Although, I am indeed a proud African, there are many faults within my community’s taught curriculum of life. These teachings harm the children who are meant to gain from them. I am not meek; I do not perceive tough love as a way to abuse but I do understand what stress to a child’s brain can do to the essence of a childhood. I have hurt so much from the teachings which scorn any ailment that is not physical and in many cases I have been disrespected myself because of my own struggles. Some foreign identity corrupted my ancestral roots some time ago and its nearing fossilization within our African identity, so I believe change must happen soon. I am invested in educating African communities in the science behind mental health to effort the unlearning of the many harmful assumptions which are held. I have already begun my journey by aiding my parents and extended family in understanding what these diseases really are, however, it has proven to be more heart breaking than any other ordeal. Nevertheless, I am inclined to succeed, although my support system is lacking in this conquest, it must be done to keep the greatness of my ancestry vitalized and thriving in a future which morphs like some mythical beast.

a. The brain's function is one that is intricate and fascinating to me. The degenerative diseases that plague the brain have the most fascinating physical manifestations and although an uncomfortable niche to many, I cannot find myself anything but consumed by what an education in the field has to offer me, especially on topics about the brain's system in its failing states. Perhaps my habit for learning about neuroscience comes from an unexplored interest in understanding my own psyche and that of those who surround me. Whenever a question arises within me I've always been one to try and answer it and the state of ones mental health is a question with no simple answer that continues to baffle me, even with the research I've done to date. I have attended lectures online and queried so many articles and videos about neuroscience to better understand the many different illnesses and disorders that are present within the brain. I have even taken the initiative to begin the processes of opening a residential treatment center within my city, one which is devoted to taking in adolescents with these illnesses. The project of the treatment center is one I am quite proud and excited for, as I am to work closely with the medical staff involved in the care of these individuals. Now my long-term goals in neuroscience would have me working closely with both people and within a lab so I have trained with summer internships. I visited Dr. Lamango at Florida A&M, where we worked with cancer cells and I learned of the disturbed metabolic pathways which caused their manifestation. The more personable training was done at a non-profit, which I interned at, called Career and Recovery which plays a key role in providing homeless veterans the means to house themselves. Soon I hope to join each of these individual skills to use as I study the brain's science.

a. The brain's function is one that is intricate and fascinating to me. The degenerative diseases that plague the brain have the most fascinating physical manifestations and although an uncomfortable niche to many, I cannot find myself anything but consumed by what an education in the field has to offer me, especially on topics about the brain's system in its failing states. Perhaps my habit for learning about neuroscience comes from an unexplored interest in understanding my own psyche and that of those who surround me. Whenever a question arises within me I've always been one to try and answer it and the state of ones mental health is a question with no simple answer that continues to baffle me, even with the research I've done to date. I have attended lectures online and queried so many articles and videos about neuroscience to better understand the many different illnesses and disorders that are present within the brain. I have even taken the initiative to begin the processes of opening a residential treatment center within my city, one which is devoted to taking in adolescents with these illnesses. The project of the treatment center is one I am quite proud and excited for, as I am to work closely with the medical staff involved in the care of these individuals. Now my long-term goals in neuroscience would have me working closely with both people and within a lab so I have trained with summer internships. I visited Dr. Lamango at Florida A&M, where we worked with cancer cells and I learned of the disturbed metabolic pathways which caused their manifestation. The more personable training was done at a non-profit, which I interned at, called Career and Recovery which plays a key role in providing homeless veterans the means to house themselves. Soon I hope to join each of these individual skills to use as I study the brain's science.

a. The brain's function is one that is intricate and fascinating to me. The degenerative diseases that plague the brain have the most fascinating physical manifestations and although an uncomfortable niche to many, I cannot find myself anything but consumed by what an education in the field has to offer me, especially on topics about the brain's system in its failing states. Perhaps my habit for learning about neuroscience comes from an unexplored interest in understanding my own psyche and that of those who surround me. Whenever a question arises within me I've always been one to try and answer it and the state of ones mental health is a question with no simple answer that continues to baffle me, even with the research I've done to date. I have attended lectures online and queried so many articles and videos about neuroscience to better understand the many different illnesses and disorders that are present within the brain. I have even taken the initiative to begin the processes of opening a residential treatment center within my city, one which is devoted to taking in adolescents with these illnesses. The project of the treatment center is one I am quite proud and excited for, as I am to work closely with the medical staff involved in the care of these individuals. Now my long-term goals in neuroscience would have me working closely with both people and within a lab so I have trained with summer internships. I visited Dr. Lamango at Florida A&M, where we worked with cancer cells and I learned of the disturbed metabolic pathways which caused their manifestation. The more personable training was done at a non-profit, which I interned at, called Career and Recovery which plays a key role in providing homeless veterans the means to house themselves. Soon I hope to join each of these individual skills to use as I study the brain's science.

