I was crying, praying, and angry. That was all I did a year ago. I felt confused about why my life was so complicated than most of my peers. I was drowning in nursing school, trying to keep up with work to help pay my tuition, and felt emotionally helpless when it came to my home issues. My chest felt tight most times and I did not have many words to reach out and tell my friends I needed help and support. Instead, I thought I could carry it all on my own until I couldn't handle it anymore. I had just walked out of my third nursing exam with a 45%. That was now my third F in test scores, I hadn't passed one single exam the whole semester and it was my last straw. I walked out of that room with tears flowing down my face feeling completely defeated. I sat in my room thinking, " where do I go from here?"Fighting with myself for a long time I decided to reach out to my friends ad explain what I was going through and that I needed help. I came to the realization that carrying all the weight on my shoulders did not make me strong, it made me feel weak, defeated, and alone. I was reminded that strong individuals are not the people who do it all by themselves. They have people behind that are pouring into them and they pass It on to those who need it as well. After reaching out, my friends were there every step of the way to encourage me and be a listening ear to whatever I needed to talk about, and help me study most times. I was amazed at how much support I had after I opened my mouth to tell someone I loved that I was struggling. They were there and I am now reminded of that experience every time life seems to get too much for me to carry on my own. I lean on those around me and I do it without feeling weak or guilty for it. I now understand the true definition of being strong and the power that comes with verbalizing my needs. Now being at a new college in a better nursing program, my scenery has changed but my actions haven't. I now make time to breathe and gather myself, I reach out to friends and classmates who seem to be struggling and help them in ways others have helped me. I also reach out to my family and friends when I need help or advice instead of thinking I have the solution to all my issues. I am reminded of my strength and courage when I speak up to others and I am thankful to be in this space because a year ago I was on the verge of giving up until I opened my mouth and said something. I feel growth in myself as I was taught to carry my own weight but I now know I don't have to carry it all on my own.

Seeing tears of joy and gratitude on a person's face after helping them with something big or small is something I forever want to experience. Coming from a family full of CNAs, it has always been my dream to fulfill my family‘s dreams to become a nurse because they could not afford to. I remember going to pick up my mom from work and getting to see all the patients in the nursing home and greet them. They always told me how much they loved my mom and how she was so good to them, it made me want to be just like her and even better. My mom is the reason I am so inspired to get into Nursing. She never had the opportunity of going to school but has fought her best to keep me in school despite financial setbacks. Like my mom, I became a CNA and started working in a hospital next to my school. It pushed me to want to become a nurse even more because I was able to see that not only do nurses help people but our patients also help us. My eyes have become open to the way I see people and get to know them personally. I understand that Nursing is not just about passing medications or educating a patient on how to use their blood pressure cuff. Nursing is an art. Being able to make human connections, learn more about different cultures as well as yourself, and have an empathetic connection to people all around the world with varying issues of health are something special to me. Nursing is a way to learn more every day about yourself, the human body, people, and much more. Not too long ago, I was taking care of an elderly lady and it was time for her to go and she started crying and holding my hand very tight. I asked her what was wrong and she said I’m just so grateful for the care your whole team has given to me this past week. It was so great meeting you you are such a nice young lady. She then went on to explain to her daughter how I took time to talk with her when she told me she wasn’t lonely, bathed her, and made sure she eat. it was so eye-opening to me because the whole time I thought I was doing my job as an aid but it shows how important Nursing is in the world today. Nursing is more than a just job. It’s an art, a way to help people. A way to reach and be that change this world needs today when it comes to humanity, and I want to be a part of that while on earth which is why I chose nursing as a career path.

