In the 3rd grade, we did a mini neurology unit in school, I was drawn to it right away however there were other subjects I found interesting. So as much as I want to say I knew immediately that I wanted to go into neurology the moment we started that unit I can’t. What secured my future in neurology came a few years later. I had always thought my grandmother was an airhead when I was young and maybe I was delusional for thinking that's all it was for as long as I did but nonetheless. As time went on it became harder and harder to ignore that something was wrong with my grandmother but my breaking point was when a doctor asked if she knew who I was. She hesitated then answered “Christine”, my mother's name. I could no longer ignore it, my grandmother had dementia. I was scared and nothing made sense to me. But then, I had the opportunity to talk to a neurologist who was able to clear up my confusion. Of course, she didn’t fix everything but she didn’t have to, at a very young age, I was able to realize I need to make the absolute most out of the time I had left with my grandmother. Since then I visited my grandmother every Saturday up until last year when she passed away and through my eyes, I wouldn’t have had the foresight to visit her so often if it weren’t for her neurologist. She gave me peace of mind and I want to help others the way I was helped. That is why I stay up late studying, why I get up at 6:00 AM to go to Physiology class, and why I have submitted countless essays and applications in hopes of paying for my future education in medicine.

Clean living has been a significant value of mine since I was young and my parents were drilling the importance of recycling into my brain. As I grew up I developed my own reasons to live clean. Firstly I did so for my health. I got diagnosed with celiac disease when I was 16 which meant I was allergic to gluten but I had been eating it throughout my entire life therefore I was not able to absorb nutrients properly. Once I stopped eating gluten and started to properly absorb nutrients I noticed a world of difference: I had more energy, got better sleep, and felt better overall. Seeing that change gave me the motivation to pay more attention to what I eat. I now pay attention to the nutrient density in foods and what foods had vitamins I was lacking. For example, I was low on B vitamins so I worked a serving of salmon into my weekly diet. The second reason I practice clean living is for the people and plants around me. Ever since I can remember my mom has has a garden in our backyard. Helping her plant different types of flowers and vegetable plants gave me a deep appreciation of the world around me. Some of the ways I try to protect my environment are by reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting. A few years ago I saw the amount of waste my household was producing and wanted to make a change. Firstly we put most if not all food waste in the compost which is later used in the garden. Second, we use as many reusable products as we can such as plastic water bottles, metal straws, and cloth bags. We also practice repurposing, for example, if we are not able to use a cloth bag at a grocery store we will reuse those bags as trash bags for our smaller trash cans. We donate all of our paper to an organization called Art Inspired which shreds it and makes paper mache sculptures. Though we recycle what we can sometimes we still have to use paper napkins and plastic packaging but we also make ecobricks. Ecobricks are compact bricks of waste, I make them by emptying out a plastic water bottle and shoving as much plastic inside it as possible. I screw the cap back on and dip it in concrete to ensure the plastic cannot escape the bottle then my mom uses it to line her flower beds. Throughout my life, I have gained a lot of appreciation for the world around me as well as my health. I know that if you want to commit to clean living you must get into daily routines. I will continue to morph my habits as my life continues to try to improve my life and the lives of those around me.

I remember as a child watching my grandma slip away so clearly. She went from diligently babysitting me daily to struggling to remember my name. I was confused but more than anything I was scared. Until we entered the neurology unit in the gifted education program I was enrolled in. Suddenly so much made sense even though I knew that our situation wasn’t a good one I knew at the age of 8 that I needed to make the most out of our time together. This was the very first time I felt a great passion for neurology. As I moved on with my life I began experiencing episodes where I would lose consciousness and wake up with dark bruises all over my body and sometimes even concussions. From the time these episodes started, it took 3 years for me to be diagnosed with epilepsy. Once again I was lost, but then a neurologist explained what had been going on in my brain and how it could be treated. However, unlike last time some of my questions went unanswered; Why did I only have seizures during my period? What would I do or, more realistically, what could I do if I had a seizure in a dangerous place and something happened to me? I have spent years trying to find those answers but these past few years of confusion have helped me realize what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to be the person I needed. I experienced so many problems with my menstrual cycle interfering with my seizures it was then that I realized how important diversity in the medical field is. My male neurologist referred me to an OB/GYN who, because she hadn’t studied neurology, could only help me so much. I would get on chat groups where other women would talk about how they had similar experiences and couldn’t get the help they needed. Especially in neurology, we need to further study how the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and different types of birth control affect medical conditions. For medical care to be thorough and effective diversity is not only important but vital. I want to contribute to the disabled queer female population that is studying neuroscience and I want to other disabled women. I am confident that I will be able to make strides in this research because I have suffered as they have suffered.

