Growing up in a small town taught me many valuable lessons I will forever be thankful for. I was born and raised in Conway Springs, Kansas, a town that is just shy of 1,200 residents. Like most of the small towns in the Midwest, my hometown was centered around farming. Similar to many of the other families, I grew up in a farming family as well. Both living in a small town and the farmer’s values that were instilled in me from an early age helped to shape the person I am today. As well as the good aspects, I saw firsthand the difficulties of living in a small town. These include the lack of access to basic needs including fresh food, medical treatment, and many other services. Conway Springs is a very close-knit community. Everywhere you go you are greeted with friendly faces and friends. These helped to teach me many of the social skills that seem to have been lost in many places. These include respect for adults, the importance of good manners, and smaller habits such as handwritten thank-you letters. Growing up in a farming family also taught me many valuable lessons I will carry with me throughout my life. My father and mother taught me how to work hard no matter what and showed me what it means to have true grit. From working over 60 hours weekly, to harvest time that was often filled with 12 or more hour days. It not only showed me the responsibility it takes to be a farmer but to also respect many of the other careers that take the same dedication and work ethic, such as truckers and first responders. This work ethic is what helped me to excel in academics and lead multiple organizations, and sports. I was taught how to balance my academics, be president of both the FFA and National Honor Society and my high school jobs. These jobs were sometimes difficult to attain due to the small size of the town and the limited places to work. Many other difficulties came with living in a small town. The size often limits what services are offered. In my experience, most residents who lived in Conway traveled out of town for work. We also had to travel out of town for most things including clothes, food, services, and medical treatment. Medical treatment is by far the most difficult. Many facilities were almost an hour or more away from my town, making most trips an all-day event. This is especially hard for the older generation and working parents. I aim to be able to help ease this problem by working as an outpatient physical therapist. Physical therapy is a much-needed treatment that requires patients to attend multiple days a week, for multiple weeks. This makes treatment very difficult for many small-town residents. Many can not afford to take off multiple days a week to make the long trip to the treatment center, or many elderly patients will need another person to help reach the treatment center. Outpatient is an option for physical therapy that is not utilized enough. My goal is to provide outpatient care for residents of many small towns, letting the elderly not have to worry about transportation, and allowing greater flexibility for patients to align the treatment with their work schedule. I believe that I can help to correct some of these difficulties of living in a small town. The small-town atmosphere and my family taught me the valuable combination of work ethic and grit to allow me to fully help small communities.