Serena Rose Jarvis Memorial College Scholarship

I grew up around drug and alcohol addicts as well as very abusive people. My mom was a single mother with four kids while also hooked on drugs and alcohol. I was exposed to many things at a very young age and had to be independent at the age of 6. My sister was the oldest and we were 6 years apart in age, she raised me more than my mom did, but she suffered from depression because of all the trauma we went through. Starting at a young age, I grew up seeing my sister cut herself and her trying to kill herself. Shortly after we entered foster care my sister got very depressed and stopped taking her medicine, I watched her get sicker and sicker every day, refusing to eat, refusing to even get up. I was by her side through it all, I watched her die in the hospital bed. She was 15 years old when she died. After she died, I got very depressed to the point I would lay in the middle of the road hoping a car would kill me. I started drinking, smoking, and cutting my wrist afterward and I was around 10 years old. She was my everything, my sister, and my best friend. I struggled with cutting my wrist for several years and drinking. I also struggled with many insecurities since my dad left when I was younger and that my birth mother went to prison, and I had to grow up visiting her in and out of jail. I always thought of how I'm not enough for anyone and that's why they left, which then would lead to me getting depressed and not making healthy choices. I have overcome those thoughts with lots of therapy and by getting adopted by a good family. I still have those thoughts, but I turn to my family and my counselor to help me overcome them. Over the years of my mental health issues, there has always been one good constant thing to help no matter what and that is animals. I have always had a soft spot for animals; they are very therapeutic. Animals can't talk to make us feel better but, in their way, they comfort us. My dogs have easily saved my life in many ways. So, I want to be a veterinarian so I can take care of them and save their life like they did for me.