I am a current high school senior approaching graduation on May 27th, 2022. During my freshman year of high school, I was offered the opportunity to be a part of a three-year program that would allow me to become a Certified Medical Assistant by the end of my third year. With much preparation and anticipation, I passed my exam in April 2021. In August 2021, I joined a program called Work-Based Learning where students are able to work as part-time interns in their career interested fields. I was able to secure an internship as a Medical Assistant in a local urgent care clinic. While shadowing and observing other Medical Assistants and Doctors in the clinic, I was able to learn and gain more knowledge in a clinical setting. After 3-4 months of observing, learning, and obtaining a numerous amount of information while working under an amazing staff of Doctors and veteran Medical Assistants, I was offered a part-time position in October 2021. Prior to my time becoming a Medical Assistant, I had a desire to work in the field of healthcare. As I have worked through the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic along with having hands-on experiences with all specialties of medicine, that desire has only grown in multitude. I now like to think I’m pretty independent as a Medical Assistant doing tasks such as blood draws, medication injections, x-rays, and testing for illnesses such as covid, flu, strep, etc. I plan to further my career in the medical field to become a Physician in the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology. I hope to combat the alarmingly high mortality statistic regarding African-American mothers and children in the U.S. Dr. Kennedy Lewis OB/GYN is the ultimate goal I have set for myself. Women’s health and overall well-being is a topic I've become passionate about within the past two to three years. After reading an article titled, “Black newborns more likely to die when looked after by White doctors,” I researched, learned, and gained knowledge regarding the true history and background of Gynecology and why this specific statistic existed. The statistics regarding the race percentages are alarming as in recent years the black mother and infant mortality rates are almost triple that of white mothers and infants. I believe that the reason behind this statistic is the implicit biases placed on African Americans and institutional and structural racism, which is still prevalent within the healthcare system in the United States. It infuriates me that this is a modern-day issue in the United States, a first-world fully developed country that has failed black mothers during prenatal care and the birth of their children. I plan to become an Obstetrician-Gynecologist within the next decade to help fight and terminate this alarming statistic. I hope to become the change that my community desperately needs.

I am empowered by immense measures to increase the number of women in STEM, mentor and inspire other women of color to join me in STEM with an end goal of closing the race and gender gaps in STEM in the United States of America. A diverse representation especially in the STEM field is something that is well overdue. All career fields should ethnically represent the world in which we live. Representation oftentimes is more impactful on younger generations as it gives them exposure and inspiration. As an African-American in STEM, I will be a part of the nine percent of African Americans, two percent of African American women in STEM which makes up thirty-three percent of the workforce in our country. I plan to become an Obstetrician/Gynecologist, a specialty that is dominated by sixty percent women and eleven percent African Americans. Although the number of women Obstetricians and Gynecologists is at an all-time high, the statistics regarding the race percentages are alarming as in recent years the black mother and infant mortality rates are almost triple that of white mothers and infants. I have researched, learned, and absorbed the information in regard to the true history and background of Gynecology and how the practice has evolved with time. I believe that the reason behind this statistic is the implicit biases placed on African Americans and institutional and structural racism, which is still prevalent within the healthcare system in the United States. It infuriates me that this is a modern-day issue in the United States, a first-world fully developed country that has failed black mothers during prenatal care and the birth of their children. I am the change this country desperately needs for STEM. I plan to use the social media platforms to further share my journey as a pre-med minority woman in STEM and introduce as well as share vital information I learn while finding my way through the unexplored minority medical space. I will exhibit my passion for the diversification and advancement of women in STEM and inspire and pave the way for the next generation of young women in this country. Furthermore, I will introduce young women, especially those with multicultural backgrounds, to the multitude of opportunities that can come from working within STEM. I will show them the power that can be found within themselves, empower them to become the best version of themselves, and earn a seat at the table, especially in STEM careers.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math have been a field of interest for me for as long as I can remember. It was when I learned and understood the concept of being able to work in this specific field that my passion for STEM began to grow. Since elementary school, Math and Science have constantly been my strong suits academically. Middle school was where I was more formally introduced to STEM in its entirety. Every day, we were given around forty-five minutes in the morning time in which we were to perform small tasks and solve problems. When given the task, we were to come up with a well-thought-out plan and execute that plan the best way we knew how with the specific materials we were given. We learned how to brainstorm and bounce ideas off of each other within a group setting and create a blueprint on paper with dimensional measurements. We were also required to record and analyze the data from start to finish of the project. It was after these projects we did that I was in search of career ideas and I began looking into jobs that were heavily influenced by the STEM field. My time in middle school was also when I had taken an aptitude test that assessed my strengths and weaknesses and correlated them with jobs and careers in the STEM field, specifically the field of medicine. My career end goal is to become a physician in the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology. I have noticed recently that in some cases the practice of medicine is not considered STEM due to the fact that it is viewed as a service-based field. The field of medicine, especially in my generation, will be entrenched in principles of science, technology, engineering, and math. Based on some current readings the lines of STEM will be further blurred as artificial intelligence, biogenetics, and robotics will become more prevalent in medicine. I hope to specialize in the care of minority women in the United States as history has shown the complete opposite. I also want to work to close the gap of all minorities within the field of healthcare and the gap of women, especially minorities, in the career field of STEM. I believe that any work field should be able to represent the world in which we live and function. Furthermore, I want to be able to introduce young women, especially those with multicultural backgrounds, to the multitude of opportunities that can come from working within STEM. I will show them the power that can be found within themselves, empower them to become the best version of themselves, and earn a seat at the table, especially in STEM careers.

