I have spent the last seven years serving a cause that I believed was greater than myself. A large motivation when I initially joined the Army was to protect my family and friends and serve the country I call home; since that time my views towards the military have changed but not my desire to help others. I have seen how military service can affect individuals for the rest of their lives and I would like to pivot and help my veteran community. I am going to school for my doctorate in physical therapy and I am excited with the prospects this change in careers can bring. I plan on eventually opening my own clinic to focus on outdoor recreationists, like hikers, climbers, kayakers, runners, and similar hobbyists. With my own clinic I will be able to avoid the constraints that current health insurance places on providers; I will be able to have my patients pay only for the services they need and set the amount of time they would like to be with a provider. I also would like to initiate my own nonprofit focusing on veteran integration into the outdoor community. Many service members join the military directly out of high school and they do not have the opportunity to learn hobbies that will carry them as they age. I was fortunate during my undergraduate education that my school had a rock wall and a vibrant climbing community; I have been able to find my people in each city I move to just by going to the local climbing gym. I hope that by offering beginner classes directly for veterans I can build a stronger community where we can talk about struggles and successes after our service concludes. As a physical therapist I am in the unique position to provide physical rehabilitation for any injuries, military-related or new, and I would like to share preventative training techniques with folks who are new to outdoor recreation. I believe that being outside just by itself is so healing and when you find an activity that you love that can be taken outside it will only improve quality of life. This is something that I am passionate about and I hope to share everything I have learned with my fellow veterans. I know an organization with this goal would benefit me and my veteran partner and I hope that we can share that with our community.

My ultimate goal is to build an organization that will train fitness, rehabilitate injuries, and develop a community. I am in school for my Doctorate of Physical Therapy and I plan on specializing in sports after graduation. With this I would like to work with outdoor recreationists; specifically rock climbers. I have done some research, and my goal is to open my own clinic. After I have a physical therapy clinic, there is opportunities to expand and have an attached gym with trainers and an annual climbing festival. My plan is for this business to be a one-stop shop for climbers; they can see me when they are experiencing setbacks due to injury, after they have recovered I can transfer care to a strength and conditioning coach to prevent future injuries and aid in their training, and of course there would be a physical gym to work out of. I believe a handover between rehabilitation and prevention is the way that the medical world is moving; especially with the cooperation between the National Physical Therapy Association and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. I would like to encourage that cooperation and allow my patients to seek out care the minute they experience an injury instead of having to get referrals and wait for availability. I plan on running my clinic as "cash only" to facilitate this process and bypass the antiquated insurance requirements. The best way I can imagine to positively impact my community will be through the gym and climbing festival. These both have fairly low barriers to entry: just the price of admission, and they have the opportunity to teach new skills, introduce participants to each other from all walks of life, and encourage healthy movement. I have loved seeing climbing become more accessible in recent years; many gyms have affinity groups for minority climbers and aid is more widely used for physical disabilities. I hope to encourage both of these in my gym as I believe different perspectives are a great strength. I have been fortunate to attend a few climbing festivals, and I always feel refreshed and inspired at the end of the weekend; I would like to enable this same feeling for a larger community, and I would like to implement my own ideas. I am excited to one day build my enterprise that climbers will be able to return to with their families and friends and improve the hobby that they love.

