I’m Lucero, a first-generation Latina, low-income student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I am a West Coast University Los Angeles student in North Hollywood, CA. I migrated to the United States from Mexico with my parents in 2008. Growing up as an only child has been challenging, but this has helped me become more responsible, resilient, and independent. Being an immigrant and the only person in the family to speak English, I became responsible for helping my parents translate English to Spanish and vice versa since elementary school. In 2019, in 12th grade in high school, I had an internship at Adventist Health White Memorial. It is located in Boyle Heights, a low-income Hispanic community in LA. I had the opportunity to work alongside nurses and helped translate and have amazing conversations with the patients. This internship made me realize I was in the right profession to help the Latino community in healthcare. I have encountered obstacles throughout my life, including anxiety and depression. Even though mental health has been an obstacle, I have pushed myself and found purpose and strength. I consider myself a fast learner and a leader. I always want to be the head of the team and guide other people. I am passionate about helping people and hope to help those in my Hispanic community when I become a nurse. I have faced financial difficulties during the nursing program but have overcome some of these obstacles. As a full-time student and a part-time employee at a clothing store, I have pushed myself to pursue my dream of becoming an L&D and psychiatric nurse. Even Though school is expensive, I am determined to overcome these challenges and complete my education. There are so many things that I want to do after completing nursing school. I want to find a job in the psychiatric or obstetric specialty provide care to low-income Hispanic families. As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression, I want to be a psychiatric nurse to be the support that I have always wanted for others who are battling mental health problems. No one should go through their mental health struggles on their own. Being part of the obstetric specialty is a gratifying job. I have always enjoyed helping and supporting pregnant women as they gave birth. L&D nursing is not just assisting the mom in giving birth but also a fantastic feeling of bringing a new human into the world and seeing how their family is getting bigger and stronger. Being a student nurse during clinicals made me realize I am in the right profession. As a future nurse, I would like to give back to my community and support them as much as possible in the hospital. I dream of getting my master's, becoming a family nurse practitioner, and giving back to my Hispanic community. I will be part of the small percentage of Latinos in nursing. Being bilingual in Spanish and English makes me strong in this field because I will be able to help my Latino community by helping them understand what their treatment is or the reasons they are taking certain medications. Thank you for this fantastic opportunity.

I’m Lucero, a first-generation Latina, low-income student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I am a student at West Coast University Los Angeles in North Hollywood, CA. I migrated to the United States from Mexico with my parents in 2008. Growing up as an only child has been challenging, but this has helped me become more responsible, resilient, and independent. Being an immigrant and the only person in the family to speak English, I became responsible for helping my parents translate English to Spanish and vice versa since elementary school. I have encountered obstacles throughout my life, including anxiety and depression. Even Though mental health has been an obstacle, I have pushed myself and found purpose and strength. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my parents, going on walks and hiking, and doing self-care. I consider myself a fast learner and a leader. I always want to be the head of the team and guide other people. I am passionate about helping people and hope to help those in my Hispanic community when I become a nurse. I have faced financial difficulties during the nursing program, but I have overcome some of these obstacles. As a full-time student and a part-time employee at a clothing store, I have pushed myself to pursue my dream of becoming an L&D and psychiatric nurse. Even Though school is expensive, I am determined to overcome these challenges and complete my education. Thank you so much for this opportunity. There are so many things that I want to do after completing nursing school. I first want to spend more time with my family and travel back to Mexico to celebrate my accomplishments of being a first-generation Latina and low-income nurse in my family. After spending time with my family and myself, I want to find a job in the psychiatric or obstetric specialty. As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression, I want to be a psychiatric nurse to be the support that I have always wanted for others who are battling mental health problems. No one should go through their mental health struggles on their own. Being part of the obstetric specialty is a gratifying job. I have always enjoyed helping and supporting pregnant women as they gave birth. L&D nursing is not just assisting the mom in giving birth, but it is also a fantastic feeling of bringing a new human into the world and seeing how their family is getting bigger and stronger. Being a student nurse during clinicals made me realize I am in the right profession. As a future nurse, I would like to give back to my community and support them as much as possible in the hospital. I dream of getting my master's, becoming a family nurse practitioner, and giving back to my Hispanic community. I will be part of the small percentage of Latinos in nursing. And again, thank you for this fantastic opportunity.

