My name is Carlie Griffith, but you can call me Canyon. I grew up in Trenton New Jersey, and I am a junior in college, at Morgan State University. I am in school for nursing and I intend on becoming a Doula. I consider many different things I overcame and have done to be achievements. For example, I recently got my phlebotomy license, and I spend hours working on crochet projects that turn out pretty great; but overall, my biggest achievement is overcoming and learning to deal with my mental health. As a queer black female growing up, I never really saw my struggles with my mental health as important; it definitely at times didn't feel like anyone did. As I grew up, I had bad days more often than not and it came to a head when I was Seventeen and a senior in high school; after a hospital stay, I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. This was the start of me and those around me acknowledging my internal struggles but nothing was really done. It took about another two years for me to fully accept and learn to live with what I viewed as "negative" and "annoying". Around the time I was Nineteen, I had a health issue and I also lost a few close "friends". I was extremely depressed, I thought this emptiness was from not trying enough and not being overly stressed, so I threw myself into my schoolwork, getting different certifications, and new hobbies; but nothing made me feel what I thought was normal. It took me a few months to realize this; but, I eventually concluded that I had to learn to love myself. Now, I loved myself before, but I never really loved that part of me; me who sometimes couldn't get out of bed, me who sometimes cried at the thought of leaving the house, the part of me that I saw as weaker. It took me so long to fully love myself in my normal. While I am still a work in progress, and it's hard some days, I am so happy that I am able to get to this point of self-acceptance. This is my proudest achievement, and I will continue on this (bumpy at times) road to self-love. My experience so far has taught me that nobody is truly perfect and that we all are dealing with something; but most importantly, it showed me how truly resistant I can be. For the last year, I've dealt with mental issues, death, medical issues, and loss of friends; I even almost lost myself in the midst of everything; but for me to truly start to accept and live with myself at that time really taught me what true love and compassion is, and I wanna use that newfound love that I have to help others. As I mentioned prior in my essay, I want to become a doula. I originally wanted to work in pediatrics and the Emergency Room, but the more I learned about the issues surrounding pregnancy, and the mental health of women postpartum; I got more passionate about not just helping them in their journey into parenthood, but also to be a voice for them. Thank you so much for considering my essay.

"The Best Way to make children good is to make them happy"- Oscar Wilde This is a quotes that I live by; I believe that all children hold innocence and need to be nurtured and treated with love and care. I have had a passion for working with children since I was young. My name is Carlie Griffith and I go to Morgan State University as a lower-level nursing student. I grew up the oldest of the four children in my house. This instilled values in me, such as; personal responsibility, routine, discipline, as well as a love and patience for working with young children. Due to certain situations that I went through as a child, I grew up either wanting to work with children through being in pediatrics, becoming a social worker like my aunt. The more I grew and came into myself; I realized that kids are easily comforted by me and that they develop a strong trust in me as a person; which I cherish. This, later led me down the path of wanting to pursue nursing. This appreciation for kids when I was younger turned into a sort of part-time job as I became a teenager. Family members would frequently drop off their kids for days at a time; I would watch them, play with them, clothe them, and feed them. I have to admit that at first I didn't necessarily like it, but the more I babysat my young cousins, the more I loved it. Due to my constant being around children as a young teen, it came as no surprise to my family when I got admitted to Morgan State University as a lower level (pre-nursing) nursing student. The work is hard, I was never exactly excited to go to school. However, because I know that in the end, I will have all the accreditations I need to do what I love; I strive to do my best in every class that I take and I ask as many questions as I can to get the best grades I know I can receive. My main reason for becoming a nurse is because I love working with children, and I know what it's like to be scared in a doctor's office or hospital. As a nurse, I know that I can make a child's stay much more comfortable and enjoyable. Especially when it comes to children who are extremely sick, I want them and their families to feel nothing but happiness while they are in my care and are possibly struggling with worrying thoughts, bills, excreta. For however long I see my patients, whether it is a few hours or a few weeks, my goal is to do nothing but bring joy, love, and wellness to them. My immediate goal after my graduation in 2025, is to get an internship at John Hopkins Hospital in their pediatric unit. Thank you so much for considering my application for the Deborah Stevens Pediatric Nursing Scholarship.

