Jason David Anderson Memorial Scholarship

I did not learn about addiction from a textbook or a health class video. I learned about it by watching someone I loved disappear slowly, in pieces, right in front of me. My closest friend, someone I had grown up with and trusted completely, fell into substance use during our high school years. What started as something I did not fully understand became something I could no longer ignore. And by the time I understood what was really happening, the person I had known felt like a stranger wearing a familiar face. Watching that unfold was one of the hardest things I have ever been through. There were days I showed up for them the way I knew how, sitting with them, checking in, trying to say the right thing without pushing them away. There were other days I did not know what to do at all, days I felt helpless and scared and angry all at once. I did not have the language for what was happening. Nobody around me did either. We were all just trying to hold on to someone who was slipping, and none of us had been given any tools to help. What hurt almost as much as watching the addiction itself was watching the way the world responded to it. The judgment. The silence. The way people who needed compassion and care were instead met with shame. I saw my friend shrink under the weight of that, and I made a quiet promise to myself that if I ever had the ability to change that experience for someone else, I would. That promise is a large part of why I want to pursue a degree in psychology with a focus on rehabilitation and substance use counseling. I want to be trained in the science behind addiction so that I can do more than just show up with good intentions. I want to understand the neurological and emotional roots of dependency, the barriers that keep people from seeking help, and the evidence-based approaches that actually work. I want to be someone who knows what to do when someone is slipping, because I remember all too clearly what it felt like not to know. My goals are specific. I want to work in community-based rehabilitation settings, the kind that serve people who cannot afford private treatment, the kind that exist in neighborhoods like mine. I want to be part of a system that treats addiction as a health issue and not a character flaw. And I want to work with young people especially, because the earlier someone receives real support, the better their chances of finding their way back to themselves. My friend is still a part of my life. Their journey has not been a straight line, and I have learned that recovery rarely is. But they are still here, and so am I. The experience changed both of us. For me, it lit a fire that has not gone out since. I am going to college because I believe that what I study there can eventually save someone's life. I have already seen what happens when the right support does not exist. I want to spend my career making sure it does.