I’m Lucero, a first-generation Latina, low-income student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I am a West Coast University Los Angeles student in North Hollywood, CA. I migrated to the United States from Mexico with my parents in 2008. Growing up as an only child has been challenging, but this has helped me become more responsible, resilient, and independent. Being an immigrant and the only person in the family to speak English, I became responsible for helping my parents translate English to Spanish and vice versa since elementary school. I have encountered obstacles throughout my life, including anxiety and depression. Even Though mental health has been an obstacle, I have pushed myself and found purpose and strength. I enjoy spending time with my parents, going on walks and hiking, and doing self-care in my spare time. I consider myself a fast learner and a leader. I always want to be the head of the team and guide other people. I am passionate about helping people and hope to help those in my Hispanic community when I become a nurse. I have faced financial difficulties during the nursing program but have overcome some of these obstacles. As a full-time student and a part-time employee at a clothing store, I have pushed myself to pursue my dream of becoming an L&D and psychiatric nurse. Even Though school is expensive, I am determined to overcome these challenges and complete my education. Thank you so much for this opportunity. There are so many things that I want to do after completing nursing school. I first want to spend more time with my family and travel back to Mexico to celebrate my accomplishments of being a first-generation Latina and low-income nurse in my family. After spending time with my family and myself, I want to find a job in the psychiatric or obstetric specialty. As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression, I want to be a psychiatric nurse to be the support that I have always wanted for others who are battling mental health problems. No one should go through their mental health struggles on their own. Being part of the obstetric specialty is a gratifying job. I have always enjoyed helping and supporting pregnant women as they gave birth. L&D nursing is not just assisting the mom in giving birth but also a fantastic feeling of bringing a new human into the world and seeing how their family is getting bigger and stronger. Being a student nurse during clinicals made me realize I am in the right profession. As a future nurse, I would like to give back to my community and support them as much as possible in the hospital. I dream of getting my master's, becoming a family nurse practitioner, and giving back to my Hispanic community. I will be part of the small percentage of Latinos in nursing. And again, thank you for this fantastic opportunity.

Hello, my name is Lucero Renteria Robles; I am a first-generation Mexican-Latina immigrant inspired to be a registered nurse. I am an only child, my dad is retired, and my mom is a housewife. Since I am a first-generation student pursuing a degree means a lot to me because I am taking advantage of the opportunity that my parents were not able to have back in Mexico. When I migrated to Los Angeles, I noticed I had many options and help from the government and schools to get an education. Because of these opportunities, I want to be a successful registered nurse. Education to me is essential because, with my degree in nursing, I will be able to help my family and Latino community. The impact on the world that I want to make is to represent and help my Latino community. There is not a lot of Latino representation in healthcare, and I want to be part of the small percentage of Latinos in healthcare. I want to help my Hispanic people because sometimes they can not get a translator. I will impact my patients by helping them understand their diagnosis and answering their questions. I want to encourage my future Latino patients not to be afraid to ask for a translator. I want to be that friendly and familiar face to my Latino patients. I know the feeling of nervousness that I would get whenever my dad would get hospitalized because there were no nurses who spoke Spanish. So I would get super nervous for my dad because he did not know what was happening with health until a few days later; my dad was able to get a Latino nurse, and when he told me he could get a Latino nurse, I was relieved. I want to see my patient's faces of relief because I will be helping them understand what is happening to their health. My positive impact on the world is being Latina and helping my Latino community in healthcare, and encouraging other Latinos to work at any job in this system. Healthcare doesn't only need nurses and doctors who speak Spanish; we also need receptionists, CNAs, LVN, phlebotomists, etc. We need many Latino staff to impact healthcare and for our voices to be heard. These are why I will impact the world by pursuing my college degree. Even though college is expensive, with the help of this scholarship, it will make my college education more affordable for my family and me. This is why I believe that I will be an excellent candidate to win this scholarship. People should not be worried about going to the hospital or the doctor's office only because they don't speak English. When I interned at a hospital, I talked to a few patients, and they told me they were discouraged from going to the hospital or their doctor's appointments because they could not understand what doctors and nurses were saying. And I hope to change this at my dream hospital because my dad goes there and says there are not many people who speak Spanish.

