forty pills a day were the only "normal" I knew, but as I aged, the differences began to become evident. At school, I was told I had "the thing" from Five Feet Apart, and was often asked, "Is it contagious?" As I ate fat-filled foods throughout the day (thanks to my body's malabsorption), my classmates were jealous that I was allowed to snack. "You're so lucky," I often heard, but I chose to save my energy instead of explaining that I was not, in fact, lucky. In 2017, my teachers planned a watch party for the total solar eclipse, as Kansas City sat squarely in its path. Classmates were shocked that I was absent for the festivities, and I hesitated to explain that I spent the day in the hospital. While I laugh about these moments today, some were much more disheartening. Walking along the trail of the annual Great Strides fundraiser, I would pass posters adorned with photos and names of CF patients. Some names, prefixed "In Honor of," sat above photos of smiling families, posing with their CF fighter. The other signs, devoid of happy photoshoots, instead read "In Memoriam." On these signs were images of young children, sometimes not even a year old when cystic fibrosis took their lives. They were impossible to ignore, and I couldn't escape the distressing thought that I may never grow old. When I was born, CF life expectancy was just 26 years. Today, it is 50 - and climbing. Among the many lessons this disease has taught me, one is that time is of the essence. And when much of that time is spent doing treatments, going to check-ups, and taking handfuls of pills, I felt trapped. The more I understood CF, the more I noticed the ways it impacted my life, and thus, controlled it. But I realized that I, too, could control my time. When physically stuck, tethered to my percussion vest and treatments, I chose to explore, scrolling the internet to learn about everything from the Disneyland monorail to the Mongolian national baseball team. Skimming through Google Maps, I would virtually explore every corner of the globe, noticing the intricate details of the places around me. While "exploring" was a simple creative outlet, I also found myself fascinated by places and their built environment. To not just experience, but design one? That was a dream job. Since then, I've found academic inspiration in architecture, city planning, and real estate, and professional inspiration through data analytics roles in this field. CF has been central to my life, especially in the development of my future plans. At Harvard, I hope to continue pursuing them, with CF fueling that passion.