As a kid, I've always been fascinated by medicine. Just the Idea of being able to cure a person on the brink of death or help them overcome their complications amazes me. Being introduced to therapy at an early age also contributed to my love for the study, my Mother is a nurse, and my older sister is currently in Medical school. Also, TV shows such as Chicago Med New Amsterdam, with youtube videos of specific studies of medicine such as neuroscience, gave me an unforeseen love for the study. Sometimes as a kid, and even currently, I would go on youtube and look up surgery videos to see how fascinating the human body is. I've always loved helping people. Seeing someone's smile when you tell them good news or do them a favor always brings me joy in my life. Even as a kid, I would help my classmates with their homework or put bandages on minor cuts they had. They would always call me "Medic Kenneth," and that feeling of knowing that someone can rely on you at any time for help is what I achieve when forming bonds with a person. I'm so excited to study Neuroscience at any of the Universities I have applied to. I've been looking and researching the necessary classes required for the degree and watching videos about the lessons I believe will be the toughest, forming new bonds with the professors and my classmates on how we as a race can further increase medical technology to help everyone in the world. Seeing my older sister excel in high school inspired me to follow in her footsteps. Taking AP classes straight into the first year enlightened me on how high school wouldn’t be the cakewalk of middle school. Acing every test, after every trial, I developed skills that helped me throughout my entire high school. However, I could tell my classmates weren’t in the same mindset as me. I need to hone my study strategies and take time out of my day to study the material I just learned.

I’ve always believed that knowledge is acquired from interacting with other people. No one in this world was born with the power to know everything. The most successful people on the planet received their knowledge to succeed by shadowing or even copying other successful people. Meeting those who share the same goals as you or have the same intellectual ability as me or higher can allow me to understand the world better and expand my range of thinking. As a kid, I preferred never to go outside, to engage with others due to fear or anxiety that I would be hurt or ignored. Due to that fear, my knowledge and experience have been severely limited over the years. Walking into stores by myself, a simple task, was a seemingly difficult challenge because of my nervousness. In school, I only would talk when spoken to first. During group assignments, I would only talk when it benefited the group. As you can tell, I was a quiet kid, not because I liked being mute, but because my conversion experience was lacking. The first big breakthrough to counter my nervousness was when covid happened. Being inside was a catastrophic loss for many out there, but for me, it was a chance to practice my conversational skills through a screen in hopes of assimilating those skills into real life. I wanted to be able to go in person and be the kid 5th grade me always wanted to be, the kid who could go out and make friends and bonds with anyone. I used apps such as Instagram, Twitter, Yubo, Wizz, and anything you can think of to converse with others. When I saw someone that piqued my interest, I went for the opportunity—talking to them about everyday things such as basketball, covid, and something that could help me strike a conversation and eliminate the feeling in my stomach when talking to people. I can genuinely say these methods worked; now, talking to people, I’m not nervous, I have no butterflies, and I feel incredibly comfortable, and that’s what I was aiming for this entire time. As a straight A student, I’ve picked up many qualities to put me ahead of my peers. Qualities such as efficient working, no procrastination, and setting a plan early always gave me the edge over the competition. I believe these qualities will follow me throughout college and my life.

As a kid, I've always been fascinated by medicine. Just the Idea of being able to cure a person on the brink of death or help them overcome their complications amazes me. Being introduced to therapy at an early age also contributed to my love for the study, my Mother is a nurse, and my older sister is currently in Medical school. Also, TV shows such as Chicago Med New Amsterdam, with YouTube videos of specific studies of medicine such as neuroscience, gave me an unforeseen love for the study. Sometimes as a kid, and even currently, I would go on YouTube and look up surgery videos to see how fascinating the human body is. I've always loved helping people. Seeing someone's smile when you tell them good news or do them a favor always brings me joy in my life. Even as a kid, I would help my classmates with their homework or put bandages on minor cuts they had. They would always call me "Medic Kenneth," and that feeling of knowing that someone can rely on you at any time for help is what I achieve when forming bonds with a person.