I am a first-generation Mexican-Latina immigrant inspired to be a registered nurse. I am an only child, my dad is retired, and my mom is a housewife. Since I am a first-generation student pursuing a degree means a lot to me because I am taking advantage of the opportunity that my parents were not able to have back in Mexico. When I migrated to Los Angeles, I noticed I had many options and help from the government and schools to get an education. Because of these opportunities, I want to be a successful registered nurse. Education to me is essential because, with my degree in nursing, I will be able to help my family and Latino community. The impact on the world that I want to make is to represent and help my Latino community. The statistics for Latino nurses are a bit low. According to the website "Minority Nurse," there are 7.5% Hispanic nurses. There is not a lot of Latino representation in healthcare, and I want to be part of the small percentage of Latinos in healthcare. I want to help my Hispanic people because sometimes they can not get a translator. I will impact my patients by helping them understand their diagnosis and answering their questions. I want to encourage my future Latino patients not to be afraid to ask for a translator. I want to be that friendly and familiar face to my Latino patients. I know the feeling of nervousness that I would get whenever my dad would get hospitalized because there were no nurses who spoke Spanish. So I would get super nervous for my dad because he did not know what was happening with health until a few days later; my dad was able to get a Latino nurse, and when he told me he could get a Latino nurse, I was relieved. I want to see my patient's faces of relief because I will be helping them understand what is happening to their health. My positive impact on the world is being Latina and helping my Latino community in healthcare, and encouraging other Latinos to work at any job in this system. Healthcare doesn't only need nurses and doctors who speak Spanish; we also need receptionists, CNAs, LVN, phlebotomists, etc. We need many Latino staff to impact healthcare and for our voices to be heard. These are why I will impact the world by pursuing my college degree. Even though college is expensive, with the help of this scholarship, it will make my college education more affordable for my family and me. This is why I believe that I will be an excellent candidate to win this scholarship. People should not be worried about going to the hospital or the doctor's office only because they don't speak English. When I interned at a hospital, I talked to a few patients, and they told me they were discouraged from going to the hospital or their doctor's appointments because they could not understand what doctors and nurses were saying. And I hope to change this at my dream hospital because my dad goes there and says there are not many people who speak Spanish.

I am a first-generation Mexican-Latina immigrant inspired to be a registered nurse. I am an only child, my dad is retired, and my mom is a housewife. Since I am a first-generation student pursuing a degree means a lot to me because I am taking advantage of the opportunity that my parents were not able to have back in Mexico. When I migrated to Los Angeles, I noticed I had many options and help from the government and schools to get an education. Because of these opportunities, I want to be a successful registered nurse. Education to me is essential because, with my degree in nursing, I will be able to help my family and Latino community. The impact on the world that I want to make is to represent and help my Latino community. The statistics for Latino nurses are a bit low. According to the website "Minority Nurse," there are 7.5% Hispanic nurses. There is not a lot of Latino representation in healthcare, and I want to be part of the small percentage of Latinos in healthcare. I want to help my Hispanic people because sometimes they can not get a translator. I will impact my patients by helping them understand their diagnosis and answering their questions. I want to encourage my future Latino patients not to be afraid to ask for a translator. I want to be that friendly and familiar face to my Latino patients. I know the feeling of nervousness that I would get whenever my dad would get hospitalized because there were no nurses who spoke Spanish. So I would get super nervous for my dad because he did not know what was happening with health until a few days later; my dad was able to get a Latino nurse, and when he told me he could get a Latino nurse, I was relieved. I want to see my patient's faces of relief because I will be helping them understand what is happening to their health. My positive impact on the world is being Latina and helping my Latino community in healthcare and encouraging other Latinos to work at any job in this system. Healthcare doesn't only need nurses and doctors who speak Spanish; we also need receptionists, CNAs, LVN, phlebotommanytc. We need lots of Latino staff in healthcare and for our voices to be heard. These are why I will impact the world by pursuing my college degree. Even though college is expensive, with the help of this scholarship, it will make my college education more affordable for my family and me. This is why I believe that I will be an excellent candidate to win this scholarship. People should not be worried about going to the hospital or the doctor's office only because they don't speak English. When I interned at a hospital, I talked to a few patients, and they told me they were discouraged from going to the hospital or their doctor's appointments because they could not understand what doctors and nurses were saying. And I hope to change this at my dream hospital becaus my dgoes there, and he says there are not many people who speak Spanish.

