I used to babysit this boy whose grandmother had terminal cancer. When she would come visit him, she would bring home baked goods. He was a picky eater and she always knew what he did and didn't like. His parents fought all the time and his older sister was always gone so his grandmother was the only positive influence in his life. Unfortunately, she didn't have the money to pay for cancer treatment, and she ended up dying a few years later. Hearing the cracks in his voice and seeing the tears in his eyes when he spoke about her after she passed was what encouraged me to seek out a career in the medical field. Studies show that over 25% of Americans don't seek out medical care because they simply can't afford it. In addition, 41% of Americans who do seek out care are in significant medical debt. The fact of the matter is, communities with more money have access to better clinics and hospitals compared to lower income areas. My own family didn't have many adequate medical facilities near us. When my siblings and I would get sick, we avoided driving the distance to better hospitals because the medical bills were just too difficult for my parents to pay. We stuck to holistic healing; things like ginger tea, cold compresses, a healthy diet, and exercise. Fortunately, that worked out for us, but that's not the case for most people. The wealth disparity is the reason over 26,000 Americans who don't have access to healthcare die each year. Having this knowledge created a desire in me to find a more affordable way to provide care to those who, otherwise, cannot access it. There's also the issue of racial discrimination in the medical field. I, myself, have experienced it. I encountered nurses and doctors that were hesitant to treat me because they were convinced, for some reason, that I would not be able to afford the bill. They had no record of my income, no record of my insurance, it was complete, unsolicited bias. However, the discrimination goes much deeper than snarky comments and side-eyes. Black women are 2 to 6 times more likely to lose their lives during childbirth than their white counterparts. Asian Americans are more likely to be mistreated by their co-workers and their patients than their white counterparts. The list is too long. That's also what encouraged me to join the medical field. I recognize that having minority representation is crucial for both patients and medical workers. Taking all of this into account, I have decided to earn my Bachelors of Science in Nursing so that I can work in areas that don't have adequate access to medical professionals. I want at least three years of experience working with low income families so that I can take what I learned and apply it when I start working for myself. Once that's complete, my long-term plan is to open up a community-oriented clinic that provides patients with the best care possible while still maintaining accessibility and affordability. If I have my own business, I'll control the prices and I'll get to help families that can't afford to pay traditional medical bills. In addition, I recognize that a lot of people have disabilities and cannot physically travel to receive medical attention. To remedy that, I want to hire practitioners that are willing to travel directly to the patient. That way they have the same amount of access to care that citizens without disabilities have. This is how I plan to aid and give back to minority communities.

I spent my entire childhood convinced I wasn't good enough to attend college. I grew up in white, suburban neighborhoods where people would bang on my door at night and scream racial slurs. Most of my school peers were also white and, as a result, I began believing that my academic struggle was simply due to the fact that I didn't look like them. I figured black students were predisposed to ignorance and bad grades. I had no one there to combat my outrageous beliefs (my mother was hardly home and my successful step dad was also white) so, consequently, I began wishing I was white and trying to wash off my brown skin in hopes that it would make me smarter. I am now eighteen years old, graduated with a 4.5 GPA, and planning to get a medical degree so I can be a positive influence in the lives of other minorities who did not have enough representation growing up. My mother is an African American woman who never dealt with her internalized racism. She was raised by a mother who believed Black and Hispanic people were dirty, uneducated and had no one to blame but themselves for being "unsuccessful". As a result of her toxic upbringing, my mother carried these ideals into her adulthood and incorporated them into her daily life. She never failed to remind my siblings and I that the closer we were to whiteness, the more successful we would become. She sent us to all white schools and, without realizing it, encouraged our blooming self hatred. She did not realize the consequence of her actions and my mediocre grades were not enough for her to question how my mental health was affecting my school performance. My teachers would often pull me out of class because of my alarming, emotional outbursts and I would end up being sent to my school office for the rest of the day. I would cry constantly, rip out my permed hair, and pull all-nighters just to try to catch up with the rest of my classmates. At just 11 years old, I had developed self-destructive habits all because I wasn't raised to love or believe in myself. My family moved to North Carolina in 2013. I ended up going to a more diverse middle school and the sudden change made me realize just how whitewashed I had become. I could not relate to the people at my school and, as a result, I was infantilized. Students pitied me and my obvious disconnect from my cultural identity and it was hard for me to make genuine friends. However, despite my blatant social difficulties, my grades drastically improved. I went from struggling to maintain C's to straight A's in all my classes. The fact that I had little to no white peers to compare myself to, and POC teachers to encourage and motivate me, allowed me to gain confidence in my work and intelligence. I spent little time socializing and more time reading, writing and studying. My desire to succeed no longer came from a place of insecurity but, rather, from a place of eagerness and a newfound love for learning. By the time I was in highschool, I had been placed in all honors and AP courses and my mother, recognizing my ability to thrive in diverse environments, made sure to never transfer me to majority-white schools again. I, slowly but surely, began to unpack and eliminate my internalized racism (which was easier to do at that time because I was surrounded with intelligent people who looked like me) and learn how to make friends. It was then that I realized college was within reach and there was a good chance that I would be able to gen enough scholarships to be able to attend a decent university. My academic experience has shown me that it is crucial for minorities to have some type of reinforcing representation in order to feel comfortable and confident enough to be the best version of themselves. Whether that's seeing a positive portrayal of themselves in the media, having a minority teacher who encourages them, or even having a successful and/loving parent. I did not have any of that growing up and it truly hindered my development so it's a priority of mine to be that source of positive reinforcement for anyone who doesn't have it. That desire is what drove me to choose my medical major. Not only that, I also know that the medical field is one that is littered with bias and discrimination against both POC and LGBTQ+ patients. A study conducted by the National Center for Biomedical Information showed that POC, and LGBTQ+ patients are more likely to receive improper care and treatment than their straight and/or white counterparts. As a member of both communities, I want to be able to educate my coworkers, be a source of safety and comfort for minority patients, and speak out against racial disparities whenever I see them occurring. This is how I plan to give back to my community and honor my professors for encouraging me to succeed.