I believe that helping each other and giving back to the community is very important. A major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. The camp had anywhere between 8-15 horses, rabbits, ferrets, cows, goats, and more. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that get along better with me than others. One of the children in the class is non-verbal autistic, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. I love helping at the humane society because it is such a rewarding experience when a dog gains your trust after a bad past. Along with me helping at the humane society, I am volunteering at a local veterinarian clinic. I believe that volunteering has made me a better person. I have volunteered and helped others throughout my life which has taught me so many different life experiences. Volunteering has changed my mindset in various ways. Volunteering at camp has changed my mindset about how impactful animals have on a person's mental health. It was so interesting for me to watch how deeply people between ages 6-17 can care so deeply about an animal they will only meet once or twice a week. It is just inspiring how caring these people were and how they would visit the animals during their free activity hours. Teaching special needs taught me how truly gifted special needs children are. Helping with them has made me want to include them in my everyday life. I even talked to my coach about including special needs children on the track team. Now we have a special needs child on our high school track team. Working with the animals at the veterinarian clinic and the animal shelter has taught me to always be nice to others regardless of their past. Some of the "aggressive" dogs just need some love. Overall, I love giving back to the community because the community has done so much for me. When I was younger, my family received support from Toys-for-Tots and we had an EBT card. I believe it is my responsibility to give back to the community that has helped my family in their hardships. I truly believe that giving back to the community that has helped you will cause more people to help each other.

A major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp I would help take care of the animals. The camp had anywhere between 8-15 horses, rabbits, ferrets, cows, goats, and more. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that get along better with me than others. One of the children in the class is a non-verbal autistic, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. I love helping at the humane society because it is such a rewarding experience when a dog gains your trust after a bad past. Having a Scholarship is truly such an honor for me, and it is vital for my education. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. I used to live in Maryland where my family's house first got destroyed in a hurricane. Then after the new house was built, around 10 years later we lost it due to foreclosure. We moved to North Carolina to help with our finical situation. However, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. So having a Scholarship would help my family not have to struggle as much financially since we are already struggling financially. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling very badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. Sadly, when we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me. However, due to my financial situation, I am unable to fulfill my dream of becoming a veterinarian without scholarships. It would be an honor for me to be the veterinarian that gives hope to other owners of pets regardless of what kind of pet they have.

Having a Scholarship is truly such an honor for me, and it is vital for my education. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. I used to live in Maryland where my family's house first got destroyed in a hurricane. Then after the new house was built, around 10 years later we lost it due to foreclosure. We moved to North Carolina to help with our finical situation. However, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. So having a Scholarship would help my family not have to struggle as much financially since we are already struggling financially. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling very badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. Sadly, when we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me. However, due to my financial situation, I am unable to fulfill my dream of becoming a veterinarian without scholarships. It would be an honor for me to be the veterinarian that gives hope to other owners of pets regardless of what kind of pet they have.

There was never a time in my life when I did not love animals. Unfortunately, my brother was allergic to animals, so I never had a family pet until recently. However, when I was around 5 years old, my uncle rescued a retired racehorse, after school I would attempt to take care of the horse, such as trying to feed him and brush him. Sometimes I would be lucky enough to ride the horse. However, the racehorse was incredibly old and died before I turned 8 years old. Later, between 6th and 8th grade I volunteered at a local camp in their nature area. In their nature area they had various kinds of animals, and each year there were different animals. One year, there were fifteen horses, one baby cow, one donkey, a miniature pig, two ferrets, a bearded dragon, 5 baby goats, 5 rabbits and by the end of summer we had baby rabbits. There were a ton of animals, so I was helping with several types of animals all summer long. Sadly, after the 8th-grade year, I moved to North Carolina and was unable to volunteer anymore. Thankfully, I am now helping a family that has multiple animals. The family has two farms with two horses, three ponies, a dog, and six cats. During Covid-19 my family decided to adopt a dog from a local rescue. Undenounced to us when we adopted him, but he was heartworm positive. This means we were at the veterinarian's office often trying to find the best way possible to not only allow him to have a healthy but happy life. After discussing with the veterinarian and talking with each other, we decided to take part in the treatment for heartworms. Having to deal with my dog's anxiety and heartworms has strengthened my desire to become a veterinarian. I want to become a veterinarian to help take care of people’s pets and give them hope even when their pets are in critical condition. It is hard to explain how I felt when the first veterinarian we met told us that their only plan to “treat” heartworms was to euthanize our dog. However, the second veterinarian we visited explained that there are other options than euthanizing our dog. I want to be that second veterinarian, the veterinarian that gives hope to owners that their pet is going to be okay. I understand there will be unsolvable issues, however, I want to try my best to help the animals live their happiest and best life.

