I come from a small town of 220 people and spend most of my free time outdoors. I love hunting, snowmobiling, my family, and helping others. I am currently driving across the Idaho-Wyoming border every day this summer for a clinical rotation in physical therapy. I am also planning a wedding for July! Hard work and compassion are important qualities I take pride in. I graduated with my associate degree from the College of Southern Idaho before graduating from high school. School does not come easy to me, I credit my early education accomplishments to my hard work and family support. I have lived in more double-wide trailers than I have stick-built houses. My family's modest financial circumstances pushed me to dream big and set priorities. I am a long-distance runner and loved running cross country in high school. During my junior year, I made the sacrifice of not running with my team because I could not afford the gas money to drive to practices every day. Instead, I spent time working on my online college classes. It was a hard decision, but I was privileged to make my family members my best friends and learn how to make adult decisions at a young age. My goal is to practice pelvic health physical therapy and expand male pelvic health care in my local community of southeastern Idaho and western Wyoming. Pelvic health treats several concerns such as incontinence, pelvic pain, low back pain, post-partum care for women, enlarged prostate for men, pelvic organ prolapse, painful sex, inability to sit for long periods, etc. I am thoroughly passionate about pelvic health and its importance. Maintaining control over our bowels and bladders is important to our daily lives and comfort. There are too many people who suffer in silence because talking about bathroom and sexual habits is embarrassing! I want to make a difference in a modest yet foundational aspect of people's lives. Everyone deserves to be dry and comfortable. New moms deserve to jump on the trampoline with their kids without leaking. Couples deserve to have pain-free intimacy with one another. I want to make that difference! I am a senior at Idaho State University majoring in Physical Therapy Assisting and Health Science with a concentration in health professions. I also have my geriatric certificate and am excited to graduate in the Fall of 2024. Next, I plan on specializing in pelvic health and getting my doctorate. I plan on using my geriatric certificate directly in my profession to screen for older adult abuse after interning with adult protection services as part of my training. Incontinence is a major contributor to elder abuse, and abuse can cause incontinence. Sexual abuse can easily be hidden, but in my profession, I will be able to identify signs that others cannot. I cannot wait to start practicing and helping others live better lives. I want to give back to my community by helping individuals with problems that other healthcare providers do not want to talk about. Financial aid is greatly appreciated. I am paying for school entirely on my own and depend on aid greatly. Thank you for your consideration!

My great-grandpa Jack G. Jones was also a Christian gospel singer! He was even on the local radio down in Indiana. Although he passed away when I was little, my grandpa taught me some of the fun songs his dad would sing to him. One of my favorites was "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival" by Ray Stevens, it's a fun listen. Unfortunately, it is no secret that neither my grandpa nor I can carry a tune, but we enjoy singing loud and proud anyways. As a Christian, spreading Christ's love is something that excites me as I try to be as kind as I possibly can. I have always been told that I have a deep love for ALL people, and I take pride in that. My biggest goals are serving a mission for my church, getting married to a great man, raising a cute family, and working in my dream career where I will be able to help others. I have been a member of my church since I was born and have participated in countless community service projects. My favorite one was done through an organization called Days for Girls International. I was able to put together "period kits" for girls across the world who do not have access to proper feminine hygiene while they are menstruating. When I am not working for Swan Valley Lawns, I spend a great deal of time with my family ice-fishing, snowmobiling, camping, horseback riding, and hunting. My two little sisters are my best friends and I couldn't ask for anyone better to hang out with. I am also an avid long-distance runner and love to play the piano. My favorite piano piece is an arrangement of, "I'm trying to be like Jesus." In the future, I hope to continue to serve and give back to my community through my job. I am currently pursuing a career in pelvic floor physiotherapy. This is a fairly new form of physical therapy that is becoming more common and further researched. I absolutely love the human body, especially the digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems so this type of therapy is a perfect fit. I will get to help individuals with issues such as urine or fecal incontinence, uterine prolapses, erectile dysfunction, cystocele and rectocele, adhesions, diastasis recti, postpartum care, and lots more. I want people to feel comfortable with every part of their body, even the most "hush" areas. It's not normal to leak when you laugh or have pain with sex, but luckily there is a solution. I have already completed shadow hours in this field and am very passionate about it as I continue my schooling this Fall. I already received an associate's degree before I graduated from high school in the spring of 2021. I was able to do this based on hard work, the dual enrollment program, my family's support, and my amazing guidance counselor. It is safe to save I have a love for learning and helping others, and it is even more enjoyable for me when I can incorporate anatomy into those two passions. The human body is one of God's greatest gifts to us, I am reminded every day of how blessed I am to have a healthy, functioning body. I want to help others who are struggling to live as comfortable of a life as I am by helping their bodies perform activities of daily living that most of us take for granted. Financial aid would be greatly appreciated since I come from a very modest family. I expect to pay for my schooling all by myself. My parents are currently working on moving in a trailer onto our own property that we recently were able to purchase. Until then, we are living in an even older double-wide trailer on my grandparent's property. This is a big and long-awaited project that will be taking up almost all of my parent's time and finances for the next while. Thank you for your consideration!

