I am a 23 year old woman looking to further my education in the field of English Literature. I am currently starting my sophomore year at the University of Memphis through their UofM Global program. This is a partnership with my employer FedEx Express to help full-time employees pursue a degree at a more manageable pace. My employer pays $5,200 a year which is an incredible help and I would not be able to pursue this degree without that, I am ready to step up and take on more classes with the help from scholarship funds. I was diagnosed with anxiety and major depression at 18 and intersistal cystitis at 20. My anxiety and depression has been such a negative hinder to my life for so long. I was in a really bad relationship and suffered mental abuse which was only heightened by my anxiety and depression. I have since left that relationship and found a healthy and supportive partner who backs my decision to go back to school and further my education. I still suffer from anxiety on a day to day basis and unfortunantly it makes balancing my school and work life hard. My depression has been easier to get a handle on with some practice in evaluating my mental health daily before getting started for the day but it still hinders my progress sometimes. The constant fight between feeling lazy and tired from depression while being nervous and needing to keep myself moving from the anxiety can be exhausting. With this scholarship I would be able to breath a little easier taking away some of the financial strain that comes with working two jobs while going to school. My intersistal cystitis diagnosis was probably the hardest of all. IC can be debilitating. It is a condition that has left the walls of my bladder so thin that they are easily irritated and it can lead to bleeding. It is incredibly painful when flared and there is no cure or treatment for it as of yet. Unfortunantly there is also no way to really know whether or not what I eat or drink in a day will cause a flare. Sometimes the cramping in my bladder is so bad that I can not move out of bed. Another symptom that is less painful but more frusterating is the constant need to use the bathroom. When in a flare, you always feel like you have a full bladder. I have found some of the major trigger foods and drinks to avoid but it still sometimes sneaks up on me. I would use this scholarship to accelerate my degree program into a field that I take pride in and doing something I can enjoy that is a bit more flexible and less physically demanding than what I am currently doing. Working 2 jobs in order to pay for all my bills and stay in school is exhausting and a constant mental battle within myself. This opportunity would greatly impact the amount of time it would take for me to complete my degree and also allow me more time to take care of myself.

Studying art has helped give me the knowledge of the creation of everything we take for granted in our lives. The amount of work and behind the scenes of television, books, pictures and design is such an indepth topic that most people do not clearly understand. While I personally do not have an eye for art as some people do, I do appreciate and understand the talent and practice it takes to achieve the wonders we all get to use in our lives. Books are the biggest form of art in my life, but there is art in almost every part of every lifestyle. Television is a big one for most people, as there is so much that takes place to put together a 20 minute episode let alone a 2 hour long movie. It is incredible to watch the making of things that we use everyday such as watching the tv show How It's Made. My biggest inspiration has been Frieda McFadden who is an author who self published to get her name out in the game. She writes for her readers and not for the money. I also take inspiration from Christine Snaps who is a social media influencer who studied film and radio in college and demonstrates all the work that gets put into making something for public entertainment. I am currently reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt which is a Pulitzer Price winning novel centered around a child from New York who visits an art mueseum with his mother when a terrorist attack takes place killing his mother. He takes a piece of The Goldfinch an oil on panel painting by Carel Fabritius and tries to take meticulous care of it while constantly battling himself on what he should do with it. Unsure whether to return it or hold on to it as an homage to his mother and the dying man he met while stuck in the museum rubble. Another big part of the book is the wood work and restoration of old furniture. That is an art form that most people do not think about. The time it takes to create the concept for each piece is hard work but the effort to match and restore antiques is another challenge in of itself. Matching the textures before matching paint and varnish color, pinpointing the cause of damage to save something and prevent further rot or decay is something that takes patience and practice with a keen eye for details.