I remember the first time I realized how much mental health had impacted my life. It was my junior year of high school, and my school was participating in Challenge Day. Challenge Day was a day that was held once a year at my school with the goal of creating a supportive environment amongst classmates by discussing difficult topics together. To most who had never participated, including myself, Challenge Day was simply a way to take a break from class and hang out with your classmates. I walked into my school’s gymnasium, and we were quickly split up into groups. As I sat in a group with people I had never spoken to and heard personal stories and struggles, I quickly discovered a fear of mine that had been brewing since I was a child. I was deeply terrified of mental illness. When you are a child, you live in a world that is blissfully unaware. That world is a beautiful thing, but as you get older it starts to fade. You start to notice the depression that settles in your father after weeks of grandiose ideas and fast talking. You start to notice lies that are formed due to shame around a mental illness. You notice drastic shifts in your mom’s personality a couple of days after she was at the doctor. You also notice that you never see one of your friends' parents ever suddenly go away for a few days without calling. Before I was born, my mother was diagnosed with severe PTSD and depression. This diagnosis led to her being considered mentally disabled. Later in my life, my father was diagnosed with Bipolar type I. Throughout my life they had both been put on many different medications that often came with horrible side effects, which sometimes led to them being admitted to a psychiatric facility for seventy-two hours. To a child, these concepts are often too big and complicated to understand, and that leads to fear. All you know in that moment is that the people you look up to and love more than anything in this world are being robbed of a happy life. As I have gotten older, I have learned a great deal about mental health. Through my own time in therapy and research, I have learned that knowledge can really help you overcome your fears. I have also seen first-hand that mental illness can be managed and people with these illnesses can still live a full life. As I am working towards a degree in medicine, I look forward to being able to be there for my patients and their families in the event they go through a mental health crisis. I will embrace educating my patients and their families because I will never forget how it felt to feel afraid due to of lack of knowledge. This scholarship will allow me to progress in my story as I work towards an Emergency Medical Services degree and then continue my passion to become a Physician Assistant. I am going into this field because I look forward to being there for people and offering help and comfort on a day that could very well be the worst day of their lives. If I can inform a child who is watching their parents battle mental health that with treatment and patience, they will be their parents again, I will know I have made it in life. Being able to apply for this scholarship means the world to me, and I thank you for this opportunity.

As a child, I thought success was defined as getting to stay up past my bedtime or eating cake for breakfast. When I was in high school, the idea of success was getting my license and having an afterschool job. What they do not tell you is that as you are growing, your view of success and goals will constantly be in metamorphosis. Now that I am in my mid-twenties, the word success is not so trivial and holds quite a bit more weight. My version of success involves breaking generational patterns and waking up every day determined to be just a little better than yesterday. I grew up with a single mom in a small town in Ohio where the term “one streetlight town” was likely born. When you are a child, you live in a world that is blissfully unaware. That world is a beautiful thing, but as you get older it fades. You see how much your mom is struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table. You start to see how much she struggles to construct a fun game to hide the fact that the electricity got turned off. You see her try to hide her surprise when you open gifts on Christmas day, as she does not know what they are because the church down the street gave them to us. My mother was unable to complete high school due to personal reasons and has been unable to work my entire life due to being mentally disabled. The fact that she did everything in her power to provide for me shows that she is the definition of success. However, success for myself includes thanking her by creating a better life for myself and doing the things she raised me to do but was unable to do for herself. For these reasons, my version of success is heavily defined by getting a college degree and being able to comfortably support myself and my family. Success is a driving force for most people. All over social media you are inundated with quotes and posts about how one's worth and accomplishments in life are often measured by expensive clothes and cars. However, I believe that someone who is continually trying to better themself and sees the beginning of each day as an opportunity to do that, is already achieving success. I am incredibly competitive, but this competitive nature is always directed at past versions of myself, and it allows me to continue to push myself to achieve more. I am currently in my second year of college, and in many ways, I have already achieved many versions of success that past me had. I have maintained a 3.8 GPA while working and supporting myself, a feat that I was so afraid I would fail at. I also have discovered a career path for myself that I believe will give me many opportunities to challenge myself and continue to grow every day. This career path is the newest evolution of my idea of success. This scholarship will allow me to progress in my story as I work towards an Emergency Medical Services degree and then continue my passion to become a Physician Assistant. There will be days that I wish success were still quantified by cake for breakfast or late-night television, but I also know how excited I am to be on this journey. I am going into this field because every day I get to strive to be better than the previous day for the sake of my community. I look forward to being there for people and offering help and comfort on a day that could very well be the worst day of their lives. Success is not about money or expensive things, but about being able to contribute a little bit of good to a world that can be very hard at times. Being able to apply for this scholarship means the world to me, and I thank you for this opportunity.