I am sitting down to begin this scholarship application after spending some time knelt down, alone in the bathroom, with my head in the toilet, and my fingers down my throat. I do not blame my eating disorder on men in general because it is so much more complicated than that. But, it is safe to say my disorder began because of an overwhelming pressure to be accepted by men in today's society. I just wanted to feel beautiful. For me, the most effective way a society can empower women is to stop objectifying their bodies. I want to believe that my body is special and that I am more than an object to satisfy men's desires. Yet this feels impossible when I am constantly surrounded by thoughts and messages on my smartphone that say I am not thin enough, not strong enough, not curvy enough, not pretty enough, not good enough. The best way to meet this demand of ending the dehumanization of women is to fight against pornography. Porn affects both men and women, but it is apparent that most porn is made up of female nudity. In addition, black women are more likely to experience violent abuse in porn. It affects the brain like a drug and alters views of women, thus creating a male-dominant mindset. It also fuels sex trafficking, domestic violence, sexual abuse, loneliness, eating disorders, addiction, and depression. It also damages self-esteem, healthy sexual performance, equality, and loving relationships. It saddens me to learn from Fight the New Drug that, "91.5% of men and 60.2% of women consume porn." I have always been self-conscious of my body, but it wasn't until after the man I once loved told me about his porn problem then left me that I began to despise my body. I was not as beautiful as all of those naked porn stars he had been intently watching. My solution was to starve myself. I couldn't help but see myself as anything but flesh to men. I could never be successful or have my own thoughts. I was just their sexual pleasure. Pornography has changed men's expectations of how women should look and has changed how women view themselves. This is creating an abrupt halt to women's empowerment. How can I feel empowered and respected while the most sacred part of me is being exposed in such a manner? It is destroying how men perceive and respect women. I want to live in a diverse society, not a colorblind one. I don't understand how the idea that "women can do everything a man can do" is empowering. Being authentic is much more beautiful and powerful. I want to be able to do everything men CANNOT do. Men need women, and women need men. We can work together to create a wonderful society, but only when men respect women and don't objectify them or treat them as a lesser other. Of course, women must follow suit and treat men with respect and love as well. This is how we will find equality among differences. A society that can celebrate and respect uniqueness has reached significance. I want to maintain differences between genders but I want us to respect and actually love each other for who we are as individuals. I shouldn't have to feel that my differences from men make me less valued. Standing up against pornography will strengthen the feminist movement.

