An uncle deemed legally deaf. An aunt with Cerebral Palsy and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. An aunt with cerebral palsy and a developmental disorder. An aunt with Down Syndrome. A sister with PMDD. A brother with Level 2 Autism Spectrum Disorder. A list of individuals whose lives were dramatically altered by the challenges, the disorders, and the disabilities they faced. My family of origin. What a blessing it was to be raised in a family so dedicated to love, so committed to valuing the lives of our members impacted by disability. Experience has taught me that those impacted by disabilities and special needs are valuable to the kingdom of God and worth far more consideration, respect, and dignity than culture’s stigma and assumption has offered them. Those family members I mention above face incredible challenges, and I have had both the blessing and the burden of watching them interact with a world not built for them. With a Bachelor of Social Work underway and future plans for practitioner licensing in Spellers To Communicate therapy, a Master of Social Work, and perhaps a later Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, I hope to understand societal mechanisms and patterns in a way that helps me facilitate ministry and intervention and advocate for justice and opportunity on behalf of vulnerable people living with disabilities. I often regret not having been able to do more, love more, or know more when I had the chance with my relatives living with disabilities. This, my greatest motivation to give my all in an education that will enrich my capacity to serve and improve the lives of others, leads me to the procedural aspect of this essay. If given the chance to work with another individual like Rebecca, I would make the immediate and intentional choice to assume competence. It is my belief that, well their disability may hinder them, never does a disorder or a diagnosis limit them. Such individuals have preferences, likes, dislikes, talents, and love languages just as I do, so, as a professional tasked with serving them, it is my joy and my duty to discover such things. It is my responsibility to recognize their right to self-expression and self-determination, to encourage it, and to advocate for it to others in their circle of support. I believe each person has a voice worthy of recognition, so I hope to use future training in Spellers to Communicate, a multidisciplinary approach to allowing non-speakers the opportunity of self-expression through spelling, to amplify this voice. Lastly, having been raised in a family so shaped by the disabilities it embraced, I believe that family is integral to the growth and support of all individuals, especially those faced with the challenges of special needs. When asked “what part” does the family play in the prospering education of a child with a disability, I say, “every part.” The family unit is the strongest and most powerful circle of support one can utilize in the life of a vulnerable child, and the consistency established in the classroom or therapy setting does little if not applied in the home. College has already broadened my perspective and my enthusiasm for social work and the things it will teach me. Adapting and learning is difficult, but it is worthwhile when it fuels my passions and allows me to walk in the calling the Lord has for me. Social work’s ability to positively influence lives and advocate for those overlooked and undervalued excites me. I pray that the opportunities and perspectives it affords me brings me closer to God and his heart for humankind.

On the day of my seventeenth birthday party, I had an impactful encounter with a childhood friend; an encounter that taught me a fresh depth of compassion, empathy, and aid. I had finished a volunteering project and was on my way home to pick up supplies for this joint birthday party my friend and I were having later that day. As I walked through my neighborhood Walgreens, I continued to cross to paths with a woman who was sickly and evidently homeless. Each time I passed her, her head was down and she walked with an agitated, nervous energy that prevented me from looking directly at her. While I was preparing to leave, I called my friend. To my surprise, the agitated woman bumped into me and quickly apologized. My jaw quite literally dropped when I was able to look at this woman squarely in the face and recognize a voice I had not heard in several years. I had grown up with the face I was looking at, attended classes with her, drew artwork together, and played with her sisters. She was a couple years older than I but, as children, we were peers. Now, looking at her, I recognized she could not be more than 20, but appeared to be 40 due to severe weight loss, skin disease, and the physical stress living on the streets. This woman, once my playmate, had been aged by experiences I could not begin to fathom. I also recognized that, due to her mental illnesses and drug dependancies, she was not stable in the moment. As I identified myself to her, she responded with rushed, slurred speech that indicated fear, agitation, and stress. She began to tell me about the horrendous things she saw and felt each day, and I simultaneously began searching online for any resources, hotlines, or services I could connect her to. When I could not find anything, this friend demanded I stop looking and help her shoplift two unnecessary items. I adamantly refused to let her shoplift, and I instead walked through the store picking out water, meat jerky, granola bars, and protein items to buy for her. That day, I did not have the capacity to offer this individual anything more than the food and water I bought for her. However, as I loaded her backpack with supplies I knew she would only give away, I understood that genuine servanthood and empathetic aid are not contingent upon an expected result. I could not change this woman's life in ten short minutes and I could not cure her mental health or eradicate her drug dependancies. However, I could ascribe value to her life by giving her my time, offering her dignity, and holding her hands outside a Walgreens to tell her she is loved and she is valuable. Now, I am aware of hotlines and services I can call for people in circumstances of homelessness. Even though my aid had minimal impact, I know she had clean water and protein for the next several days. If I ever experience a similar encounter, I know I would do the same thing tens time over. Because, although I cannot change the world in ten minutes, I can refuse to be immobile or insensitive to need.