I am fortunate to have strong relationships with a variety of purposes; many of my relationships have shaped me into the person I am today and I am excited to see how these relationships will develop as I change careers and go back to school. I am considering three main relationship types as I look toward my long-term goals: romantic, familial, and friendships. I met my fiance about three years ago and we quickly discovered that we had so much in common; including that we grew up twenty minutes away from each other! I am looking forward to my future with him as we are planning our wedding and how the next few years of our lives will look. Our wedding will be the summer after my second year of graduate school and I am so lucky that I will have him to support me during school; I know I will be busy with studying so he is going to take on a fulltime job and help support the home, the role I have been in while he was finishing his undergraduate degree. I anticipate our relationship ebbing and flowing like that in the future with each of us taking turns being breadwinners or working on self-improvement. I know when the time comes to grow our family, we will be able to continue supporting each other emotionally and financially. I do not consider my family to be extremely close but that may just be because I live 13 hours away. My sister is geographically close to my parents, and she sees them often, along with her husband and sons. I am fortunate that my parents are able to support me in many ways; when I took on the challenge of renovating my first home, my father traveled to help with some of the heavy lifting. I am looking forward to the future because leaving the Army means that I will be able to travel home to see my family more frequently; I will not miss out on the big events like my nephews' birthdays and holidays, and I am so excited to see how our family traditions evolve with my nephews and my fiancé added! I am most excited to develop my friendship relationships in the next few years; the friends I have made in the military have been good but its typically not long-lasting relationships. I take a lot of pride in still being in contact with the group of friends I had in high school; we have all moved across the country and some have gotten married or started careers, but we make a point to talk frequently and make time to see each other when we visit home for the holidays. I am looking forward to building close friendships and I have already found some within my cohort. It will be so helpful to be friends with people who have similar career goals and hobbies as me. I believe that it is impossible to live life without a community and I cannot wait to build mine. I want to be there for my friends, and I hope that in return I will have support from them. These three facets of relationships will each have moments of greater importance throughout the future; I am entering the era of building friendships, and I am looking forward to refocusing on my familial relationships after graduation. If everything goes well, in five years or so I will be able to add a new aspect to my romantic relationship as we look towards expanding our own family.

I have been drawn to a career in healthcare since I first learned about anatomy in my middle school ballet class. I learned about the muscles that worked to allow us to dance and I wanted to learn more so I started looking up careers dealing with anatomy and physiology and the movement of the human body; I found physical therapy and completed a school report on the requirements to be a physical therapist, what the day-to-day looked like, and other outcomes and since then I have been working to be a physical therapist myself. My progress has been a bit slow and unconventional; in high school I confirmed that I wanted to work in healthcare by taking a Certified Nursing Assistant class and earning my state certification. The clinical experience I gained helped me realize how much of healthcare is just talking to people and being there for them and I loved it. I continued to gain experience in and around the healthcare field during college through my senior year internship and observing a local physical therapist. I took a different path than expected by joining Army ROTC in college to support the cost of education; even though my career in the Army has not been in the medical field, I have still pursued experiences adjacent to healthcare. During my undergraduate I spent a month at an internship with the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Lab learning about the development of technology to protect pilots and shadowing flight paramedics. Since I have commissioned, I have taken the Army Tactical Combat Casualty Care class, worked directly with my medic to practice skills, and I was selected to attend a specialized Prolonged Field Care course. My last action in the Army was to enroll in an Emergency Medical Technician course as a part of the Skillbridge program so that I will have a current certification as I shift focus from my military career to going back to school for physical therapy. I have been an such a variety of settings by this point, and it has always struck me how fields can change based on the gender majority. One of the reasons I am leaving the Army is because it is a male-dominated career and as much as I want to be part of the change to encourage women that they are capable of anything, it began to affect my mental well-being. As an individual, I am unable to change the opinions or the culture of a majority of the Army. I still want to work towards change, however, and I believe the best way for me to do that is by getting out and pursuing higher education and getting back on track with my career goals. As a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a civilian I will be able to speak on my experiences in the military; I am eager to connect with the upcoming generations of female Soldiers and encourage them to make the changes I could not. Throughout the majority of my life, a desire to work in healthcare has been one constant. I know that I want to help people and I can best do that through physical therapy. I want to share my story and my experiences and be the person that I wish I had when I was younger; if I can inspire my younger self then I will be accomplished.