In 2017 my dad was hospitalized. He had bypass and open heart surgery. When I was in the ER with my mom, I was fascinated with the nurses' work. When my dad was moved to SICU, the nurse caring for him motivated me to become a nurse. He was amazing; he was always aware and alert. I loved his work, and he always explained what he was doing. Because of him, I decided to go into nursing because I want to help people. When I become a nurse, I will clock out and say I saved a life today. I will be a first-generation Mexican immigrant female nurse in my family. I want to connect with my patients the way my dad's nurse connected with us. Even though there was a language barrier without my dad understanding him, he loved how the nurse was with him. Because of him, I realized that helping people was my call. I want to put a smile on my patients' faces. Also, there are not a lot of Hispanic individuals in medicine. Every time my dad is hospitalized, he has to talk to a computer for translation. I do not think that that is right to do in medicine. I want to help the Hispanic community in hospitals to understand what is going on with their health. The patient is scared and nervous because they have no control over their health, and without them understanding the language can make them feel worse, and this could cause more problems. Everyone needs to be educated about their current health status. Nursing is a calling. Not everyone dares to be in a stressful situation to help others. One of my goals is to focus on women's health. Women's health is not taken seriously in the medical field. I feel so bad when I visit the doctor, and the doctors do not know what is wrong with me. They either offer birth control or tell me to deal with what I have and go to the emergency room if I feel sick. I do not want any of my female patients to go through this. I want to be there for them and understand they are not alone. This is why I want to become a women's health nurse practitioner. I want to help women with issues that they face. I want to help educate them about their anatomy, medications they need to take, procedures, the importance of self-care, etc. As women and future nurses, we forget to care for our needs. We tend to help others, and we ignore our pain. I want to help women be more comfortable with their bodies and understand that whatever they feel and see is okay. I want to help them find ways to treat their conditions. Women's health is critical and is an issue everyone should care about and learn about. These are a few reasons why I want to become a nurse. I have so many goals that I would like to accomplish as a future nurse. I want all my patients to be comfortable and confident within themselves. I want to be there for them and listen to them. It all started when my dad's nurse was always there for him. Even when he was not assigned to my dad, he would still visit him and see how he was doing. He taught me the importance of health and nursing. He is a fantastic nurse, and I hope I see him again and thank him for his dedication and hard and motivational work.

In 2017 my dad was hospitalized. He had bypass and open heart surgery. When I was in the ER with my mom, I was fascinated with the nurses' work. When my dad was moved to SICU, the nurse caring for him motivated me to become a nurse. He was amazing; he was always aware and alert. I loved his work, and he always explained what he was doing. Because of him, I decided to go into nursing because I want to help people. When I become a nurse, I will clock out and say I saved a life today. I will be a first-generation Mexican immigrant female nurse in my family. I want to connect with my patients the way my dad's nurse connected with us. Even though there was a language barrier without my dad understanding him, he loved how the nurse was with him. Because of him, I realized that helping people was my call. I want to put a smile on my patients' faces. Also, there are not a lot of Hispanic individuals in medicine. Every time my dad is hospitalized, he has to talk to a computer for translation. I do not think that that is right to do in medicine. I want to help the Hispanic community in hospitals to understand what is going on with their health. The patient is scared and nervous because they have no control over their health, and without them understanding the language can make them feel worse, and this could cause more problems. Everyone needs to be educated about their current health status. Nursing is a calling. Not everyone dares to be in a stressful situation to help others. One of my goals is to focus on women's health. Women's health is not taken seriously in the medical field. I feel so bad when I visit the doctor, and the doctors do not know what is wrong with me. They either offer birth control or tell me to deal with what I have and go to the emergency room if I feel sick. I do not want any of my female patients to go through this. I want to be there for them and understand they are not alone. This is why I want to become a women's health nurse practitioner. I want to help women with issues that they face. I want to help educate them about their anatomy, medications they need to take, procedures, the importance of self-care, etc. As women and future nurses, we forget to care for our needs. We tend to help others, and we ignore our pain. I want to help women be more comfortable with their bodies and understand that whatever they feel and see is okay. I want to help them find ways to treat their conditions. Women's health is critical and is an issue everyone should care about and learn about. These are a few reasons why I want to become a nurse. I have so many goals that I would like to accomplish as a future nurse. It all started when my dad's nurse was always there for him. Even when he was not assigned to my dad, he would still visit him and see how he was doing. He taught me the importance of health and nursing. He is a fantastic nurse, and I hope I see him again and thank him for his dedication and hard and motivational work.

