My name is Hanif Rigsby. I was born and raised in North Philadelphia. I come from a low-income household with a single mom of 3 who works 2 jobs to ensure that food was on our plate and bills were paid. I watched her struggle day by day but she always told me “ We are all we got and as long as I am breathing we going to be alright”. I used to shed tears seeing how amazingly powerful my mother was. In the face of defeat, negative odds, or misfortunes. She never gave up on us and I have no other option, but to be strong and independent. I have to make her proud and repay her for what all she has done to make my life better. I leave behind a generation of young ones in my family and I would like to show them that it isn’t where you come from, but where you’re going. I always wanted to be great in life and make the best out of everything. If i could describe my personality in four words I would say: reserved yet out spoken, adaptable, rebellious, and independent. People would say that i’m gifted because I have an aptitude for drawing and painting, problem solving, scientific reasoning, and acting. Anything that I could put my mind to, I did it. I was also very athletic growing up playing basketball, football, and even boxing. There was a point of time where I was lost and didn’t know where I was going. I started to have doubt about how I would end up in life and become depressed. I worked hard in school and always made sure I excelled academically. Hardwork pays off and I knew that I should never give up on myself. But also at times I would have doubts and ask myself “ Is this really going to work out?” I worried a lot about the future and the various things that could possibly happen as life goes on. I just want things to fall into plan and it is my dream to make sure I obtain glory, respect, and revolutionize this world to make it a better place. With these skills that I possess I would like to apply them to business and the medical field to become a Physician Assistant. I originally wanted to become a doctor, but I took a different route to achieve all that I can. I believe that I can do both with the proper time management and ambition. I will not let anyone tell me differently.

“ Your inner peace is essential and your self-care is a necessity” - Unknown. This quote conveys an important message, which is to ensure your mind and body is prioritized. I believe my mental health is important because it contributes to daily decisions, character/attitude, and ultimately my destiny. There are many factors such as stress, overcommitment, lack of sleep, and poor diet. Which can disturb your perspective of life and your thinking process. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA in the North Philly area. While growing up in that atmosphere I seen gun violence, drug abuse, poverty, and just pure chaos. These acts are definitely associated with poor mental health. Witnessing these things was traumatic for me. Metaphorically speaking, it felt like Gotham City with no Batman to save us. Everyday I will wake up and just hear bad news: somebody got shot, someone died from an overdose, people get kicked out their homes and left homeless on the street. This had a negative impact on me with how I live and interact with people. At a point of time, I disconnected from people and became withdrawn die to my environment. I also became less friendly and distrustful towards others. I started to have pessimistic thoughts about every encounter and always keep my guard up. I lost faith in humanity, everybody wanted to belittle each other, but don’t want to help another. During the Covid era, it was a revolutionary time for me and things managed to get better. Before Covid, I was at the risk of developing high blood pressure which will correlate to neurological complications. It scared me, so I decided to be proactive and listen to my body. So i started to eat less junk food with high salt contents, exercising, and drinking lots of water. This improved my mental in so many ways that I could never imagine. I made that apart of my daily routine. I started to build structure and planned how I would want to live my life. I started to go out more, try new things, and meet new people. Before I would always worry, procrastinate, or even just give up on myself. Even though Covid was a horrendous era with the lost of many lives. I think that time has brought many US citizens together. It made me think, reflect, and relate to others. It made me want to be a better person, take care of my health, and start to make healthy decisions. I was afraid to leave this Earth without being the change I want/ people want to see. What I learned that it’s mentally important to sometimes isolate from people to rebuild yourself. There’s nothing wrong with being knocked down, it only become a problem when you stay down. Get back up and keep going. It’s all God’s work and he will always have the last say so. Therefore, be mindful of what you say, do, or think because your character will lead to your destiny.