During my high school years from 2019 to 2022, I volunteered at a summer camp called Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center, which specialized in aiding children with Special Needs. During this time, I not only fell in love with martial arts and the world of Special Needs, but also discovered what I could do to improve those children’s lives. I taught a range of activities, including academic skills, to children who needed to learn how to read, write, and perform math equations. I also practiced speech with non-verbal or speech-impaired children,and exercised a range of motion and movement with kids who had physical deformities or disabilities. Little did I know this volunteering experience would turn into a learning opportunity. While it was my job to ensure the children’s safety and make sure they could lean on me, I ended up learning from them and about them. Before volunteering, I had no experience working with individuals with Special Needs, but the owners of Kia Kidz, Svetlana and David, took a chance on me. After this experience, I contemplated pursuing a career in special education. As my Senior year of high school arrived and I filled out college applications, Special Education became my primary focus. Still, it was sadly dimmed when I realized that my dream school did not offer Special Education. I chose H.I.I.M. as an alternative since I still wanted to be in the healthcare field. Even after moving for college in the Fall of 2022, I returned every summer to Kia Kidz to offer my services. While I had somewhat put Special Education behind me to focus on my current major, I was still holding on to the possibility of working in that field. An opportunity to do so was given to me during an interview for the Research Experience for Undergraduates program at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in February of 2025, when my interviewer saw the passion I had for Special Education and decided that she would make it her job to find a place for me in that field, even though the research program focused on Engineering and Technology. In May 2025, after being accepted, I learned that my research project would be titled "Aiding Decision-Making for Behavioral and Mental Health Crisis Response." The passion that was seen in me helped ignite the flame I once had to do my part in the Special Needs world. As a future Registered Health Information Administrator, my job will be to protect all patients with whom I come into contact or whose information I handle. With my R.H.I.A. certification, I would like to pursue a career in Medical Coding and Data Analytics, and one day manage a Special Needs facility, inspired by my mentors at Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center. When it comes to Data Analytics, not only am I responsible for managing patient information, but I will also help analyze treatment and health records, prevent diseases through research, and improve the public’s overall health. Like any hospital or healthcare system, they need a strong foundation, which is, for the most part, their staff; these are the people who take care of patients, protect their personal information, and keep them informed about how they can improve their health. Once I start my career, this is precisely the type of healthcare professional I aspire to be; I will do my best to ensure that all patients receive the care they deserve.

I am Amaiya Brown, a 4th-year Health Informatics and Information Management scholar at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. During my high school years from 2019 to 2022, I volunteered at a summer camp called Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center, which specialized in aiding children with Special Needs. During this time, I not only fell in love with Martial Arts and the world of Special Needs, but what I could do to improve those children's lives. I taught a range of activities like academics to children who needed to learn how to read, write, and do math equations, practiced speech with non-verbal or speech-impaired children, and exercised a range of motion and movement for kids with physical deformities or who are disabled. Little did I know this volunteering experience would turn into a learning opportunity. While it was my job to ensure the children's safety and make sure they could lean on me, I ended up learning from them and about them. Before volunteering, I had no experience with anyone with Special Needs, but the owners of Kia Kidz, Svetlana and David, took a chance on me; after this, I contemplated having a career involving Special Education. As my Senior year of high school arrived and I filled out college applications, Special Education became my main focus, but it was sadly dimmed when I realized that my dream school did not offer Special Education. I chose H.I.I.M. as an alternative since I still wanted to be in the healthcare field. Even after moving for college in the Fall of 2022, I returned every summer to Kia Kidz to offer my services. While I had somewhat put Special Education behind me to focus on my current major, I was still holding on to the possibility of working in that field. An opportunity to do so was given to me during an interview for the Research Experience for Undergraduates program at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in February of 2025, when my interviewer saw the passion I had for Special Education and decided that she would make it her job to find a place for me in that field, even though the research program focused on Engineering and Technology. In May of 2025, after being accepted, I learned that my research project would be "Aiding Decision-Making for Behavioral and Mental Health Crisis Response". The passion that was seen in me helped ignite the flame I once had to do my part in the Special Needs world. As a future Registered Health Information Administrator, my job will be to protect all patients that I cross paths with or whose information will be in my hands. With my R.H.I.A. certification, I would like to go into Medical Coding, Data Analytics, and one day manage a Special Needs facility like my mentors at Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center. When it comes to Data Analytics, not only am I supposed to manage patient information, but I will also help find an analysis of treatment and health records, prevent diseases through research, and improve the public’s overall health. Like any hospital or healthcare system, they need a strong foundation, which is, for the most part, their staff; these are the people who take care of patients, protect their personal information, and keep them up-to-date on how they can better their health. Once I start my career, this is precisely the type of healthcare worker I plan on being; I will do my best to ensure that all patients receive the care they deserve.

