I love superfoods because they give me the strength to do what I love: saving lives through medicine. I’m the oldest child of an immigrant parent and a premedical Master’s student that is 20 years old. As someone who is very young, with a plethora of responsibilities, it’s imperative that I am always able to perform at peak performance while having the energy to rise up to the demands of life. Some of the ways that I incorporate superfoods into my diet are through staples like salmon, leafy greens such as broccolini or kale, and fruits like acai or blueberries. These are my favorite superfoods because they keep me energized for the day and have many health benefits! The superfood salmon has omega-3, which helps keep me focused when I am studying for the medical school entrance exam. Leafy greens promote heart health and prevent cancer, which protects me from the risk of cancer that runs in my family. Acai and blueberries have the anti-oxidants I need to protect my body from the free radicals I get when stressed. All these superfoods play an integral part in keeping my body fit for work and school, which is why my diet is mostly made of superfoods. At first glance, this may seem super difficult to incorporate a lot of superfoods into one’s diet. However, considering the importance of health, having healthy consistent habits like this is what makes superfoods so worth it to me. Over time, I’ve come to love acai and blueberry smoothies, or a delicious plate of poached salmon and spinach! This healthy diet over time is one of the best ways to preserve holistic health. Superfoods are a literal lifesaver for my family and me, as we are more prone to cancer and therefore must use preventative health measures more than treatments after the fact. Preventative health is one of the most overlooked aspects of health, but I strongly believe it is the most important, and superfoods are a massive part of preventative health. An overwhelming majority of the health issues that take lives across the nation are preventable illnesses through diet and a balanced lifestyle. Superfoods are truly superfoods that help keep not only myself healthy, but those I love around me. Thus, I try to incorporate superfoods in the meals I make for my family, and always tell my patients to make sure they are taking care of themselves by eating well. I love superfoods because they are another way that I replenish and take care of myself, help me overcome the daily challenges of medical school, and let me take care of others. Superfoods protect my family from a heightened risk of cancer and allow me to enjoy this life with them for as long as possible. Ultimately, superfoods are my favorite because they let me become the best doctor I can be while keeping my family safe.

As the daughter of an immigrant, and as a female who aspires to become a doctor, there were many times in my educational and career path where I've faced trials that I would not have faced if I came from a more privileged background. Both sides of my family grew up quite poor, with my mother’s side especially poor after losing the breadwinner of their family to cancer. I grew up losing many sick family members because of language barriers in the healthcare system, and lack of money as an immigrant family. Rather than thinking about which barbie doll I wanted as a little child, I often had to worry about how fast I could make money doing bake sales or making lemonade. Growing up, there were often when my family and I had to fight tooth and nail for jobs or other opportunities despite our strong work ethic and seniority. This unfortunately was the same case for me in classes during my undergraduate career. As a BIPOC and woman, there were a lot of times in classroom settings when I was looked down upon by males in the medical field. Many times I was told that I couldn’t make it to medical school and was told to “just stick to being a nurse” because I was a woman. Although there were seasons of doubt from the negative criticism I had received due to my background, I always thought back to my poor roots and continued to press on. Especially coming from a family that has very limited monetary resources, being the first in the family to attend graduate school and medical school has been a very financially challenging journey. Oftentimes when others struggle with whether or not they have enough time to study the epidemiology material for the next test, I have to wonder if I’ll have enough energy to get out of bed after working full time in addition to the same workload my peers have. If awarded this scholarship, I will put it towards tuition and have more time to focus on learning new skills for the sake of my community. Scholarship funds will allow me to work fewer hours so that I can focus more on my craft as a future doctor and current Master in Public Health student. I want to make a positive difference by eventually becoming a doctor that serves underprivileged patients in my community. Remembering the healthcare struggles that my mom and grandma had to overcome as immigrants have truly opened my heart to those who are less fortunate and to those who have language barriers. I am confident that I have what it takes to become a doctor who not only works hard but also has the heart to love others. On a smaller scale, one particular way that I am making a difference now is that I am learning communication skills to bridge the gap between accessible healthcare resources and non-English speaking patients. In addition to my pursuit of becoming a doctor, I am currently learning three languages so that I can treat as many non-English speaking patients as possible. I believe that my eagerness to cater to the underprivileged is shown in my studying of various languages, and my decision to get a Master’s in Public Health. To recap, despite the various challenges that I have had to overcome, rather than seeing them as detriments that my peers are lucky to not have to face, I have channeled them into motivation to make a more positive impact in the world as a future doctor.