During high school I had the opportunity to take a Certified Nursing Assistant course, and I eventually earned my Illinois state license as a CNA. We completed clinicals at a nearby nursing home and since then I have worked with geriatric patients many times. Prior to my clinicals, the only time I had been around geriatrics was visiting great grandparents up until they passed away. I was scared going into clinicals because I was unsure what to expect; all I remembered about assisted living homes was the smell and residents who acted more like zombies than people. The first few days were just affirming my memory but then I began to actually care for the residents and it changed the way I thought about healthcare. The nursing home residents were always excited when I would come in to take their vitals; it was never a quick exchange; I would end up staying and chatting with them about their family or their plans for the day. It took some time, but I developed my empathy for the patients I saw, I could understand their frustrations about living in a healthcare facility, rarely seeing loved ones, and not being able to enjoy new experiences. I saw how my classmates interacted with our patients, and I realized that not everyone is suited to work with every population; some students could not relate to the geriatrics but stood out when we had clinicals at the assisted living community for young adults with mental disabilities. During my undergraduate degree I had an internship working at a local hospital with cardiac rehabilitation patients; the group majority was 65- to 80-year-old men, and I looked forward to leading their fitness class. I have seen some providers act strangely around older patients, but my approach has been to treat them like anyone else I interact with, I like to make jokes with them and talk about their interests, and I have seen how much they are willing to open up and work with me. The greatest lesson I have learned is to be a decent human being and the rest will fall into place. I want to be a medical provider who is welcoming to whoever my patient is; I strive to build an inclusive practice when I am a professional. I am looking forward to clinicals during physical therapy school because it will give me the opportunity to see a variety of settings and populations. I would like to specialize in sports physical therapy to work with athletes, but I am open to other populations, especially geriatrics!

I have been struggling with anxiety for as long as I can remember. I have always been nervous about new situations and things that I cannot control. It has only gotten worse in recent years as I have been in the military; when a situation goes wrong or not according to plan there have been real consequences that just affirm my anxiety to begin with. Now that I am transitioning out of the military and starting school again I have so many more things to be anxious about. At times, it feels like I have a never-ending to-do list scrolling through my head; each task has subsequent sub-tasks that just make everyday life seem impossible. I have been prescribed antidepressants to manage my anxiety but the side effects from those were too unbearable to be outweighed by the benefit. I am scared that my mental health will affect my performance in my graduate program. I was recently diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in addition to anxiety and even though there is some relief in having a definitive diagnosis, I am terrified of what that means for my future. I have so many unanswered questions; mainly, will I ever be truly happy again? I have goals that I want to achieve in my life but I am terrified that I still will feel empty and unfulfilled. I know that treatment is possible but I have yet to find a therapist who I am comfortable telling everything to and who will listen without judgement. Recently I attended the Alabama Potluck; a weekend rock-climbing festival that welcomed minority groups and disabled athletes to camp and attend clinics on a variety of skills. It was the most welcomed I have felt in awhile. The founder started the festival as a way to encourage LGBTQIA+ folks to find their community and he has since opened it up to BIPOC and disabled communities along with allies. I met some wheelchair athletes who compete in climbing competitions as well as other veterans who enjoy climbing and being outside. I wish that I could stay in those moments but it has absolutely inspired me to search out more opportunities to find community and maybe I will be able to start my own festival in the future. I am returning to school to earn my doctorate of physical therapy and I hope to specialize in sports, with a focus on outdoor sports like rock climbing. With this degree I will have the ability to give back and if I can help just one person feel included then I will be successful.

