It was time for tipoff. I'm sweating before the game even started imagining every embarrassing thing I could do. My first official basketball game against the best team in the division. They won the tipoff, scored the first basket and proceeded to go on an unstoppable scoring streak. By half time, the score was about 35-1. There's no plot twist in this story... We lost by 70. When I got home my Nigerian parents asked me how the game was. I told them "We lost", they then asked if I played and how much I scored "I played the whole game, scored 0 points." I replied, then they asked "why?" This became a cycle: I would have a game, test, assignment, or anything that measured my skills, I'd come home to tell my parents about it, and if I wasn't the best they would question why I didn't do better. Even if I did all I could, if it wasn't 100% they weren't satisfied, they'd always say "people who score 100% don't have two heads, right? So the difference between you and them is 0." I became aware of this in other aspects of my life. People around me consistently measuring how hard I worked based on performance. As a student-athlete society only believes you give your all when they see results. Freshman year my school won one game, we had practiced almost everyday and even on weekends. However the teams we played had more experience; our losses didn't reflect a lack of effort, just a gap in resources. After our final lopsided loss, you'd think I wanted to quit but that game I scored 8 points, and wasn't as tired as I normally would be. Growth. By the end of the season I realized my diligence isn't shown by my win/loss rate, and whether I'm learning in a class isn't fixed on me being valedictorian or not. I came to the understanding that betterment should be determined by whether the me now is better than the me before. My motive changed. Talking to teachers about why I received a 90 was no longer to please my parents, it was to see what skills needed to be strengthened in order to get higher scores in future. When asking my coach what I could do to get more playtime, it wasn't so I could tell everyone I'm a starter, it was to help me impact the team more. It was to make me confident in knowing that the athlete I am now is capable of more than the previous one was. Regardless of whether my team won or lost, I learned something. I improved. By now I was used to the shiny waxed gym floors, packed bleachers, and cushioned benches so during tipoff for the most important game I've ever played I was no longer nervous. My team would have reminded you of Manhattan skyscrapers. We won the borough championship, and city championship. We lost the state championship game by one point, but it is safe to say that if I hadn't shifted my opinion on myself and measured my growth in a different way, I would have never been in the position to call myself a city champion. This story ends with a semicolon not because it's over, but because my growth continues. Regardless of the standards society has when measuring my success, only I am capable of truly measuring my growth because only I see that the present me is better than the previous one.

It was time for tipoff. I'm sweating before the game even started imagining every embarrassing thing I could do. My first official basketball game against the best team in the division. They won the tipoff, scored the first basket and proceeded to go on an unstoppable scoring streak. By half time, the score was about 35-1. There's no plot twist in this story... We lost by 70. When I got home my Nigerian parents asked me how the game was. I told them "We lost", they then asked if I played and how much I scored "I played the whole game, scored 0 points." I replied, then they asked "why?" This became a cycle: I would have a game, test, assignment, or anything that measured my skills, I'd come home to tell my parents about it, and if I wasn't the best they would question why I didn't do better. Even if I did all I could, if it wasn't 100% they weren't satisfied, they'd always say "people who score 100% don't have two heads, right? So the difference between you and them is 0." I became aware of this in other aspects of my life. People around me consistently measuring how hard I worked based on performance. As a student-athlete society only believes you give your all when they see results. Freshman year my school won one game, we had practiced almost everyday and even on weekends. However the teams we played had more experience; our losses didn't reflect a lack of effort, just a gap in resources. After our final lopsided loss, you'd think I wanted to quit but that game I scored 8 points, and wasn't as tired as I normally would be. Growth. By the end of the season I realized my diligence isn't shown by my win/loss rate, and whether I'm learning in a class isn't fixed on me being valedictorian or not. I came to the understanding that betterment should be determined by whether the me now is better than the me before. My motive changed. Talking to teachers about why I received a 90 was no longer to please my parents, it was to see what skills needed to be strengthened in order to get higher scores in future. When asking my coach what I could do to get more playtime, it wasn't so I could tell everyone I'm a starter, it was to help me impact the team more. It was to make me confident in knowing that the athlete I am now is capable of more than the previous one was. Regardless of whether my team won or lost, I learned something. I improved. By now I was used to the shiny waxed gym floors, packed bleachers, and cushioned benches so during tipoff for the most important game I've ever played I was no longer nervous. My team would have reminded you of Manhattan skyscrapers. We won the borough championship, and city championship. We lost the state championship game by one point, but it is safe to say that if I hadn't shifted my opinion on myself and measured my growth in a different way, I would have never been in the position to call myself a city champion. This story ends with a semicolon not because it's over, but because my growth continues. Regardless of the standards society has when measuring my success, only I am capable of truly measuring my growth because only I see that the present me is better than the previous one.