One of my favorite hobbies is painting. Although I am not a professional, it has helped me mentally in many ways. I was introduced to it by one of my close friends who happened to love art. I saw the passion in her eyes every time she showed me a new piece she did and it made me want to explore that feeling. As time went by I realized I started painting as a way to release stress and get to know what I really liked to do. I started off with just painting simple words with cute backgrounds and next thing you know, I was remaking art photos of black women to help when I was needing a reminder of my beauty during quarantine. There is something about stroking my paintbrush against a canvas and being able to create anything my heart desires, whether it's something as small as painting a rose symbolizing my power as a woman or the painting the simple efficacious which was an adjective my graduating class used to us a group. Efficacious means successfully introducing the desired result. As a little freshman painting this for fun I didn't know the weight that word would have on me today. This painting is now sitting on my shelf and one of the words I continue to recite as I matriculate through nursing school. It's a daily reminder that I will be successful and achieve all I put my mind to. Things like that constantly remind me of my love for my pieces. It's a time I can mess up and find a way to make something out of it, like life. Painting helps me see that I have talent outside of studying for my next nursing exam and it helps me see that it doesn't have to be perfect for me to love it. I believe art in general is a way I can express my inner thoughts, emotions, and talents in a very healthy way. Each painting tells a story in my life and it has become such a blessing in my life ever since I started.

There are a lot of issues in our world today but I believe the biggest problems we are facing right now are human trafficking, homelessness, and Racism. Being a woman of color, it's already hard enough having to wake up and carry out my daily activities now knowing what can happen to me nowadays because of my gender and race. There have been so many women that have admitted to almost getting kidnapped by strangers, cab/ taxi drivers, and sometimes people that are acquaintances with. This is something we as a community need to raise awareness on. Protecting instead of hurting or taking someone's life away. We should also have more online or in-person opportunities for people especially high school and young adults to attend to learn what to do in those situations and find ways to educate on tips for being in an unfamiliar space. For example, having your location on for family and friends to see, turning your music down in unfamiliar places, etc. Homelessness is something I believe some communities have already started to develop and carry out acts of service to those in need. But I believe giving back to the homeless is more than getting more warehouses for shelters. Providing homecooked meals, having major companies and franchises such as McDonald's and Starbucks have a day where they give out food items usually thrown away every day would be a great start. Lastly, Racism is something that has been going on for decades and we African Americans are sick of it. Some way we can help monitor it is continuing to raise awareness, trying to educate others around us on ways to treat us, protesting, and continuing to start up for equality no matter the color of your skin or if it affects you directly.

Walking back to my room after a long day of work, I suddenly felt anxious to the point of wanting to throw up. I kept thinking to myself "you got this, why are you stressed?" but that did not help me calm down. Then, I felt my Gmail notification go off, my chest started to tighten up as I was not sure if what I worked so hard for was paying off. I opened the app and saw I was admitted into the Kettering College Nursing program. I've never experienced such a happy feeling.

My name is Dehyana Thompson and I am an energetic, hardworking, bright young lady. I enjoy exercising, deep conversation, and learning new things that get me to think. Growing up I would always here " reach for the starts" when it came to choosing a career path I would spend the rest of my life doing after college. I remember choosing the health care system when I was in fifth grade. My aunt had just had her second miscarriage. I felt the pain with her as we grieved the loss of her twins and the anger she felt towards the care she get from the hospital staff. Ever since then I knew I wanted to help with woman's health and giving birth. Having the ability to learn about the human body and ways to take care of my own as well as others is such a big opportunity especially for girls who look like me. The healthcare system is unfortunately known for mistreating and not prioritizing the health of black woman as they do other races. As a result, less woman feel comfortable giving birth in the hospital and are hiring black midwifes and dulas to assist them. In fact, black people in general do not want to receive medical attention much less visit the doctors office for minor situations. This problem is global but I am happy God has places the opportunity to not only be in nursing school, but also to care and be someone any can come to for medical attention. My dream is to become a Woman health Nurse Practitioner/Midwife and get experience in a clinic as well as a hospital. My goal is to reach out and empower woman, showing them at there are healthcare providers that care and want to give them the best care. I also want to work with woman especially in us minorities as we seem to not be treated the way we deserve to be treated. Specifically speaking, I plan on creating a platform to educate and give resource to get help medically woman all over the world. The information will be beneficial wether you're pregnant, sick, interested in learning about different clinics and etc, or if you want to be a nurse. I also want to start my own non profit organization to help get care for woman and their families who can not afford care and do not have insurance. These are just a few things I someday will do to add to the healthcare field and make it a safer, more effective place to be.