Serving people and taking ownership for the communities that surround me is my joy and my honor. When first told about the opportunity to serve people and their needs through social work, my first inclination was to assume my chosen career path did not align with a profession I knew only with courtrooms, case files, desks, CPS, and unfortunate circumstances which merit ugly intervention. My family did foster care years ago and I associated the case managers, social workers, and CPS workers with memories both beautiful and difficult. These workers signed many papers and saw many tears. I sought to equip myself with a degree path I thought more relational, interpersonal, and individually minded; something like ministry or education. However, with the help of counselors and the gracious prompting of the Holy Spirit, I discovered that social work is the figurative bridge between all of my interests and the degree best suited to equip me to empower, improve, and advocate for the marginalized lives of the population I seek to serve. I believe my calling is to inform and equip families, churches, and societies to embrace a better model of disability. My heart is to disciple and advocate for individuals impacted by disabilities, those who make up the world’s largest unreached people group, and to offer them and their families the hope, truth, and dignity that much of culture does not afford them. My passion lies in disability ministry and my vehicle to this calling is social work. Experience has taught me that those impacted by disabilities and special needs are valuable to the kingdom of God and worth far more consideration, respect, and dignity than culture’s stigma and assumption has offered them. Several of my immediate and extended family members live with disabilities and I have had both the blessing and the burden of watching them interact with a world not built for them. With training in social work, I hope to understand societal mechanisms and patterns in a way that helps me facilitate ministry and advocate for justice and opportunity on behalf of vulnerable people. I intend to improve their circumstances and, in doing so, improve the circumstances of an overlooked portion of the world. I refuse to be idle in the face of need and am beyond thrilled to spend the rest of my life in pursuit of betterment for the lives of others.

A world in which individuals do not desire to contribute to the betterment of other individuals’ lives is not a world I want to live in. I believe that it is the reward and the responsibility of all people to take ownership of the communities they populate and, as such, I treat community service not as a quota to meet, but as an opportunity to tangibly demonstrate that I cherish the opportunity to share the life I have, I value all people, and I believe they are worthy of time, dignity, and self-sacrifice. In past years, I have had the valuable opportunity to impact my communities through servant leadership, team and student development, community engagement and organizing, non-profit involvement, and other volunteer service. During high school, I was heavily involved in a student leadership team for K.E.Y.S. of Arizona dedicated to training next-generation leaders in self-sacrifice, servanthood, and self-initiative. This opportunity allowed me to be involved in community organizing at a young age, teaching me the significance of contributing to and serving those immediately around me and the immense, personal achievement of taking ownership of the community I loved. After years of involvement and service, I was invited to be more closely involved in this organization as a team manager and tasked with developing leadership and self-initiative in other students. Later, I was also asked to serve as a Student Engagement Intern under the program’s director and equip the various teams across campus to better serve their community with any resources, skills, and insights they needed to effectively influence a positive, excellence-driven culture. As a student, serving on a volunteer basis in these various leadership positions allowed me to witness the impact of my work both on the campus culture at large and in the lives and relationships of individual students. Kids would find their friends and realize their love for community at group events I helped plan; divisions between older students and younger students would be bridged because of the culture I was a part of developing and maintaining; excellence-driven, service-orientated communities thrived because of the teams I participated in and the leaders I helped develop. Outreach became my heart and meaningful change became my motivation. It is results like these that taught me it can be nothing less than my greatest joy and my most meaningful responsibility to offer my life in service to the people around me as an active representation of my love and value for them. This past year and most recent summer, my love for service continued to evolve into a deep-rooted passion for advocacy on behalf of individuals living with disability. It became my obsession to see awareness raised and action taken on behalf of these people after learning that those living with Special Needs and disabilities, whether physical or intellectual, make up 15% of the world’s population. Through two different internships with the non-profit, international ministry Joni and Friends, I have been trained and equipped to serve the most vulnerable, unreached, and underserved people group in the world. In the fall of 2023, I interned with this non-profit organization as a Corporate Intern in their Arizona area ministry office and, for three weeks in June of 2024, as a Global Intern to serve marginalized people in El Salvador. Suffice to say, my greatest desire is to spend my life and my career in service to people. Scholarships like these would help significantly in preparing me to become a more effective community servant- people are my passion and college is a means by which I will be better equipped to serve them.

