Turning Struggles into Purpose: My Journey to Psychiatry Life has a way of defining us with certain moments, not those we choose but rather, a choice made for us. As a child, my moment came when I witnessed my twin brother undergoing unpredictable mental health episodes that none of us had any understanding of. In the Dominican Republic where we lived, there was neither care nor knowledge accessible to support him. I recall feeling utterly powerless as my brother endured suffering in silence, his condition working against him and going unnoticed and untreated. Our family tried everything. Nevertheless, we were limited by resources, and mental health care was a luxury out of our reach. When we moved to the United States, everything shifted. My brother underwent psychiatric care for the first time. With the help of psychiatrists, he was diagnosed with a high level of Autism Spectrum Disorder, along with anxiety and sleep issues that turned him into an aggressive person. He began taking medications and attending therapy sessions that, quite literally, gave him a second chance at life. Seeing him slowly return to the person that he used to be filled with hope and stability ignited something within me that has never dulled. It became clear to me that pursuing psychiatry is the right career for me. However, in order to turn my calling into reality, scholarships will play an important role. I'm a second-year student at The City College of New York pursuing a major in Biology and a minor in Psychology and chemistry to lay the groundwork for medical school. However, as someone who's a first-generation and an undocumented student, I am facing big financial problems. When every semester arrives, the concern about to pay my tuition is suffocating, because of my immigration status, I cannot obtain financial aid easily. Although thanks I was the Salutatorian of my graduation class and I was involved in many voluntering experiences, I had the privilege to earn some scholarships. However, those scholarships were not enough to cover my whole tuition. With this scholarship, It will means a relief to me able to focus on my classes rather than always stressing about how to pay for tuition, books, school fees, and daily costs. They'll let me throw myself into my pre-med program, take part in internships, help out at hospitals, and give back to the communities that need healing the most. This cholarship mean faith in my abilities and goals. I plan to use every cent, not to get through classes, but to become a doctor who can help families like mine. I want to reach out to people society often ignores - those fighting hidden mental health issues on the streets, those whose loved ones gave up on them, and those who've lost hope for a better life. Mental health shouldn't be a privilege; it should be a basic human right. I dream of starting organizations that provide psychiatric care to communities in need of immigrants and minorities who, like my family, might not know where to get help. This journey will not be easy. It will take years of hard work, sacrifice, and discipline. But every sleepless night, every shift I will work to save for medical school, and every hour spent volunteering is all for something greater than myself. Scholarships will help me walk this path not alone, but with support that guides me through challenges and celebrates my victories. My brother’s healing gave me purpose. Now, I’m building a future where that purpose can help others.

1) The Power of Storytelling: How A Book Changed My View on How U.S Treated Their Immigrants The United States of America, a symbol of the American dream for many immigrants, unfortunately sometimes becomes a nightmare when these individuals face the reality of living in this territory. Due to the conflicts in which the United States has been involved, the way in which the government, American citizens and even other immigrant groups treat other nationalities that have emigrated to this country, has been predisposed based on erroneous ideologies that lead immigrants to face various challenges in society. This issue has inspired the creation of literary works, such as the book “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” by Jamie Ford, being my favorite book because of how powerfully it shows the way immigrants are mistreated in the United States, especially during moments of national fear and conflict. This story had a strong impact on me because it reflects the unfair and cruel treatment that many immigrant communities, not just in the past, but even today have had to endure. The book focuses on the experiences of Japanese immigrants during World War II, especially after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It follows the relationship between Henry Lee, a Chinese-American boy, and Keiko Okabe, a Japanese-American girl, during a time when Japanese people were viewed as enemies in US. The way of the U.S. government and even other immigrant groups treated Japanese-Americans during this time was cruel and humiliating. Japanese people were arrested, forced to leave their homes, and treated like criminals just because of their ethnicity. This is shown clearly in the book, especially in scenes where the FBI arrests innocent Japanese citizens or when families like Keiko’s are forced into relocation centers with barely any notice. I feel so strongly about this book because it doesn’t just tell a love story — it tells the truth about how dangerous stereotypes and hatred can be. Even Henry’s father, who is also an immigrant from China, hates the Japanese because of what Japan did to China during the war. This shows how prejudice can spread between different immigrant communities, especially when they are influenced by war, fear, and misinformation. I was especially moved by the way the story shows innocent people being blamed and mistreated for things they didn’t do, simply because of their ethnicity. What makes this book even more powerful is how it connects to things that are still happening today. For example, after the 9/11 attacks, many Muslim immigrants went through the same kind of discrimination and suspicion that Japanese-Americans faced during WWII. This reminded me that even though the book takes place in the 1940s, its message still applies now. America still struggles with treating immigrants fairly, especially during times of crisis. The way immigrants are stereotyped, excluded, and blamed for things beyond their control is a pattern that keeps repeating itself and this book made that very clear to me. In conclusion, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is my favorite book because it gave me a deep understanding of the pain and injustice that immigrant communities have faced and continue to face in the U.S., and It shows how prejudice and fear can destroy lives and how history tends to repeat itself when we do not learn from it. 2) A cool scientific fact I recently found is how gastrointestinal disorders or guth health are related to austim spectrum disorders, being the treatment to health gastrointestinal disorders in patients with ASD can alleviate or reduce the symptoms related to this spectrum.