a. The brain's function is one that is intricate and fascinating to me. The degenerative diseases that plague the brain have the most fascinating physical manifestations and although an uncomfortable niche to many, I cannot find myself anything but consumed by what an education in the field has to offer me, especially on topics about the brain's system in its failing states. Perhaps my habit for learning about neuroscience comes from an unexplored interest in understanding my own psyche and that of those who surround me. Whenever a question arises within me I've always been one to try and answer it and the state of ones mental health is a question with no simple answer that continues to baffle me, even with the research I've done to date. I have attended lectures online and queried so many articles and videos about neuroscience to better understand the many different illnesses and disorders that are present within the brain. I have even taken the initiative to begin the processes of opening a residential treatment center within my city, one which is devoted to taking in adolescents with these illnesses. The project of the treatment center is one I am quite proud and excited for, as I am to work closely with the medical staff involved in the care of these individuals. Now my long-term goals in neuroscience would have me working closely with both people and within a lab so I have trained with summer internships. I visited Dr. Lamango at Florida A&M, where we worked with cancer cells and I learned of the disturbed metabolic pathways which caused their manifestation. The more personable training was done at a non-profit, which I interned at, called Career and Recovery which plays a key role in providing homeless veterans the means to house themselves. Soon I hope to join each of these individual skills to use as I study the brain's science.

a. The brain's function is one that is intricate and fascinating to me. The degenerative diseases that plague the brain have the most fascinating physical manifestations and although an uncomfortable niche to many, I cannot find myself anything but consumed by what an education in the field has to offer me, especially on topics about the brain's system in its failing states. Perhaps my habit for learning about neuroscience comes from an unexplored interest in understanding my own psyche and that of those who surround me. Whenever a question arises within me I've always been one to try and answer it and the state of ones mental health is a question with no simple answer that continues to baffle me, even with the research I've done to date. I have attended lectures online and queried so many articles and videos about neuroscience to better understand the many different illnesses and disorders that are present within the brain. I have even taken the initiative to begin the processes of opening a residential treatment center within my city, one which is devoted to taking in adolescents with these illnesses. The project of the treatment center is one I am quite proud and excited for, as I am to work closely with the medical staff involved in the care of these individuals. Now my long-term goals in neuroscience would have me working closely with both people and within a lab so I have trained with summer internships. I visited Dr. Lamango at Florida A&M, where we worked with cancer cells and I learned of the disturbed metabolic pathways which caused their manifestation. The more personable training was done at a non-profit, which I interned at, called Career and Recovery which plays a key role in providing homeless veterans the means to house themselves. Soon I hope to join each of these individual skills to use as I study the brain's science.

7. Develop and possess grit As I developed my own world view I did so in rich and diverse culture. Culture, which was celebrated, and not scorned, culture which was the norm and not the oddity. I’m reminded of the crunch of those fried Lebanese treats at our culture fests and the passionate generational tales, which an Israeli students mom shared with us one April. The schoolgirl crush which I had on that one boy from India flickers with warm melancholy within my heart. These experiences that I had were taken for granted in the moment, as those things are when you’re a preteen, but since attending my high school, a predominately white institution, these experiences have grown within me in their significance. Upon arriving to SPS I scrounged for affinity at the clique-like clubs at my school, but nothing felt comparable to my time in Nigeria. The cold breath of those in Concord seemed shallow when I reminisced on our humid laughter in Lagos. Laughter which I felt I would never hear again, which only fell me deeper into an identity crisis. With so few people who looked like me, I felt othered in a sea of those who seemed to fit in. A sentiment which although wasn’t unique still abled me to pursue change that very much was. Within a community with so many copies of one another I found my own smaller community of like-minded people who truly wanted to express themselves. Judgment felt unheard of and expression was complimented. Although, that community did still differ from my diverse background and I still do crave continuous cultural variance I grew in my ability to express myself. I raised my head high and the passion in my voice was uncanny to the squeaks I whined when I first arrived. I became a leader in my community because I seek to change affinity club culture so that no one struggles like I did. My change was never to assimilate into the crowd, for it was a crowd I had no interest in joining, but remove myself away from it completely and create my own peace. A party of one surrounded by other parties of one. My individuality and confidence came from having it firstly stripped away and then recasting the foundation, giving me the ability to build a new and for that I am grateful.

My enrollment in a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience will begin my journey toward a complete chemical and psychological understanding of mental disorders. With learned knowledge of the difficult science I will have the opportunity to do my own clinical research and I plan to work towards aiding my own western African community and greater Black community through my research. Often these are the circles who have been forgotten from sample sizes in medical research and sometimes they are even abused with the excuse of developing medical data as a good defense to harm so many. The brain’s science tells your story; the connections which form have done so because of environmental and genetic causes, suggesting that your biology along with your history form who you are. With the little research that has gone into the mental health of non-western communities, I have had a personal struggle in determining how to classify my own mental states through biology. This is one reason for my personal interest in working with African and African American communities, so that this deficit can start to be fixed and help so many of our communities struggling with mental illness. The disparity of care that black individuals receive compared to whiter communities is disgraceful and unfortunate. As I have studied the brain’s biology as a subject I have ventured through many aspects of scientific history in which those scientists progressed our understanding of the world through miraculous advancements. As my studies wore on, however, I fell into the vicious and dreadful narratives which have since been recorded as horrific examples of medical racism. I was appalled at the lack of compensation offered to Henrietta Lacks’ family after the use of her extraordinary cells in developing the understanding of cancer worldwide. Waves of disgust sicken me when thinking of the poor black men who were given a disease that killed twenty-eight of them, infected many of their families, and were never cured during the Tuskegee Syphilis study. These examples are two of so many that could have been avoided with a larger population of scientists who could personally relate through their shared race. The American Psychiatric Association has found that black people are both less commonly receiving appropriate care and included in mental health research compared to white individuals. As I come into the scientific community I would incorporate more diverse populations into scientific studies concerning psychological health. Hopefully, my efforts will increase trust in the medical field among Black and African communities while developing positive mental habits in those same factions.