My decision to pursue education and a career related to mental health can be defined as a single moment. I watched my sister be "sent away," not knowing that she had been waiting to die for years and was close to being pushed over that edge. I remember not understanding, at only twelve i had never been told what depression was or what was happening in that moment. No matter how much I questioned it, I never received a clear answer. The confusion I felt stayed with me even when my sister came back on a random Tuesday afternoon as if she had not just been gone for two weeks. The constant wondering caused me to question how depression can be so damaging. This question and this moment are what shaped who I wanted to become and want to be. Someone who understands and knows how to help and can listen to prevent someone from being sent away. I am an undergraduate student at Graceland University, majoring in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice. I was born in Tucson, Arizona, where I have lived my whole life. There, I've played soccer since childhood and now play at the collegiate level here at Graceland on the women's soccer team. I have also participated in many other activities, including orchestra, track, cross country, and theater, from a young age. Keeping myself busy was always a source of joy and excitement, and was a way to show off my accomplishments, yet looking at it now, it opens my eyes to how easily someone could hide behind success and activities, as my sister hid behind hers. Reading Owan's story reminds me of my sister. Like her, he was successful and surrounded by people who supported him. He had been so close to accomplishing something that not many do. Yet an illness that appeared to come out of nowhere took that away from him. It helps me to understand why my studies matter and why I cannot look away from the signs others might miss. Like Christopher Charles Owan's story, my sister was successful and loved. She had been captain of both her club and school team and was popular throughout school. I would be asked why we were so different. I did not talk to people and had only two people I would call my friends. Yet it was my sister, whose life was seemingly perfect, who was struck with mental illness, changing the course of her life. She now has the scars that cover her body and mind, something that at the time I could never understand or know how to help. This is why I work hard in my studies: to be able to help those before they get to the point of being institutionalized and having scars that can only fade but never go away.