I was seven years old when my mother told me we were going to be homeless. I remember that day vividly, leaving our home and asking, "where are we going?" and the sinking feeling of hearing my mother say, "I don't know". We drove our car to a rest area off the interstate and attempted to heat up chicken nuggets on the hot hood of the car for dinner. I asked my mother many questions before I realized we would be living this way from now on, and it would be seven years of homelessness before we had a home again. I did not have to opportunity to attend school as we moved from parking lot to parking lot, from town to town, it was not conducive to our new lifestyle. I had always loved learning, and I loved science. I did somehow learn to read and spent many hours at the public library. The library was the refuge of my childhood. It was the perfect place to spend all day when you had nowhere else to go. I knew that my childhood setback was not going to define my future and my education. At the age of 14 we finally had an apartment, and I enrolled in a charter school when I turned 15. The classroom setting was new and difficult to navigate, and so my time in high school was limited. I did finally end up earning my GED at 20 years of age and began my pursuit of a college education. Finally, I am here at 32 years old, earning a master’s degree in Nurse Anesthesia. I have been blessed with a love of learning and determination. I will pay it forward by helping others on their journey to CRNA school. I will offer resources and advice to those who are trying to navigate their way through the admissions process. After graduation, I also plan to contribute to the AANA foundation to help students pay for school as I have been helped. I now have four children that I hope to be a role model for, and a scholarship would greatly help me and my family complete this program.