From the beginning of time we women have always been taught that men are dominant. Women have been taught to be subjective, to always listen to men because they are superior to us. It's sad to say that this train of thought has been embedded into many of our brains and has resulted in many women making decisions based on others' wants and needs, missing out on their desires and dreams, and much more. Fortunately, I am a young woman hoping to break this generational curse and find new ways to empower others around me younger and older to empower women to strength and individuality when it comes to themselves. You see women are more than just an object, We are human beings who feel just like any other person. Although Society has placed on us the need to always be at home cleaning or cooking is disgraceful and I believe that Society needs to do more when it comes to empowering women just as much as the Empower men. There is such a difference when it comes to the way men and women are treated by Society. When it comes to men, they seem to make a higher wage in the same jobs women have, their responsibilities to live up to society's mark not as repeated and enforced but when it comes to women the expectations are twice as high and demanding.And because of this I believe Society needs to do A lot of our thoughts in our opinions come from reading and seeing things that footer place on society. Which is why I think it is so important that we portray a better, less demanding and strict guideline for women to live by. We need to be encouraging women to follow their dreams as it pertains to getting a higher education. And when I say encourage I don't mean shaming or verbally abusing them into thinking what they decide to do with their life is wrong and trying to get them to change their way of thought. But, encouraging as and saying sweet, loving, genuine things that will make Someone feel heard and important. In order for this to be done we have to look at our own lives. Is there a reason why we are empowering women? What is the importance to us today in our personal life. Once we fully understand what it really means to empower, I think we'll be able to touch more women than we think . Being understanding is what we women want in this world. We want to be encouraged because it's been hard to find a place in society. In order for us to overcome this nightmare women have been living in for the past 500 plus years, we need to understand what it means to be equal. To know that every job there is in this world can be executed by a man or woman. We as a society need to understand the importance of our words, actions, and most importantly thoughts. You see, our thoughts become our words and our words become our actions. If we start to think that women deserve a better lifestyle in this world our words will start to flow as we encourage women all over the world, and our actions will follow right behind it. As a society we first need to start with our thoughts towards women, then everything else will follow .

My inspiration is the color of my skin. Being an African American in the United States is what drives me to not only dream big, but also inspires me to make my dreams my reality. Coming from a town where over 45% were living in poverty, public school system were not fully developed, and my family and I were living off of section 8 all inspire me to this day to work hard in whatever I put my mind to. These curveballs taught me that my current situation is not my future. It drove me to understand that my journey was different from others and made me to be a go-getter. Both of my parents were immigrants from the beautiful country of Jamaica. My mom has been a cna for over 10 years now and has been working hard to buy a house since 2016. My father was absent most of my life and recently in 2018. Growing up seeing my mom struggle to work to make sure my two older siblings and I were not lacking anything after tearing her rotator cuff inspires me daily to be a hard worker. It has shaped my decision to enter into the medical field someday hoping to become a nurse practitioner. Though this journey hasn't been easy, my mindset has played a major part in everything that has happened to me. What happens to you in life is temporary, what you do with it is a lifetime consequence. I remember struggling with math from second to 10th grade. The remember constant look of disappointment on my teachers face when telling my mother that I'm one of the hardest workers but had one of the lowest grades. Trying to understand and retain Information when it came to math made me very discouraged growing up because I felt like I was just another statistic of a black student not meeting the mark in the educational system. Not only that, but moving to an 83% white town and having to adapt to going to school with middle and high class white students who could afford tutoring, doing excellent in school, all while being an athlete all made it worse for me. It was hard for me to believe that I was more than capable of being that myself. After taking time to research and monitor what learning technique helped me retain information more, I was able to use all that I've experienced to my advantage. I am now a junior in a Historically black college, pursuing a degree in nursing. When I look back at the many academic, economic, and personal challenges that I've had to overcome, it all inspires me to keep moving forward because I am closer than I was one day, month, and year from being a first generation graduate of college. It reminds me but I am more than capable of being financially stable. I am more than capable of achieving every single goal God has ordained in my life.

