My name is Lauren Sharkey, and I am a first-generation college student at James Madison University. I am currently pursuing a degree in nursing, and I plan on graduating this coming up December with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In my free time I enjoy working out, reading books, spending time with friends but most importantly I enjoy spending my time volunteering at the free clinic. At the free clinic I spend my time triaging patients taking their vitals and listening to why they decided to come in to be seen. I work closely with the other nurses, volunteer doctors, and the pharmacist at the clinic to make sure the patients get the best possible care. Although I'm a volunteer so I don't get paid I believe I benefit a lot from volunteering because I get to be there for the patients, practice my nursing skills, and learn from other workers and volunteers. My long-term goal is to gain years of experience as a nurse in the hospital and work my way up and learn an administrative role. I would then use these skills to hopefully one day create a free clinic in parts of the world where they don’t have the best medical care access such as certain parts of Africa. I believe everyone should have access to great medical care that way they can be the best versions of themselves possible. During school on top of volunteering I work two jobs one as a babysitter for a family of three energetic little girls and another as a certified nursing assistant as a local retirement community. Working is important so I can afford to pay for textbooks, groceries, and even go out to eat with friends. However, college can be so expensive I feel no matter how much I work it is difficult to pay off any student loans. Working can also often get in the way of studying for classes, but I still manage to keep above a 3.4 GPA throughout college so far. This scholarship would help me pay for school so I can continue my dream of becoming a nurse. One specific time I felt I made a big impact on my community was about three years ago when I held a fundraiser for the local children's hospital in Roanoke. I was in charge of leading all the Key Clubs at each high school in Roanoke. I brought each school together to plan a dance marathon as our fundraiser. It took about five months of work which included promoting our event on social media, asking local business to donate, and planning the activities for the dance marathon. What made this fundraiser even more challenging is it took place during peak Covid times, so we had to work on our event remotely. The actual dance marathon took place on zoom which included games such as guess the song. What made the biggest impact on me was having different families from the hospital who benefit from donations tell their stories, so we were all able to see the difference we were making from fundraising. During the event I was able to share with everyone that we reached our goal of raising $15,000 for the local children's hospital. This was a huge accomplishment in my life, and I would not have been able to achieve it without the help of all my peers. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse. Thank you.

My name is Lauren Sharkey, and I am a first-generation college student at James Madison University. I am currently pursuing a degree in nursing, and I plan on graduating this coming up December with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. In my free time I enjoy working out, reading books, spending time with friends but most importantly I enjoy spending my time volunteering at the free clinic. At the free clinic I spend my time triaging patients taking their vitals and listening to why they decided to come in to be seen. I work closely with the other nurses, volunteer doctors, and the pharmacist at the clinic to make sure the patients get the best possible care. Although I'm a volunteer so I don't get paid I believe I benefit a lot from volunteering because I get to be there for the patients, practice my nursing skills, and learn from other workers and volunteers. I knew I wanted to be a nurse since the summer going into my freshman year of high school when I volunteered at the local hospital. During this experience, I had the opportunity to shadow a nurse where I learned how much a nurse helps others every day. Nurses have the opportunity to help people when they are at their lowest by helping them recover and gain strength. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to become a nurse so I could help others the way the nurses at the hospital did every day. As a nurse there are so many different fields you can go into from working in the emergency department, labor and delivery, pediatrics, and so much more. With all these options I never knew exactly what kind of nurse I wanted to be until this past semester of school my grandpa had to get open heart surgery. With this surgery patients normally recover within one week, but my grandpa had complications which prolonged his recovery to be months long. I spent a lot of time visiting the cardiovascular intensive care unit where he was being treated. I was able to witness the great care the nurses on this floor gave to my grandpa. During this time, I found a lot of interest in the heart, how it works, and how to take care of patients recovering from heart surgery. The nurses took the time explaining to me the medications he was on, what the different tubes are for, and more. This inspired me to become a nurse on a cardiac floor so I can take care of patients with heart defects and be there for families like the other nurses were for me throughout my grandpas stay. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse. Thank you.

