Stefanie Ann Cronin Make a Difference Scholarship

Empathy. It's an integral guiding principle of my life that I often neglect to credit for my multiple aspirations. Whether it be the empathy I have with the families of terminal cancer patients being that my own mother was taken from this world by silent cancer. Something that has led me to want to work one day as a biomedical engineer who specializes in oncology and technological solutions to the early detection and treatment of metastatic and terminal cancers. Whether it be the empathy I have for farm animals from my experience interning on a sustainable farm and learning the inept capacity for personality and love these animals harbor. Something that has led me to become vegetarian and advocate for a more sustainable, humane environment and agricultural system. Whether it be the empathy I express for students who struggle with mental health issues as a result of my battles with self-worth and depression that I've been able to overcome. Something that causes me to always lend an open ear and destigmatize these mental health issues among my peers. Whether it be experiencing abuse, grief, the ills of perfectionism, sports injury galore, and ostracisation, these instances of hurt have, to some degree, allowed me to form integral connections with the world and people around me. Through these experiences, I've been able to insert meaning and fervor into empathizing with others and using this empathy as a driving force to minimize future instances of hurt in the lives of others. Not only has my life resulted in instances of pain that allowed me to express solidarity with others, but also in instances of the pure joy of the world. The joy of a sunny afternoon running through a sun-rimmed forest as the sun goes down, the joy of sitting on the rooves of junk-yard shipping containers with my sisters, laughing away into the night, the joy of watching an injury heal and muscle grow, the joy of being so immersed in art that hours run by without notice, the joy of an animal bathing in the sun, the joy of reunions with people missed, the joy of taking off your shoes and collapsing into an available pile of blankets after a long day at school and sports practice, the joy of an embrace, the joy of eureka, the joy of well-earned silence. I've experienced both hurt and joy well enough to know how integral each is to the human and earth-bound experiences. I hope to use these points of relatability, of relative understanding, of empathy, to bring healing and new life into the world. My dream on its largest scale is to reach the lives of the hurt, help heal them, and bring back joy. For from joy we learn that pain does not have to be permanent. I hope to do this by becoming a biomedical engineer and using my empathy alongside a few areas of aptitude to create solutions to heal. But not only this, to make those solutions affordable and tangible for people from all walks of life. Not only that, but I hope for that healing to mean something. For patients, and all people and generations for that matter, to experience the joy of living on this planet while it is clean and inhabitable. That is also why I advocate for the environment and hope to promote sustainable policies and practices wherever I end up. Joy and hurt are rallying points, I hope to use my experiences with them to relate to and help those who know a life full of rocks and valleys alongside sunny hills.