When it comes to disabled veterans, it can be a completely different community than the general disabled population. By serving in the military, I have experienced a mental shift that I can only relate to other veterans and service members who were once willing to give up their lives for a cause. I was an engineer officer in the Army and while that is a “combat arms” occupation, I am not a combat veteran. The only deployment I went on was to Italy and Tunisia and I stayed in a villa and a five-star hotel, respectively. My traumatic stress was actually before I deployed; I have experienced military sexual trauma (MST) in every job I have had. I dealt with Commanders who did not respect me because I was a female and accused me of sleeping around, I had Soldiers message me after I left units with suggestive comments, and I had coworkers assault me. These events have affected my life and made me fearful to be close with service members. I hate being in crowds because it reminds me of past events and it is challenging to enjoy celebrations or vacations with my family because of this. I am concerned that my hesitations will carry into my civilian life; I have struggled with developing friendships because I feel like I cannot let anyone get too close or they will use my weaknesses against me. Sometimes I worry that I am not as "valid" a veteran as those who actually served in combat zones and have disabilities related to that; I am still learning that my experiences are valid as well, even if I am not the loudest one telling my story. It has been a struggle accepting that I experienced MST and I still have to work through that with my therapist, but I am not willing to let it limit my goals. I am studying to be a physical therapist, and I plan on specializing in sports: specifically outdoor recreation. I have come across multiple organizations that teach veterans skills for outdoor recreation, and I would like to work with them. I currently belong to the Fayetteville chapter of Team River Runner; an organization for veterans and their families to learn white water kayaking and participate in paddles. this has been such an incredible and diverse group, and I want to give back since they have become a community for me. I would like to eventually start my own organization taking disabled veterans on camping trips and teaching rock climbing since that has been such a huge part of my own mental health journey. The greatest strength in recovery and managing PTSD is having a strong community and feeling a sense of belonging and I hope to provide that for veterans like me.

I have taken seven years to work full-time since I graduated with my bachelor's degree. While studying exercise science I knew I wanted to eventually work in the healthcare field, but I quickly learned that my education was more expensive than I was comfortable going into debt, and starting my career in debt, for. I reached out to the Army ROTC office on my campus, and I was able to earn a two-year scholarship covering tuition. This allowed me to continue studying a subject that I am so passionate about, but it meant that I owed time in service following my graduation. Since then, I have been serving as an Army Engineer which, is a fascinating job but not my ultimate career goal. I have reached the point where I am ready to leave behind the military and pursue my original career goal in healthcare and I have felt such a relief to be back on track for my ultimate career goal. I am pursuing my doctorate in physical therapy because I have seen the effect that exercise and movement can have on patients and I would like to provide that. I believe empathy is one of my strongest traits and I hope to bring that to my career in caring for my patients. I know I must pursue a graduate degree because I have been working outside of healthcare for so long now that I need to go back to school and remind myself of the finer details I may have lost. I would be unable to work in a physical therapy setting with only my current bachelor's degree and I am so excited to be going back to an academic setting to learn more. This scholarship will benefit me because I am leaving behind the security of having a job. Current students who I talked to have said it is challenging to even work a part-time job while taking in so much new information. I am scared for the next three years because I will not have enough savings to live off of if I do not receive scholarships to help lower the cost of my education. I will be moving across the country to attend school which will allow me the opportunity to be the best medical provider I can be but there will be more associated costs with packing up and moving. I cannot wait to get started on my new career and I appreciate your consideration for this scholarship opportunity.