My favorite scientific discovery is the cancer treatment of chemotherapy because to me it is a symbol of hope. Over the past several years, I’ve lost my two biggest role models, my aunt, and grandma to cancer. Both losses were devastating, and knowing that I wouldn’t be able to see them made every major milestone or accomplishment in my life bittersweet. This feeling of loss is something that I never wish upon anyone and is the reason why chemotherapy is my favorite discovery. Although no treatment could have saved my family members and role models at the time, chemotherapy has saved thousands of lives of those in positions similar to my aunt and grandma. The discovery of chemotherapy and the positive impact that it has had on many lives also inspires me to endeavor in discovering new ways to heal those in need as well! As a premedical student and Master’s in Public Health student, I am often encouraged by the advancements made in the medical field from chemotherapy and am reminded to explore more possible treatments for cancer. My personal loss of family members and the inspiration I gain from chemotherapy’s results is what make it my favorite scientific discovery.

As the first generation in my immediate family to attend graduate school, and as the daughter of a South Korean immigrant, I have faced various trials and had to sacrifice much more than other 20-year-olds. When applying to colleges, even though I got accepted into several high-ranking UCs, my family at the time did not have the resources to send both my brother and me to the schools we wanted. As the older sibling, I decided to give up my dreams of going to UC and chose a school that gave me the most scholarships. However, despite giving up the opportunity to go to the school I wanted, I soon found that this school had many financial issues and rescinded my merit-based scholarships. I have suddenly left to foot the bill of a private institution. Additionally, at that time my father was at risk of losing his job as the company he had worked for was next to be laid off. I knew I had to provide for my family, so I worked hard to graduate 3 years earlier than my peers to save money while freelancing work full time to support my family. Despite my extremely expedited collegiate journey, I have had many small successes in my pursuit of becoming a doctor as a premedical student. As a future lawyer and doctor, I am very passionate about policy, social work, medicine, and public health. I’ve been fortunate enough to lead a research team on drug-resistant malaria at the age of 18. I’ve also worked as a nationally licensed medical assistant at my university’s student health center, hosted blood drives with the Red Cross, and saved lives with the healthcare social work I’ve done while collaborating with my university’s administrative board. I hope to continue to pursue excellence in all that I do, especially in my next immediate step as a Master’s student in Public Health at the University of Southern California. One of the biggest motivators in my MD/JD/MPH educational journey is my family. Family is one of the most important things in life to me, and my testimony of how poverty has morphed my family's experiences in healthcare has been a powerful motivator for me to pursue public health. In communal health, familial units, socioeconomic factors, and culture all intermingle with one another to affect the health of many. As someone who has experienced many of the detriments of those factors, I want to help those who are struggling with the same things my family did. My mother lost her dad at the young age of eight in the underdeveloped countryside of Korea. After her father suddenly fell ill and passed away, her newly widowed mother and younger sister fell into poverty and plummeted in social standing. In Korea widows and orphans are often looked down upon, and growing up, my mother would often tell me isolating stories of how she starved and relied only on rice gruel to stave off her hunger. As a widowed woman, my grandmother struggled to find work and eventually she and my mother moved to America for a better life. Curious as to how her father had passed I asked my mother; she replied that she didn’t know as there were no healthcare resources around her to get treatment for her father or to even find out what had occurred. The sheer lack of health education and resources left me dumbfounded, but what is worse is that my mother’s lack of access is a perpetual cycle that I still witness today. Her struggle in poverty still affects our lives and the way that my mother’s side of the family handles health issues is greatly attributed to their poor roots. Chronic pain is always dismissed as “just getting older” and when my grandmother needed medical attention, her first concern was the cost of the bill rather than her own life. As someone who has lost two very close family members to cancer, this lack of resources that my family faced greatly concerned me. Growing up as an Asian American with an immigrant parent from South Korea, I’ve always been taught to regard the family as one of the most important things in life. These cultural values have stuck with me, and when my grandma passed from cancer when I was eleven, I felt a strong urge to do something. For the longest time, it had been about being a doctor, and when my grandma passed the desire to be a doctor and help others made me want it all the more. But by the time my aunt suddenly passed away from cancer I discovered that as much as physicians play an integral part in a patient’s treatment, so did their environment, social surroundings, and education. This is why I am currently a Master’s student in Public Health, and will pursue my medical and judicial doctorate degrees later on. As a future doctor, lawyer, and healthcare administrator, my goal after I graduate is to become the best physician or medical law professional I can become. I hope to someday become the medical director of Los Angeles County, and serve my community on a macro level. For the sake of my family, and the community around me that has become like family to me, I am willing to do anything that I need to do with integrity to reach my goals. I am also looking to specifically change the lack of health education in rural areas of America, as well as provide healthcare for non-English speakers. I am currently learning three different languages to properly bridge the language gap between my future patients and I, and hope to set up state-wide health events or create my own clinic someday. Rather than my work ethic or doubt in my abilities, one of the biggest limiters in my educational journey has been funding. The current job recession and my little brother soon heading off to college have left me with little to no resources to fund my Master’s program. I am working very hard to make ends meet, but in between supporting my family, studying for the medical school entrance exam, and other obligations I have had limited resources to work towards my funding. I would be greatly honored to win this scholarship and would use the funds for my tuition. I promise to continue to work hard to support my family and stay altruistic during my journey in saving lives in honor of Grandmaster Nam K Hyong. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

