Representation is fundamental within STEM to create a better future. When someone looks like you, has the same accent, and dealt with the same struggles as you. What diversity looks like in my eyes is a combination of backgrounds that create a harmonious melody in order for their goals to be reached. However, within the world we currently live in, that diversity is not completely there within STEM. As a kid, I never had a black doctor, nurse, or medical personnel in general who helped me out, despite being in a majority minority neighborhood. Scholarships, such as this one, serve as an equalizer, as one of the main drivers behind this is the lack of money. Finances matter incredibly when it comes to trying to get a STEM degree. From my experience, I saw my uncle have to pivot from medicine to finance, just because of the almighty dollar. Even in my experience, I have had to shell out thousands in just my 18 months of school, which has created a significant burden on my budget. This, however wis not going to interrupt my end goal, which is to help as many people as possible and change as many lives as I can. Having the ability to have clearer financial stability will lead to me having an easier road to success. My goals when it comes to STEM are to become a neurologist. This will be an arduous task, but I know it is worth it. I want to be the representation that I so badly missed when I was a kid. This is coupled with my goal to help as many people as possible; to me, a successful day is making someone else smile. My innate goal for being a neurologist is to help people who need it the most and give their families the clarity they need. I want to engage in these goals by bringing the fun into medicine. One of my primary goals is to make a doctor's appointment with me have a positive connotation. This is because many people within my community are scared to even have routine appointments due to the connotations behind them. A better future does not have to wait until tomorrow. Therefore, a scholarship like this would help me with my goals to create a financial cushion. Diversity within our environments is needed, and I am going to be one of the people who changes that. The end goal is for there to be people who look and sound just like me being inspired by my story and efforts to have more people in our community be leaders in STEM, such as this scholarship. I want to lastly thank the Julia Elizabeth Legacy Scholarship group for going out of their way to help make the future a better place. Regardless of whatever decision I receive back, the opportunity for a scholarship, such as this one, means so much to our community.

Growing up my life was comfortable, but far from stable. Messy toxic relationships that seeped into my mental as well as my thought processes. Within this turbulent beginning, I managed to learn the value of the most important virtue in the world, kindness. Seeing my grandmother help the elderly, my mom work with people in specific medical fields, or watching my aunt be a principal of an alternative school, this created a profound interest in me. This then lead me slowly to my life's purpose, the want to help as many people as I can. Everyone you know, even the strongest of strong need support at times. We live in the midst of a mass population consisting of the elderly, these people need to be taking care of delicately akin to a newborn puppy. My passion is to help these people fight something that is an invisible enemy to them, neurological diseases. My future consists of two ways to combat this new neurological issue that will impact a myriad of lives. The first option is to do research: look at data, look within kingdoms that are not ours, look at ways to help better people or even better yet make sure they do not have to take that pain in. Research is rudimentary on the surface, however with the right determination behind it, anything can be plausible. As an example of research generating new discoveries, I found that Oyster Mushrooms grow better on paper than "feeding substrates" from my experiments. Alongside their age, I will look into how the climate crisis could create harmful damage to their nerves via the mass waste we produce. I can pursue this and change various lives with my findings, or go straight to the people in need myself. The doctor's office is a source of a foul mood to many people, this is largely due to a lack of patient-doctor interactions. The only time you hear a genuinely one-on-one conversation is when a needle is trying to find your vein for a disease to be stopped earlier within your body. The only real semblance of kindness you see is from the person at the front saying hi to you. However, it does not have to be this way nor should it. If I were to be a doctor, I would be interpersonal with my patients and give them that connection that we all desire within a world of internet. Working with these patients in that way will also better their lives that extra percentage more by giving them one less thing to stress about. Thank you so much for reading this, I hope I am able to win a scholarship from such an amazing program.

