Ever since I was little God has meant a lot to me. This is mainly from my Mom. She was widowed when I was 2 years old. Through her trials she never stopped trusting God. So growing up I always saw that. I watched God work in my life by giving my Mom, me, and my brother a wonderful new family. My Mom got remarried to an amazing man who had six kids. I had a broken family but God had made it whole. When I was 12 I decided to be baptized and fully commit my life to Christ. God has helped me so much over these past few years he has helped me in so many ways. I used to idolize over things and obsess over stuff that really wasn't that important, and God saved me from that. He also saved me from a lot of comparison. He continues to sanctify me and show me his goodness. For a few years now I have wanted to be a missionary nurse and that is still my goal. I think that my faith will help me in my career, because I want my career to be serving God wherever he leads me. I do hope to do overseas missions, but if that's not God's plan for me and he just wants me to work in a hospital, I'm okay with that. I think my faith will help me with my work ethic because I want everything that I do to be for God's glory. When you try to work for man or the pleasure of man you don't get the same enjoyment out of it. It can be easy to do the bare minimum. So I think if I do end up just working as a nurse in a hospital in America that I will still be able to serve God. I can serve him in the way that I work, the way that I interact with my coworkers and the way that I interact with patients. I think I can reflect God no matter what I am doing, which is my goal. I know I won't be perfect at it, and I need to trust in God to help me. I can't do it on my own, but I know God and he is my best friend and I know I can trust him. He does help me and I don't think that I would enjoy any career if I didn't have a way to bring God into it.

I was young when I lost my Dad. He died in a car accident, and within a year my Mom was remarried. She married an incredible man, he had six kids. My Mom just had two. So adjusting to this was a very big thing for our family. I admire my Mom and (step) Dad very much for the way they let God shape and mold their relationship and combined our families into one. Over the years we have all grown very close and my parents had 3 more kids along the way. Making us a mixed family of 13. I have always been a tom girl, and able to compete with the boys in things (having 6 older brothers it was kind of natural for me). So I love sports, I will play any sport. The first organized sport that I ever remember playing was flag football. I quickly grew to love the sport. However, I was the only girl for a few years so I didn't get passed the ball hardly ever. I decided to prove myself by controlling what I could control and pull flags. My confidence has grown so much through this sport and it has shown me what I am capable of. I think my plan worked cause eventually they started passing. Last season I had two interceptions and 3 touchdowns in one game. I wish my Dad could see me. I wonder if he would be proud. My (step) Dad is great and all. But there is something about having someone with the same traits as you. I often feel strange in my family because I think and act the same way as my Dad did. My mom said I was the most like him. So it's hard sometimes having no one who understands you or gets what you mean. I feel like me and my Dad would have been friends and I miss him. I wish I would have got to know him better. However, this football endeavor transferred over to my main sport basketball. When I play basketball, everything else goes away it's just me, my God, and the ball. Basketball has been a huge gift from God to give me peace. Through it, I can work through my emotions, pains, and struggles. I feel like it does give me a way to make my Dad proud and honor my God. My Dad's death was God's plan, and even though it's hard to understand sometimes I trust God and he has blessed me incredibly. My (step) Dad is super supportive and records all my games, he shows Jesus's love to me. My siblings are irreplaceable. Without my (step) brothers, I never would have found the joy that basketball brings me. They brought basketball to me and through it, I learned leadership, hard work, effort, and kindness. I plan to use the skill and talent God has gifted me in basketball to inspire others to embrace their hard situations and let it change them into a better player, person, and family member. I have had the incredible opportunity of passing my love for basketball to my younger (half) sister. I hope I can teach her and many others the life skills and technical skills I have learned through it.

Inspire Smiles I plan on entering the nursing field because I want to help and inspire others. I have grown up in a Christian home, and as I got older I read a lot of missionary books. I loved hearing how those people served the Lord. The main books that grabbed my attention were the ones that had medical missions in it. As I learned more about these people I have felt a strong calling from the Lord to help others not only recover from illness and injuries, but to guide them to him who heals there soul and gives them a greater purpose in life. During this time I also learned a lot about the human body and its functions, it became an area of deep interest in my life. Being homeschooled me and my Mom have been able to adjust my education to better grasp this area of study. This has made me even more excited about this field of study. Someone who really inspired me is Clara Barton. She was the founder of red cross, lived during the civil war and had a strong faith. She would go out onto the front lines and care for the wounded. She was not afraid to do what no one else would do. Although she was a very shy person, she carried a boldness with her. I hope to carry that same boldness with me into the medical field. I also wish to serve my country and my God like she did. Reading many books and hearing different peoples stories has inspired me to pursue this career. I know that their is a need for good nurses. I want to be someone who people can trust, when they are scared, I want to give them hope and joy. I am in awe of the human body, and how it was designed so beautifully. It is an area of study that I'm super excited to get to learn more about. I hope to serve others in a humble and helpful way. I know that being a nurse will not be easy, but I also know that it is a really rewarding job. I'm very hopeful to do some Missionary Nursing work once I graduate. Whether that be local or global I plan to impact my community in the best way that I possibly can. One of the biggest things that I hope to do is to inspire smiles in others, because I know that there have been many healthcare workers who have inspired smiles in me.