The transition from middle school to high school was indeed an interesting one. My teachers, parents, and even older sister warned me that high school would be a place where I would need to start focusing on my study skills and habits. For the most part, they were right. Seeing my older sister excel in high school inspired me to follow in her footsteps. Taking AP classes straight into the first year enlightened me on how high school wouldn’t be the cakewalk of middle school. Acing every test, after every trial, I developed skills that helped me throughout my entire high school. However, I could tell my classmates weren’t in the same mindset as me. I need to hone my study strategies and take time out of my day to study the material I just learned. From elementary school to middle school, I’ve always been that smart kid who never really helped my classmates when they were in need. I thought of it as an inconvenience or a hassle since they would always ask every time they were confused, which was nearly every day. However, in high school, I wanted to change that. I wanted to be the kid everyone relied on whenever a test came or they had trouble with an assignment. My first step was helping a classmate with their notes, a simple task that took no more than 10 minutes, but the feeling and satisfaction I received from assisting them could carry weight. After the first year, covid struck. It was detrimental to everybody involved; jobs closed, schools closed, and nearly everything was shut down. Then scrolling on social media sites like TikTok, I could see how many students were struggling with online school and getting motivated to do the work. I felt that it was in both my best interest and the students to be able to help them as much as possible, whether texting them out of school, helping with work, or time management skills. Some during the summer even texted thank you for all of the work I did for them. Helping and sharing my knowledge with others in a way that will help them in the future has always felt imperative to me as a person. Entering college would be another step in my life where I pursue and accomplish all of my academic dreams, because as a first generation college student I need to set the tone for my family.

October 18, 2004, a child was born. Born into a world where knowledge is limited, battles are constantly fought, and self-love is underappreciated as an essential tool for living one's life. However, achieving said self-love is an incredibly tough task. Having to fight through social expectations of how one looks, dilemmas when those expectations aren't reached, and personal comparisons to others, gaining self-love may be more complex than becoming a doctor. Nevertheless, being able to look in the mirror and smile at the fruits of your hard labor of bettering yourself tastes much sweeter than graduating high school or even getting accepted into a dream college. Growing up in an immigrant Nigerian Family, self-love or even the idea of focusing on one's appearance was not an essential factor in my life. All that was talked about was school, school, and more school. That's all one would hear about, the importance of school and how knowledge is the only pathway to success or social and personal acceptance. However, attending a public school can stray one's attention away from only school work. Seeing the expensive clothes, shoes, and earrings one had made you want to question your existence entirely. Seeing how the "cool" kids were able to make friends on the fly seemingly and love their life while you struggled even to make your parents proud was a heartbreaker. It made me want to chase them, in other words, be like them entirely. Those thoughts lingered in my mind for years. As I finished Middle school and entered high school, those thoughts dwindled by an enormous amount. However, when Covid ultimately struck, the not caring and happy mind I held began to shift. This desire to be like everyone else amplified when school was back in session in person during Junior year. I was a skinny little kid who appeared to do nothing to himself over the lockdown, whilst my classmates and friends got taller or even looked way better, otherwise considered a "glo up." It made me feel like I was stuck at a standstill while people were hurrying to the finish line, that I couldn't keep up with anyone else. These thoughts lingered in my mind all school year, I want to see a change in the world where everyone can be themselves. Where people can go out and express themselves without worrying about the eyes of others in the world.

As a straight A student, I’ve picked up many qualities to put me ahead of my peers. Qualities such as efficient working, no procrastination, and setting a plan early always gave me the edge over the competition. I believe these qualities will follow me throughout college and my life. These abilities work in a manner that will make me an ideal candidate since I will take advantage of the opportunities given by the GPPA program. Having that peace of mind that your seat in a graduate program, mine being a Doctorate or M.D., helps students to be able to hone in and focus on their tasks as an undergraduate at hand. Currently typing this essay, I’ve arrived back home from my elder sister’s University of Chicago Pritzer’s white coat ceremony. Seeing the joy on everyone’s faces and the joy of the students getting closer and closer to their dreams inspired me to chase mine. Being able to make your parents proud and to make yourself proud without going through the stress of the traditional path to becoming an M.D sounds like heaven. I hope winning future scholarships I am applying too will help lessen the blow of debt I will be in come Medical School. I want to be able to fully focus on my work and objectives at hand so I can become the best doctor I can possibly be.