“Failure is the key to success” but you never understand that until you are at the bottom. Growing up in a house full of women, from birth you are taught the power of giving back. Whether it’s being there for people or tipping everyone you see, even when bills are mounting. I grew up with this philosophy in hand, however the biggest hurdle to giving back is when life was shut down. During this time my mom broke her foot leading to her having no source of income, I gained weight and that fear of falling kicked in. Failure is the key to success because it leads to a version of you that was handcrafted by someone, you. This rebuilding led to a new me, a me rejuvenated and radiating with their values. This lead to me slowly but surely finding my passion, helping people in need. This fermented from a thought to a passion by helping someone who became monumental in my development. She was brushed aside, left astray and told she would never make it in life. Working with her every single day started to make me find something, joy in helping others as well as watching them progress. Growing up I never felt in a puzzle, more so a piece that was an extra. She helped me mold into the vital corner piece that helped me a centerpiece. My goals for education is to be a doctor within the field of neurology. Whether that is research or as a doctor is something time and passion will tell. My goal within this is to help people feel less pain within their life. Within neurological problems there is an issue in which people can tend to lose feeling in limbs. This is something that if I were to do research I would pursue and try to find a new advancement to this solution. This matters to me because of how I have seen the effects of neurological damage to people I love. This will be an adventure where I will fail and rebuild continually, just like how our brains and our nerves develop by the jobs we take. Finances will always be another hurdle I must jump past in order to reach the finish line of helping others. This is where that scholarship will help with this challenge and make that hurdle 5 centimeters shorter. Growing up without a father and with a mother who taught me to hustle as much as you help has helped create a sense of belonging for my life which became the influence for this new me. Thank you for reading my essay I hope the next time we communicate will be something monumental.

College is a bubble that is grow at an exponential rate, so scholarships are of the upmost value for future endeavors. This scholarship will help me out in various ways. My goal is to make it into Medical School and receive my MD, so having this money will make a significant impact in lowering costs. To have the opportunity to win five thousand dollars for schooling would help solve various financial issues across my post-high school education. Making a positive impact within my community is one of the primary forces driving me to my career path. Growing up I was always told to lay a helping hand to whoever I meet, no matter their situation because even a smile helps a bad day. I participate within my community in numerous beneficial ways. I have spent 2 years in the New York State Mentoring program spending over 20 hours passing down knowledge to 5th graders. I have participated in the Tunnel to Tower event carrying the banners of people who are no longer with us today based on the actions of 9/11 and the resulting war on terror. I also participated in the Jones Beach Breast Cancer Walk which helps fundraise for breast cancer awareness. Having this scholarship means the world to me because that extra 4k will be 6k in interest that I don't have to pay in the future. Going into Pre-Med alone is very expensive due to the amount of classes you take as well as the amount of financial backing to get equipment/books/tuition. My mom works 2 jobs while taking college to make ends meet so any amount of money can help make her life significantly more clearer. With the money I can receive I will then spend it on bettering my community such as, examples stated above. I want to show the next generation that a Latino kid who came from a middle class family in a place that when you say you are you get a weird look, that the next generation can see a doctor who has limited student bills, so he spends time helping them how to tie their shoes. My interest in neurology was created by chance, a friend of mine told me they were swapping their major to be an eventual dental surgeon. The rationale behind it was that doctors need to bring back familiarity among patients, but what truly resonated with me was that the purpose was to help children with cleft chins. This then lead to me wanting to help others who need it most, in our society it is the elderly. One of the biggest risks to them is neurological problems, so I will make sure I do everything in my power for them to feel the warm embrace of hugging their child for that monumental additional second. I want to make sure those people get a longer, more peaceful life and this scholarship will helps me in various ways.

Growing up there was always a belief of me being the diamond in the rough. The idea of being of prodigy to the point everyone in my family invested in me. College always seemed the next step, but as I got older I started to think beyond their expectations and further. We are slowly approaching an era where there is rapidly rising medical problems among people of all ages and walks of life. Whether it is your little cousin who needs glasses, you having more medical visits per year, or someone older needing an elder care worker, everyone seems to be having problems. My passion in life is helping people and I will do that via my work as a neurologist. I want to help people with neurologically deteriorating conditions hug their moms, sisters, spouses, kids for an extra amount of time. I want to help someone who is paraplegic gradually gain the ability to move. The minute abilities that we think nothing of mean everything to someone. To have a passion is to maintain an ikigai, an ability to combine mind and soul into a task you enjoy. The world is science, especially the future and that world will improve ever so slightly via the money this scholarship creates for whoever receives it. Winning this scholarship proves that you care about the work that you will eventually do in the future. I've demonstrated an ability to care for others by participating in the New York State Mentoring Program, passing on knowledge to nine 5th graders across a 12 week period. I've shown an interest for caring about the people in need, such as when I walk in the Jones Beach 5K Breast Cancer Awareness Walk. I have volunteered as an explorer for the Brentwood Legion Ambulance across multiple years. What truly gave me the ability to pursue my future endeavors was because of a friend I met. I was going to be a psychologist and she was going to be a brain surgeon, that is until she changed her career path to being a dental surgeon. When I asked her for an elaboration she said she wanted to pursue this dream in order to better the lives of children who have cleft chins. This then inspired me to change my career into something that can impact people in a significantly more profound way for the rest of their life. Medical school as well as bills are not cheap, but with the money received from this scholarship I promise I will try to bring the "small town" level familiarity inti all of my patients and bring the anxiety out of a doctors' visit.

