Growing up I had a bad habit of sucking my tongue and this caused me to have bad speech growing up. I couldn't pronounce certain words without stumbling on my words and even speaking simple sentences.This insecurity forced my parents to take me to a speech pathologist near us. I will always remember her name, Dr. Alima. She was a person of color just like me and most importantly, she was a woman. She took care of me for 4 years and made sure my speech was perfect. I truly don’t know where I would be without her. We had weekly check-ins where she would ask me to say long sentences over and over again. My parents and I saw vast improvement when I went to her. When I was 10, I started saying sentences more clearly and I wasn’t struggling with words anymore. My insecurities started to fade the more I went to her. Fast forward 6 years later, I graduated high school at the top of my class and I am more confident in my speech than I was 6 years ago. If it weren’t for my parents picking up how depressing it was for me to not be able to speak clearly. I don’t know where I would be today. This experience caused me to enter the communication speech pathologist field because I know that I wish my parents gave me the help that I needed before it was too late.

On Saturdays, my family and I pack produce and take it to the church, where we usually give it out. We would pack a lot of produce that you would need for cooking. We would pack basic snacks and ingredients that are generic yet useful. When we reached outside every Sunday morning, a long line always wrapped around the corner street nearby. It was so amazing seeing how our business blossomed. One day, I noticed that the street nearby had a huge hole, and every Sunday, at least one person would get into an accident. This notice made me worried because we can’t have people get hurt from getting their basic needs. This caused my mother to call her friend, who is a construction worker, to fill up the hole that was causing all these accidents. This made me admire him so much, but I never got to tell him. The way he fearlessly fixed that deep hole made my love for engineering grow. I always admired the sweet part of engineering where people help other people. When you fix a road or a hole, you’re helping someone not have to worry about pumping a flat tire. You are preventing something negative from happening to that person. This is why at Howard University, I will take my love for engineering and study civil engineering. I will help my generation and further generations to come to have roads and tunnels that are nicely structured and easy to pass onto and into. When I am more advanced in this field, I plan to build a bridge that extends to multiple cities. I would like for this bridge to be white with black interior and have big signs that designate which cities it’s leading to the person who’s driving. I would like the letters to have big letters with lights hanging above for people who can’t see far away. I know how I want everything to be laid out and how beneficial it would be to everyone. It’s sometimes a hassle having to take one road to a specific spot, especially if it’s a city. People live in different cities and could probably only afford a job in cities miles away. Traffic often becomes a big issue when there isn’t a resolution to solve this problem. This hit home coming from experience. My mother used to have to drive to and fro from other cities just to provide for my siblings and I. This is why I wanted to create a bridge that would help people be able to reach their destinations without all the extra traffic. There were times when I witnessed construction workers working together with their co-workers and developing ways they could fix bridges and roads that my parents would drive on. I found it really cool that a lot of men got to do this but not many women. At Howard, I will work as hard as I can to receive internships and great grades to flourish in a field that will help me pursue this building dream.