When I was younger I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest for healthcare became low, eventually I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare. This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless, within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me, the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator, in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical service to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness I want to be able to give back to my community, I am sure that Howard will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse. However although I wasn't in the foster care system I to need help funding my education which is why I think this scholarship would benefit greatly. I don’t only want to be a nurse, I want to be a leader, I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me. This is how I will let my light shine, by impacting communities that don't have access to the resources that I did.

No, I give glory to God for not having been in the foster care system. When I was younger I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest for healthcare became low, eventually I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare. This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless, within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me, the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator, in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical service to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness I want to be able to give back to my community, I am sure that Howard will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse. However although I wasn't in the foster care system I to need help funding my education which is why I think this scholarship would benefit greatly. I don’t only want to be a nurse, I want to be a leader, I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me.

When I was younger I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest for healthcare became low, eventually I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare. This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless, within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. You wouldn't go out of your way to help someone if you didn't have any sort of love for them. My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me, the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator, in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical service to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness I want to be able to give back to my community, I am sure that this scholarship will provide me with one of the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse. I don’t only want to be a nurse, I want to be a leader, I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me.

When I was younger I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest for healthcare became low, eventually I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare. This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless, within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. One won’t put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. This is something I’ve learned over the course of my relationships with other people. I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me, the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator, in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical service to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness I want to be able to give back to my community, I am sure that this scholarship will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse. I don’t only want to be a nurse, I want to be a leader, I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me.

Change, the act or instance of making or becoming different. This is what I believe shaped me into the person I am today. I was born and raised in South Africa, only moving to New York at the age of 10. Some people may see that as a negative thing because I'm "African" but honestly living in a different society than the one you were born in truly does change your perspective, and your perspective influences who you are. Although people think I grew up living and sleeping in a tree or something like that I didn't. I was never really deprived of anything. I went to a pretty good school, lived in a good neighborhood and lived a pretty comfortable life. You might be asking why I moved here if that was the case, and the reason why I moved here is because I'm also Nigerian. My dad is Nigerian so I have a Nigerian last name. Xenophobia, the fear and hatred of foreigners, is a major problem in South Africa, and although I was born in South Africa I don't speak any or their native languages to be able to "prove my nationality" so the safest option was to move, change my location. Moving across the world is bound to change your perspective, and change who you are. I wanted to change the way my life was compared to the one I lived in South Africa. I wanted to be a popular kid, but also smart. To be this person I started playing basketball and thanks to basketball I became one of those people who you hear of, everyone knows them but no one knows too much about them, I didn’t get close to people because of the fear of losing contact with these people the same way I did with some close friends from South Africa. Additionally I changed the type of people I hung around, rather than hanging out with people who were like me in terms of grades, I decided to hang out with people who got better grades than me so that they would push me to have better grades. In high school I changed my name, instead of everyone calling me Grace, my first name I chose for people to call me my middle name, Joy. I chose to be called this name because I feel like it reflects me more than Grace. Since then I’ve simply been growing as a person, most things about me are still changing. However there is something that hasn’t changed, and that's my aspirations. I’ve always wanted to be a pilot. When I was younger I wanted to be a pilot because I wanted to fly, I wanted to feel free and see the world. When a little kid sees a pilot in their uniform it's one of the most inspirational moments for that kid. Knowing that one day someone's child will aspire to be like me when they grow up, causes me to strive for greatness. As I’ve grown over the years I have changed from wanting to be the one children aspire to be like and now I want to be the one who helps children continue aspiring. A pediatric doctor, my high school career as it is coming to an end exposed me children that don’t get the opportunity to dream and children that have to give up their dreams because of physical circumstances, I want to be the doctor that helps children through the tough times and help them create new dreams or help them see that their current aspirations are still possible

Selflessness, the action of love. The willingness to make sacrifices for the benefit of others, generosity without expecting anything in return, and doing what one can to make sure that everyone around them is happy. Selflessness is a key trait that Jesus possessed and is one of the reasons he is remembered today. He impacted those around him positively, regardless of whether it negatively impacted him or not. He made sure that the needs of the people around him were met. From the first miracle he performed, at a wedding when he turned water to wine, he knew that doing this would begin the countdown to his crucifixion, and yet he still performed this miracle to help the bride and bridegroom. Unlike Jesus, not everyone can go around turning water into wine. Thus, a more realistic example was when he was being arrested; he gave himself up for the safety of his friends. During his time on earth, he consistently prioritized the well-being of others over his own, which is why He is my role model, someone I aspire to emulate. Being selfless doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. It’s the action of love. One won’t put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. This is something I’ve learned over the course of my relationships with other people. I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. Learning this about myself made me realize that I needed to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice for them. A new value like this would enrich the BC community by giving students an idea of how to love each other. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. So to complete the Jesuit mission, my fourth “Be” is “Be selfless”. To create an environment and community in which students and staff can rely on each other and not worry about being used. To truly build men and women for others.

