1. My name is Ainara Chaparro. I am a freshman studying Psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. I am a first-generation American, born to Hispanic immigrants. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my friends, swimming, and singing. I have a part-time job at a concert venue in the city while at school, and in the summer, I am lifeguard at a lake near my house. I am a hard worker and have had a job since I was 13. 2. This scholarship will help me fund my college career. I am paying for college by myself, through scholarships and my savings. My parents are divorced, and I live with my mother. She does not make nearly enough money to support me but she tries to contribute as much as she can and wants me to succeed. My father does not financially support me at all. I hope to get through my undergraduate studies debt-free so I can continue towards my future and achieve my goals. 3. As a psychology major, I plan to attend graduate school and become a licensed psychologist. I just finished my first semester of my undergraduate career with a 4.0 GPA, and plan to keep my grades up as much as possible. I am also a part of my school’s Honor’s College. 4. How have you contributed to your community? I have contributed to my community in numerous ways. Recently, I have volunteered at my school’s food pantry, which is a non-profit organization that provides food for students living on campus and families living nearby who may not have access to the nutritious food they need. I have also volunteered at Grace Centers of Hope, a homeless shelter near my hometown. There, I prepare and serve food to residents and can see how happy they are to have a warm, home-cooked meal served to them by volunteers. My high school also participated in an event called Caring and Sharing, where we all come together and donate to a cause. Last year, we made blankets and raised money for children in hospitals to brighten their day in the dreadful hospital rooms. 5. In high school, I decided to join the swim team. I had been swimming since I was 11, and it was my dream to do so. As someone anxious, I would often talk- a lot- about my knowledge of the sport in a weak attempt to make friends. I ran for team captain both my junior and senior years- and lost, twice. I often was negative about us losing and felt disappointed when my teammates did not live up to my expectations. Now that I am older, I realize that I should not have been so cocky and should have let other’s learn from the coaches. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself not to seem so desperate for attention and just be myself rather than wanting everyone to like me, which didn’t end up happening anyways. I learned that I should not talk so much and should let others like me for who I am- not for the skills I have. 6. My greatest strengths are my ability to listen and give advice to others. I often help my friends by talking them through their problems and helping them understand what steps they can take to get through those difficult times. Being able to listen is important and allows me to center myself and become a better version of myself.

In the past year, I was diagnosed with depression. This is an ongoing battle I have been fighting my whole life. As a child, I always had a negative mindset and didn’t know why until I was diagnosed. Being depressed makes everyday menial tasks much more difficult than they have to be. It causes you to think about everything, including yourself, negatively. My depression even caused me to have thoughts of suicide and self-harm, which made my chaotic life that much more difficult. Having to deal with this, in addition to my parent’s divorce, caused me an added layer of stress in my youth. It complicated my relationship with my mom, who is the only person in my life who has always supported me no matter what. My mom also has depression, making this even more difficult for both of us. We constantly argued, never seeming to see eye to eye. This made my youth extremely difficult and kept me from getting help as I did not feel as though I could talk to my mom, who was my only support system. I have always been what some might call an “over-achiever”. I aimed to get straight A’s, longed for academic recognition, and did as many clubs and after-school activities as I could. However, as I got older, my depression began to get in the way of my hobbies. I often felt the need to stay home, not go to school, not do my homework or study, and not talk to my friends. In addition, as a young woman, it was difficult to see myself as “good enough” when people constantly told me otherwise. My depression made me believe all of these comments. This caused me immense displeasure as I hated getting dressed to go to school and didn’t like how my clothes fit. I hated my body, which, in turn, caused me to hate myself more than I already did. Depression caused me always to find something to criticize: whether it was my body, my hair, my face, or even my outfit. I was never satisfied with how I looked or felt. Having depression is not easy. People often think that nothing is wrong if there is an issue they cannot see from the outside. However, depression is so much more than a mental health illness: it is a state of mind. It affects everything you do and everyone around you while causing you to lose friends, relationships, even family. My mother and I still have a rocky relationship, but with time, we have been able to learn how to cope with our illnesses and begin to mend it. Struggling with depression my whole life has been complicated while having high aspirations. Having a mental health illness has made it very difficult for me to have the motivation to go to class and try my best. Nevertheless, I am about to finish my first semester in college with a GPA of 4.0, as well as being a whole year ahead of my other classmates. I have always tried my best to push past these feelings of depression and achieve my full potential, but it is hard to do so when I am constantly feeling like I’ll never be good enough. This also makes it difficult to work a part-time job and continue participating in the activities I was to partake in. I continue to work hard towards my goals even when it gets difficult in hopes that, one day, I will be able to bring awareness to the stigma surrounding mental health illnesses.

