Growing up, conflict was not something I enjoyed participating in or working through. It felt uncomfortable to have to sit across from someone I disagreed with and try to find a way to bridge the gap and pursue reconciliation. I also disliked the idea of bringing up problems with others out of fear of being viewed unloving and rude. It was not until I came to college that I began to learn what healthy conflict looks like and how we can resolve it well. The very first time I had to deal with conflict in college was with my first roommate. It was not that I did not know how to share a space with someone, I had shared a room with my two sister for the past eighteen years. It was more of an issue about learning how to bring up issues like sleep schedules and cleanliness that left me feeling awkward and sheepish. With my sisters, we grew up in a similar household and had the same values. With my roommate, we were coming from two different families with very different backgrounds. The way I dealt with this conflict was very similar to how I had always handled conflict, I ran away from the problem. So in the spring semester, I had found a new roommate and changed the scenery. I probably would have continued this vicious pattern of running away from conflict if it had not been for an incredibly leadership opportunity in my sophomore year of college. It was at this point in my academic career that I was given the position of a Resident Assistant. Suddenly, roommate conflicts again became my issue as I was charged with the difficult task of helping my residents navigate the differences amongst each other. I felt uncomfortable giving advice because I had no idea how to navigate conflict myself. I then turned to the person I knew had lots of experience in conflict, my Resident Director. It was through her insight that I was able to learn the importance of addressing conflict in a loving yet truthful way, that conflict is not the end-all-be-all, and forgiveness can be pursued when we choose to look at the things we share in common and see the beauty of our differences. I began to engage in conflict with others, not in an attempt to win the argument, but in an attempt to better understand those around me so that I could better love and serve them. When I finally started to embrace conflict and seek reconciliation, I found it much easier to lead my residents into meaningful conversations and beautiful opportunities for forgiveness and reconciliation with others. I am grateful to say that I am continuing to grow in this area, and I now have the wonderful opportunity my Resident Director had to pour this same wisdom and knowledge of conflict into those around me. In becoming an Assistant Resident Director, I have the wonderful opportunity to pour into the next generation of Resident Assistants and foster a community where we celebrate our differences and seek to find commonality. I am incredibly grateful for these leadership positions in Residence Life because they have taught me the beauty of conflict and reconciliation and have pushed me to pursue growth in an area that was difficult for me to overcome.

My entire life, my grandparents have been missionaries in Africa. I grew up hearing a lot of stories from them, but I never understood the impact one specific story would have on me. Wadda was a young baby when he was abandoned by his family in an open market. He was found by some of the women closing the market that day. The women took him to the local orphanage, and that is how my grandparents got to connect with Wadda. He was severely malnourished with a multitude of developmental delays. In the area where my grandparents serve, people are not educated about the ability for muscles to strengthen if you work with them. Children who are lame are often condemned to sitting on a mat for the rest of their lives. This would have been Wadda’s story if my grandmother had not stepped in; she worked with him and taught him how to sit, crawl, and eventually walk. Most of the people where my grandparents serve do not know how movement can impact their children’s ability to bounce back from delays and injuries. Because they lack education, they are unable to improve the quality of life in their community. Through Wadda’s story, I learned the impact education has in creating success for patients. Understanding the importance of patient education will benefit me as a physical therapist because I will be able to teach my patients why I chose certain treatments and exercises. I will continue to remember this so that I can empower my patients to understand their body better. In addition to patient education, I also learned the importance of empathetic and compassionate care. During my time as therapy tech, I had the opportunity to work with many postoperative patients. Most of them were in a lot of pain and not incredibly willing to get out of bed to receive physical therapy. I tried a lot of different tactics to try to get them out of bed, but I found the most successful approach was to ask them how they were doing and empathize with them. This helped me establish a good relationship with my patients because they knew I cared about them and what they were going through. Sometimes they were upset with me because I had to be tough and make them get out of bed for therapy. However, because I had developed a relationship with them, they knew me being tough on them was because I cared enough about their wellbeing to make them do hard things. I am glad I learned empathy and tough love before going into the physical therapy field because it will help me foster patient relationships and help my patients get results. These experiences have helped me learn what compassionate and informative care looks like and will greatly benefit me in the field of Physical Therapy as I work to build relationships with my patients and educate them to be better stewards of their bodies. I look forward to continuing to grow in these areas and eventually getting to use these skills with my future patients.

