I am passionate about learning how to care for others. I am passionate about becoming a nurse so that I can change and influence the world around me for the better, making even the slightest positive difference in the lives of others. Attending Lourdes University has changed my life. During my second week on campus, I had the opportunity to volunteer with the campus ministry and deliver food to low-income neighborhoods. Before this experience, I had never volunteered to work with people struggling with homelessness or starvation. I knew it existed in Toledo but it’s one of those topics that most people try not to think about. Upon arriving I was gearing myself up, knowing that it would be an enlightening experience. I had not prepared for the emotions I would feel when I heard their stories and saw the happiness on their faces over a sandwich. As a society, we glance over them as though they aren’t people with feelings and families. We ignore them to ease our pain instead of taking responsibility. It has deepened my personal and social responsibility to the community around me. Upon graduating from Lourdes I will be a registered nurse. Once I graduate, it is a personal goal of mine to volunteer at free clinics on my off days, providing medical care to those who wouldn’t have any. Encouraging my colleagues to join me in supporting those who have nothing. Nurses change lives by advocating for their patients and easing pain under difficult circumstances. They care for their patients and have the most intimate jobs. I want to be a safe space for patients, providing therapeutic care to those who need it most. I want to volunteer in underserved countries, providing medical care to those who have none. I want to help laboring moms as a labor and delivery nurse, gaining their trust and making the experience as pleasant and beautiful as possible. I chose nursing because I have the flexibility to change my specialty and I can make a positive impact. I am going to be a traveling nurse. I want to start at a hospital in Wisconsin so that I can volunteer at a nursing home called Villa Loretto. I want to learn from their founder Sister Stephen just as I have learned from the sisters here at Lourdes. Eventually, I am going to visit all fifty states, volunteering at clinics on my days off. I want to spend a year volunteering in Africa and South America helping provide medical care. I have the privilege and the resources to educate myself, I want to give back to those who cannot. When I start to slow down, I want to open up a nursing home with farmland, like Villa Loretto, in Ohio. I have so much I want to accomplish. I am thankful and blessed to have the educational opportunities I do and cannot wait to use them for positive change.

I used random acts of kindness to fight my depression. High school was extremely hard. I had PSTD from a car crash that almost took the lives of my family and I. I was fighting through nightmares that made it hard to sleep. I was depressed and self-harming. I felt like I was a burden to everyone around me. My parents sent me to a psychologist. One of the tips she gave me was to ‘act like it.’ Act like you are happy even if you aren’t. I told her that I didn’t think it would work but I would try. To which she said, “when you try this, I want you to try making as many people smile as you can. Smiles are infectious and will help you.” This was my key to unlocking a happier life. It showed me that other people wanted me around, that I wasn’t a burden. I started actively seeking out opportunities to be kind. I would cook dinner for my family and put sticky notes with positive sayings in the school bathrooms. Eventually, I joined a non-profit group called Princess Pals. We dress up as Disney princesses and go to children’s hospitals and fundraisers. I play Rapunzel from Tangled. Kindness saved my life. I am not exaggerating when I say that I believe kindness is the most powerful tool we possess. It inspired me to go into nursing. I use it every day while working as a PCA at a nursing home in the memory care unit. One of my favorite tricks is to be extremely happy when greeting my dementia patients, it puts them in a good mood and makes them more comfortable with me in their space. I cannot wait to see where kindness takes me in the future.

I used random acts of kindness to fight my depression. High school was extremely hard. I had PSTD from a car crash that almost took the lives of my family and I. I was fighting through nightmares that made it hard to sleep. I was depressed and self-harming. I felt like I was a burden to everyone around me. My parents sent me to a psychologist. One of the tips she gave me was to ‘act like it.’ Act like you are happy even if you aren’t. I told her that I didn’t think it would work but I would try. To which she said, “when you try this, I want you to try making as many people smile as you can. Smiles are infectious and will help you.” This was my key to unlocking a happier life. It showed me that other people wanted me around, that I wasn’t a burden. I started actively seeking out opportunities to be kind. I would cook dinner for my family and put sticky notes with positive sayings in the school bathrooms. Eventually, I joined a non-profit group called Princess Pals. We dress up as Disney princesses and go to children’s hospitals and fundraisers. I play Rapunzel from Tangled. Kindness saved my life. I am not exaggerating when I say that I believe kindness is the most powerful tool we possess. It inspired me to go into nursing. I use it every day while working as a PCA at a nursing home in the memory care unit. One of my favorite tricks is to be extremely happy when greeting my dementia patients, it puts them in a good mood and makes them more comfortable with me in their space. I cannot wait to see where kindness takes me in the future.

