The close family member that I lost was my younger brother Evan. He passed away by suicide this year on March 18, 2024 and his death still affects me heavily to this day. He was a strong, outgoing, kind, funny person that was only 15 years old. I remember every single minute since I found out that he died and those few days after always replay in my head. I am constantly reminded of him with little things that I come across today. I thought that I would never be able to recover and return to school for my senior year and finish my track season. I had plans to attend Angelo State University after I graduated but that seemed like it would never happen. I didn’t want to leave my family after my brother had just left us. Although I had these thoughts, my family and friends pushed me to not give up and to finish my senior year of high school without letting his death take over my thoughts. He would have wanted me to continue school and make the best out of it before I left for college to pursue a career in health sciences. My brother became an organ donor and saved a few people’s lives and this has given me even more determination to go into the medical field. I have decided that mental health specialties is a great path for me so that I can help kids that have the same feelings my brother had. This event has been the most impactful thing that has ever happened to me, while I had just experienced this great devastating loss and I was feeling the heaviest weight on my heart, as I was reminded everyday that I would no longer get to see Evan anymore, I have also learned not to take any moment with my loved ones for granted because they could be taken away just like that. Since then I have done everything in remembrance for him and I always try to look back at my earliest memories with Evan. I hope that Evan’s memory can stay with me everyday and I hope that he will be looking down on me and will be proud of what become. As I continue my college freshman year at Angelo State University, I still feel scared to not always be with all of my loved ones everyday but I am excited to experience opportunities in a new chapter of my life.

I have always been described as compassionate, empathetic, and helpful by the people in my life. I go out of my way to make somebody’s day a little better, and I enjoy that side of me. I have decided to pursue a career path in public service because I believe that helping other people is the best path towards happiness. As a happy person, I feel the need to share that joy with other people, whether it’s a close friend or a stranger I come across. Starting college this year has made me really think about why I want to go into public services or more specifically, health care. I enjoy life sciences and anatomy labs but I’ve realized the true reason is because I want to help others. The healthcare field is always on high demand for new employees and I admire anyone who has taken that path to help their community. Healthcare workers are not only determined and hardworking, they are passionate about saving lives and value patient care over anything else. Working in healthcare allows me to directly improve the health of individuals and communities. Whether I decide to become a doctor, nurse, public health professional, or administrator, my work can help prevent disease, manage conditions, and save lives. I have also decided to take this career path because I want my family and I to live comfortably. I am a part of the Health Science Society at my university and at our last meeting we had a guest speaker who was a general surgeon. He told us something that I feel any person in healthcare could relate to. He said “It’s hard work for easy living.” So not only am I helping my patients, I am helping my family and myself. I find that this profession can give me a sense of personal fulfillment. Helping people through illness or injury could bring me a strong belief that I have purpose in our world. The medical field is constantly evolving, introducing new treatments, technologies, and research, so with the purpose I feel from helping others in this field, I will always want to improve my knowledge and skills so I can provide the best care possible. Overall, the public service career in health care is my ultimate goal in life and I believe that I am a person that is meant to be in this field. With my motivation, determination, and kindness, I could impact many individual people and small or big communities. I want to feel the satisfaction and joy that comes from making someone’s day better or life overall, and I am determined to overcome any hardships and obstacles that come from school to reach that career path.

My brother Evan passed away by suicide on March 18, 2024. He was a 15 year old sophomore in high school who played soccer, video games, and he loved hanging out with his friends. Evan and I were a lot closer when we were younger but we still had our times where we hung out and joked together over all the dumb things. He always found ways to joke and lift up everyone around him in some bad situations. Sometimes I felt that he couldn’t care less what I was doing but he proved me wrong when he could see that I was upset and he would check on me. When I would leave the house, he would always ask where I was going. Something that was very significant about him was that he was very driven to make money. He had many small businesses like making funny t-shirts. He had also brought snacks and a cooler of sodas to school and sold them there ( even though it was definitely against the rules). With all the money he made, he spread it throughout his friends and family. He bought some electronics for my little brother Alec and I would always drive us to Sonic and he would buy me food. We also made many Dollar General trips where he would buy me snacks. Every day, I find a new memory in the back of my head of us and it makes me miss him so much but it also makes me happy that I have so many fun times to think about. My favorite things that I have done in remembrance of him was stuff like having a locket made for me to wear, we had t-shirts and stickers made for him, we have a plaster mold of his hand, we had paintings made, my school had a little memorial set up for a little bit, and I love writing in my journal as if I am writing letters to him. Once I go to college, I hope that I could bring his memory with me and I hope that I can find a counselor at Angelo State University that I could talk to when I need someone. We donated Evan’s organs to a lot of people and my planned major is Health Science so I hope once I am working in the medical field that I could be a part in helping donate organs to those in need. I hope that Evan’s memory can stay with me everyday and I hope that he will be looking down on me and will be proud of what become.