My major is Health Informatics and Information Management. With this I would like to be a Medical Coder and Data Analyst, my job will be to ensure that all patients that I cross paths with or whose information will be in my hands is protected. Not only am I supposed to manage this information, but I will also help find an analysis of treatment and health records, prevent diseases through research, and improve the public’s overall health. Like any hospital or healthcare system, they need a strong foundation, which is, for the most part, their staff; these are the people who take care of patients, protect their personal information, and keep them up-to-date on how they can better their health. Once I start my career this is exactly the type of healthcare worker that I want to be. I will do my best to ensure that all patients receive the care they deserve. As far as a career goes, I have always seen myself working in the healthcare field. I like being active in people's lives and a goal of mine has always been to help others. There are not many fields that allow you to aid in people's everyday lives like healthcare does, to me it is one of the most beneficial fields that you can work in, in terms of doing what is best for others. My grandma was a nurse for about 30 years and I have never once heard her say anything about regretting her career choice. While I will not be doing the same thing as her, Health Informatics and Information Management is just as vital to hospitals, clinics, and any healthcare facility as nursing is. There are not many people in my family who have worked in healthcare but it is nice that I get to start my own path, especially as the first Historically Black College and Universities student in my family. Health Informatics not only allows me to work in the healthcare field but it also opens up opportunities to work in other fields involving technology and finances. A Bachelor’s degree will aid me in this, because it is allowing me to grow in a field that I do not have much experience or knowledge in, being surrounded by other Health Informatics and Information Management professionals will guide me into my career and allow me to accomplish making a positive impact in the healthcare field.

Once I graduate from college, I plan to work in a hospital or clinic in Health Informatics and Information Management as a technician or specialist. As a Health Informatics and Information Management major, I would be able to specialize in the many fields that Health Informatics and Information Management provides like health science, law, finance, and data. Since I was little, for years my brother was in and out of the hospital because he has severe Asthma. My mom always took time off from work to be with him and spent so many nights sleeping in a hospital. When it came time for me to visit him, he was usually in a weak state, but it later inspired me to work in the medical field in any capacity if it benefits others in the hospital who are in need. Besides seeing my brother in the hospital, I also watched as my grandpa and a close family friend battled cancer but they both later passed away after years of fighting. Being familiar with seeing people get treated in hospitals, I recently got an out-of-hospital experience when I volunteered at Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center for three summers and throughout the school years. Kia Kidz is a non-profit organization that specializes in helping kids with Special Needs learn how to walk, communicate verbally, and learn Jiu-Jitsu and self- defense. While volunteering at Kia Kidz, I got the opportunity to learn more about people with Special Needs. The experience I got from working with kids with Special Needs, helped push me into the healthcare field and to learn from and help others. My role as a counselor was to look over and assist kids with and without Special Needs from ages 3 to 17 in camp activities. I thought being a counselor to kids with Special Needs would be challenging and at first, it was and even still is sometimes now, but I learned how to work with and from them. The activities at the camp consist of teaching academics like reading, writing, math and Jiu-Jitsu to kids. From the group sessions, I was able to communicate with them and talk about how they felt and what I can do to make the camp experience better. I was encouraged to help others in their time of need by my mentors and the leaders that I saw in my community like Sensei Lana from Kia Kidz. Seeing how Kia Kidz impacted the lives of everyone who walked through those doors I wanted to start a project of my own that would be beneficial to others. I started a community service project, Jacquel’s Project, that is dedicated to my project partner Jada’s late sister Jacquel and youth that have Leukemia, which is what Jacquel passed away from. For this project we are working with Nicklaus Children's Hospital because that is where Jacquel received her treatment, to assist children with Leukemia and their families. The first event that we did was making 50 goodie bags which contained candy and toys for kids in the Leukemia department and 7 other departments at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in November 2021. Recently, Jada and I donated fairy gift sets from Chemo Fairies to the kids at the hospital. We are planning Chemo drives in which we will have Chemo baskets donated to us for the hospital which contain items for the kids and items that can help their families like gift cards for groceries or gas.

