While in high school I was forced to withdraw due to administration preventing my pursuit of dual enrollment. I was drowning in work from Advanced Placement classes, when I fell ill and needed a week out of school, even with a doctors note my work was not excused and I was told in less words that if the stacks of assignments I had missed in each class were not turned in within the next three days I would fail. As a straight A student with almost perfect attendance this was devastating. I withdrew from school and fell into a deep depression trying to figure out how I could turn my story around. When I found the high school I graduated from, they saw my test scores and grades and welcomed me to their school located on our local community college’s campus. I immediately began taking college classes, and while it was a bumpy start, returning to school full time after being out for a few months. I got back up when I did not succeed. I worked diligently, studying during all of my free time and attending tutoring after long lectures to ensure that I’d maintain the same grade point average that myself and my parents had grown accustomed too. I didn’t want to let them down as they had always supported me even when they weren’t sure where my plans were headed. I went on to take classes for two years straight. As well as the summers so that with only an additional year, I could graduate with my Associates of Arts degree before even receiving my high school diploma. When high school graduation rolled around I received a 4.3 grade point average and graduated 4th in my class. The one thing that my administration told me that I wouldn’t be able to do I had achieved after many sleepless nights, tears, and most importantly hard work. This was one of the hardest things that I had ever done and what made it especially hard is that no one believed that I could do it and there was no guidance. I made my own schedule and calculated which classes satisfied my requirements for both high school and college graduation. At the time this was an alternative school and now it has a waiting list of students trying to do the exact same thing that I did. I plan on helping my community in the future by becoming a Physician. As a little girl I wanted to be a doctor, but I never thought that it was something that I would actually accomplish. When you have enough people telling you that a dream is unattainable you start to believe them. After I started school for radiography, I spent a lot of time taking x-rays for doctors and working alongside of them in the operating room. I became fascinated with what they did and their experiences and work habits. I knew deep down after seeing this other world that I would never be satisfied until I also accomplished this incredible feat. I plan on applying to medical school in the near future and look forward to my career as a Physician. I am grateful for my future career in radiography, as it will help me fund my dreams and it also opened my eyes to the career that I really want to use to change the world around me.

As a child of immigrants, the importance of education was stressed to me from the beginning. I remember talking about my plans of graduating from college, with great pride; after graduating from preschool. At this time, before moving to the United States, the highest level of education between my parents was some college classes. After we moved to Florida, my father stayed behind because he could not get a job in the state comparable to his career back home. My mother did the majority of our child-rearing alone, which was difficult for her but she worked incredibly hard to raise us well. During our childhood, my mother wanted to lead by example so she pursued higher education. She completed an online degree while working and taking care of two young children and a teenager. I remember sitting and doing homework with her, and seeing that she was relentless in her efforts. Times were hard, with little sleep, her parental duties, and educational difficulties due to differences in her education in her country of origin but she persisted. She worked so hard that even in elementary school I knew that if she could do it, then so could I. I did well in school and tried my hardest because of how hard both of my parents were working to help everyone in my family achieve all of our goals. My mother eventually graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology with a 4.0 GPA and I was so proud. She had to forego her graduation because between working and taking care of her children there was no time to attend it. Her entire educational experience was a series of selfless acts. She then pursued a career in education so that she could have a schedule that worked with her children. She has since returned to school and completed a Master's Degree after 10 years of teaching and is now a school administrator and works as a Dean. She has aspirations to become a Principal one day and I know that anything she sets her mind to, she can accomplish. I have always been proud of her but seeing how hard she worked then and now has always stuck with me and been a driving force for my determination in education. I plan to continue my education after I receive my degree and licensure to be a Radiologic Technologist. This career will enable me to fund my future education which is just as important as doing well in school. After this, I plan on completing my Bachelor's degree in Biology so that I can advance my career in the medical field. I intend to study diligently for my MCAT so that I can apply to medical school. Once I am admitted I want to learn as much as I can so that one day after graduation I can be admitted to a residency program at a hospital that can guide me but also help me reach my goals of becoming an Interventional Radiologist. In this career, I will help people in emergent conditions who need precise minimally invasive surgery done to improve their circulation and relieve clots and blockages. My immigrant background has shown me that nothing is impossible as long as you believe in yourself and continue to put your best foot forward. The more I try and the harder I work the more I succeed.

I have attended the church that I belong to for almost fifteen years. It is a place that I hold close to my heart not only because of their impact on me but also their impact on others. As a young girl, I watched my mother work with children and use her gift for education to encourage children to learn and also to spread the message of Jesus Christ. Once I was old enough I began working with her during the summers at our church's outreach summer camp program to minister to and support children in the inner city through love, community support, and all-day childcare which I know was an immense help to those parents that needed to work. This experience led me to tutoring and teaching. I became a tutor in high school and helped many students complete their assignments so that they were eligible for promotion at the end of the school year. Every student that I helped completed the work that was required of them and was promoted to the next grade. Years later I ended up working at the same school that I had attended and then tutored, as a substitute teacher. This was during the pandemic when our teacher shortage was dire. Because of the college credits that I had accumulated at the time and my associate of arts degree, I was given a class and the responsibilities of a long-term substitute. These students were not happy with the fact that their lives had changed so much during these vulnerable years and that they had no control over it. Many times I received the brunt of their anger. I continued to help them despite this and did everything with the grace that I would want someone to show me if the roles were reversed. These students also progressed to their next grade and even learned new math concepts and how to work together and communicate with each other. By the end of the year, they were able to express themselves better and were much less angry. I am so glad that I was able to be a safe person in the lives of these students during a time that was so confusing for many people. We still feel the effects of the pandemic today but I also carry with me the impact that my students had on me and the impact that I hope I had on them.

My name is Kathleen Jean-Baptiste and I have hyperthyroidism. I was diagnosed in 2021 even though I had experienced the complications of this disease for much longer. Hyperthyroidism affects every part of my life. Having an overactive thyroid caused by nodules located on both lobes causes my body to exist in a constant fight-or-flight state. I have had horrible anxiety for most of my life and I now know that it is caused by my thyroid. This makes school or class time difficult because I am always on high alert and sometimes have trouble focusing. Situations that would not stress someone else out can cause a lot of inner turmoil for me, sometimes I feel like giving up because everything is so stressful but I know that I want to achieve my goals. At times I can seem mean or snappy when in reality my hormones are raging so much that I am uncomfortable just being wherever I am. This condition has also kept me very underweight, I am around 20 pounds underweight for my age and height. I have always been teased about my size and had my capabilities underestimated. This has also led to chronic fatigue, which in my life outside of school has kept me away from spending time with my friends or family and having to choose between seeing them or resting after long days of work or school. Chronic fatigue has impacted my education in the past but I have since found ways to alleviate that issue, sometimes that means staying at school hours after class has ended so that I can do my work without the opportunity to rest. I am working with medical professionals to help alleviate the symptoms of my disease so that I can have a bright future. It was a sonographic technologist that performed an ultrasound of my throat that gave me the answers I didn't even know that I was searching for. This led me into the imaging sciences field and I hope to help people in similar ways one day. Imaging science allows us to diagnose and treat many different conditions without having to perform invasive surgeries. With help from this scholarship, I would be able to pay my tuition for the month which would alleviate a lot of financial and physical stress. I am unable to work consistently because of my school schedule but I have been trying to make a way because I know that this is something I must do. In sixteen months I will have completed my program and I want to go on to accomplish a Master's degree in Imaging Sciences so that I can help more people and be an inspiration to other Black young women in a field where we are not represented at that educational level.