Sunshine "DC" Memorial Scholarship

One of the most important aspects of leadership is the opportunity to help others. As a Panther leader and AVID tutor, I mentor young people and help them throughout their high school and recent elementary experiences. These roles have taught me the importance of understanding, compassion, and commitment in making a positive impact in the lives of others. One of the most important things that helped me understand myself as a leader is when I was tutoring at Wellwood International. This particular student couldn't speak or understand English very well since he mostly talked in German. I understand German a little, so I decided to go over and help him. I turned on my translator to help my student complete the assignment, and in the end, I helped him complete it. He received an A! Now, the same boy asks me every time I go to the elementary school, "when will you be back?" or "can you help me with this assignment?". Even though I had never talked to him before and was hesitant about speaking to anyone, I got my courage together and helped him to feel good about himself! This reaffirmed my interest and love in leadership and in helping others.Leadership also helped me develop skills such as communication and problem-solving. As the Co-President of the Future Nurses Club, I work with other students to plan events, fundraise, and represent our club at school-wide events. One memory that vividly stands out is one time a nurse from Sinai Hospital canceled a meeting on the club. I remember nurse Merani, our club sponsor, being stressed out and everyone in the club was upset about it. For the next couple of days, I called up a friend who was in CCBC at the time studying to be a nurse. I asked her did she know any nurses that can come in and talk to my club. She gave me her number and I called and emailed her for hours. I got approval from the school to let her come as a guest speaker for my club. In the end she helped answer their questions about what nursing is like in the real world and in a hospital. Even if no one asked me to do all of this, I took the initiative of finding someone so at the last minute to come talk to my group. I didn't need a thank you or anything like that from anyone as it was just worth seeing the joy on their faces. This was one of the experiences that have helped me become a better communicator, problem solver and a better team player. One thing that drives me to become a nurse is helping people who can't help themselves. I remember helping my great grandmother when she got surgery on her leg. I would help her walk, I would cook for her, I would take care of her. She is one of my biggest inspirations for becoming a nurse and because of that one of my goals is to become a traveling nurse practitioner. Becoming a nurse practitioner will allow me to help more people in diverse ways medically, even if it is just to sit down and talk with them while they are going through a hard time or who is nervous about their first big surgery. I want to be the person that can help people through those problems and just tell them "everything is going to be alright!" I want to see that smile on their face!