Vice President Kamala Harris once said, “When you lift up women, you lift up families, you lift up communities, you lift up economies – and you lift up America.” I take these words to heart because I want to make an impact for all women in America. I want to form a sisterhood that stands on the principles of dependence, acceptance, and conduciveness, all through the accessibility of free and equal access to medicine. Wanting to enter the medical field as a future ob/gyn the process of medicine and women's care is important to me, especially for those that reside in more impoverished or inner-city areas that lack access to proper healthcare needed. In those very locations, the economic system fails young girls and pregnant women by turning them away just for reasons of not having enough money to pay medical bills and expenses. This contributes to the lack of medical knowledge being known and individuals turning their cheek the other way when gynecology check-ups are mentioned. These issues in today's society is very reason why I have future goals to open a medical health clinic for women in impoverished areas to come to for free for exams and feminine products, being open to and accepting of all. Here women and young girls can come to learn properly about their reproductive system and how to care for it. Education will be taught on proper care for menstrual cycles, safe sex practices, information about STDs and cures that are available for some, and how to become a good mother caring for your baby in and out of the womb. Feminine care products of pads and tampons will also be available free of charge because just because a woman has one, doesn’t mean that she has to resources to pay for them. According to Utah’s Edu, “the products for girls and women cost 7% more than products made for boys and men”, which is inequitable when women represent 49.58% of the world. These women deserve better treatment that allows them to know they matter and I want to make an impact helping them know that they matter. Women shape the world, bringing in new lives daily that help grow the population. It’s important that they feel their journey of being creators and providers is recognized and appreciated. They need to be cared for better. All healthcare matters and needs to be granted to everyone regardless of cost.

Upon high school graduation, I plan on attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a Biomedical science major. With this major, I have goals on then attending Medical School with hopes to become an obstetric gynecologist. Ever since I was young, I have always shown an interest in the medical field. It is such a field of wonder and variety, obtaining many different aspects that are all centered around the common goal of helping individuals in terms of healthcare and beyond. Morally, helping individuals better themselves has always been important to me. The lives that make up our society are valuable and deserve to be preserved in catered to with the best healthcare to fix and/or cure issues that might arise. This thus moves me towards working for the greater good of our society on the front lines in the hospital and research. The profession of a Woman's Ob/Gyn appeals to me the most because it strictly deals with the health of women and their reproductive system. As women, our place in society has not always been as valued throughout the years of history, and many historians such as Elizabeth Blackwell paved the way for women of color and opened positions for women physicians, and Mary Edwards Walker advocated for women in healthcare. Thus, setting examples for how far we as Americans have come in recognizing the importance of women. I want to be one of these women to take a healthcare position and show many young girls that as women, we can do it. This mindset is why I want to be an Ob/GYN. To work with women and value the beautiful joys they bring into the world. To allow women to have the opportunity to be comfortable when they attend doctor appointments knowing that their doctor is another woman that understands their body and can be someone to connect to. Women play a critical role in the reproduction process, populating our universe, which requires many workers in the profession. It is important to make sure the reproductive system is healthy for oneself and to the benefit of their offspring. History, healthcare, and women are why I want to do it. Those are the true objectives for what shape my future around Obstetric Gynecology. Furthermore, I feel as if it is important to mention a very important woman in my life that contributed to the formation of my goals which is my grandmother Deidra Anderson. Being in my life since I was born, she has demonstrated what a woman should be and how one should serve by acquiring a higher education to make more of a difference. When I was at the age of 10 she was diagnosed with stage 3 Breast Cancer, which resulted in the removal of both breasts. In April of 2022 she was rediagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer and Stage 4 Bone cancer, being told that there was nothing more the doctors could do other than infusions and prescribe medication. This caused my grandmother to fall into a deep depression becoming an obstacle in my life because it was as if I lost someone who was still here. Over the course of time to the present she has begun to live her life every day like it's her last, taking on new adventures and endeavors. This experience taught me that there is no time like the present to take advantage of opportunities out there and to strive for my educational goals no matter how hard or long the process may be. Tomorrow is not always granted, but education to support my goals is.

Females in today’s society are held and seen as inferior to men. For centuries we have been doubted, paid less, and have had to face hardships to be granted equal rights in pursuit of education and politics. Women have to work harder to be taken seriously and have to demand respect as soon as we walk into the room because it is not originally granted. These hardships go even further when you are a Black Woman. Fighting against oppression from others while continuing to fight against gender inequality within your own race. Due to societal stereotypes that have been formulated over time, it is surprising for some when you see a black woman have goals and aspirations to pursue higher education, especially in medicine. Thus, this is why pursuing higher education is important to me. I have goals to pursue higher education because I want more for myself and I want to be a part of the strong women that make up today’s society in the workforce. I want to be an inspiration for generations of younger girls to send the message that it is possible to receive a college education. I want to feel accomplished by furthering my education past high school, knowing that all my hard work and dedication put into AP, Honors, Pre-AP, and Dual Enrollment classes has paid off and prepared me for college. My education is important to me and I work every day to further it by learning something new, being grateful that I am offered the opportunity to acquire new information that can help me in everyday life and future career goals. I have been a determined hard worker all 4 years of high school and plan on continuing to pursue my education in college and furthermore into years of medical school and residency. Learning is how we grow as individuals and how we prepare ourselves to teach others which signifies making a positive impact in America for educational purposes. This scholarship will help make that positive impact in my life. It will help contribute to the cost of schooling, ultimately contributing to my attendance. It will allow me to further my education and demonstrate to my family members that financial burdens do not mean that you have to give up on your dreams of acquiring a degree. With my future career goal of being a neonatal surgeon that very degree will be a doctoral, in which books, classes, and tuition prices can help be decreased with this scholarship.