"The Best Way to make children good is to make them happy"- Oscar Wilde This is a quotes that I live by; I believe that all children hold innocence and need to be nurtured and treated with love and care. I have had a passion for working with children since I was young. My name is Carlie Griffith and I go to Morgan State University as a lower-level nursing student. I grew up the oldest of the four children in my house. This instilled values in me, such as; personal responsibility, routine, discipline, as well as a love and patience for working with young children. Due to certain situations that I went through as a child, I grew up either wanting to work with children through being in pediatrics, becoming a social worker like my aunt. The more I grew and came into myself; I realized that kids are easily comforted by me and that they develop a strong trust in me as a person; which I cherish. This, later led me down the path of wanting to pursue nursing. This appreciation for kids when I was younger turned into a sort of part-time job as I became a teenager. Family members would frequently drop off their kids for days at a time; I would watch them, play with them, clothe them, and feed them. I have to admit that at first I didn't necessarily like it, but the more I babysat my young cousins, the more I loved it. Due to my constant being around children as a young teen, it came as no surprise to my family when I got admitted to Morgan State University as a lower level (pre-nursing) nursing student. The work is hard, I was never exactly excited to go to school. However, because I know that in the end, I will have all the accreditations I need to do what I love; I strive to do my best in every class that I take and I ask as many questions as I can to get the best grades I know I can receive. My main reason for becoming a nurse is because I love working with children, and I know what it's like to be scared in a doctor's office or hospital. As a nurse, I know that I can make a child's stay much more comfortable and enjoyable. Especially when it comes to children who are extremely sick, I want them and their families to feel nothing but happiness while they are in my care and are possibly struggling with worrying thoughts, bills, excreta. For however long I see my patients, whether it is a few hours or a few weeks, my goal is to do nothing but bring joy, love, and wellness to them. My immediate goal after my graduation in 2025, is to get an internship at John Hopkins Hospital in their pediatric unit. Thank you so much for considering my application for the Noah Jon Markstrom Foundation Scholarship.

My name is Carlie Griffith, I go by Canyon. I am a black freshman undergraduate student at Morgan State University. I'm passionate about my major, which is nursing. I also draw, knit, sew, paint, hike and love talking about existentialism. I've been struggling with my mental and social issues since I was little. As a child, I was physically and mentally abused by my biological father. Until about last year, even my mother didn't know the full extent of what he did to me. Around this time last year (December 7th), I attempted to commit suicide and ended up in an impatient child's psychiatric unit. Since then; I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder. Since turning 18 and getting to a better place mentally, I cope using ways such as; trying to rationalize and validate my own emotions, being physically active, drawing, and meditating. Another coping mechanism I use is spiritual practices and praying. I look forward to starting therapy again soon and finding new and healthier ways to deal with my mood issues and overall social anxieties. I plan on becoming either a pediatric nurse or a hospice nurse because I aspire to help others. I also hope to eventually make enough money to offer students who come from the same background or who deal with the same issues as me money to help with tuition through grants/ scholarships.

I was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and had what I thought was a regular life. My mom was always working and, my father was abusive when he was there but also very neglectful. I figured that this was normal life, considering that I didn’t see how a family should function anywhere else. He died in front of me and my brothers on a beach; I was only Eleven years old. This impacted me for years and still does. I would constantly get headaches and have horrible nightmares. Later on, my stepdad started to come around; this was less than a year after my father’s death. It got worse when my mom got Thyroid cancer, she lived but for the better half of a year, I thought I would loose my only other living parent. To skip the personal things I went through, I eventually got admitted to a hospital for trying to end my own life at only Seventeen. Throughout everything single horrible point in my life, I’ve had good grades. When I got out of the hospital, I was able to bring up all my grades to As and maintained a 3.8 GPA (5.0 scale); this of course wasn’t easy at all. That is proof of my persistence and drive To achieve my goals in my future career. This also shows how important education is to me no matter what I’m going through. I believe that through proper education, anything is possible. Mental health is extremely important to me, I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I had to do and fight tooth and nail to get parents to get on board with seeing a therapist. Sadly not many in the black community are educated on mental health or take it as seriously as they should until it’s too late. I intend to try to destigmatize mental health in the black community through any means possible; I believe that by being a nurse, working with patients and their families, I can. This is why I want to go into the Nursing field; I want to help people and change their lives for the better. I want to be an ER nurse for a while and eventually work in a hospice. If I can even make someone’s last days comfortable, I would feel like I accomplished a lot. As of now, I’m trying my best to set a good example to my brothers of what they should strive to do academically at school, and how they should act towards others, I’m also trying to be a good role model to my friends and peers. I also try my best to talk to the adults in my family about how serious mental health is and how you shouldn’t ignore signs in people, specifically children, just based on the fact that they’re kids. In the Fall, I will attend Morgan State University in their Nursing, Bachelors of Science Program to start my post-secondary education. I would want to be an ER nurse, but would also wanna try working at a hospice.