Physical therapy is important because movement is such a powerful tool in rehabilitation. In a world where people tend to search for "quick fixes", following an exercise prescription is impressive and has been shown to be beneficial. I have seen the power of training during my time as an Army officer; I was responsible for the physical training of myself and a team of seven Soldiers. Through our training plan we supported each other as we gained physical strength and we ultimately became closer as a group. It was impressive seeing everyone work together and it followed us throughout the day. I wanted to pursue a career in physical therapy since I was a teenager, and it is reassuring to see the positive effects of fitness first-hand throughout my career so far. I ultimately would like to specialize in Sports and work with outdoor recreationists, especially rock climbers. My physical therapy program is based in Denver, Colorado but we have a rural clinical requirement that I am so excited for because it will resemble my ultimate goal of opening a clinic along the collegiate peaks of Colorado. I want to focus on rock climbing because it is becoming more accessible. As more climbing gyms open, people in city or suburban settings can try climbing without having to commit to traveling to the mountains, finding the gear required, and figuring out how to climb on their own. I enjoy seeing more affinity groups in gyms catering to populations less likely to know other climbers; it has opened a sport that I am passionate about to everyone. The accessibility means that more climbers may experience overuse injuries or acute musculoskeletal injuries, which is where I plan to come in. I would like to aid in recovery as someone who is passionate for outdoor recreation, I would like to return patients to the activities that they love as quickly as possible while providing a base to prevent future injury. Another goal I have is to work with the veteran community; it can be hard to relate as a veteran with people who have not served in the military so I would like to help build a community. I plan to introduce fellow veterans to outdoor recreation and help them find activity that they enjoy and can continue as they age. I have seen many veterans lose their sense of purpose after leaving the military and they stop being active completely without the daily training requirement, my goal is to help them see that activity does not have to be punishment and that they are able to find something they can learn to be passionate about. I am so excited for the future of physical therapy. Recently the APTA and NSCA announced a partnership, which seems so intuitive. I expect that this will lead to a better-defined handover from physical therapists to strength and conditioning specialists. I know this will only help our patients as the process will encourage them to continue practicing movement and prevent common injuries as they age. I am lucky to be starting my physical therapy career now and I am so excited for everything that the future holds!

I began to realize that I had anxiety after I joined the military. Certain tasks would send me into a spiral; having to talk to commanding officers, fitness test days, any time I had to speak in a meeting. I tried managing it with breathing exercises and telling myself that everyone experienced the thoughts I did but it grew worse and began affecting my time out of uniform. I discovered that drinking alcohol helped me calm down in social situations; my undergraduate university was not a "party school" so I never really drank heavily until my first school in the Army. Drinking is normal in the military; it is expected that Soldiers go home and unwind with a beer or two every day, so I thought nothing of having a few drinks on the weekends surrounded by friends. During my first four years as a lieutenant, I used alcohol to calm down my anxiety in social situations, and it began to lead to regretful situations. I did not like how I acted when I was drunk, I started saying things that I had to apologize for the next day when I sobered up. I began waking up with the worst hangovers imaginable as I aged and I lost out on doing early morning activities that I actually enjoyed. I threw up in front of my friends, and I started becoming a burden during what should have been enjoyable parties. It took me longer than it should have to realize that alcohol was not the answer to my social anxiety. I began going to therapy in 2024 and since then I have developed other ways to enjoy myself in crowds. I have accepted that I am not the biggest fan of going out to bars and I would much rather stay home and play board games with friends. I never reached the point of reliance on alcohol, but I did abuse it for much of my young adulthood, and I regret many of my actions during that time. Something that really helped me to see how dangerous alcohol can be was having a commanding officer who was an alcoholic. He would often drink at work, even before weapons ranges and times we needed the team to be alert. He bragged about drinking a six-pack on his drive home from work and I knew I did not want to continue down the path I was on. I deployed to Italy for seven months and I challenged myself to give up alcohol during that time. It was difficult since I was with a strange group of people I had not interacted with before and they would all drink when we went out for team dinners, but I ultimately met my goal, and I was proud of myself. In the time that I have been home I will have alcohol with my family or my husband, but I have not indulged to the point of regret, and I intend to keep it that way. Especially starting a new chapter in my life. I am so excited to go back to school after leaving the military. I am thankful for the opportunities that being a Soldier afforded me, but I know now that the Army was not my long-term career. I cannot wait to start classes and study to be a physical therapist; I have already connected with classmates who will be my friends, and I am so much more comfortable around them, I know I will not need to rely on alcohol to seem "cool" or to calm my anxiety. I plan to continue going to therapy and working on myself and I know in three years I will have created a life that I am genuinely proud of. I plan to develop the friendships with people who have similar hobbies to me; I am looking forward to living in Colorado where I can go hiking or camping most weekends instead of just going out to bars. I am so thankful to have a supportive partner during this transition period, and I cannot wait for the adventures we will go on.

