I remember standing next to my dental hygienist one seemingly unremarkable afternoon. I could barely see over the lip of the chair and subsequently my mother's face and down into her mouth, which is where my interest was drawn. Although uneventful, this moment marked the most significant and pivotal moment of my young aspirations. I have always felt a great pull to help other people, borne out of a cultivated empathy. My elementary age self decided the best way to channel this natural empathy into a tangible result would be to pursue dentistry. This field, since that day, has fascinated me with its focus on human anatomy and overall purpose to help people achieve their healthiest selves. Anatomy, not exclusive to its dental aspect, is a great interest to me, as well. I see each human as a walking, talking, and breathing miracle. There is nothing more miraculous, more awe-inspiring than considering the beauty of new breath every few seconds in lungs, the synapses firing neurons in a three-pound fatty organ to control everything necessary to life, or feeling the nuance and complexities of emotion. I often become choked up when I witness young babies swaddled by their loving parents, or see old folk hand in hand, products of a life well-lived. This love for people has driven me to become a very dedicated and well-rounded person. I have immersed myself fully in high school by joining several clubs, sports, honor societies, and musical programs, all in an effort to impact many other lives and learn how to mold myself into the person I aspire to be. I strive to be kind, understanding, open-minded, and honest in every sector of my life. I am so excited to attend the University of South Carolina this fall, and for the completely new life I will lead. College is the change I know I have needed, the chance to escape every pain in my old life, start fresh, and discover who I desire to be. I plan to major in biological sciences with a minor in English and a concentration on the pre-dental track. My high school teachers really instilled a love for biology in me. I ended up taking four biology classes, in fact, all of the biology classes my school offered, and thrived in that environment. I have also always adored the English subject in school due to a love of reading and writing. I believe combining these degrees will provide the optimal base for dental school when the time comes. Additionally, I am often aware of my shortcomings and desire to practice these characteristics with new groups in college and after graduating from higher learning. Once I graduate, I want to open a dental practice in an area that needs my help. Every person deserves a chance at a healthier and more complete life, whether or not they can afford this luxury or are surrounded by opportunity. I believe that pursuing this career is the best option to enable me to fully change lives.

When I was a young child, my dental hygienist, Holly, made me feel more special than I ever expected when I stepped into my dentist's office. Naturally, I was frightened of the new experience of having a stranger poke and prod in my mouth. However, her kind smile, competent skills with a young child, and excellent execution of dental work set me at ease and sparked a permanent passion in me for helping other people and becoming a dentist one day. I have been seeing her ever since, and in each encounter, she asks about my family, my extracurricular activities, and my aspirations. She encourages me to follow my dream in a way only a woman could, as she has been through the same scenario herself. Throughout high school, I took many healthcare-related courses, such as introductory health science, anatomy and physiology, and medical therapeutics, in which I solidified that healthcare was the career for me. My wonderful teachers are truly an inspiration. They opened many opportunities for me to become CPR certified, OSHA certified, take trips to a college nearby to explore healthcare careers and interview professionals, and listen to several female speakers in the pharmaceutical and organ donation field. One of my teachers set up an internship, a work-based learning opportunity in a local dental lab, Harmony Dental Creations. The technicians there only desire to see my future success, and they teach me each time I cross the threshold that treating others with respect is the only way to excel in life. Seeing the behind-the-scenes work of designing prosthetics, implants, dentures, and surgical guides has been a remarkable experience. Creating things with my hands that will change the lives, permanently for the positive, of people I do not even know fills me with the desire to do that every single day for the rest of my life. Aspiring to become a dentist throughout my whole life has significantly narrowed down my path to college as I attempt to find the best, most affordable, and most impactful path to medical school and a future career. My heart has been set on dentistry from the first moment I stepped into that office, where I observed capable and kind women taking care of each patient, treating them like important individuals. These amazing women created the world they envisioned for themselves, and I feel confident I can make a difference in the same way. I want to make the people I am responsible for feel empowered and important with beautiful smiles, and for this reason, I will pursue a STEM education. I simply love people and desire to put that into tangible action.

I remember standing next to my dental hygienist one seemingly unremarkable afternoon. I could barely see over the lip of the chair and subsequently my mother's face and down into her mouth, which is where my interest was drawn. Although uneventful, this moment marked the most significant and pivotal moment of my young aspirations. I have always felt a great pull to help other people, borne out of a cultivated empathy. My elementary age self decided the best way to channel this natural empathy into a tangible result would be to pursue dentistry. This field, since that day, has fascinated me with its focus on human anatomy and overall purpose to help people achieve their healthiest selves. Anatomy, not exclusive to its dental aspect, is a great interest to me, as well. I see each human as a walking, talking, and breathing miracle. There is nothing more miraculous, more awe-inspiring than considering the beauty of new breath every few seconds in lungs, the synapses firing neurons in a three-pound fatty organ to control everything necessary to life, or feeling the nuance and complexities of emotion. I often become choked up when I witness young babies swaddled by their loving parents, or see old folk hand in hand, products of a life well-lived. This love for people has driven me to become a very dedicated and well-rounded person. I have immersed myself fully in high school by joining several clubs, sports, honor societies, and musical programs, all in an effort to impact many other lives and learn how to mold myself into the person I aspire to be. I strive to be kind, understanding, open-minded, and honest in every sector of my life. I am so excited to attend the University of South Carolina this fall, and for the completely new life I will lead. College is the change I know I have needed, the chance to escape every pain in my old life, start fresh, and discover who I desire to be. Along these lines, I am often aware of my shortcomings and desire to practice these characteristics with new groups in college and after graduating from higher learning. Once I graduate, I want to open a dental practice in an area that needs my help. Every person deserves a chance at a healthier and more complete life, whether or not they can afford this luxury or are surrounded by opportunity. I believe that pursuing this career is the best option to enable me to fully change lives.