Growing up I had a bad habit of sucking my tongue and this caused me to have bad speech growing up. I couldn't pronounce certain words without stumbling on my words and even speaking simple sentences. It got to a point that I was so embarrassed to talk to people because I knew that I would mess up. This insecurity forced my parents to take me to a speech pathologist near us. I will always remember her name, Dr. Alima. She was a person of color just like me and most importantly, she was a woman. She took care of me for 4 years and made sure my speech was perfect. I truly don’t know where I would be without her. We had weekly check-ins where she would ask me to say long sentences over and over again. My parents and I saw vast improvement when I went to her. When I was 10, I started saying sentences more clearly and I wasn’t struggling with words anymore. My insecurities started to fade the more I went to her. Fast forward 6 years later, I graduated high school at the top of my class and I am more confident in my speech than I was 6 years ago. If it weren’t for my parents picking up how depressing it was for me to not be able to speak clearly. I don’t know where I would be today. This experience caused me to enter the communication speech pathologist field because I know that I wish my parents gave me the help that I needed before it was too late. I want to be able to be that safe doctor that people would want to go to because they know I will never judge them. I want to be the doctor that Dr.Alima was to me. I aspire to be that pathologist that would do their best to heal people from something that my parents took as embarrassing. My parents helped me when they could but for some time, me having a speech problem was embarrassing to them. I don’t want children to go through what I went through from ages 8-13. I want them to specifically know that they want help and seek the help they need from me. I know that speech pathology is my calling because I love to help people and interact with them. I want children to be able to come to my office some day and have peace knowing that I would help them speak again. I love helping people communicate their actions or something that needs to be solved. Whenever someone asks what I want to do in life or who I want to become. I always tell them that I want to become a person whose career will benefit someone else's life for good. That’s why I chose this career, because I know that it will make me happy knowing I am helping other people. I want to make people feel confident with their speech again. I have always been the person who my family will always go to for anything and I hope that I can do the same. This scholarship will help me achieve my goals because it will help me stay in the speech pathology undergraduate program at my school and will help me afford the materials that I need in order to advance in the field. I don’t come from money and I can barely afford the college that I go to because the tuition went up the summer before I moved in. I believe that I deserve this scholarship not because I think that I’m better than anybody but because I know the amount of things that I can lose if I don’t win this scholarship. I can lose my placement in the speech pathology program and in the college. I desire to become a speech pathologist and help children and people that struggle with their speech. If I don’t have the money in order to stay in the program, this will cause me to lose my dream job and not be able to afford the certifications. I love my career choice and I would hope that this scholarship will help me afford the program and the school.

Growing up I had a bad habit of sucking my tongue and this caused me to have bad speech growing up. I couldn't pronounce certain words without stumbling on my words and even speaking simple sentences. It got to a point that I was so embarrassed to talk to people because I knew that I would mess up. This insecurity forced my parents to take me to a speech pathologist near us. I will always remember her name, Dr. Alima. She was a person of color just like me and most importantly, she was a woman. She took care of me for 4 years and made sure my speech was perfect. I truly don’t know where I would be without her. We had weekly check-ins where she would ask me to say long sentences over and over again. My parents and I saw vast improvement when I went to her. When I was 10, I started saying sentences more clearly and I wasn’t struggling with words anymore. My insecurities started to fade the more I went to her. Fast forward 6 years later, I graduated high school at the top of my class and I am more confident in my speech than I was 6 years ago. If it weren’t for my parents picking up how depressing it was for me to not be able to speak clearly. I don’t know where I would be today. This experience caused me to enter the communication speech pathologist field because I know that I wish my parents gave me the help that I needed before it was too late. I want to be able to be that safe doctor that people would want to go to because they know I will never judge them. I want to be the doctor that Dr.Alima was to me. I aspire to be that pathologist that would do their best to heal people from something that my parents took as embarrassing. My parents helped me when they could but for some time, me having a speech problem was embarrassing to them. I don’t want children to go through what I went through from ages 8-13. I want them to specifically know that they want help and seek the help they need from me. I know that speech pathology is my calling because I love to help people and interact with them. I want children to be able to come to my office some day and have peace knowing that I would help them speak again. I love helping people communicate their actions or something that needs to be solved.