When I first saw Brave I thought it would be about a princess who got in some sort of trouble and was saved by a man, that was all I had ever known. But I didn’t see that. What I saw on that big screen was a woman who was strong and independent against all odds. I wanted to be like her, I played many sports when I was younger including soccer, volleyball, and swimming. I was on co-ed teams for all of our games and meets. The girls were always made fun of by the boys and if we had more people on the team than we needed on the field or court and there was a male coach we could forget about playing. Merida inspired me to show them what I could do without worrying about getting their approval. Another aspect of this movie that I adore is how it didn’t focus on the men trying to marry Merida as a matter of fact many times they make jokes about Merida marrying someone she just met. Brave focuses on the relationship between Merida and her mother, queen Elinor, it taught me that keeping your current relationships strong and healthy should be more important than forming new relationships. In Merida’s case, her new relationship would’ve been a romantic one however it applies to all relationships. I should treasure the relationships with people I have and know instead of throwing those relationships away for a relationship with someone I just met. Brave is a unique movie. Sometimes I go back and watch some of the shows or films that I enjoyed as a child and I find them to be annoying and uninteresting because they weren’t made for 17-year-olds. But when I re-watch Brave I’m reminded that amazing animation, an inspiring story, and light-hearted comedy will never fail to amaze and entertain me.

My favorite scientific discovery all started when construction worker, Phineas Gage, suffered a traumatic brain injury that resulted in him losing a large portion of his frontal lobe. It was a gruesome start, but all the same, it began the study of different parts of the brain doing different things. In this case, Phineas Gage's injury only had mild effects on his physical health but the damage to his mental health and personality was detrimental which proved the frontal lobe controlled emotional regulation and personality while functions such as blood pressure control, sensory perception, and processing, and balance occurred in other lobes. The reason this is my favorite discovery is that it led to so many other things, it persuaded neurologists to research the functions of other lobes which led to many other discoveries. For example, the discovery that the temporal lobe control auditory processing led to the discovery of the cochlear implant, an invention that helps over 700,000 deaf or hard of hearing people hear. There are so many inventions based on the knowledge Phineas Gage engendered. If I were to name them all I would far surpass the word count. The discovery that different parts of our brains do different things has laid the groundwork for the future of neuroscience. Many neuroscientists today rely on this discovery to move forward. One day I hope to utilize this knowledge to make my own discovery in neuroscience

Growing up I visited my uncle every Sunday, he was one of the kindest, happiest people I knew and he also had down syndrome. The following week after I saw my uncle I went to school where I heard my peers use words like “retarded” and “freak” to target disabled kids and anyone else who was different. I never understood why people used such negative words to describe people like my uncle, especially when they never took the time to talk to them. I knew it was wrong but when I saw other students being bullied I froze, I had no idea what to do. Then realized, that a situation I once thought to be so convoluted was shockingly simple, just seeing if the kids who are being bullied are ok could do no harm. After speaking with these kids I learned just how much bullying was going on behind the scenes that I wasn't aware of. Hearing the pain in their voices engendered a strong inclination within me to act. There were two kids in particular who I went with to have a talk with the principal and our teacher. The next day during the morning announcements across the entire school over the intercom stating that students that use hurtful language against other students will be disciplined more harshly than in the past. I knew then that though there were people that would discriminate against disabled people there was also the potential to change their minds and I want to work to see more people open their minds in such a way. However much I would love to take credit for ending all bullying at my elementary school the announcement did little to stop the harassment. Actions speak lowered than words, when the kids began to realize if they bullied other students they would lose certain privileges they stopped for the most part. Of course, there were still a few bad apples but I let told those who were being bullied that I was there to listen if they needed to talk. Not long after this, I began middle school, and opportunities to advocate for those with disabilities became fewer and fewer as the school I went to only had roughly 35 people per grade. I was at a loss, I still wanted to help but I didn’t know how, that is when I found Art Inspired. Art Inspired is a non-profit organization dedicated to giving disabled people of all ages opportunities to take art lessons. I would set out supplies, clean up, and help students with whatever they needed. In doing this I found I was not only helping a philanthropic organization but also bettering my ability to advocate for disabled people. I once helped set up an art show for a woman named Sherry who was deaf and had severe autism. I took a break from hanging her paintings and changed out some dirty brushed for new ones as she work on new pieces her caretaker approached me and told me some of what I was doing for Sherry would prefer to do herself. I had to check a bias I had and I learned that disabled people were capable of much more than I expected, this knowledge would later help me cope with my own epilepsy diagnosis. After I began volunteering at Art Inspired it lit a passion in me to help those around me which led to me seeing out other opportunities. I have now volunteered at the Children's department of my local library center, C.A.R.E Animal Rescue, and Watching Over Whiskers. Combined I now have a total of 98.5 hours of volunteer experience and that number continues to grow as I find new communities and new opportunities.

