I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis on June 25, 2020. I completed the dental hygiene program on May 1, 2020. Rheumatoid arthritis makes practicing dental hygiene extremely difficult. So much so, that I had to quit a job I loved only after 5 months of working. Even though this wasn’t my plan, I couldn’t be happier. If I stuck to the plan that I made for myself I would have been in my first year of dental school when I received my diagnosis. Thankfully, the Lord was looking out for me and changed my plan. I was at the University of Utah as a chemistry major doing pre-dental. After my first year at the University of Utah, I receive personal revelation from the Lord that dental school wasn’t right for me. I was dismayed and didn’t listen to this prompting for quite some time because I wanted to become an orthodontist. I had my life planned out; I even had a color-coded Excel spreadsheet with my future classes ready to go. After much humbling, I decided to quit my pursuit of dental hygiene and switch to the next best thing, dental hygiene. I value the education I received and the friends I made while in the dental hygiene program more than I can say. Dental hygiene has shown me that I can make a difference and be an answer to prayers for someone. I don’t know if I would have learned this without the Lord. I know that the Lord is infinite and He is all-knowing. He has an eternal perspective while I only have a limited mortal perspective. He knew I wouldn’t act with haste to quit my dental school goal immediately so He started giving me those promptings early. He knew that I needed to be accepted into the dental hygiene program when I was so I could meet the people I met at school and be able to attend school with my younger sister. Because I put my trust in His wisdom, I was able to finish school before my arthritis became too unbearable. It has also helped me know that going back to school to eventually become a physician assistant is what I need to do for my future. If I hadn’t put my trust in Jesus, I would be quitting dental school and have thousands of dollars in debt for something I wouldn’t be able to do. I am thankful that I know that Jesus loves me and is looking out for my best interests. I know if I follow His teachings and put my trust in him, He will never lead me astray. Life won’t go how I have planned, it will be better than my wildest dreams with the Lord at the helm.

I think it is important for people to be involved with their communities to improve them. Human pride is a real thing. If I am proud of something I’ve done I want to tell people about it and then make sure it’s preserved somehow. Communities are the same way, the more work and involvement put in the more that same treatment continues. I am also a firm believer that what is sown at home is what is put out into the world. If the community one grows up in has programs that help families with basic needs, their children will have a fighting chance to make something of themselves. When I was a sophomore in high school, I was a member of the Kaysville City Youth Court. I, with the help of several other peer judges, was able to create alternative creative sentences for our peers that were arrested for misdemeanors. This prevented them from having to go to juvenile detention hall and have its place on their permanent record. Through this program, several good kids that made dumb decisions got a second chance at their future. When I was a dental hygiene student, my class was able to provide dental hygiene services and education to low socioeconomic families in the community. These events were humbling. I grew up in a family that took me to regular dental cleaning appointments and I know how to brush my teeth correctly. A majority of these families didn’t. Working with this community and providing service hopefully lowered the number of ER visits and missed work time. After I complete my degree and become a physician assistant, I want to continue to work in low socioeconomic communities to provide the care they may need. I am not sure what specialty I will go into but even if I just provide dental cleanings and educations, I will feel accomplished. The area where I live has many refugees and immigrant families that need assistance and I want to help them with their health needs. I am hoping once I am in the physician assistant program I will be able to make connections to people who already do no-profit health events or that my education will give me the tools that I need to create my own.

When I was 18, I made the mistake of going to college with my high school boyfriend. This boyfriend didn’t go to college with me and doing long-distance wasn’t helpful for an already rocky relationship. It wasn’t until I was taking the safe campus course, years after the relationship ended, that I realized I was in an emotionally abusive and manipulative relationship. We started dating when we were 16 and broke up constantly. He controlled who I talked to and to make it so we didn’t fight I followed what he said. This ruined several close relationships that have just barely mended after 7 years. He would threaten to kill himself if I left him. At the time, I thought if he actually killed himself, it would have been my fault that led me to stay. We did break up for what I thought was for good. He came back and I thought I needed to marry him because we had had sex so got back together. This led me to go back to him right before I started freshman year. This relationship ended for good when I got pregnant. I was 18 and going to school in a very religious town where I didn’t even feel comfortable telling my roommates I was pregnant. In fact, I only told the boyfriend. He is the one that told everyone, even my own parents. The ex-boyfriend had checked himself into a psychiatric hospital for his “protection” against his roommate. This led me to handle my parents myself. My parents drove over 2 hours to confront me and gave me the ultimatum of keeping the baby and staying with the boyfriend or cutting ties and giving the baby up for adoption. I saw this as my chance of getting out of this odious relationship and picked adoption. I was terrified my roommates would find out so I pretty much became a shut-in. When I wasn’t fulfilling my 19-credit hour course load I stayed in my room and stopped going to events. I was thankfully pregnant during the spring semester because I could go home for my OB appointments and not miss school. I moved back home after the semester ended and I barely left my house. I was terrified of running into someone and them seeing me unwedded and pregnant. My sisters barely talked to me because they were upset that I was pregnant. I was very lonely and missed out on a lot of fun experiences because of this pregnancy. This experience was an unseen blessing. I was able to get out of a relationship that would have eventually destroyed me and it brought me closer to my Lord and Savior. I was able to place the baby with the most amazing family and we are still really good friends to this day. Aiden, the baby’s name, is going to be 7 in August and couldn’t have a better life. Now that I am older, I look back on this event and see an unimaginable blessing. I have gained a confidence I didn’t have before. I care less about what other people think of me and what they will judge me for and how I treat people. I am doing research so I can eventually help women get out of abusive relationships but most importantly try to give men the help they need so they are not abusive. I never want a woman to be afraid to go outside at risk of ridicule or running into an ex that they are hiding from.