"Skip the dinner, wake up thinner." "You won't regret not eating." "Hungry to bed, hungry, to rise, makes a girl a smaller size." "Your stomach isn't growling, it's applauding." These are some of the thoughts from thinspo that regularly float through my head. I don't consider myself anorexic because I don't look anorexic. After all, my lowest recorded weight was only 102 pounds. I just tend to do a lot of disordered eating. Restrictions and binges, syncope and missed periods, long runs and fasts, diets and guilt..it all adds up to a very unorganized mess. But I haven't always been this way. Several members of my family struggle with mental health but I see it most in my dad. I first began to mirror similar struggles of depression in seventh grade. It was then that I decided to lock myself in the bathroom and strangle myself. But, after some time I was left unsuccessful and gave up on my first suicide attempt. I never told either of my parents. Despite my dad's struggles with depression, it was hard to tell them. My mom has a difficult time understanding depression and I feared telling her what I had done. I could even recall her referring to individuals who committed suicide as "stupid" and "selfish." I buried my first attempt and picked up the hobby of long-distance running. At first, running acted as a medication to my depression and I learned to cope with my suicidal thoughts. I also found a boy whom I absolutely fell in love with for 18 months. The relationship started out wonderful but ended very abusive as he slipped back into a pornography problem. I became less of a person and more of an object to him. Although he never got physical, he would emotionally control me and yell at me for simple things like not telling him I was about to take a shower. When the relationship ended, I was still in love. I now understand why victims of domestic violence often never get out and have a hard time leaving their violent spouses. I felt worthless and thought I could never deserve someone better. I immediately slumped back into a depressed state. A few months passed and I attempted to overdose on Ibuprofen and Dramamine but was caught by my mother. The school counselors were made aware and I got the support from my mom I needed. I broke down and told her everything. I was helpless, but let her into my confused and sorrow-filled mind so she could pick me back up. My relationship with her was changed forever. She reacted with love even though she did not understand my situation. I now know I can tell my mom anything. I eventually made it out of that suicidal mindset, but my mind wandered to another dark corner of mental health. I blamed pornography for the reason why my boyfriend became abusive and left. I realized I looked nothing like the hundreds of pretty, naked, Instagram models my Love was intently watching. I hated my body. My love for running turned into a tool to punish myself. I ate as little as possible and if I skipped my run, I skipped another meal. I refused to eat dinner until I had run at least 3 miles. When I felt I binged, I went out on my run where I was alone and shoved fingers to the back of my throat trying to make myself vomit. Eventually, I realized I was no longer trying to drop the numbers on the scale to look like the beautiful girls on social media, but because I was trapped. I didn't want to stop the challenge and I couldn't escape the guilt I felt every time I ate. A voice in the back of my head was always taunting me. To this day, that voice is still there, but luckily I am at a healthy weight and am improving. I often catch myself slipping back into restrictions and have to be mindful of my appetites. I believe that mental illness needs to be addressed with care. Our society should end the stigma towards it and practice more kindness. A simple loving remark today might save someone from ending their lives tonight. I also believe that women need to be aware of abuse and should be encouraged to recognize the signs of domestic violence. No one deserves to be controlled or treated less than a person. A woman might not believe she deserves a loving relationship, but that is her depression speaking. No one deserves abuse. I have chosen to go into pelvic floor physical therapy and hope to end women's fear of not being enough for their spouse. A large part of pelvic therapy is helping women have comfortable sex. With my experiences in mental health, I hope to bring a psychological and emotional side to aid in the physical therapeutic exercises. For example, a man can become sexually aroused as easily as turning on a light switch but their female partners have a whole panel of different light switches with dials and knobs for detailed adjustments. Everything needs to be just right for a female to have comfortable sex. The dishes not being done or sex on top of the covers are basic things that will act as a mental barrier to enjoy an activity of daily living. Being insecure about their body will almost always cause low levels of lubrication and pelvic and uterine muscles to tense up, leading to painful or difficult sex. This can even become chronic and lead to other problems such as incontinence and anxiety about intimacy. I want to encourage women to be confident about their bodies, despite worldly expectations, depression, and influences of pornography. Girls do not need to starve themselves to be beautiful. I want to show people that.