Coming from a family full of immigrants will always be one of my favorite things to share about my life. I grew up having the pressure from the adults in my family to be something great, something they could not be because of the limited opportunities they had. Simple reminders to " never give up even when it gets rough " or " maximizing every opportunities you get " as always been a huge impact to my journey of becoming a nurse practitioner. Realizing that there are times when my classmates have aunts, uncles, and parents who are in the health care system to guide, encourage, and relate has changed the way I worked. I realized I have to work harder, smarter, and longer than some do as I do not have as much resources as they do. As a result, I am stronger and wiser as I understand the sacrifices not only my parents make, but what I am make as I strive to pursue my dreams. Being a first- generation college student takes a lot of responsibility, sleepless nights, prayer, and faith. Having enough strength in myself to hustle thorough hurdles my family members can not relate to is something I celebrate as I now know what I am capable of despite not feeling worthy when I started college. These life changing experiences has has made me appreciate the journey of every fist generation college as I know what they went through to get where they are today . Not only that, being a first generation student has made not want to give up because I see the need for more people like me in healthcare.

I am a first-generation American and the first in my family to attend college. Working towards my goal of one day becoming a travel Midwife. I want to open my own practice to help black women receive the proper care they need when getting ready to give birth. I also want to help women all over the world the opportunity to experience proper health care despite living in a community with poor health care. I am so adamant about this because have spent my whole life dreaming of being the person in my family to achieve higher education and give back as much as I could to those who are less fortunate. Many of my family member migrated from Jamaica and was not fortunate to finish college, which is most of the reason I am fighting to achieve such a high level of education. Imagine being the person who helps solve some of the most heart-wrenching fears in life. I am passionate about serving those who don't have much to give, which is why I have been volunteering since the age of 11. Seeing the impact of spreading love through a smile, through helping someone get food not only brightens my day. But also reminds me of my purpose on earth, to spread and give love especially to the black community. My goals for nursing specifically with pregnant woman is to bring awareness and proper treatment to the woman who have been failed by our healthcare system. I want to repair and be one of the connecting pieces we need to rebuilding our healthcare so that every woman no matter their age, race, or situation. It is important to me that they feel safe and fully can rely on the cna, nurses, doctors, or any other healthcare professional they come in-contact with while giving life.

Helping others has always been an important aspect of my life. Since the age of 12, I was enrolled in a church club in which we learned about Christ and His expectation of us as human beings. One part of this club was giving back to others around us. Every other Sunday giving canned goods to the community, interacting, and getting to all kinds of people who live in my community was exciting and eye-opening. Hearing about the children's dreams, and the adult's life stories have exposed me to the good and bad parts of the world we live in has shown me the importance of serving others. Taking time to listen and be there for them has definitely impacted the way I treat others on a day-to-day basis. Taking part in this has shown the community that there are still good people out there who may not have money, but are willing to do their part in the way we can. It has shown them that we care and love them. I also joined an outreach program my freshman year of college, which I still serve in today. We do many things such as have a Paypal system with children at a less fortunate school, sock drives every fall, clothes driver before every winter break, and have a whole day dedicated to going on in the community and carrying out many tasks in hopes of making the community a better place for everyone. These actions have differently impacted the people we came in contact with. Not only are we meeting with children, but instilling confidence, hope, the potential they have inside of them. Though this may not be important to them now, when they get older my hope is for this to be a part of their success story. I hope to leave others with hope for the future, especially in our black communities. encouraging other children who look like me to reach for the stars and also reach out to other children like us is what I hope to leave in any community I associate myself with.

I remember coming home early from my first year of college, sad, angry, and scared. "Why my first year, God?" I thought to myself. I thought of being home and not being able to live my life the way I wanted to was going to hinder my growth, but I was completely wrong. This pandemic has taught me the importance of isolation, family, and quietness. Isolation and quietness gave me the opportunity to sit figure out from god what I needed to do with my life career-wise, process unresolved trauma, and helped me to learn new things about myself like my likes and dislikes. This pandemic also taught me the importance of family. My family is always on the go but when my mom, being a frontline healthcare giver caught covid we were all compelled to taking care of her and spending more time with one another. We realized anything can happen at any time and that's why it was important to take care and love one another.