I have ADHD. My life looks easy from the surface and I am blessed with opportunities most people do not have. Within my many blessings I have had my hardships that have shaped me into the person I am. I struggled throughout school and I felt like I wasn’t good enough. I had such low self esteem that I believed even if I tried I would fail. My mindset changed when I started working as a server during my gap year. I thrived in the chaotic setting of a friday night rush. I was great at my job and it gave me the confidence to realize that my ADHD isn’t debilitating, it’s my superpower. I started my first semester of college and I was stressed. I had heard stories about how hard nursing school is. I immediately signed up with an academic tutor that would monitor my grades. I ended my first semester of college with a 3.3 GPA, even though I was in classes that were twice as a hard as anything I experienced in high school. I realized that it wasn’t my ADHD holding me back but my lack of self confidence. Eventually I would like to open nursing home with a farm. The farm will provide a pet therapy and purposeful living. This technique has been shown to reduce loneliness, increase mental and physical activity, and promote purposeful living. By introducing more activities you can improve mental health, giving them a more pleasant life. Eventually this assisted living facility will fund scholarships for nursing students. I believe that the best way to improve our world is to create a positive learning environment for upcoming generations. Learning how to function with my ADHD has made me mature and will make me a better nurse.

I am a bisexual woman who has PSTD and ADHD. My life looks easy from the surface. I come from a loving middle class family, I was part of choir, theater, band, horse-back riding, and karate growing up. I am blessed with opportunities most people do not have. Within my many blessings I have had my hardships that have shaped me into the person I am. The summer before I went to middle school, my family was hit by a drunk driver and our car rolled three times. This accident gave me PSTD that caused anxiety and depression along with the nightmares. I struggle with nightmares that make it hard to sleep. This accident caused the hardest years of my life. I have been in and out of therapy ever since. I felt like a burden to those around me. During one session where I was expressing this feeling, my therapist asked if I ever thought about volunteering. This sparked the start to my experiences with Princess Pals. Princess Pals is a non-profit organization that visits children’s hospitals dressed up as Disney Princesses. We fully immerse ourselves in the characters, bringing to life the characters that the children watch on television. Their excitement was nothing short of beautiful. I am blessed to have these experiences and they will forever inspire me to do as much as I can for those less fortunate than me. As I stated before, I have ADHD. I struggled throughout school to understand why everyone else was able to focus during the most boring classes. I felt like I wasn’t good enough. I had such low self esteem that I believed even if I tried I would fail. My mindset changed when I started working as a server during my gap year. I thrived in the chaotic setting of a Friday night rush. I was a great server because of my ADHD. I was great at my job and it gave me the confidence to realize that my ADHD isn’t debilitating, it’s my superpower. I started looking at careers with degrees I had decided were too difficult. I eventually settled on nursing. My first semester of college came around and I was stressed. I immediately signed up with an academic tutor that would monitor my grades. I ended my first semester of college with a 3.3 GPA, even though I was in classes that were twice as a hard as anything I experienced in high school. I realized that it wasn’t my ADHD holding me back but my lack of self confidence. Eventually I would like to open nursing home with a farm. The farm will provide a pet therapy and purposeful living. This technique has been shown to reduce loneliness, increase mental and physical activity, and promote purposeful living. One of the biggest issues I see in residents is them feeling aimless and useless. By introducing more activities you can improve mental health, giving them a more pleasant life. Eventually this assisted living facility will fund scholarships for nursing students. If I have the financial ability, I would like for all profits to go towards the scholarship fund, making the facility more of a nonprofit organization. I believe that the best way to improve our world is to create a positive learning environment for upcoming generations. These experiences have made me mature and grow as a individual. I will be a better nurse because of these experiences. I hope to leave this world better than I entered it.

In the past, I struggled to keep a growth mindset. I would seek approval from others, focus on my failures instead of my accomplishments, and accept failure as a final answer. I have developed a new mindset over the course of several years. In high school, I started making an effort to compliment and positively acknowledge at least one person every day. Doing this put me in the mindset of finding positivity in myself and the world around me. I still make an effort to do this. Another trick I use is using the word “yet”. I saw this trick on a tedTalk about education. They had tested trying to encourage elementary school children into a growth mindset by changing their grades on report cards, instead of giving them an F, they were given the grade “not yet”. These children were more likely to be confident and their grades improved. Therefore I applied the same technique to when I don’t succeed.