My first step in changing my perspective. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, I never really understood what it meant to be homeless. My norm was living in a two-story house with a balcony, and both a front and back yard. I didn’t see myself as privileged living in South Africa because I assumed most people lived in the same comfort that I lived in, because that's what I had been exposed to. That all changed after moving to the city that never sleeps. I lived with my aunt for the first two years because my parents couldn’t enter the country due to COVID-19. When my parents finally did come, I moved out of living with my aunt into Manhattan. Most people view Manhattan as a place only the wealthy can live in. Whenever I told anyone I lived with both my parents in Manhattan, they instantly thought I was rich or privileged. Even to the point where someone asked me what struggles I had faced because they genuinely thought my life was rosy. Little did they know that I was actually living in a homeless shelter. They didn’t know that I, as a 15-year-old, couldn't sit in my room unless I had a family member above the age of 18 with me. They didn’t know that even on days when I came back home soaking wet, I still had to sit and wait for someone else to come home before I could go to my room to change. This was my first step towards a changed perspective; it made me begin to understand that not everything a person shows you is their reality. Some people have different issues and situations they are passing through, but will still put on a smile outside and act like they are okay. This first step allowed me to achieve a more communicative personality. In my day-to-day life, I’m able to relate to more people from different backgrounds living through different circumstances, and this is because I no longer create an idea about them based on what they show me. After telling this to a friend he understood why I never judge him from the start. See his question to me was why didn't I have the same perspective on him that everyone else did. He had the idea that when I saw him in school I'd just think he's trying to get me into trouble however he was just someone who got to deep into trouble and needed a friend to bring him out. I think by me not judging him from the start I inspired him to not judge others whether you know their story or not.

When I was younger I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest for healthcare became low, eventually I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare. This was the case up until I realized while playing on my school's basketball team that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. Everyone else I only helped when it benefited me. After this realization I made the effort to become more selfless, within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty staff and classmates that did what they could to make my high school career easier and consistenly showed up for me even when I thought it wasn't important. They choose to act like my family outside of home which is why I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. I wasn't bother by the fact that I had to make another sacrifice for the same friend if I understood why they needed it. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me, the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator, in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical service to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness I want to be able to give back to my community. Scholarships such as these will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse. I don’t only want to be a nurse, I want to be a leader, I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me.

When I was younger I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest for healthcare became low, eventually I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare. This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless, within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me, the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator, in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical service to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness I want to be able to give back to my community, I know I will be in a place that will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse. I don’t only want to be a nurse, I want to be a leader, I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me. I know that the representation of people like me in healthcare is low, I know people in my community fear hospitals because they feel as though they aren't treated well and family members don't return from the hospital. I want to change that, I want to change the relationship between my community and the hospital. I want to be part of the generation that changes the idea of black V.S blue or black V.S the system.

Selflessness, the action of love. The willingness to make sacrifices for the benefit of others, generosity without expecting anything in return, and doing what one can to make sure that everyone around them is happy. Selflessness is a key trait that Jesus possessed and is one of the reasons he is remembered today. He impacted those around him positively, regardless of whether it negatively impacted him or not. He made sure that the needs of the people around him were met. From the first miracle he performed, at a wedding when he turned water to wine, he knew that doing this would begin the countdown to his crucifixion, and yet he still performed this miracle to help the bride and bridegroom. Unlike Jesus, not everyone can go around turning water into wine. Thus, a more realistic example was when he was being arrested; he gave himself up for the safety of his friends. During his time on earth, he consistently prioritized the well-being of others over his own, which is why He is my role model, someone I aspire to emulate. Being selfless doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. It’s the action of love. One won’t put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. This is something I’ve learned over the course of my relationships with other people. I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. Learning this about myself made me realize that I needed to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice for them. A new value like this would enrich the my community by giving students an idea of how to love each other. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. So to complete the Jesuit mission, my fourth “Be” is “Be selfless”. To create an environment and community in which students and staff can rely on each other and not worry about being used. I want to be part of the generation of men and women truly made to help others.