Growing up I was in a Dominican household where the cheers of bingo and the smell of rice and beans would permeate your mind. I was always told that I had immense potential but never knew what field to apply it to. One day when we all were dealing with masks my teacher clammered taking research to the point where I decided to. That one choice changed my life forever because it gave me a purpose. I went from not knowing to wanting to pursue a career in the STEM field. Writing papers, citing sources, and doing results in excel files helped find what I want to do. My goal is to be a neurologist and help the people who need it most. I have met so many people who suffer problems mentally but people “never get it”. I want to make their grievances heard and know that they have a voice. The research I would be able to conduct comes back to comfort. Whether it is hearing “BINGO” on a Sunday night or being in your room while that occurs, everyone has their own version of comfort. However I want people to have comfort with whatever they struggle with mentally. This is alongside the fact that I want people younger than me to see someone who looks like them be in a situation where you spend thousands of hours of hard work and that it can pay off. My goal will take time but the desire to help someone, the euphoria of seeing a smile after doing a significant amount of effort motivates me exponentially to reach my goal. Most people see a student from Brentwood High School and believe they can not make it, they want their communities to “Not be a Brentwood” and I want to change that. I want to show that someone from a predominantly Latino school district, a place where every store you go to someone speaks Spanish can produce someone special. With the money received from this scholarship my goals will be significantly closer to achieve because my family is not rich. My mom had to stop her goals of college in order to raise me which led to a change in my life where I could not always get everything. The sacrifices she made for me I want to pay back with my work to the point where she has a house in her name thanks to work that I accomplished. Everyone has a “why” behind what they do which is a phrase Dr. Rebecca Grella PhD told me. My way is to help and with this scholarship I would be able to achieve my goal thank you to whoever is on the receiving end of this essay for trying to help out people like me. Saying it means the world would be underselling the work here that is being done.

My passion for stem originates from the kitchen table. My mother works for a subsidiary of NYU and my grandma worked for an elder care center. Seeing them try and help the people who need it most inspired me. My dream is to be a neurologist and I realized I am capable of this via the research I conducted for the Regeneron Science Talent Search. I worked for a problem that plagues New York, trash and specifically ways we can break down cardboard and paper waste. The way I attempted to capitalize on this is to use mycelia specifically Oyster Mushrooms(P.ostreatus) to degrade this material. The methodology of this experiment, pressure and time helped me realize that research is something I am capable of doing with passion. The more ImageJ analysis of photos taken from a scanning electron microscope the more I realized the desire from it. Even when it was feeling near impossible I made it possible. My biggest goal even if it is something that isn’t a drug is a way to help people. The best gratification to me is helping people especially people in need. The results of the experiment showed a positive correlation between P.ostreatus and the waste of paper and cardboard. This all has helped unlock a new stage in my life. All the time spent on research I can see in the future being spent on neurological research. This all goes full circle to the idea of being the one who gives comfort to people. If I can change one person psychologically for the better I will consider my entire career path being worth everything. We live in a society in which there is less uniqueness and more so numbers and systems. I want whoever I work with even if I swap from Neurological research to just working in a hospital the idea still seems the same. Make sure that every patient that I work with understands their value and understands that they have worth. Even if they do something I did not know existed 5 minutes before the process of care is worth more than any monetary value. All this information I will use to help boost the standard of my community as well as the reputation. Where I’m from to many people is seen as a negative due to the fact that the majority of people are minorities and people are of color. I want to show them that someone who looks like them, grew up like them can push themselves to the point they can be like me. This applied to the desire to help people makes me want to go medical field and help people in the most complex amount of their body.