Growing up I had a bad habit of sucking my tongue and this caused me to have bad speech growing up. I couldn't pronounce certain words without stumbling on my words and even speaking simple sentences. It got to a point that I was so embarrassed to talk to people because I knew that I would mess up. This insecurity forced my parents to take me to a speech pathologist near us. I will always remember her name, Dr. Alima. She was a person of color just like me and most importantly, she was a woman. She took care of me for 4 years and made sure my speech was perfect. I truly don’t know where I would be without her. We had weekly check-ins where she would ask me to say long sentences over and over again. My parents and I saw vast improvement when I went to her. When I was 10, I started saying sentences more clearly and I wasn’t struggling with words anymore. My insecurities started to fade the more I went to her. Fast forward 6 years later, I graduated high school at the top of my class and I am more confident in my speech than I was 6 years ago. If it weren’t for my parents picking up how depressing it was for me to not be able to speak clearly. I don’t know where I would be today. This experience caused me to enter the communication speech pathologist field because I know that I wish my parents gave me the help that I needed before it was too late. I want to be able to be that safe doctor that people would want to go to because they know I will never judge them. I want to be the doctor that Dr.Alima was to me. I aspire to be that pathologist that would do their best to heal people from something that my parents took as embarrassing. My parents helped me when they could but for some time, me having a speech problem was embarrassing to them. I don’t want children to go through what I went through from ages 8-13. I want them to specifically know that they want help and seek the help they need from me. I know that speech pathology is my calling because I love to help people and interact with them. I want children to be able to come to my office some day and have peace knowing that I would help them speak again. I love helping people communicate their actions or something that needs to be solved. Whenever someone asks what I want to do in life or who I want to become. I always tell them that I want to become a person whose career will benefit someone else's life for good. That’s why I chose this career, because I know that it will make me happy knowing I am helping other people. I want to make people feel confident with their speech again.

On Saturdays, my family and I pack produce and take it to the church, where we usually give it out. We would pack a lot of produce that you would need for cooking. We would pack basic snacks and ingredients that are generic yet useful. When we reached outside every Sunday morning, a long line always wrapped around the corner street nearby. It was so amazing seeing how our business blossomed. One day, I noticed that the street nearby had a huge hole, and every Sunday, at least one person would get into an accident. This notice made me worried because we can’t have people get hurt from getting their basic needs. This caused my mother to call her friend, who is a construction worker, to fill up the hole that was causing all these accidents. This made me admire him so much, but I never got to tell him. The way he fearlessly fixed that deep hole made my love for engineering grow. I always admired the sweet part of engineering where people help other people. When you fix a road or a hole, you’re helping someone not have to worry about pumping a flat tire. You are preventing something negative from happening to that person. This is why at Howard University, I will take my love for engineering and study civil engineering. I will help my generation and further generations to come to have roads and tunnels that are nicely structured and easy to pass onto and into. When I am more advanced in this field, I plan to build a bridge that extends to multiple cities. I would like for this bridge to be white with black interior and have big signs that designate which cities it’s leading to the person who’s driving. I would like the letters to have big letters with lights hanging above for people who can’t see far away. I know how I want everything to be laid out and how beneficial it would be to everyone. It’s sometimes a hassle having to take one road to a specific spot, especially if it’s a city. People live in different cities and could probably only afford a job in cities miles away. Traffic often becomes a big issue when there isn’t a resolution to solve this problem. This hit home coming from experience. My mother used to have to drive to and fro from other cities just to provide for my siblings and I. This is why I wanted to create a bridge that would help people be able to reach their destinations without all the extra traffic. There were times when I witnessed construction workers working together with their co-workers and developing ways they could fix bridges and roads that my parents would drive on. I found it really cool that a lot of men got to do this but not many women. At Howard, I will work as hard as I can to receive internships and great grades to flourish in a field that will help me pursue this building dream.

I want to be able to be that safe doctor that people would want to go to because they know I will never judge them. I want to be the doctor that Dr.Alima was to me. I aspire to be that pathologist that would do their best to heal people from something that my parents took as embarrassing. My parents helped me when they could but for some time, me having a speech problem was embarrassing to them. I don’t want children to go through what I went through from ages 8-13. I know that speech pathology is my calling because I love to help people and interact with them. I want children to be able to come to my office some day and have peace knowing that I would help them speak again. I love helping people communicate their actions or something that needs to be solved. Whenever someone asks what I want to do in life or who I want to become. I always tell them that I want to become a person whose career will benefit someone else's life for good. That’s why I chose this career, because I know that it will make me happy knowing I am helping other people. I want to make people feel confident with their speech again. I have always been the person who my family will always go to for anything and I hope that I can do the same.