I have been in the U.S. Army for seven years now and there have been plenty of ridiculous situations I have found myself in. My favorite memories and stories to tell revolve around the people I have been fortunate enough to serve with. I, like every other Army officer, have spent my fair share of time on staff. Unfortunately, it is not a matter of "if" you will go to staff, but "when". I am currently on my third staff position, and I cannot begin to explain how different each time has been. My very first venture into the world of staff officers was when I was only a First Lieutenant in 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion (BEB). I transferred into the BEB about three months before they were scheduled to go to a National Training Center rotation and I was thrown into the role of "Current Operations Officer", I did not know it at the time, but that role may be the most demanding job in a training exercise. I was the daytime Battle Captain, responsible for maintaining a clear picture of the battlefield for my Commander and communicating not only with our higher headquarters, but our ten subordinate Companies. I quickly learned that the last thing any of the company commanders wanted to do when they were in the middle of their tasks or a firefight was call little old me to tell me what they were up to. I was alone and afraid in a tin box in the middle of the Mojave Desert trying to monitor six different forms of communication. But even though I was the only one doing my job, I was surrounded by The Staff. The Staff consisted of myself, Chris, the other unlucky operations officer, Alec, our intelligence officer, and Don, the IT guy who ended up battling generators more than anything else. We were overseen by Major "Skip" Mallue and MAJ Hilty and it was a lawless little community we built. The only times I saw Chris and Alec were when I poked my head into the planning cell where they were kept. Usually, they had their Soldiers drawing shapes on maps while they sang silly made-up songs and drank enough coffee that they did not need sleep. Don became my best friend since he controlled the technology that I had to watch. Every time I lost connection I would yell for him until he got the generator running and our communication restored. Don and I also started a daily routine of a cigar every night after shift change; once a grader saw us and asked what we were celebrating, we replied, "not being on duty." I had nightmares about that rotation; I was under so much stress constantly that I had an anxiety attack when we got on the bus to leave and I did not have my laptop with me. I was scared that my supervisors would ask me about something I was supposed to be tracking. I also built such a strong connection with The Staff. After we returned, we would play pranks on each other in the office; goofy things like putting a speaker in the ceiling and playing the most annoying food truck jingle when Chris walked in the room. We all slowly went separate ways in the months following but I still keep in touch with my friends, and we still laugh about our stupid inside jokes. Like how the official motto of The Staff became "We're so fucked," and we all managed to say that loudly in front of the wrong audience at some point.

I am a very outspoken feminist, and I truly believe Sabrina Carpenter's public persona exemplifies what it means to be a modern-day feminist and female-identifying person. I did not watch Disney Channel when I was younger so the first time I was aware of Sabrina Carpenter was when she started becoming a popular musical artist, shortly after that she reached fame through her "Short 'n Sweet" tour. I saw clips from her tour on social media platforms, and she is such an incredible artist; she displays confidence and truly masters the stage. She is innovative and manages to blend comedy into her musical performance with grace. What really makes her stand out to me, however, is her openness regarding sexual innuendo. In society it is usually frowned upon to discuss sex openly and I believe that is a detriment to growth. If we want to learn more about interpersonal relationships and have more meaningful connections, the ability to discuss sex without shame is important. How else will couples discuss ways they want to become closer. Sabrina's performances have sparked conversations with younger folks and, if handled properly, those conversations are opportunities to teach about safe sex and all the mental and physical aspects that encompasses. I am looking forward to watching Sabrina's career blossom and adding new releases to my playlists!