I was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and had what I thought was a regular life. My mom was always working and, my father was abusive when he was there but also very neglectful. I figured that this was normal life, considering that I didn’t see how a family should function anywhere else. He died in front of me and my brothers on a beach; I was only Eleven years old. Later on, my stepdad started to come around; this was less than a year after my father’s death. To skip the personal things I went through, I eventually got admitted to a hospital for trying to end my own life at only Seventeen. Throughout everything single horrible point in my life, I’ve had good grades. When I got out of the hospital, I was able to bring up all my grades to As and maintained a 3.8 GPA (5.0 scale); this of course wasn’t easy at all. That is proof of my persistence and drive To achieve my goals in my future career. This also shows how important education is to me no matter what I’m going through. I believe that through proper education, anything is possible. Mental health is extremely important to me, I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I had to do and fight tooth and nail to get parents to get on board with seeing a therapist. Sadly not many in the black community are educated on mental health or take it as seriously as they should until it’s too late. I intend to try to destigmatize mental health in the black community through any means possible; I believe that by being a nurse, working with patients and their families, I can. This is why I want to go into the Nursing field; I want to help people and change their lives for the better. I want to be an ER nurse for a while and eventually work in a hospice. If I can even make someone’s last days comfortable, I would feel like I accomplished a lot. As of now, I’m trying my best to set a good example to my brothers of what they should strive to do academically at school, and how they should act towards others, I’m also trying to be a good role model to my friends and peers. I also try my best to talk to the adults in my family about how serious mental health is and how you shouldn’t ignore signs in people, specifically children, just based on the fact that they’re kids. In the Fall, I will attend Morgan State University in their Nursing, Bachelors of Science Program to start my post-secondary education. I would want to be an ER nurse, but would also wanna try working at a hospice.

When they think of privilege and discrimination, many people only see things like the oppression of women as a whole or minorities based on race. They never take into account how intersectionality plays a role in the privilege individuals hold. For example, a white woman is less privileged than a white man; however, she holds more power in society than a black man. Black men then have more power than black women. I don’t think this itself would be too hard of a concept to grasp; however, to effectively see ourselves and other’s privileges we must look at other: races/ethnicities, people’s financial standing and upbringing, mental health, disabilities, sexuality, where they’re from, and just life experiences in general. This makes it way more complicated for people to understand; also, many see the recognition of their privileges as a bad thing, then they don’t attempt to even see how others are suffering. Another issue that arises with this is many think that because they are oppressed in different ways their privileges don’t exist. For example, a gay white man is part of a marginalized group and his struggles are real. However, because of this, that doesn’t change the fact that he is still a white man in society and will be seen as a white man first before anything else. The same can go for a wealthy black person; they do have the privilege of being wealthy and all the opportunities awarded to them because of that; however, they can and will still be discriminated against due to skin color alone. They do have privileges most don’t have; however, they are still discriminated against in other ways. Also, this recognition of privilege doesn't invalidate their struggles as people. It should just open their minds to how to effectively help others. Part of the issue on why most people don’t understand intersectionality is because some people grew up “color blind”. They refuse to see that there are any issues related to race, sex, gender, sexuality, and religion. Those who choose to be willfully ignorant do so because they either don’t care about the issue. After all, it doesn’t affect them personally, or they don’t know how to help and don’t attempt to educate themselves, to begin with. To address these issues in the workforce, especially regarding the wage gap and treatment of employees: everyone must be in the conversation, open-minded, and be ready to admit their privileges. First, everyone must be in the conversation to not only effectively educate themselves on other’s struggles, but to better understand themselves and their place in society. People need to be open-minded because you must be ready to hear people's stories and put yourself in their shoes. Finally, to admit to having your privileges, you can amplify the voices of those less fortunate and not speak over them. By doing this effectively, the problems aren't going to disappear overnight; however, we can begin to have very important conversations.

