Hello, my name is A'Vyance Clark and I am a junior psychology student at LSU. My overall goal in life is to help neurodivergent people navigate through life easier. Neurodivergent is a nonmedical term that describes people whose brains develop or work differently from typical ones. This encompasses many neurological and development conditions like autism spectrum disorder, Tourette syndrome, epilepsy, etc... To make that happen, I am on the path to becoming a clinical psychologist. As a clinical psychologist, I want to serve neurodivergent clients, be a confidential outlet that they can express themselves, and be a person for them to share how they see life through their perspective. I've wanted to be a lot of things when I was younger as most people do. An author, chef, singer, geologist, and even a mermaid. But as I became older and lived through tough events in my life, I realized how important mental health. I am neurodivergent and was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder specifically and formerly known as Aspergers syndrome. My diagnosis was mad around the age of 10 and it was a huge relief to my mother and myself. My mother finally had something that could explain why her child was so different and hard to understand. Therefore, I had a better home life with my mom getting a better understanding of me. Before my diagnosis, I was seen as the troubled/bad child with behavioral problems. This led to me getting physical punishments at home, misunderstood by teachers at school, and overall feeling alone due to know one understanding me as a kid. The differences were noticeable in almost every aspect of my life due to social disparities and behavioral differences throughout my life to this day. The thing that helped me was having a mother that fought for me to have adequate healthcare insurance and all of the mental health professionals that have help treat me. From speech therapists in elementary to my current psychologist. They have helped me understand myself and navigate through life easier than trying to do it on my own with no support system. I want and strive to be a psychological medical professional that helps people like me. People that need or want help to navigate life easier despite their differences or obstacles. I almost didn't apply to this because the description of the scholarship said, "through their career in the medical field." Clinical psychologists require additional years of schooling to get a doctoral degree. They aren't medical doctors but see and treat patients. When I succeed, I will see and treat patients. So, my goal of being a clinical psychologist is a medical career and I intend to positively impact every patient I am fortunate enough to encounter.

I was deciding between two songs. "Do It Like A Girl" by Morgan St. Jean and "I'VE HAD ENOUGH" by Melina KB. Then I realized that I can write about both of them. "Do It Like A Girl" is a song about gender inequality forced upon women throughout history and unfortunately persists today. There are a lot of unfair expectations put on women in society and this song directly tells men that they could never deal with the societal pressure and inequality that women do. This song makes me feel seen in this society where men are respected and valued more than I, a woman. I really liked this song. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH" speaks more to women that have been wronged in sexual manners. Whether that be a sexist comment, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, grooming, abuse or any other horrible nonconsensual acts that woman experience more than men solely because they are women. This song made me feel so powerful like I could scream the lyrics at the man that groomed me and kick him in the balls. I really like this song too. Both of these songs are woman-empowering and are perfect to belt out in the car. The message that these two songs tell anyone that listens to them is " If you're a woman then you have probably been treated as less and disrespected just because of your gender but you are a tough entity. You are more than just your body and no matter if you have been undermined, oversexualized, assaulted, or blamed for your trauma; you are imperfectly perfect."

I am an African American autistic young lady that has overcome a lot of things others wouldn't have to. You may not even think about some of the adversity people like me deal with. I have been diagnosed with ADD more known as ADHD, Autism, and OCD. Have you ever been in a conversation with a group of people, and they are using subtle sarcastic or indirect speech and you can't follow the conversation? Then, when you ask what someone meant everyone starts to laugh at you. Or have you ever went shopping in your local Walmart and you start crying and having a panic attack due because you can't find a way for plastic drawers to fit in your cart. No? Well, I go through stuff like that on a day-to-day basis. I struggle with normal mental health irregularities in a casual day, during school, or at work. It is harder for me to get a job or get through an interview like a "normal" person. I overcome adversity every single day and most don't know it. I want to be a figure or a beacon for little girls that are like me. The message I want them to never forget is "My diagnosis does not stop or hinder but add to me." I want to be an African American neurodivergent female that does wonderful things to help animals whether that be rehabilitating stray animals off the street or treating them in a clinic as a veterinarian. Either way I want to show other like me young and old that they manage and live with being neurodivergent and become what they want. In the future I want to give back by bringing calm tempered dogs, cats or bunnies for children with ASD to play with as long as they aren't allergic. Or help people with a mental illness that can benefit from having a Psychiatric Service Dog get matched with one best suited for them. I have many ideas in these areas. It won't save everyone, but it would make as many people as I could reach live better or happier.