On the day of my seventeenth birthday party, I had an impactful encounter with a childhood friend; an encounter that taught me a fresh depth of compassion, empathy, and aid. I had finished a volunteering project and was on my way home to pick up supplies for this joint birthday party my friend and I were having later that day. As I walked through my neighborhood Walgreens, I continued to cross to paths with a woman who was sickly and evidently homeless. Each time I passed her, her head was down and she walked with an agitated, nervous energy that prevented me from looking directly at her. While I was preparing to leave, I called my friend. To my surprise, the agitated woman bumped into me and quickly apologized. My jaw quite literally dropped when I was able to look at this woman squarely in the face and recognize a voice I had not heard in several years. I had grown up with the face I was looking at, attended classes with her, drew artwork together, and played with her sisters. She was a couple years older than I but, as children, we were peers. Now, looking at her, I recognized she could not be more than 20, but appeared to be 40 due to severe weight loss, skin disease, and the physical stress living on the streets. This woman, once my playmate, had been aged by experiences I could not begin to fathom. I also recognized that, due to her mental illnesses and drug dependancies, she was not stable in the moment. As I identified myself to her, she responded with rushed, slurred speech that indicated fear, agitation, and stress. She began to tell me about the horrendous things she saw and felt each day, and I simultaneously began searching online for any resources, hotlines, or services I could connect her to. When I could not find anything, this friend demanded I stop looking and help her shoplift two unnecessary items. I adamantly refused to let her shoplift, and I instead walked through the store picking out water, meat jerky, granola bars, and protein items to buy for her. That day, I did not have the capacity to offer this individual anything more than the food and water I bought for her. However, as I loaded her backpack with supplies I knew she would only give away, I understood that genuine servanthood and empathetic aid are not contingent upon an expected result. I could not change this woman's life in ten short minutes and I could not cure her mental health or eradicate her drug dependancies. However, I could ascribe value to her life by giving her my time, offering her dignity, and holding her hands outside a Walgreens to tell her she is loved and she is valuable. Now, I am aware of hotlines and services I can call for people in circumstances of homelessness. Even though my aid had minimal impact, I know she had clean water and protein for the next several days. If I ever experience a similar encounter, I know I would do the same thing tens time over. Because, although I cannot change the world in ten minutes, I can refuse to be immobile or insensitive to need.