I work at a rehabilitation hospital as a therapy tech. When I first started, I was very nervous because I am used to working with kids and am very comfortable around them. I was worried that I would struggle to connect with older generations because I have never worked with them before. However, my first day turned out to be surprisingly pleasant, and I was blessed with the opportunity to connect and make an impact on the patients I work with. Every time I come into work, I get the opportunity to interact with seniors and hear about their stories. I've also been able to visit patients in their rooms to check in on them and get to know more about them. It's important to me that my patients know that someone cares about them because oftentimes, they don't have anyone coming in to visit them. Having this job has been such a blessing because I have been able to gain a new perspective on connecting with seniors who may have a different perspective than me. I would encourage all college students to find some way to connect with seniors because it is such a wonderful experience and a great way to gain new perspectives on life.

When I was little, we moved around often for my dad's job. I lived in two different states and three different homes by the age of 7. While it was exciting to move around and see new people and places, it got harder to move as I made new friends and then had to say goodbye to them. In the middle of my second-grade year, we moved yet again for my dad's job. This time, we moved to Texas. While I was reluctant to move yet again, I did not have much of a choice since my dad needed to move to get a better job to support our family. I figured we would not be in Texas for long, but we moved to Texas and that's where we have been ever since. I have lived in Texas for 10 years, and I have been able to develop so many amazing relationships with people of all kinds. In those ten years, I have a best friend of 10 years, was able to connect with people in my community that I consider family, and am blessed with the opportunity to meet tons of new people every day. To me, Texas means home, and it is a place where I can experience new things and meet incredible people.

Wadda is a happy, seven-year-old boy living in Liberia who can run like the wind, but he was not always able to do the things he can do today. When he was a baby, Wadda was abandoned in the open market at night with only a piece of cloth to lay on. Some of the market ladies noticed him and notified the police. They took him to an orphanage to be cared for until they could locate his family. When Wadda was first brought to the orphanage, he could not talk or walk. Day by day, the caretaker of the orphanage began to work with Wadda to help him be able to walk. Over the course of two years, Wadda learned to walk with help, then to walk without help, and finally to be able to run like the wind. The police never found Wadda’s family, but Wadda made tremendous progress while at the orphanage. My grandparents are missionaries in Liberia and met Wadda at the orphanage. I remember when my grandmother showed me a picture of Wadda and told me his story. It upset me to see that there are kids who do not have the help they need to live their lives. Wadda's story has put a lasting impression on my heart to help kids just like him who do not have access to the help they need. For as long as I can remember, I have loved studying the human body and how it works. It is awe-inspiring to realize that God has spent so much time crafting each human being right from the start. In 9th grade, I realized that my love for anatomy gave me a passion for the medical field, so I began to research careers in it. Physical therapy immediately stood out to me as a career that I wanted to learn more about. After watching therapy sessions and interviews with physical therapists about their job, as well as doing some of my own physical therapy session observations in a clinic, I realized that God is calling me to become a physical therapist. To me, physical therapy is more than just a job or something I do to earn money; it is an opportunity for me to serve others, improve people’s lives, and ultimately lead people to Christ. I love physical therapy because it gives me a rewarding opportunity to serve others and change their life. I love that I get to be a part of my patient's lives and serve them as Jesus would. For the past six years, I have been an active volunteer at my school and church. However, one of the most rewarding service opportunities that I have experienced was mentoring one of my younger classmates. My classmate has had a rough home life and background. As a result, she often struggles mentally and emotionally. I helped her many times with assignments to help her pass her classes, and we had many conversations about what she was going through. She often calls me her adopted sister. It makes me happy to see that I have made a difference in her life just by offering instruction and listening to her. Serving others makes me feel incredible. I cannot imagine a better life than going to work every day excited to see how God will be working through my service to change other peoples’ lives. While the opportunity to serve others and to change peoples’ lives is a very exciting idea to me, the thing that excites me the most is the fact that physical therapy grants you the ability to lead others to Christ. When I become a physical therapist, I do not want my patients to leave my clinic with the impression that I am only there to heal their injuries. I want every patient to know that they are loved and that there is someone who cares about them and what they are going through. I would love to go into another country and give people who do not have the opportunity for healing the ability to get help. There are many children like Wadda who are unable to do things because of an injury or issue with their bodies. I would love to be a part of correcting those issues and allow them to live a normal life. All in all, I think that physical therapy is an incredible ministry, and I cannot wait to become one and make a difference in the world around me.

