I am a non-traditional student, going back to school in my late 30's as a parent. I spent many years as an accountant, but now I am studying nutrition. I made this change because I want to pursue a career where I truly help others to make positive changes in their life. I believe that feeling good physically is the key to being able to thrive rather than just survive in life. My plans about how to impact my community are multifaceted. Ideally I will become a registered dietitian in a few years. Once I achieve this goal, I want to counsel clients one-on-one about how to make food choices that will support their lifestyle. I particularly want to focus on pregnant women and new mothers, as this can be a challenging life stage. Mothers also have a huge impact on their children's health and future nutrition choices, so this is a great time to gain education around nutrition and health. Also, many women experience changes in their body after giving birth, so it is a good time to reassess whether your past habits are continuing to support you. Additionally, I plan to do volunteer work in my community as well. There are so many people who have been very little education around nutrition. Small changes can have a huge impact in this area. I have volunteered at the Central Texas Food Bank before, and it would be wonderful to become more involved with this institution once I am fully accredited as a registered dietitian. This could include working directly with the population served by the Central Texas Food Bank, or working with staff to help serve the most nutritious food possible. I am also interested in helping the YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program. This is a joint program between the University of Texas at Austin and the YMCA. Type 2 Diabetes affects family members of so many people that I know, and this condition is usually preventable. I think this is a really important area of work, and I would love to be more involved in helping those in my community manage this condition. I also think working with the family members of the diagnosed client could help prevent future cases of type 2 diabetes. In conclusion, I plan to use my degree to help the lives of as many people as possible. As Ann Wigmore said, "The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison." I hope to teach as many people as possible how to use food as medicine and to see it in a positive light!

It is my dream to become a registered dietitian and help as many people as possible learn how to nourish themselves in a way that will increase the quality and quantity of their lives. I have always been interested in nutrition, even during childhood. In high school, I was a student athlete, and our coaches often told us to "eat clean" without any background information. Then as a young adult, stress caused me to have chronic stomach issues that perhaps could have been helped by adopting a different diet. Later in life, after I had my son, I dealt with severe headaches for the first two years of his life. It was finally a nutritionist who helped me figure out my issues, even though the root cause was environmental allergies! I want to help others figure out the root cause of any symptoms they may be dealing with by supporting a healthy lifestyle. After going through all of these issues, I started talking to other mothers about their postpartum journeys. Many of these mothers expressed to me that their body had gone through huge changes; many had auto-immune disorders that were triggered after birth, or were now not able to tolerate gluten or dairy. These women had to visit many different providers until they figured out that the cause of their discomfort was diet related. I would love to work with pre- and postnatal women to help make this life stage more easeful and comfortable, so they can focus on the hard work of being new mothers. I also would love to work with children and adolescents. I believe that the earlier a person starts implementing healthy eating habits, the better their lifelong outcomes. I also think that young people are often more open to new ideas, and that childhood is a great time to introduce the idea that healthy eating can help you feel better in the present and later in life. The children really are our future! My time as a student athlete also has piqued my curiosity about how athletes at all different levels might need to eat differently than the general population. Of course exercise is a healthy habit, but when exercising at extreme levels or during growth spurts, it is important to be sure that enough calories and micronutrients are consumed. I am interested to see if there is a link between proper fueling in athletes and later life outcomes. These are just a few examples of how nutrition choices can affect people throughout their lives. I am truly enjoying my nutrition program, and this scholarship would be a huge help in getting one step closer to my dream of becoming a registered dietitian. I am looking forward to helping as many people as possible learn about how healthy food choices can keep them comfortable and active throughout the rest of their lives.