My name is Lauren Sharkey, and I am a first-generation college student at James Madison University. I am currently pursuing a degree in nursing, and I plan on graduating this coming up December with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. In my free time I enjoy working out, reading books, spending time with friends but most importantly I enjoy spending my time volunteering at the free clinic. At the free clinic I spend my time triaging patients taking their vitals and listening to why they decided to come in to be seen. I work closely with the other nurses, volunteer doctors, and the pharmacist at the clinic to make sure the patients get the best possible care. Although I'm a volunteer so I don't get paid I believe I benefit a lot from volunteering because I get to be there for the patients, practice my nursing skills, and learn from other workers and volunteers. During my time at James Madison University, I have had the possible to participate in classes, simulation, and clinical. I have completed clinical for geriatrics, med surg, pediatrics, women's health, psychiatric, and on the progressive care unit. I have the opportunity every clinical to provide the patients with the care and respect they deserve while they recover. During my time in clinical, I was providing care to one specific patient who felt comfortable enough to confide in me as they were scared about what their test results would show. I was able to comfort the patient by making sure they knew I would be with them during their stay and that I would be there to support and advocate for them as they go through this challenging time. Every patient encounter such as this one confirms I choose the right career path as I can see the difference I am making. Although nursing school classes are challenging, and clinical hours can be long I am motivated by the fact that one day I will become a nurse and have the opportunity to help others every day. My long-term goal is to gain years of experience as a nurse in the hospital and work my way up and learn an administrative role. I would then use these skills to hopefully one day create a free clinic in parts of the world where they don’t have the best medical care access such as certain parts of Africa. I believe everyone should have access to great medical care that way they can be the best versions of themselves possible. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse and so I can pursue my dream of helping others and making a positive impact in the world. Thank you.

My name is Lauren Sharkey, and I am a first-generation college student at James Madison University. I am currently pursuing a degree in nursing, and I plan on graduating this coming up December with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In my free time I enjoy working out, reading books, spending time with friends but most importantly I enjoy spending my time volunteering at the free clinic. At the free clinic I spend my time triaging patients taking their vitals and listening to why they decided to come in to be seen. I work closely with the other nurses, volunteer doctors, and the pharmacist at the clinic to make sure the patients get the best possible care. Although I'm a volunteer so I don't get paid I believe I benefit a lot from volunteering because I get to be there for the patients, practice my nursing skills, and learn from other workers and volunteers. My long-term goal is to gain years of experience as a nurse in the hospital and work my way up and learn an administrative role. I would then use these skills to hopefully one day create a free clinic in parts of the world where they don’t have the best medical care access such as certain parts of Africa. I believe everyone should have access to great medical care that way they can be the best versions of themselves possible. One specific time I felt I made a big impact on my community was about three years ago when I held a fundraiser for the local children's hospital in Roanoke. I was in charge of leading all the Key Clubs at each high school in Roanoke. I brought each school together to plan a dance marathon as our fundraiser. It took about five months of work which included promoting our event on social media, asking local business to donate, and planning the activities for the dance marathon. What made this fundraiser even more challenging is it took place during peak Covid times, so we had to work on our event remotely. The actual dance marathon took place on zoom which included games such as guess the song but most importantly we had different families from the hospital who benefit from donations tell their stories, so we were all able to see the difference we were making from fundraising. During the event I was able to share with everyone that we reached our goal of raising $15,000 for the local children's hospital. This was a huge accomplishment in my life, and I would not have been able to achieve it without the help of all my peers. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse. Thank you.

My college experience I feel is similar to many others. I want to attend college to have more opportunities in the world, yet I cannot afford to pay for college leaving me in piles of student loans. During school I work two jobs one as a babysitter for a family of three energetic little girls and another as a certified nursing assistant as a local retirement community. Working is important so I can afford to pay for textbooks, groceries, and even go out to eat with friends. However, college can be so expensive I feel no matter how much I work it is difficult to pay off any student loans. Working can also often get in the way of studying for classes, but I still manage to keep above a 3.4 GPA throughout college so far. I am a first-generation college student so my parents have always pushed for me to go to college so I can have more opportunities than they had growing up. However, with two other siblings they cannot afford to pay for all our college expenses. Applying for financial aid has been difficult since my parents make enough money the school thinks my parents will pay for my college, but FASFA forms don't understand that their money should go towards other things such as paying off our house and so my parents can one day retire. I am currently a junior at James Madison University pursing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. A scholarship can help me with my dream of becoming a nurse by helping me pay for textbooks to study with and help pay off my student loans so I can afford to finish the rest of my college career. My dream job would be to become a nurse in the intensive care unit at a hospital. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. Being in the hospital is often a scary and difficult time for many people so I want to become a nurse so I can be there for people during this hard time and help them get through their stay. My long-term goal is to gain years of experience as a nurse in the hospital and work my way up and learn an administrative role. I would then use these skills to hopefully one day create a free clinic in parts of the world where they don’t have the best medical care access such as certain parts of Africa. I believe everyone should have access to great medical care that way they can be the best versions of themselves possible. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse and so I can pursue my dream of helping others and making a positive impact in the world. Thank you.