As an active member of the LGBTQ+ community being a bisexual person, I contributed to the community from my heart in several times, and I plant to still do it in college and beyond. My experience in the LGBTQ+ community has been one of active involvement and support. During the 2021-2022 school year, I participated in the LGBTQ+ club at my high school. In this club, we were discussed important topics such as self-acceptance, respect for others' identities, and ways to create a more inclusive environment at school. Moreover, I contributed ideas on how we could show support for the LGBTQ+ community and helped create a logo that combined our school symbol with the LGBTQ+ flag. This logo now serves as the profile photo for our school’s Instagram account, symbolizing our school's support for the community and now proudly represents our commitment to inclusivity. Aside from that, inside and outside the club I have been a help to those in the LGBTQ+ community who feel distressed about themselves for having a different sexual orientation or identity than other people. I have helped people from the LGBTQ+ community to be able to have a more open mind and be able to accept themselves through emotional support and talks where we touch on psychological issues, and the effect that prejudices have on their lives and on their way of expressing their sexuality. Thanks to this, these people have been able to relieve their mental burden that they have on themselves, and have been able to live a normal life as another person, coming out of the closet, and accepting themselves. Looking ahead, I see myself continuing to give back to the LGBTQ+ community. I am studying Biology as a major at CUNY-City College and my long-term goal with this major is to become a psychiatrist. My goal is to address issues that are often overlooked but are crucial for individuals to lead healthy lives and feel at peace with themselves. I aim to prevent the tragedies that unfortunately occur within our community by offering support and understanding to the LGBTQ+ community and others. However, I will not be able to accomplish these plans that I have without any financial aid that help me to build my dream. Receiving the Star Farm Scholarship is crucial for me in financially terms. As an undocumented student, there are limited financial aid options available to me, due to the mayority of financial aids as FAFSA are to people who have a legal status, and unfortunately my status prevents me from obtaining these aids. This scholarship will help cover my college expenses, making it easier for me to pay for my undergraduate years and save money for medical school. Additionally, it will allow me to focus in others activites without the concerns of looking money to pay college, such as training courses to become a paramedic and a medical assitant, helping me familiarize myself with the medical environment while I am in college. In conclusion, I am dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ+ community and pursuing a career in psychiatry. The Star Farm Scholarship will provide the financial support I need to continue my education and make a positive impact on the lives of others.

As a person who evolves in every aspect in life, I became a new version of myself along with a new mindset about helping people in everything they need. I am Loren Reyes Rodriguez, and I am a freshman college student in Cuny-City College. My intended majors are Biology and Psychology with a concentration in Pre-med. I am graduated from High School as the Salutatorian of my graduation class. Besides, I am a first generation college student, and I am an immigrant who come to United States almost four years ago. My biggest life passion is always helps my community no matter what and to make them feel better, and as a LGBTQ+ community member I demonstrated that. I have been a help to those in the LGBTQ+ community who feel distressed about themselves for having a different sexual orientation or identity than other people. I have helped people from the LGBTQ+ community to be able to have a more open mind and be able to accept themselves through emotional support and talks where we touch on psychological issues, and the effect that prejudices have on their lives and on their way of expressing their sexuality. Thanks to this, these people have been able to relieve their mental burden that they have on themselves, and have been able to live a normal life as another person, coming out of the closet, and accepting themselves. This will in myself to impact my community had impacted my goals in making me to pursue a medical career in Psychiatry, which throughout my studies I will be able to obtain knowledge about psychology and the human mind, which will help me to contribute more psychologically to the LGBTQ+ community. Moreover, this will help me in my personal life, and be able to improve my communication skills with people, which within the LGBTQ+ community I will be able to improve and progress as a person and member within it. With this goal, I will use the money to carry on Coco's legacy in providing psychological and emotional support in a professional way to people from the LGBTQ+ community in addressing issues that many people ignore, but are extremely important such as teaching to have a healthy life and feel at peace with ourselves as an individuals, and avoid tragedies that unfortunately happen in our community, which I am willing to avoid as a member in my community.