Going back to school with a child has been a whirlwind, but I wouldn't change one second of it. It is such an amazing experience to share learning and going to school with my son, who is now in second grade. We discuss what we did at school that day, how things are going with our classmates, and any challenges or frustrations we may be facing. This type of connection is one I did not expect to get with my child until he was much older, and I feel very lucky to be having these conversations with him so early in life. Unfortunately it's not all rainbows and and butterflies! When my son was younger, it was impossible to explain to him why I needed to have alone time to study. It was difficult and expensive to find childcare before he started kindergarten, and it was a tough decision to send him to daycare at all. I knew that going back to school was the right path for me, but it is so challenging in the early days with your child to be parted from them. In the end, we both grew stronger from it, but we had many tears at the beginning (both his and mine)! Another challenge that I have faced is trying to study and stay focused in class when dealing with a lack of sleep. Although my son is older now, most parents know that a guaranteed eight hour sleep is a thing of the past once you have a child. Staying patient with my son while he struggled with sleep issues was not an easy task when I knew I had to get up for an early class the next day. We have gotten through the toughest parts of it, but I know there will still be some sleepless nights in the future! All in all, going back to school later in life and as a parent has been a truly wonderful experience. I know that my husband and son are proud of me and all the hard work and sacrifices I have been making to get this degree. I am forever grateful for their support, even when I am folding all of their laundry! I can't wait to see what the future holds for me and for my son. I hope that my circuitous path to a career that is right for me will inspire him to always seek new opportunities in his life.

I thought I never wanted to take ANY science classes in college. My mom was a chemistry teacher, and as a teenager all I wanted was to do anything OTHER than what my mom did. As I have gotten older, I've realized that slowly turning into your mother isn't such a bad thing. For this reason, among many others, I decided to go back to school to study nutrition. I was so happy to see my chemistry and biology classes filled with women! It has been such a supportive environment in which to launch a new phase of my life. At first, I was very nervous to be taking classes that everyone is scared of, such as Organic Chemistry or Genetics. I was a little annoyed that I was being forced to take these classes as part of my nutrition major coursework, thinking that I would never use the information learned in these hard science courses. However, as I have continued working towards my degree, I have started to put all of the pieces together. It is extremely useful to understand how our bodies work on a molecular level, as well as how our genetics can play a role in how our body metabolizes and reacts to different types of food. I am hoping to use all of my newfound knowledge to help others understand the science behind nutrition, and allow people to untangle their thoughts and feelings about food. I think many people are now getting all of the knowledge from social media and marketing campaigns. I want to empower people to be able to learn more about the scientific studies behind the advertisements they see, and to parse the information being given there. It is my hope to work with women and new moms. I have a few reasons for this: first of all, pre and postpartum women have a very specific set of nutritional requirements, and often are not give the tools necessary to nourish themselves properly. Secondly, moms are often in charge of feeding the whole family, and therefore may have the most influence over what the whole household consumes. Therefore, educating women or primary caregivers for children about the importance of what they eat and what their children eat can have a huge impact on our generation and the next one. All of these well-nourished and healthy children will surely be able to use all their brainpower for the next advancements in STEAM learning!

It is so important to me to educated as many people as possible on how they can improve their health and quality of life through what they eat. I was first drawn to study nutrition after experiencing terrible headaches following the birth of my son. I went to many different doctors but the person who finally helped me figure out what was causing my issues was a registered dietitian. After figuring out my own issues, I talked to many other mothers who had gone through similar experiences. Doctors were quick to write off these women’s ailments as stress-induced or even just figments of their imagination from being sleep deprived and dealing with the anxieties of becoming a new mother. Fortunately, some of these women did find their way to dietitians who were able to help them nurture their changing bodies and uncover the root causes of their problems. This is just one small subset of people who could desperately use help from someone willing to go deep into a patient’s everyday life, rather than just write a prescription and move on. I also am passionate about working with children and caregivers to help start healthy eating habits from a young age. More and more research has come out showing that what we eat in childhood can affect our health for the rest of our lives; even what the mother is eating while the child is in utero can have a huge effect on health outcomes. I would love to set these children up for success in life by teaching them how to nourish their growing bodies. It is also important to show these children to take note of any changes or issues they may notice in their physical and mental well-being, so that if anything is going on, they can catch it quickly before any maladies progress further. I think too often we are taught to “stay strong” and “work through the pain,” when really it maybe be more beneficial in the long run to enquire further into any malaise we may be experiencing. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I also believe it is never too late to improve your health. It can be challenging to work with older clients who may be more set in their ways, but nevertheless, senior citizens can improve their quality of life and increase their longevity by adopting healthy eating habits and trying to be more active even in their later years. I recognize that I have some big ambitions, but I hope I can help as many people in as many stages of life as possible.