My career goal for the future is to help others through their journey with mental health problems. I aspire to be a psychologist in the future and be able to change lives by offering affordable therapy for marginalized communities. To do this, I am majoring in psychology and plan to attend graduate school to further my studies in this field. I aim to be financially independent and graduate college and grad school debt-free. To work towards this, I have been working a part-time job during the academic year since I was 14 and full-time over the summer. I have also kept my grades up: I graduated high school at the top of my class and maintained straight A’s to get as many scholarships as I could to fund my education without the money having to come out of my savings. Struggling with depression, my whole life has been complicated while having high aspirations. Having a mental health illness has made it very difficult for me to have the motivation to go to class and try my best. Nevertheless, I am about to finish my first semester in college with a GPA of 4.0, as well as being a whole year ahead of my other classmates. I have always tried my best to push past these feelings of depression and achieve my full potential, but it is hard to do so when I am constantly feeling like I’ll never be good enough. This also makes it difficult to work a part-time job and continue participating in the activities I was to partake in. I continue to work hard towards my goals even when it gets difficult in hopes that, one day, I will be able to bring awareness to the stigma surrounding mental health illnesses. As a Hispanic woman, I am not always taken seriously. This causes me to have to work a lot harder to have my voice heard than others do. Specifically, when it comes to my health, doctors often overlook my problems and tell me my issues will pass without giving me the proper treatment or care. This has also made it take longer for me to get the correct medications for my depression. It took me until age 17 to get the mental health care I needed, and having to try out different medications to find the right one often made me feel worse. Having to work harder to accomplish the same goals that other people get handed to them is difficult, but I am determined to bring awareness to these problems that women and minorities face in healthcare. I wish to help make therapy and medications more accessible for these marginalized communities. When I was younger, I didn’t see any healthcare providers that looked like me. I hope to change this for future generations, so they know I understand their struggles and want the best for them and our community. I aspire to be a psychologist and be able to provide more affordable and accessible care to these minority groups and marginalized communities so they can live a prosperous life, too.

My experience with adversity, both physical and mental, has influenced me immensely when deciding the career I want to pursue. As someone who has struggled with mental health challenges my whole life, I have a deep understanding of the hardships faced by those who have been through them. In addition, my parent’s divorce made it even more difficult for me to get through this. While I am still learning how to navigate these difficult situations myself, I know I want to make a difference in my career to support others who have had to go through similar struggles with their mental health. Since my youth, I’ve always had a negative outlook on life. I always considered the glass half empty and chose to dwell on the negative aspects of everything rather than the good. My parents and I didn’t realize how much this impacted my relationships with family, but as I got older, it became more difficult to present myself as happy in social situations. There were often times when I would be so negative that my parents wouldn’t want to hear me talk any longer and would send me to my room so I’d stop bothering them. Little did we know this was my depression showing itself to the world. The problem got drastically worse in the year 2020. In addition to the pandemic, allowing me to sulk in my sadness more than ever before, my parents announced that they were getting a divorce. I spent a lot of time alone in my room, crying and thinking I had done something to prompt my parents’ decision, which only allowed my depression to fester even further. I remember sitting alone, crying, not knowing why. Why me? I often thought that I would be better off dead and that nobody would care if I was gone. This is not a pleasant feeling and nobody deserves to have to go through this without the proper care. That same year, I began going to therapy, and not long after I started taking medication in hopes of it making a difference. While it hasn’t been linear, It has made some sort of a positive impact on my life. However, depression cannot be erased, so I often find myself deep in the dumps regardless of all the work I have done to better myself. This is frustrating as it makes me feel like I am worthless and like it will never get better. This needs to change so we can fight the stigma surrounding mental health. As soon as I applied for college, it was clear that studying psychology was the right choice for me. Choosing this career path will allow me to continue learning about myself and my mental health as well as being able to assist others with their journeys. I am a firm believer that mental health care should be accessible to everyone. While I have only just begun my career in psychology, I plan to bring light to mental health and help people learn that they don’t have to suffer alone, and shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help. I want to go to grad school and work in the mental health field to help bring awareness to the daily struggles some of us face in hopes that one day we will be able to get the care we need to live our lives free from suffering.

