My greatest life skill is caretaking. Living with my grandparents for the majority of my life has been a blessing in disguise. As they aged I found my greatest talent, taking care of others. As a young child my grandparents were always there for me, they gave me a place to live, they put food on my plate and clothes on my back. Whenever my mom failed to be a parent, they were there to step in and raise me and for that I will be forever thankful. So when I began to notice their health decline, I thought what better way to repay them than by returning the favor and taking care of them myself. While my grandpa is still a very independent and healthy human, my grandma’s health is another story. My grandma has unfortunately been the focus of my mother’s hatred for years. The constant death threats and false accusations thrown at my grandma have taken a toll on both her physically and mentally. Her stress levels have reached an all-time high recently with my mother out of jail and more threatening than ever. In March, my grandma suffered a stroke. Since then her health has been on a rapid decline. The lingering symptoms of her stroke and her recent diagnosis of dementia have greatly impacted her ability to be independent. This presented me with an opportunity to repay her by doing what I do best, caretaking. My morning schedule consists of waking my grandma up, making her breakfast, giving her her medications, and checking her blood pressure. I then go off to school and my brother takes over. Once I am home from school I socialize with my grandma to keep her spirits up and I continue to help her with whatever task may arise. She tends to have good and bad days, but thankfully good days are more common. On a bad day where my grandma needs emergency health attention, I step up and call to tell the paramedics her latest symptoms and diet before they come to evaluate her. All of my life experiences have given me the ability to recognize my purpose with others, taking care of others, which is why I aspire to work in the medical field.

The biggest challenge I faced is living with an abusive mother. My mom was quite present in my life up until I was twelve, unfortunately, she was not pleasantly present. At a young age, I was exposed to the dangers of drugs from first-hand experiences. I had seen my once role model mother spiral into the unstable abusive stranger she is now. The summer of 2015 is when I first was made aware of my mom’s severe drug addiction. This was only made known to me as she now posed a risk to my safety. Suddenly, it all made sense. The dangerous situations I was put in as a young child and the yelling and abuse I endured were not normal. While away at a softball tournament at the age of thirteen, my mother made several serious threats to my family and I. She had gone as far as to kidnap me. After these traumatizing events occurred, she was arrested for her first time with charges of child abuse. The first step I took to overcome the challenge of having to grow up in fear of my mother, is filing a restraining order. I consider this to be one of my greatest achievements to date because my mother has always been a very scary person to disobey. My family and I took this matter to court and we were quickly granted a restraining order along with a protective custody order which gave custody of me to my grandparents. The restraining order helped shield my family from the wrath of my severely drug-addicted mother. Unfortunately, a measly paper did not stop my mom from coming to our house attempting to break down the door with the intention to kill. After a years of constantly looking over my shoulder in fear of being kidnapped again, my mother was finally imprisoned, giving my family time to heal. This feeling of freedom is the main reason I was able to overcome this challenge. Through therapy, sports, and becoming an emancipated minor I was able to overcome life's curveballs. This experience taught me how to be independent at an extremely young age. I am an extremely mature individual for my age. All of the adversity I faced with my unusual living circumstances has provided me with an opportunity to mature faster. People ask me why I would choose not to change my family into the standard white picket fence life if presented with the opportunity to. I respond by stating that I am simply glad to have had these experiences; without them, I wouldn't be the person I am today. In the future I hope to become a medical professional in the field of dermatology. My future career comes with a very high income that I intend to spend most of it by giving back to my community and my family. Over the past few years of scholarship hunting, I have noticed there is very little opportunities for emancipated minors to receive assistance. I plan to change this in the future by funding my own yearly scholarship program for the emancipated minors of the country. I wish to help them feel like they are not alone in this process and someone is there for them and willing to help. With a majority of my other income I hope to help my brother out financially as he sacrificed so much of his own life to raise me and help me become to person I am today.