Growing up in Bloomfield, Nebraska, a town of less than one thousand people, has taught me more than any education. Now being a senior in college, I can confidently say that living and learning about life in rural northeast Nebraska was an answered prayer, one that I didn’t even know I needed. With the town and school being so small I was involved in every extracurricular activity you can think of: volleyball, basketball, track, National Honor Society, one-act, and student council. With all these activities I was consistently at school for more than ten hours a day, not including getting my homework done. This taught me the importance of work ethic and what it means to put your head down and work towards my goals. It has now been more than three years since I have been in high school, but I carry these lessons with me every day as I work towards my goal to become a women’s health physician assistant in a rural community. I have worked through more struggles than I care to explain, just one of those being transferring schools halfway through my education, but every time I doubt myself, I remember how high school me worked towards her goals, even though those goals have changed. The lessons I learned in Bloomfield not only taught me the valuable lessons mentioned above but also how I know I want to be a positive impact in a rural community as well, specifically to be an educator for young women and their health. As most people know, rural communities don’t have many resources for healthcare except for the town clinic. These clinics tend to only have a few providers, many of which practice in multiple towns. Not having reliable healthcare unfortunately took a toll on me at a young age because I had a multitude of menstrual issues at a young age. Because the only resource for me was my hometown clinic, I was told to just start the birth control pill at the ripe age of fourteen and was not educated on the other options regarding my health. This has inspired me to pursue women’s health to educate girls and young women about the health of their bodies when they have no other resources. I strive to become an outlet for these girls and young women to ask the uncomfortable questions and to help them better understand the difference between what they are told is “normal” and when they should be seeking help. This is something I did not have the privilege of having and I hope I will have a positive impact in the lives of females when no one else seems to care. Rural communities have not only been an integral part of who I am today, but I pray to become a staple in a rural community of my own.

Growing up in Bloomfield, Nebraska, a town of less than one thousand people, has taught me more than any education. Now being a senior in college, I can confidently say that living and learning about life in rural northeast Nebraska was an answered prayer, one that I didn’t even know I needed. With the town and school being so small I was involved in every extracurricular activity you can think of: volleyball, basketball, track, National Honor Society, one-act, and student council. With all these activities I was consistently at school for more than ten hours a day, not including getting my homework done. This taught me the importance of work ethic and what it means to put your head down and work towards my goals. It has now been more than three years since I have been in high school, but I carry these lessons with me every day as I work towards my goal to become a women’s health physician assistant in a rural community. I have worked through more struggles than I care to explain, just one of those being transferring schools halfway through my education, but every time I doubt myself, I remember how high school me worked towards her goals, even though those goals have changed. The lessons I learned in Bloomfield not only taught me the valuable lessons mentioned above but also how I know I want to be a positive impact in a rural community as well, specifically to be an educator for young women and their health. As most people know, rural communities don’t have many resources for healthcare except for the town clinic. These clinics tend to only have a few providers, many of which practice in multiple towns. Not having reliable healthcare unfortunately took a toll on me at a young age because I had a multitude of menstrual issues at a young age. Because the only resource for me was my hometown clinic, I was told to just start the birth control pill at the ripe age of fourteen and was not educated on the other options regarding my health. This has inspired me to pursue women’s health to educate girls and young women about the health of their bodies when they have no other resources. I strive to become an outlet for these girls and young women to ask the uncomfortable questions and to help them better understand the difference between what they are told is “normal” and when they should be seeking help. This is something I did not have the privilege of having and I hope I will have a positive impact in the lives of females when no one else seems to care. Rural communities have not only been an integral part of who I am today, but I pray to become a staple in a rural community of my own.

Hello scholarship committee. My name is Alexandra Eisenhauer, and I am from the rural community of Bloomfield, Nebraska. It is located in the northeast part of Nebraska and has a population of just around one thousand people. Growing up in a town this small the only type of “women’s health” we were taught is in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade and to be honest, that hour long session of the school nurse talking to us about “growing up” and “our first period” isn’t much of a women’s health education. We were taught that periods are “normal” and that every girl has them but what really qualifies as a normal period and what to look out for as abnormal was never taught to us. So, when I got my first period at the ripe age of thirteen, I was excited to finally be a woman like the rest of the girls around me. But it quickly turned into horror for me as I began getting cramps so bad, I couldn’t stand up and bled so bad I couldn’t sit through a fifty-minute class period without the fear of bleeding through the heaviest tampon on the market. But as I stated before, we were never truly taught about what was “normal” for a period, so I was too scared to say anything because everyone was going through the same thing. When I did speak up, they told me my only option was the birth control pill and at fourteen years old, that sounded good enough for me and I began to take that tiny little pill every day, and still do, to this day. As I pursue the career of becoming a physician assistant obstetrician and gynecologist, I strive to make women’s health more accessible for rural areas such as the community I grew up in. I strive to do this by going into classrooms myself to teach young women and girls about the truth on women’s health, so they do not have to go through the confusion that I did at that age. I will teach them about the differences in menstrual cycles have and that no one truly has a normal cycle and that is okay to speak up when they think that something is wrong. Young women and girls will also be taught about other resources available to them when they need to talk about the issues they are going through with their bodies. As I continue educating the youth in rural areas, I will also make other options other than the birth control pill. “The Pill” is the only option for many young women are handed at that age, even though taking a hormonal birth control pill can cause later issues in life. Becoming an outlet for women’s health in rural areas is the inspiration that has driven me to pursue this career, which makes it only right to give back the areas that truly need the education the most: young women in rural areas. Sincerely, Alexandra Eisenhauer Pre- physician assistant student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney

Hello scholarship committee. My name is Alexandra Eisenhauer, and I am from the rural community of Bloomfield, Nebraska. It is located in the northeast part of Nebraska and has a population of just around one thousand people. Growing up in a town this small the only type of “women’s health” we were taught is in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade and to be honest, that hour long session of the school nurse talking to us about “growing up” and “our first period” isn’t much of a women’s health education. We were taught that periods are “normal” and that every girl has them but what really qualifies as a normal period and what to look out for as abnormal was never taught to us. So, when I got my first period at the ripe age of thirteen, I was excited to finally be a woman like the rest of the girls around me. But it quickly turned into horror for me as I began getting cramps so bad, I couldn’t stand up and bled so bad I couldn’t sit through a fifty-minute class period without the fear of bleeding through the heaviest tampon on the market. But as I stated before, we were never truly taught about what was “normal” for a period, so I was too scared to say anything because everyone was going through the same thing. When I did speak up, they told me my only option was the birth control pill and at fourteen years old, that sounded good enough for me and I began to take that tiny little pill every day, and still do, to this day. As I pursue the career of becoming a physician assistant obstetrician and gynecologist, I strive to make women’s health more accessible for rural areas such as the community I grew up in. I strive to do this by going into classrooms myself to teach young women and girls about the truth on women’s health, so they do not have to go through the confusion that I did at that age. I will teach them about the differences in menstrual cycles have and that no one truly has a normal cycle and that is okay to speak up when they think that something is wrong. Young women and girls will also be taught about other resources available to them when they need to talk about the issues they are going through with their bodies. As I continue educating the youth in rural areas, I will also make other options other than the birth control pill. “The Pill” is the only option for many young women are handed at that age, even though taking a hormonal birth control pill can cause later issues in life. Becoming an outlet for women’s health in rural areas is the inspiration that has driven me to pursue this career, which makes it only right to give back the areas that truly need the education the most: young women in rural areas. Sincerely, Alexandra Eisenhauer Pre- physician assistant student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney

Hello scholarship committee. My name is Alexandra Eisenhauer, and I am from the rural community of Bloomfield, Nebraska. It is located in the northeast part of Nebraska and has a population of just around one thousand people. Growing up in a town this small the only type of “women’s health” we were taught is in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade and to be honest, that hour long session of the school nurse talking to us about “growing up” and “our first period” isn’t much of a women’s health education. We were taught that periods are “normal” and that every girl has them but what really qualifies as a normal period and what to look out for as abnormal was never taught to us. So, when I got my first period at the ripe age of thirteen, I was excited to finally be a woman like the rest of the girls around me. But it quickly turned into horror for me as I began getting cramps so bad, I couldn’t stand up and bled so bad I couldn’t sit through a fifty-minute class period without the fear of bleeding through the heaviest tampon on the market. But as I stated before, we were never truly taught about what was “normal” for a period, so I was too scared to say anything because everyone was going through the same thing. When I did speak up, they told me my only option was the birth control pill and at fourteen years old, that sounded good enough for me and I began to take that tiny little pill every day, and still do, to this day. As I pursue the career of becoming a physician assistant obstetrician and gynecologist, I strive to make women’s health more accessible for rural areas such as the community I grew up in. I strive to do this by going into classrooms myself to teach young women and girls about the truth on women’s health, so they do not have to go through the confusion that I did at that age. I will teach them about the differences in menstrual cycles have and that no one truly has a normal cycle and that is okay to speak up when they think that something is wrong. Young women and girls will also be taught about other resources available to them when they need to talk about the issues they are going through with their bodies. As I continue educating the youth in rural areas, I will also make other options other than the birth control pill. “The Pill” is the only option for many young women are handed at that age, even though taking a hormonal birth control pill can cause later issues in life. Becoming an outlet for women’s health in rural areas is the inspiration that has driven me to pursue this career, which makes it only right to give back the areas that truly need the education the most: young women in rural areas. Sincerely, Alexandra Eisenhauer Pre- physician assistant student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney

Rural women's healthcare. Where to begin when wanting to make an impact in rural, women's healthcare. I am Alexandra Eisenhauer, a sophomore at Concordia University-Nebraska but originally from Bloomfield, Nebraska. I am working towards a bachelor's degree in biology with minors in chemistry and criminal justice with an emphasis in pre-medical. With this degree, I plan on attending the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska and studying to be an obstetrician and gynecologist. This will give me first-hand experience in helping women, especially in rural communities like I am from. Rural women's health has always been an interest to me because of how often I was in and out of different healthcare facilities for numerous different issues. I have always had menstrual issues, such as excessive bleeding, cramps, and not being able to move because of the pain I was in. Going to the clinic in Bloomfield, Nebraska (a town of around one thousand people) only suggested that I be put on birth control at the age of fourteen. Being fourteen, I was never truly educated on women's health and what I was supposed to know about my own body. Perhaps I was not given more of an education because of where I live or maybe giving fourteen-year-old girls hormonal birth control is the easiest way to get them to stop complaining, but either way, I want to be the change for the young girls in rural areas. Being involved in women's health is going to allow me to help the girls who do not get an education about their bodies like me, but it is also going to help the grown women who have questions going unanswered As I stated earlier, I have been in and out of healthcare facilities for as long as I can remember. I know this issue isn't particularly on women's health, but I have a problem with my foot that has never truly been answered. After countless appointments, x-rays, MRIs, and months spent in a boot, I want to be able to help people get the answers they are searching for in the women's health department. Being able to help women get answers about their bodies is the main reason I want to be involved in healthcare because it seems to be a recurring problem. I believe that women do come forward about their health problems more than men do but I also believe women are more prone to specific healthcare issues in their early years of life. Being able to help women in need is just one reason I plan on being involved in women's healthcare. In conclusion, women's health has always fascinated me but the issues I have had with healthcare are such an inspiration for me to want to go into the field so women, like myself, do not have the same issues as I did.