It was time for tipoff. I'm sweating before the game even started imagining every embarrassing thing I could do. My first official basketball game against the best team in the division. They won the tipoff, scored the first basket and proceeded to go on an unstoppable scoring streak. By half time, the score was about 35-1. There's no plot twist in this story... We lost by 70. When I got home my Nigerian parents asked me how the game was. I told them "We lost", they then asked if I played and how much I scored "I played the whole game, scored 0 points." I replied, then they asked "why?" This became a cycle: I would have a game, test, assignment, or anything that measured my skills, I'd come home to tell my parents about it, and if I wasn't the best they would question why I didn't do better. Even if I did all I could, if it wasn't 100% they weren't satisfied, they'd always say "people who score 100% don't have two heads, right? So the difference between you and them is 0." I became aware of this in other aspects of my life. People around me consistently measuring how hard I worked based on performance. As a student-athlete society only believes you give your all when they see results. Freshman year my school won one game, we had practiced almost everyday and even on weekends. However the teams we played had more experience; our losses didn't reflect a lack of effort, just a gap in resources. After our final lopsided loss, you'd think I wanted to quit but that game I scored 8 points, and wasn't as tired as I normally would be. Growth. By the end of the season I realized my diligence isn't shown by my win/loss rate, and whether I'm learning in a class isn't fixed on me being valedictorian or not. I came to the understanding that betterment should be determined by whether the me now is better than the me before. My motive changed. Talking to teachers about why I received a 90 was no longer to please my parents, it was to see what skills needed to be strengthened in order to get higher scores in future. When asking my coach what I could do to get more playtime, it wasn't so I could tell everyone I'm a starter, it was to help me impact the team more. It was to make me confident in knowing that the athlete I am now is capable of more than the previous one was. Regardless of whether my team won or lost, I learned something. I improved. By now I was used to the shiny waxed gym floors, packed bleachers, and cushioned benches so during tipoff for the most important game I've ever played I was no longer nervous. My team would have reminded you of Manhattan skyscrapers. We won the borough championship, and city championship. We lost the state championship game by one point, but it is safe to say that if I hadn't shifted my opinion on myself and measured my growth in a different way, I would have never been in the position to call myself a city champion. This story ends with a semicolon not because it's over, but because my growth continues. Regardless of the standards society has when measuring my success, only I am capable of truly measuring my growth because only I see that the present me is better than the previous one.

Selflessness, the action of love. The willingness to make sacrifices for the benefit of others, generosity without expecting anything in return, and doing what one can to make sure that everyone around them is happy. Selflessness is a key trait that Jesus possessed and is one of the reasons he is remembered today. He impacted those around him positively, regardless of whether it negatively impacted him or not. He made sure that the needs of the people around him were met. From the first miracle he performed, at a wedding when he turned water to wine, he knew that doing this would begin the countdown to his crucifixion, and yet he still performed this miracle to help the bride and bridegroom. Unlike Jesus, not everyone can go around turning water into wine. Thus, a more realistic example was when he was being arrested; he gave himself up for the safety of his friends. During his time on earth, he consistently prioritized the well-being of others over his own, which is why He is my role model, someone I aspire to emulate. I used to tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless, within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. Their efforts were part of what influenced me into pressuring a degree in nursing Being selfless doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. It’s the action of love. One won’t put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. This is something I’ve learned over the course of my relationships with other people. I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. Learning this about myself made me realize that I needed to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice for them. A new value like this would enrich the world by giving students an idea of how to love each other. We live in a generation in which the word love is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow. So to make a positive impact on the workd, I would encourage more people to be selfless. To create an environments and communities in which people can rely on each other and not worry about being used. To truly build men and women for other.

When I was younger, I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest in healthcare became low; eventually, I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare.  This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone is willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word "love" is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow.  My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me and the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical services to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness, I want to be able to give back to my community. I am sure that the college I attend will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse, and I hope this scholarship will too. I don’t only want to be a nurse; I want to be a leader. I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me

When I was younger, I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest in healthcare became low; eventually, I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare.  This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone is willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word "love" is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow.  My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me and the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical services to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness, I want to be able to give back to my community. I am sure that the college I attend will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse, and I hope this scholarship will too. I don’t only want to be a nurse; I want to be a leader. I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me

When I was younger, I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest in healthcare became low; eventually, I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare.  This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone is willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word "love" is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow.  My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me and the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical services to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness, I want to be able to give back to my community. I am sure that the college I attend will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse, and I hope this scholarship will too. I don’t only want to be a nurse; I want to be a leader. I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me.

