I am an undergraduate junior passionate about occupational therapy and medicine. I am currently majoring in exercise science on the motor and rehabilitation sciences track. Using my degree, my goal is to become an occupational therapist. The concentration I want to work with is students with disabilities in a K-12 setting. This became my dream a few years ago. Let's start at where it all began, February 18th, 2019, my first endocrinologist appointment. That is where I first met my endocrinologist, Dr.V. she looked at my symptoms and told me it was probably just puberty. I knew there was no way puberty could feel this bad. After she heard I had a family history of thyroid issues, she reluctantly gave me a blood test. The day after my fourteenth birthday, we received that phone call; I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disease of my thyroid. I did not have access to an occupational therapist to manage the physical pain and mental exhaustion that came with this condition. I had to learn many of those coping skills through the internet or talking to my aunt, who also has this condition. From that experience, I learned how much occupational therapy can assist with many medical conditions, from people with disabilities to autoimmune diseases such as mine. Not only has my personal experience with my health condition affected my decision to become an occupational therapist, but other experiences have encouraged me to become an occupational therapist as well. During high school, I volunteered with the Disability Awareness Club. In this club, we met with students who are disabled at my high school to create a more inclusive student body. These students have faced many challenges due to their disabilities but have continued to persevere. We hear their stories and get to know them. While I was there, there were also special education teachers and occupational therapists. The occupational therapists showed me some of the activities that they taught the students and briefly discussed with me the impact they had on the students. Even though occupational therapy is a tedious profession, the results are wonderful. I have been working hard to accomplish this dream for many years now. While I was in high school, I participated in a virtual shadowing program through UT Southwestern Medical Branch with Dr. Raymond Fowler. In this program, I learned about different jobs in the medical field while getting to test out the information I learned. Through this program, I earned twenty hours of shadowing credit. Now that I am in college, I have new opportunities. Since being in college, I have joined the Advancement of Females in Medicine organization, which provides women the opportunity to learn about the impact that women have made in the medical field while also providing networking opportunities. They also bring in speakers every couple of weeks to teach students about new opportunities within medicine. During my senior year of college, I will be gaining internship experience for my major, but I plan on earning some more shadowing hours before that during the summers. This scholarship money would not only reduce my financial stress in college, but afterwards as well. After college I am continuing with my higher education by attending graduate school to earn my masters degree in occupational therapy. This money will allow me to graduate from graduate school with less debt compared to without this scholarship, so I can start my career with more financial freedom.

I am an undergraduate junior passionate about occupational therapy and medicine. I am currently majoring in exercise science on the motor and rehabilitation sciences track. Using my degree, my goal is to become an occupational therapist. The concentration I want to work with is students with disabilities in a K-12 setting. This became my dream a few years ago. Let's start at where it all began, February 18th, 2019, my first endocrinologist appointment. That is where I first met my endocrinologist, Dr.V. she looked at my symptoms and told me it was probably just puberty. I knew there was no way puberty could feel this bad. After she heard I had a family history of thyroid issues, she reluctantly gave me a blood test. The day after my fourteenth birthday, we received that phone call; I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disease of my thyroid. I did not have access to an occupational therapist to manage the physical pain and mental exhaustion that came with this condition. I had to learn many of those coping skills through the internet or talking to my aunt, who also has this condition. From that experience, I learned how much occupational therapy can assist with many medical conditions, from people with disabilities to autoimmune diseases such as mine. Not only has my personal experience with my health condition affected my decision to become an occupational therapist, but other experiences have encouraged me to become an occupational therapist as well. During high school, I volunteered with the Disability Awareness Club. In this club, we met with students who are disabled at my high school to create a more inclusive student body. These students have faced many challenges due to their disabilities but have continued to persevere. We hear their stories and get to know them. While I was there, there were also special education teachers and occupational therapists. The occupational therapists showed me some of the activities that they taught the students and briefly discussed with me the impact they had on the students. Even though occupational therapy is a tedious profession, the results are wonderful. I have been working hard to accomplish this dream for many years now. While I was in high school, I participated in a virtual shadowing program through UT Southwestern Medical Branch with Dr. Raymond Fowler. In this program, I learned about different jobs in the medical field while getting to test out the information I learned. Through this program, I earned twenty hours of shadowing credit. Now that I am in college, I have new opportunities. Since being in college, I have joined the Advancement of Females in Medicine organization, which provides women the opportunity to learn about the impact that women have made in the medical field while also providing networking opportunities. They also bring in speakers every couple of weeks to teach students about new opportunities within medicine. During my senior year of college, I will be gaining internship experience for my major, but I plan on earning some more shadowing hours before that during the summers. This scholarship money would not only reduce my financial stress in college, but afterwards as well. After college I am continuing with my higher education by attending graduate school to earn my masters degree in occupational therapy. This money will allow me to graduate from graduate school with less debt compared to without this scholarship, so I can start my career with more financial freedom.