I have always suffered from mental illness but everything took a turn for the worst when in 2019 I was diagnosed with epilepsy. At first, I didn’t think epilepsy would affect my mental health. But as time went on and all of my friends were able to go to dances and events with flashing lights while I stayed home alone I realized it wasn't so simple. Not to mention epilepsy was not a diagnosis I could hide from my classmates so not long after I had a seizure in the cafeteria my inbox flooded with messages from anonymous Instagram accounts. I received everything from bad jokes to death threats and as a result, I saw my mental health plummet lower than it ever had before. It was at this time I realized mental illness is truly the same as a physical illness and I genuinely thought anxiety was going to be the death of me. For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to go to school, and some days even if I wanted to go I couldn’t because I was kept awake all the previous night with panic attacks. I genuinely believe at this time in my life anxiety and depression were more detrimental to me than my epilepsy. Worst of all I felt I was completely alone. I wanted nothing more but to go to sleep forever because that way even if people did speak ill of me behind my back there was no way I could be hurt by it. It’s quite a harsh awakening looking back on those thoughts, I thought they were normal, inevitable even given my situation. But those negative stereotypes of mental health that flooded my thoughts were not ones of my own making, I watched television and I scrolled through Instagram. I saw people mock all with mental illness and label mental health days as stupid and unnecessary. So back in my freshman in sophomore years of high school, I believed what I had heard, then as I went to therapy and reflected I came to realize the reason these people belittle mental illness is that they most likely don’t experience it. And with that epiphany, I realized I can and want to make a change. I wanted to be the person I needed. I believe in all fields of health care mental health needs to be considered, this is something I advocate for on social media and in protests. Coping with diagnoses can be hard and is often not considered as a side effect. I want to influence neurology care by researching cures and treatments so that some of the stress can be taken off the shoulders of those diagnosed with neurological diseases or disorders. I couldn’t picture myself feeling fulfilled in life if I didn’t help people. Given my pre-existing anxiety and depression getting bullied and harassed after an epilepsy diagnosis really put me in a tough spot. But all things considered, I don’t think I would have pushed myself this far if I didn’t have these experiences. I’m proud to say that I survived the worst period of my mental illness thus far and even prouder to say that I am working to make sure those who get diagnosed in the future have the resources they need.

In October of 2021, I was diagnosed with celiac disease and was told the chronic abdominal pain I had suffered from for more than half my life was caused by an autoimmune reaction triggered by gluten. Since that day I have had to drastically change my diet to accommodate this diagnosis and the complications that came with it. Not only have I cut out gluten but I have also cut down on refined sugars and other harmful substances and found other ways of getting fiber. While cutting gluten out of your diet is hard finding ways to replace the fiber and other nutrients you are losing is even harder. A few months after I had cut out gluten I still had abdominal pain and after seeing a dietitian I realized since I had cut out wheat I wasn't getting enough fiber. I began to incorporate high-fiber food in everything I rate, I put chia seeds in my oatmeal and black beans in my salads. To find high-fiber foods I started paying close attention to the micronutrients in foods which led to realizing that I was not consuming enough B vitamins. Following this realization, I began to eat an 8-ounce serving of salmon each week as well as take a daily multivitamin. Throughout this journey, I have learned the importance of researching while forming a diet. Celiac disease requires a strict no gluten diet which means I had to stay far away from wheat, barley, and rye which led me to research what contained those ingredients. I found the bread I used to love contained gluten but also contained a cocktail of refined sugars and dyes none of which I wanted in my body. The more I looked at ingredient lists the more I avoided certain foods. For example, while skittles were technically gluten-free they also had titanium dioxide which has been linked to cancer. I have also noticed some foods are far better for me than I had thought such as sweet potatoes, avocados, and eggs. I’m happy to say that I have made the best out of my diagnosis so far and now my pain levels and gut health are better than ever. I have found ways to make up for the lost fiber and other micronutrients in my diet and I have taken steps in avoiding refined sugars and other additives. Though sometimes I may eat a candy bar or something else with refined sugar my diet and health have decidedly improved and it will only get better from here.