I love math because there is always a right answer. There does not have to be a long discussion about everyone's different viewpoints or takeaways; you learn how to solve a certain type of problem, and then you can figure out the answer to any similar problem. The thrill of getting to the end and getting the right answer, or when you figure out a new method to get to the right answer, is unparalleled. Math is the same in any language and any culture. Once you learn it, you can remember it forever -- or at least it is like riding a bike and you can pick it back up again quickly. Doing math problems with my six-year-old son has been amazing -- seeing the joy on his face when he understands a new concept is so fun! We all sit at the dinner table and quiz each other on different match concepts. It has been a fun new challenge for me to think of different ways of explaining how my mind works to get to a certain answer. It is also amazing to see that my child can look at how I do something, and how my partner does something, and then come up with his own way to arrive at the same answer. It is truly a fascinating subject that never gets old!

My favorite thing about Disney is taking family trips to Disney World. I grew up in a really small town in Pennsylvania -- so small that we got our first traffic light when I was in first grade. Most people in our small town didn't usually travel outside of Pennsylvania, but my parents loved to travel. My dad had also grown up in this same small town, and the first time he ever flew on a plane was a high school marching band trip to Disney World, where he marched in one of the parades threw the parks. He loved Disney from that moment on, and he passed that love down to my sister and me. Planning out our trips to the parks was almost as much fun as the trip itself. I recall looking at maps of the park - hard copy, no iPhones yet - and planning out our routes to make sure we got to go on all the rides early in the day, then save the shows for the sweltering afternoons. I saw every Disney movie, often watching them multiple times. We listened to the soundtrack of "The Lion King" on a green cassette in the car on the way to and from school so often, it's a wonder my parents didn't lose their minds! We when to Disney quite a few times when I was young, and I can always remember how carefree it felt to be there. My parents could forget all about work, my sister and I were constantly entertained, and we ate many, many Mickey-shaped treats! It felt like a week-long escape from reality into a world of whimsy, where everything was designed to delight. My dad worked a lot and often had to travel for work, so it was a really special time for our family to spend together with no distractions or stressors. My sister and I now have children of our own, and as soon as they were old enough, we took a big family trip to Disney World. My dad walked through the park holding his grandsons' hands and beaming! Seeing the pure joy on my son's face for his first ride on Thunder Mountain Railroad, I finally understood why my dad always loved taking us to the parks. I know Disney World isn't for everyone, but to me, it truly is the most magical place on earth.

The COVID pandemic was difficult for everyone in our society, but I do think it greatly impacted parents, especially parents with young children. Our son turned three years old right when the pandemic hit, and we decided to keep him home from preschool to keep our family healthy and safe. I feel very lucky that we were able to make that decision, but it was an isolating time for all of us. At the time, I was working part-time as an accountant and my husband was working full-time. Fortunately, we were both able to work from home, but we live in a very small house and it can be hard to work with a three-year-old running around all day! I did my best to do my accounting work during his nap and after he went to bed, spending the rest of the hours entertaining him and trying to keep him quiet so that my husband could work. The silver lining of this time was that I realized that accounting was not going to be a satisfying long-term career for me. I decided to start taking classes online through our local community college, even with my limited time. Although it was difficult to make time for everything, I enjoyed learning again and decided that I wanted to go back to school and pursue a degree in nutrition. It took me a long time to get through my prerequisites for the nutrition program since I only took one class at a time so I could continue working and being at home with my son, but I made it through and applied to the only nutrition program available locally. I found out that I got into the program in January 2022! At this point, my son had started going to preschool again and my husband and I crunched the numbers to see if I could go back to school and quit my job. I am very lucky to have such a supportive partner, and I am now enrolled in the nutrition program of my dreams! I have a long way to go, but it has been so rewarding to go back to school and learn about a topic that I love. I hope to use my newfound knowledge to help people create an optimal baseline of health so that their bodies are strong enough to fight any new viruses that may come our way!

I dream that I have a fulfilling job as a registered dietitian where I help others reach their health goals, as well as setting a great example for my son.

