Colorado Pain Care - Excellence in Action Scholarship

It was the morning of my first day of sixth grade. New hallways, new teachers, and an increased workload made me so nervous. I was terrified. These worries clouded my brain and I couldn’t focus on my breakfast. Suddenly, I couldn’t see it either as tears filled my eyes. I was confused, misunderstanding my emotions and scared of the fact that I couldn’t control them. I was weak. I needed some source of strength, something to hold me steady while I shook with sadness and struggled to keep my breakfast down. I was starved of something, but I simply didn't know what it was yet. It wasn’t until the summer before my freshman year of high school that I found it. I had wanted to try martial arts for a while, and when I entered Gracie Barra Jiu Jitsu, I knew I had found the place where I would find what I was lacking. As I wrestled with various opponents throughout my high school career, I found the strength that I was previously starved of, and with it, a hunger for more. I remember leaving the gym after my first lesson. I couldn’t stop smiling. Already, I found a sense of belonging that I never would have deemed possible just a few years earlier. Because I loved being there so much, I trained four days a week, staying after class for the chance to get just a few more matches in. Even though I had many other responsibilities such as studying for my AP classes and working a job, I returned to the gym time and time again because I had a goal. I had an insatiable hunger to continue the growth I was experiencing, and I wanted my blue belt to prove to my sixth grade self who could barely get up for school that we found everything we needed and more. As I trained through so many late nights as a young girl, I had an impact on my training partners who watched me improve at such an impressive rate. Because I was so hungry for more, I trained until I was able to take down grown men who dared challenge me. I exceeded people's expectations as I dominated those who expected me to be an easy match, and I inspired those who witnessed it. One of my earliest training partners was an older man who trained rather inconsistently and he only participated in classes where we wore our full fabric uniforms. However, after seeing the progress I was making due to the massive amount of effort I was putting into my training, I saw him at the gym more often, and he even attended some classes without the uniform. I inspired him to train harder, and due to that inspiration, his passion for the sport was reignited. After inspiring him and many others, the summer of 2024 came around and I received my blue belt, satisfying my hunger. As my hunger for strength has been satisfied, I've found a new source of passion. Now, I'm hungry to share my strength with those around me, so that they may feel strong too. Just as I inspired my old training partner, I can help those who lack motivation find what makes them hungry. That's why I want to be a nurse. So that I can help to heal people's physical and mental ailments so that they may get back to striving for what inspires them. So that they may live life with excitement again. So that they can be just as hungry as I once was.