In my freshman year of college, my mother was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. I watched the woman who raised me slowly lose her ability to do daily tasks, and I knew I needed to move back home to be there for her. When I moved back to my incredibly small town, I realized that my family wasn't only struggling emotionally, but financially as well. Although my parents never would admit they needed help, I knew they did. I got a job working at my local Walmart to try to help make ends meet, and I had no idea what the job entailed. My first day on the job the manager told me I would be working in the warehouse unloading trucks. This didn't seem like such a bad job, but as soon as I got to the back, I was met with forklift certification courses and a brief explanation on how to run a pallet jack. At the time, the store only had three other people to work in the warehouse unloading trucks with me, and they were all grown men who were much taller and more muscular than my 5'2, 120-pound self. I knew my job wasn't necessarily glamorous, but I was just happy to be employed. Soon after starting, the pandemic hit. Everything closed down, except, of course, Walmart. I could no longer see my friends, or worse, no longer could go to church. I noticed my life was becoming the same redundant pattern: wake up, go to work, come home, do the chores, cook dinner, and go to bed. This was very different for me to not be able to go to church and my faith started to crumble. I pretty much forgot church was a part of my normal routine. My mental health was at an all-time low, my mother was not showing signs of improvement, and I had begun to tell myself that I would never be able to escape the pattern I was in. One night after a twelve-hour shift of unloading massive trucks filled with water, toilet paper, and all of the other items people seemed to gravitate towards buying in masses during the pandemic, I came home and collapsed into bed. I was exhausted both mentally and physically. My health had started to decline and I had now acquired medical debt of my own due to not having any means of health insurance. I remember laying in bed and praying for the first time in months. I was begging God to somehow change something, somehow show me the light at the end of the tunnel. I had hit my breaking point. Only two days after that moment, I was offered a position in the medical field working for my optometrist as his assistant. I went in for an annual eye exam and the next thing I knew I was hired. I knew this was the work of God because I hadn't even mentioned the rough patch I was in, but somehow the doctor knew I needed a change and wanted to help me. I remember driving home and breaking down in tears. After all this struggle I finally saw the rainbow after the storm. Even though I had neglected my relationship with God for months, He never forgot about me. Almost three years later, I am still at that same job, my mother is cancer free, my faith is stronger than ever, and I am currently taking classes to become an optometrist myself.

If you would have asked me in high school if I planned to pursue a degree in STEM, I would have probably laughed at you. My long-term career goal honestly never included anything related to STEM in the slightest. Not because I wasn't interested, but because I never thought I had what it takes to be a woman involved in STEM. I spent years of my life doubting my own capabilities and believing I wasn't smart enough to pursue such a high career. In 2020, I let these thoughts consume me and hit an all-time low. I decided to drop out of college indefinitely and spent six months desperately trying to find my calling in life. I had no career plan and no desire to ever return to school again. Later that year, I got a job as an optical technician for an optometrist in my hometown and everything changed. I found myself enamored by the profession. I loved taking scans of the back of eyes, reviewing medical imaging, running tests, analyzing results, and researching every ocular-related issue possible. Interestingly enough, I developed a confidence I had never had before. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in vision science and suddenly wasn't scared to chase that dream. Now, two years later, I am working towards my degree in biomedical sciences and chemistry, I want to attend medical school for Vision Sciences. Once I complete all of my education, I will have three degrees related to STEM and a doctorate of my own. I am truly so happy that I have found myself down this path, and so thankful that the little girl I used to be that always wanted to pursue a degree in healthcare finally is brave enough to come out. I have never felt as much internal peace as I do now that I have embraced my intelligence. In my professional career, I would love to become a private practice owner and be a part of closing the gender gap for women in STEM. I want to serve my community by giving them the gift of sight and also stand for the young girls who are scared to pursue their dreams, just like I used to be. If I could inspire just one female to realize their worth and stop her self-doubt, I will feel like I accomplished something phenomenal.

My all-time favorite book is one that is a bit unordinary, mostly because it was written for pre-teens and I am definitely beyond this age range. The book is called "Reasons to be Happy" by Katrina Kittle and was the first book I ever read that left me in tears once it was finished. The book highlights a teenage girl who is battling an undiagnosed eating disorder and really explains the illness in a way that is different than the stereotypical norm. When I started reading the book, I was battling an undiagnosed eating disorder of my own. I felt like the book was aimed directly at me. I obviously enjoyed the storyline and reading about someone else struggling in the same way I was, but what I really got from this book was the desire to start a list of reasons to be happy, just as Hannah did in the book. I started writing a list of reasons to be happy when I was in seventh grade, and now 10 years later, I still continue to do this. I have filled out numerous notebooks and plan to continue to fill more. I love looking back at my previous reasons to be happy, because things I wrote like "finding the perfect prom dress" seems so unimportant now, but at the time, it brought me so much excitement and happiness. I'm sure there have been more educational or mind-gripping novels written since I read this book back in 2012, but Reasons to be Happy will forever be my favorite.

