I practice servant leadership in my daily interactions by working to be a positive influence, helping others whenever it is needed, and always encouraging the people around me to do the right thing. A great example of my servant leadership is from a time when I stepped up at work to help others. I work as a phlebotomist so I deal with many people each day and I have learned that each person needs to be cared for a little differently. One day we had a patient come into work that was on the autism spectrum and was having a difficult time understanding why he need the lab work and what we were about to do to him. A newer employee was treating the patient but was not getting very far, they were both becoming agitated at the situation. This is when I decided it was the right time to step in and offer my assistance. I started by speaking directly to the patient and asking them what I could do to make them feel more comfortable. I also used this as a teaching moment for the trainee to learn my approach so that he could be prepared for the next time this happened. I spoke to the patient using terms they would understand as opposed to the medical terminology that we are used to using and this allowed the patient to understand the process of what was going to happen. I also walked them through each step as I was completing it so that there were no surprises for them along the way. The patient was so relieved once I was done and thankful that I took the time to be calm and explain everything to them. I think my actions from that day and ones similar to it positively impact the people around me because not everyone is going to know exactly how to handle certain situations, especially if those situations are ones that they have never experienced before. I also hope that my kindness and leadership skills will rub off on them so if they ever come across a situation as I did, they will choose to step up and help others. I also like to think that my leadership skills will be an inspiration to the kids that I am around so that they can grow up learning to be strong, independent, and a leader themselves.

I am inspired to become involved in my community because I will be living in it for many more years and I want it to be the best it can be for everyone now and all of the people in the future. If we allow our communities to fall apart now, it will only continue to get worse as time goes on until someone decides to step up and create a change. I am determined to be one of those people that inspire change for the good of the community. I have worked to influence change in my community by working for local food drives, planting trees, picking up trash, and hosting volleyball clinics for students. I have worked for 3 separate food drives in the past 2 years serving food to my community. Each drive lasted for 3 hours and we served over 200 people food to help them make it through the upcoming weeks while feeding themselves and their families. In addition to the food drives, while I was in high school I was a part of our interact team and our whole goal was to try and make our community a better place. We dedicated a whole day to cleaning up fallen branches after a wind storm while also planting new tree saplings in the clearings that we made. The following day was dedicated to cleaning up trash in a 1-mile radius of the high school. We were split up into groups of 5, given a designated zone and went to work cleaning up trash for 6 hours. At the end of the day, we had over 25 bags of garbage collected. I have also co-hosted 3 summer volleyball clinics for school girls ranging from 8-14 years of age. The clinics were 2 hours per day for two weeks and we worked to teach the girls the fundamentals of volleyball. Our focus was to build up their confidence in the sport while showing them teamwork, skill-building, and leadership. The first week of the clinic consisted of the basic skills required for the sport. We worked on passing, hitting, serving, and live play. Most of our activities were partner based and towards the end of the day we came together as a group to practice the skills they learned. The second week of the clinic was live-play in game-like situations. This is when the girls would scrimmage against each other and practice the teamwork of the sport.

I want to become a medical doctor to be able to help those that are unable to help themselves. I have watched two different family members battle cancer. My grandma just passed from Stage 4 lung cancer a few months ago and my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 32, thankfully she is two years in remission. I want to do everything I can to prevent others from feeling the pain and grief that I have felt. I know that death is inevitable for all of us, but if I am able to help people with their health and prevent death for as long as possible then I can say I have lived a good life.

I am a child of a single mother and although I had an amazing childhood and loving family, there were still many hardships that we had to overcome. The biggest struggle I've faced personally and continue to work through every day is the abandonment of my father. There are days that I breakdown from the thought that I wasn't good enough for him to stick around and want to be a part of my life. He has a new family now and raises his other kids without ever reaching out to me. What inspires me the most about me mom is how she never gives up even when life tries to push her down. In addition to raising me on my own, she also did it at the age of 15. She made many sacrifices in her life to ensure that I had everything I needed and got everything that I deserved. Her dream was to pursue a career in healthcare, but she gave that up so she could raise me and be a present parent in my life since she was the only one I had. I have always had an interest in healthcare and learning that my mom gave up her dream for me pushes me towards that line of work even more. I want to become a doctor and be able to prove to her that all of the sacrifices she made for me were worth it.

I am currently attending Muskegon Community College as part of the early college program which allows me to earn my associate degree for free while I am in high school. I am choosing a career in healthcare because I want to be able to help those that are unable to help themselves. I have also had two immediate family members battle cancer, one sadly losing the battle, and the other has thankfully been in remission for two years. I want to do my part to help others from feeling the loss and pain that I have by working to keep them and their loved ones healthy.

This scholarship will benefit my future by helping to lift the financial burden that comes with pursuing higher-level degrees. I plan on pursuing a career as a cardiologist which requires me to go to medical school, so if I can work to alleviate some of those costs in my early years of additional education it will be beneficial to me in the long run.