Once I graduate from college with my bachelor’s degree, I plan on working in a hospital or clinic in the Health Informatics and Information Management as a technician or specialist. As a Health Informatics and Information Management major, I will be able to specialize in the many fields that H.I.I.M. provides, like health science, law, finance, and data. I will use my education to expand on what I am already doing now by using the information and data collected to help find the cures of diseases and conditions and to protect the public’s healthcare information. I would consider Sensei Lana to be my hero. I met Sensei Lana more than three years ago when I started volunteering at Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center. Kia Kidz is a non-profit organization that specializes in helping kids with Special Needs learn how to walk, communicate verbally, and learn Jiu-Jitsu and self-defense. While volunteering at Kia Kidz, I got the opportunity to learn more about people with Special Needs, with the experience I got it helped push me into the healthcare field and to learn from and help others. My role as a counselor was to look over and assist kids with and without Special Needs from ages 3 to 17 in camp activities. The activities at camp consisted of teaching academics like reading, writing, and math and Jiu-Jitsu to kids. Apart from academics the camp consisted of field trips and group talk sessions where campers were able to learn about nature, art, discipline, and respect for others. Sensei Lana’s job consists of teaching kids with Special Needs how to walk, communicate verbally, Jiu-Jitsu, and self-defense. Her work with kids is like no other, no matter what she gets up seven days a week to go to the dojo or on Sundays when she has private lessons with her students she does swimming, bike, and reading lessons. She is also one of the few people who inspired me to go into the healthcare field, she has dedicated her life to helping others and I want to help the way she helped me. I would change the way people get away with serious crimes, no matter who you are, bad is bad. I feel like people do crimes and get away with it because most of them know that they can. I want to do my job as a citizen and overall good person and help those in need who are not always able to help themselves. Years from now I see myself assisting in finding a cure for cancer and other deadly diseases that do not allow people to live their lives to the fullest. Besides having a full-time job, I want to continue to work at Kia Kidz as a volunteer so that I can help people that I love and do the sport that I love too. Who knows, maybe I will even go to hospitals to teach kids Jiu-Jitsu and self-defense with other members of Kia Kidz.

Choosing which college to attend is definitely one of the hardest decisions a student can make and unlike other people I did not have a dream school I looked forward to going to my whole life. I attend Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University or FAMU. FAMU gave me the opportunity to be outside of my comfort zone in a place that I felt the most comfortable. I noticed that living at home with my family I was not my best self and working towards being the best I can be. I knew how to do many things for myself but it is not the same when you have someone who tells you to do it or expects you to. Choosing FAMU as where I want to spend the next four years of my life was one of the best decisions that I could have ever made, it was the first Historically Black College and University that I ever heard of. When I first heard of FAMU I immediately did my research and I learned what an HBCU is and what it meant for Black people in America who attended or attend them. Since I was in elementary school I went to schools where Black people were the minority and I was tired of being the only one or one of the two Black people in my class. I was even sometimes asked why I don’t know or learn Spanish since I live in Miami, where the majority of people there speak Spanish. Along with wanting to have more responsibility, be more independent, and be able to care for myself without having to rely on others who won’t always be there to help me, FAMU became my best option. I went from never hearing of an HBCU to being exposed to a completely different lifestyle and culture that I soon wanted to be a part of. To me social justice is fighting and doing what’s right for everyone no matter their race, class, religion, or disability. I have volunteered at Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center for the past three summers and throughout the school years. Kia Kidz is a non-profit organization that specializes in helping kids with Special Needs learn how to walk, communicate verbally, and learn Jiu-Jitsu and self-defense. While volunteering at Kia Kidz, I got the opportunity to learn more about people with Special Needs, with the experience I got from working with kids with Special Needs it helped push me into the healthcare field and to learn from and help others. My role as a counselor was to look over and assist kids with and without Special Needs from ages 3 to 17 in camp activities. Besides volunteering I created, along with my friend Jada, Jacquel's Project. Jacquel’s Project is a service project that is dedicated to Jada’s late sister Jacquel and youth that have Leukemia, which is what Jacquel passed away from. For this project we work with Nicklaus Children's Hospital because that is where Jacquel received her treatment, to assist children with Leukemia and their families. The first event that we did was making 50 goodie bags which contained candy and toys for kids in the Leukemia department and 7 other departments at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in November 2021. Recently, Jada and I donated fairy gift sets from Chemo Fairies to the kids at the hospital. We are planning Chemo drives in which we will have Chemo baskets donated to us for the hospital which contain items for the kids and items that can help their families like gift cards for food or gas.