On Saturdays, my family and I pack produce and take it to the church, where we usually give it out. We would pack a lot of produce that you would need for cooking. We would pack basic snacks and ingredients that are generic yet useful. When we reached outside every Sunday morning, a long line always wrapped around the corner street nearby. It was so amazing seeing how our business blossomed. One day, I noticed that the street nearby had a huge hole, and every Sunday, at least one person would get into an accident. This notice made me worried because we can’t have people get hurt from getting their basic needs. This caused my mother to call her friend, who is a construction worker, to fill up the hole that was causing all these accidents. This made me admire him so much, but I never got to tell him. The way he fearlessly fixed that deep hole made my love for engineering grow. I always admired the sweet part of engineering where people help other people. When you fix a road or a hole, you’re helping someone not have to worry about pumping a flat tire. You are preventing something negative from happening to that person. This is why at Howard University, I will take my love for engineering and study civil engineering. I will help my generation and further generations to come to have roads and tunnels that are nicely structured and easy to pass onto and into. When I am more advanced in this field, I plan to build a bridge that extends to multiple cities. I would like for this bridge to be white with black interior and have big signs that designate which cities it’s leading to the person who’s driving. I would like the letters to have big letters with lights hanging above for people who can’t see far away. I know how I want everything to be laid out and how beneficial it would be to everyone. It’s sometimes a hassle having to take one road to a specific spot, especially if it’s a city. People live in different cities and could probably only afford a job in cities miles away. Traffic often becomes a big issue when there isn’t a resolution to solve this problem. This hit home coming from experience. My mother used to have to drive to and fro from other cities just to provide for my siblings and I. This is why I wanted to create a bridge that would help people be able to reach their destinations without all the extra traffic. There were times when I witnessed construction workers working together with their co-workers and developing ways they could fix bridges and roads that my parents would drive on. I found it really cool that a lot of men got to do this but not many women. At Howard, I will work as hard as I can to receive internships and great grades to flourish in a field that will help me pursue this building dream.

Growing up I had a bad habit of sucking my tongue and this caused me to have bad speech growing up. I couldn't pronounce certain words without stumbling on my words and even speaking simple sentences. It got to a point that I was so embarrassed to talk to people because I knew that I would mess up. This insecurity forced my parents to take me to a speech pathologist near us. I will always remember her name, Dr. Alima. She was a person of color just like me and most importantly, she was a woman. She took care of me for 4 years and made sure my speech was perfect. I truly don’t know where I would be without her. We had weekly check-ins where she would ask me to say long sentences over and over again. My parents and I saw vast improvement when I went to her. When I was 10, I started saying sentences more clearly and I wasn’t struggling with words anymore. My insecurities started to fade the more I went to her. Fast forward 6 years later, I graduated high school at the top of my class and I am more confident in my speech than I was 6 years ago. If it weren’t for my parents picking up how depressing it was for me to not be able to speak clearly. I don’t know where I would be today. This experience caused me to enter the communication speech pathologist field because I know that I wish my parents gave me the help that I needed before it was too late. I want to be able to be that safe doctor that people would want to go to because they know I will never judge them. I want to be the doctor that Dr.Alima was to me. I aspire to be that pathologist that would do their best to heal people from something that my parents took as embarrassing. My parents helped me when they could but for some time, me having a speech problem was embarrassing to them. I don’t want children to go through what I went through from ages 8-13. I want them to specifically know that they want help and seek the help they need from me. I know that speech pathology is my calling because I love to help people and interact with them. I want children to be able to come to my office some day and have peace knowing that I would help them speak again. I love helping people communicate their actions or something that needs to be solved. Whenever someone asks what I want to do in life or who I want to become. I always tell them that I want to become a person whose career will benefit someone else's life for good. That’s why I chose this career, because I know that it will make me happy knowing I am helping other people. I want to make people feel confident with their speech again. I have always been the person who my family will always go to for anything and I hope that I can do the same.