My career goal for the future is to help others through their journey with mental health problems. I aspire to be a psychologist in the future and be able to change lives by offering affordable therapy for marginalized communities. To do this, I am majoring in psychology and plan to attend graduate school to further my studies in this field. I aim to be financially independent and graduate college and grad school debt-free. To work towards this, I have been working a part-time job during the academic year since I was 14 and full-time over the summer. I have also kept my grades up: I graduated high school at the top of my class and maintained straight A’s to get as many scholarships as I could to fund my education without the money having to come out of my savings. Struggling with depression my whole life has been complicated while having high aspirations. Having a mental health illness has made it very difficult for me to have the motivation to go to class and try my best. Nevertheless, I am about to finish my first semester in college with a GPA of 4.0, as well as being a whole year ahead of my other classmates. I have always tried my best to push past these feelings of depression and achieve my full potential, but it is hard to do so when I am constantly feeling like I’ll never be good enough. This also makes it difficult to work a part-time job and continue participating in the activities I was to partake in. I continue to work hard towards my goals even when it gets difficult in hopes that, one day, I will be able to bring awareness to the stigma surrounding mental health illnesses. As a Hispanic woman, I am not always taken seriously. This causes me to have to work a lot harder to have my voice heard than others do. Specifically, when it comes to my health, doctors often overlook my problems and tell me my issues will pass without giving me the proper treatment or care. This has also made it take longer for me to get the correct medications for my depression. It took me until age 17 to get the mental health care I needed, and having to try out different medications to find the right one often made me feel worse. Having to work harder to accomplish the same goals that other people get handed to them is difficult, but I am determined to bring awareness to these problems that women and minorities face in healthcare. I wish to help make therapy and medications more accessible for these marginalized communities. When I was younger, I didn’t see any healthcare providers that looked like me. I hope to change this for future generations so they know I understand their struggles and want the best for them and our community. I aspire to be a psychologist and be able to provide more affordable care to these minority groups and marginalized communities so they can live a prosperous life and have access to the mental health resources they deserve.

