Like Sloane Stephens, I too have always been committed to giving back and supporting my community. Like Sloane Stephens, I also want to start a nonprofit that provides healthcare opportunities to underserved children through mentorship and workshops. Like Sloane Stephens, my grandparents played a huge role in my pursuit of education, specifically in the medical field, especially my Grannie. In the seventh grade, I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. My great-uncle was in hospice, and my family would visit him everyday after work and school to see him, up until the day he passed. A couple days before, we were over his house and I had noticed his breathing pattern was off. When you're breathing through an oxygen mask, things like that are to be taken seriously. I had spoken up for him to his aide, asking her to reposition him, and once she did that he started breathing better. I only knew what to do because of my hours of research regarding sleeping, which included snoring and breathing patterns. I felt good about myself and knew that to feel good about my life, I needed to give and help others. That was my calling from God. Fast forward to my junior year of high school, when I don’t have my nurse aide license quite yet, but I’m taking healthcare classes, my Grannie is in the last stage of breast cancer. She’s the third of the family to proceed. I am the third grandchild, the first to pursue secondary education. While she was still aware, she told me that I am a role model to my younger cousins and that I can do whatever I want to pursue. I began to take care of her as she was in her last week of life, spending the night to take my shift. That was a heavy time of my life, but it was inspiring. I probably wouldn’t be able to take care of another family member, due to the emotions, but I’m glad I got to experience that with her. With me taking two emotional times of my life, and making them into lessons, of course they have influenced my path. My Grannie was taking care of others before she got sick, I’ve witnessed this my entire life. I also witnessed the treatment she received when she became a vegetable at the hospital. That was enough neglect for me. For me to see that, and hear my uncle breathe so deep with the nurse aide not helping him until I spoke up, that was enough. My mind was definitely made. I have to make sure my people don’t experience that ever again. I decided to attend an HBCU because my career and nonprofit revolves around my community. I want to provide access to healthcare and opportunities for minorities, low-income, and women so that they never have to feel neglected or be afraid of a financial burden. Like Sloane Stephens, no matter the path I take and experiences I make, I know the goals I have in order to give back. My determination to close the gap for my communities, so other families never have to go through what mine went through, is motivation enough.

If you ask anyone else, this would be a bit silly, but as someone who once had low expectations, this was a huge deal for me. I have a lot of things to be proud of, as I get told every day by my mentees and mentors. There is just one thing that persuades me to feel like a failure, scholarships. During my senior year of high school, I didn’t have a good run with scholarships. I wrote a lot of essays, obtained a lot of recommendations, and recorded a lot of videos, but nothing ever happened. Maybe I put my focus onto the wrong scholarships, or maybe I wasn’t doing enough research. Either way, the scholarships I did apply to, I never heard back from. During the summer before my freshman year of college, my mom became financially nervous from my aid package. Luckily, one of my mentors had emailed me a scholarship that was near its deadline. One night, after arriving home from an event a little before midnight, I received a text message to check my email. I had won my first scholarship, a local one at that! I was so excited to relieve some stress off of my mother, I ran to her room and told her the news. Only thirty-six thousand left to cover, but it was something! I was so proud of myself, and I still am as I just won the same scholarship for my sophomore year. Prior to this year’s win, I felt like a failure, like I wasn’t doing enough. Since my win, I have been sure to complete two scholarships each day. I plan to continue this until I graduate medical school. This achievement has taught me that I wasn’t doing anything wrong my senior year besides having faith in myself. My grammar reads the same, as I am a great writer, and my presentation is still humbly wonderful. I had just left my internship and had little to an hour to prepare for my scholarship interview. I wasn’t aware of the questions being asked, I just knew how to present myself, be honest, and remain calm. It’s all about how you sell yourself. This experience has taught me that I should never feel like a failure, and whatever is meant for me shall come to me. Everything will work out in the end, I just have to apply the effort. I have learned to never get up and balance my emotions and lifestyle. Eventually, the wins will come in and I will be able to help my mother. If not before I graduate, I’ll be sure to provide throughout my career. I aspire to become a heart surgeon and create my own hospital, with my focus on minorities and low-income citizens. Funds and fears of negligence should never stop someone from receiving the healthcare they need and deserve. I hope to achieve by helping others, and thus helping my world, as the environmental advocate I am. My work will allow me to pay it forward through my patients and save the Earth. My education is the beginning of this all, along with research focused on epidemiology that I hope to complete during my undergrad. Big goals with little funds, but everything is sure to work out in the end through faith and persistence.