Growing up I had a bad habit of sucking my tongue and this caused me to have bad speech growing up. I couldn't pronounce certain words without stumbling on my words and even speaking simple sentences. It got to a point that I was so embarrassed to talk to people because I knew that I would mess up. This insecurity forced my parents to take me to a speech pathologist near us. I will always remember her name, Dr. Alima. She was a person of color just like me and most importantly, she was a woman. She took care of me for 4 years and made sure my speech was perfect. I truly don’t know where I would be without her. We had weekly check-ins where she would ask me to say long sentences over and over again. My parents and I saw vast improvement when I went to her. When I was 10, I started saying sentences more clearly and I wasn’t struggling with words anymore. My insecurities started to fade the more I went to her. Fast forward 6 years later, I graduated high school at the top of my class and I am more confident in my speech than I was 6 years ago. If it weren’t for my parents picking up how depressing it was for me to not be able to speak clearly. I don’t know where I would be today. This experience caused me to enter the communication speech pathologist field because I know that I wish my parents gave me the help that I needed before it was too late. I want to be able to be that safe doctor that people would want to go to because they know I will never judge them. I want to be the doctor that Dr.Alima was to me. I aspire to be that pathologist that would do their best to heal people from something that my parents took as embarrassing. My parents helped me when they could but for some time, me having a speech problem was embarrassing to them. I don’t want children to go through what I went through from ages 8-13. I want them to specifically know that they want help and seek the help they need from me. I know that speech pathology is my calling because I love to help people and interact with them. I want children to be able to come to my office some day and have peace knowing that I would help them speak again. I love helping people communicate their actions or something that needs to be solved. Whenever someone asks what I want to do in life or who I want to become. I always tell them that I want to become a person whose career will benefit someone else's life for good. That’s why I chose this career, because I know that it will make me happy knowing I am helping other people. I want to make people feel confident with their speech again. I have always been the person who my family will always go to for anything and I hope that I can do the same.

Growing up I had a bad habit of sucking my tongue and this caused me to have bad speech growing up. I couldn't pronounce certain words without stumbling on my words and even speaking simple sentences. It got to a point that I was so embarrassed to talk to people because I knew that I would mess up. This insecurity forced my parents to take me to a speech pathologist near us. I will always remember her name, Dr. Alima. She was a person of color just like me and most importantly, she was a woman. She took care of me for 4 years and made sure my speech was perfect. I truly don’t know where I would be without her. We had weekly check-ins where she would ask me to say long sentences over and over again. My parents and I saw vast improvement when I went to her. When I was 10, I started saying sentences more clearly and I wasn’t struggling with words anymore. My insecurities started to fade the more I went to her. Fast forward 6 years later, I graduated high school at the top of my class and I am more confident in my speech than I was 6 years ago. If it weren’t for my parents picking up how depressing it was for me to not be able to speak clearly. I don’t know where I would be today. This experience caused me to enter the communication speech pathologist field because I know that I wish my parents gave me the help that I needed before it was too late. I want to be able to be that safe doctor that people would want to go to because they know I will never judge them. I want to be the doctor that Dr.Alima was to me. I aspire to be that pathologist that would do their best to heal people from something that my parents took as embarrassing. My parents helped me when they could but for some time, me having a speech problem was embarrassing to them. I don’t want children to go through what I went through from ages 8-13. I want them to specifically know that they want help and seek the help they need from me. I know that speech pathology is my calling because I love to help people and interact with them. I want children to be able to come to my office some day and have peace knowing that I would help them speak again. I love helping people communicate their actions or something that needs to be solved. Whenever someone asks what I want to do in life or who I want to become. I always tell them that I want to become a person whose career will benefit someone else's life for good. That’s why I chose this career, because I know that it will make me happy knowing I am helping other people. I want to make people feel confident with their speech again. I have always been the person who my family will always go to for anything and I hope that I can do the same.

