Throughout my life, I've found that my biggest goal is to make a positive impact on the world by helping others. I want to be able to provide assistance to the people around me wherever I go and have the skills to bring about positive change. This scholarship can help me achieve this goal by helping me pay for school so I can learn the necessary information and techniques to start my journey. I started my education in private school but switched to public school for middle and high school. I began volunteering from a young age for groups such as Meals on Wheels or at the Food Bank, and I continued to do that in high school and even to this day. While I love learning, I began to realize that I need to make a difference and actually do something for others rather than sitting around learning. When I heard about Camp Light, a summer camp for disabled and troubled kids and teenagers, I signed up quickly. I began working there and fell in love with volunteering. I felt like I was bringing joy to others and that gave me joy and a sense of purpose. I worked there as much as I could and even volunteered for other events they hosted throughout the entire year. I still continue to work at Camp Light whenever I am available and wish everyone could experience the joy and satisfaction of making a positive impact on others' lives. I always knew I wanted to help others, but the further I went in academics, I began to narrow it down to the medical field because of my interest in STEM. This scholarship would really help me get through my undergrad or even medical school classes by helping with textbooks or other items that are vital for my education. I am extremely passionate about achieving my goals of having a purpose and making a good change in other peoples' lives, and with this money, those goals can become more achievable.

My name is Madelline Baska and I was raised in Augusta County, Virginia. Growing up my family would do community service acts such as Meals on Wheels or helping with the Food Bank. Even at this elementary school age I really enjoyed doing this and looked forward to it every year. Hearing how grateful people in the community were and knowing that I contributed to that joy made me feel like I was doing something good and important in my life. As I got older and life got more complicated, I found that community service actually helped me to clear my head and focus on what is important to me rather than having to worry about everything. An example of this was when I found out about Camp LIGHT. When I was a junior in high school, I joined the National Honor Society because of my GPA and academic achievements. Being part of NHS meant that we had to get a certain number of community service hours in order to remain in the group. This is where I heard about Camp LIGHT, as the NHS advisor sent out an email saying they were looking for volunteers with a link to the application. I quickly filled it out after hearing that this camp, located in Dooms, was a summer camp helping those with special needs or at-risk use find a way to connect with others and overcome obstacles. Soon, I had an interview with the director of the camp and I was set up for the summer. I started my first week and immediately fell in love with the camp. Watching the kids make friends and learning to understand and overcome their disabilities is something that is extremely rewarding to watch and filled me with joy and hope. As a counselor, I would lead the group to different activities and help them do the activity every day. This also included calming the kids down when they had their moments and making sure everyone was safe, and I was excited to go to camp every day. While I was only planning to do one week, I ended up doing five out of eight weeks of camp with plans of doing it in the future again as much as I could. I felt that I was making a positive impact on not only the kids but the whole community as well since so many people are connected with that camp and know what a great place it is. Working here has been a highlight of my life so far, and I even forgot I was doing it for hours for NHS because I enjoyed it so much. So much, even, that I still work there to this day and participate in their year-round events. With service acts such as Meals on Wheels, the Food Bank, or Camp LIGHT, many people focus on the fact that you are changing others' lives and making a positive impact; however, I would argue that by showing this love and kindness to others, it changes your life as well. I know that it changed mine for the better. Acts such as these allow you to take the joy and satisfaction and apply it to everyone, not just your own community.

I was introduced to death at age four beginning with the death of my grandfather. From that moment on, I learned how to deal with one’s passing as more loved ones continued leaving. For many years until my late teens, I had to navigate my ability to shut off my emotions as a safety mechanism to keep myself from getting hurt. I learned that I was a natural at this and could – and still can – shut off my emotions at any moment where life is getting too overwhelming. This taught me that I have this ability to remain calm in stressful situations because I can put emotions to the side, but also taught me that doing this all the time is not a good thing. Learning how and when to show emotion without going back to my comfort zone is something I have begun learning to do and have gotten a lot better at the more I experience and learn. Because sleep is sometimes difficult for me since my mind runs around like crazy, I found that journaling does help me. Writing down what I am feeling or even just how my day went is almost like a “brain dump” and clears my mind. I think that writing down moments that stood out to me is a reminder that I actually thought those things and can write them down to remember and grow from later on when I look back. It also helps me process less about my day when I can vent in my journal. I want to go to college to learn how to help other people. If there is one thing I’ve learned about life, everyone has problems and can use help, even if they do not admit it. I feel like I can do this by becoming a doctor, where I can directly help my patients get better and be able to tell their families that they will be okay so that maybe the next four-year-old child will not have to be introduced to death so soon. In order to reach this goal, I will need a lot of education that I am prepared to navigate, as well as self-determination which I already have. The biggest influence in my life is my mom. She understands me like no one else and encourages me to improve myself, helping me overcome many obstacles. Another huge influence was a teacher I had in high school who taught me to have confidence in myself and to enjoy life. As academics get more advanced, it can be harder to appreciate the little things in life, but this teacher made me remember that there is more to life than just school.

