My passion for psychology began during my freshman year of high school. I was enrolled in both AP Psychology and a Dual Credit Psychology course, and those classes quickly became some of my all-time favorites. They still are some of my favorite courses, even now, as I enter my junior year of college. Learning about the human mind, understanding why people act the way they do, and finding out how professionals can help people who are struggling especially dealing with mental health struggles myself, was truly life-changing for me. During my freshman and sophomore years, I continued to take every psychology course available. I was especially drawn to learning how mental health conditions affect marginalized groups, and how things like race, gender, and sexuality can influence your predisposition for certain mental afflictions, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of them as well. This deeper understanding was the catalyst for my decision to pursue a career in psychology. While I originally planned to become a therapist, I’ve since decided to pursue getting my doctorate in psychology with the goal of becoming a psychology professor. I want to teach future therapists, not only to prepare them for their clinical work, but to help them understand the real-world impact they can have on individuals and communities. By educating the next generation of therapists, I hope to grow the mental health world and create better therapists for today. I am especially passionate about the mental health stigma that exists in marginalized communities. As a Black woman, I know firsthand how cultural and societal issues can prevent people from seeking help. There is a huge stigma surrounding mental health struggles, as well as seeking help when you need it, that deters a lot of people of color from trying out therapy. I believe it’s crucial to increase representation within the psychology field. I think that seeing more Black, queer, and other minority professionals offering care would help to lessen the stigma within those groups when it comes to mental health resources, and encourage more people to start seeking the help they need. My goal is to empower and uplift these future therapists through teaching and helping to create a mental health industry that is more diverse, empathetic, and open to those that need it. This scholarship would help me continue my education and bring me closer to making that vision a reality.

I've had a love of psychology since my freshman year of highschool. Through higher education, I’ve decided to pursue getting my doctorate in psychology with the goal of becoming a psychology professor. I want to teach future therapists, not only to prepare them for their clinical work, but to help them understand the real-world impact they can have on individuals and communities. By educating the next generation of therapists, I hope to grow the mental health world and create better therapists for today. I am especially passionate about the mental health stigma that exists in marginalized groups. As a Black woman, I know firsthand how cultural and societal issues can prevent people from seeking help, because I've seen it. There is a huge stigma surrounding mental health struggles, as well as seeking help when you need it, that deters a lot of people of color from trying out therapy. I believe it’s crucial to increase representation within the psychology field. I think that seeing more Black, queer, and other minority professionals offering care would help to lessen the stigma within those groups when it comes to mental health resources, and encourage more people to start seeking the help they need. My goal is to empower and uplift these future therapists through teaching and helping to create a mental health industry that is more diverse, empathetic, and open to those that need it. This scholarship would help me continue my education and bring me closer to making that vision a reality.

My passion for psychology began during my freshman year of high school. I was enrolled in both AP Psychology and a Dual Credit Psychology course, and those classes quickly became some of my all-time favorite, even now as I enter my junior year of college! Learning about the human mind, understanding why people behave the way they do, and discovering how therapists and psychiatrists can help people who are struggling with mental health issues was truly life-changing for me. Having personally experienced mental health challenges like anxiety and depression, I understand how powerful it can be to be able to make sense of what’s happening inside your mind, and maybe even aquire the skills to combat these issues and live a happier, healthier life. That early exposure to psychology helped me recognize how important mental health awareness is, and inspired me to turn that interest into a career I can hone on helping those around me. During my freshman and sophomore years of college, I continued to take every psychology course available. I was especially interested in learning how mental health conditions affect spacific marginalized groups, and how factors like race, gender, and sexuality can influence both diagnosis and treatment. This deeper understanding only solidified my desire to pursue a career in psychology. While I originally planned to become a therapist, I have since came to the quick decision to pursue a doctorate with the goal of becoming a psychology professor. I want to teach future therapists to not only to prepare them for their clinical work, but to help them understand the real-world impact they can have on individuals and communities. By educating the next generation of therapists, I hope to contribute to a more compassionate and inclusive mental health field. I am especially passionate about addressing the mental health stigma that exists in marginalized communities. As a Black woman, I know firsthand how cultural and societal barriers can prevent people from seeking help, escpecailly in people of color. I believe it’s crucial to increase representation within the field. I really want to see more Black, queer, and other minority professionals that can give care to those who need it most. My goal is to empower and uplift these future therapists through teaching, helping to create a mental health environment that is more diverse, more empathetic, and more effective. This scholarship would help me continue my education and bring me closer to making that vision a reality.