Growing up I had a bad habit of sucking my tongue and this caused me to have bad speech growing up. I couldn't pronounce certain words without stumbling on my words and even speaking simple sentences. It got to a point that I was so embarrassed to talk to people because I knew that I would mess up. This insecurity forced my parents to take me to a speech pathologist near us. I will always remember her name, Dr. Alima. She was a person of color just like me and most importantly, she was a woman. She took care of me for 4 years and made sure my speech was perfect. I truly don’t know where I would be without her. We had weekly check-ins where she would ask me to say long sentences over and over again. My parents and I saw vast improvement when I went to her. When I was 10, I started saying sentences more clearly and I wasn’t struggling with words anymore. My insecurities started to fade the more I went to her. Fast forward 6 years later, I graduated high school at the top of my class and I am more confident in my speech than I was 6 years ago. If it weren’t for my parents picking up how depressing it was for me to not be able to speak clearly. I don’t know where I would be today. This experience caused me to enter the communication speech pathologist field because I know that I wish my parents gave me the help that I needed before it was too late. I want to be able to be that safe doctor that people would want to go to because they know I will never judge them. I want to be the doctor that Dr.Alima was to me. I aspire to be that pathologist that would do their best to heal people from something that my parents took as embarrassing. My parents helped me when they could but for some time, me having a speech problem was embarrassing to them. I don’t want children to go through what I went through from ages 8-13. I want them to specifically know that they want help and seek the help they need from me. I know that speech pathology is my calling because I love to help people and interact with them. I want children to be able to come to my office some day and have peace knowing that I would help them speak again. I love helping people communicate their actions or something that needs to be solved. Whenever someone asks what I want to do in life or who I want to become. I always tell them that I want to become a person whose career will benefit someone else's life for good. That’s why I chose this career, because I know that it will make me happy knowing I am helping other people. I want to make people feel confident with their speech again. I have always been the person who my family will always go to for anything and I hope that I can do the same.

On Saturdays, my family and I pack produce and take it to the church, where we usually give it out. We would pack a lot of produce that you would need for cooking. We would pack basic snacks and ingredients that are generic yet useful. When we reached outside every Sunday morning, a long line always wrapped around the corner street nearby. It was so amazing seeing how our business blossomed. One day, I noticed that the street nearby had a huge hole, and every Sunday, at least one person would get into an accident. This notice made me worried because we can’t have people get hurt from getting their basic needs. This caused my mother to call her friend, who is a construction worker, to fill up the hole that was causing all these accidents. This made me admire him so much, but I never got to tell him. The way he fearlessly fixed that deep hole made my love for engineering grow. I always admired the sweet part of engineering where people help other people. When you fix a road or a hole, you’re helping someone not have to worry about pumping a flat tire. You are preventing something negative from happening to that person. This is why at Howard University, I will take my love for engineering and study civil engineering. I will help my generation and further generations to come to have roads and tunnels that are nicely structured and easy to pass onto and into. When I am more advanced in this field, I plan to build a bridge that extends to multiple cities. I would like for this bridge to be white with black interior and have big signs that designate which cities it’s leading to the person who’s driving. I would like the letters to have big letters with lights hanging above for people who can’t see far away. I know how I want everything to be laid out and how beneficial it would be to everyone. It’s sometimes a hassle having to take one road to a specific spot, especially if it’s a city. People live in different cities and could probably only afford a job in cities miles away. Traffic often becomes a big issue when there isn’t a resolution to solve this problem. This hit home coming from experience. My mother used to have to drive to and fro from other cities just to provide for my siblings and I. This is why I wanted to create a bridge that would help people be able to reach their destinations without all the extra traffic. There were times when I witnessed construction workers working together with their co-workers and developing ways they could fix bridges and roads that my parents would drive on. I found it really cool that a lot of men got to do this but not many women. At Howard, I will work as hard as I can to receive internships and great grades to flourish in a field that will help me pursue this building dream.