Two of the biggest obstacles of my life were narrowed down to one common thread: cancer. Starting from a young age I had to deal with this in my family and learn how to overcome it when it impacted every aspect of my life, from home to school and worst of all, constantly being on my mind when trying to learn who I am as a person. These years of my life taught me more than any other experiences could have taught me, both emotionally and academically. The first one to get hit with the cancer blow was my grandmother. She died when I was eleven of what started as a melanoma skin cancer and spread to her brain to where the doctors could only experiment with treatments on her. Knowing that there was nothing anyone could do, I was immediately thrown into the realization that even the smartest people do not have all the answers. This majorly affected my family, as we had been living with her for years. Middle school me was still trying to deal with this loss when cancer hit my mom next. Thankfully, she survived and is still recovering to this day from a very severe breast cancer that caused her to have both breasts removed and a double mastectomy. Helplessness overcame once again, barely over a year later in seventh grade. My brother and I learned how to care for ourselves quickly, as my parents had so many responsibilities in caring for my mom. Looking back years later, I realize how these experiences shaped me for the future. I would not necessarily say that experiences are overcome. Rather, you learn from them and figure out how to live with the exposure. Learning how to be compassionate was a huge part of these experiences, as it was so easy to shut myself out and ignore my feelings. I realized that letting myself be hurt and moving past it taught me so much more about compassion and gratefulness. Before these events, I had already been medically minded, and I was pushed to pursue this even further when I realized how much I had a desire to help others. It was an awful thing when my grandmother could not be helped, but it was amazing when my mom was healed. Allowing the emotions to be present but not control me definitely prepared me for this field, and gave me drive towards medicine. I became very studious in school, taking advanced classes and eventually getting into Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School to get college credits so that I could be ready to jump right into biomedical sciences. My drive to help others has not stopped throughout the years, and I love to think that one day I will be able to assist others and provide comfort. While there may be cases where I can not do anything, I will exhaust every option until I know that it will not work. On the other hand, I can be the one who knows how to help and give my patients and those around them relief and gratitude.

Throughout my life, I have always had a desire and willingness to help others. As I got older and learned more about what career opportunities were available, I naturally gravitated towards the medical field with my academic joy being in the math and sciences. While I love learning, traveling, and finding new hobbies, my aspirations remain to be helping others. While I had considered specializing in cardiothoracic surgery, general surgery, and other careers, I’ve decided to wait until I find what topic of medicine I am most passionate about. My aunt, a nurse practitioner with her own practice in Phoenix, Arizona, has made a huge impact on my life by encouraging me to pursue a medical career. Growing up, I always enjoyed pushing myself academically. The more advanced classes got, the more I realized my interest in science and math. So, when the time came, I applied and got accepted into Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School on the STEM path for a bigger challenge and to prepare myself for college-level classes. I have found that the challenge only encourages me to continue working hard and learn with others. Knowing that I am going into the medical field after high school, SVGS is an experience that I am glad to have been a part of, as it prepares me and further motivates me to help others. When trying to figure out what part of the medical field I wanted to go into, I went to my aunt’s clinic in Phoenix. When I was there, she told me about her days as an ER doctor and how she loved doing that but had to settle down once she started a family. Learning everything she went through and knowing that we are similar helped me to realize that I can go on the medical path and that it feels like it is the right decision. Also, we both care for others and watching how much her patients were comfortable around her and were happy to be near her made a huge positive impact on my life. As a medical professional in the near future, my main reason for choosing this path is because of how passionate I am about helping and serving others. I know with time that I can make a difference in the science field and the lives of others by providing care to the best of my ability and helping them physically and/or emotionally. By doing any job in this field, I know that I can contribute to the well-being of others directly. The passion that I have had my whole life is what will drive me to reach this goal and try to the best of my ability to help as many people as I can. Altogether, I feel like my background and experience growing up as a young woman in higher education have prepared me for this field. I will continue striving to reach my goal of helping others, no matter the cost. I value morals, making mistakes and learning from them, and being compassionate towards others over prestige and wealth.

