Two and a half years ago I went through an experience no family should have to go through. I was told that my cousin Case had passed away from suicide. Case was more of a brother to me than a cousin, as we were always tighter growing up. Case loved to go hunting, and had even planned on going to school to become a guided hunter. He was also very religious and always wore a Saint Christopher necklace for protection. My family believes that once someone passes away that we should focus on the good memories that we had with that person. While I believe in that too, it is also hard to ignore the struggles that my cousin had gone through. He not only struggled with his mental health, but also with substance abuse. My family tried everything to help, including rehab, but with the area that we live in we found it really hard to find a good rehabilitation center for teenagers. After my cousin passed away my entire career passed changed from wanted to purse a career in Chimal Justice to a career as a therapist for teenagers. After this tragedy hit, it took a toll on my relationship with my religious beliefs. I found it hard to believe that God could take someone away from me who was so young and had a full life ahead of them. While I was working on starting to heal, I realized that Case is in a much better place, and is much happier where he is now then when he was down on Earth with me and our family. I know one day I will be able to see him again, and God decided it was time to call him home. This tragedy had also affected my relationship with some of my friends. I had lost many friends, the people who I knew did not like my cousin while he was still alive, but acted like they were friends with Case after he passed away. Those were the people that I had stopped talking to. Although I had some negative effects to my relationships, there were also some positive ones. My family grew closer to each other and valued our relationships more. I was also able to see which of my friends truly cared about me and was able to strengthen our friendships, while backing away from the people who didn’t value our friendship. I am currently a second year student at Washburn University. I am working towards my bachelor degree in Clinical Psychology, then my masters degree. Once I achieve this I plan to get a job at a rehabilitation center, working with teenagers struggling with addiction and their mental health. After gaining a couple of years of job experienced, I will go back to school and get my PhD. After I get my PhD I will be able to open my own office from home. As you have read, I have a long journey of schooling head of me in order to achieve my future goals. This will be a huge financial strain, and if I am able to receive this scholarship, it will tremendously help me in relieving some financial stress, and help me in getting my degrees.

While growing up I had always wanted to pursue a career in Criminal Justice as a way to help other people. After my cousin Case passed away from suicide at the age of 17 my entire career path changed. During the few months after my cousin passed away I felt helpless and alone. It was during this time that I decided that I wanted to become a therapist and help other adolescent kids to prevent the tragedy that happened in my family from happening to other families. I am currently attending Washburn University as a second year student. I am working towards my bachelor degree in Clinical Psychology. Once I achieve this I will continue my schooling to gain my Masters degree. After my Masters degree I will working for a couple of years as a therapist, preferably in a rehabilitation center for adolescents to gain some work experience in the mental health field. Once I have gained some experience I will go back to college to obtain my PhD in order to open my own office from home. If I am able to open my own office, I do not plan on charging a lot for sessions as I would like to give the opportunity for therapy to low income families. I know therapy and counseling can be pricey and that can prevent low income students from seeking help as they cannot afford it. I do not currently have a lot of experience in working in the mental health field. Although I do not have working experience, I do have a ton of personal experience in watching close family and friends struggling with mental health and having to get help to over come those struggles. Aside from having to watch my cousin Case go through mental health struggles, I have also watched my mom and my younger brother go through these struggles. With that I have seen how much therapy has helped them overcome their struggles. I myself have also seen a therapist for anxiety and depression, and have personally seen how much it helps someone, and has encouraged me even more to achieve my goal of becoming a therapist. I am currently working two jobs to help pay for my education. My parents cannot help me pay for my college or any other expenses I have like car payments and gas. My parents have three other children to support and have recently gotten a divorce causing their financial situation to be worse. I am unable to receive much financial assistance from the government or my school as my fathers income is considered too high. With that being said if I receive this scholarship it will help me tremendously to afford my college education. I hope you enjoyed reading about my life experience and how you would be able to help me if I am to receive this scholarship.

Hello, I am Jacenda Schnacker and I am from a small town in Kansas called Meriden. As I was growing up I was always around my grandparents farm, the Clare Farms. During the summers I always spent my time out in the fields during hay season, and working on my 4-H county fair projects, including the steer project. During this time I witnessed many times the stress that the females go through in my family of having to take care of the household, the children, and helping on the farm. Even though we live near the Kansas capital, Topeka, it is still difficult to find therapist nearby that can accommodate to the busy schedule of farmers. After watching the females in my family struggle with their mental health and struggle to find help, this inspired me to become a therapist and open an office in my small town. I am currently living at home to save money while I attend Washburn University in Topeka. I am in my second year of college and am working towards my bachelors degree in Clincal Psychology. Once I receive my bachelors degree I plan on getting my Masters degree. After my Masters degree I will take a couples years to gain some work experience as a therapist for women of all ages and save some money in order to work towards my PhD in Clinical Psychology. If I am able to get my PhD I plan on opening my own office from home in my small town. Opening my own office from home in my small town will help the women from my community have easier and better access to getting therapy for any of the struggles they may be going through. I also do not plan on charging a lot of money for therapy sessions in order to make it more affordable since many people in my community do not have high paying jobs. I am more interested in helping other women and living a modest life, than I am living a life of luxury. Being able to receive a prestigious scholarship like this one, will help me tremendously in achieving my goals of becoming a therapist for women in rural areas like the small town that I live and grew up in. I hope you enjoyed reading a little about my life and how I plan on helping and giving back to my community.

Ever since I was in elementary school, I had always wanted to pursue a career in criminal justice. February 3rd of 2021 that all changed. That was the day that I found out my cousin Case had passed away from suicide. When I found out I was lost, I did not know what to do. During the few months after it happened I felt helpless, my family had tried everything to prevent this from happening, and it was during that time that I realized that I wanted to help other families who may have a teenager struggling with mental health. Along with my cousin passing away, my family has struggled with helping my younger brother over come his depression. We have had him see two different therapist, and I got to watch how much it helped him and improved his life. After long consideration and debated I decided that I would major in psychology during college in order to become a therapist. I have always had a passion of helping people, and I have always had a thing for trying to figure out and understand people. Trying to understand why people do what they do and their reasonings, this also created my strong passion for reading about psychology and getting educated about the vast topic. I am also focusing my studies on adolescence, as I would like to help someone who is struggling with similar struggles that my cousin struggled with at that age. I would love to take on clients who struggle with people believing that they are just a bad kid, clients who also may struggle with disabilities like ADHD or ADD, or have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I have some personal experience with disabled and mental health issues that I believe will help me on this career. In the future I plan on obtaining my master degree in clinical psychology with a focus on adolescence. Once I get my masters degree I will take a couple of years to take a break and gain some experience in the job feild. I would like to work for a rehab for teenagers. After gaining some experience I plan to go back to college and finishing my schooling with a PhD. With the PhD, I will be able to open my own office from home. If I work from home then that would help me create for flexible hours that can work around my future family. After all of this being said, one can see how a scholarship will tremendously help me afford this and achieve my goals. I hope that you take me in consideration for your wonderful scholarship, and sincerely hope you have a good day.