In 2017 my dad was hospitalized. He had bypass and open heart surgery. When I was in the ER with my mom, I was fascinated with the nurses' work. When my dad was moved to SICU, the nurse caring for him motivated me to become a nurse. He was amazing; he was always aware and alert. I loved his work, and he always explained what he was doing. Because of him, I decided to go into nursing because I want to help people. When I become a nurse, I will clock out and say I saved a life today. I will be a first-generation Mexican immigrant female nurse in my family. I want to connect with my patients the way my dad's nurse connected with us. Even though there was a language barrier without my dad understanding him, he loved how the nurse was with him. Because of him, I realized that helping people was my call. I want to put a smile on my patients' faces. Also, there are not a lot of Hispanic individuals in medicine. Every time my dad is hospitalized, he has to talk to a computer for translation. I do not think that that is right to do in medicine. I want to help the Hispanic community in hospitals to understand what is going on with their health. The patient is scared and nervous because they have no control over their health, and without them understanding the language can make them feel worse, and this could cause more problems. Everyone needs to be educated about their current health status. Nursing is a calling. Not everyone has the courage to be in a stressful situation to help others. One of my goals is to focus on women's health. Women's health is not taken seriously in the medical field. I feel so bad when I visit the doctor, and the doctors do not know what is wrong with me. They either offer birth control or tell me to deal with what I have and go to the emergency room if I feel sick. I do not want any of my female patients to go through this. I want to be there for them and understand they are not alone. This is why I want to become a women's health nurse practitioner. I want to help women with issues that they face. I want to help educate them about their anatomy, medications they need to take, procedures, the importance of self-care, etc. As women and future nurses, we forget to care for our needs. We tend to help others, and we ignore our pain. I want to help women be more comfortable with their bodies and understand that whatever they feel and see is okay. I want to help them find ways to treat their conditions. Women's health is critical and is an issue everyone should care about and learn about. These are a few reasons why I want to become a nurse. I have so many goals that I would like to accomplish as a future nurse. It all started when my dad's nurse was always there for him. Even when he was not assigned to my dad, he would still visit him and see how he was doing. He taught me the importance of health and nursing. He is a fantastic nurse, and I hope I see him again and thank him for his dedication and hard and motivational work.

One of my favorite things to do that helps me take care of my mental health is having a self-care day. There are times when I work 3-4 full shifts a week and it drains my energy. As someone who struggles with anxiety, I sometimes find it hard for me to relax when I try to do activities for my mental health. Work can sometimes be mentally draining especially when you work at a clothing store. On my days off I listen to music, put on face masks, do my nails, take a long warm shower, and drink chamomile tea. I lay down, close my eyes and listen to my music and I do not worry about anything. I tend to overthink a lot so listening to music and doing my skincare routine helps me find a balance in life. I get so caught up in my thoughts and emotions to the point when I just shut down and don't do anything productive. Working makes it harder for me to care for my mental health because I get bored of doing the same thing every day and it sometimes makes me hate my job. When I listen to music I feel like I am on a different planet. Music has helped me so much with my anxiety and boredom from working mostly every single day. My favorite type of music to listen to is house. The beats are fast and make me want to dance. House makes me feel like I am at a festival having a good time. Listening to house music and doing my skincare routine has helped so much. I used to find it hard to find activities to care for myself but I finally found that music and putting on a face mask relaxes me.