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, I never really understood what it meant to be homeless. My norm was living in a two-story house with a balcony, and both a front and back yard. I didn’t see myself as privileged living in South Africa because I assumed most people lived in the same comfort that I lived in, because that's what I had been exposed to. That all changed after moving to Queens. I lived with my aunt for the first two years because my parents couldn’t enter the country due to COVID-19. When my parents finally did come, I moved out of living with my aunt into the city and started playing basketball for my new school. Most people view Manhattan as a place only the wealthy can live in. Which is why these girls reminded me of Manhattan. Not only did their uniforms look expensive, but they were also tall, similar to skyscrapers. Regular gyms smell like sweat; this gym smelled like fresh air, which is you experience when your high up in any high rise building. Newly waxed floors, pull-out bleachers that didn't have peeling paint, plus they had people at their games cheering for them very different from my school. It was time for tipoff. I'm sweating before the game even started, imagining every embarrassing thing I could do. My first official basketball game against the best team in the division. They won the tipoff, scored the first basket, and proceeded to go on an unstoppable scoring streak. By half time, the score was about 35-1. There's no plot twist in this story... We lost by 70. When I got home, my Nigerian parents asked me how the game was. I told them, "We lost." They then asked if I played and how much I scored. "I played the whole game and scored 0 points." I replied, then they asked, "Why?"  This became a cycle: I would have a game, test, assignment, or anything that measured my skills; I'd come home to tell my parents about it, and if I wasn't the best, they would question why I didn't do better. Even if I did all I could, if it wasn't 100%, they weren't satisfied; they'd always say, "People who score 100% don't have two heads, right? So the difference between you and them is 0." I became aware of this in other aspects of my life. People around me are consistently measuring how hard I worked based on performance.  As a student-athlete, society only believes you give your all when they see results. Freshman year my school won one game; we had practiced almost every day and even on weekends. However, the teams we played had more experience; our losses didn't reflect a lack of effort, just a gap in resources. After our final lopsided loss, you'd think I would want to quit, but in that game I scored 8 points and wasn't as tired as I normally would be. Growth.  By the end of the season I realized my diligence isn't shown by my win/loss rate, and whether I'm learning in a class isn't fixed on me being valedictorian or not. I came to the understanding that betterment should be determined by whether the me now is better than the me before. My motive changed. Talking to teachers about why I received a 90 was no longer to please my parents; it was to see what skills needed to be strengthened in order to get higher scores in the future. When asking my coach what I could do to get more playtime, it wasn't so I could tell everyone I'm a starter; it was to help me impact the team more. It was to make me confident in knowing that the athlete I am now is capable of more than the previous one was. Regardless of whether my team won or lost, I learned something. I improved. By now I was used to the shiny waxed gym floors, packed bleachers, and cushioned benches, so during tipoff for the most important game I've ever played, I was no longer nervous. My team would have reminded you of Manhattan skyscrapers. We won the borough championship and the city championship. We lost the state championship game by one point, but it is safe to say that if I hadn't shifted my opinion on myself and measured my growth in a different way, I would have never been in the position to call myself a city champion. This story ends with a semicolon, not because it's over, but because my growth continues. Regardless of the standards society has when measuring my success, only I am capable of truly measuring my growth because only I see that the present me is better than the previous one.

When I was younger, I never had a passion for healthcare. I wanted to be a pilot because of my love for traveling, and seeing that my parents had consistently pushed me towards healthcare regardless of what I wanted, my interest in healthcare became low; eventually, I was telling people I would work in any field but healthcare.  This was the case up until I realized that over the course of my relationships with other people, I tend to only make selfless decisions for my family and friends who feel like family. So I made the effort to become more selfless within my high school community because I was blessed with a faculty and staff that did what they could to make my high school career easier. I began to love being selfless because of the fulfillment it left me with. Selflessness doesn’t mean that you don’t think about your happiness at all; it means you are willing to prioritize others when appropriate. Learning this about myself made me want to love the people around me more, even if they are not close friends; everyone deserves to feel loved and cared for, to know there is someone out there willing to sacrifice more hours for them. Someone is willing to show the action of love towards them because one wouldn't put the needs of someone else above their own needs if they do not love the person. We live in a generation in which the word "love" is thrown around and is slowly losing its meaning. To most people, it's just an emotion; however, to be loving, an action must follow.  My love for healthcare stemmed from the love and opportunities people sacrificed to give me and the innovations my school made to better education. Sacrifices such as taking time to plan and raise funds to build an ambulance simulator in order to provide a better understanding of emergency medical services to me and my peers. As a benefactor of opportunity and selflessness, I want to be able to give back to my community. I have tried to ensure that wherever I go for college will provide me with the tools I need in order to give back as a nurse. I don’t only want to be a nurse; I want to be a leader. I want to be remembered for the way I impacted those around me. I want to become a person willing to help men and women in the world instead of only myself.