"Forbidden Foods" Scholarship

Typically when children are little they love candy. They go crazy for it. However, I always liked fruit better. While I was still picky about what fruits I liked I knew what I liked and what I wanted to eat. It started with kiwi. I loved it, but one day I developed a severe allergic reaction and could longer eat that fruit anymore. As I grew up my family and I learned that I could not eat certain things due to dairy or MSG in the food at a hibachi restaurant. As I got older things got harder. I learned of more foods I could no longer eat, or that I had to eat very rarely and in a small quantity otherwise I risked being sick. Now, as if it is somehow impossible it has gotten worse. I have added more foods that I need to avoid eating regularly and in small quantities, but due to a Crohn's Disease diagnosis when I was only fifteen it makes my eating habits harder. I have gotten to the point that when I find foods that do not upset my stomach I stick with them for days, weeks, and even months. Every day I will eat the same things to stay healthy and not feel sick. However, it is still hard to do even that since my body will one day decide that a category of food that it once allowed in without hesitation is now bad and causes me to be sick. It is a constant and ever-changing battle. It is a routine that I have to learn and a battle to add foods back in and or take them out again. Because of my diagnosis and food sensitivities, I have decided to take a career in genetics. While those are not the only reasons they do play a role as I am curious to find out if genetics can play a role in my illness or food sensitivities as a whole. It makes me excited for the future thinking about finding a link between genetics and my illness or food sensitivities. Being awarded this scholarship would mean so much to me. I come from a single-parent household and will be paying for college by myself. Only being awarded two scholarships out of a hundred I have applied to has been discouraging, but I know I will never get to achieve my dreams if I get discouraged and give up. I am going to keep pushing forward and I will be working two jobs in college to help pay for my college expenses. Any scholarship of any amount I will be awarded in the future will touch me from the bottom of my heart and help me to pay for my college expenses and not accrue so much student debt. I hope that when I graduate from college and graduate school I can have won scholarships along the way and because of winning them I will be able to pay my debt off and still live within my means without having to sacrifice too much. I also hope that I in general will not have a mountain of debt. I feel as though winning this scholarship would help to give me a jump start on my future career and future life working in genetics.