In today's world, hope is a bit hard to find. However, I know that every single one of us has hope in our hearts but it is very hard to show people that there is hope still out there because of the events we have experienced the past couple of years. But in my personal life, I've seen lots of people help others, meaning that there is still lots of hope that the future will be better. Lots of people think that hope is unreachable because people are focusing on the negative events that we experienced in the past couple of years. What gives me hope that the future will be better is when I see videos on social media of people helping others. Social media has become a very powerful tool to show people that there is still hope for a better future. Lots of people make videos to show their support for other countries when a bad event happens. Nowadays people have been struggling with lots of depression, anxiety, etc. When people who experience that share their stories on social media they help the viewers not feel alone. Yeah, social media can be very negative at times but lots of the time there is more virtual support than negativity in many situations. Social media gives me hope that the future will be better because of the comments I read in lots of posts. Hope is not only helping humans but also helping nature. On Instagram, you have lots of people going to the beach to show the world how you can help clean the ocean and help the animals. You also see people posting videos or pictures of people rescuing animals that are in danger. By posting a video, picture, or even publishing an article on how you can help people or/and the environment you are encouraging others to do the same. You also have people taking photos or videos and advocating for women's rights, health, and immigrant rights. Using your voice now means that there is still hope that the future will be better because they are fighting for those causes. Social media is a huge platform that demonstrates that the future will be better. The internet can be a scary place but you have to know how to use it. As I mentioned earlier, people are posting their good acts of kindness whenever they help society. Social media is the hope for a better future. Hope does not only have to be physical but it can also be shown virtually by inspiring people to be kind and help other individuals and the environment.

Here is a little bit about myself. My name is Lucero Renteria Robles. I'm a 20-year-old immigrant from Mexico. I come from a low-income household. My dad is retired and my mom doesn't work because of the language barrier. She has not been able to find a job. Moving to the US made a huge impact on my life. I was only a 7-year-old enrolled in second grade. The language barrier made it hard for me to make friends and talk to my teachers. However, I did not let this bring me down. Instead, I pushed myself harder to learn English to be a good student and get good grades. Moving forward to high school I became more comfortable and became a good student. I began to do career research because I didn't know what I wanted to do. All I knew is that I wanted to help people with my career. A few months later I decided to pursue a career in Nursing. I had an internship in my senior year of high school and talking to the nurses and patients made me realize that nursing is the best career for me. I knew that I would be a great nurse. I consider myself a fast learner and a leader. These qualities are for anyone who wants to become a nurse and I know that I'll be good at it. I chose this area of study because ever since I was younger I wanted to help people when I got older. As I mentioned earlier, the language barrier is still impacting my family. Since I'm an only child I have to translate everything to my parents when they go to the doctor or hospital. Since there are not a lot of Hispanic nurses I plan to use my education to make a difference by helping my Hispanic community. It is very important to educate everyone about their health and since I know how it feels not to be able to understand a doctor or nurse I want to help my Hispanic community understand what is happening to them. I remember when I came to the US and I had to go to the doctor I would get frustrated because we didn't understand anything. We didn't have access to a translator. Health is a topic that everyone should be educated on. When I become a nurse in a few years I will help translate and build a connection with everyone not only Hispanic patients but connect and enhance with you one of my patients. When I had my hospital internship I talked with a few of my patients and some of them said that they were afraid of going to the doctor or hospital because they do not speak English. No patient should feel discouraged to not go to their appointments. Health care has to be accessible to every person. Everyone has to have access to have a translator. This is how I am going to make a difference in the workforce of health care. By being a translator to my Hispanic patient and helping them understand what is going on with their health. With the help of this scholarship, it will make it easier for me to continue with my studies. My dream is to be the first generation registered nurse in my family. I am happy and thankful for all of the opportunities that I have right now. I am blessed to have opportunities that my parents were not able to get when they used to live in Mexico.