If I went to Hogwarts, the sorting hat would place me in Hufflepuff. I have never been afraid of hard work, and loyalty and honesty have always been my most valued characteristics. The Hufflepuff common room being near the kitchens doesn't hurt either! Although some people think Hufflepuff is the most "boring" house, how can a house that produced Newt Scamander be boring? His greatest fear was being stuck behind a desk for the rest of his life, which is a feeling I understand after working as an accountant for many years. To break out of the office setting, I became a yoga teacher. I continued to work part-time as an accountant, showing my practical side -- something I also consider to be a Hufflepuff trait. After COVID put a stop to my yoga teaching, I kept my part-time accounting job and decided to take online classes from my local community college as well, being unafraid of toil as I am. After knocking out some required science classes, I applied and was accepted to the University of Texas at Austin to study nutrition. I think Pomona Sprout would consider nutrition one of the closest muggle subjects to Herbology, once again showing my strong connection to Hufflepuff House. Although I haven't learned how to brew any magic potions, I am learning how food can sometimes be a "miracle" cure to some common ailments. I have been chipping away at my required classes over the last year, as well as taking care of my young son who is entering first grade. Although it will take longer to complete my degree going at a slower pace, I am dedicated and loyal to my family first. I have arranged my classes so I can spend the afternoons with my son. Another characteristic of Hufflepuffs is their openness and acceptance of all. When I taught yoga, I had people from all walks of life in my classes and it was so wonderful for us all to connect in an athletic space where there was no competition, only support. Even though Hufflepuffs are not always portrayed as such, they can be courageous and ambitious as well, as exemplified by Cedric Diggory. Many people have told me how brave I am to undertake another degree as an adult and as a mother. I do think it is bold to go after what you want a little later in life than most people would expect, but Hufflepuffs don't always do what is expected of them!

Raising a child while also working towards a degree has been like a game of schedule Tetris! Meshing my class schedule to fit with pick up and drop off times for my son has been a challenge, but a fun one! Fortunately all the students I've met in my classes have been extremely understanding and helpful when it comes to my schedule. I think it's a great opportunity for everyone to interact with people in different stages of life -- for me, to remember what it was like to be young, and for my new friends to see what the future may hold for them. Another big obstacle has been finding the time to study. Many times I plan to do homework at night after my child has gone to sleep, only to be thwarted in my efforts by extra stories or bedtime pats because of a nightmare. It's hard to maintain my composure and not lose my patience in moments like these, but as all parents know, it's a great balancing act! As my son has gotten older, we have figured out how to both do our "homework" at the same time -- he has workbooks and games he can do on his own while I catch up a bit. I'm also very lucky to have a curious kid. He is interested to hear about everything I'm learning in my classes, and it's a great review for me to explain what I'm learning in simpler terms. My biggest upcoming challenge is a full-time internship that I will have to do to get the degree I'm working towards. My family and I are trying to figure out how we can coordinate our schedules to make this work. I've spent a lot of time discussing after-school care with my son, as he's currently used to coming home and spending afternoons with me. Juggling each family member's needs and desires can be tricky, and I'm constantly thinking about what sacrifices now will be worth the payoff in the future. Being a non-traditional student who is older and a parent has been a bumpy road, but also it has been so fun and rewarding. I believe I'm setting a great example for my child about following your dream no matter where it might take you, and also showing him that following a "typical" timeline for school, work, and starting a family is not always that important. I hope you will consider me for this scholarship, as it would be a big help to me and to my family.

Being a swimmer has been a huge part of my life ever since I was three years old. My mom taught swim lessons and was a swim coach since before I was born, and she brought me to the pool every week when I was growing up. I have always felt very comfortable in the water and it's a great place to think and work through problems. My favorite memories of my childhood are summer swim meets, eating meatball sandwiches and cheering loudly for my teammates. Swimming has always been a source of friendship and belonging in my life. Many of my best friends were made on swim team - the hard work and time spent together was the perfect environment for creating lasting relationships. Being a swimmer helped to shape my identity in middle school and high school, which can be tough periods of your life if you don't have a strong sense of self and a support group of teammates. In college, I decided to forego swim team in favor of swimming casually for fun. I taught my roommate how to do flip turns; I taught my future husband how to breathe on the side in freestyle. Swimming still brought me connection even when there wasn't a formal team setting. During this time, my military parents were living in Hawaii, so during the summers, I had to make a whole new set of friends, away from my high school comrades. Swimming came to the rescue once again. I learned how to surf and boogie board, making a new set of friends through new water sports. I also swam and coached for the local swim team. I forged a whole new network through swimming. As an adult, I have gone swimming in all sorts of places. At strange indoor pools in New York City when I lived there; at the University of Texas pool before I ever dreamed of applying there; the Olympic pool in Munich while on a vacation, and countless other bodies of weather. Now I am pursuing a degree in nutrition, a decision informed by my history in athletics. I hope to help others learn how to nourish their bodies and become the best athletes they can be. I know my swimming has benefited from my knowledge of nutrition, and expanding this knowledge can only help my athletic pursuits as well as helping me to teach others.