Wadda is a happy, seven-year-old boy living in Liberia who can run like the wind, but he was not always able to do the things he is able to do today. When he was just a baby, Wadda was abandoned in the open market at night with only a piece of cloth to lay on. Some of the market ladies noticed him while they were closing up shop and notified the police. They took him to an orphanage to be cared for until they could locate his family. When Wadda was first brought to the orphanage, he could not talk or walk. Slowly, day by day, the caretaker of the orphanage began to work with Wadda to help him be able to walk. Over the course of two years, Wadda learned to walk with help, then to walk without help, and finally to be able to run like the wind. The police never found Wadda’s family, but Wadda has made tremendous progress while at the orphanage. My grandparents are missionaries in Liberia and met Wadda when he first came to the orphanage. I remember when my grandmother first showed me a picture of Wadda and told me his story. It made me upset to see that there are so many kids who do not have the help that they need to be able to live their lives, and Wadda’s story has put a lasting impression on my heart for people who do not have access to the help that they need. I am passionate about stem because I love using science to help others. I plan on majoring in exercise science and then moving on to a graduate Physical Therapy program. I want to help give other children like Wadda a better quality of life via the application of my degree. I have met so many children and adults whose bodies do not function in a way that allows them to live life to the fullest. By earning my degree in Physical Therapy and becoming a Physical Therapist, I am enabling myself to help other people live life in abundance.

I want to study physical therapy in college because I want to make a difference in the lives of my patients, especially children. There's this little boy in West Africa named Wadda who is a happy, seven-year-old boy and can run like the wind, but he was not always able to do the things he can do today. When he was just a baby, Wadda was abandoned in the open market at night with only a piece of cloth to lay on. Some of the market ladies noticed him while they were closing up shop and notified the police. They took him to an orphanage to be cared for until they could locate his family. When Wadda was first brought to the orphanage, he could not talk or walk. Slowly, day by day, the caretaker of the orphanage began to work with Wadda to help him be able to walk. Over the course of two years, Wadda learned to walk with help, then to walk without help, and finally to be able to run like the wind. The police never found Wadda’s family, but Wadda has made tremendous progress while at the orphanage. My grandparents are missionaries in Liberia and met Wadda when he first came to the orphanage. I remember when my grandmother first showed me a picture of Wadda and told me his story. It made me upset to see that there are so many kids who do not have the help that they need to be able to live their lives, and Wadda’s story has put a lasting impression on my heart for people who do not have access to the help that they need. There are so many children in the world who are unable to live a normal life because of the issues or problems they have with their bodies. That's why I want to become a physical therapist so that these children will have the opportunity to live a normal life without being restrained by their bodies' capabilities. I want therapy to be fun for children, like a game. I want them to laugh, play, and want to come back to therapy every day. Ultimately, I want them to eventually leave the clinic able to do things by themselves and able to live their lives to the fullest.

For my Sweet Sixteen, I decided that instead of having a party, I wanted to serve others. I got some of my closest friends together, and together we cooked and served dinner for the families at the Ronald McDonald House of Charity. It was so much fun and rewarding to work together and see the grateful faces of the families as we served them! We had a great time, and I hope that I get to do it again someday!