My future career is to become a veterinarian. I have always been around animals my whole life. My uncle owned a retired racehorse when I was around the age of five. When I entered middle school I started volunteering at a local camp that would assit in the nature area that we had several different kinds of animals. However when we moved states I was unable to continue volunteering at the camp. Thankfully I was able to volunteer at the humane society. Also once I turned 18 I started interning with a local veterinarian clinic, which I am still currently interning with. My family decided to adopt a dog from a local rescue. He was at multiple different foster homes due to his anxiety no one wanted to help him overcome the anxiety. Luckily for him, we adopted him, and we worked together to overcome his anxiety. We talked to the Veterinarian about his anxiety, and she prescribed him to have three anxiety pills each day. His previous foster families did not consider him to have bad anxiety, especially with his past owner. According to the rescue, he was kept in a crate all day and was unable to leave the crate except for when he went out to the bathroom before and after his 8-10hour shift. Meaning, he had a lot of traumas, especially when being left alone even for five minutes. Now, when someone leaves, he does not freak out and does not try to run out the door to follow us. Sadly, when we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me. Overall I think if it was not for the bad experience at the first veterinarian clinic I do not think I would of decided to become a veterinarian. However I am glad we had that bad experience and found a better experience at a different clinic. The second clinic allowed me to have role models for what kind of veterinarian I wanted to become.

I believe my biggest achievement to this date is graduating with two associate degrees from my local community college. In high school, I was lucky to be selected to enroll in an early college high school that selected low-income, minority, and first-generation students. In my freshman year of high school, I was able to enroll in college classes. I learned so many life lessons from taking college classes. I learned how to positively motivate myself. However, the main thing I learned is that college is not as unreachable as I previously thought. Before attending this school I believed that college was only for the wealthy and the extremely smart. Since my family is low-income, it seemed like an unreachable dream. I truly believed that I would not go to college because it would be such a finical burden. According to most of my middle school teachers, I was not smart enough for AP or honors classes. However the school showed me that it is possible for me to attend college, and succeed! My first college class was Spanish, and in that class, I learned a valuable lesson. I learned that it's okay to struggle in a class. I also learned that it is okay to fail. That class was the first time I experienced academic failure. However, this did not stop me from continuing to take college classes. In the next semester, I took two college classes and received an A and a B in those classes. After that, I set my sights on graduating with an associate's degree. Throughout the next 3 years, I took between 3-5 classes a semester to work on graduating with an associate's degree. Thankfully by my senior year, I was able to graduate with both an associate of arts and an associate of science. My original goal was to graduate with one associate however I decided to change my major along the way. In my junior year, I enrolled in a Veterinarian Assistant class provided at the community college. This class helped make me decide that I want to become a veterinarian. When I was younger I was always around animals volunteering and helping my family and friends around the farms. However, I never thought of becoming a veterinarian because like before I thought that college was an unimaginable dream. When my family decided to adopt a one-year-old dog, it sealed the deal for me. After rescuing him for three months he tested positive for heartworms. The first veterinarian we went to told us that the best solution for us is to euthanize our new dog. However we did not like that response so we went to another veterinarian clinic for a second opinion, this veterinarian clinic had a treatment plan that allowed us to keep our new dog. After having this experience I decided that I wanted to work in the veterinary medicine field. With my change in career path, I needed to graduate with more science-related classes. With that being said, I started focusing on what classes I needed to achieve the associate of science degree. I worked extremely hard the last year and a half and even enrolled in summer classes to help achieve this goal of receiving my. associates of science degree. Thankfully by the spring of my senior year, I was able to graduate with my associate of science. However, I never gave up on the hope of getting my associate of arts. When I was scheduling my classes, I made sure I would still be able to graduate with my associate of arts. I was grateful to graduate with both my Associate of Arts and Associate of Science. Overall graduating with an associate's degree thought me so many important things about myself. I learned that sometimes you have to do things even if no one else believes in you. I learned to never give up even when going through struggles. I also learned that it is okay to fail as long as you continue because nothing is ever going to be perfect, but you just have to get up and continue going.

