My passion for dental hygiene started from a personal experience with my sister. She struggled with her self-confidence because of her teeth, and it was hard to watch her feel like she wasn’t beautiful because of it. That made me realize how much a smile can affect the way someone feels about themselves. I knew I wanted to help people feel confident and proud of their smiles. My interest grew even more during my senior year of high school when I did a dental hygiene internship. I worked in a pediatric dental office that also treated adults with autism. This experience showed me how important it is to be patient, kind, and understanding. I learned that dental hygiene is not just about cleaning teeth, but also about helping people feel comfortable and safe. It made me sure that this is the career I want to pursue. In school, I have stayed focused and worked hard to reach my goals. I want to continue learning and improving so I can become a great dental hygienist. In the future, I hope to help people take care of their teeth, teach them about oral health, and work with different types of patients, including children and those with special needs. Financial preparedness is very important for me to reach my goals. Paying for college, supplies, and training can be expensive, and it can be stressful to manage everything. Receiving this scholarship would help take some of that stress away so I can focus more on my education and training. This scholarship would help me continue my journey toward becoming a dental hygienist. It would support me in reaching my goals and allow me to help others feel more confident in their smiles, just like I always wanted to do for my sister.

I changed when I was a sophomore in high school, it was the first real turning point of my life. A simple rumor among my friends took them all away. These were people that I had opened up to, grew up with, and they let me down. Suddenly, I went from feeling in a community to feeling all alone. The people whom I had counted on, ran off before I could lean on them anymore. Their lies weighed on my chest. What was even worse was that I had never been able to take it head-on; these rumors were spreading quietly behind my back. I was alone, in a prison of my own fears and internalized hatred. In my isolation, I turned to my faith. I grew up Catholic, but it was during this time that all of those things I had ever learned about forgiveness and resilience and the idea God sees me as worthy stored fresh in my mind. My faith was the rock that just made it so I could not fully give myself to the darkness. The only thing that loosely resembled a glimmer of peace came in the brief seconds when I would offer up little prayers, because saying them reminded me at least there was something out there with me. I came to experience God as a consistent presence, someone who would hear me out in my sorrow where I could not share fully with any other soul. Then, ever so slowly I started to think maybe God's love was larger than my loneliness. The more I leaned into my faith, the more I felt called to forgive those who had wronged me, just as my faith taught. This wasn’t easy, but it helped me heal, piece by piece, by letting go of some of the anger I held inside. I also began to find strength in the stories of resilience that I had learned from the lives of the saints and other figures in the Church. Their struggles taught me that suffering could be a path to greater compassion and understanding. Through therapy and faith I began to rebuild from the place where my spirit fractured repeating — that I was created in God's image, worthy of love. By practicing prayer, mindfulness and writing out how I am feeling daily in my journal has helped me control the emotional roller coaster creating space to connect with other people. The teachings I learned from the Catholic church is that every life matters — including my own. I also made sure I had a support system in the form of my immediate family and friends around me 24/7. Over time, this experience reshaped not only my outlook on mental health but also deepened my compassion for others who may feel isolated. My Catholic faith instilled in me a calling to serve—to help others find the hope I rediscovered. I am now committed to advocacy and mentorship, helping others who struggle to feel seen and supported.