I wish I could say I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was a young child but that is not the case. What I did know from a very young age is that I am passionate about helping others. Helping others has always been an important value to me and I knew I wanted a career where I could help others daily. However, I could never decide what I wanted my career to be until high school when I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local hospital the summer going into my freshman year of high school. During this experience, I had the opportunity to shadow a nurse where I learned how much a nurse helps others every day. Nurses have the opportunity to help people when they are at their lowest by helping them recover and gain strength. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to become a nurse so I could help others the way the nurses at the hospital did every day. Now that I am in nursing school, I have the opportunity every clinical to provide the patients with the care and respect they deserve while they recover. During my time in clinical, I was providing care to one specific patient who felt comfortable enough to confide in me as they were scared about what their test results would show. I was able to comfort the patient by making sure they knew I would be with them during their stay and that I would be there to support and advocate for them as they go through this challenging time. Every patient encounter such as this one confirms I choose the right career path as I can see the difference I am making. I have always loved children and have been babysitting for many years where I had the opportunity to work with many different ages. My pediatric clinical only further clarified how much I love working with children even in the hospital setting. I believe that pediatric nursing is extra special in the sense you not only have to be there for the patient but also the parents, siblings, other family members, and friends. It is also important to be there for the child since their imaginations are so wild, they could think they did something wrong which is why they are in the hospital. Different ages of children have different needs and I hope to continue to learn how to take care of these needs and be there for them during what could be for them a scary hospital experience. My long-term goal is to be able to finish college and work in the PICU. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse. Thank you.

My college experience I feel is similar to many others. I want to attend college to have more opportunities in the world, yet I cannot afford to pay for college leaving me in piles of student loans. During school I work two jobs one as a babysitter for a family of three energetic little girls and another as a certified nursing assistant as a local retirement community. Working is important so I can afford to pay for textbooks, groceries, and even go out to eat with friends. However, college can be so expensive I feel no matter how much I work it is difficult to pay off any student loans. Working can also often get in the way of studying for classes, but I still manage to keep above a 3.4 GPA throughout college so far. I am currently a junior at James Madison University pursing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. A scholarship can help me with my dream of becoming a nurse by helping me pay for textbooks to study with and help pay off my student loans so I can afford to finish the rest of my college career. My dream job would be to become a nurse in the intensive care unit at a hospital. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. Being in the hospital is often a scary and difficult time for many people so I want to become a nurse so I can be there for people during this hard time and help them get through their stay. My long-term goal is to gain years of experience as a nurse in the hospital and work my way up and learn an administrative role. I would then use these skills to hopefully one day create a free clinic in parts of the world where they don’t have the best medical care access such as certain parts of Africa. I believe everyone should have access to great medical care that way they can be the best versions of themselves possible. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse and so I can pursue my dream of helping others and making a positive impact in the world. Thank you.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about being the first in my family to obtain a college degree is making my parents proud. My parents have taught and shown me what hard work looks like so they can provide for both my sisters and I. While they cannot afford for me to go to college, they have always supported me by researching different colleges, reading over college essays, and so much more. My parents have encouraged me to attend college, so I have more opportunities in life they never had the chance to experience so I want to be the first to graduate college in my family not only for these opportunities but most importantly to make my parents proud. I am now at James Madison University studying to become a nurse. My college experience so far has given me amazing new friends, a great education, and supportive professors which all would not have been possible without the support and motivation my parents have given me to attend college. My day-to-day college life includes classes, studying, and long clinical days. Clinicals, I have completed so far are geriatrics, pediatrics, women's health, psychiatric, med surg, and being on the progressive care unit. On the side I enjoy babysitting to make ends meet and to have extra money to enjoy spending time with my friends. I wish I could say I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was a young child but that is not the case. What I did know from a very young age is that I am passionate about helping others. Helping others has always been an important value to me and I knew I wanted a career where I could help others daily. However, I could never decide what I wanted my career to be until high school when I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local hospital the summer going into my freshman year. During this experience, I had the opportunity to shadow a nurse where I learned how much a nurse helps others every day. Nurses have the opportunity to help people when they are at their lowest by helping them recover and gain strength. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to become a nurse so I could help others the way the nurses at the hospital did every day. My long-term goal is to become a nurse on the intensive care unit at Carillon Roanoke Memorial Hospital. To reach this goal, I have a semester and a half left of nursing school and I plan on completing an externship over the summer at Carillon in the emergency department and in the ICU. It is important to me to get all the experience possible such as at clinical and at the externship before becoming an actual nurse that way once I graduate and begin work, I can be the best nurse possible. Another long-term goal I hope to achieve is I would like to start a free clinic in a low economic area so people can get proper medical treatment. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse. Thank you.

