I remember it as if it were yesterday. My mom woke us up at 6 am and told us the heartbreaking news. We woke up crying, our home shaking with grief. My grandmother was the purest person on this Earth. She truly had a heart of gold, and exuded wisdom in every situation. Everyone, whether it were relatives or community members or friends, loved her. I was blessed to have 17 years of my life living with her and making memories with her. She was there my entire life, a constant in the everchanging journey of life. I never questioned her presence, I just always thought she would be there. I always felt her unconditional love towards me, no matter what was going on. My grandmother expressed her unconditional love by fully supporting me and being able to be a positive light in my life at all times. After her passing, I was in a hopeless place mentally. I felt so lost, and it really caused my grades to slip. I was disoriented with grief, and college decisions were just around the corner. After going through such an event, I had no care for anything, and here I was, expected to make a decision that would change my life. I remember my parents sitting me down, asking me what I was thinking about college. All I could think about was how I just wanted to make my grandmother proud, wherever she was. Throughout the next few months, I realized the direction I would take within my career plan. I wanted to live my life in the same way she did, and affect people in the positive light that she did. My grandmother was a nurse in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Every day, she healed people that were truly in need of it because of the deteriorated state of healthcare quality that was being delivered. She chose to live every day making an impact and a difference. Her life inspired me to understand what kind of person I want to be and which career path I wanted to take. My grandmother inspired me to pursue medicine. Her actions, her motivation fueled me throughout my career exploration journey, and eventually led me to where I am today. Losing my grandmother was the worst thing that has happened to myself and my family. But, I was able to rise and grow from the grief. It's now my life's mission to take the things that she taught me, and the lessons I learned just by being in her presence, and implement them into my life, so I can one day have even a fraction of the goodness she had in her heart.

As he ran over to me, I noticed him frantically holding his throat, trying to tell me something. Working with children, as a camp counselor, we always had to be prepared for the worst, even though we were not trained medical professionals. I had always thought about what I would do in this kind of situation, and here I was. In the next few seconds, I calmed myself down. Then , I instructed my camper to lift his hands up, and walked him through breathing exercises I learned at a workshop, until the nurse came. I tried my best to calm him down, realizing that he wasn’t actually choking, he had a fear of choking. I spoke to him, made jokes, and distracted him from his fears and he went back happily to playing with his friends. This experience shocked and scared me. When I thought he was truly choking, I realized how afraid and unprepared I was. I never wanted to feel that helpless again. I understood that I wanted to be able to get training and to learn how to deal with medical emergencies to be able to help people. In addition to that experience, a main source of my inspiration to pursue medicine was my grandmother, who passed away two years ago. My grandmother was a nurse in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Every day, she healed people that were truly in need of it because of the deteriorated state of healthcare quality that was being delivered. She chose to live every day making an impact and a difference. Her life inspired me to understand what kind of person I want to be and which career path I wanted to take. Her actions, her motivation fueled me throughout my career exploration journey, and eventually led me to where I am today. Throughout my education as a Pre-Physician Assistant major, I’ve been taking rigorous science classes including biology, chemistry and more in-depth courses such as cell biology and organic chemistry. This has uncovered a world of depth and instilled a passion for science within myself. It’s helped me understand the human body in a specific, and in a holistic way. Science is a beautiful mechanism for understanding the world. I am passionate about science because of the hope, possibility and potential it provides. Science gives me the hope and excitement that there will constantly be new discoveries about biomedical procedures that will save lives and help people. As a future Physician Assistant, it is extremely important to me to serve populations with limited access to quality care, to be able to help all kinds of people. To me, this means that as healthcare providers, it is crucial that we take our opportunities and resources, and use them to help others and educate others, especially people that aren’t given the same opportunities we have. No matter their financial and socio economic status, everyone should be served with quality care, and be given the ability to improve their health. Health should not be, and is not a luxury, but a necessity for all humans. Fighting for quality care for all people is my personal way of repairing the world and commiting myself to tikkun olam.

Two years ago, I lost my beautiful grandmother to COVID. It was the worst day of my life. It was my senior year of high school, and when COVID hit, I knew I wasn't going to have a normal senior experience. I just didn't realize I would have one of the most difficult years of my life. My grandmother was the purest person on this Earth. She truly had a heart of gold, and exuded wisdom in every situation. Everyone, whether it were relatives or community members or friends, loved her. I was blessed to have 17 years of my life living with her and making memories with her. She was there my entire life, a constant in the everchanging journey of life. I never questioned her presence, I just always thought she would be there. I always felt her unconditional love towards me, no matter what was going on. My grandmother expressed her unconditional love by fully supporting me and being able to be a positive light in my life at all times. After her passing, I was in a difficult place mentally. I felt so lost, and it really caused my grades to slip. I was disoriented with grief, and college decisions were just around the corner. After going through such an event, I had no care for anything, and here I was, expected to make a decision that would change my life. I remember my parents sitting me down, asking me what I was thinking about college. All I could think about was how I just wanted to make my grandmother proud, wherever she was. Throughout the next few months, I realized the direction I would take within my career plan. I wanted to live my life in the same way she did, and affect people in the positive light that she did. My grandmother was a nurse in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Every day, she healed people that were truly in need of it because of the deteriorated state of healthcare quality that was being delivered. She chose to live every day making an impact and a difference. Her life inspired me to understand what kind of person I want to be and which career path I wanted to take. My grandmother inspired me to pursue medicine. Her actions, her motivation fueled me throughout my career exploration journey, and eventually led me to where I am today. Losing my grandmother was the worst thing that has happened to myself and my family. But, I was able to rise and grow from the grief. It's now my life's mission to take the things that she taught me, and the lessons I learned just by being in her presence, and implement them into my life, so I can one day have even a fraction of the goodness she had in her heart.

