One of the biggest challenges the world is facing today is access to affordable, comprehensive healthcare. As a young girl I watched my mother try to navigate a complicated system to make appointments for us to get the care we needed. This oftentimes included needing childcare and taking off work. I have learned that there are many social determinants of health. Having a single mom who had to not only fund my schooling and all of my necessities, but also had to take care and manage my health care. I struggled as a kid with many injuries due to weak bones and low calcium. As I have grown up I have also struggled with anxiety and my vision. After watching my mom struggle to juggle all of my appointments with the rest of our lives. My mom, with her determination to not only juggle my health but the health of others, has become one of my biggest influences. My mother worked with adults in group homes. Throughout my early years I was exposed to the healthcare field through her work. I became close with many of her patients and learned my love of helping others through her. Her dedication led me to meet many people that have inspired my aspiration of working in the healthcare field. My surgery nurse, my physical therapists, my therapist, my mother's patients, and my grandmother have all Influenced me. From showing thier emance compassion and care I am dedicated to make an impact the same way they made an impact on me. I am determined to create a better future for my community. I strive to leverage my experiences as a patient, daughter, and student to empathize with others facing similar situations. To make a positive impact, I actively participate in volunteer work, mentoring programs, and community initiatives that aim to uplift and empower individuals facing adversity. In my freshman year, I volunteered in the Character Council where I spread positivity during the tough time of Covid. I also took it upon myself to learn more about the healthcare world by joining HOSA- future healthcare professionals. I am proud to be able to say that I have competed at State to be recognized for my understanding of Biology. And im even prouder to say that this year I have started an initiative in our chapter that will allow us to work with the elementary schools and middle school to educate them on their own health in a comprehensible and age appropriate way. Our chapter is also proud to be certified this year to give vision screenings to students in our community. I was so honored to be able to offer this service, especially after experiencing how my mom and I struggled to get my own vision tested. As I continue on my journey, I am pursuing further education in the healthcare field in order to create a platform from which I can advocate for those in need and drive meaningful change in my community.

One of the scariest moments of my life was when I went under for the first time to get a total ankle reconstruction done. I had lost access to the things I love most. Taking long walks, playing outside with my dog Bella, and playing sports. I have been playing sports for as long as I can remember. When I broke my foot, without even knowing it, I was heartbroken and terrified. Sports were so much more then an extracurricular activity. It was the thing that gave me the closest friends, family, incredible memories, discipline, determination, and perseverance. Going under for surgery was heartbreaking, solidifying the fact that my athletic journey could come to an end. I was so nervous and heartbroken that I couldn't eat for days leading up to the surgery, and I love to explore different foods. But all that changed when this wonderful nurse talked to me about how everything will be okay. Her brown hair tied up in that bun, her calming green eyes, and the way she gently smiled. Not a smile mocking me for my fear, but a smile full of understanding. The way she gently talked to me and made sure I was feeling confident and comfortable before and after the surgery is the reason I decided to work in the medical field and solidified that I was going to make it back to the court. The next few years were full of trials, setbacks, and tears. Each step to get back onto the court was more than worth it. When after my first game back on the court I had a huge family standing behind me. My mom, my volleyball team, my basketball team, and all of my coaches. That moment was the start of a new chapter in my story. I lived up to my dream of playing High School sports, I played Varsity Basketball and Varsity Volleyball, something just 6 years earlier I thought was impossible. I am extremely proud to say that I am a Student Athlete. My leadership, perseverance, determination, and other traits were developed from playing sports and being apart of a team for so long. The leadership I gained led me to become Class President and gained instrest in Student Government. My determination, loyalty, and caring personality help me everyday in my healthcare journey. It has led me to become a certified vision screener in Wisconsin and a Certified Nursing Assistant. These roles have given me more knowledge about the healthcare field and aided in my aspiration if becoming a diagnostic medical sonographer. My hope is to be able to help families in my community heal and get access to complete and affordable healthcare. My aspirations have been throughly influenced by my journey as a student athlete, and I am proud of myself as I look back on my journey.