I recently graduated from Ririe high school and am the first individual in my family to graduate from college thanks to online and dual enrollment courses. I plan to attend college this fall and am patiently waiting on acceptance to a PTA program. I hope to someday specialize in pelvic floor therapy and help others regain the ability to perform activities of daily living like continence and sex. Growing up, my parents taught me and my younger siblings to be thrift from a young age. We were well cared for but money was sometimes tight. My parents were both college dropouts and received no degree. My mom encouraged me to go to college and get a good job so that I could live more comfortably than how I was at the time. We presently are living in a dumpy double-wide trailer on my grandparents' property with hopes of moving into our own trailer this summer before I leave for college to work on my health science degree. I often struggled in school, especially with math, but I was dedicated and kept my grades up until I grasped how to love learning. In junior high, I discovered my appreciation for the human body. I took as many health classes as I could and was not only passionate about the subject, but it clicked in my brain like none other had before. Medical terminology was one of my favorite classes because I could memorize terms and definitions with ease. I began trying to make connections with my everyday life to human biology and spent free afternoons watching videos and reading articles online to further my curiosity about the body. Once I reached high school, I finally decided on the career of physical therapy after taking a Spanish class from a teacher who was paralyzed from the waist down but was able to live an almost normal life thanks to physical therapy. That is when I first began taking dual enrollment classes. I knew that a career in the medical field would be very expensive to go to school for and I was worried it would not be possible for me. I did not want to put the financial burden on my family and could not see how I could pay for it on my own. This worry drove me to take as many college classes as I could in hopes to help pay for my dream career. I was successful and able to graduate with honors from the College of Southern Idaho with my associate of liberal arts degree a few weeks before I graduated from high school this last spring semester. This experience taught me that I do not have to be the smartest kid in the class to be successful in academics, I just need to be dedicated and work with the right advisors who believed in me. My advisors discouraged me from my goal until I met Tommie Mangis. Tommie grew up in an extremely poor and trashy trailer park but was able to get out of the environment and had the goal to help others do the same. She talked about how she wanted to show kids that no matter what your home life looks like, you can have control over your future. I now know that no matter what my situation is, I can chase my dreams, and more importantly, I can achieve those dreams with enough hard work.

I recently graduated from the College of Southern Idaho with my associate of liberal arts degree thanks to the dual enrollment program and online classes. A few weeks after that, I graduated from Ririe high school and switched my major to a health science degree to work on this fall. I have already applied to a physical therapist assistant program through several different colleges but am patiently waiting for future acceptance. Growing up, my parents were very supportive of my dreams of working in the medical field. Both of them dropped out of college and achieved no degree. We have always had the things we need, but money has often been tight. At the moment, we are living in an old, moldy, doublewide trailer on my grandparent's property while my parents both work full time and carry hopes of getting our own trailer soon. My parents have encouraged me to be thrift and also to chase my dreams of going into the medical field so I can have a good job doing something I love. It didn't take long for me to discover my love for the human body. I took as many health classes as I could in school and loved where my knowledge took me. I tried to practice having body awareness and became an avid runner. Anatomy was not only something I was passionate about, but it clicked in my mind like no other subject had before. In my own free time, I make connections from my everyday life to the human body and watch videos or read articles online to better understand human biology. As a freshman in high school, I decided on the career of physical therapy after having a Spanish teacher who was paralyzed from the waist down be able to walk and live an almost normal life thanks to physical therapy. It was after this inspiring story that I began taking the dual enrollment classes to help me pay for some of the daunting expenses of college. My parents were very supportive and happy to see my desire to help change people's lives. I hope to specialize in pelvic floor therapy because it fascinates me and I want to see others benefit from this type of therapy as it is further explored. Pelvic floor therapy helps with things like incontinence, uterine prolapses, difficult bowel movements, painful or difficult sex, diastasis recti, post-surgery recovery, etc. These things are often uncomfortable for individuals to talk about, but they are all activities of daily living. Everyone deserves to enjoy sex and laugh without leaking. I want to be able to help people of all ages live more comfortable lives and enjoy sexual activities with their spouses. While doing shadow hours, it has put a smile on my face to see individuals walk out of the clinic with better confidence and lessened pain. I want to make a difference for others and do it in a comfortable way. I enjoy teaching and encouraging open communication about the pelvic floor so that men and women suffering don't continue to do so because they think it is normal. I have a lot left to learn but am anxious to continue my education in the medical field.