An intelligent, fearless woman, who made history as the first woman to win the Nobel prize and died in the scientific research she loved, Marie Curie is my all-time favorite scientist. The horrid news of Covid-19 claiming thousands of lives grabbed me by the heartstrings to help in any way possible, and as a premedical student I decided that I would do whatever I could to get involved. Inspired by Curie’s bold pursuit of knowledge, I intensively studied for months and earned my Covid-19 contact tracker license, infectious diseases certificate, and my national certification as a medical assistant. I had the privilege of working at a local clinic during the pandemic where I aided several doctors in their specialty and created my own mark of significance thanks to Curie’s inspirational life testimony.

If I could travel for athletics I would go to Japan, the holy mecca of Karate! Karate has made me a better person, and Japan would inspire me to continue to grow. As a 5th generation Japanese American, I grew up with little Japanese culture. I felt like I was missing a part of my identity and never knew how to connect to that culture. The Japanese American community is really small, so when I finally connected with them through karate, I was warmly welcomed. But as I continued to train, there was much more to Karate than just a welcoming community. I gained mental and physical discipline. Having perfectionist tendencies, at first, my mindset was quite stagnant. In karate, I grew frustrated often and felt immense disappointment when my body physically would not do what I mentally envisioned. My disconnect in my physiological awareness frustrated me. Had this continued, this flaw in my character would not only hinder my growth in karate but my growth in my future mindset. Once I got to an intermediate level, I discovered that a huge part of Karate was mindset and that the cultural aspect of Karate that I longed for was an integral piece to my improvement. Every dojo has a mission statement, and my dojo’s statement not only helped me cope with my perfectionism but also made me a better athlete. My dojo’s core beliefs were the key to a successful mindset, and I realized that in order to succeed in both karate and life in general, I would need to physically train while training my mindset. Trying to “seek perfection” in a continuous process of refinement without actual expectation for perfection has relieved me of excess stress. “Being faithful” in my consistency to the process has given me a greater bandwidth of endurance. By learning to “Endeavor” and trying new combos let me experience newfound confidence in my abilities. By learning to “respect others” time-wise by putting my all in training pushed my physical limits and ultimately allowed me to advance in my technique much faster than my peers. Lastly, “refraining from violent behavior” has solidified an ethical code of tranquility and sound morals that has made me more willing to be bold in helping and defending others. Luckily, my dojo has given me quite the experience as a rookie karate athlete, as my sensei is the highest ranking in the United States for SKIF Shotokan Karate. When I passed my green belt test, my sensei ordered a karate uniform custom-made in Japan and told me he had great hopes for me. There is always room to grow, and my sensei often mentions that the dojos in Japan have top-notch holistic training. This greatly piqued my interest in a traditional Japanese dojo, and I began to wish for a chance to train in Japan. This year, my sensei turned 80 and had a devastating hip surgery that has made him much less mobile. My sensei and I have a grandpa-granddaughter-like relationship and I really want to make him proud by becoming an excellent black belt as soon as possible. This scholarship will pay for my roundtrip flight to Japan so that I can train in a traditional program next summer. This will not only be a practical investment towards the financial means of transporting me to Japan but will also encourage me to train even more. Winning this scholarship would be an amazing privilege that I would not take lightly, and I can assure you that every single moment I am in Japan will be one of self-reflection and growth.

When I tell people that webtoons are why I won a state level beauty pageant, they just can’t believe it. Yep, without webtoons I would not have been able to win my first beauty pageant title as Teen California. Growing up Asian American was tough. Women are painted as meek, shy, and cutesy. As an extremely extroverted, booming voiced, A-type girl, I always felt like I wasn’t feminine enough. I secretly felt as though there was something wrong with me because I didn’t fit the Asian mold of femininity. But reading webtoons like “Boyfriend of the Dead”, gave me the confidence to embrace my personality and accept my own femininity. The fl, Alex, was a character I admired because of how badass and feminine she was at the same time! Thanks to webtoons, I am now a state pageant titleholder who feels confident just the way I am.