I am an undergraduate junior passionate about occupational therapy and medicine. I am currently majoring in exercise science on the motor and rehabilitation sciences track. Using my degree, my goal is to become an occupational therapist. The concentration I want to work with is students with disabilities in a K-12 setting. This became my dream a few years ago. Let's start at where it all began, February 18th, 2019, my first endocrinologist appointment. That is where I first met my endocrinologist, Dr.V. she looked at my symptoms and told me it was probably just puberty. I knew there was no way puberty could feel this bad. After she heard I had a family history of thyroid issues, she reluctantly gave me a blood test. The day after my fourteenth birthday, we received that phone call; I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disease of my thyroid. I did not have access to an occupational therapist to manage the physical pain and mental exhaustion that came with this condition. I had to learn many of those coping skills through the internet or talking to my aunt, who also has this condition. From that experience, I learned how much occupational therapy can assist with many medical conditions, from people with disabilities to autoimmune diseases such as mine. Not only has my personal experience with my health condition affected my decision to become an occupational therapist, but other experiences have encouraged me to become an occupational therapist as well. During high school, I volunteered with the Disability Awareness Club. In this club, we met with students who are disabled at my high school to create a more inclusive student body. These students have faced many challenges due to their disabilities but have continued to persevere. We hear their stories and get to know them. While I was there, there were also special education teachers and occupational therapists. The occupational therapists showed me some of the activities that they taught the students and briefly discussed with me the impact they had on the students. Even though occupational therapy is a tedious profession, the results are wonderful. I have been working hard to accomplish this dream for many years now. While I was in high school, I participated in a virtual shadowing program through UT Southwestern Medical Branch with Dr. Raymond Fowler. In this program, I learned about different jobs in the medical field while getting to test out the information I learned. Through this program, I earned twenty hours of shadowing credit. Now that I am in college, I have new opportunities. Since being in college, I have joined the Advancement of Females in Medicine organization, which provides women the opportunity to learn about the impact that women have made in the medical field while also providing networking opportunities. They also bring in speakers every couple of weeks to teach students about new opportunities within medicine. During my senior year of college, I will be gaining internship experience for my major, but I plan on earning some more shadowing hours before that during the summers. This scholarship money would not only reduce my financial stress in college, but afterwards as well. After college I am continuing with my higher education by attending graduate school to earn my masters degree in occupational therapy. This money will allow me to graduate from graduate school with less debt compared to without this scholarship, so I can start my career with more financial freedom.

One of the important ways to help others is by doing community service projects. Community service can be done in many different ways from donating food to helping the elderly. One simple act of community service can change the way someone feels about their entire life. My church held many community service events that I participated in. There was one event that was the most memorable to me. I helped hand out food to the less fortunate, but eventually, there were too many volunteers, so I was sent out into the community to do a separate event. There was an elderly couple who had Parkinson’s disease, and the other one was bedridden; both had very little help trying to maintain their backyard. Many plants were overgrown, and the patio had tons of broken items such as gnomes. When I arrived, I immediately started to trim the trees and help clean up the broken tree limbs in the grass. We also helped to clean up overgrown vines on the backyard furniture. After we finished cleaning up the backyard, the couple saw the progress we had made, and the husband almost started crying. He repeatedly thanked us and told us that he was happy that he could finally enjoy looking at his backyard. I used to be involved in Key Club. There were several occasions that I helped to hand out food to the homeless; such a simple service helped me change my perspective on my life and the lives of others. At this event, each family would grab a shopping cart and take items their family needed, from cereal boxes to fresh fruit. Throughout this event, I was responsible for laying out objects and handing out the things to families. During this event, I met people of many different ages and backgrounds. The kids’ eyes lit up when they saw their favorite cereal brands like Trix. Later on, in the event, the bananas eventually were no longer as ripe, but even then, many people were happy to be able to receive them. Some families wanted to use the bananas to make their family's favorite banana bread recipes. Sometimes we didn’t have the food they were expecting or the amount of food they needed, but even then, everyone always said “thank you” and talked about how they could still make wonderful recipes with available ingredients. These experiences taught me about the value community service has on people, because of those experiences I plan to continue my community service in the future. I want to be able to participate in other donation events such as the ones I did during my Key Club experience. I plan to continue to volunteer throughout my life with church organizations and other student organization that can be found on my college campus.

