Hello, my name is Dyane Rose. I am 20 years old and was raised in San Diego. A little backstory about me I feel is necessary to fully understand the drive I have for my future. I was raised by a single teen mom who had no support from her own family and my biological father's family. We struggled in ways that I wish no mom nor child be put through. My mom was able to get us out of the toxic environment and her drive and determination are what fuel me to make all her sacrifices worthwhile. I am currently enrolled at a University and going for a biology degree. After I receive my degree I plan to go to Veterinary School and become a doctor. I was in between becoming a veterinarian or a lawyer for racial justice. On one hand, I saw myself fighting the wrongdoings done to all people of color. On the other hand, I understood the peace I felt with animals and realized how I could help my people through that. I have gone through various traumas throughout my life, especially at a young age. After going to therapy, I was diagnosed with PTSD. This was shocking but yet was understandable to me. I realized that I have to find a career that stimulates my mind but does not provide direct triggers and damages my mental health. Animals have always been my place of solitude. Since I was a little girl I have been around dogs, especially red-nosed pit bulls. I always loved training them and showing off their tricks to anyone I could get to watch for two minutes. At one point in my life, I even had a ball python snake named Cheeta. I have two-pup babies now whom I love with all my heart. The comfort I receive from them releases my stress and anxiety. I knew that I wanted others to feel that as well. Now that I have set a promising future and a healthy environment for myself, I want to implement the same desire I have to help my people. Once I have established myself as a veterinarian for a few years, I want to hold afterschool programs where students from neighborhoods like mine, could come and help do simple tasks with the animals. Teaching them the importance of taking care of them while also informing the children of the importance of mental health. I understand what it is like to see all the activities the world has but am unable to participate due to money, lack of transportation, etc. I feel as though this would give children the opportunity to engage in something unavailable to them given their circumstances. This scholarship will help me in my journey. It would help release some of the money pressure from school and take a load off my shoulders. I would also be given the chance to focus more on my studies. I appreciate the generosity of the founder and the opportunity she provides to me and many others. Thank you.

My mother was raised in San Diego, California and lived in one of the most gang, drug, and violence-ridden communities in the city. She lived in government-aided housing with 7 of her brothers and sisters. At a young age, my mother experienced several traumas that no child should ever experience. She met my father and had me at 15 years old. At this time my mom had no support from her family and was left with a man and his family who treated her just as poorly. My paternal grandmother told my mother to get an abortion and if she chose to keep the baby my father would have no responsibilities whatsoever. My mom says I was the blessing she needed to survive. The first few years of my life, we lived at their house, however, my parents were not together. We slept outside on a mattress, surrounded by my grandmother's hoard. Even as a child, I saw the struggle my mom went through. My mother and I would walk or take buses to go to the park or stores till it was bedtime just to avoid being around that house and those people. My mom would go back and get her high school GED and I remember the pride in her eyes. I remember one day my mom made me a promise to give me a life better than this. She had gone to the local Jack n Box and begged the lady to give her a job and from this moment I started to understand what being driven looks like. My amazing mom would wake up early hours of the morning, walk to the bus stop, ride for 40-50 minutes to the daycare center, go to community college classes, afterward walk back to the daycare, pick me up, get back on the bus to go to the Jack n Box, work her shift while I sit in the sitting area, get off and go to the bus, carry me back to the house, and repeat seven days of the week. All while doing this she was paying rent to my paternal grandmother. She charged my mother rent for sleeping on a mattress in the backyard surrounded by loads of trash as my father was off, involved in gangs and never around me. As a child I couldn't express the hurt I saw my mother going through but now I can. It was disgusting. Disgusting to see everyone knowing how hard she was working and taking consistent blow after blow. But also it was inspiring. Inspiring to see such a young woman persevere through all the trials and tribulations. My mom and I had our little secret. A Bible. A Bible with money stashed away, we would hide it in the mattress and my mom swore that this money was going to get us out. Fast forward a couple of years later we are far away in an amazing home now and she is a college graduate with a master's degree. She is the first to go to college and graduate from her family going back multiple generations. My experience does not make me pity myself but strengthens me. I have learned to be compassionate, patient, grateful, and most importantly forgiving. I have the drive to be great just like my mother, I am striving for a Ph.D. and will make all the sacrifices worthwhile. I look at the world differently, I see the pain and the blessings. I owe my way of thinking and life all to her and her alone. I am my mother's daughter.