Self-evaluating or describing myself has always proven to be difficult. Many admire their most valued qualities or think of traits that others may see in themselves. It is important that everyone loves and embraces their true self as that is how we all were made different. An attribute that I cherish in myself is my attention to detail or what I like to call my “perfectionist mentality.” From an incredibly young age, I had a particular way of doing things. Simple tasks like coloring inside of the lines in coloring books or having the neatest handwriting possible are some moments that I ponder. I vividly remember learning how to write in cursive in the third grade and going through a phase where I wrote everything from schoolwork to anything outside of school in cursive. I would write, erase, and rewrite sentences that were not up to par in my eight-year-old mind. I would color code my markers, colored pencils, and crayons, in the ROY G. BIV color system and always had a clean and organized desk. As I have gotten older, I have strayed away from what I would now consider being a little OCD. I now channel that little bit of OCD into paying attention and perfecting the “little things” that some may overlook. I currently work as a Medical Assistant in an urgent care clinic and tasks like drawing blood and taking x-rays require me to continuously check after myself to ensure that I am doing everything correctly. I want to be able to provide the best level of care to all of my patients that I possibly can. I know that it is the intricate details that can leave a long-lasting impression. My career goal is to become a physician in the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology. I hope to specialize in the care of all women while ensuring that women of color are given the same quality of care as their counterparts. I also want to work to close the gap of all minorities within the field of healthcare and the gap of women, especially minorities, in the career field of STEM. I believe that any career field should be representative of the multicultural world in which we exist. In becoming a physician, it is critical that you pay attention to the little things. It is the little things that can turn into big things. Small details overlooked can lead to the loss of a life or be the answer to the question at hand. Over the course of the next decade, I will be working toward my career aspirations. My attention to detail will carry me as I will be learning, retaining, and studying new information daily. No one is perfect but I can and will continue to strive to be my version of my “perfectionist mentality.”

For The Love of Math Whenever I am asked the question, “What is your favorite subject in school?”, I respond with, “Math.” It has been that answer since the first grade. I believe that was when I found my real love for math. My teacher would have us do “Rocket Math '' which was 60 seconds to do as many math problems as we could. At the time the problems were as easy as 5+4 and 10-7. Over time the problems would get progressively harder until we graduated from addition and subtraction to multiplication and division. I always found addition and subtraction easy but it was when we made the switch to multiplication and division that my brain had to begin to think harder and quicker than in the past. As the years went on, I noticed things I learned the previous year were ‘building blocks' for what I was learning the next year, and the pattern has continued to this day. I like to think of math as one big puzzle for me to solve. It makes me think of more than one way to approach a problem. I could end up using as many as 1 to 5 different ‘building blocks’ to solve a problem. I also like to think that there is beauty in math. The way you solve a problem may not be the same as the person next to you in class or even the teacher. I have found myself multiple times in the situation of thinking I did something wrong when I just took a different route in solving a problem. There would be 20 different ways to solve a problem but there will always be one answer. It could be visualized as a giant intertwined web connected by one thing, the answer. Math has also taught me the life lesson of never giving up. There are many times when I would become frustrated and would leave the problem to give my brain time to take a break. I would then return with a fresh mind to approach the situation differently. I’ve sometimes had to go the extra mile when trying to understand what went wrong to help prevent it from happening the next time. Math is not only a subject taught in school but a tool that can be as versatile as you allow it to be. As I consider it to be one of my favorite subjects, I believe I see the world from a different point of view than someone who may beg to differ. Everything involves numbers and it doesn't take a hard look to realize it is right before your very eyes.