I have suffered from a speech impediment, ADHD, and dyslexia my whole life. In elementary school, I would visit the speech therapist every week to help work on my speech impeachment. As I have gotten older, I have gotten better with my speaking skills. I still have a hard time pronouncing certain words and letters. In my foreign language class, I struggled deeply with having to roll the letter "R". However having dyslexia and a speech impediment has made it extremely hard to read and study for classes. I am constantly rereading pages because I catch myself not understanding the words on the page. This has caused me to struggle a lot in school because I am unable to keep up with my classmates. However, I have learned how to overcome this issue. When doing hands-on tasks I can focus and understand better than learning from a book or in class. Knowing this has allowed me to try and learn as much information using hands-on learning rather than reading. With hands-on learning, I am also able to focus more because in a classroom my ADHD is constantly having me think of topics unrelated. With my education struggles I truly believed that college was not a possibility for me. My family is low income and I would be a first generation college student. With my family not having the money for me to go to college and my struggles in school I almost gave up on the hope of going to college. However I was lucky enough to be selected to a early college high school for low income and minorities. The school allowed me to enroll in college classes at a minimum expense to my family. I have always loved animals so I decided to enroll in their Veterinary Assistant class. Along with that, I decided to intern with a local veterinarian clinic. After that class and my current internship I decided I want to become a veterinarian. A huge motivator for my journey to get my veterinarian degree is my rescue dog. My family rescued a one year old dog from a local rescue group around three years ago. Unknowingly he was suffering with heartworms. After three months of having him, he tested positive for heartworms. The forst veterinarian clinic suggested that we euthanize our new dog because according to them it was the best thing to do. However our family was unsatisfied with that answer. We decided to go to another veterinarian clinic, and they offered us a different treatment plan to help kill the heartworms. After our meeting with the second veterinarian I decided that I wanted to peruse a carrer in veterinary medicine. I wanted to be the second veterinarian, the one that gives hope to other people, and tries their best to save as many animals as possible.

I have been a student-athlete my whole life. Being a student-athlete requires you to be a good student before an athlete. I was honored to be selected to be at an early college high school in North Carolina. Since junior year, I have taken strictly college classes. In my junior year, I was honored with being on the dean’s list for college. With that, I have a college GPA of 3.2, I have worked extremely hard in my college classes and am planning to graduate in the spring of 2023 with an associate of science and associate of arts from the community college. Due to my academic success, I am part of an academic club at the college called the National Society of Leadership and Success. Now for the second part of the student-athlete, I have received tons of athletic awards such as a 2-year all-conference for basketball, conference MVP for track and field, and my team’s MVP. Another achievement I have is that I have been a varsity athlete all four years in high school, even though there was a full list for both varsity and junior varsity. I earned my freshman year at varsity to allow me to become a varsity starter my sophomore year, and during my junior and senior years, I was the head captain of the basketball team. Also, in all three years, I have completed track and field, and I have made it to the state championship for jumping. My high school has only been open for 5 years. Our school is unique, it is an early college high school, meaning I am taking high school and college classes at the same time. However, our county commissioners, after the first year of opening the school, have been trying to close the school. Legally after two years, they had to let the current students graduate from early college high school. Every year the school has been opened; I have been at the board of education trying to convince them to keep our school open. Unfortunately, after years of speaking to the board, meeting with the superintendent, and having several principals trying to change our school to please the commissioners, they decided to close our school. One major issue I believe Americans struggle with is the exclusion of special needs children in everyday life. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that get along better with me than others. One of the children in the class is non-verbal autistic, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. Another major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that get along better with me than others. One of the children in the class is non-verbal autistic, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. Along with me helping at the humane society, I am volunteering at a local veterinarian clinic.

My family decided to adopt a dog from a local rescue. He was at multiple different foster homes due to his anxiety no one wanted to help him overcome the anxiety. Luckily for him, we adopted him, and we worked together to overcome his anxiety. We talked to the Veterinarian about his anxiety, and she prescribed him to have three anxiety pills each day. His previous foster families did not consider him to have bad anxiety, especially with his past owner. According to the rescue, he was kept in a crate all day and was unable to leave the crate except for when he went out to the bathroom before and after his 8-10hour shift. Meaning, he had a lot of traumas, especially when being left alone even for five minutes. Now, when someone leaves, he does not freak out and does not try to run out the door to follow us. Sadly, when we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me. A major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. The camp had anywhere between 8-15 horses, rabbits, ferrets, cows, goats, and more. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that get along better with me than others. One of the children in the class is non-verbal autistic, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. I love helping at the humane society because it is such a rewarding experience when a dog gains your trust after a bad past. I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend an early college high school. Since my freshman year of high school, I have been taking classes at Carteret Community College. Since my junior year, I have taken strictly college classes. In my junior year, I was honored with being on the dean’s list for college. That said, I have been on the Vice President’s list at the community college. I have been a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success at Carteret Community College for two years. I have worked extremely hard in my college classes and am planning to graduate in the spring of 2023 with an associate of science and associate of arts from the community college. My high school has only been open for 4/5 years, so there are not a lot of achievements or honors given out in our school. Along with my school just being opened, the county commissioners decided to shut down our school.