On the outside, my life looked perfect. I was involved in many extracurricular activities, had good grades, and had many friends. No matter what I would smile and ask people how they were doing, but many times I forgot to ask myself that same question. Underneath the surface, the internal demons I faced were more than I could handle. I thought that painkillers would not just kill my physical pain but my psychological pain. Little did I know that it would almost kill me in the process. I had many psychological, physical, and spiritual problems that influenced my addiction. I already took a normal amount of painkillers to handle the symptoms of my autoimmune disease. First of all, being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease was already a difficult pill to swallow but being diagnosed at 14 was even harder. Everyone talked about the physical symptoms, but no one told me about the mental health effects that followed. This condition has been known to cause depression and anxiety, and of course, I always felt depressed and anxious but other stressors in my life exacerbated those mental health issues. Eventually instead of just taking painkillers to handle my physical pain I began to consider if painkillers could numb the pain I felt inside. The short answer was that it did for a time. In the beginning, I felt great because it increased my serotonin levels, but there is always a slippery slope. Eventually that one painkiller increased and all I could think about was that painkiller. When my junior year of high school rolled around I had become addicted. The thought of when I could get my hands on one became too strong for me to handle, at that point I knew I was addicted, but it was too late. No matter how in control you think you are you never are, when it comes to addiction. That joyous feeling faded away into numbness where even if something good happened in my life, I felt nothing. At least before I could feel something and now my life just felt empty. One day during my junior year of high school everything just became too much, and I contemplated taking my own life. That was when I knew I needed help because no matter how much I thought I wanted to die, the need to survive was even higher. I began to seek advice from my friends who had overcome addiction prior to me whether that was to painkillers or alcohol. We began to check in on each other every week. With the love and support from those around me, I have currently been sober for about three years. Thanks to becoming sober I have been able to be alive to see those that I care about. I have a younger brother who is now fourteen years old, it is crazy how fast time flies. At the time I was struggling with addiction at the worst point he was only ten years old. As his older sister it is my job to protect him as much as I can, but while I was struggling with my addiction I barely had the mental capacity to take care of myself, meaning I struggled to take care of him too. I couldn’t imagine my brother growing up not having me in his life, meaning that I had to get clean and stay clean. I would like to use my education to become an occupational therapist and help those who suffer from mental health issues because everyone deserves the chance to become clean and live a fulfilling life.

I am an undergraduate junior passionate about occupational therapy and medicine. I am currently majoring in exercise science on the motor and rehabilitation sciences track. Using my degree, my goal is to become an occupational therapist. The concentration I want to work with is students with disabilities in a K-12 setting. This became my dream a few years ago. Let's start at where it all began, February 18th, 2019, my first endocrinologist appointment. That is where I first met my endocrinologist, Dr.V. she looked at my symptoms and told me it was probably just puberty. I knew there was no way puberty could feel this bad. After she heard I had a family history of thyroid issues, she reluctantly gave me a blood test. The day after my fourteenth birthday, we received that phone call; I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disease of my thyroid. I did not have access to an occupational therapist to manage the physical pain and mental exhaustion that came with this condition. I had to learn many of those coping skills through the internet or talking to my aunt, who also has this condition. From that experience, I learned how much occupational therapy can assist with many medical conditions, from people with disabilities to autoimmune diseases such as mine. Not only has my personal experience with my health condition affected my decision to become an occupational therapist, but other experiences have encouraged me to become an occupational therapist as well. During high school, I volunteered with the Disability Awareness Club. In this club, we met with students who are disabled at my high school to create a more inclusive student body. These students have faced many challenges due to their disabilities but have continued to persevere. We hear their stories and get to know them. While I was there, there were also special education teachers and occupational therapists. The occupational therapists showed me some of the activities that they taught the students and briefly discussed with me the impact they had on the students. Even though occupational therapy is a tedious profession, the results are wonderful. I have been working hard to accomplish this dream for many years now. While I was in high school, I participated in a virtual shadowing program through UT Southwestern Medical Branch with Dr. Raymond Fowler. In this program, I learned about different jobs in the medical field while getting to test out the information I learned. Through this program, I earned twenty hours of shadowing credit. Now that I am in college, I have new opportunities. Since being in college, I have joined the Advancement of Females in Medicine organization, which provides women the opportunity to learn about the impact that women have made in the medical field while also providing networking opportunities. They also bring in speakers every couple of weeks to teach students about new opportunities within medicine. During my senior year of college, I will be gaining internship experience for my major, but I plan on earning some more shadowing hours before that during the summers. This scholarship money would not only reduce my financial stress in college, but afterwards as well. After college I am continuing with my higher education by attending graduate school to earn my masters degree in occupational therapy. This money will allow me to graduate from graduate school with less debt compared to without this scholarship, so I can start my career with more financial freedom.