The transition from middle school to high school was indeed an interesting one. My teachers, parents, and even older sister warned me that high school would be a place where I would need to start focusing on my study skills and habits. For the most part, they were right. Seeing my older sister excel in high school inspired me to follow in her footsteps. Taking AP classes straight into the first year enlightened me on how high school wouldn’t be the cakewalk of middle school. Acing every test, after every trial, I developed skills that helped me throughout my entire high school. However, I could tell my classmates weren’t in the same mindset as me. I need to hone my study strategies and take time out of my day to study the material I just learned. From elementary school to middle school, I’ve always been that smart kid who never really helped my classmates when they were in need. I thought of it as an inconvenience or a hassle since they would always ask every time they were confused, which was nearly every day. However, in high school, I wanted to change that. I wanted to be the kid everyone relied on whenever a test came or they had trouble with an assignment. My first step was helping a classmate with their notes, a simple task that took no more than 10 minutes, but the feeling and satisfaction I received from assisting them could carry weight. After the first year, covid struck. It was detrimental to everybody involved; jobs closed, schools closed, and nearly everything was shut down. Then scrolling on social media sites like TikTok, I could see how many students were struggling with online school and getting motivated to do the work. I felt that it was in both my best interest and the students to be able to help them as much as possible, whether texting them out of school, helping with work, or time management skills. Some during the summer even texted thank you for all of the work I did for them. Helping and sharing my knowledge with others in a way that will help them in the future has always felt imperative to me as a person. Applying for scholarships through this stressful time has been a hit and miss, however I won't give up to pursue and fund my academic goals to make everyone around me proud!

October 18, 2004, a child was born. Born into a world where knowledge is limited, battles are constantly fought, and self-love is underappreciated as an essential tool for living one's life. However, achieving said self-love is an incredibly tough task. Having to fight through social expectations of how one looks, dilemmas when those expectations aren't reached, and personal comparisons to others, gaining self-love may be more complex than becoming a doctor. Nevertheless, being able to look in the mirror and smile at the fruits of your hard labor of bettering yourself tastes much sweeter than graduating high school or even getting accepted into a dream college. Growing up in an immigrant Nigerian Family, self-love or even the idea of focusing on one's appearance was not an essential factor in my life. All that was talked about was school, school, and more school. That's all one would hear about, the importance of school and how knowledge is the only pathway to success or social and personal acceptance. However, attending a public school can stray one's attention away from only school work. Seeing the expensive clothes, shoes, and earrings one had made you want to question your existence entirely. Seeing how the "cool" kids were able to make friends on the fly seemingly and love their life while you struggled even to make your parents proud was a heartbreaker. It made me want to chase them, in other words, be like them entirely. Those thoughts lingered in my mind for years. As I finished Middle school and entered high school, those thoughts dwindled by an enormous amount. However, when Covid ultimately struck, the not caring and happy mind I held began to shift. This desire to be like everyone else amplified when school was back in session in person during Junior year. I was a skinny little kid who appeared to do nothing to himself over the lockdown, whilst my classmates and friends got taller or even looked way better, otherwise considered a "go up." It made me feel like I was stuck at a standstill while people were hurrying to the finish line, that I couldn't keep up with anyone else. These thoughts lingered in my mind all school year; however, when scrolling through Twitter, I encountered a post. It stated that to love oneself, you must first accept your faults and insecurities and improve on those faults. This quote stood out to me and inspired me to go out and do something about this feeling of stuckness and insecurity. I started to take better care of myself and my body; drinking water more, washing my face, and exercising more have transformed me to like my body even more. With my hair, I am fully growing it out, and happy with my current results. The one lasting insecurity of mine that still lingers in my head is my height. Currently, I stand at an altitude of 5" 7 without my hair and 5" 8. That is average for a 17-year-old male; however, my doctor told me I wouldn't be able to grow anymore, which almost brought me back to the mindset I was in just a few months prior. But this time, I didn't let the thoughts take over me; I always thank God for bringing that Twitter quote to me because, without it, I still question where I would be today If I were the same man sitting here typing this essay. My journey is still far from perfect. I still have many insecurities to overcome. But the progress I've made so far is what truly makes Kenneth, Kenneth.

As a kid, I've always been fascinated by medicine. Just the Idea of being able to cure a person on the brink of death or help them overcome their complications amazes me. Being introduced to therapy at an early age also contributed to my love for the study, my Mother is a nurse, and my older sister is currently in Medical school. Also, TV shows such as Chicago Med New Amsterdam, with YouTube videos of specific studies of medicine such as neuroscience, gave me an unforeseen love for the study. Sometimes as a kid, and even currently, I would go on YouTube and look up surgery videos to see how fascinating the human body is. I've always loved helping people. Seeing someone's smile when you tell them good news or do them a favor always brings me joy in my life. Even as a kid, I would help my classmates with their homework or put bandages on minor cuts they had. They would always call me "Medic Kenneth," and that feeling of knowing that someone can rely on you at any time for help is what I achieve when forming bonds with a person. I'm so excited to study Neuroscience. I've been looking and researching the necessary classes required for the degree and watching videos about the lessons I believe will be the toughest, forming new bonds with the professors and my classmates on how we as a race can further increase medical technology to help everyone in the world.