Sports have been a major part of my life, I have been competing in sports throughout my whole life. I started participating in sports when I was 3 years old and have not stopped since. Sports has always been a part of my life and will continue to be a part of my life in college. I will be competing in track and field in college. I have received tons of athletic awards such as a 2-year all-conference for basketball, conference MVP for track and field, and my team’s MVP. Another achievement I have is that I have been a varsity athlete all four years in high school, even though there was a full list for both varsity and junior varsity. I earned my freshman year at varsity to allow me to become a varsity starter my sophomore year, and during my junior and senior year, I was the head captain of the basketball team. Also, in all three years, I have completed track and field, and I have made it to the state championship for jumping. In indoor 2022, the women’s team won the team state championship. One sport I started when I was three was taekwondo, and I earned myself a third-degree blackbelt. I have competed across the country and have been on the US National team for 3 years in a row. I have even competed in international competitions in Chicago, Atlanta, and Disney World. Martial arts have taught me a lot about myself. I have done taekwondo for almost my entire life. I grew up on the mats, and it helped me become the person I am today. By me doing taekwondo for so long, I have learned about dedication and never giving up when things get tough. I have also learned how to teach others. I have taught special needs children, and one of our first students is about to receive his black belt. He is a non-verbal autistic male, and his family and I meet outside of class. I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. Without taekwondo, I would never have had the opportunity to learn so much about special needs children and myself. I have also used the aspects I have learned from taekwondo in my education. As I said above, taekwondo taught me to never give up, even if a class is giving me trouble. No matter how a class is, never give up.

Being a first-generation college student is very inspiring. Being the first person in my family to go to college has made me have various thoughts about college. In my freshman year, I believed that only rich and extremely smart people can go to college. With that being said, I did not believe I would be able to go to college without athletic or academic scholarships. In middle school, my teachers did not think I saw smart enough to take any AP or Honors classes. However, I proved them wrong when I got accepted into an early college high school. In early college high school, I started taking classes at the local community college for a small fraction of the price of college. Taking classes at the community college allowed me to believe in myself and that I am smart enough to go to college. As I said above, my family does not have the financial means for me to go to college without any kind of scholarship. I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling very badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall I think with all of the financial and educational struggles, it has strengthened my want to become a veterinarian. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. When we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. We went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After meeting with the second veterinarian, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian.

A major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that get along better with me than others. One of the children in the class is non-verbal autistic, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. Along with me helping at the humane society, I am volunteering at a local veterinarian clinic. My family decided to adopt a dog from a local rescue. He was at multiple different foster homes due to his anxiety no one wanted to help him overcome the anxiety. Luckily for him, we adopted him, and we worked together to overcome his anxiety. We talked to the Veterinarian about his anxiety, and she prescribed him to have three anxiety pills each day. His previous foster families did not consider him to have bad anxiety, especially with his past owner. According to the rescue, he was kept in a crate all day and was unable to leave the crate except for when he went out to the bathroom before and after his 8-10hour shift. Meaning, he had a lot of traumas, especially when being left alone even for five minutes. Now, when someone leaves, he does not freak out and does not try to run out the door to follow us. Sadly, when we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. Seeing what the second veterinarian told us, gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me. I have already started my journey to become a veterinarian. In the spring of 2022, I took a veterinarian assistant certification class at my local community college. In that class, I learned the basics of veterinarian medicine. After that class, I started volunteering at a local veterinarian hospital. I have watched the veterinarian complete surgeries, give vaccines, and how take care of everyday checkups. Volunteering with the veterinarian hospital that gave me hope for my dog has allowed me to continue to have hope to help other animals. I believe that my volunteering has allowed me to learn how to always give back.