Obstacles are always present. But, how we chose to recover from them, and whether or not we keep fighting is key. Last year, my senior year of high school was flooded with academic, personal and financial challenges. As we all know, the COVID pandemic was extremely prevalent last year, resulting in an online full year of high school for myself. Not only was it extremely difficult to comprehend the material for my classes, I slowly lost the motivation of learning. There was no social component to school anymore, and many of my friends and I suffered from our mental health as a result of the pandemic uprooting our lives. Towards the middle of the year, my grandmother passed away from COVID. It was extremely painful and she was significantly close to my heart. After this, my family and I suffered multiple losses of extended family members. All throughout this time, I was attempting to submit decent college applications, without the help or guidance of teachers, guidance counselors or principals due to our online school setting. I was unsure what exactly I wanted to pursue, which created a pit of confusion in my life. Slowly but surely, after my grandmother passed, I realized I wanted to pursue a profession in the medical field, and I applied to programs that could help me achieve that. Despite the many obstacles that I endured that year, I persevered and overcame those challenges to apply to college. Since I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in the medical field, I took initiative and asked a local doctor that ran a private clinic if I could intern at his office. For a few months, I shadowed the doctor and worked at the front desk. This experience allowed me to solidify my choice to pursue a career in the medical field and was extremely educational, allowing me to immerse and envision myself in the medical field. Throughout my senior year, I also participated in a Medical Virtual Shadowing Program. This program involved a speaker doing a presentation on various topics. The topics included different speakers from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and medical specialties. One of the speakers presenting was a PA. After her extensive presentation, I realized that becoming a PA was perfect for me. As I mentioned before, I applied to Hofstra's Dual Degree Physician Assistant Program, and was accepted. The PA program is very unique and prestigious, which includes the pre-professional stage and the professional stage. The professional stage especially interests me with the unique opportunities it provides, such as a research portion and an internship portion. The program really sets up its students for success and provides them with amazing opportunities to form a successful career for them. Becoming a PA can help me achieve all my goals and dreams of being able to help people and make a difference every day. The United States, especially New York, is a very diverse country, with all kinds of people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Diversity is part of what makes our country beautiful, but it also emphasizes the lack of guarantee that opportunities are equal and available to everyone. As a future Physician Assistant, it is extremely important to me to choose a program that instills the value among my peers and myself to serve populations with limited access to quality care, to be able to help all kinds of people. To me, this means that as healthcare providers, it is crucial that we take our opportunities and resources, and use them to help others and educate others, especially people that aren’t given the same opportunities we have. No matter their financial and socio-economic status, everyone should be served with quality care, and be given the ability to improve their health. Health should not be, and is not a luxury, but a necessity for all humans.

My head hurt and my palms were sweaty. Walking into the large gray building, I felt small and insignificant, staring up at all the intimidating students towering over me, laughing with all their friends. I could feel people’s eyes, analyzing me, studying me, judging me. Who knew that my first day of high school would turn out like this. What is she wearing? They were probably all thinking. I looked down at my clothes, feeling out of place. I was wearing a horrifying knee-length black skirt. Every single person in the lobby was wearing pants instead. This wasn’t just some shallow fashion crisis. Even though I wore skirts consistently for religious reasons, and it was something I did believe in, I felt awkward and ashamed of my differences. The skirt was the barrier between me and everyone else — the skirt was the wall that prevented me from fitting in. Growing up being an Orthodox Jew, and going to a religious private school for the entirety of my elementary and middle school life, I was used to being the same as everyone and fitting in. Therefore, distraught and upset, I convinced myself that I would get through school without friends. No one would want to be friends with someone like me, so I would just focus on school. High school would not be the thrilling experience I had seen in the movies. Over the next 2 years, I went from an Orthodox environment where everyone wore what I wore, to a public school where I was the only one. As I observed and settled into my new environment, some days were good, others bad. I felt judged and out of place every day. As the uncomfortability settled in, I grew tired of worrying about the way people perceived me. While I knew I wasn’t at the point yet where I could easily shut off my feelings, I made a smaller personal decision, to try to take every step and every moment one at a time, instead of overwhelming myself. As I adjusted to this mindset, over time, I began making friends from my classes. Slowly but surely, I adapted to the culture of my new environment, but everything around me felt so unfamiliar and I couldn’t seem to fully accept my differences. Then one day, towards the end of sophomore year, I was walking toward the bus stop with my friend and we were reminiscing about our freshman years. “Do you regret coming to Townsend?” she asked me. “No,” I quickly replied. As I said this, I was shocked to realize that I hadn’t lied; I genuinely loved it here. I wouldn’t trade anything for my high school experience. I realized I was so happy right here, and right now. I thought back to my first day of high school, and I remembered watching the older students surrounded by their friends. It hit me that I had become those people from my first day of high school. I had never, ever thought that I would reach the point in my life where I was like them because I had thought I was so different. But here I was. All this time, I was so consumed by the thought of people judging me, that I didn’t realize how happy I was. I realized that I don’t need to be the same to belong. I can be different, I can dress differently, I can have a different background. People will like me for me, and they do. From that day forward, every time I entered a new environment, instead of running and hiding myself, I approached people with confidence and was able to easily weave my differences into something that was beautiful. This summer I worked in a summer camp. I made many friends from different backgrounds that did not know the reason I wore skirts. When people asked, I used to reply with, “It’s for religious reasons”. Now, I reply with, “It is for religious reasons but I love wearing skirts; it is a part of me. It’s who I am, and I don’t ever want that to change”. I don’t try and hide my differences, instead, I embellish them, because I am proud of who I am.