I have several important goals in life. One of my most important goals is to become a traveling nurse. I will be able to create positive change in the lives of others, in small and big ways. Nursing is the most intimate career you can have. You’re working one on one with patients often during the most difficult days of their lives. As a travel nurse, I want to volunteer at free clinics on my days off. Once I am financially stable enough, I would love to go to a third-world country and spend a year assisting in any way that I can. Once I start settling down and traveling less, I want to open an assisted living facility that uses pet therapy and promotes purposeful living. The facility will be on farmland giving residents access to many animals. This technique has been shown to reduce loneliness, increase mental and physical activity, and promote purposeful living. I currently work in an assisted living facility and one of the biggest struggles I see in residents is them feeling aimless and useless. By introducing and encouraging more activities you can reduce these feelings, increasing overall mental health, giving them a longer, more pleasant life. Eventually, I hope the assisted living facility will generate enough revenue that I can start a scholarship fund for nursing students at Lourdes University. If I have the financial ability, I would like for all profits to go towards the scholarship fund, making the facility a nonprofit organization. I believe that the best way to improve our world is to create a positive learning environment for upcoming generations. By fostering positive, independent thinkers we can change an entire country within a generation. Giving access to education is one way that I would be able to assist in that.

I have many qualities and characteristics that I am proud to have naturally as well as worked to improve. I am a loyal, compassionate, honest person who tries to be organized, although I’m still working on that one. But since COVID started, the characteristic I have begun to value the most is ambition. It has shown me that I can take the things I am passionate about and use them to make a positive impact on the world around me. I have many things I want to accomplish in my life and I have my ambition to thank for it. One of my most important goals is to become a nurse. More specifically, I strive to become a traveling nurse. During the COVID-19 quarantine, I decided that I wanted to see all fifty states. I want to experience other cultures and learn from them. While doing so, I wanted to effect positive change, helping others whenever and wherever I can. As a traveling nurse, I will be able to create positive change in the lives of others, in small and big ways by calming the patients' nerves, advocating for them, and being a leader within my workplace. Nursing is the most intimate career you can have. You’re working one on one with patients often during the most difficult days of their lives. Another big goal of mine is volunteering for places that need and can utilize my skills. Currently, I am part of a non-profit organization called Princess Pals. We dress up as Disney princesses and go to fundraisers and children’s hospitals. I play Rapunzel from Tangled. This organization showed me my passion for volunteering. As a travel nurse, I want to volunteer at free clinics on my days off. Once I am financially stable enough, I would love to go to Africa or South America and spend a year assisting in any way that I can. Third-world countries seldom have access to adequate healthcare which is something I hope to help change. Once I start settling down and traveling less, I want to open an assisted living facility. This facility will focus on, promoting purposeful living using pet therapy and other activities. Using another nursing home, Villa Loretto in Minnesota, as inspiration, the facility will be on farmland giving residents access to many animals, allowing them to spend time with and care for the animals if they choose. This technique has been shown to reduce loneliness, increase mental and physical activity, and promote purposeful living. One of the biggest issues I see in residents, as a personal care aide, is them feeling aimless and useless. By introducing more activities you can reduce these feelings and increase overall mental health, giving them a longer, more pleasant life. Eventually, I hope that the assisted living facility will generate enough revenue that I can start a scholarship fund for nursing students at Lourdes University. If I have the financial ability, I would like for all profits to go towards the scholarship fund, making the facility more of a nonprofit organization. I believe that the best way to improve our world is to create a positive learning environment for upcoming generations. By fostering positive, independent thinkers we can change an entire country within a generation. Doing this could eventually give better access to healthcare, better education, and foster a more positive world. Giving access to education is one way that I would be able to assist in that. Without my growing ambition, I wouldn’t have the goals or the drive necessary to accomplish them. My ambition is the characteristic I value most.

Patience is a hard thing to master. It takes emotional intelligence, empathy, and practice. You have to be able to look at the bigger picture and recognize that whatever is happening, will not last, it is only a setback. Patience allows you to preserver and make sound decisions. This leads to greater success. Patient people often have a greater sense of gratitude because they are able to look past their obstacles and enjoy their success without it being tainted by negative feelings. Patience is something I have worked on and am working hard to master. It isn’t something you can acquire overnight, you must try each and every day to get into the habit of being patient. That practice is worth it and will impact every aspect of your life. It will make me a better nurse and person. I strive to be a more patient person so that my relationships in all aspects of life can thrive. Being patient will allow me to see the bigger picture when life throws in obstacles. It reduces negative emotions and fosters a happier life, by learning from my mistakes and reducing my frustration, I can become a more understanding and intelligent person.