In the past year, I was diagnosed with depression. This is an ongoing battle I have been fighting my whole life. As a child, I always had a negative mindset and didn’t know why until I was diagnosed. Being depressed makes everyday menial tasks much more difficult than they have to be. It causes you to think about everything, including yourself, negatively. My depression even caused me to have thoughts of suicide and self-harm, which made my chaotic life that much more difficult. Having to deal with this, in addition to my parent’s divorce, caused me an added layer of stress in my youth. It complicated my relationship with my mom, who is the only person in my life who has always supported me no matter what. My mom also has depression, making this even more difficult for both of us. We constantly argued, never seeming to see eye to eye. This made my youth extremely difficult and kept me from getting help, as I did not feel as though I could talk to my mom, who was my only support system. I have always been what some might call an “over-achiever.” I aimed to get straight A’s, longed for academic recognition, and did as many clubs and after-school activities as I could. However, as I got older, my depression began to get in the way of my hobbies. I often felt the need to stay home, not go to school, not do my homework or study, and not talk to my friends. In addition, as a young woman, it was difficult to see myself as “good enough” when people constantly told me otherwise. My depression made me believe all of these comments. This caused me immense displeasure as I hated getting dressed to go to school and didn’t like how my clothes fit. I hated my body, which, in turn, caused me to hate myself more than I already did. Depression caused me always to find something to criticize, whether it was my body, my hair, my face, or even my outfit. I was never satisfied with how I looked or felt, causing me to lose hope in myself and what I could achieve. Having depression is not easy. People often think that nothing is wrong if there is an issue they cannot see from the outside. However, depression is so much more than a mental health illness; it is a state of mind. It affects everything you do and everyone around you while causing you to lose friends, relationships, even family. My mother and I still have a rocky relationship, but with time, we have been able to learn how to cope with our illnesses and begin to mend it. I have chosen to study psychology in hopes of one day becoming a licensed psychologist. I hope to help others who have gone through what I have without having to worry about whether they have someone to go to with their feelings. Teens, specifically, should have access to resources that will help them understand that they are not alone and learn how to manage their illnesses through healthy approaches. Becoming a psychologist will allow me to learn more about myself and continue healing while also giving others advice from my experiences so that they, too, can continue to live their lives to the fullest.

My career goal for the future is to help others through their journey with mental health problems. I aspire to be a psychologist in the future and be able to change lives by offering affordable therapy for marginalized communities. To do this, I am majoring in psychology and plan to attend graduate school to further my studies in this field. I aim to be financially independent and graduate college and grad school debt-free. To work towards this, I have been working a part-time job during the academic year since I was 14 and full-time over the summer. I have also kept my grades up: I graduated high school at the top of my class and maintained straight A’s to get as many scholarships as I could to fund my education without the money having to come out of my savings. Struggling with depression, my whole life has been complicated while having high aspirations. Having a mental health illness has made it very difficult for me to have the motivation to go to class and try my best. Nevertheless, I am about to finish my first semester in college with a GPA of 4.0, as well as being a whole year ahead of my other classmates. I have always tried my best to push past these feelings of depression and achieve my full potential, but it is hard to do so when I am constantly feeling like I’ll never be good enough. This also makes it difficult to work a part-time job and continue participating in the activities I was to partake in. I continue to work hard towards my goals even when it gets difficult in hopes that, one day, I will be able to bring awareness to the stigma surrounding mental health illnesses. As a Hispanic woman, I am not always taken seriously. This causes me to have to work a lot harder to have my voice heard than others do. Specifically, when it comes to my health, doctors often overlook my problems and tell me my issues will pass without giving me the proper treatment or care. This has also made it take longer for me to get the correct medications for my depression. It took me until age 17 to get the mental health care I needed, and having to try out different medications to find the right one often made me feel worse. Having to work harder to accomplish the same goals that other people get handed to them is difficult, but I am determined to bring awareness to these problems that women and minorities face in healthcare. I wish to help make therapy and medications more accessible for these marginalized communities. When I was younger, I didn’t see any healthcare providers that looked like me. I hope to change this for future generations, so they know I understand their struggles and want the best for them and our community. I aspire to be a psychologist and be able to provide more affordable and accessible care to these minority groups and marginalized communities so they can live a prosperous life, too.