My high school has only been open for 5 years. Our school is unique, it is an early college high school, meaning I am taking high school and college classes at the same time. However, our county commissioners, after the first year of opening the school, have been trying to close the school. Legally after two years, they had to let the current students graduate from the early college high school. Every year the school has been opened; I have been at the board of education trying to convince them to keep our school open. Unfortunately, after years of speaking to the board, meeting with the superintendent, and having several principals trying to change our school to please the commissioners, they decided to close our school. Along with overcoming that educational adversity, I have also overcome financial adversity. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. Along with that, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling very badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Along with needing the help of toys-for-tots, we have needed the help of an EBT card throughout my life. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. When we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me.

A major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. The camp had anywhere between 8-15 horses, rabbits, ferrets, cows, goats, and more. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that get along better with me than others. One of the children in the class is a non-verbal autistic, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. I love helping at the humane society because it is such a rewarding experience when a dog gains your trust after a bad past. Along with me helping at the humane society, I am volunteering at a local veterinarian clinic. I believe that volunteering has made me a better person. I have volunteered and helped others throughout my life which has taught me so many different life experiences. Volunteering has changed my mindset in various ways. Volunteering at camp has changed my mindset about how impactful animals have on a person's mental health. It was so interesting for me to watch how deeply people between ages 6-17 can care so deeply about an animal they will only meet once or twice a week. It is just inspiring how caring these people were and how they would visit the animals during their free activity hour. Teaching special needs taught me how truly gifted special needs children are. Helping with them has made me want to include them in my everyday life. I even talked to my coach about including special needs children on the track team. Now we have a special needs child on our high school track team. Working with the animals at the veterinarian clinic and the animal shelter has taught me to always be nice to others regardless of their past. Some of the "aggressive" dogs just need some love. Overall I love giving back to the community because the community has done so much for me. When I was younger, my family received support from Toys-for Tots and we had an EBT card. I believe it is my responsibility to give back to the community that has helped my family in their hardships.

Having a Scholarship is truly such an honor for me, and it is vital for my education. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. I used to live in Maryland where my family's house first got destroyed in a hurricane. Then after the new house was built, around 10 years later we lost it due to foreclosure. We moved to North Carolina to help with our finical situation. However, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. So having a Scholarship would help my family not have to struggle as much financially since we are already struggling financially. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling very badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. Sadly, when we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me. However, due to my financial situation, I am unable to fulfill my dream of becoming a veterinarian without scholarships. It would be an honor for me to be the veterinarian that gives hope to other owners of pets regardless of what kind of pet they have.

Having a Scholarship is truly such an honor for me, and it is vital for my education. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. I used to live in Maryland where my family's house first got destroyed in a hurricane. Then after the new house was built, around 10 years later we lost it due to foreclosure. We moved to North Carolina to help with our finical situation. However, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. So having a Scholarship would help my family not have to struggle as much financially since we are already struggling financially. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling very badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Along with needing the help of toys-for-tots, we have needed the help of an EBT card throughout my life. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. I decided I wanted to become a veterinarian when we adopted our rescue dog. when we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me. All of the finical issues my family has been has helped me to find the good in all situations. Honestly, our finical situation has helped me to understand how valuable money is, and how to use money wisely.

I have been a student-athlete my whole life. Being a student-athlete requires you to be a good student before an athlete. I was honored to be selected to be at an early college high school in North Carolina. Since my junior year, I have taken strictly college classes. In my junior year, I was honored with being on the dean’s list for college. With that, I have a college GPA of 3.2, I have worked extremely hard in my college classes and am planning to graduate in the spring of 2023 with an associate of science and associate of arts from the community college. Due to my academic success, I am part of an academic club at the college called the National Society of Leadership and Success. Now for the second part of the student-athlete, I have received tons of athletic awards such as a 2-year all-conference for basketball, conference MVP for track and field, and my team’s MVP. Another achievement I have is that I have been a varsity athlete all four years in high school. Also, in all three years, I have completed track and field, and I have made it to the state championship for jumping. In indoor 2022, the women’s team won the team state championship. Another major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. Along with me helping at the humane society, I am volunteering at a local veterinarian clinic. My family decided to adopt a dog from a local rescue. He was at multiple different foster homes due to his anxiety no one wanted to help him overcome the anxiety. Luckily for him, we adopted him, and we worked together to overcome his anxiety. We talked to the Veterinarian about his anxiety, and she prescribed him to have three anxiety pills each day. His previous foster families did not consider him to have bad anxiety, especially with his past owner. According to the rescue, he was kept in a crate all day and was unable to leave the crate except for when he went out to the bathroom before and after his 8-10hour shift. Meaning, he had a lot of traumas, especially when being left alone even for five minutes. Now, when someone leaves, he does not freak out and does not try to run out the door to follow us. Sadly, when we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me.

