I have many goals that I would like to accomplish in the future. A few of the goals I am currently pursuing include getting a Master's degree, finding a job that would involve working with college students, and being able to talk about mental health. I am actively trying to make progress on these goals every day. I am currently in my Senior year of my Bachelor of Social Work program at Fort Hays State University. This is the first step, finishing my senior year, graduating, and going to Graduate School. Getting a Master's Degree in Higher Education Student Affairs or a Master's in Social Work would allow me to work with college students. Once I get my Master's, I would love to find a job at a counseling center on a university campus or as an Academic Advisor. Either of these would allow me to talk to college students, listen to problems, and potentially assist in ways that I wouldn't be able to if I didn't have the position. With mental health issues and college students constantly growing and becoming a more prevalent problem than before, it is important to see what drives a person to want to be a part of the solution to the problem. I have experienced many hardships while I have been at college and before in high school. Neither my mother nor father has been part of my life since I was 3. I lived with my grandparents during this time. My grandfather passed away when I was in 5th grade, and at that time, we lost a significant income source, a grandfather, and a father figure. As I went into high school, we suffered from poverty; even when my grandmother had a job, she still had to support three children. I also started taking care of them as well while she worked. As she continued to work, her health began to decline to the point where I became the caretaker steadily, and we were using my fast food job to rely on for food, school supplies, shelter, and bills. Eventually, I would become the caretaker of my grandmother. On August 17th, 2017, my grandmother passed away next to me during the trip to move me into college. She died due to collapsed lungs caused by her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. As a result of witnessing my grandmother passing away before my eyes, I started suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. I developed mental health conditions that took me down the wrong road during my first college semester. As a result, it made me look into what I wanted to be in the future. This one event that has been building since I was three has put me into the position I am in today. I still might experience discrimination because I am a male from a rural community of only 3,500 people in the social work field. Still, I have experienced and been through many situations that many, if not most, will never experience. Being able to reflect, look out for, and assist people who might be going through a mental health crisis can prevent and strengthen our future leaders of tomorrow. As seen before, my most tremendous hardship and challenge still is dealing with my grandmother's passing, who was a caretaker, mother, father, and grandmother figure for me. Her death caused me to go through a mental health crisis and pushed me to work today to help others. As a result of her death, it is pushing me more to get my Master's and working with college students.

I can say that mental health is essential for a person. I have suffered from a mental health crisis, and the outcomes can be life-changing. I can see that my mental health crisis started after my grandmother passed away beside me, in the passenger seat of my car, on the trip to move in for college. This caused me to have depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. I couldn't move past what I had seen during that trip, and it haunted me during the first year of college and into the second year. As I received help, I improved and started to help others with a mental health crises that they were going through. This caused me to switch my original Agriculture Education major to Social Work to assist when mental health is concerned in times of need. Why is mental health important to First, me? First, I can say that mental health is important as it can affect your everyday life. It can change a person into something that you wouldn't imagine. The mentioned mental health crisis brought to my attention that I needed to start setting up different methods to help me cope with loss, stress, and many other issues that cause mental health issues. Mental health can instantly change how the brain functions. You can go from complex brain functions to the basic fight, flight, and freeze responses. As a result, doing complex daily functions like taking care of yourself, doing homework, and attending classes become harder. Furthermore, as future Social Worker, we are there for people with mental health crises. Making a self-care plan and enacting it can help improve the conditions brought upon by stress and other causes of mental health issues. Taking time out of my schedule and doing basic daily things that bring joy and calming allows for clear thinking and more control over the daily stressors in my life. Finding ways to maintain your mental wellness is almost as important as knowing what a crisis looks like. I maintain my mental wellness in many different ways. The first way I maintain my mental wellness is by going to a counselor at least once a week on-campus. This allows me to express what is causing me stress and pressure in my life. The second is to join support groups within the community and on campus. These groups also allow me to discuss with others who have gone through mental health issues or are going through them. The meetings also allow me to discuss what is still causing me issues in my life. The third is going on walks. I love being in nature, going through my surroundings, listening to music, and enjoying the outdoors. The walks allow me to clear my mind and think about the positives that have happened daily. The fourth is practicing the self-care plan that I created as a social work student. I work through this plan between once to three times a week.