If you would have asked me in high school if I planned to pursue a degree in STEM, I would have probably laughed at you. My long-term career goal honestly never included anything related to STEM in the slightest. Not because I wasn't interested, but because I never thought I had what it takes to be a woman involved in STEM. I spent years of my life doubting my own capabilities and believing I wasn't smart enough to pursue such a high career. In 2020, I let these thoughts consume me and hit an all-time low. I decided to drop out of college indefinitely and spent six months desperately trying to find my calling in life. I had no career plan and no desire to ever return to school again. Later that year, I got a job as an optical technician for an Optometrist in my hometown and everything changed. I found myself enamored by the profession. I loved taking scans of the back of eyes, reviewing medical imaging, running tests, analyzing results, and researching every ocular-related issue possible. Interestingly enough, I developed a confidence I had never had before. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in vision science and suddenly wasn't scared to chase that dream. Now, two years later, I am working towards my degree in biomedical sciences and chemistry, and eventually, want to attend medical school for Vision Sciences. Once I complete all of my education, I will have three degrees related to STEM and a doctorate of my own. I am truly so happy that I have found myself down this path, and so thankful that the little girl I used to be that always wanted to pursue a degree in healthcare finally is brave enough to come out. I have never felt as much internal peace as I do now that I have embraced my intelligence. In my professional career, I would love to become a private practice owner and be a part of closing the gender gap for women in STEM. I want to serve my community by giving them the gift of sight and also stand for the young girls who are scared to pursue their dreams, just like I used to be. If I could inspire just one female to realize their worth and stop her self-doubt, I will feel like I accomplished something phenomenal.

I am currently studying to get into graduate school, and I have learned how extremely important it is to find activities that allow you to clear your mind and reset mentally. I've tried the common tips - exercising, eating well, going on walks, etc. but always felt like they were only temporary fixes. Eventually, these activities became daunting tasks and did not improve my mental health. With the summer semester starting, I have finally found what works for me and I am so happy to share it. The best way for me to clear my mind is to get alone and sing. When I am alone, I put in my AirPods and play Praise and Worship music as loud as the headphones will allow and just absolutely sing my heart out. I am an awful singer, so putting the headphones on full volume helps drown out my own voice. I yell worship songs as loud as I can and really strive to feel a connection with God. Nothing is more freeing than allowing yourself to let go and feel the power of God working, and doing so has dramatically improved my mental state. Whether or not this works for everyone is definitely up for debate, but I would encourage everyone to try. Also, I try to remember to give myself grace. Sometimes our mental health is so lacking that finding ways to clear our minds seems like too big of a challenge. Recognize this and don't push it. It will all come with time.

I graduated high school in 2019 with plans to go to college and become a nurse. I took the ACT seven times throughout high school aiming for what I had in mind as the "perfect" score. After several tries, I finally managed to get a full-ride into my preferred university. I graduated first in my class and was ready for college, or so I thought. I started my freshman year and suddenly everything changed; my mother was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer and became very ill quickly. I knew I had to move across my state back home to take care of my mother and did not realize how much of a task this would become. I continued to take my classes online, but quickly realized that everyday chores like laundry and cooking were nearly impossible for my mother to accomplish on her own. I took on a lot of roles in order to keep our family afloat and began working 40+ hours per week so my family could be financially stable during this time. With all of the new responsibilities I was given, I started to fall behind in my educational journey. I became very depressed and school seemed nearly impossible to finish. Not only was I struggling to stay on schedule, but I also had lost my desire to graduate. I decided to drop out and give up on my educational goals. I never planned on stepping foot in another classroom again. Fast-forward to 2021, I began working for an optometrist as a scribe and technician and suddenly found my reason to be alive again. I fell in love with optometry and wanted to learn as much as possible. I took a short certification course to become a licensed paraoptometric but was still hungry for more. This is when I finally decided that I wanted to start my own educational journey to becoming an optometrist. All of the sudden, all of the self-doubt and lack of confidence I previously had towards school disappeared. I am now two semesters away from applying to optometry school and have managed to withhold a 3.8 GPA even through two gap years and working full time. Nothing is as important to me as my educational goals because the journey of becoming an optometrist has shown me that I am capable of more than I could have ever imagined.

If you would have asked me in high school if I planned to pursue a degree in STEM, I would have probably laughed at you. My long-term career goal honestly never included anything related to STEM in the slightest. Not because I wasn't interested, but because I never thought I had what it takes to be a woman involved in STEM. I spent years of my life doubting my own capabilities and believing I wasn't smart enough to pursue such a high career. In 2020, I let these thoughts comsume me and hit an all-time low. I decided to drop out of college indefinitely and spent six months desperately trying to find my calling in life. I had no career plan and no desire to ever return to school again. Later that year, I got a job as an optical technician for an Optometrist in my hometown and everything changed. I found myself enamoured by the profession. I loved taking scans of the back of eyes, reviewing medical imaging, running tests, analyzing results, and researching every ocualr-related issue possible. Interestingly enough, I developed a confidence I had never had before. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in vision science and suddenly wasn't scared to chase that dream. Now, two years later, I am working towards my degree in biomedical sciences and chemistry, and eventually want to attend medical school for Vision Sciences. Once I complete all of my education, I will have three degrees related to STEM and a Doctorates of my own. I am truly so happy that I have found myself down this path, and so thankful that the little girl I used to be that always wanted to pursue a degree in healthcare finally is brave enough to come out. I have never felt as much internal peace as I do now that I have embraced my intelligence. In my professional career, I would love to become a private practice owner and be a part of closing the gender gap of women in STEM. I want to serve my community by giving them the gift of sight and also stand for the young girls who are scared to pursue their dreams, just like I used to be. If I could inspire just one female to realize their worth and stop the self-doubt, I will feel like I accomplished something phenominal.