I wish I could say I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was a young child but that is not the case. What I did know from a very young age is that I am passionate about helping others. Helping others has always been an important value to me which was taught to me by my parents. I knew I wanted a career where I could help others daily. However, I could never decide what I wanted my career to be until high school when I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local hospital the summer going into my freshman year. During this experience, I had the opportunity to shadow a kind and passionate nurse where I learned how much a nurse helps others every day. Nurses have the opportunity to help people when they are at their lowest by helping them recover and gain strength. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to become a nurse so I too could help others the way the nurses at the hospital did every day. Now that I am in nursing school, I have the opportunity every clinical to provide the patients with the care and respect they deserve while they recover. During my time in clinical, I was providing care to one specific patient who felt comfortable enough to confide in me as they were scared about what their test results would show. I was able to comfort the patient by making sure they knew I would be with them during their stay and that I would be there to support and advocate for them as they go through this challenging time. Every patient encounter such as this one confirms I choose the right career path as I can see the difference I am making. Although nursing school classes are challenging, and clinical hours can be long I am motivated by the fact that one day I will become a nurse and have the opportunity to help others every day. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse and so I can continue to help others. Thank you.

I wish I could say I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was a young child but that is not the case. What I did know from a very young age is that I am passionate about helping others. Helping others has always been an important value to me which was taught to me by my parents, and I knew I wanted a career where I could help others every day. However, I could never decide what I wanted my career to be until high school when I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local hospital in Roanoke, Virginia the summer going into my freshman year of high school. At the hospital my job while volunteering was to walk family and friends from the waiting area to where their loved ones were waiting for surgery. At the end of the summer, we had one day where we had the opportunity to shadow nurse. During my shadowing experience I got to follow a kind and passionate nurse which is when I learned how much a nurse helps others every day. Being at a hospital is often a low point in many people’s lives but nurses have the opportunity to help these people and be there for them both physically and emotionally during this difficult time in their life. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. After this experience I immediately realized I wanted to become a nurse so I could help others the way the nurses at the hospital did every day. I spoke with my parents about this experience since I value their opinion and trust in what they have to say. I also spoke with my aunt and uncle who are both nurses and they were able to share their experience of the work it takes to become a nurse and how rewarding the job is once you are a nurse. My family supported me 100% in my new dream of becoming a nurse. Over time my family has supported me by reading over my college essays and helping me research different nursing schools in Virginia. I applied for both James Madison University and University of Virginia, but I only got into James Madison University. I was disappointed not getting into University of Virginia at first, but this ended up being the best thing to happen to me since James Madison University so far has provided be with not only the opportunity to make great new friends but with importantly a great education with support from intelligent professors. During my time at James Madison University, I have had the possible to participate in classes, simulation, and clinical. I have completed clinical for geriatrics, med surg, pediatrics, women's health, psychiatric, and on the progressive care unit. I have the opportunity every clinical to provide the patients with the care and respect they deserve while they recover. During my time in clinical, I was providing care to one specific patient who felt comfortable enough to confide in me as they were scared about what their test results would show. I was able to comfort the patient by making sure they knew I would be with them during their stay and that I would be there to support and advocate for them as they go through this challenging time. Every patient encounter such as this one confirms I choose the right career path as I can see the difference I am making. Although nursing school classes are challenging, and clinical hours can be long I am motivated by the fact that one day I will become a nurse and have the opportunity to help others every day. During my breaks from school, I work as a certified nursing assistant at a local retirement community in Roanoke. I take vitals and help residents perform daily activities such as getting ready for the day, eating, brief changes, and more. This experience has taught me the importance of working with colleagues to provide the best care possible for patients. This coming up summer I have an externship at Carillon Roanoke Memorial Hospital where I will shadow a nurses in the emergency department for four weeks and in the intensive care unit for another four weeks. I am excited for this opportunity so I can further practice different skills of nursing so I can become the best nurse possible once I graduate in December or 2024. I appreciate your time reading over my essay describing the journey I have been on so far to becoming a nurse. I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse and so I can continue to help others. Thank you.