I have had many different experiences with mental health that have influenced myself and others. To start, I have faced many mental health struggles in my lifetime. I have gone through depression and a small bout of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I went through this during the first hours of my college experience. My grandmother passed away beside me on the drive to move me into the Fort Hays State University dorms. I performed CPR on her till an ambulance arrived and took her to the local hospital. Unfortunately, she passed away a short few hours later. This one experience changed everything for me and how I view my beliefs on mental health. Before the death of my loved one, my view on mental health was that if you have a problem, you should deal with it yourself. After the death, it changed to you should seek help from your support systems that you have built and try to find any form of services offered by mental health professionals. I furthermore see that my belief has changed in a way that allows me to help and view mental health more urgently and that any help is better than struggling alone. My relations also changed in a drastic measure as a result of the mental health crisis that I faced. I went from having unhealthy and harmful relationships before the death to ones that would support me in a crisis. These harmful relationships were ones that I made at parties during my first year of college. I also had harmful and toxic relationships with my former high school friends. Once my mental health crisis happened, I turned to my support system, which had holes and little support, almost like swiss cheese with holes. I didn't receive the proper support that I needed and went into a downward spiral that ended my second year of college. In my second year of college, I made friends, built a support system, and went to a mental health professional. These were the positive and supportive relationships I needed to expand and grow in college. I grew to new heights, did better in classes, went to many activities around campus, and eventually, by the end of the year, more than half of campus knew who I was and how I could help in a crisis. By the third year of college, I saved a friend from completing his suicide attempt by being there for him and helping many other of my friends who were going through mental health issues. I had become the support for others who were going through their mental health crises, just like how I had one. With the experiences and relationships of my mental health, I have looked forward and even changed my major to match what I wanted to do. My current career aspirations go in two different directions right now. First, I aim to return to Graduate School and get my Master's in Higher Education Student Affairs or my Master's of Social Work degree. My aim for both of these degrees is to help people but in different populations. Second, I would work with college students if I return and get my Master of Science in Education or MSE in HESA. With my MSE, I would focus on the years that I struggled with and being able to provide advice, a safe place to speak about mental health issues, and the ability to point them in the right direction. Students' college years can be some of the most transformative and destructive years of their lives. Decisions and choices made during these times regarding mental health can affect how they interact, decide to go for help or not, and even if they have a recurrence of the same mental health problems. Being able to step into this time of development can provide them with critical and crucial support. If I go down my Master's of Social Work degree, I would work with a wide range of clientele. I would work with clients of different ethnicities, races, religions, and more. All of these contribute to how I would interact with a client with a mental health crisis. Since working with clients with different beliefs requires extra caution, providing information about professionals or providing services to clients would be key to getting them help. I would also be able to help provide extra assistance to clients who might be passed over in the processes of the current system. Extra digging and investigating to find all resources available to everyone is a valuable skill. I have learned much from my own experiences with mental health. They have taught me the importance of how beliefs impact the way you look at mental health, the relationships you make can either help or hurt you and how mental health can change what you want to do as a future worker. But having the proper support and getting help for any mental health crisis leads to better outcomes and healing.

I have lost many close loved ones that taught me so much in life, along with how to be the person I am today. Either of my parents didn't raise me as my father was in jail most of my childhood and my mother was absent for all but two years of my early childhood. Instead, my grandparents raised me to be the person I am today. March 25, 2010, was the first time I experienced a death that affected me and brought any real emotion to death and loss of a loved one. Leading up to this, my grandfather had suffered from bone cancer for roughly four long years. He battled to survive his cancer till he missed one treatment and it went from stage 2 cancer to stage 4 in a matter of days. He would pass away due to bone cancer; I was only in 5th grade. I realized I had lost my role model of the person I wanted to become, a person who cared about his family, friends, and community. As I reflected upon his death sitting by his side for days before his death, he would share his wisdom with me about different events in his life that I could learn from. He taught me many different things, from caring for people in need to working out difficult situations for a good outcome. I learned many valuable lessons from my grandfather and, indeed, my father figure in my life. His death also led me to start caring for my siblings during this time. My siblings were only 10 and 8 at the time and didn't understand what was happening. This would continue through high school and even into part of my college experience. As I got into Middle and High School, my grandmother's health started deteriorating. She developed Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD during the last month of Middle School and would slowly cause her health to decline during my High School years. My grandmother required me to do almost everything for my siblings and her once I reached sophomore in high school. I took care of her full time for roughly two years; this included taking her to the hospital, cooking, cleaning, and managing medications. On August 18, 2017, we drove to drop me off at college for the first time. This moment will forever haunt me for the rest of my life. She passed away as I performed CPR on the side of the road only 10 miles from home. Once we got to the hospital, she was pronounced deceased and I was an emotional train wreck that wouldn't stop derailing. This was and still is the most challenging day I have ever had to face in my life. I had to make a last-minute decision if I was going to college or taking care of my siblings. I felt led to go to college as if I was being pushed in the direction of going to college. I started college at Fort Hays State University with no friends, little to no family connection, and at the time, depression due to what had happened to my grandmother. I faced many challenges that year, including severe mental health issues, I didn't attend classes regularly, and I struggled to make friends. This event caused me so much harm that I honestly thought about giving up on more than one thing. My first year of college was the worst year of my life and will remain that way. As that awful year went on, I made a friend or two. They connected me to support groups and different clubs on campus and even helped me get into contact with my family again. My friends made me focus on what mattered in my life my siblings, and what remained of my family. As I rebuilt these connections with the help of my friends and family, it caused me to realize I wasn't doing the best I could in school. They pushed me to fight for my education. Everyone expected me to fail as a first-generation college student and to be a social work major. Instead, I fought tooth and nail to get to where I am today. I am now approaching the final year of my undergraduate year of the Bachelor of Social Work program and planning on going to graduate school for either my Masters in Social Work or my Masters of Science in Education in Higher Education Student Affairs. In total, I lost my parental figure and my guardians that pushed me. They are why I continue to pursue my degrees, along with my friends and remaining family. I know I am fighting for more than what I want; I am fighting for the change my grandparents and I wanted.