Can something be considered a failure if what came out of it made you stronger than ever? I was taught to never doubt yourself, to trust your gut. But when you doubt yourself you can grow to become someone you never thought was possible. I was set in my ways. I was going to play sports through highschool and graduate. I didn't have time to do clubs nor did I have an interest in participating in any clubs. I believed that all I was is an athlete, not an artistic person or someone who could be a leader outside of sports. So when my 9th grade History teacher asked me to apply for Student Senate I immediately denied, I wasn't a government person. The answer seemed blantently obvious, I should not apply to be in our school's local government. The initial reaction to say no is one of the reasons I decided to apply. After the initial vote, I was elected to be my sophomore class president. I didn't believe in myself completely, but my classmates did. I worked hard to advocate for my classmates. I worked on a committee to help connect our student body to the school board and found sponsors who believed in my classmates to help fund our activities. With all of my work, my advisors entrusted me and two other students with the tasks of creating a plan for the WASC State Conference to be presented to the board. We had only one week and very limited time. But with our collaboration and taking in others input, we successfully presented our vision. What others did in months, we managed to get done in one week. The process of presenting our vision and making it come to life for over 1000 students was filled with so many setbacks. Between the new type of service project and our first ever future fair, was this conference not only a first for us but for the whole WASC. I had to learn how to communicate with businesses, make pitches, find economical and eco-friendly solutions, and make sure that this conference was successful in connecting thousands. This whole process made me more aware of how the outside world works and helped me become more vocal in advocateing for myself and others. I spoke to over a thousand people and made a difference in the lives of hundreds of animals through the service project I put together. I thought that I knew how the rest of the year would go. I was so sure of who I was now and what to do. Until my senior year election. I lost the Presidential election. The elected representatives didn't vote me in, but the student body did. My heart was crushed. My plan was completely thrown off and I was extremely upset, I wasn't valued. But that major setback led me to become the HOSA president and gave me the confidence to do even more than before. Between all the setbacks of my junior year, I became a better communicator, I work better with teams, and I learned how to set healthy boundaries. What some would see as failures my junior year, I see them as oppertunities that showed me who I am. I am a strong woman who wants to help others and make the world a place I can be proud of. I want to improve womens health and find ways to help women and children by educating myself in Diagnostic Sonography and participating in research. These setbacks have set me up to have an even more successful.

One of the biggest challenges the world is facing today is access to affordable, comprehensive healthcare. As a young girl I watched my mother try to navigate a complicated system to make appointments for us to get the care we needed. This oftentimes included needing childcare and taking off work. I have learned that there are many social determinants of health. Having a single mom who had to not only fund my schooling and all of my necessities, but also had to take care and manage my health care. After watching my mom, I am determined to create a better future for my community. I strive to leverage my experiences to empathize with others facing similar situations. To make a positive impact, I actively participate in volunteer work, mentoring programs, and community initiatives that aim to uplift and empower individuals facing adversity. In my freshman year, I volunteered in the Character Council where I spread positivity during the tough time of Covid. I also took it upon myself to learn more about the healthcare world by joining HOSA. I am proud to be able to say that this year I have started an initiative in our chapter that will allow us to work with the elementary schools to educate them on their own health in a comprehensible and age appropriate way. Our chapter is also proud to be certified this year to give vision screenings. I was so honored to be able to offer this service, especially after experiencing how my mom and I struggled to get my own vision tested. As I continue on my journey, I am pursuing further education in the healthcare field in order to create a platform from which I can advocate for those in need and drive meaningful change in my community.

A young child should be playing outside, with their friends, and with toys and not stressing over their math homework. Or more specifically, if their math homework isn't done, if their mother will leave them too. This is where my mental health journey began. I was described as a quiet child at home, someone who would rather play by herself than risk talking to others. At school, I couldn't stop talking. I grew up without a father and for a very long time, I was cautious about how I acted around my mother. I was overly anxious about how I acted and my work. School became the one way I could prove to my mother I was worth it. It wasn't until the summer before my freshman year when the man who was like a father to me, my grandpa, died. My anxiety increased, I lost my appetite, and I considered suicide was the answer to my mother's problems that I believed stemmed from me. My freshman year was the beginning of change. I was struggling with my mental health, but my suffering went unnoticed. I wasn't interested in finding help or even admitting I needed help, I felt like admitting I needed help was realizing I was weak. At a basketball game in my freshman year, on my way to finding a spot to fill my water, my teammates and I found a memorial to a student who passed away due to suicide. And then later, my teacher told me about how she found out one of her old students passed. I realized that it wasn't weak to ask for help. I learned to trust in my body, not outside perspectives. I learned that just because I ate Oreos and pancakes didn't mean I was less worthy. I learned to listen, to eat when I was hungry, to sleep when tired, and to do things that made me happy. I worked on building trust in the relationships I have. I worked on not blaming myself. I worked on finding ways to manage my anxiety. This first change led to a person that I am proud to say I am today. The journey that I am still on to this day has taught me so much. From the feeling of being inadequate due to society's image of how a woman should look and dealing with it myself, I learned that I want to help other women. I want to be someone who can help ease pressures in vulnerable moments. I want to be there to help women with some anxiety they may be facing and be a source of joy in moments of fear. This need to help accompanied by my interest in the medical field, I decided I wanted to study Obstetrics and Gynecology. To be able to care for women in the physical sense while also advocating for mental health, especially for mothers. Mothers, and women in general, are identified by ownership; someone's daughter, someone's mother, someone's sister, someone's wife. When in reality they are just someone. I had put this pressure on myself to be better for others, which is where I felt a lot of pressure when in reality I should have focused on myself. It's important to have strong relationships but it's even more important to not place that relationships value over yourself. Your value isn't directly related to the relationship, the relationship is a bonus, a way to express yourself and find value in the world. Relationships don't define you, the accumulation of your actions does, and most importantly, how you see yourself. Be true to yourself and know that you matter, no matter what others say or do to try to prove to you otherwise. I know this journey is not over and that there is still much to learn, but I know that the rest of my journey will be filled with advocating for myself and others. Mental health connects everyone, and needs to be talked about.