I am a first-generation Mexican Latina immigrant inspired to be a registered nurse. I am an only child, my dad is retired, and my mom is a housewife. Since I am a first-generation student pursuing a degree means a lot to me because I am taking advantage of the opportunity that my parents were not able to have back in Mexico. When I migrated to Los Angeles I noticed that I have so many opportunities and help from the government and schools for me to get an education. Because of these opportunities, I want to be a successful registered nurse. Education to me is very important because with my degree in nursing I will be able to help my family and my Latino community. The impact on the world that I want to make is to represent and help my Latino community. The statistic of Latino nurses is a bit low according to the website "Minority Nurse" there are 7.5% Hispanic nurses. There is not a lot of Latino representation in healthcare and I want to be part of the small percentage of Latinos in health care. I want to help my Hispanic people because sometimes they can not get a translator. I will impact my patients by helping them understand their diagnosis and answering their questions. I want to encourage my future Latino patients to not be afraid to ask for a translator. I want to be that friendly and familiar face to my Latino patients. I know the feeling of nervousness that I would get whenever my dad would get hospitalized whenever there were no nurses who spoke Spanish. I would get super nervous for my dad because he did not know what was happening to his body. Sometimes a few days later my dad was able to get a Latino nurse and whenever he told me he was able to get a Latino nurse I was relieved. I want to see my patient's faces of relief because I will be helping them understand what is happening to their health. My positive impact on the world is not just only being Latina and speaking Spanish to help my Latino community in healthcare but also to encourage other Latinos to work at any job in this system. Healthcare doesn't only need nurses and doctors that speak Spanish but we also need receptionists, CNAs, LVNs, phlebotomists, etc. we need lots of Latino staff to impact healthcare and for our voices to be heard. These are my reasons for how I will impact the world by pursuing my college degree. Even though college is expensive with the help of this scholarship it will make my college education more affordable for my family and me. This is why I believe that I will be a good candidate to win this scholarship. People should not be worried about going to the hospital or the doctors' office only because they don't speak English. When I had my internship at a hospital I spoke with a few patients and they told me that they were discouraged to go to the hospital or their doctor's appointments because they could not understand what doctors and nurses were saying. I hope to change this at my dream hospital because I know that there is not a lot of Latino representation for the patients there.

Growing up I've always had trouble with finding happiness in a hobby. It was hard for me to find joy in things that I did. I never had a hobby until now that I am 20. Going on long walks, listening to music, and doing pilates has become my favorite hobby. Every day I set a goal of 10K steps. Long walks are my therapy and it has helped so much. Every time I reach 10K or more steps in a day I feel like I accomplished something big. The satisfaction I get whenever I reach the 10K steps makes me so happy because it feels nice to accomplish my goal of the day. Whenever I go on walks I feel connected to nature and free. What makes walks fun is how I can walk anywhere and see what my community has for me. Walking long distances and listening to music at the same time makes me happy. I never realized how walking helped clear my head. I always get caught up in my thoughts to the point where I can not stop thinking about negative things for hours. Whenever my thoughts and feelings get to me I always think about my goal of the day which is walking 10K steps. Leaving my house and listening to music as I am walking helps me clear my head and makes me feel calm. I enjoy doing pilates at home because staying active is important to me. I love stretching my body and getting energy from working out. Looking at my body changes makes me so happy that now I work out almost every day. My mental health has been so good lately thanks to doing pilates and long walks. Staying active has made a difference in my mental health.

Happiness has been something that I have had difficulty finding in life. I’ve had anxiety ever since I was 13 years old. Anxiety has made it difficult for me to find joy in things that I encounter. However, now that I am 20 I’ve pushed myself to like and find happiness in things that I experience. I know I can't control my emotions all of the time sometimes my thoughts get in the way but I try my hardest to be happy in things that I do. Now that I am able to control somewhat of my feelings the little things make me happy. My house, family, boyfriend, work, food, sleep, etc make me happy. Anxiety made me sad and feel empty. All of the negative thoughts took over me. Now, whenever I think of something negative I take deep breaths and change the negative words of thoughts into positive words. It’s crazy how words can change your mood. Positive words had given me happiness for things that I have right now. I am blessed to have a home, family, boyfriend, and job. When I was in high school the feeling of being alone used to make me sad and scared, it still does but now I'm trying my hardest to find joy when I'm by myself. I am overcoming it little by little. Now, skincare makes me very happy. When I have anxiety I'm always thinking about the bad things that could happen to me and I forget to take care of myself. Last year I started to put on creams to take care of my skin. And ever since I started seeing the changes that my skin had it made me super happy. The feeling of finding something that brought joy to me made me happy.

Friendship is a connection that you make with someone or a lesson learned. What friendship means to me is to have a bond with someone and to have a good positive connection with them. The more you experience with that one person the stronger the friendship becomes. A friendship is to have someone by your side at all times. Friendships are for you to feel comfortable and be able to share your feelings. Friendships are important to have because you get to have someone to support you and be there for you. It can be hard to find a good loyal friend but if you make a good connection with only one person then that is okay. It does not matter if you only have one or two friends. As long as you and that person can support each other, share your feelings, and be able to have fun with each other then that is all that matters in a friendship. A true friend will not see you as competition instead a true friend will always be there for you and make the hard times you are experiencing a little better. Friends do come and go but eventually if a “friend” leaves you then take that as a lesson because friendships to me mean that you can learn a lot from the friendships in a positive or negative way. The meaning of friendship to me is to have respect and gratitude for each other. These are the keys to having a good healthy friendship with someone. This is what friendship means to me and friendships are very important to me because you get to share your experiences with them.