My world was rocked the day I realized that my grandmother truly was acting differently than I was used to, and that it wasn't a symptom of an overactive imagination. I suddenly saw with clear eyes the shockingly gray hair that seemingly appeared from nowhere, the single word forgetfulness, the inability to express full sentences when the thought was trapped behind her brown eyes. My beautiful, kind, clever, artistic grandmother was slowly slipping through my fingers, a victim of ruthless time. My grandmother, Katy Stanberry, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia in late 2021 to early 2022. I was in my freshman year of high school, struggling to find my people and mold myself into the person I wanted to become. My father and I began to take weekend trips down to upstate South Carolina, where my grandparents lived, to spend as much time with her as possible. After a few months, she stopped teaching me her beloved French words-of-the-day, and soon after that, she lost the ability to paint. This was the most heart wrenching part of the loss. She had put herself through college at Converse University and University of South Carolina Upstate in order to obtain her teaching license and bachelors in fine art. She channeled immense emotion into her art and typically painted the world through her eyes in shades of pastel and soft lines. My grandparents traveled all over the country, and every place they stopped she would fill a digital camera and her iPhone camera roll to the brim with pictures of animals, plants, sunsets, and beautiful, miraculous people. She was the beautiful, miraculous person reflected through her art. She entered Heaven's gates in February of 2024. Throughout this process, I have learned that nothing in life is guaranteed, except love for other people. I have always known that Jesus loves me and that I have the opportunity to act Christ-like for the benefit of humanity, but nothing tested my faith like my grandmother's diagnosis. I have experienced heartbreak, difficulties in my home life, and death. However, seeing my grandmother, with all the love in her heart, slip slowly and sadly away. The most difficult period of her struggle was when she could no longer talk, feed herself, bathe herself, even look me in the eyes. I could tell she recognized her beloved granddaughter and could see the pain in her eyes when she became incapable of communicating that love to her family. I have also learned that the only constant in life is Jesus. When everything is taken away, only Christ remains. As I approach a new stage in life, going to college and entering the workplace, I cannot wait to carry my grandmother's legacy, her love, and the beauty of Christ to all the new people I will meet. She deserves to know that she will always matter.

I remember standing next to my dental hygienist one seemingly unremarkable afternoon. I could barely see over the lip of the chair and subsequently my mother's face and down into her mouth, which is where my interest was drawn. Although uneventful, this moment marked the most significant and pivotal moment of my young aspirations. I have always felt a great pull to helping other people, borne out of a cultivated empathy. My elementary age self decided the best way to channel this natural empathy into a tangible result would be to pursue dentistry. This field, since that day, has fascinated me with its focus on human anatomy and overall purpose to help people achieve their healthiest selves. Anatomy, not exclusive to its dental aspect, is a great interest to me, as well. I see each and every human as a walking, talking, and breathing miracle. There is nothing more miraculous, more awe-inspiring than considering the beauty of new breath every few seconds in lungs, the synapses firing neurons in a three pound fatty organ to control everything necessary to life, or feeling the nuance and complexities of emotion. I often become choked up when I witness young babies swaddled by their loving parents, or see old folk hand in hand, products of a life well-lived. This love for people has driven me to become a very dedicated and well-rounded person. I have immersed myself fully in high school by joining several clubs, sports, honor societies, and musical programs, all in an effort to impact many other lives and learn how to mold myself into the person I aspire to be. I strive to be kind, understanding, open-minded, and honest in every sector of my life. In this effort, I am often aware of my shortcomings and desire to practice these characteristics with new groups in college and after graduating from higher learning. Once I graduate, I want to open a dental practice in an area that needs my help. Every person deserves a chance at a healthier and more complete life, whether or not they can afford this luxury or are surrounded by opportunity. I believe that pursuing this career is the best option to enable me to fully change lives.

When I was a young child, my dental hygienist, Holly, made me feel more special than I ever expected when I stepped into my dentist's office. Naturally, I was frightened of the new experience of having a stranger poke and prod in my mouth. However, her kind smile, competent skills with a young child, and excellent execution of dental work set me at ease and sparked a permanent passion in me for helping other people and becoming a dentist one day. I have been seeing her ever since, and in each encounter, she asks about my family, my extracurricular activities, and my aspirations. She encourages me to follow my dream in a way only a woman could, as she has been through the same scenario herself. Throughout high school, I took many healthcare-related courses, such as introductory health science, anatomy and physiology, and medical therapeutics, in which I solidified that healthcare was the career for me. My wonderful teachers are truly an inspiration. They opened many opportunities for me to become CPR certified, OSHA certified, take trips to a college nearby to explore healthcare careers and interview professionals, and listen to several female speakers in the pharmaceutical and organ donation field. One of my teachers set up an internship, a work-based learning opportunity in a local dental lab, Harmony Dental Creations. The technicians there only desire to see my future success, and they teach me each time I cross the threshold that treating others with respect is the only way to excel in life. Seeing the behind-the-scenes work of designing prosthetics, implants, dentures, and surgical guides has been a remarkable experience. Creating things with my hands that will change the lives, permanently for the positive, of people I do not even know fills me with the desire to do that every single day for the rest of my life. Aspiring to become a dentist my whole life has significantly narrowed down my path to college as I attempt to find the best, most affordable, and most impactful path to medical school and a future career. My heart has been set on dentistry from the first moment I stepped into that office, where I observed capable and kind women taking care of each patient, treating them like important individuals. These amazing women created the world they envisioned for themselves, and I feel confident I can make a difference in the same way. I want to make the people I am responsible for feel empowered and important with beautiful smiles, and that is why I know I can make a positive impact as a woman in the healthcare field.