Female Empowerment Scholarship

I grew up in an environment where physical and verbal abuse was normalized. I focused on my academics to prove my obedience and intelligence to my parents. My mother struggled with mental illness to the point where she made delusions in her mind about the type of people her children were. She beat my siblings and me to the punch where we had to cover for her with the family services department. My father was no stranger to her abuse but refused to divorce her due to his religion. I have four siblings, one of which is only ten years old. Except for the ten-year-old, everyone moved out within a few weeks of turning eighteen due to my mother's abuse. My parent primarily spoke to my siblings and me in Spanish. Due to the language barriers between my parents and the rest of society, I became somewhat of a translator. Through this acquired skill not unknown to immigrant children, I learned to advocate and speak on behalf of my parents. I developed a deep passion for language and helping people. I learned ASL to help support my deaf friends and my clients. I also requested non-English speaking cases to help break down barriers they may face. With my love for language and advocacy work, I was drawn to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). While in university for my undergraduate degree, I worked for nonprofits and ABA companies to work directly with underserved communities. I have a human-first approach which makes me a bit different compared to my colleagues. I asked clients for input and worked to break the stigma of noncompliance. I worked to teach many clients skills such as independent living skills, Manding for preferred stimuli, cleaning, cooking for themselves, financial knowledge, and requesting help. I found that many clients lacked resources due to language barriers, and I created visual documents with translations to help increase the quality of resources. After graduating with my B.A. in psychology, I gained legal custody of my youngest sister due to my parents' negligence. During my time with her, I used my ABA knowledge to teach her how to read, maintain hygienic standards and communicate her needs. She taught me how to be patient and to heal my inner child. We have led similar lives, and I saw the cycle of abuse break while she was in my care. Through the use of therapy and family intervention, we transfer parental rights to my father, who is now raising her alone. Now, I plan to give back to my community through the work of ABA and advocacy. I am currently attend a graduate degree. My plan is to become a clinician and provide quality care to low-income and non-English speaking communities. Breaking trauma cycles and providing quality care has become my passion in life. I hope to devote myself fully to helping those under severed communities.