My high school has only been open for 5 years. Our school is unique, it is an early college high school, meaning I am taking high school and college classes at the same time. However, our county commissioners, after the first year of opening the school, have been trying to close the school. Legally after two years, they had to let the current students graduate from the early college high school. Every year the school has been opened; I have been at the board of education trying to convince them to keep our school open. Unfortunately, after years of speaking to the board, meeting with the superintendent, and having several principals trying to change our school to please the commissioners, they decided to close our school. Along with overcoming that educational adversity, I have also overcome financial adversity. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. Along with that, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling very badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Along with needing the help of toys-for-tots, we have needed the help of an EBT card throughout my life. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. When we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me.

Martial arts have taught me a lot about myself. I have done taekwondo for almost my entire life. I grew up on the mats, and it helped me become the person I am today. By me doing taekwondo for so long, I have learned about dedication and never giving up when things get tough. I have also learned how to teach others. I have taught special needs children, and one of our first students is about to receive his black belt. He is a non-verbal autistic male, and his family and I meet outside of class. I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. Without taekwondo, I would never have had the opportunity to learn so much about special needs children and myself. I have also used the aspects I have learned from taekwondo in my education. As I said above, taekwondo taught me to never give up, even if a class is giving me trouble. No matter how a class is, never give up.

One thing that motivates me is that I will be a first-generation college student. I believe that me going to college is a positive example for my family. Hopefully, me going to college can inspire others to go to college as well. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. When we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me. I am so motivated to be a veterinarian that I have completed my veterinarian assistant certification. To complete my certification, I needed to spend a day at a veterinarian clinic to experience what it is like at a veterinarian clinic. When I was at the clinic, I witnessed several minor surgeries. After watching the veterinarian complete the surgeries, I fell even more in love with becoming a veterinarian.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend an early college high school. Since my freshman year of high school, I have been taking classes at Carteret Community College. Since my junior year, I have taken strictly college classes. In my junior year, I was honored with being on the dean’s list for college. That said, I have been on the Vice President’s list at the community college. I have been a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success at Carteret Community College for two years. I have worked extremely hard in my college classes and am planning to graduate in the spring of 2023 with an associate of science and associate of arts from the community college. My high school has only been open for 4/5 years, so there are not a lot of achievements or honors given out in our school. Along with my school just being opened, the county commissioners decided to shut down our school. That means that this year is the last year the early college high school will be open, and with so few kids the school does not have any honors, clubs, or organizations I can join. However, I have received tons of athletic awards such as a 2-year all-conference for basketball, conference MVP for track and field, and my team’s MVP for basketball, track, and field. I have been on Croatan’s varsity women's basketball team all four years. I have been a starter for three years, and head captain for two years. I also compete in indoor and outdoor track and field. I have competed in North Carolina’s State Championships since my sophomore year. In 2021-2022 my team won the indoor State Championship. A major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. The camp had anywhere between 8-15 horses, rabbits, ferrets, cows, goats, and more. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that I bond with better than others. One of the children in the class is a non-verbal autistic male, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. I love helping at the humane society because it is such a rewarding experience when a dog gains your trust after a bad past.

A major part of my life is giving back to the community. I started riding horses around the age of 4. My uncle rescued a retired racehorse, and he allowed me to help feed him. Sometimes I was able to ride him bareback in the pasture while my uncle was walking him. Eventually, the horse passed away. Luckily a few years later, my dad was able to work at a local farm. At that farm, I would help my dad bale hay, feed the horses, and help repair fences. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at camp. At the camp, I was helping in the nature area, which has various kinds of animals. Each year we got different animals, however, every year we had up to 15 horses, 2 ferrets, and 1 potbelly pig, and each year we started with 8 rabbits but ended the year with more. Some years we had different animals, like calves, goats, lizards, and bearded dragons, however, we did not have these animals every year. When the vet came, I would help him with anything he needed. I would also help keep the horses calm when the farrier visited to work on the horse’s hoofs. Even when the vet was not present, I would help with wrapping the horse’s hoofs if there was an injury or infection. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that I bond with better than others. One of the children in the class is a non-verbal autistic male, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. I love helping at the humane society because it is such a rewarding experience when a dog gains your trust after a bad past. Along with me helping at the humane society, I am volunteering at a local veterinarian clinic. I believe that volunteering has made me a better person. I have volunteered and helped others throughout my life which has taught me so many different life experiences. Volunteering has changed my mindset in various ways. Volunteering at camp has changed my mindset about how impactful animals have on a person's mental health. It was so interesting for me to watch how deeply people between ages 6-17 can care so deeply about an animal they will only meet once or twice a week. It is just inspiring how caring these people were and how they would visit the animals during their free activity time. Teaching special needs taught me how truly gifted special needs children are. Helping with them has made me want to include them in my everyday life. I even talked to my coach about including special needs children on the track team. Now we have a special needs child on our high school track team. Working with the animals at the veterinarian clinic and the animal shelter has taught me to always be nice to others regardless of their past. Some of the "aggressive" dogs just need some love.