I have known for a while that I wanted to make some form of impact in my community back at home or here in Hays, Kansas, where I go to college. I thought I wanted to be a teacher but realized after seeing the issues and turmoil within the world of foster care and the welfare system. I knew I was being called to go into Social Work to be a part of a process that would change both my life and other people's lives as well. My background and knowing what has been happening in foster care and the welfare system has pushed me to make happier and more positive outcomes for people. But unfortunately, many people view Social Workers negatively; some examples I have already had said to my face include child stealers, family breakers, and several others. I want to be part of the change that can lead to better outcomes for all Social Workers. There are several ways I can make a more positive impact in the world with my career in Social Work. I will start with interaction and assisting clients. The goal of Social Workers is to provide assistance and uplift people who might have fallen and wouldn't get the help that others might get. I want to provide clients with the opportunities to express themselves in an environment conducive to healing, growth, and uplifting. I want my future clients to know that I am always advocating for them and that they are safe. An excellent example of this would be one of my friends who is transitioning; they currently have issues with family and need as much support as possible. I can be someone they can rely on right now and discuss topics that involve transitioning, allowing me to gain valuable experience for the future. Another way I can make a positive impact on the world is by advocating for people; as mentioned above, I am currently advocating for my friend who is currently transitioning genders. Advocating is a critical way in the future I can promote better understanding and support for clients. In addition, advocating can lead to significant changes in how things can be done. I plan to use advocacy to get laws changed when they are unfair and don't allow uplifting and support for people. Trying to find advocates is important to getting change to happen and when it succeeds, it is great to see how lives change. Overall, I plan to use my future career in Social Work to promote, advocate, and uplift future clients. Social workers are also most of the time viewed in a negative light, so being a bright light that is bringing good to the dark makes everything better. Turmoil, stress, and the lack of Social workers strain a system already on the verge of breaking. These issues can be solved through social work advocacy, promoting the outcomes of clients and patients, and encouraging people to view social work in a brighter light. This is how I plan to make a positive change through social work.

I am currently working on finishing my Bachelor's of Social Work degree. I am planning on obtaining my Master's in Social Work or Masters of Science Education in Higher Education Student Affairs. With these degrees, I plan on advocating for both abused and foster children. My past has heavily impacted my decision to go and help out abused children and foster children. I plan on using my Social Work degree to advocate for children who have been abused in the past by sharing my experiences of parental abuse with lawmakers. These lawmakers have access to make laws that can prevent or outright prevent abuse and bring consequences for repetitive actions done. Another good step that can help is to open up and let children or foster children know they can speak in a safe environment where punishment won't happen. Making safe places to prevent abuse can lead to growth in a child, as I have seen in my own life. Another way I can advocate for the children who need protection from abuse is that I can use my degree to push forward in trying to prevent abuse before it starts. This can be through going out in the community and letting them know the different kinds of abuse and the effects that any abuse can cause on children. This allows the public to know what happens when an abuse situation happens, what persistent and long-term abuse looks like, and how it affects a child's growth and development through all stages of childhood. If I get my MSE in HESA, I plan to use that degree to work with students who may have suffered from abuse. This allows me to see what they went through and connect them with the support they can rely on to achieve a brighter future. This degree also allows me to connect these students with more free help like campus support groups, free counseling provided by most universities, and someone to talk to about what happened during this time. Finally, this degree also brings me closer to policy makers that can bring political change to the foster care system and how the Social Welfare system is run in states. Overall, I plan on using my Bachelor's degree and Masters's degree to help out foster and abused children. Advocating for change in a constantly changing world where abuse becomes more prevalent is critical. Advocating for the change of law, policy, assistance, prevention of abuse before it starts, and providing safe spaces for abused children to go is critical to helping them out.