When I was in middle school, I had several events take place. For one, my grandmother got melanoma skin cancer and passed away very quickly. Not long after, my mom got breast cancer but managed to fight through it. I have always wanted to pursue a career where I could help others and provide a service to them, and these experiences only strengthened that drive. The drive to help others and try to keep them healthy and to the fullest so that their family does not have to worry about it or go through the pain. These experiences taught me to be confident in myself and my abilities, to push myself, and to stay determined despite adversity. I find that it seems true joy and happiness are hard to find in modern society, and for me helping others is something that brings me this joy. I have participated in organizations such as Camp Light and spent hours and days of my summer watching kids make friends and feel safe, which is something they rarely get the chance to do in school and everyday places. The older I get, the more I realize how much I want to make my life one of helping others in medicine. There is nothing like seeing patients' relief or their families' gratefulness after you were able to help them get through something. With this comes the necessary understanding of knowing how to respond to grief. I feel like I have been prepared throughout my life to recognize and know what to do with emotions such as these, and it has prepared me. While determination and desire to pursue medicine are a big part of what gets you there, I realize that academics are a big part of what lets you succeed. Knowing that I put myself in challenging academic classes and programs such as Shenandoah Valley Governor's School to prepare me for college rigor. I found quickly that I have a passion for learning and am able to exceed normal expectations in subject material. The more I'm able to apply what I learn to real-life situations, the more determined I am to reach my goals. Relative sickness and failure are things that I have had a lot of experience with, and I did not realize how this has made me grow as a person and my ability to relate to others. While it was hard to learn to open myself up again, I figured out how to let myself continue to feel for others and get hurt, as it is necessary to feel these things to be able to make a difference in others; lives.

Soccer has been a sport that I have played all of my life, whether in wreck league, travel, or highschool. There were highs and lows of every game, every practice, and every scrimmage. Despite this, there are two times in my life they really stick out to me as the best and the worst times in my soccer career. The best time was when I played for a travel coach that taught me what the game of soccer was all about. The worst time was when I played for a coach that didn't seem to focus on soccer; rather, she was more worried about being friends with everyone on the team and choosing favorites. The first time I met Coach Sam was when I was in challenge league. My coach asked if I wanted to go over to the travel practice, and I was all in even though I was so scared that I would not compare to their skills since they were all an age group above me. I was timid and shy throughout this practice and a few others, but with my speed and ability to learn quickly, Coach Sam soon asked me to play for her team. The more and more she coached me, the faster I began to grow confident in my abilities as I improved. Not only did she teach me how to play as a team and not for yourself, but she also taught me to wait for the mistake that the other player will make, rather than run in head first and fail to get the ball. This could apply to other aspects in life. Rather than jumping right in and not looking back, waiting for your moments benefits you more in the long run. When Coach Sam retired, I thought I was done with travel soccer until my highschool varsity coach decided to coach travel. I was never a big fan of her coaching style, and playing for her two seasons out of the year brought about a lot of problems. She never challenged the team and was more worried with what players on the team thought of her than the actual sport. This was very evident in varsity at the highschool. My junior year season, two girls were elected as captains that caused a lot of problems for people on the team because of their actions. The only senior on the team ended up quitting, and my coach seemed oblivious to it. After I had several difficult conversations with her about how I felt and how the captains seem to be affecting others, I figured it would help, but instead things continued the same way they had been. I learned how to have difficult conversations with adult figures in this experience, as well as how to be a silent leader and keep playing my hardest despite everything going on around me. I grew even more determined in my morals and gained more confidence in myself during those years, helping me to constantly push myself and get better at whatever I was trying to accomplish, especially in academics. The traits I gained from soccer set me firm in my beliefs. Specifically, I love helping people and and passionate about academics. Soccer taught me a lot about life, and without it, I would not be in the position I am today. Because of my determination in the field of academics, this scholarship would help me pay for a good college where I can utilize these skills to become a doctor and continue to learn and grow in my abilities.

Caring for and helping others has always been a passion of mine, so I am naturally drawn to the medical field and the thought of traveling. I have always pushed myself academically, taking advanced classes and striving for good grades, so that I can accomplish this goal of becoming a doctor. Attending Shenandoah Valley Governor's School and doing online and Dual Enrollment classes through Blue Ridge have helped me to learn at a more challenging level. It is more important to me to understand the information I'm being taught than the grades I receive since the information is what you will be using in life. This scholarship will help me to achieve this goal of becoming a medical professional. I would love to be able to get into a good college or university so that I can get the best education and opportunities possible. With this money, that goal can be made more attainable by providing some financial assistance that would be put towards my academics, whether that is through tuition, books, or even incidentals related to education programs for undergrad and extending into grad school. I started volunteering for Camp Light after I found out about it through NHS. While I had never heard of this camp previously, reading the description immediately hit a soft spot for me. This camp is all about providing assistance and being a counselor for disabled or troubled kids and teens. Volunteering there is an unforgettable experience, as you get to watch those kids open up and have a lot of fun where they do not deal with their usual pressures. This also gives parents the opportunity to see their kids come back with new friends and be more relaxed. Watching kids come in to camp the first day, timid and shy, and comparing that with how they leave, confident and happy, is a rare experience that I am lucky to be a part of. Not only does Camp Light give me the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help others and watch them fall in love with camp, but it taught me and still teaches me how to be a leader. Being a counselor impacted how I viewed others by teaching me just how different everyone is, and I learned how to connect and reason with people in different ways. Also, I found that even though two people may have two extremely different disabilities or personalities, they find each other and are able to become friends despite their differences.