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.