When people found out that I spent three thousand dollars on a whim clearing out the inventory of a closing jewelry store at fifteen, they went livid! “You spent HOW MUCH MONEY?!”, my mom explained after I calmly brought in the eleventh tub of jewelry. Yep, I spent my life savings on what may look like a shopaholic spree. But to me, the thousands of pieces of jewelry were a massive investment! I bought each piece for only $0.10 or under, with the original prices being $10-45. But even though I bought the merchandise for a stellar deal, in the first six months of my impromptu boutique I was pressed to find buyers. The inventory took up a full room in my already cramped house; my only buyers were the occasional pity purchases from friends. To use the word “worried” to describe my thoughts about my burdensome shop was an understatement. But I had invested too much time, energy, and for a fifteen-year-old, money to quit so I decided to switch gears. I started an Instagram page where I posted new products daily with interactive captions, fun emojis, and holiday sales. I opened a page on Poshmark and curated my online boutique. Investing in quality bubble wrap, free gifts, and cute handwritten cards for each order, I cultivated a brand. Rather than just selling off accessories, I turned my failure of a business embarkment into a chic brand that offered a high-quality product and experience. By the end of the first year, I broke even, and today I have made over double my one-time investment. Even though I had many doubts regarding whether or not I should have spent so much money and time, I’m really glad that I went through the whole journey because I earned a lot of life experience along with the monetary gains. I think one of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned as an aspiring entrepreneur is that grit, determination, and creativity can get you far. Currently, what motivates me is my little brother. As an older sister, I feel an immense obligation to provide for my brother, and as he starts his junior year in high school, the discussions regarding where he should attend college are becoming more frequent. My brother has his sights set on several UCs and private schools, which I highly encourage him to shoot for. But secretly, I’m scared. At the same time, my brother will apply for college, I will also apply for medical school (which will cost $500,000 for tuition alone). This pandemic has hit my father’s line of work and his department has recently downsized multiple times. The uncertainty of whether my family’s breadwinner will be laid off has robbed my family of peace. Thus, utilizing the skills and mindset I’ve gained from my entrepreneurship, I have decided to invest in an academy that will not only provide for my family financially but will also give me something to put on my application for medical school. I plan on creating a hybrid college-level anatomy academy for students to study anatomy via in-person classes and YouTube videos! With this scholarship, I’ll be able to invest in a quality video camera for the educational YouTube channel that I wish to start, or towards marketing for in-person lessons via social media and other traditional methods. As a premedical/Allied Health student and former anatomy tutor for Los Angeles Pierce College, I have both the textbook knowledge and experience to successfully teach and retain students for this business proposal.

My art saves lives. That’s a bold claim that I just stated, but in the context of medicine anything goes, and when it comes to understanding the complexity of human anatomy, sometimes the most unexpected is the most crucial. The biggest influencer in my life was my aunt. When I was eleven, my grandma (her mom) passed away in front of me during hospice care. Right before she passed away, I would always watch my aunt care for my grandma by painstakingly fulfilling nursing duties. Raised with strong familial responsibility and a desire to help, I asked if there was anything that I could do. I wasn’t allowed to help with the direct patient care for my grandma, but I still longed to do something for her, and would sketch doodles of her favorite things, sing her favorite songs, and knit her caps and scarves. The human body itself is a work of art. With millions of chemical exchanges harmonizing together to create a symphony of homeostatic processes, human anatomy is beautifully complex in a way that almost requires a sense of artistic ability to fully grasp. In my first year of college, I became an assistant anatomy professor/tutor for my university. While teaching students, I told stories that incorporated anatomical locations and terms, and drew large diagrams of certain topics like the brain. At the end of the school year, my professor rewarded me with a gift for having one of the highest ratings that was anonymously given by students! When I first transferred to my university, I conducted my first official medical research under one of the neurology and physiology professors. Utilizing my skill set of drawing anatomical features, I wrote a research article on light refraction in optics, and drew my own diagrams of the eye! A lot of times in research, it can be hard to convey information to the general public, but I found that by drawing out hand-tailored diagrams it’s much easier to explain to others the science behind anatomy. From drawing doodles for my grandma to presenting hand-drawn diagrams for my scientific research, I have and will continue to utilize my artistic abilities for the sake of educating and healing others. Medicine is an ever-changing and quickly evolving field, and I intend to innovatively continue my pursuit in the arts via multimedia drawing in the context of medical research. Since my school is a private liberal arts university, tuition is much more expensive than it would have been if I had chosen to go to one of the UCs I was accepted into. I believe that this scholarship will be an investment towards the lives of not just my own, but of many others. I want to use this scholarship towards completing my undergraduate degree, so that I can continue onto medical school and become the first medical doctor in my family. As an Allied Health (pre-medical) major, I promise to work hard in the memory of Christian Myles and incorporate my artistic skills in medicine so that I can help save as many lives as possible. This scholarship would provide direct relief from my strenuous situation and would bring me closer to my dream of caring for people with medical expertise.