I was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and had what I thought was a regular life. From a young age I was passionate about the arts, Sciences, history, writing, and drawing. I would write small “books” and then illustrate them, although I was always one of the smartest in class and polite, my home life wasn’t as great as you would think. My mom was always working and, my father was abusive when he was there but also very neglectful. I figured that this was normal life, considering that I didn’t see how a family should function anywhere else. He died in front of me and my brothers on a beach; I was only Eleven years old. Later on, my stepdad started to come around; this was less than a year after my father’s death. To skip the personal things I went through, I eventually got admitted to a hospital for trying to end my own life at only Seventeen. Throughout everything single horrible point in my life, I’ve had good grades. When I got out of the hospital, I was able to bring up all my grades to As and maintained a 3.8 GPA (5.0 scale); this of course wasn’t easy at all. That is proof of my persistence and drive To achieve my goals. This also shows how important education is to me no matter what I’m going through. I believe that through proper education, anything is possible. Mental health is extremely important to me, I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I had to do and fight tooth and nail to get parents to get on board with seeing a therapist. Sadly not many in the black community are educated on mental health or take it as seriously as they should until it’s too late. I intend to try to destigmatize mental health in the black community through any means possible; I believe that by being a nurse, working with patients and their families, I can. This is why I want to go into the Nursing field; I want to help people and change their lives for the better. I want to be an ER nurse for a while and eventually work in a hospice. If I can even make someone’s last days comfortable, I would feel like I accomplished a lot. As of now, I’m trying my best to set a good example to my brothers of what they should strive to do academically at school, and how they should act towards others, I’m also trying to be a good role model to my friends and peers. I also try my best to talk to the adults in my family about how serious mental health is and how you shouldn’t ignore signs in people, specifically children, just based on the fact that they’re kids. In the Fall, I will attend Morgan State University in their Nursing, Bachelors of Science Program to start my post-secondary education.

I was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and had what I thought was a regular life. I was, and still am passionate about Sciences,History, psychology, art, and writing. My favorite subject growing up was always English and I would write small “books” for me to read to myself. I would also do my own illustrations to accompany what was going on; I always knew I was going to do something meaningful with my life. Regardless of how polite and quiet I was, family life wasn’t too good. My mom was always working and, my father was abusive when he was there but also very neglectful. I figured that this was normal life, considering that I didn’t see how a family should function anywhere else. He died in front of me and my brothers on a beach; I was only Eleven years old. Later on, my stepdad started to come around; this was less than a year after my father’s death. To skip the personal things I went through, I eventually got admitted to a hospital for trying to end my own life at only Seventeen. Throughout everything single horrible point in my life, I’ve had good grades. When I got out of the hospital, I was able to bring up all my grades to As and maintained a 3.8 GPA (5.0 scale); this of course wasn’t easy at all. That is proof of my persistence and drive To achieve my goals. This also shows how important education is to me no matter what I’m going through. I believe that through proper education, anything is possible. Mental health is extremely important to me, I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I had to do and fight tooth and nail to get parents to get on board with seeing a therapist. Sadly not many in the black community are educated on mental health or take it as seriously as they should until it’s too late. I intend to try to destigmatize mental health in the black community through any means possible; I believe that by being a nurse, working with patients and their families, I can. This is why I want to go into the Nursing field; I want to help people and change their lives for the better. I want to be an ER nurse for a while and eventually work in a hospice. If I can even make someone’s last days comfortable, I would feel like I accomplished a lot. As of now, I’m trying my best to set a good example to my brothers of what they should strive to do academically at school, and how they should act towards others, I’m also trying to be a good role model to my friends and peers. I also try my best to talk to the adults in my family about how serious mental health is and how you shouldn’t ignore signs in people, specifically children, just based on the fact that they’re kids. In the Fall, I will attend Morgan State University in their Nursing, Bachelors of Science Program to start my post-secondary education.