There was never a lightbulb moment that I realized that I wanted to have a career in medicine. If you asked my mom, however, she would say for her it was when we would be watching one of our hospital shows and she would be covering her eyes at the sight of blood, and I would be watching intently while simultaneously googling the procedure. I have always been fascinated with how and why things work, that curiosity was especially sparked when I started learning about the processes within the body. These realizations are what brought me to wanting to go into health care. Growing up with a single mom who had many health issues, when it came to her doctor appointments, I was always in tow. I remember doing a lot of research about her ailments to help alleviate some of her symptoms. Her response was always “let the doctors do their job, honey.” I found myself increasingly frustrated when she or other people around me would be suffering and I could not help them as much as I wanted to. Unfortunately, I did not grow up with the idea that college was attainable. I grew up in a small area in Ohio, where the term “one street light town” was likely born. Neither of my parents graduated high school, and while I learned a lot from them about how to get by, information about continuing education was something I had to gain through independent research as I got older. I graduated high school with a 3.5 GPA because I genuinely enjoyed learning. However, due to difficult home life, as soon as I was eighteen, I was on my own. I tried to balance college and supporting myself, but with little knowledge about finances and the correct way of doing things, I ended up having to put my education on hold. At 26, I know I have a lot more to learn, but I am now a nontraditional student in my third semester back in school with a GPA of a 3.8. I am incredibly thankful for the life experiences I have gained to better equip myself for college. This scholarship will allow me to work towards a degree in Respiratory Care. I will be the first person to complete college in my family so far, and one of few to complete even high school. Most of all this scholarship will aid me to finally help people the way I have always wanted to and being able to tell that young girl from Ohio, and other girls like her, that college is not some impossible feat. Being able to apply for this scholarship means the world to me, and I thank you for this opportunity.

There was never a lightbulb moment that I realized that I wanted to have a career in medicine. If you asked my mom, however, she would say for her it was when we would be watching one of our hospital shows and she would be covering her eyes at the sight of blood, and I would be watching intently while simultaneously googling the procedure. I have always been fascinated with how and why things work, that curiosity was especially sparked when I started learning about the processes within the body. These realizations are what brought me to wanting to go into health care. Growing up with a single mom who had many health issues, when it came to her doctor appointments, I was always in tow. I remember doing a lot of research about her ailments to help alleviate some of her symptoms. Her response was always “let the doctors do their job, honey.” I found myself increasingly frustrated when she or other people around me would be suffering and I could not help them as much as I wanted to. Unfortunately, I did not grow up with the idea that college was attainable. I grew up in a small area in Ohio, where the term “one street light town” was likely born. Neither of my parents graduated high school, and while I learned a lot from them about how to get by, information about continuing education was something I had to gain through independent research as I got older. I graduated high school with a 3.5 GPA because I genuinely enjoyed learning. However, due to difficult home life, as soon as I was eighteen, I was on my own. I tried to balance college and supporting myself, but with little knowledge about finances and the correct way of doing things, I ended up having to put my education on hold. At 26, I know I have a lot more to learn, but I am now a nontraditional student in my third semester back in school, with a GPA of a 3.8. I am incredibly thankful for the life experiences I have gained to better equip myself for college. This scholarship will allow me to work towards a degree in Respiratory Care. I will be the first person to complete college in my family so far, and one of few to complete even high school. Most of all this scholarship will aid me to finally help people the way I have always wanted to and being able to tell that young girl from Ohio, and other girls like her, that college is not some impossible feat. Being able to apply for this scholarship means the world to me, and I thank you for this opportunity.

My favorite athlete on Team USA is Ilona Maher, arguably the most well-known US women's rugby player. I discovered her through social media, where she is well known for spreading body positivity and incredible videos of her power being displayed. She is one of the Rugby Sevens, and a two-time Olympic athlete. Ilona Maher is my favorite athlete on Team USA because her determination, strength and body positivity is an inspiration to myself and young girls who grow up watching her. Ilona Maher has been playing Rugby since she was seventeen. Maher competed at the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco, then went to Tokyo to compete in the 2021 Olympics, and she is currently playing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. As if being an Olympic athlete was not enough, she also has a master's degree in business, a degree in Nursing, and her own skin care line. When asked about the difficulty of being a world-renowned Rugby player and simultaneously working towards her nursing degree, she explains how much she enjoys keeping her brain busy. Ilona Maher is my favorite Olympic athlete because she demonstrates determination and an unmatched work ethic. I am also working towards a degree in healthcare, and if she can do it while being an Olympic athlete, I can earn a degree while simply watching Rugby. When it comes to Olympic athletes, determination and strength usually go hand-in-hand, and Ilona Maher is no exception. Her tackles are unmatched and her presence on the field leaves viewers in awe. Maher can be seen charging down the field with her head down, and stiff-arming anyone who gets close to her. She is very well known for pushing through players and tackling them on the way to a try (goal in rugby terms). For these reasons, it is an inspiration to see a woman being celebrated for her strength. I first came across Ilona Maher on social media, and I admit that I did not know anything about Rugby back then. Maher creates videos on TikTok and Instagram that show the behind the scenes of the Olympics, but she also goes a step further at engaging with her fans by celebrating body characteristics that have historically not been considered "feminine". Ilona Maher discusses how her view of her body changed when she found Rugby. At 5'10 200lbs and wide shoulders, she grew up being told she looked too "manly", but strongly credits these characteristics to why she is so dominating in the Rugby world. In an interview with NCAA, she stated “As women, a lot of times our body has been this object to be looked at, something to be objectified, and I hate that there’s girls out there who don’t know or think they don’t have a purpose for their body, so they want to change it constantly". Being 5’10" with wide shoulders and over 200lbs myself, I know that this statement will resonate with young girls who are growing up feeling like they are not “feminine enough”. Ilona Maher is an inspiration to me because she is teaching young girls and women that their body has a purpose and is capable so much more than just looking a certain way. Ilona Maher is my favorite athlete on Team USA because like her famous hashtag, she is the embodiment of beast, beauty, brains. Maher exhibits extraordinary determination, strength, and female empowerment. She is an inspiration both on and off the field, and I can say that she personally made me a Rugby fan.