The year 2020 had a great start for me. I enjoyed having school online so I could work at my own pace and spend more time with my family. I have always been a bit of a homebody so quarantines and social distancings were actually enjoyable for me. I made countless memories with my family and boyfriend that I never want to forget. While everyone else was complaining of the year 2020, I stood out and was having one of the greatest years I had ever had. It was not until the end of the year that things went downhill. My boyfriend of 18 months began to become more and more controlling. He also confessed to me that he had slipped into a pornography addiction. It wasn't long before I felt like an object to him. He would yell at me for little things like forgetting to tell him I was about to take a shower. However, no matter how abusive things would get, I could not bring myself to leave him. In the end, I didn't have to because he broke up with me after I stood up for myself and got new hair extensions he disapproved of. I was devastated to see him leave after I had spent so many days exerting myself to tears just trying to make him happy. All I wanted was for him to love me as much as I loved him. I immediately slipped into a dark hole of depression and suffered from anorexic tendencies. Three months later, not long after New Years, I attempted to overdose. Luckily, my mom caught me and sat me down for a long talk I will never forget. Among many other things, she asked me what I wanted to see in my future. She told me that I deserved more than an abusive relationship and that I have the potential to find someone who will treat me like a queen. There is someone out there for me and I don't have to starve myself or become an object to impress him. I learned that I can still have hope heading into another year and even though I was starting it in the worst way I could imagine, I tried to find happiness in the simple things. One of the ways I did this was by starting a gratitude journal. I struggled for a long time and even now, almost halfway into 2021, I still have hard days where I miss my ex-boyfriend and don't want to eat any food. But, when I think back to the conversation I had with my mom, I remember to try and live each day in a way that will shape my future to something brighter, something I deserve. I learned that domestic violence and toxic relationships are complicated to understand, but that I don't have to settle for one. I know that I can still have a future and that it will be beautiful. Even during hard times I can find hope and turn to my mom for help. My mom loved me unconditionally and I owe her the world as I build my life with new dreams and hopes.

I graduated from the College of Southern Idaho with my associate of liberal arts degree, with honors, before I graduated from high school! It was challenging to take so many classes during high school, especially since I am not a "smart kid", but I was dedicated enough. Thanks to the support from my family, especially my mom, and my college and career advisor Tommie Jo Mangis, I have something I am proud of. It was a lot of fun but also intimidating. After I graduate from high school, I plan on going into physical therapy.

I am a hardworking senior at small-town Ririe high school anxious to further my goals. I am in need of this scholarship so I can get a degree for my dream job of physical therapy and help others regain comfort and the ability to perform ADLS. In school, I quickly discovered that anatomy clicked in my brain like no other class had before and the human body fascinated me. I tried to practice body awareness to help me understand what was actually going on inside of me. I took as many health classes as I could and knew I would love to work in the medical field. In my free time, I often will watch videos or read articles to feed my curiosity about human biology. My entire life has been made up of connections to my body. After a run I would sit down and study the muscular or respiratory systems to see what was happening inside of me. If I got a stomach cramp I would study the digestive system and proper nutrition. If I got a cold I would be reading up on the lymphatic system. Regular things like menstruating made my brain wander and want to learn more about the female reproductive system which lead me to a passionate knowledge of embryonic development. Even simple things like using the bathroom would sometimes spark a question about the physiology of the pelvic floor. Our humble family recently moved for my dad to find work, so we have currently been living in a dumpy, old, double-wide trailer on my grandparent's property. But before I had to transfer schools to Ririe, I attended Bonneville high school where I took a Spanish class taught by a teacher who was paralyzed from the waist down, yet she was able to walk and live an almost normal life thanks to physical therapy. After hearing her story, PT seemed like the perfect career for me so I got to work. I wanted to use my love for the human body to help others live happier more comfortable lives. Unfortunately, I didn't have very high expectations for achieving this career because I was abnormally concerned about paying for college. I grew up with a tight money mindset since my childhood consisted of watching my parents stress and juggle bills and being taught that my younger sisters and I needed to be thrift in almost all aspects of living. My solution was to get involved in dual enrollments to help cover some expenses that were daunting to me. Even though I have been successful enough to already have completed my associate of liberal arts degree with honors through the College of Southern Idaho and be the first student from my high school to have graduated with a college degree, I have a long ways to go and financial aid would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the consideration, I hope to pay it back some day by helping others!