College burnout is something that I have deeply struggled with. In light of COVID-19 and the pandemic, I dropped out of college in 2020 and never wanted to go back. Burnout and my mental health were serious issues and kept me from furthering my education. Since starting school again, I have felt very passionate about the topic of "dropouts" and want to end the stigma surrounding college education. If I was an artist tasked with creating an album that sums up my college experience, I would title the album ".EDU", as a reference to most secondary education websites. I would want to album to have upbeat and nostalgic songs that distract from the feeling of defeat that comes with burnout. Songs on the album would include: 1.) Welcome To My Life by Simple Plan 2.) Graduation by Benny Blanco and Juice WRLD 3.) This Is Me from Disney's Camp Rock by Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas 4.) Best Years by Five Seconds of Summer 5.) You Are Not Alone by Micahel Jackson 6.) My Own Worst Enemy by Lit 7.) Young, Dumb, and Broke by Khalid

If you would have asked me in high school if I planned to pursue a degree in STEM, I would have probably laughed at you. My long-term career goal honestly never included anything related to STEM in the slightest. Not because I wasn't interested, but because I never thought I had what it takes to be a woman involved in STEM. I spent years of my life doubting my own capabilities and believing I wasn't smart enough to pursue such a high career. In 2020, I let these thoughts comsume me and hit an all-time low. I decided to drop out of college indefinitely and spent six months desperately trying to find my calling in life. I had no career plan and no desire to ever return to school again. Later that year, I got a job as an optical technician for an Optometrist in my hometown and everything changed. I found myself enamoured by the profession. I loved taking scans of the back of eyes, reviewing medical imaging, running tests, analyzing results, and researching every ocualr-related issue possible. Interestingly enough, I developed a confidence I had never had before. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in vision science and suddenly wasn't scared to chase that dream. Now, two years later, I am working towards my degree in biomedical sciences and chemistry, and eventually want to attend medical school for Vision Sciences. Once I complete all of my education, I will have three degrees related to STEM and a Doctorates of my own. I am truly so happy that I have found myself down this path, and so thankful that the little girl I used to be that always wanted to pursue a degree in healthcare finally is brave enough to come out. I have never felt as much internal peace as I do now that I have embraced my intelligence. In my professional career, I would love to become a private practice owner and be a part of closing the gender gap of women in STEM. I want to serve my community by giving them the gift of sight and also stand for the young girls who are scared to pursue their dreams, just like I used to be. If I could inspire just one female to realize their worth and stop the self-doubt, I will feel like I accomplished something phenominal.

To me, community means a group of people connected together in special ways. Being part of a community means having a group of people by your side who know you, understand you, and push you to be better. I have lived in a small town my entire life and have realized that my community seems to know anything and everything about each other, even if you wish they didn't. I think it's important to know that your community is always watching, so I try to live up to the representation I want for myself. I strive to give back to my community by volunteering at our local food bank weekly. I have found great joy in this because I know it is making a difference in these peoples lives. My favorite volunteering experience was right around Thanksgiving because I got to give away free turkeys and ingredients to make any side dish you can imagine. I will never forget the joy and thankfulness that so many of my community members showed me that day. Through the donations we received to make this possible, I realized how many of my community members pitched in to make the holidays special for those around them. I truly think there is nothing more special than when people put their on selfish desires aside and work together to do good for others. I am a full-time college student chasing my dreams to become an Optometrist. In 2020, I got a job scribing for a local doctor in our community and fell in love with the profession. Since then, I have been pushing myself in both my full-time job and my full-time education to learn as much as possible and make my dreams a reality. The most amazing part of my job is that I work in a small, low-income town, and I get to help provide people with the gift of sight. Being in a low-income community often means individuals don't seek care when needed, whether that be due to cost or work schedule, and I have found it very rewarding to be a part of an organization that often puts cost aside to make sure the community is taken care of. This year, we started a foundation called Giving Sight and we provide glasses for free for members of the community who cannot afford them otherwise. This has hands down changed my outlook on life forever. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to gift someone a pair of glasses so that they can see the beauty around us clearly for the very first time. My vision for the future is simple: keep doing what I'm doing. I want to eventually start my own practice and be able to help in ways like the Giving Sight foundation but on a much larger scale. I want to earn my Doctorates and come back to serve my community in the best way possible.