I have several important goals in life. One of my most important goals is to become a nurse. More specifically, I strive to become a traveling nurse. During the COVID-19 quarantine, I decided that, if I survived, I wanted to see all fifty states. I also decided that I wouldn’t waste another minute. I wanted to effect positive change, helping others whenever and wherever I can. As a traveling nurse, I will be able to travel while helping others. I will be able to create positive change in the lives of others, in small and big ways by calming the patients' nerves, advocating for them, and being a leader within my workplace. Nursing is the most intimate career you can have. You’re working one on one with patients often during the most difficult days of their lives. I currently work as a personal care aide at an assisted living facility and I love getting to know and helping my residents. Being an aide has made me even more excited and ready to become the nurse I'm meant to be. Another big goal of mine is volunteering for places that need and can utilize my skills. Currently, I am part of a non-profit organization called Princess Pals. We dress up as Disney princesses and go to fundraisers and children’s hospitals. I play Rapunzel from Tangled. This organization showed me my passion for volunteering. As a travel nurse, I want to volunteer at free clinics on my days off. Once I am financially stable enough, I would love to go to Africa or South America and spend a year assisting in any way that I can. Third-world countries seldom have access to adequate healthcare which is something I hope to help change. Once I start settling down and traveling less, I want to open an assisted living facility. This facility will focus on, promoting purposeful living using pet therapy and other activities. Using another nursing home, Villa Loretto in Minnesota, as inspiration, the facility will be on farmland giving residents access to many animals, allowing them to spend time with and care for the animals if they choose. This technique has been shown to reduce loneliness, increase mental and physical activity, and promote purposeful living. One of the biggest issues I see in residents is them feeling aimless and useless. By introducing and encouraging more activities you can reduce these feelings and increase overall mental health, giving them a longer, more pleasant life. Eventually, I hope that the assisted living facility will generate enough revenue that I can start a scholarship fund for nursing students at Lourdes University. If I have the financial ability, I would like for all profits to go towards the scholarship fund, making the facility more of a nonprofit organization. I believe that the best way to improve our world is to create a positive learning environment for upcoming generations. By fostering positive, independent thinkers we can change an entire country within a generation. Doing this could eventually give better access to healthcare, better education, and foster a more positive world. Giving access to education is one way that I would be able to assist in that.

One practical solution for helping more people who struggle with mental health issues is talking about it at a younger age. Often, people feel the need to hide their mental health issues. Society has made it a taboo subject, which inhibits people from getting the help they need. Everyone struggles with mental health issues to some degree, at some point in their life. Which is why bringing it up at a younger age and talking about therapy, coping mechanisms, identifying triggers, understanding when you should see a therapist, etc. would be extremely beneficial. We should be talking about mental health at the same time we talk about physical health. Obviously you would approach the subject differently with a child than you would an adult, but by talking about it earlier the subject won’t seem as intimidating. Teaching children to recognize their stress levels, properly communicate feelings, and recognize when they are overwhelmed would produce a more productive and emotionally intelligent adult. This would help people recognize when they are starting to spiral and get professional help before they’ve hit rock bottom. Being able to recognize when you’re spiraling is a key component to stoping the cycle. As someone who has dealt with PTSD, depression, and anxiety issues my entire life, I feel that I would’ve benefited from this. Emotional intelligence is extremely undervalued in today’s society considering how large of a role it plays in our lives.

I love to paint. I started painting during quarantine as a way to pass the time. It slowly grew into one of my most enjoyable activities I do. It became about showing a new creative side that I didn’t know existed. In the past I expressed my creativity through music and theater. When I would do those activities I felt what the music was portraying or what the character I was playing was feeling. When I paint, it isn’t about someone else’s emotions, it’s about my emotions. I get to creativity express previously suppressed feelings that otherwise would’ve stayed suppressed. Painting is my therapy. I can paint to work through something, I can paint to express something. One of my absolute favorites is a painting I titled ‘Fantasia.’ It is modeled after the bubbles in the ‘Nutcracker Suite’ goldfish scene of Disney’s 1940’s Fantasia movie. It makes me think of a simple, happy time with bubble baths and Disney movies. Currently, I am working on a cartoon sun that has a green mud face mask on. To get the proper mud effect, I will be adding sand to my paint. This should create the perfect texture. Creating pieces like the two I just discussed is a great way to center myself into a positive, calm mindset. It is the perfect way for me to clear my head and just create.