In the past year, I was diagnosed with depression. This is an ongoing battle I have been fighting my whole life. As a child, I always had a negative mindset and didn’t know why until I was diagnosed. Being depressed makes everyday menial tasks much more difficult than they have to be. It causes you to think about everything, including yourself, negatively. My depression even caused me to have thoughts of suicide and self-harm, which made my chaotic life that much more difficult. Having to deal with this, in addition to my parent’s divorce, caused me an added layer of stress in my youth. Nevertheless, I persevered, and my mental health has never been better. As a woman, it is difficult to see yourself as “good enough” when you constantly have people telling you otherwise. The media, your family members, and even other women. Adding to that, my depression made me believe all of these comments. As a child, you don’t realize how important it is to be kind to yourself and give yourself grace. I hated my body throughout most of my youth, which, in turn, caused me to hate myself. I was an active kid who did many activities and sports and had a slim, athletic build, but that still wasn’t enough for me. I always would find something to criticize, whether it was my body, my hair, my face, or even my outfit. Often, I would compare myself to others, finding issues with myself I didn’t even know I had. It wasn’t until recently that I learned to love myself. Even after years of therapy and counseling, taking medication was the step that has allowed me to move past my depressive state and begin to accept myself the way I am. The journey with my mental health has not been linear. I still have days where I wake up, decide I hate my life and want to just rot in bed and skip my classes. Despite this, I make my best effort to get up, wash my face, and go on with my day. I can’t give medication all the credit, as I still have to make a conscious effort to choose to move past these feelings of sadness; however, it has helped me grow as a person and learn more about myself and my emotions. As a psychology major, studying a topic that is so close to my personal experiences allows me to continue learning about myself while also learning how to help others. Overall, my quality of life has drastically improved through my efforts. Going to therapy, taking medication, and studying psychology have all allowed me to improve my life with a mental health illness. Moving forward, I plan to go to graduate school and continue my studies in psychology. I will use this degree to help support others who have gone through mental health challenges such as mine and help them move past their hardships to have a better quality of life. I hope to be a therapist and bring awareness to the difficulties caused by mental health disorders. I want to end the stigma around mental health in hopes that one day, healthcare access for these illnesses will be more accessible, and it will be easier for the ones suffering to ask for help.

I have chosen to major in psychology because I have always been interested in mental health and learning about why the human brain is the way it is. As someone who has been diagnosed with depression and is currently taking medication in addition to going to therapy, I understand how important it is to have access to affordable healthcare and the treatment you need. I hope to go to graduate school after earning my bachelor’s degree to further my education in the mental health field. I plan on studying to become a psychologist, which takes a lot of time, effort, and financial stability. Winning this scholarship will help me take a small step toward achieving my goal. As a psychologist, I will be able to use my own experiences to help others achieve a happier and healthier life. I hope to end the stigma surrounding mental health and help people realize that they are more than their diagnoses and that they can live their lives to the fullest despite the challenges they encounter.

My mental health has a great impact on my academic performance and personal life as I attend school. As someone who is diagnosed with depression, my mental health makes it very difficult to feel motivated and want to go to class. Oftentimes, it makes me want to lay in bed all day and not even think about the piles of homework that I have waiting for me. This makes it very difficult to get good grades and participate. However, I have never let this stop me from striving for excellence. By majoring in psychology, I can familiarize myself with mental health. This allows me to learn more about my career and myself in the process. Being able to learn about different ways I can support others helps me be mindful and keeps me aware of how I can better support myself in addition. Studying this field allows me to use my knowledge and personal experiences to support others who are struggling with their mental health as well. I take many steps to prioritize my mental health while juggling so many responsibilities. One of these ways is allowing myself to take breaks when I get too overwhelmed. I do this by listening to music, going for drives, and taking long showers. This allows me to collect my thoughts and gives me an outlet for any negative emotions I have been feeling. In addition, I have joined my school’s club swim team, which allows me to boost my endorphins through healthy exercise and takes my mind off the stressors of my everyday life. I am also a part of the a cappella group at my school. Although I am studying psychology, as someone who has loved singing her whole life, it helps me keep doing what I love without the commitment and stress. I also attend monthly sessions with my psychologist. Therapy keeps me grounded and self-aware of what I need to work on for myself and what steps I can take to do so. My mental health is very important to me, and I continue to make small steps towards living a healthier, happier life. As a freshman with a part-time job who is paying her tuition, winning this scholarship would help me have the resources to continue to prioritize my academic success and mental well-being. I hope to go to graduate school in the future and continue my studies in mental health and psychology. One day, I hope to become a psychologist so I can help others learn how to prioritize their mental health while also achieving academic success.