October 18, 2004, a child was born. Born into a world where knowledge is limited, battles are constantly fought, and self-love is underappreciated as an essential tool for living one's life. However, achieving said self-love is an incredibly tough task. Having to fight through social expectations of how one looks, dilemmas when those expectations aren't reached, and personal comparisons to others, gaining self-love may be more complex than becoming a doctor. Nevertheless, being able to look in the mirror and smile at the fruits of your hard labor of bettering yourself tastes much sweeter than graduating high school or even getting accepted into a dream college. Growing up in an immigrant Nigerian Family, self-love or even the idea of focusing on one's appearance was not an essential factor in my life. All that was talked about was school, school, and more school. That's all one would hear about, the importance of school and how knowledge is the only pathway to success or social and personal acceptance. However, attending a public school can stray one's attention away from only school work. Seeing the expensive clothes, shoes, and earrings one had made you want to question your existence entirely. Seeing how the "cool" kids were able to make friends on the fly seemingly and love their life while you struggled even to make your parents proud was a heartbreaker. It made me want to chase them, in other words, be like them entirely. Those thoughts lingered in my mind for years. As I finished Middle school and entered high school, those thoughts dwindled by an enormous amount. However, when Covid ultimately struck, the happy mind I held began to shift. This desire to be like everyone else amplified when school was back in session in person during Junior year. I was a skinny little kid who appeared to do nothing to himself over the lockdown, whilst my classmates and friends got taller or even looked way better, otherwise considered a "go up." It made me feel like I was stuck at a standstill while people were hurrying to the finish line, that I couldn't keep up with anyone else. These thoughts lingered in my mind all school year; however, when scrolling through Twitter, I encountered a post. It stated that to love oneself, you must first accept your faults and insecurities and improve on those faults. This quote stood out to me and inspired me to go out and do something about this feeling of being stuck and insecurity. I started to take better care of myself and my body; drinking water more, washing my face, and exercising more have transformed me to like my body even more. With my hair, I am fully growing it out, and happy with my current results. The one lasting insecurity of mine that still lingers in my head is my height. Currently, I stand at an altitude of 5" 7 without my hair and 5" 8. That is average for a 17-year-old male; however, my doctor told me I wouldn't be able to grow anymore, which almost brought me back to the mindset I was in just a few months prior. But this time, I didn't let the thoughts take over me; I always thank God for bringing that Twitter quote to me because, without it, I still question where I would be today If I were the same man sitting here typing this essay. My journey is still far from perfect. I still have many faults and insecurities to overcome. But the progress I've made so far is what truly makes Kenneth, Kenneth.

As a kid, I've always been fascinated by medicine. Just the Idea of being able to cure a person on the brink of death or help them overcome their complications amazes me. Being introduced to therapy at an early age also contributed to my love for the study, my Mother is a nurse, and my older sister is currently in Medical school. Also, TV shows such as Chicago Med New Amsterdam, with YouTube videos of specific studies of medicine such as neuroscience, gave me an unforeseen love for the study. Sometimes as a kid, and even currently, I would go on YouTube and look up surgery videos to see how fascinating the human body is. I've always loved helping people. Seeing someone's smile when you tell them good news or do them a favor always brings me joy in my life. Even as a kid, I would help my classmates with their homework or put bandages on minor cuts they had. They would always call me "Medic Kenneth," and that feeling of knowing that someone can rely on you at any time for help is what I achieve when forming bonds with a person. I'm so excited to study Neuroscience at the college of my choice. I've been looking and researching the necessary classes required for the degree and watching videos about the lessons I believe will be the toughest, forming new bonds with the professors and my classmates on how we as a race can further increase medical technology to help everyone in the world. However to do that, being in a workplace with diversity and different people with different backgrounds is crucial for furthering any sort of research. Diversity, color, finding people like your own. Flocking the people that look like you is a natural thing that any person does. It may be uncomfortable working with people who haven't went through the same experiences as you. However, being with people of different backgrounds opens your eyes to a whole new world. It makes you escape from the bubble you put yourself in, from seeking the feeling of comfort. It allows you to explore new cultures, make new bonds, and find new traditions you never know was even possible for a group of people. As being African myself, I love looking and learning about other African country's cultures and also cultures from around the world. I love diving into an area where I'm learning something new about my fellow human beings on this planet. Diversity in the workplace is highly essential for making new bonds, and also for putting different minds together in hopes of creating a masterful product or to accomplish a certain goal or agenda.