In my childhood, and leading into my adult life, I realized that there was a void only I could fill. That void was growing up with little guidance or role models and learning that education was a way out of my family cycle. Many of the women in my life never got the chance to graduate high school or college the traditional way. This was due to either having kids at a young age or other unfortunate circumstances. I interpreted this as motivating rather than discouraging, I knew that I had a duty to put myself first and be one of the first in my family to walk the stage and be able to attend college full time. As a child having a physically absent parent and a mentally/chronically ill parent led me to develop a strong sense of independence and advocating for myself, whether that be asking questions or not being afraid to reach out. In my high school years, I had one parent in the household who could only allocate limited time to academics. I had to come to terms with the fact that my mother would never be financially independent or be able to give me a sense of stability or financial assistance. This conditioned me to fight for my own balance and work for everything. Another thing I had to learn was to involve myself in things. As a kid, I was never involved in extracurriculars until the third school I attended. Since then I got involved in extracurriculars and in my senior year I got accepted into a competitive senior program I applied to for health sciences. This connected me to internships and research opportunities within the healthcare field. My independence and ability to advocate and connect with people from different backgrounds served me well in a professional environment where I had to clearly communicate with medical professionals. As someone who is entering my freshman year of college, I needed guidance more than anything. I had to look for outside help and figure out who to reach out to. I’m attending a community college to completely my dream school's prerequisites. This means that I have to afford both my current tuition and keep in mind my future expenses at my transfer school. I am looking to attend my current school debt-free so I can begin my career journey. The first time I applied for the Early Assurance Program at my dream school I got rejected and was told I should apply again. I recognized that I would have to work extra hard but knew that it was worth trying again and continuing to show continued interest. Being the primary contributor to my educational success has taught me to expect nothing and to realize that putting in effort proportional to the outcome goes a long way. I hope to alleviate some of the financial stress in these upcoming years through scholarships and saving money from my current job to be able to afford tuition sufficiently.

For some unknown reason, it's a common event that art kids grow up to want to go into the medical field. By talking to the community of artists I've made through social media and some close friends, I realized there is this epidemic where creative children end up leaning towards healthcare. I'm not sure why this is, but in my case, expressing my artistic abilities and finding peace in creation has always been a part of my life. And like many others, I also want to be a part of the health careers. I believe that my ability to find comfort in such a minuscule thing and be able to detach and really find an outlet for feelings like stress is a beautiful thing. My interest in healthcare stemmed from direct clinical experience and exposure to the medical field. Through my senior program I got to see firsthand different healthcare environments and professionals that contribute to patient care. I got to see how healthcare functions on multiple levels and the importance of diagnostic imaging in the health care process. I recall a presentation and tour my class received, where we got informed about the field and got to take a tour of the diagnostic imaging department. Through this experience, I observed how medical sonography is a career that combines one-on-one patient interaction, technology, and critical evaluation, which ultimately drew me to pursue this path. My long-term goal is to become a certified diagnostic medical sonographer and work in a hospital setting. My interest in this field is driven by me experiencing it first hand and knowing what my future would look like. I would get to handle patients directly and work with them hands on, as well as working with professionals in different modalities to help provide the best care. My future career goals will look like entering college and being able to have the opportunity to learn this technology and be on track to be able to work in a clinical environment with real patients. This scholarship would be beneficial for me because it would allow me to get where I want to go in the most proficient way possible. I know what I want to do and how to do it, but It would be an amazing opportunity to get to do that and be In the best situation after I graduate. The time and effort i'm willing to put into my schooling and career can be connected to my inclination to put so much effort into something like art.

I am a firm believer that everyone should be given opportunities to succeed. Not having the most ideal circumstances shouldn't be a determining factor in whether a person deserves to pursue their dreams or not. With scholarships and grants, people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds such as financial issues or unstable living conditions are given a chance and opportunity to be better than the situation they were unfortunate to receive. People aren't their backgrounds, we shouldn't discriminate and decide that people who have more challenges than others don't deserve to be on the same playing field as those who are privileged enough to not have these disadvantages. When it came time for me to start thinking about college and applying, I soon realized that I was alone in that process. Neither of my parents had to go through the process of applying and getting accepted into college, so they weren't able to guide me through this daunting process or help me financially. I noticed that some of my peers don't have this issue or aren't concerned how they are going to pay for college. Despite this, I've always known that I want to do something meaningful, that's why I'm determined to be in the medical field because I believe it's rewarding and adds meaning to your life but also others. I've taken steps to achieve this by committing to a senior program that exposes me to numerous medical fields and opportunities. This way, I can get experience in the field before I decide to specialize, giving me countless opportunities and paths I could go down. In order for me to continue my education and take advantage of these opportunities, I will need to decide how I will pay for college. This is the reality of many people, especially in the medical field, which is very financially demanding. Hard work is nothing without passion, in the medical field, you can't get away with just hard work alone, it takes drive and passion. This is something that isn't easy to find and it's not something that comes easily to people. That's why when I say I have passion to go into the medical field, I hope that translates to, I have something that is a rare quality and I want to continue to pursue my educational dreams.