According to the American Psychological Association, only about 5% of psychologists nationwide identify as Hispanic, meaning there are only about 5,000 nationwide. However, the Hispanic and Latino community makes up about 20% of the United States population. This is not nearly enough to be able to provide everyone in the community with a therapist that matches their background. In addition, there is a huge language barrier surrounding the Spanish-speaking population in the United States, which makes it even more difficult for the Hispanic community to receive the mental health care they need. As a native speaker of Spanish, I understand how important it is to express yourself in your native language, as it can enable you to be more specific and emotional. Having been diagnosed with depression myself, I am well aware of the difficulties surrounding mental health issues and the stigma around them, especially as a woman of Hispanic heritage. Living with a mental health illness is extremely difficult, and it can be hard to ask for help, fearing you won’t be taken seriously. In the Hispanic community, there is a huge stigma surrounding mental illnesses, with people constantly calling you weak or crazy for wanting to get help. This needs to change, and with the lack of Hispanic healthcare providers in the psychology field, it will take a long time to get there. However, I plan on taking the steps to get us closer to achieving this. As a psychologist, I will be able to create a positive impact on my community by helping the Hispanic youth of today understand that they are not alone and that it is okay to ask for help. As someone who has been going to therapy for over 5 years now, I recognize the benefits of being able to talk through one's problems with a licensed professional who will be able to assist them in navigating these times. We need to be able to provide care for these marginalized communities who have never been able to see someone who looks like them in a professional setting.  There are many actions I can take now to help create a positive impact on mental health. These include spreading awareness around mental health illness and making sure my community understands that they should not be ashamed to get help. As a freshman in college, I still have a long way to go, but I plan to join my university’s Psi Chi Honors Society chapter as soon as I’m eligible in the second semester of my sophomore year. I am also a part of the mental health matters club at my school. This club aims to bring positivity to our community and remind everyone that it is okay not to be okay sometimes and that asking for help is something they shouldn’t be ashamed of. I plan to go to graduate school and become a therapist in the future so I can use my knowledge of mental health to help improve the lives of others.

My experience with mental health has influenced me immensely when deciding the career I want to pursue. As someone who has struggled with mental health challenges my whole life, I have a deep understanding of the hardships faced by those who have been through them. While I still learning how to navigate these difficult situations myself, I know I want to make a difference in my career to support others who have had to go through similar struggles with their mental health. Since my youth, I’ve always had a negative outlook on life. I always considered the glass half empty and chose to dwell on the negative aspects of everything rather than the good. My parents and I didn’t realize how much this impacted my relationships with family, but as I got older, it became more difficult to present myself as happy in social situations. There were often times when I would be so negative that my parents wouldn’t want to hear me talk any longer and would send me to my room so I’d stop bothering them. Little did we know this was my depression showing itself to the world. The problem got drastically worse in the year 2020. In addition to the pandemic, allowing me to sulk in my sadness more than ever before, my parents announced that they were getting a divorce. I spent a lot of time alone in my room, crying and thinking I had done something to prompt my parents’ decision, which only allowed my depression to fester even further. I remember sitting alone, crying, not knowing why. Why me? I often thought that I would be better off dead and that nobody would care if I was gone. This is not a pleasant feeling and nobody deserves to have to go through this without the proper care. That same year, I began going to therapy, and not long after I started taking medication in hopes of it making a difference. While it hasn’t been linear, It has made some sort of a positive impact on my life. However, depression cannot be erased, so I often find myself deep in the dumps regardless of all the work I have done to better myself. This is frustrating as it makes me feel like I am worthless and like it will never get better. This needs to change so we can fight the stigma surrounding mental health. As soon as I applied for college, it was clear that studying psychology was what I wanted to do. Choosing this career path will allow me to continue learning about myself and my mental health as well as being able to assist others with their journeys. I am a firm believer that mental health care should be accessible to everyone. While I have only just begun my career in psychology, I plan to bring light to mental health and help people learn that they don’t have to suffer alone, and shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help. I want to go to grad school and work in the mental health field to help bring awareness to the daily struggles some of us face in hopes that one day we will be able to get the care we need to live our lives free from suffering.