GD Sandeford Memorial Scholarship

The operating room is often the last place a patient expects to feel safe. Bright lights, unfamiliar faces, and the overwhelming loss of control can make even the strongest person anxious. One morning, while working as a surgical technologist, I met a patient who reminded me just how essential trust is in healthcare. As I introduced myself and helped position her for surgery, she leaned in and whispered, “Please don’t let them hurt me.” She was unaware of my role in the operating room, my level of training, or the extent of my authority. What she did know was that I looked like her. As another Black woman in the room, my presence alone gave her a sense of comfort. In that vulnerable moment, she trusted me to protect her when she could not protect herself. Unbeknownst to the patient, I was committed to advocating for her, but I lacked the education and experience to fully understand whether everything being done was in her best interest. The surgeons were the experts, and while I assisted to the best of my ability, I also had to place my trust in them. In that moment, I realized that I wanted to be more than just a supportive presence; I wanted the knowledge and training to confidently advocate for my patients. This is what continues to draw me toward becoming a Physician Assistant. That brief interaction stayed with me long after the procedure, as it revealed the profound need for both representation and informed, trustworthy care in healthcare. Rebuilding trust between the community and the healthcare system is not a task that can be completed overnight. One of the larger problems is the lack of cultural competency among healthcare workers. One way to address this and better understand the communities we serve outside of the healthcare setting is to get out into the community. This is why, a few times a month, I volunteer at local assistance locations in my city, where I organize donated clothing, food, and hygiene products. I help individuals who may be going through a difficult time shop for supplies they need. Here, I get to see people as people, and this has helped me gain a better understanding of the community I plan to serve. With each interaction, I learn more ways to communicate and be of assistance to someone in need. I will continue this practice in the years to come, as I believe it will make me a better provider and a recognizable presence. Beyond treating illness, I want to help create environments where patients feel safe asking questions, expressing concerns, and actively participating in their care. Equally important is the role of representation. When patients see healthcare professionals who look like them and may have experienced similar struggles, it can help bridge the gap between fear and trust. Representation reassures patients that their voices matter and that their experiences are understood. As a Black woman in medicine, I hope to be part of a generation of healthcare professionals who truly reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. That patient may never know how much her words influenced me, but she reminded me that medicine is not only about procedures, diagnoses, or treatments. It is about people feeling safe enough to place their lives in the hands of someone who cares. Through my education, I hope to gain the knowledge to recognize when things are done right, advocate for my patients, and honor the trust I have been given while continuing to foster more. One patient, one community, and one meaningful connection at a time.

My community has always meant alot to me. From the candy lady on the end of the street, to the old man who always offered up a couple extra dollars for the ice cream truck. Every person I've ever been surrounded with is rooted deeply in my heart. I never understood the phrase "it takes a village", until I no longer had that village behind me. When I was no longer a little girl who could run down the street to her friends house and play until the street lights came on. When I could no longer race my friends to school in the early, cold Chicago mornings. I no longer had that community because it was subsequently destroyed by corruption. Drugs, guns, police brutality. My mother kept me in the house for a week when Tamir Rice was killed. My brother wasn't allowed to wear a hoodie anywhere after Treyvon Martin. We couldn't go outside and play anymore, because gangs ran rampant, and their new trigger happy members didn't know the difference bewteen a child and their target. Kids were joining too. I lost one of my closest friends to a gang he decided to join when we were 8 years old. I couldn't understand it at the time. But I realize now he thought he had to provide for his family, so he joined under the impression that slinging dope would give him the money he needed to buy groceries and pay bills. He'd be shot dead at the local playground behind our houses a few months later. When I look at what overran my community and ultimately, what took it away from me, I began to wonder what I could do to help. I felt lost until I got to highschool, when a teacher reccomended I go to law school based off of a presentation I gave for my inequality and social change class. He said we needed more people like me in those seats. People who came from the communities our governemnt heads only speak of, but never do anything about. I gave it thought, and wondered if I could really make a difference. If someone like me, given my background, could make a change in this country. So I began doing research, and ultimately I decided on being a political science major with a minor in pre-law when I got to college. I wanted to be on track to go to law school, and figured that degree would be the best at helping me achieve my goal. I want to use my degree to give my people their voice back. I'm going to run to be mayor of my city once I've finished my schooling and completed my service in the military. I'm going to shine a light on the underprivleged, underserved and long forgotten neighborhoods. The children will get their schools back, teachers will be more respected and valued, people will get their jobs back. Families reunited. I'm going to take the guns and the drugs out of my neighborhoods. Police will be trained on non-fatal force and how to interact with the people of the communties they serve. I will not allow the things that took my community away from me to continue taking communities away from the next generations. My degree will allow me to give back to my community by making change where it counts. If you want to see change, you must start from within. So I plan to change my community from the inside first.

We are all shaped by the people who help raise us. However, this is not limited to the loved ones in our home. Countless influences come from connections we make with others in our community. Our morals are instilled by our caregivers and influenced by our role models and mentors. Growing up without my father's presence, I leaned on the positive male figures in society to help guide me. Like most young men raised without a father, youth sports were critical to my development. Momma could kiss my booboos and provide clothes and food, but she could not teach me how to be a man. Instead, I had to learn specific life lessons from men who could relate to my struggles and understand my behaviors and thinking. My youth football coaches started this process and gave me discipline, focus, and confidence. They helped a kid with abundant energy and no direction channel his abilities toward a positive path and strengthened his belief in himself. I recognize the impact those coaches and the game of football had on my life. I have been a volunteer football coach for the past eight years. I started at the age of twenty-three in an urban community where many kids I coached were from similar backgrounds to me. Teaching the game and watching them succeed on the field was joyful, but the biggest reward was helping them develop and blossom as young men. Helping cultivate these kids and carve out a path for their self-growth, and building a sustainable positive relationship for them to flourish clarified my passion for helping youth. After five years of coaching Pop Warner football, I was recruited by my local high school to be a volunteer coach at the freshmen level. I was also hired in the school district and worked at multiple different schools at all three levels, elementary, middle, and high school. This broadens my scope of children to assist, from kindergartens to seniors, and only reinforces my hunger to help youth who were misguided, misunderstood, or lost in that moment of their life. Once I obtain my degree, I will continue these efforts and elevate to a more prominent position where I can make a more significant difference. I aim to be a varsity coach or an athletic director. Upon receiving my degree, I can qualify for these positions. I will use my degree and the knowledge I have learned to help mold young men and women to aspire to be the best version of themselves. I want to grow my community, starting with the youth and preparing them for the challenges they will face as they mature and enter adulthood. Most importantly, I want to encourage them to have faith in their skills and ability and ensure they know they are uniquely themselves and may accomplish anything they set their mind to.