In today's world, hope is a bit hard to find. However, I know that every single one of us has hope in our hearts but it is very hard to show people that there is hope still out there because of the events we have experienced the past couple of years. But in my personal life, I've seen lots of people help others, meaning that there is still lots of hope that the future will be better. Lots of people think that hope is unreachable because people are focusing on the negative events that we experienced in the past couple of years. What gives me hope that the future will be better is when I see videos on social media of people helping others. Social media has become a very powerful tool to show people that there is still hope for a better future. Lots of people make videos to show their support for other countries when a bad event happens. Nowadays people have been struggling with lots of depression, anxiety, etc. When people who experience that share their stories on social media they help the viewers not feel alone. Yeah, social media can be very negative at times but lots of the time there is more virtual support than negativity in many situations. Social media gives me hope that the future will be better because of the comments I read in lots of posts. Hope is not only helping humans but also helping nature. On Instagram, you have lots of people going to the beach to show the world how you can help clean the ocean and help the animals. You also see people posting videos or pictures of people rescuing animals that are in danger. By posting a video, picture, or even publishing an article on how you can help people or/and the environment you are encouraging others to do the same. You also have people taking photos or videos and advocating for women's rights, health, and immigrant rights. Using your voice now means that there is still hope that the future will be better because they are fighting for those causes. Social media is a huge platform that demonstrates that the future will be better. The internet can be a scary place but you have to know how to use it. As I mentioned earlier, people are posting their good acts of kindness whenever they help society. Social media is the hope for a better future. Hope does not only have to be physical but it can also be shown virtually by inspiring people to be kind and help other individuals and the environment.

Ever since I was younger I wanted to have a career in science to help people but I didn't know what career to go for. A few years later what inspired me to become a nurse was when my dad was hospitalized when I was fifteen years old. I remember seeing how the nurses were helping my dad and how they were caring for him. The way they treated him and other patients made me realize that this is something that I would like to do for my career. Helping people and saving lives is my inspiration when I graduate college. Even if it's just to say hi to the patient or just give them water that is something that I would like to do in the future. Nursing is a very challenging career but is also a very rewarding job by allowing us to care about the health of our community. In my senior year of high school, we had to look for an internship to help us figure out what career we wanted to pursue after high school. I chose an internship at a hospital because I wanted to see what a nurse goes through on a typical day at work. My internship made me so excited to pursue a career in nursing because of all the things that I learned at the hospital. I was able to walk around all of the units and see how hard the nurses were working. I talked to the patients and ask if they needed anything such as water, food or if they needed me to get the nurse to check on them. Having this experience helped me a lot because I was guided by so many nurses. Thanks to the nurses that I met at the hospital it helped me figure out that nursing is the best fit for me. Being able to help patients made me realize that being a nurse would make me happy. One day I was put in the Pediatrics unit. Walking in that unit was more of a happy setting. Even though we are in a hospital and there are a lot of sick patients this unit brought lots of joy to me. I liked how I was able to entertain the children and help them get comfortable with me. I wanted every child in pediatrics to get comfortable with me so what I did was give them colorful paper flowers. Seeing their faces full of Joy after giving them the flower made me really happy because I was able to cheer them up. One of my main goals is to be a pediatric nurse. I want to make the children happy and be their support system. I know there are many ways to entertain a child and I want to be able to help them get distracted from their pain and anxiety. I have many qualities to be a pediatric nurse and many nurses don't have the qualities that I have. For example, I am kind and patient. Lots of nurses don't have these qualities because some nurses are used to working with adults and when they have to care for a child sometimes they get annoyed. This is why I want to be a pediatric nurse because I can listen to the child and not get frustrated. It is a beautiful experience because you get to build a connection with the children as you listen and play with them. Not only do I get to care for my patients' health but I will also get to be their support system.