My name is Emily Nicole Johnson. I am a Cancer who likes to crochet, read, yoga, and started knitting. My goal is to one day be able to knit a Weasley sweater, like the ones from Harry Potter. I have always enjoyed working out. When I was young it was jumping on the trampoline and riding bike around the neighborhood. My senior year of high school I took body conditioning both semesters and gained of loved of weightlifting. I loved being strong which led me to continue regular weightlifting, cardio, and yoga practice. I began having pain in my shoulder that progressed to the rest of my joints when I exercised end of 2019. The pain and the closing of gyms due to COVID-19 decreased my physical activity greatly. I went my primary care May 2020 because the pain was so bad and was concerning me. That’s when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It was a relief to know why it hurt to exercise but was frustrating to know I will have RA for the rest of my life. With the help of medications, I have been able to start exercising again. Yoga practice has been my form of exercise for the last 5 months. Being able to exercise again means to me that I am controlling my RA. I do my yoga practice before I go to bed and it helps me sleep better. I find days that I don’t work out my joints are more swollen and hurts more the next day. Exercising benefits me by helping me feel like my RA doesn’t control me and it helps me not feel weak. I also enjoy the accomplished feeling I get after a workout.

I am passionate about STEM because it is such a crucial field for the advancement of humanity. I have been drawn to the medical sciences ever since I was young. In junior high and high school, I enjoyed my science classes; especially when it was chemistry and human biology. At university, I thrived in my chemistry, biology, and mathematics classes. I graduated from a dental hygiene program and became a registered dental hygienist. I loved being a dental hygienist and providing care to my patients. A recent diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis has led me to change careers to become a physician assistant. I want to be a physician assistant because it shouldn’t cause me pain to do it and this way, I can continue to provide care to people and help them on their goal to whole-body health. Taking STEM classes will help me be successful because knowing chemistry and biology is knowing the basis of life and how the world works. The body is composed of atoms that combine to make molecules. The molecules then make cells that amazingly work together to create this magnificent machine that we call the human body. Statistics is another class that can help me in my career. Statistics can help me create and understand results from research completed by myself or others that will affect how I treat a patient. In fact, all of the prerequisites that I need before I apply to physician assistant programs are STEM classes and I couldn’t be more excited for them.

My maternal side of the family severely struggles with mental illness, so much so that it’s called the 'family bug'. This was coined by my great-aunt Joleen. For practically an entire year, Aunt Joleen didn’t leave her bedroom. She occasionally had a “good” day where she could walk to the staircase and then would have to go back to her bedroom. My sister is currently struggling with mental illness in the form of crippling anxiety. Her first semester of college she would call me every day sobbing because of her anxiety. Five years later she sought professional help and is on medication to help with her anxiety. I have a cousin who has suffered from mental illness and a difficult time of it is due to him being gay and unsure how our family would react. His mental health led to him having to take a semester off school because he couldn’t function. Having family suffer due to mental illness has led me to want to be an advocate for mental health. I haven’t yet done anything large-scale but have tried to be there for those in my personal orbit. I specifically want to be more involved with mental health with men. I want to help all people but men specifically because of society's demands on men being a ‘macho’ man. I want to help remove the stigma that men aren’t allowed to have feelings other than anger and rage. Men need emotional support too and it doesn’t make a man less of a man to need therapy and I want to help men understand that.

I am proud of being a woman because there isn’t anything I can’t do or be. My titles and opportunities are endless. I can be a student, mother, aunt, sister, worker, boss, educator, friend, wife, employee, employer, traveler, wanderer. Anything I want to be I can be, and I’ll do it proudly as a woman. IG: nj_emily