There are many things that I can say I am certain about in myself. I am an achiever, a hard worker, and am goal-driven. I also have a passion for helping others and nurturing them. I find that I am the kind of person that wants to make sure others can reach their full potential, with my help. This help and care may come during their daily activities or life-changing experiences. During my early years, I always cared what others thought and how they felt. I hated seeing others suffer and would use my love of art and personality to find ways to make them feel better. When I was six months old, my grandfather suffered his first of many heart attacks. I didn’t know it at the time, but these heart attacks would be the things that made me choose to be an Anesthesiologist. I spent hours with my grandparents, as they were my daycare. They took care of my brother and me day in and day out, for no other reason than to help my mom, a teacher, and to be with their grandchildren. Four times over the years that my grandparents watched me, I watched my grandpa recover from heart attacks and have multiple stents put in his heart. I would sit on his lap, hug him, and tell him it would be ok. If he needed coffee, lunch, or anything else, I would toddle off and help him get it. As I got older, I would still give him those hugs, get whatever he needed, and tell him how lucky I was to have him. This last year has been the hardest yet. My grandpa not only had another heart attack in December but was also met with the diagnosis of an aneurysm in his heart. Both of these diagnoses mean he will have open heart surgery before the end of the summer before I leave for college. I can promise that I will be in the hospital holding his hand when I can and asking what he needs. It is this man that is helping push my passion for the future. During high school I maintained a 4.157 GPA while taking both dual enrollment and high school classes. When I graduated from Briggsdale High School I had obtained 50 college credit hours. Throughout high school I also was apart of NHS, FFA, FCCLA, FBLA, and played volleyball and basketball. In August 2023, I began my undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas on the Pre-Med track with a major in Psychology. I have already completed 18 credit hours at the university and am working on abtaining 15 more credits during the spring 2024 semester. After graduating from my undergraduate studies, medical school, and completing my residency I plan on working as an anestesiologist. As an anestesiologist I plan to be able to provide healthcare for low income and culturally diverse individuals. In the future, I plan to work with all age groups and people from all walks of life. I also want use my position in the medical field to promote wages for women in the work industry. Outside of work I want to continue participating in various community service opportunities as it is essential that I give back to the community that will have supported me throughout my life.

During my early years of life, I always cared what others thought and how they felt. I hated to see others suffer and would use my love of art and personality to find ways to make them feel better. When I was six months old, my grandfather suffered his first of many heart attacks. I didn’t know it at the time, but these heart attacks would be the things that made me choose to be a Physician’s Assistant. I spent hours with my grandparents, as they were my daycare. They took care of my brother and me day in and day out, for no other reason than to help my mom, who is a teacher, and to be with their grandchildren. Four times over the years that my grandparents watched me, I watched my grandpa recover from heart attacks and having multiple stents put in his heart. I would sit on his lap, hug him, and tell him it would be ok. If he needed coffee, lunch, or anything, I would toddle off and help him get it. As I got older, I would still go give him those hugs, get whatever he needed and tell him how lucky I was to have him. This last year has been the hardest yet. My grandpa not only had another heart attack in December but also was met with the diagnosis of an aneurysm in his heart. Both of these diagnoses mean he will have open heart surgery before the end of the summer before I leave for college. I can promise, I will be in the hospital, holding his hand when I can, asking what he needs. It is this man, that is helping push my passion for the future. During high school, I have been dedicated to this passion as well. The medical field is demanding, and my strong academic skills have allowed me the opportunity to follow my dreams. Another large source of where my drive for being in a health career comes from is growing up in a small school. Being a part of a small community allowed me to get to know, and learn from many of the school staff and community members. There are so many times that Joe (our bus driver who recently passed away) would sit and talk to my mom and me before and after games as we waited on other students. The time I got to spend with such an amazing man and mentor, has helped guide me in the path of caring for others. Then, there are the teachers. I will never forget the impact that my elementary teachers had by taking the time to get to know me, the real me. They challenged me and let me thrive by being who I am, not trying to be shaped into the mold of this section or that, as it often happens in a larger school. My middle and high school teachers carried on with this trend. They pushed me through my assignments and helped me to reach my goals. They never allowed me to think that my goals were too big or that I couldn’t reach them. Rather, they asked how they could best move me forward, and found ways to help me succeed.