I am a senior at Ririe high school planning to attend the College of Southern Idaho this fall to continue my education and dream of working in physical therapy. I have already completed my associate of liberal arts degree at CSI through online and dual enrollment courses. Even though I have put most of my efforts into academics, I also spent a great deal of time with my high school boyfriend. After almost one year of being together, my prior boyfriend slipped into a pornography addiction. Our relationship slowly went downhill from there and I found myself another year later, starting my senior year, in a very abusive relationship. My boyfriend demanded to know where I was at all times. He encouraged me to download location apps on my phone, yet he would still yell at me if I went somewhere without telling him first. It got very extreme, to the point he would be upset with me if I forgot to tell him I was taking a shower. Sometimes he went through my phone in a detailed search, often while I was out of the room. He would almost always be upset with me for a number of things he did not like seeing. To give himself comfort, he deleted several contacts from my phone without permission. I told him of my dream of becoming a physical therapist assistant and how I wanted to specialize in pelvic health and work in the home health setting. He refused to be happy with my dreams of college and a career and explained that my relying on him for income would be better so I could always be home to raise his kids. My caring mom noticed that things were not right and tried talking to me about the "red flags" she was seeing while my younger sister got involved in learning and spreading awareness about toxic relationships. The first conversation started after one of my gynecology appointments when I mentioned that because I didn't go into enough detail explaining the doctor's visit to my boyfriend, he was no longer talking to me for the rest of the night. The conversation with my mom did not go well. I was angry with her for trying to help even though I knew she was right. The last thing I was going to do was leave him. I was successful in doing just that because I never did leave him, but he left me. One day I decided to get a new hairstyle even though my boyfriend hated it. He said he refused to let me change my hair, that I trashed any beauty I thought I had, that everyone was talking about how bad it looked, and several more hurtful comments. Suddenly he broke up with me and I was speedily plummeting into depression. I was treated like an object and never stood up for myself, yet I was so in love that instead of leaving him, I let my self-esteem drop to the point I nearly attempted suicide 3 months after the breakup. I worried he may have left me because I didn't look like the women he was used to seeing in pornography, so I began to starve myself and suffered anorexic and bulimic tendencies. I felt as though I was being trampled on by tangled thoughts and sorrows running rampage in my head. Until my mom reached in and pulled me out. Even though she had been there the whole time, I was too stubborn to allow for her help. Whenever she tried telling me in her motherly tone to stand up for myself and that I had worth, I rudely turned her away. I have many hurtful words I told her that I wish I could take back. Despite the horrible treatment I had given her, she took me into her arms when I humbly hit bottom. She told me I was beautiful and that I deserved more than an abusive relationship for the rest of my life. My mom has always been the strongest woman I have ever known. She excels in independence and gracefully refuses to let others take advantage of her or treat her poorly. It was hard for her to understand my thoughts of deserving that relationship and not wanting to continue on in life, but she was patient with me. I now have a clearer vision as I am rebuilding my esteem and acceptance of my body. I look to her as my role model and best friend. I can easily say that I never go a day without asking myself how I can be more like my mom. She goes to extreme lengths to bless the lives of others, yet never forgets to think for herself too. My mom was patient with me no matter how frustrating I was to deal with, but she was far from afraid to yell back when I crossed lines. She always tried to hug me and tell me she loved me, even if it was through her own tears. I hope to become more like my mom so that I can understand my worth and learn that I deserve healthy relationships free of control. I have never considered assertiveness a quality I wanted, but after seeing it in my mom and listening to her guidance I hope to be more assertive with myself so I don’t suffer from serious abuse in the future. No matter how bad of a day my mom is having she uses kindness and ends the day with meekness and a fighting hope for a better day tomorrow. My mom never gives up. She won't give up on me and she won't give up on herself. She is far from prideful, but she has a fiery ambition to be her best self and won’t let anyone stop her or mistreat her. I will always strive to be more like her.