My high school has only been open for 5 years. Our school is unique, it is an early college high school, meaning I am taking high school and college classes at the same time. However, our county commissioners, after the first year of opening the school, have been trying to close the school. Legally after two years, they had to let the current students graduate from the early college high school before they closed the school. Every year the school has been opened; I have been at the board of education trying to convince them to keep our school open. Unfortunately, after years of speaking to the board, meeting with the superintendent, and having several principals trying to change our school to please the commissioners, they decided to close our school. Along with overcoming that educational adversity, I have also overcome financial adversity. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. Along with that, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling very badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Along with needing the help of toys-for-tots, we have needed the help of an EBT card throughout my life. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. When we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our new rescue dog. After seeing what the second veterinarian told us, it gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me.

My name is Ginger, I have been a student-athlete throughout my whole life. I was honored to be selected to be at an early college high school. Since my junior year, I have taken strictly college classes. In my junior year, I was honored with being on the dean’s list for college. With that, I have a college GPA of 3.2, I have worked extremely hard in my college classes and am planning to graduate in the spring of 2023 with an associate of science and associate of arts from the community college. Due to my academic success, I am part of an academic club at the college called the National Society of Leadership and Success. Now for the second part of the student-athlete, I have received tons of athletic awards such as a 2-year all-conference for basketball, conference MVP for track and field, and my team’s MVP. Another achievement I have is that I have been a varsity athlete all four years in high school, even though there was a full list for both varsity and junior varsity. I earned my freshman year at varsity to allow me to become a varsity starter my sophomore year, and during my junior and senior years, I was the head captain of the basketball team. Also, in all three years, I have completed track and field, and I have made it to the state championship for jumping. One sport I started when I was three was taekwondo, and I earned myself a third-degree blackbelt. I have competed across the country and have been on the US National team for 3 years in a row. Having a Scholarship is truly such an honor for me, and it is vital for my education. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. Along with that, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. So having a Scholarship would help my family not have to struggle as much financially since we are already struggling financially. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Although we have gotten slightly better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. I fully decided to become a veterinarian when we adopted my dog. When we first took him to the veterinary hospital he was diagnosed with heartworms. The first veterinarian we visited told us the best situation to do is to euthanize our dog since we just got him. However, my family did not want to euthanize our dog, so we went to a new veterinarian that explained a different treatment plan that can allow us to keep our rescue dog. After meeting with the second veterinarian, he gave me hope and at that point, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be that second veterinarian and give other people the hope that they gave my family and me.

One thing I am very passionate about is volunteering and giving back to the community. A major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. The camp had anywhere between 8-15 horses, rabbits, ferrets, cows, goats, and more. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that bond with me better than others. One of the children in the class is a non-verbal autistic male, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. I love helping at the humane society because it is such a rewarding experience when a dog gains your trust after a bad past. My high school has only been open for 5 years. Our school is unique, it is an early college high school, meaning I am taking high school and college classes at the same time. However, our county commissioners, after the first year of opening the school, have been trying to close the school. Legally after two years, they agreed to let the current students graduate from the early college high school. Every year the school has been opened; I have been at the board of education meetings trying to convince them to keep our school open. Unfortunately, after years of speaking at the board of education meetings and with the superintendent, the commissioners decided to close our school. During Covid-19 my family decided to adopt a dog from a local rescue. Unknown to us when we adopted him, but he was heartworm positive. This means we were at the veterinarian's office often trying to find the best way possible to not only allow him to have a healthy but happy life. After discussing with the veterinarian and talking among each other, we decided to take part in the treatment for heartworms. Having to deal with my dog's anxiety and heartworms has strengthened my desire to become a veterinarian. I want to become a veterinarian to help take care of people’s pets and give them hope even when their pets are in critical condition. It is hard to explain how I felt when the first veterinarian we met only plan to “treat” heartworms was to put our animal to sleep. However, the second veterinarian we visited explained that there is other than putting our pet asleep. I want to be that second veterinarian, the veterinarian that gives hope to owners that their pet is going to be okay. I understand there will be unsolvable issues, however, I want to try my best to help the animals live their happiest and best life.