The thing that has been my biggest inspiration in my decision to pursue additional education in the medical field, are all of the injuries that I have seen in sports from both family and friends. From a young age I had been made accustomed to adjusting and caring for those who are injured. My mother has always had a passion for athletics, especially running. When I was in elementary she was on crutches from a foot injury in which I had to help her carry different items. During middle school she had injured her rotator cuff, resulting in her needing surgery. My mom was placed in a sling from the surgery so I had to help her perform various tasks that are normally easy to do. For example, when she was straightening her hair she wasn’t Ble to reach all of it so I had to do some for her. Since then, she has gathered many other injuries like torn ligaments and broken bones. Throughout all of her injuries, she always helped to explain exactly what was hurting her and how doctors were going to fix them. These types of things always helped to fuel my passion in the medical field. They also helped me to better understand the pain that someone can go through, and how they may need assistance from others. My brother, Jake, shattered his knee by the bleachers in front of me during one of his basketball games. I remember him flying down the court, chasing after a loose basketball. Suddenly he was struck by another player and fell to the gym floor. You could hear his knee hit the floor. Immediately after the sound you could see the pain in his face. At that moment, all I wanted to do was know how to help him. Multiple of my teammates have faced season ending injuries as well. Peyton, one of my teammates, tore her MCL and a ligament in her shoulder making certain skills in basketball and volleyball difficult during the healing process. Peyton has torn her ACL twice. Last season she ended up playing on a torn ACL for two months and through a state tournament. There is still film up from the first time that she tore her ACL. She had knee on knee contact with another player and you can physically see her get injured. However, she didn’t lay down or cry out in pain. Instead, she got up, tried running to the other end but had to end up walking to the bench. I still remember being on the side line only a few feet away from where she was sitting on the bench being cared for by our administration as the game continued on. Watching how she has healed, as well as watching when she got hurt, amazed me by how different people heal and react to their injuries. All of these instances, and many others have given me the realization that my goal in life is to pursue the medical field. They have given me the drive to want to help people in need, whether they are sick or injured. Athletics have taught me that injuries and sickness happen to everyone no matter their race, gender, or financial status. From this realization, the events above, and many more, I decided that I want to pursue additional education in the medical field and help the community in the best way possible.

During the 2022 volleyball season I have faced adversity from my coaches and teammates. For years I have had teammates that haven’t supported me or wanted me to succeed because they wanted their friends to succeed instead. My coaches began the season telling me that I was going to be a setter (a position I have played for the last six years). However, the first week of practice he started playing me in a hitter/ blocker position for the first time in my life. There was no communication as to why the switch was made and there was little to no assistance in bettering me in this field. For the first half of the season I played this position with minimal success. After going against our rival school, I was benched for not being able to compete at the same level because I was still learning the position. My coach did not have any communication with me about being benched until two weeks later when he officially benched me “unless someone else was struggling”. However, he continues to put in others instead of me when people on the court are struggling. I continue to try my hardest at succeeding in my difficult position and always support my teammates, especially when we are struggling in a game. The coach is also my school counselor so there have also been continued difficulties in getting transcripts sent to schools and recommendations for scholarships from him. These experiences have taught me how to stand up for myself when no one else is brave enough to stand up with me. It also taught me that there will always be people trying to cause me to fail or will doubt my abilities. However, at some point you either have to face them or block out their noise in order to succeed in my goals. The experience taught me how to change my perspective on situations as well. One of the ways I have overcome this is by, instead of crying, and letting people have power over me, I now use my anger to make me better in different areas. I also use that anger and turn it into humor when those who try to wrong me and prove a point fail at making that point. Even though this experience has been mentally taxing, it has taught me many valuable life skills that I will use in college, my future career, and other endeavors. By staying stubborn, and having the will to succeed, I have been able to change the way I see the situation. Now I use it in a positive way to learn how to stand up for what I believe in.