My name is Amaiya Brown and I am a high school graduate of Robert Morgan Educational Center. I am currently a Freshman at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Once I graduate from college with my bachelor’s degree, I plan on working in a hospital or clinic in the Health Informatics and Information Management as a technician or specialist. As a Health Informatics and Information Management major, I would be able to specialize in the many fields that H.I.I.M. provides, like health science, law, finance, and data. I will use my education to expand on what I am already doing now by using the information and data collected to help find the cures of diseases and conditions and to protect the public’s healthcare information. I have volunteered at Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center for the past three summers and throughout high school. Kia Kidz is a non-profit organization that specializes in helping kids with Special Needs learn how to walk, communicate verbally, and learn Jiu-Jitsu and self- defense. While volunteering at Kia Kidz, I got the opportunity to learn more about people with Special Needs, with the experience I got it helped push me into the healthcare field and to learn from and help others. My role as a counselor was to look over and assist kids with and without Special Needs from ages 3 to 17 in camp activities. I thought being a counselor to kids with Special Needs would be challenging and at first which it was, but I learned how to work with and from them. The activities at camp consist of teaching academics like reading, writing, and math and Jiu-Jitsu to kids. Apart from academics the camp consisted of field trips and group talk sessions where campers were able to learn about nature, art, discipline, and respect for others. I initiated a service project with my project partner Jada, called Jacquel’s Project which is dedicated to Jada’s late sister Jacquel and youth that have Leukemia, which is what Jacquel passed away from. I also watched as my grandpa and a close family friend battled cancer but they both later passed away after years of fighting. Because of both Jada and I’s experience of having family and people we love battle cancer we started this project to honor them. For this project we work with Nicklaus Children's Hospital because that is where Jacquel received her treatment, to assist children with Leukemia and their families emotionally and financially. The first event that we did was making 50 goodie bags which contained candy and toys for kids in the Leukemia department and 7 other departments at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in November 2021. Recently, Jada and I donated fairy gift sets from Chemo Fairies to the kids at the hospital. We are planning Chemo drives in which we will have Chemo baskets donated to us for the hospital which contain items for the kids and items that can help their families like gift cards for groceries or gas. Years from now I see myself assisting in finding a cure for cancer and other deadly diseases that do not allow people to live their lives to the fullest. Besides having a full-time job, I want to continue to work at Kia Kidz as a volunteer so that I can help people that I love and do the sport that I love too while continuing Jacquel’s Project and keeping our loved one’s legacies alive. Who knows, maybe I will even go to hospitals to teach kids Jiu-Jitsu and self-defense with other members of Kia Kidz.

My greatest achievement is being Editor-in-Chief of my schools’ yearbook. During that time, I organized events like field trips and Senior Breakfast, advertised our yearbook and ads to students, made and sold Boo Grams to raise money. While doing this I managed to design and take pictures for at least 5-10 pages a month in the yearbook and edit pages for other students. Beside yearbook, I able to use my design and marketing skills when I did an internship for The Elijah Network Family and Community Alliance which is a non-profit organization that combats underage substance use through informing the South Miami-Dade community about the dangers of substance use and what you can do to help others who use substance use. While at The Elijah Network my role was making campaign flyers and presentations regarding information about teenage substance use that could inform teens and their families. I gave feedback that could make their organization better and that could connect with teens from a teens point of view. I have been involved in being a volunteer at Kia Kidz Martial Arts Center for the past three summers and throughout the school year. Kia Kidz is a non-profit organization that specializes in helping kids with Special Needs learn how to walk, communicate verbally, and learn Jiu-Jitsu and self-defense, it was not until I started volunteering there that I gained self-confidence and the love of people who meant a lot to me. My role as a counselor was to look over and assist kids with and without Special Needs from ages 3 to 17 in camp activities. The activities consist of teaching academics like reading, writing, and math and Jiu-Jitsu to kids. Apart from academics the camp consisted of field trips and group talk sessions where campers were able to learn about nature, art, discipline, and respect for others. From the group sessions I was able to communicate with them and talk about how they feel and what I can do to make the camp experience better. Becoming at first a counselor and now a student at Kia Kidz has helped me recognize my strengths and weaknesses but also made me a better person. Beside volunteering I created, along with my friend Jada, Jacquel's Project. Jacquel’s Project is a service project that is dedicated to Jada’s late sister Jacquel and youth that have Leukemia, which is what Jacquel passed away from. For this project we work with Nicklaus Children's Hospital because that is where Jacquel received her treatment, to assist children with Leukemia and their families. The first event that we did was making 50 goodie bags which contained candy and toys for kids in the Leukemia department and 7 other departments at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in November 2021. Recently, Jada and I donated fairy gift sets from Chemo Fairies to the kids at the hospital. We are planning Chemo drives in which we will have Chemo baskets donated to us for the hospital which contain items for the kids and items that can help their families like gift cards for food or gas. I received a Silver Knight Honorable Mention for the Journalism category from The Miami Herald for volunteering at Kia Kidz and for my service in Jacquel’s Project aside this I also received a National African American Recognition from College Board for my PSAT scores. All the volunteering, internships, and service project that I participated are part of the achievements that make me who I am today, and I am happy to say that I was apart of all of them. I hope to achievement working in the medical field and helping others the way that my community has helped myself and others.