I realized in November of 2024 that I was no longer happy. It was not an acute realization, nothing happened that triggered my unhappiness, but it had been slowly building for the past year or so. Since that point I have been working to change my life and it is finally within view, I am so excited to reach the point that I believe I will be content but there is a lot of fear and anxiety still. In November 2024 I was set to deploy to Cote d'Ivoire with my team and advise the local military on engineer tasks; my role was the Operations Advisor, and I had been preparing for this deployment the past year, longer if you count the five years of French I had studied. About a week before I was set to fly out to Africa, I realized that even if I did deploy, I could not be effective with my team. Two members of my team, the leadership, were not there to support the mission, they were alcoholics and misogynists very openly and bragged about how their time in Cote d'Ivoire was going to be a vacation from their wives and children. I knew that I was in a difficult position because reporting them for their behavior would benefit the Army but would ruin my own chances to better my military career. I chose to report them anyway and the next few months were miserable; I was sent to staff which felt like a punishment after preparing to integrate and aid a foreign military and I never heard about the progress of the investigation. I did hear from my medic who was still with the team, she told me that the leaders were acting exactly the way they said they would as well as harassing her. I felt powerless and all I wanted was to get out of the military and away from everyone who had any part in my situation. I was tempted to leave the Army as quickly as I could at that point, I had no plan for my future and no regard for what I would do but I sat down and wrote out what I hoped my future might hold. It had come to the point that I cannot see myself serving in the military in the future; I have been failed by leadership and skewed investigations too many times, but I thought back to my goals from high school and college. I have a lot still to accomplish to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy, but I know I am on the right path; I have been accepted to my dream school, and I am moving back to my favorite state later this year. I have been able to devote more time to activities I am passionate about, like rock climbing, creating art, and baking. Once I achieve my own goals I hope to give back to the veteran community because they have had to go through so much hardship. I would like to open my own physical therapy clinic and start a non-for-profit organization focused on making outdoor recreation more accessible to disabled veterans. The outdoors and movement are healing and I want to share my passion for both with the community that understands where I come from.

I have been fortunate in my career up to this point; serving in the military I must wear the same uniform as everyone else, my hair is always up in a bun, and I do not wear any jewelry. As soon as I get home on Friday evenings, however, I actually feel like myself: all the piercings go in, my hair is down in its mullet, and I wear whatever I am most comfortable in, which usually means my tattoos are visible. As I prepare to change careers and return to school after seven years, I wonder how my classmates and future coworkers will perceive me. In the military tattoos are very common among enlisted Soldiers so I have not had anyone I am responsible for question my authority. I have had a few officers make comments about how they could never get a tattoo, while I have a full arm sleeve and I am actively working on leg sleeves. The only time I take negative comments about my tattoos to heart is when it comes from my mother; she has made it very clear how much she dislikes tattoos, so I no longer tell her when I get a new piece done. She has made comments about how I am ruining my body, how I will not be able to look nice in a wedding dress, and how much she hates the designs I have chosen. I try not to let it get to me, but it is challenging, especially since my oldest nephew has started parroting her. I am still very happy with how I have chosen to decorate my body; I believe that my tattoos flow together beautifully and while not every piece has specific meaning, together they symbolize that I am my own person. I am fortunate to be able to display the art of some dear friends on my body. I have a handful of piercings: the standard multiple ear piercings, I just got my septum pierced a year ago, and a couple body piercings that are only visible in select outfits. I have found that these are relatively easy to hide when I am attempting to appear more professional, but I would rather feel more like myself and have that be considered professional. I had a lot of anxiety going into my school interview because I chose to wear my septum piercing and a skirt with my thigh tattoos visible; I did this in part because I wanted my potential graduate school to accept me as I was and I believed it would be a good test of whether I fit in with the student body. If I had been declined admission, I know it would always have been in the back of my mind that I should have just dressed the part more to fit in. I am excited to be starting a doctorate program in physical therapy. I plan to specialize in sports physical therapy and work with outdoor athletes rehabilitating injuries and training to prevent future injuries. I am planning on starting my own clinic eventually so I know I will be able to be myself and be a role model for my patients and peers. I am excited that I will be attending a school that has a very diverse student body and from the second I stepped on campus I felt like I belonged; this feeling has been a very welcome improvement from the past seven years as an Army Engineer.

