I grew up in a low-income household where emotional safety was rarely guaranteed. As a first-generation student returning to college in my 30s, I carry both the scars and the strengths of that upbringing. Years spent working in human-centered customer support frequently coaching frantic pet owners through emergencies, calling upset clients personally instead of hiding behind scripts showed me how powerful it is when someone feels seen, heard, and helped with dignity. I’m now studying psychology with the long-term goal of becoming a licensed therapist and eventually expanding access to trauma-informed care for people who can’t easily afford or find it. I want my office (virtual or in person) to be a place where survivors, first-gen students, and working-class families feel welcome. Scholarship support will directly fund tuition and reduce the need for additional debt while I work and study toward this calling. Every scholarship dollar shortens the distance between lived pain and professional healing.

• Advocacy
• Volunteering
• Entrepreneurship

• Weightlifting

  Club

  2014 – Present

• Organizer

  Volunteering · Food Bank of America

  2023 – 2024

  Mission:

  To help feed those who are in need

• Foster parent

  Volunteering · Animal Friends Alliance

  2023 – Present

  Mission:

  My mission is to give scared, overlooked beings a safe landing first through animal fostering, next through counseling. I foster from my local shelter, caring for neonatal kittens, undersocialized litters, and older animals who need medical follow-through. In a calm, consistent environment, I watch fear soften into trust. That transformation—safety → connection → thriving—is the blueprint for my future work as a therapist. I’m returning to college in psychology so I can offer trauma-informed, affordable care to people who, like those animals, didn’t get the nurturing they deserved. Fostering taught me that healing starts when someone says: “You’re safe here. I’m not going anywhere.”