Kaiya Brand

10800 Highway 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29577
843-650-5600

27 April 2017

Senior Digital Exploration Judges

10800 Highway 707
Murrells Inlet, SC 29577

Dear Judges:

My name is Kaiya Brand and I am a junior at St. James High School. Throughout high school, I
have enjoyed challenging myself by taking AP and Honors courses. Freshman year I had the
privilege of taking AP Human Geography where I learned about my appreciation for culture and
other languages through the teaching of Paul Hudacko. My sophomore year I was able to build
on this passion by taking two semesters of Spanish and learning more about the culture of
spanish-speaking cultures. Sophomore year, I was also able to develop an appreciation for
economics through the AP Macroeconomics course offered at the school, and I learned that I am
more interested in economics than government. This year I have challenged myself more than
ever before. I am currently AP Spanish with the hope of being close to fluent by the end of the
year. I also have two other year long AP courses that I am less interested in, but I still enjoy the
challenge. I am looking forward to taking AP Psychology and four Horry Georgetown Tech
classes my senior year.

I have the unique blessing of my mother being a private counselor. Growing up, I have watched
as she has helped improve the lives of several children and teenagers through her practice. When
I realized how influential she was in the lives of her clients, I started to develop an interest in her
career. I was intrigued by the inner workings of the mind and how the human brain copes with
heavy trauma. When I was deciding what to study for my senior exploration, I knew that I
wanted to research a disorder that results from trauma. After discussing several disorders with
my mom, I decided to study Dissociative Identity Disorder and its validity as a diagnoses. I have
learned an extensive amount of material from the research phase of the senior exploration, and I
thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the brains role as a defense mechanism. In college, I
will be able to use these research skills I have learned during this project, and I am genuinely
appreciative that I have had the opportunity to learn the proper way to research. Also, my
discovered passion for the brain has encouraged me to seek a major in psychology while in
college.

As previously mentioned, I have had a difficult academic schedule this year and it has caused
some periods of stress throughout the semester. Thankfully, we had adequate amounts of time to
work on the senior exploration, so I never had to work on assignments last minute. However, this
semester I did have to work on my time management skills. For example, sometimes when I
came into class I would not have a strong motivation to work on the project, but I taught myself
to stay focused during class and to use my class time wisely. I was also challenged to step out of
my comfort zone and contact counselors in the Myrtle Beach area and find someone to shadow.
Through the shadowing process, I developed better communication skills that I will be able to
use for the rest of my life.

I genuinely thank you, the judges, for all the time and effort you have given to this school by
judging the senior exploration projects. Thank you for dedicating your time to listening to the
passions of our schools students. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kaiya Brand

Kaiya Brand