As in many families, cancer has permanently affected our lives. In 2020, a battle with Leukemia took my grandfather's life. Now, my grandmother is also battling cancerous tumors and is undergoing radiation treatment in an effort to sustain her health. Several years ago, cancer took the life of one of my aunts living with disability. She was born with Cerebral Palsy and Fetal Alcohol syndrome and she died abruptly from Stage 3 bone cancer. This aunt inspired a lot of the career I am aspiring to pursue. The culture in which we reside would train me to perceive disability as a lack of function, as a burden to society instead of a benefit to culture. The societal stigma surrounding terms such as “disabled” and “special needs” is not something I believe to be overtly malicious, however, comes from the general lack of proper understanding of this impacted minority. Had I not been raised in a family culture that embraces and cherishes all people, regardless of their needs, my worldview would have been formed by society’s perspective of disability, not one motivated by a passion for compassion and inclusion. The culture in which we reside would train me to perceive disability as a lack of function, as a burden to society instead of a benefit to culture. The societal stigma surrounding terms such as “disabled” and “special needs” is not something I believe to be overtly malicious, however, comes from the general lack of proper understanding of this impacted minority. Had I not been raised in a family culture that embraces and cherishes all people, regardless of their needs, my worldview would have been formed by society’s perspective of disability, not one motivated by a passion for compassion and inclusion. Originally, my plans were to major in Christian Ministries and minor in Special Education in order to gain the training necessary to work in disability ministry. I want to be well-versed in communication, family ministries, special needs training, and disability certification to reach communities and individuals impacted by disabilities. Now, my plan is to pursue a major in Family Studies with a concentration in marriage and family with a minor in Christian Ministries. I know this scholarship is intended for students looking towards teaching careers in Special Education, however, I intend on serving the same groups of people with a similar type of training. With the training I will receive from college and from my current internship with Joni & Friends, my intent and ambition are to help initiate the steps necessary to see the disability community further and authentically connected with the church community, one where these people deserving of compassion and of hope are integrated as relevant, functioning units in society. I am adamantly passionate about reaching families and communities affected by disabilities, special needs, and learning setbacks. Recently, I have learned that people living with developmental or physical disabilities cumulatively make up the largest unreached and underserved people group in the world, and this is something I adamantly aspire to see changed. I hope you will consider my application and ambitions for your scholarship despite the fact my chosen career path does not directly align with teaching in district Special Education classrooms.

In the future, Carolyne will be a bold, meaningful presence in her communities, fueled by God-given assurance, peace, and wisdom, and endeavoring to cultivate cultures of positive impact, integrity, support, and serve with dedication and compassion in every community she inhabits.

As a born-and-raised homeschooler, education has always been the first priority to my family and to me. I have been raised to value education as an opportunity and as a privilege. According to the values I've been raised in, education is an opportunity to improve, refine, and further myself, and the privlege of education and deeper knowledge may not be something immediately accessible to everyone. Being fortunate enough to have access to any books, research, or information I may desire through the Western world of libraries, internet, and tutors has postiviely impacted my desire to improve myself through higher education and use my training to create a meaningful impact in the lives of others. I am adamantly passionate about reaching families and communities affected by disabilities, special needs, and learning setbacks through ministry and education. During my life, I have been personally impacted by the influence of loved ones living with various disabilities. These people genuinely brighten every community they participate in, motivate meaningful change, and have ultimately inspired me and my passions. Recently, I learned that people living with developmental, physical, or learning disabilities cumulatively make up the largest unreached people group in the world, and this is something I intensely aspire to see changed. Because of my desire to participate in a positive, meaningful change in the circumstances of those living with disability, I plan on pursuing a degree in Christian Ministries with a minor in Special Education. With the training I will receive from this and from my current internship with Joni & Friends, my intent and ambition are to help initiate the steps necessary to see the disability community further connected with the church community in an authentic manner, one where these people deserving of compassion of hope are integrated as relevant, functioning units of society. The first, most intentional step I take in stewarding, serving, or leading the communities around me is knowing the individuals within groups of people I am serving for more than face-value appearance. I strive to understand their character, their needs, and the most optimal way to serve, support, and lead them toward positive relationships and choices. I have realized that most people do not take the time to apply this sort of consideration to people impacted by disability or special needs, and I believe that is hugely important for especially this community, since their needs are widely misunderstood. This is hugely important to the career I have chosen, and I intend to advocate to the public for the special needs of those with misunderstood disabilities. I am incredibly excited to initate meaningful change in the lives of others with the education I hope to achieve and the career path I plan to take. Being so deeply passionate about the special needs communities that I have encountered has been fuel to my desire to further the education and integration of other communities like their's and, ultimately, an overrall attitude of authentic compassion towards these people. I aspire for my education to impact the education of others and for my leadership to strengthen the leadership of others. Participating in an impactful mission that carries an influence larger than myself is so valuable and imperative to me, that I would feel incredibly fortunate to be able to do so. Special Education and Disability Ministry has always been an outlet for service that I feel personally connected to, so I hope my current internship with Joni & Friends opens doors for a career path in disability ministry post-college graduation.