As a college student, I am majoring in Biology and Psychology at the same time with the purpose to pursue this medical career in Psychiatry in the future. To become a Psychiatrist means a lot for me, because I am an inmigrant person who suffered from having a family member with a mental condition and not having the sufficient tools and knowledge to help him in my native country. That family member is my twin brother, and since we were in the Dominican Republic before our family moved to the United States, he started to develop worrying episodes in which he became aggressive unexpectedly, in which he wanted to hurt other family members, and himself. These actions were demonstrations that showed that my brother was facing a serious mental crisis, but the mental health in my native country is very expensive, so we were not able to provide him with the help he needed. When we moved to the United States, he was able to receive the help he needed thanks to his health insurance, which gave him access to Psychiatrists who studied my brother's case and were able to give him medication, which helps him to this day to be able to deal with his mental condition. This made me realize how important the role of a Psychiatrist plays in people's mental lives and, like my brother, having contact with one of them changed his life. That's why this inspires me to become a psychiatrist to be able to transform the lives of people who need special help to have a better mental health, diagnosing and treating mental illnesses, researching new methods to treat mental conditions, providing my service to people who need someone to help them, being a way for people with mental conditions to have a healthy and normal life like another person. I plan to achieve this career goal in first place join to the pre-med program in my College (The City College of New York) in my current freshman year in order to receive all preparation and information needed before Medical School, and from my sophomore and junior years start to commit myself to do community services or volunteer activities in different places like Hospitals in order to obtain an amount of volunteer hours as another requirement to enter to a Medical School, and do several extracurricular activities in order to acquire experiences and meet new people to create connections with them that it would help me in the future. Besides, I will start studying to pass the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) to be accepted into a Medical School in my future junior year to last at least two years of dedicated time and effort to pass this test and achieve my future career. Moreover, I plan to get a job and work during my undergraduate years to save money and invest this money to pay the Medical School, and never give up until achieve my field of interest.

As an active member of the LGBTQ+ community being a bisexual person, I contributed to the community from my heart in several times, and I plant to still do it in college and beyond. My experience in the LGBTQ+ community has been one of active involvement and support. During the 2021-2022 school year, I participated in the LGBTQ+ club at my high school. In this club, we were discussed important topics such as self-acceptance, respect for others' identities, and ways to create a more inclusive environment at school. Moreover, I contributed ideas on how we could show support for the LGBTQ+ community and helped create a logo that combined our school symbol with the LGBTQ+ flag. This logo now serves as the profile photo for our school’s Instagram account, symbolizing our school's support for the community and now proudly represents our commitment to inclusivity. Aside from that, inside and outside the club I have been a help to those in the LGBTQ+ community who feel distressed about themselves for having a different sexual orientation or identity than other people. I have helped people from the LGBTQ+ community to be able to have a more open mind and be able to accept themselves through emotional support and talks where we touch on psychological issues, and the effect that prejudices have on their lives and on their way of expressing their sexuality. Thanks to this, these people have been able to relieve their mental burden that they have on themselves, and have been able to live a normal life as another person, coming out of the closet, and accepting themselves. Looking ahead, I see myself continuing to give back to the LGBTQ+ community. In college and beyond, I plan to provide psychological and emotional support to LGBTQ+ individuals through groups or clubs. My goal is to address issues that are often overlooked but are crucial for individuals to lead healthy lives and feel at peace with themselves. I aim to prevent the tragedies that unfortunately occur within our community by offering support and understanding. My long-term goal is to become a psychiatrist. Studying biology, psychology, and pre-med at CUNY - City College will equip me with the knowledge and skills I need to contribute more effectively to the LGBTQ+ community. I hope to improve my communication skills and gain a deeper understanding of the human mind, which will enable me to offer better support to those in need. However, I will not be able to accomplish these plans that I have without any financial aid that help me to build my dream. Receiving the Star Farm Scholarship is crucial for me in financially terms. As an undocumented student, there are limited financial aid options available to me, due to the mayority of financial aids as FAFSA are to people who have a legal status, and unfortunately my status prevents me from obtaining these aids. This scholarship will help cover my college expenses, making it easier for me to pay for my undergraduate years and save money for medical school. Additionally, it will allow me to take a training course to become a paramedic, helping me familiarize myself with the medical environment while I am in college. In conclusion, I am dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ+ community and pursuing a career in psychiatry. The Star Farm Scholarship will provide the financial support I need to continue my education and make a positive impact on the lives of others.

In the world, there are so many things happening that make us think about if we can do something to change them. The world as we know it would be absolutely different with those changes. If I had the power to make just one change in this world, it would be to contribute to cleaning the streets of people who have mental issues and help them to get a normal life. They would live in a better place and have better mental health and treatment than we currently have. I would do this change because there has been a mental health crisis for many years. This crisis affects everyone who has a family member with a mental condition as my case with my two brothers who have autism, and one of them have suffered several mental crisis, or someone who goes out to the streets and faces a situation every day with another person who has severe mental illness. These people run the risk of putting themselves and others in danger in every circumstance. They need a lot of help, but sometimes their own families or the government forget them and leave them alone without any assistance to help them deal with their own needs.Moreover, my interest in this is because I have always been passionate about understanding and addressing mental health issues, what as a rising college freshman at CUNY - City College, my dream career and goal is becoming in a psychiatric. This career proportionate to me the opportunity to make this change to the world, starting to this country, and working so close with people who have mental illness to help them to get a healthier life. I would do this change because people with mental illness are still humans with feelings, emotions, and needs. They do not deserve to be alone facing their situation. They deserve to be in a safe and healthy environment where they receive adequate treatment, protect themselves from harm, and protect everyone else as well. To do this change, I would create several organizations with government funding across the country to focus on helping these people. This would make the country a better place and help the citizens who have genuine needs, which the state and every person in the country must take responsibility for. In conclusion, by making this change, I hope to create a world where people with mental illnesses are treated with the dignity and care they deserve. This change would not only improve their lives but also make our communities safer and more compassionate.