One of the most significant and impacting events that has come into my life happened only three months ago on March 16, 2024. I had just gotten back from my spring break trip to Magnolia, TX with my boyfriend Daniel’s family. We spent every day sitting by the pool, relaxing in the hot tub, and binge watching movies. I had such a good time hanging out with them so I didn’t want to go back home. After we got back from Magnolia, I decided to hang out at Daniel’s house until around 9 o’clock that night, he was driving me home and we were laughing and listening to music as usual. The first sign that something was off was when we approached my driveway and a police truck pulled into my driveway ahead of us. We were very confused so we followed the truck cautiously. My driveway splits off into different directions so the truck went one way and we went the other way towards the front door. I got out of Daniel’s truck and told him to stay in while I went to check what was going on. I opened the door and all I saw was my eight year old brother Alec crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said “Evan shot himself in the head with a pistol.” Evan was my fifteen year old brother. My heart immediately sank and I felt this immense wave of shock and confusion. I ran back outside to the truck, opened the door, and Daniel could tell that something was wrong so he asked what happened and I told him exactly what Alec told me. We went back into the house to grab Alec so we could sit outside and stay away from all of the chaos that was happening. By that time, some paramedics and police officers showed up. After we were questioned by the police officers, Evan was taken to the hospital to see if anything could be done. Daniel took Alec and me back to his house so we could sleep somewhere that wasn’t our house. Once we got to their house, I couldn’t go to sleep at all. At around 12 o’clock at night, my mom texted and told us that we needed to go to the hospital. Daniel’s dad took us there and we met up with my parents and my twelve year old sister Sydney, who was at her friend's house while all of this was happening. We spent the rest of the night waiting in the children’s ICU waiting room, waiting for the inevitable news that my little brother had died. My brother Evan was officially declared dead on March 18, 2024. This event has been the most impacting thing that has ever happened to me, while I had just experienced this great devastating loss and I was feeling the heaviest weight on my heart as I was reminded everyday that I would no longer get to see Evan anymore, I have also learned not to take any moment with my loved ones for granted because they could be taken away just like that. Since then I have done everything in remembrance for him and I always try to look back at my earliest memories with Evan. As I approach the start of my college freshman year at Angelo State University, I am scared to not be with all of my loved ones everyday but I am excited to experience these opportunities in a new chapter of my life.

One of the most significant and impacting events that has come into my life happened only three months ago on March 16, 2024. I had just gotten back from my spring break trip to Magnolia, TX with my boyfriend Daniel’s family. We spent every day sitting by the pool, relaxing in the hot tub, and binge watching movies. I had such a good time hanging out with them so I didn’t want to go back home. After we got back from Magnolia, I decided to hang out at Daniel’s house until around 9 o’clock that night, he was driving me home and we were laughing and listening to music as usual. The first sign that something was off was when we approached my driveway and a police truck pulled into my driveway ahead of us. We were very confused so we followed the truck cautiously. My driveway splits off into different directions so the truck went one way and we went the other way towards the front door. I got out of Daniel’s truck and told him to stay in while I went to check what was going on. I opened the door and all I saw was my eight year old brother Alec crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said “Evan shot himself in the head with a pistol.” Evan was my fifteen year old brother. My heart immediately sank and I felt this immense wave of shock and confusion. I ran back outside to the truck, opened the door, and Daniel could tell that something was wrong so he asked what happened and I told him exactly what Alec told me. We went back into the house to grab Alec so we could sit outside and stay away from all of the chaos that was happening. By that time, some paramedics and police officers showed up. After we were questioned by the police officers, Evan was taken to the hospital to see if anything could be done. Daniel took Alec and me back to his house so we could sleep somewhere that wasn’t our house. Once we got to their house, I couldn’t go to sleep at all. At around 12 o’clock at night, my mom texted and told us that we needed to go to the hospital. Daniel’s dad took us there and we met up with my parents and my twelve year old sister Sydney, who was at her friend's house while all of this was happening. We spent the rest of the night waiting in the children’s ICU waiting room, waiting for the inevitable news that my little brother had died. My brother Evan was officially declared dead on March 18, 2024. This event has been the most impacting thing that has ever happened to me, while I had just experienced this great devastating loss and I was feeling the heaviest weight on my heart as I was reminded everyday that I would no longer get to see Evan anymore, I have also learned not to take any moment with my loved ones for granted because they could be taken away just like that. Since then I have done everything in remembrance for him and I always try to look back at my earliest memories with Evan. As I approach the start of my college freshman year at Angelo State University, I am scared to not be with all of my loved ones everyday but I am excited to experience these opportunities in a new chapter of my life.