I am planning on specializing in sports physical therapy, specifically working with outdoor recreationists. I have rock climbed for the past ten years and I worked in two rock climbing gyms; the first was an on-campus wall where I taught students how to belay, managed gear borrowing, and set routes, currently I work at a local climbing gym setting routes and leading an adult climbing conditioning class. I am passionate about climbing and I love seeing more people able to try climbing; as gyms are being built the sport is more accessible for minority groups. With newcomers to the world of climbing, there will be more sport-specific injuries; my career plan is to work with athletes to rehabilitate them so they can continue doing the movement they love. I want to work with athletes because, in my experience, they are motivated to recover and train for their next goal. As an Army officer I consider my Soldiers to be tactical athletes, even though we are not training for sports I still managed training plans like I would for any other athlete. During my time as a company executive officer, I had a team of six Soldiers that I led in physical training; we had a set schedule from week to week balancing strength training with cardiovascular endurance. My greatest accomplishment during this time was training my Soldiers to participate in the Manchu Mile ruck march: a 25-mile hike carrying 35 pounds at minimum. We executed the march overnight on Fort Carson in Colorado; the altitude and terrain were added challenges that we overcame to earn the Manchu belt buckle. I strive to continue training motivated individuals who have goals they want to achieve. I would like to open my own physical therapy clinic near the collegiate peaks in Colorado specializing in rehabilitation and conditioning for outdoor athletes. I have experience in hiking, climbing, kayaking, and skiing that I can bring to my clinic. I will make a difference because I want to bridge the gap from rehabilitation to continued sport-specific training. I am preparing for this goal by attending school in Denver, Colorado and I plan to study for my strength and conditioning certification. I would also like to participate in my university's sports residency following my degree, during which I would be working with the Denver Nuggets basketball team. I am currently a certified personal trainer, and I hope to continue training rock climbers while I attend school. I have wanted to be a physical therapist since high school and while I took some time away from my education to pursue a career in the Army, this only reaffirmed my desire to heal people through exercise. I know what I want to achieve in my career and I am excited to begin the process. Thank you for your consideration.

Wicked was the very first professional musical that I saw. I remember it so vividly, my parents surprised my sister and I with tickets and we made a day of taking the train to Chicago, seeing the decorated windows at Marshall Field’s, eating in the Walnut Room, and finally going to the theater and seeing the production that we had been obsessively listening to. My sister and I have always been creative; our mother shared her artistic talent and passions and our father shared his love of musical theater. My sister and I both performed in community theater and it was such a defining part of our childhood. Being able to see the stage production of Wicked was incredible, I will always remember “Defying Gravity” as Elphaba’s cloak grew over the stage. The characters in Wicked are so realistic and it is easy to relate to them, I think everyone should strive to be like Elphaba; she is so fearless in a terrifying world and so strong to stand up to the injustice that she sees. Especially in our world today, I try to emulate Elphaba and I want to do my part to protect people who may need protection.

I have had Anxiety for as long as I can remember but I was only recently diagnosed in 2025. I thought that everyone felt the way I did when I would overthink and panic about little things. It got to be dehabilitating while I was deployed; I was so anxious that I cried most days, I was terrified to go to work, and it was even a struggle to leave my room on my days off. I have missed out on a lot due to my anxiety and it is so frustrating. I feel physically ill when I am experiencing anxiety; I lose my appetite and I do not have any desire to do my favorite hobbies. All I really want to do when I am experiencing anxiety is lay in bed. I am still going to therapy and taking medication to work through my mental illness and I hope that one day I will be able to do simple tasks without anxiety. My partner has struggled with depression the past few years and it can be challenging to know how to support him during his worst days. We try to support each other the best we can and we have accepted that some days one of us will be able to give more than the other. I believe both our struggles have only made our relationship stronger as we learn how to grow together.