Growing up in a Vereen household, from a young age I learned the values of work ethic and ambition. I have always known I wanted to make an impact, and my mother’s stroke led me to that epiphany. My mother's stroke taught me the true meaning of being a leader. Before my mother's stroke, my journey to becoming a doctor started with Dr. Petruisck. Dr. Petrusick was a tall slender man with a funny walk and no hair. He wore what must have been one-inch bifocals and an odd array of ties. On one visit he wore a SpongeBob tie (my personal favorite). Six months later, I would see a Star Wars tie, and one time even a Powderpuff Girls tie. When I was five, I looked at my mom and said, “I wanna be like that weird guy Dr. Pur-rik,” as I could not pronounce his name at the time. My mother illuminated the fact that I could be anything I dreamt of. From there, the dream of being a doctor was ingrained into my subconscious. Fast forward nine years later, and I am now 14. Dr. Petrusick is still my physician, but now I need another physician since I tore my meniscus. Fast forward two more years, and my mother needs a team of physicians because she had a massive stroke. Over the span of eighteen years, I have encountered numerous doctors, but I have never encountered a doctor who looks like me. There are 12,741 practicing physicians in South Carolina and only 783 of them are black (Osby, 2020). Receiving my education will help me become a part of the six percent of black doctors in South Carolina. I plan to show my community that a black man can be more than society or even his family tells him to be. Furthermore, South Carolina has a severe doctor shortage overall, which can be a dangerous situation especially with the growing retirement population (Osby, 2020). No human being in South Carolina-the state and home I have so much love for-deserves to die because we don’t have enough doctors. Additionally, the success granted by my education will show youth, “if he could do it, then so can I. Often, I find that growing up in a low-income black community I have three choices: play football, basketball, or “just try to graduate”. Being a doctor was never an option for me, but I plan to make it an option. I want to impact more than just black South Carolinians, but every South Carolinian who comes under my care. No more South Carolinians need to die in vain due to a shortage of one of the most vital careers in the world. Regardless of our race, religion, sex, ethnic origin, or age, we all deserve to see ourselves represented in medicine under the Palmetto Flag and inevitably the American Flag. My goal to become a doctor is not the continuation of a legacy, but the creation of a new legacy, a legacy and ambition that I hope will inspire generations to come. Works Cited Osby, Liv. "Despite efforts to boost their numbers, blacks account for just 6% of doctors in SC." Greenville News, 13 May 2020, www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2019/05/13/black-doctors-sc-scarce-despite- efforts-grow-their-numbers/1144191001/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.