A major part of my life is giving back to the community. In middle school, I volunteered anywhere between 100-300 hours a summer at the camp. At the camp, I would help take care of the animals. The camp had anywhere between 8-15 horses, rabbits, ferrets, cows, goats, and more. I also have a deep love for special needs. I have taught special needs children taekwondo. During my years of helping teach them, there have been certain kids that get along better with me than others. One of the children in the class is a non-verbal autistic male, I have taken him out to baseball games, lunch, and dinner, and we have spent time with each other’s families to help him live a more normal life. I am also helping at the local humane society where I clean cages and walk dogs. I love helping at the humane society because it is such a rewarding experience when a dog gains your trust after a bad past. Along with me helping at the humane society, I am volunteering at a local veterinarian clinic. I believe that volunteering has made me a better person. I have volunteered and helped others throughout my life which has taught me so many different life experiences. Volunteering has changed my mindset in various ways. Volunteering at camp has changed my mindset about how impactful animals have on a person's mental health. It was so interesting for me to watch how deeply people between ages 6-17 can care so deeply about an animal they will only meet once or twice a week. It is just inspiring how caring these people were and how they would visit the animals during their free activity hour. Teaching special needs taught me how truly gifted special needs children are. Helping with them has made me want to include them in my everyday life. I even talked to my coach about including special needs children on the track team. Now we have a special needs child on our high school track team. Working with the animals at the veterinarian clinic and the animal shelter has taught me to always be nice to others regardless of their past. Some of the "aggressive" dogs just need some love. Having a Scholarship is truly such an honor for me, and it is vital for my education. Neither of my parents has earned a college degree, so it would be an honor to be the first in my family to earn a college degree. Along with that, I am currently labeled as homeless/transitional housing because the house we were renting, the owner decided to sell, and we are unable to afford to rent anywhere else in the county. So having a Scholarship would help my family not have to struggle as much financially since we are already struggling financially. When I was in elementary school, we were struggling so badly and for Christmas, we got presents from toys-for-tots. Along with needing help from toys-for-tots, we have needed the help of an EBT card throughout my life. Although we have gotten a little better throughout the years, with inflation occurring we are going back into struggling. Although both of my parents work, there still are issues. One issue is that my mother is struggling with vertigo which causes her to not be able to work as often as a normal person. Another issue is that my dad is 68 years old and gets money from social security to help with bills. Overall, having this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian.

When I was in 5th grade I met with one of our Master instructors for Tae Kwon Do and discussed the idea of starting a Tae Kwon Do program for those with special needs. My other brother had 2 classmates that were high functioning autistic and I saw them struggle to fit in and heard about them being bullied. I knew Tae Kwon Do was a sport that was based on your skills and you progressed at your own rate. This is not a season sport and all eyes on you, this was a life changing sport that moves at your own pace. After several disscussions we decided to start a special class called the Warrior program. We would meet twice a week with me being the lead instructor and Master Ames would go around and help each student as needed. Within a year we had found 7 students to join our class, 3 of which are non-verbal autistic. I worked one on one with these students not only on the mat but outside of class. I was the lead instructor until our family moved to NC in my freshman year of HIgh School. I have a strong connection with the students and still to this day I stay in contact with 3 of my former students. One student in particular, Mark, is my age I have a strong bond with him. I take Mark out to dinner/lunch every time I'm in town, I send him Snapchat pics. I have included Mark in my basketball, volleyball, and community activities. I helped Mark at his first Tae Kwon Do tournament and he watches mine. I'm a strong believer in inclusion, I include Mark in family events, outings with my friends, and whatever he can handle. We even took the doors off my jeep and took him for a ride- his smiles were priceless. I also do this so his family can have a sense of normalization for Mark. He was able to experience 8th-grade formal pictures and hang out during the predance photoshoot. The dance was too much for him to handle. I have taken him to meet the horses I work with, fish and kayaking. I strongly believe that including Mark in the many activities I am involved with allows my friends to also become more accepting of those with autism. My life goal is to not only earn my Veterianian License but a psychology degree. I want to own a farm where I have my Veterianary practice but is also an amimal rescue where I can train rescue dogs for PTSD / service animals and rescue horses for therapic riding. I realize these goals a huge but I am determined.