Growing up in the church I was always told it was good to give back. With that being said, once I got to college I looked to ways I can always keep my promise that I would devote some time to other people. In my first semester of college, I joined the R.E.A.C.H Program which is an outreach program that has gone out and done food drives, clothes drives, volunteered at homeless shelters, poor community schools, and much more. I was able to now only serve people but also be an example to the rest of the world and be aware of those who don't have what I have. I also joined another club called G.A.M.E. which is a group that empowers other female students on my college campus. This has made me make more friends and gain some knowledge on self-care, sisterhood, and much more. Lastly, I am a volunteer tutor for Anatomy and Physiology to help students of all classification understand the human body more. I was very fortunate to obtain government funds of 4,393 dollars per school year, and an academic scholarship of 5,000 dollars per school year. However, my mom and I are still forced to apply for thousands of dollars in loans including a parent plus loan, I worked on campus part-time while taking no less than 17 credits per semester, and we are still not able to afford the tuition afterward. I know my choice of career may be difficult academically, but I am determined on finding a way to get getting help to graduate college. Receiving this scholarship is very important to me because it will give me the opportunity to stay in school and focus on doing my best in those classes instead of how I am going to pay for them. Also, it will help relieve the stress of paying back my loans as I plan on working abroad for two years in a less fortunate country to give medical care to those who cannot afford it. After graduating college, I see myself trying to open many a few clinics nationwide as a certified midwife. There I hope to give women of all color, age, and social class the chance to receive the best care before and after giving birth. I also plan on taking at least two trips a year to less fortunate countries that have undeveloped health care systems and offering my knowledge and time into helping and educating as many mean women as I can on basic health prevention information and help give medical assistance to many pregnant women.

Hi, my name is Dehyana Thompson, and I am an energetic, opportunist who loves everything about staying fit and healthy. I started my healthy journey back in 9th grade when I joined my school's rowing team. I did not know how much I'd fall in love with just the basic warm-ups ( running, ab circuits, etc.). I soon began to come up with my own regimen by running and working out various parts of my body to help me gain weight and maintain a healthy weight for my age. I workout out at least 3 times a week, focusing on a different part of my body after a mile run as my warm-up. I also meal prep and keep track of the number of sweets and overall unhealthy foods I consume through the week. This has helped me tremendously with gains in my legs, arms, and glutes. I also see the difference in my energy and my ability to focus on my classwork, and my overall mood. Working out and choosing a healthy lifestyle as you can see has changed my life in more areas than just the physical aspects. It also enhances my chances of being focuses, keeping my body clean from diseases and things such as depression, anxiety, and much more. Though staying healthy is not always easy, having goals and trying my best to stick with them had motives me to keep pushing as I can one day inspire and motivate people to get and stay active.

Have you ever found yourself in a place in life where you felt like your back was against the wall and had no one? As I got to an age of understanding how adulting works I started to see that life often shakes you up. If you're not careful you'll find yourself depressed, lonely, and frustrated. Fortunately, I grew up Seventh-Day Adventist and I knew someone who made me whole, God. Though many may not understand God is my everything. He is someone who has always loved and cared for me. At times I may feel like nothing is going my way and I don't feel enough, God reminds me He says who I am. People's opinions, my mistakes, and even my own opinions of myself don't define me. He does and that has helped me get through the rough times I have faced. The two songs below represent God, who is my everything.

Face mask, journaling, listening to calm music, trying to think positive in every situation, and planning my days. This was the definition of self-love tome up until the senior year of high school. I found myself hopping from one relationship to the next without giving myself time to heal and process, dealing with my recent absent father's death, and facing the trauma from my childhood. In my head if I kept doing a face mask, journaled listened to calm music, tried to think positive in every situation, and planned out my days, then I was showing myself enough love. But it was only an amount of time until everything came crashing down. I sat on the floor screaming and crying my eyes out until a blood vessel popped it, and at that moment I realized all those things I did were temporary. Self-love is more than just doing the task. Self-love is accepting the things you can not change in your life, saying no, eating right, feeling every emotion you feel unapologetically, and understanding you are human so perfection is not necessary. After a few consistent months of devoting time to working out, journaling, find peace in God, and giving myself time to be human without beating myself up I then saw a major change. I felt connected to myself, I saw a new level of respect from family members and friends, and I saw myself pushing myself instead of limiting myself to things I thought were above me. Although I have my bad days, I now know what unconditional love looks like. I now know the difference between a healthy relationship and a toxic one. My friend group shifted. My focus was turned to my dreams and aspirations of becoming a midwife, not what people were thinking of me. The word no came out more as I figured what I needed, what filled me not pleasing others. As I started to take my love for myself seriously I saw a drastic change in my authenticness. It's uncontainable and not for everyone but the ones who loved me stuck around and God shined his light to push me every aspect of life.