As he ran over to me, I noticed him frantically holding his throat. Working with children, as camp counselors, we always had to be prepared for the worst, even though we were not trained, medical professionals. I had always thought about what I would do in that kind of situation, and here I was. When he initially began choking, my heart stopped. My body froze. My mind raced with fear and anxiety. I had no idea what to do. In the next few seconds, I calmed myself down. Then, I instructed my camper to lift his hands up, and walked him through breathing exercises I learned at a workshop until the nurse came. I tried my best to calm him down, realizing that he wasn’t actually choking, he had a fear of choking. I spoke to him, made jokes, and distracted him from his fears and he went back to playing with his friends. This experience shocked and scared me. When I thought he was truly choking, I realized how afraid and unprepared I was. I never wanted to feel that helpless again. I understood that I wanted to be able to get training and to learn how to deal with medical emergencies to be able to help people. Since I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in the medical field, I took initiative and asked a local doctor if I could intern at his office. For a few months, I shadowed the doctor and worked at the front desk. This experience allowed me to solidify my choice to pursue a career in the medical field and allowed me to envision myself in the medical field. Throughout my senior year, I also participated in a Medical Virtual Shadowing Program. This program involved a speaker doing a presentation on various topics. The topics included different speakers from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and medical specialties. One of the speakers presenting was an NP. After her extensive presentation, I realized that becoming an NP was perfect for me. I loved that as an NP I would be able to spend more time communicating with patients. Nurses deal with a range of medical aspects, which allow them to be well-rounded medical professionals. From then, I became very interested in becoming a nurse and have explored the profession thoroughly. My dream is to become an exceptional Nurse that makes a difference in people’s lives every day. Throughout my senior year of high school, I worked extremely hard to apply for various different colleges that have exceptional nursing programs, such as Adelphi University, Hofstra University and Hunter College. These programs really set up its students for success and provide them with amazing opportunities to form a successful career. The United States, especially New York, is a very diverse country, with all kinds of people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The diversity is part of what makes our country beautiful, but it also emphasizes the lack of guarantee that opportunities are equal and available to everyone. As a future Nurse, I would like to serve populations with limited access to quality care, to be able to help all kinds of people. To me, this means that as healthcare providers, it is crucial that we take our opportunities and resources, and use them to help others and educate others, especially people that aren’t given the same opportunities we have.No matter their financial and socio-economic status, everyone should be served with quality care, and be given the ability to improve their health. Health should not be, and is not a luxury, but a necessity for all humans.

There are two things I learned from this pandemic. The first is to expect the unexpected and the second is to build your own legacy every single day. This year was an extremely difficult one for many people, including myself and my family. Unfortunately, we lost a lot because of this pandemic. But, the most important thing we lost was our loved ones. Before this experience, I didn’t think about what it would be like to leave this Earth. To just...be gone. My grandmother passed away a month ago. When this tragedy struck, our family broke. What truly helped us keep going was her legacy. After she passed, I was only told beautiful things about her from her family and friends. Not a single person ever expressed grudges, hard feelings, or and sort of hate towards her. Her legacy was left in the example she left for us, for her children, and her grandchildren. She taught us how to live, not by criticizing or yelling, but by leading and by being. She left a legacy of kindness, beauty, and love. People will always remember her for the immense amount of good she left behind on this Earth, and that is forever. That is what legacy means to me. Not career and not money, but our actions. Our actions, our goodness, and how we impact others and the world around us. I would like to follow in my beautiful grandmother’s footsteps and spread love, kindness, and beauty into this world, and leave a beautiful legacy for my grandchildren to be proud of and remember forever.