1. I deserve this scholarship because I have worked super hard to get where I am, and the last thing I need to be worrying about while trying to pass Organic Chemistry is money! 2. My goal is graduate with a Master's Degree in Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition and then to become a Registered Dietitian. I want to help moms and children make nutrition choices to support their wellbeing and to live long, healthy lives! 3. I decided I wanted to go back to school right when COVID-19 hit, and I decided to keep my part-time work from home job, also be the primary caregiver for my toddler, and take classes online at my local community college. After doing that for a year, I got into the college of my dreams and I'm now enrolled and moving towards my career goal!

A warm, steaming cup of coffee on a chilly day is one life's greatest simple pleasures. Whether brewed at home or enjoyed at a coffee shop, the aroma of freshly ground beans is unbeatable! Our little family has found a real community at our local coffee shop. Many of the patrons and baristas there have known our child since we carried him there in an Ergobaby, and now he walks the whole way by himself. There is something about that morning cup of coffee that really unites everyone and somehow brings out the friendlier side of people. Of course, our little one enjoys milk for now, but he is excited for the day he is old enough to enjoy coffee as well! My husband and I have been enjoying cups of coffee together since we met 15 years ago. From cheap cups at the local diner to fancy cappuccinos in New York City, this ritual always makes a new place feel like home. A coffee shop is also a great place to people watch and enjoy watching the locals in a different part of the world -- caffeine unites us all! Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, we have had a lot more cups of coffee at home. We have done our best to keep this small pleasure alive -- we do the crossword together and dream of when we will once again be traveling the world, trying all sorts of new coffee, and savoring every sip.

The wisest thing I've ever heard is a quote by John Steinbeck: "And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good." I didn't hear this quote until later in life, and I wish that I had heard it when I was younger. Growing up, I was very focused on being as perfect as possible in all pursuits -- straight A's at school, swimming as hard as possible at every practice and competition, even playing songs on the piano until I could play them three times through with no mistakes. Needless to say, this approach to life really sucked the joy out of a lot of activities. Now that I am older, and I hope a little wiser, I have realized that perfection in any pursuit will not make me any happier. While I still work hard at my studies and other pursuits, I know when to say enough is enough and also to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor. Also, as a mother, I don't want to set unattainable goals for my child. I want him to see that the fun is in the doing, and that the results don't always matter that much. I try to share John Steinbeck's quote whenever possible, in the hope that it will give someone else the freedom to be good rather than perfect.

To me, generosity means giving with no expectations. I think the most precious gift we can offer is our time and attention. This has become very clear to me since becoming a mother. Giving up precious hours of sleep, work, and free time to make sure that your child is cared for is the epitome of generosity. Also, the understanding and listening that happens between new mothers is a beautiful example of generosity as well. Text messages with other moms at four in the morning definitely kept me going, and I have been trying to pay it forward as I meet other new moms. Another place that I have found extraordinary generosity is through yoga. I have practiced yoga since middle school, and the way that yoga teachers throughout my life have been generous with their time and a listening ear inspired me to become a teacher a few years ago. Staying after class for a few minutes with a student is often more meaningful than the class we had together. I also loved seeing the generosity of spirit between students in my classes -- giving each other space and encouraging each other on whatever journey had brought them to the mat. Although generosity to me does mean giving with no expectation of receiving anything in return, the feeling of happiness and contentment that comes with generous acts is more than enough to keep the cycle of giving going.