Gabrielle Williams DEBRA S. JACKSON NEW HORIZONS SCHOLARSHIP As a young child, I was very shy. In retrospect, a lot of my shyness was due to my speech impediment. I had difficulties pronouncing words that started with the letter “s”. For instance, I would pronounce the word “spaghetti” as “paghetti”. I remember I used to be teased a lot by others because of my speech problem. The teasing not only came from other children but also from family members. The constant teasing left me feeling frustrated, isolated, and sad because I could not clearly verbally express myself to others. Fortunately for me, while in elementary school I was able to take speech therapy which helped to remediate the problem. Currently I work as an office manager and medical assistant in a pediatric office. In the office I sometimes see a familiar look of frustration on the patients’ faces. For example, there was a patient that came into the office multiple times screaming. His mother always had a challenging time soothing him. The patient only verbally expressed himself through grunts and sounds. He did not use words. It turned out the patient had a hearing deficit. Fast forward to some years later, the patient received treatment for his hearing disorder. The child’s behavior changed a hundred percent. His demeanor became calm, and he was able to verbally express himself. It is because of examples such as the ones above, that I am returning to school for my doctorate degree in audiology. The reason I want to be an audiologist is rooted from my own personal experience and the patients that I see at work experiencing communication problems. I understand from a patient’s point of view how frustrating it can be when you are not able to communicate clearly with others. For me, communication is more than just being able to speak for oneself. It is also entwined with being able to receive and hear what others are saying to you. The inability to not be able to communicate and express oneself to others can be depressing, confusing, and scary especially for a child. This is why I want to be a pediatric audiologist. Treating hearing disorders as well as providing early hearing intervention testing on infants and children are essential to their developmental, social, and communication skills. A hearing problem or disorder does not have to negatively impact an individual’s life. For me there is nothing more satisfying than being able to know that you helped improve a person’s quality of life. I am a great candidate for this scholarship because I am a single woman over the age of forty returning to school as a full-time graduate student while working. This scholarship will help ease some of my financial costs. It will help me to be able to direct more of my time on studying, volunteering, and enhancing the skills needed to become an excellent audiologist rather than worrying how I am going to afford my education.