I like to think that my soul moved with me when I moved to Madison, AL. Not in a, we moved together as one and remained the same type of way, but as in a, just as I moved and had to undergo changes, my soul did as well. I always liked to tell people that I “found myself,” was finally able to connect with people like me, and could finally live out the “coming of age” television teenage dream I had always longed for. I found myself happier than ever, believing that I completed the stage every adult talks to a child so cautiously about when it comes to finding yourself in high school—liking to think that I spent more time with myself than anyone else on those darkened nights of my sophomore school year and bright mornings of my freshly-out sophomore summer. However, reflecting back as a junior towards the end of my school year, I realized that none of that was true. That everything I liked to think about myself was just that. Something to think about, rather than something I took action upon: while undergoing this reflection, I always returned to the same question, “Well, do you know yourself now?” and if I am being completely honest with the Angel who finds enjoyment in discussing one's inner-self and emotions, I have to admit that no. I don’t. I know what I enjoy, my favorite food and songs, what hurts me, what makes me laugh, and who I want to be. However, I am still trying to figure out what to do with that information and how to utilize it going forward. So I can admit with a sigh of relief that I am not as bad off as I think, and though nothing is finalized, progression has been made. With making this progression, I wonder to myself if I will ever achieve my end goal. Does anyone actually honestly know who they are? Life changes every day and many decisions one makes in their lifetime don't always align with what they want, correlating to who they are within. I always feel as if saying you know who you are is just a statement that makes one feel good about themselves and makes them believe that they are true to who they are. However, those same people change in day-to-day situations. Those same people code-switch, take on different roles with different people they are around, and still fall aligned with the psychological findings that question the actions of an individual when in a group or new setting. So when I found myself changing my personality or the way I talked while within one friend group, I realized that I too had become just like the rest of the world. And I came to the conclusion that it was okay. I knew where I wanted to go in life and what I enjoyed at the moment, accepting the idea that; While some features of you change, some always remain the same. So the parts of Angel that obtained consistency through everything and interactions with anyone were me, and the parts that evolved and changed were me. Though I may have felt lost at times, looking back upon life during this time, the one thing I do know to be true is that I learned more about myself in Madison than I did anywhere else, and I wouldn’t change that move if I had the chance. This granted me the most impactful positive experience in my life.

I started making my Net Impact as a freshman in high school. While in high school the school I attended granted the students opportunity to have a free block for one hour at the end of every day to indulge in activities and study opportunity classes that they found valuable to them. I took this opportunity upon myself to create a class that included middle and high school special education students with regular-ed students. I wanted to make a difference in their day, giving them the chance to talk to and meet new people beyond their classroom, while also allowing regular-ed students to reach out and make the special needs students feel more comfortable. My primary goal was to create a safe environment for middle and high school special education students to express themselves and gain an understanding that mental and physical differences don’t make one a social outcast or different from anyone else. They deserved to be treated with the same respect regular-ed students give each other and to have the same opportunity to indulge in activities outside the classroom as the regular-ed students did. Being a founder of the “Buddy Club” I invited regular-ed students to spend a block with the special needs students doing any activities they found interesting. This varied from spending time outside to taking walks to play board games to helping with classwork. Members of the club were also invited to help assist with field trips that the special education students went on, being paired with one or more students each to spend the day with and get a better understanding of who they were, ultimately making new friends. There was also the establishment of new traditions for the buddies, seasonal parties, annual cook-offs, and book donations. The students and their buddies formed real relations and became a family that one another could depend on. The creation of the Buddy Club became recognized by the school and gained so many members over its course. Having a lot of teacher and student involvement the Buddy Club skyrocketed and became a wonderful creation that broke barriers between special needs and regular education students, resolving the once-set division. This was an outreach program that put smiles on all student's faces and truly made a difference for middle and high school students. My Buddy Club experience is a perfect example of what making an impact means to me. Making an impact in the educational institution where you are present in the very beginning is a perfect starting place to make a difference. So many individuals with so much potential all in one place makes for a positive change that can be made with support. I impacted students in all different grade levels by creating an all-inclusive environment that shielded negativity because these students matter and all of their school experiences matter. Making an impact conveys the idea that people matter and deserve to know that they matter to me.