I have been a vegan for over a year and a half now and I haven't regretted my decision once since I started. My decision to become a vegan started freshman year of college during my health and wellness general education class. It was during this class that we learned about the different types of foods we put into our bodies and the effect they have on our health. For example, all the fats in meat can raise your cholesterol which can cause long-term health outcomes. This was the first fact I learned in class which sparked my interest in what it would be like if I were to become vegan. After class that day I decided to do my own research where I learned not only about health benefits but also the impact I could make on the environment if I were to become vegan. I learned about the animal cruelty of farmers mistreating all different kinds of animals. I also learned how vegetables are more sustainable than meat which can help prevent climate change. This is all the information I needed to confirm my decision about becoming vegan. While I thought the transition would be difficult such as believing I would experience side effects such as being tired from not getting enough iron. However, the transition to becoming vegan went smoother than I imagined the only struggle was finding different recipes and foods to eat. During that time my family and friends were in my corner supporting my decision and helped me find different delicious recipes. In the future, I aspire to educate others on the benefits of being vegan. I can start by informing other family and friends about my decisions which I hope inspires them to make the change and become vegan as well. I also plan on accomplishing this by educating the patients I see as a nurse in the future. While I can't force anyone to become vegan I can make sure the patients I see have all the information they need to make their own health decisions concerning the food they eat. In my nursing career, I also hope to do my own research studies about the benefits of becoming vegan on overall health. I plan on researching topics such as the impact of being vegan on digestive health, regulating blood sugar levels, obesity, heart disease, and more. This scholarship would help me continue my nursing education which I can use to teach others the beneficial impact of becoming vegan.

I wish I could say I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was a young child but that is not the case. What I did know from a very young age is that I am passionate about helping others whether that means sharing snacks at school, holding the door, or helping a friend understand homework. Helping others has always been an important value to me and I knew I wanted a career where I could help others daily. However, I could never decide what I wanted my career to be until high school when I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local hospital the summer going into my freshman year of high school. During this experience, I had the opportunity to shadow a nurse where I learned how much a nurse helps others every day. Nurses have the opportunity to help people when they are at their lowest by helping them recover and gain strength. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to become a nurse so I could help others the way the nurses at the hospital did every day. I am now in my third semester of nursing school at James Madison University. The application to the nursing program was solely based on grades so I worked hard during my general education classes to get into the program. Through the nursing program, I have the opportunity to have clinicals. I was providing care to one specific patient who felt comfortable enough to confide in me as they were scared about what their test results would show. I was able to comfort the patient by making sure they knew I would be with them during their stay and that I would be there to support and advocate for them as they go through this challenging time. Every patient encounter such as this one confirms I choose the right career path as I can see the difference I am making. Although nursing school classes are challenging, and clinical hours can be long I am motivated by the fact that one day I will become a nurse and have the opportunity to help others every day. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse and so I can continue to help others. Thank you.

I wish I could say I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was a young child but that is not the case. What I did know from a very young age is that I am passionate about helping others whether that means sharing snacks at school, holding the door, or helping a friend understand homework. Helping others has always been an important value to me and I knew I wanted a career where I could help others daily. However, I could never decide what I wanted my career to be until high school when I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local hospital the summer going into my freshman year of high school. During this experience, I had the opportunity to shadow a nurse where I learned how much a nurse helps others every day. Nurses have the opportunity to help people when they are at their lowest by helping them recover and gain strength. Nurses are the ones in the room with a patient most of the time answering questions, providing support, helping perform daily activities, giving medications, and so much more. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to become a nurse so I could help others the way the nurses at the hospital did every day. Now that I am in nursing school, I have the opportunity every clinical to provide the patients with the care and respect they deserve while they recover. During my time in clinical, I was providing care to one specific patient who felt comfortable enough to confide in me as they were scared about what their test results would show. I was able to comfort the patient by making sure they knew I would be with them during their stay and that I would be there to support and advocate for them as they go through this challenging time. Every patient encounter such as this one confirms I choose the right career path as I can see the difference I am making. Although nursing school classes are challenging, and clinical hours can be long I am motivated by the fact that one day I will become a nurse and have the opportunity to help others every day. I appreciate your time reading over my essay and I ask you to consider my application so I can continue my journey of becoming a nurse and so I can continue to help others. Thank you.