My name is Jehiel Smith, an entering freshman who aspires to be a physician. The greatest adversity I’ve faced would be losing my Dad during the Covid-19 pandemic. My Dad was our family's financial and emotional support. When he passed away, my previous family dynamic seem as if it was just a dream. My way of paying for college was now gone. The last few years before my dad passed away, he was taking care of my mother. After he died, it was now my job to help my mother with her health. This would include Medication management, cooking, and cleaning are all a part of being her caretaker. Between being a caretaker, grieving, experiencing the pandemic, and managing schoolwork; I felt overwhelmed. My GPA began to drop, and I was diagnosed with depression. Every stressor that happened over the past few years has broken me down. My mother and my doctors have always encouraged me to go to therapy. The challenge was the suggestion of seeing a therapist goes against my spiritual and my cultural beliefs. Previously I had been severely depressed. My mother tried to give me help without avail. When I was younger I completely dispelled the idea. I believed that therapy was for crazy people, people who could not handle their problems, people who didn’t have a community of people to talk to, and most of all, I didn’t believe therapy was for black people. I believed the misconceptions that the media catered to. I also never saw anyone in my community openly go to therapy. This always made me feel like if I decided to go I would be an outsider and it was an injustice to my spiritual values. To appease my mother I decided I would go to therapy. The first few weeks were rough, I didn't know if I could truly say how I feel to my therapist. I mean before then I didn’t even tell my friends how I felt about situations in my life. In distress, I texted one of my favorite teachers so that I could release all of my burdens. Ms. Robinson told me, “Well stay in therapy, that’s going to help you a lot. The day that you feel like you’re better don’t stop therapy. Something doesn’t have to be “wrong”, for you to go to therapy." These encouraging words let me be open to accepting therapy in its entirety. I told my therapist everything. Ms. Robinson challenged my opinion on therapy, and because of this, I am no longer depressed and handled the burdens that carried me. Every experience I’ve had has increased my passion for medicine. I want to be a physician who helps people realize how serious mental health is. I want to help my patients trust that therapy can help them heal their emotional wounds. My physicians and my mother’s care drove me to seek healing through therapy. One day as a physician I hope to do the same.

Can You Bear Our Gifts? We sing of Freedom, We sing for Happiness, We sing for a Way Out, We sing for our Souls, We sing of Love, We sing of Hope, We sing of nurture, We dance of might, We dance of grief, We dance of Love, We dance for freedom, We dance to relieve, We dance because we believe, Can you interpret our talents, gifts or mortalities or is that a mystery that you will never know? We write of Peace, We write of Love, We write of struggle We write of success We write of power We write of corruption We write to escape We write to create We write to release, and to relieve We speak with Power We speak out of peace We speak of Love We speak of change We speak of turn a rounds We speak of God We speak of tragedy We speak of suffering We speak of freedom Can you bear the gifts my sisters and brothers behold? Can you bear the gifts that ancestors held on their finger tips? Can you bear the gifts that come naturally with the color of my skin? Blackness is a gift itself, so I ask once again, can you bear our gifts?

I am pursuing a biology degree. My parents always taught me that serving your community is important. My community service detailed volunteer work in the church and throughout the city. I believe the best way for me to serve my community is to become a doctor. Being a doctor collaborates with my desire to help people and my love of human anatomy. Becoming a physician is considered one of the toughest career paths to attempt. I am willing to go through every challenge if it means I can help the community. Due to misconceptions, stereotypes, and even misinformation every physician doesn’t know how to care for a black person properly. One of the key factors in being a doctor is listening to every word your patient says, when it comes to black people and medicine we have a difficult relationship. My people often feel that a doctor doesn't believe them when something is wrong. . For years in medical research books, it was stated that black people needed less anesthesia due to their skin being darker. This was constantly debunked now for decades, yet why was this falsehood not being brought to justice sooner? For a long time in the medical community, the race has affected health outcomes, they rely on statistics rather than what is presented in front of them to diagnose black patients. Another example is body dysmorphia in black males. It is believed that all black males have naturally athletic body types and that our bodies couldn’t develop eating disorders. This statement has also been debunked. Due to the constant pressure for black males to use athletics as a “ way out” from their current impoverished situation has caused them to overwork their body and believe that their body isn’t strong enough, or fast enough. A Lot of black men suffer from this because they have the stress of trying to provide for their families, so there's no room for them to heal from this trauma in their personal life, and doctors refuse to even consider body dysphoria to even be a factor; I want to be a doctor who recognizes the signs, who acknowledge the signs and help my fellow black brother heal from the things no one else seems to notice. After taking care of my mother for the last few years, I realized how much non-black doctors don't listen to their black patients. In comparison, every black doctor my mother has taken care of her with patience and compassion, but a lot of the doctors I met, didn’t show the same courtesy. Just as those doctors are positive representations in my community, I want to do the absolute same. Diversity in the medical field is needed so we can debunk myths and so that every doctor regardless of race can properly help my black brothers and sisters.