I am a 19 year old eldest sister of 4, a native California girl, and textbook libra. I'm a born dancer and I sing everywhere I go. I love to read and write, spend time with those I love, and dabble in the occasional video game. The first time I ever fell in love was when I was three years old, and I took my first dance class. I have loved to dance for longer than I can remember. Being able to fully release myself to the music and let my body move on its own is a captivating feeling. Dance is definitely one of my greatest passions. It is something I can always turn to when nothing else in my life makes any sense. Another thing that I'm passionate about is helping those around me. I've always had the heart to help, even when I was younger and wasn't quite sure how. But as I've gotten older, this want to make change in the world hasn't diminished. In fact, it's only grown! My family and I started our own community service based non-profit organization called Big Impact Foundation, where we do all sorts of community service acts around the Las Vegas Valley. This has allowed me to continue my work in helping people through service, which I love. These passions have not only shaped who I am as a person, but also the future I'm working towards. My main aspiration in life is to Do Great Things. That's something that my dad has said to me for my entire life when he would drop me off at school, all the way from kindergarten to my senior year of high school when I was driving myself! Because of this, I've always strived to make everything I do great, even the mundane activities in life. It really give me a sense of self accomplishment and purpose. I also really want to teach psychology at a college level when I get older. I've loved psych since highschool, and I always knew I wanted to make a career out of it. For a long while I wanted to be a therapist, but some deep reflection of myself as a person made me realize that I would be better suited to teach others how to be the best therapists they can be. One of the experiences that truly shaped who I am today was when I competed in my very first pageant. I was 8 years old and I threw up backstage before it was my turn. Surprisingly it wasn't because I was nervous, it was because I apparently had the stomach flu and didn't know until that exact moment. And even more surprisingly, I ended up winning the entire thing! That feeling of being called as the winner was exhilarating, and that's when I became hooked on pageantry. Not only did pageantry lead me to amazing things like becoming Miss Nevada's Teen and competing at Miss America, but it also gave me so many valuable life skills like public speaking, poise, confidence, and my immense love for community service, which is a big part of many pageant organizations! Competing and winning in my very first pageant really helped shape the young woman I am today!

It was my freshman year of high school that I truly fell in love with psychology. I was taking my very first psych class, AP Psychology, as well as taking a Dual Credit Psych class that same year. To this day, those were two of my favorite classes I have ever taken, even going into my junior year of college! Getting the opportunity to learn so much about the human mind, why people do what they do, and how someone like me would be able to help them was life changing. As someone who had dealt with mental health struggles like anxiety and depression in the past, I knew how big of a deal it was to know what was going on in your brain when you didn't fully understand it all. This was when I knew I wanted to pursue psychology in the future, and maybe even get a career in the field. During my freshamn and sophmore years, I was able to take even more psychology classes. I even got the chance to learn about how certain mental afflictions affected marginalized groups, or how they were predispositioned to certain illnesses or disorders. This further solidified my interest in psychology and truly made me want to make a career out of it! My decision to pursue a degree in psychology was a given, And while I had initially wanted to become a therapist so I could directly help those in need, I made the conscious choice to pursue my doctorate, so I can eventually teach psychology at a colligate level! My goal as a psychology professor is to teach students about psychology and all of the amazing things it can do for them and those around them, in a effort to create better therapists for today. Therapists and mental health counseling is incredibly important, and I feel that everyone can benefit from attending therapy at least once. With more therapist out in the open, it will help to lessen the stigma surrounding mental health and encourage people to seek help for the issues they face in their everyday lives, instead of suffering because the don't want to be viewed or treated differently. I also know from my psych classes and from personal experinece as a black girl that there is a much harsher stigma for marginalized groups like people of color. Because of this, I feel it would be very beneficial to have more therapists from those groups, like having more black and queer therapists, and those are the people that I want to encourage and build up with my degree in psychology!