When I envision my future as a Physician Assistant, I hope that my colleagues and patients describe me as someone who embodies a spirit of humility, passion, and advocacy. Every impactful clinician I have met in my community possesses these three distinct qualities. As a current PA student (PA-S), I am intentionally cultivating these traits now, knowing they will not only benefit my education but will be vital to the patients I will one day serve. First, I believe an impactful PA must possess humility, defined as the freedom from pride or arrogance. Admission to PA school requires intelligence, but high achievement can sometimes cultivate an ego that hinders education and, eventually, patient care. Currently, I am becoming comfortable with the concept of being wrong. I am learning to voice an educated guess even when I am uncertain, recognizing that the classroom is the safest place to make mistakes. For example, after failing an early exam, I had to put my pride aside and turn to a classmate for tutoring. If I had not been humble enough to be honest about my struggles, I would not have gained the necessary understanding of the material. As a future clinician, I will carry this humility with me, recognizing when I need to ask a colleague for a consultation or refer a patient to a specialist. Secondly, passion is the fuel that sustains a provider through the challenges of medicine. I believe my passion for serving those disproportionately affected by healthcare disparities is what drove me to PA school, and it is what keeps me going. When the rigor of the curriculum feels overwhelming or I experience burnout, I ground myself by thinking of my hometown and how Black patients are often marginalized by the healthcare system. Because of this, I am actively educating my family members now, helping them find resources to obtain the care they need. I am also learning from my current preceptors how to better treat this population. Until I graduate, I will continue to speak on healthcare and the minority experience so that my classmates and I can all become more culturally competent clinicians. Finally, I strive to have a spirit of advocacy. My prior experience working in abortion care, infertility, and as a doula taught me that a provider must be a voice for their patient. As a PA-S, I practice advocacy by providing a defense and explanation for my clinical decisions. In the future, this will translate to fighting for insurance coverage for my patients and collaborating with other members of the healthcare team. Furthermore, I am currently learning to advocate on a macro level as a Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Fellow, where I am designing community initiatives to address sexual health education gaps through interprofessional care. I am using my time as a student to critically assess what qualities will be advantageous to my career. I hope that one day I am viewed as a PA who leads with humility, passion, and advocacy, ensuring that I provide compassionate, evidence-based medical care to every patient I encounter.

I often wish I could go back and tell my younger self that it was all worth it. I made it to Physician Assistant school and I am growing into everything I wanted to be. I do not think I understood but at the age of sixteen I was setting myself up for success. My mother and I grew up together since she was a teenager when she had me. But she was determined to provide me with a good life. I am forever grateful for every sacrifice that she made. I saw her hard work and replicated it especially during the time she lost her job. At that time I worked three jobs so she would not feel like she had to assist me with things. I did this while participating in competitive cheerleading and marching band. It was a time where my mother’s tenacity showed through me. At sixteen, I started college courses which put me on the path to obtaining two associate degrees and my high school diploma simultaneously. Weeks after starting classes I founded the Belleville Peace Festival. It was a way for local artists, businesses, and organizations to share positive interactions with the community. This event led to more student-led events and boards. I then continued my education at Xavier University of Louisiana. Since I was the first in the family to leave the state to attend college, I did not have guidance. I was a student-athlete who worked multiple jobs while navigating undergrad during a pandemic. Once home, I trained to be a doula to actively assist in fighting the maternal mortality rate. I also worked at an in-patient rehabilitation center. I learned the importance of interdisciplinary care and liked working with multiple disciplines. I learned how fragile life can be. I saw teams make the hard decisions to tell families that the family member would always need twenty-four-hour care hospice care. I also saw teams crying with families as a patient passed away, it taught me that the best provider is empathetic. Often I am exhausted from working multiple jobs, going to school, volunteering, and finding time to be social. As difficult as the journey has been I would not change a single step. I grew up watching my family members slowly deteriorate. Because of this I want to ensure my patients understand that they are an active member of their care team. Ideally, I will start practicing in a low-income minority area similar to where my family is from. I want to start giving back in the areas that helped shape me into the physician assistant that I am becoming. No matter where I practice I will remain an advocate for gender affirming and reproductive healthcare. I believe I will do this through supporting legislation that is supportive of these specialties. Most have an idea of what they want for their future, but few have the tenacity to do it. As long as I could remember I have wanted to help my community through healthcare and in recent years I determined I could do so as a physician assistant. As a physician Assistant I will help serve my community. I intend to assist in maintaining the well being of the community. I will advocate for communities and empower individuals to do the same thing for themselves in healthcare settings. Every bump in the road and sacrifice has led me to where I am today, a physician assistant student at Rosalind Franklin University.

Similar to India, I went to the Xavier University of Louisiana on a merit scholarship. I did well the first semester maintaining a "B" average. But during the second semester, my grandfather died and I did not have the funds to travel home to say goodbye to him. Due to this, I lost my scholarship immediately causing my family to pay more out of pocket. It also led to me working up to three jobs at a time while being a full-time student-athlete. I was mentally and physically drained throughout my undergrad to attempt to remain afloat. I know I cannot change the past I do want to decrease the financial burden of my future for myself and my family. To decrease the financial burden I ensured that I graduated from Xavier in three years instead of four. When looking for Master Programs I first found schools that had a program I was interested in. I then shortened the list by determining the cost of living in the area. This removed a lot of schools from the list. But eventually, I fell in love with a program. What I did not count on happening was the renting market becoming so terrible. Due to COVID-19, realtors explained that fewer people are moving. This has created a saturation of people wanting to look without enough properties to look at. Ultimately, I had to opt-in for student housing. This $14,400 bill needed to be paid halfway down within three weeks. Now while my tuition is significantly low due to a scholarship the housing bill was a hard pill to swallow. So I need this scholarship to ensure this year where I am required not to work during my courses does not turn into a financial burden for my family. While I am super excited to continue my education I am nervous about the outcome of not being able to work for a year.

As a child, I was lucky or blessed enough to not experience silliness. Despite this, I watched countless family and friends go through health battles. My grandfather was always impacted by a sickness so we spent fourteen years in and out of the hospital. This led to having many conversations with his healthcare team. I was invested in learning about his care but I also became invested in his team's career. It did not take long for me to observe that none of his doctors were black. However, many of his nurses were. Many explained to me why they could not or did not go the route to become a doctor. They also explained why income and debt would prevent them from working in underserved communities. I believe these conversations gave me a focus on why I wanted to become a doctor. Until the age of 20, I never had a doctor of color. Once I did acquire one I noticed a significant difference in our interactions. I felt significantly more comfortable in explaining my home and school life which was needed for my treatment. The treatment as a whole made me feel like someone was actually listening to how I felt. This was very unlike the past where I had gone a month with a fracture because my doctors did not believe I was showing the pain levels a fracture would produce. My experiences with doctors and going to an HBCU showed me how important representation is. My experience with visiting family in underserved communities and the Belleville Peace Festival taught me the importance of unity in underserved communities. East Saint Louis, IL is the murder capital of the United States however there are only eighty-nine blocks. This community is where most of my family grew up. It used to be primarily a white community until black people began moving in. This led to "white flight" and the community essentially being abandoned. Now the members only depend on each other to fulfill their needs. Due to all of these circumstances, most people are forced to leave their city just to find healthcare. Often they are met with doctors telling them to eat foods that they cannot obtain in their community or with government assistance. I know the importance of knowing the area that you are providing healthcare for I would like to work in an underserved community. While each community is not the same I would do my best to learn what the community offers. I would also volunteer with local organizations. I would do this because it would allow me to adequately provide a treatment plan for my patients.