“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is a quote that is used as an affirmation of resilience. It means that hardships allow people to build strength for the next events or circumstances that have yet to come. I’ve experienced “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, quite literally. Towards the end of my sophomore year, my father became ill. It became harder for him to participate in our quality time. Growing up, my parents were separated. A lot of my childhood was spent watching my parents bicker, traveling between households, or sitting in a courtroom. Oftentimes, when I was placed in a position to choose which parent I would spend the most time with, I would choose my mother. This began to change as I grew older and I recognized the efforts that my father made to spend time with me. Specifically, we became closer soon before he became ill. I remember trying to help my father out with simple tasks just to be in his presence. His response would usually be, ” I’ll be ok”, or “focus on school”. My dad was my most prominent advocate when it came to school. Growing up as an advanced student with a cumulative GPA of 4.0, he stressed that, “any HBCU would be lucky to have you”. We would take trips to my dream school, Howard University, to participate in the homecoming events. This became more prevalent as I endured my high school years. Unfortunately, a lot of this changed when my father became extremely ill. One day, I was spending time with my father. He had told me that his stem cells were failing and he would need a bone marrow transplant. He wanted me to donate a sample to see if I could be a match. I was immediately willing to do anything to help my father. Weeks passed and I received a phone call from my father’s mother. She notified me that my father was hospitalized and there is a high chance that he will not make it. I immediately broke down. When I got to the hospital, I can remember seeing my father covered in tubes, blankets, and monitoring patches. Nurses repeatedly came in to give him injections that would keep him alive. Soon, the doctor came in and told me that my father’s tolerance for this medication was increasing and I had to make a life-altering decision. I concluded that I wanted my father to be at peace. The doctor gave my father one last injection so I could say my goodbyes. I took this time to make a promise to my father. In simple terms, I told him that I would apply myself to make sure that I continue my education, save lives, and maintain the kindness that he instilled within me. As I concluded, he passed at 3:47 pm on August 23, 2020. To my surprise, my crying soon came to a halt. Instead, I was determined to attend my first day of junior year the next day and put the promise I made into practice. I “turned it up to eleven”. Although it was challenging, I managed to graduate high school with a 4.0 cumulative GPA, a high school diploma, and an associate's degree with honors at the age of 17. Currently, I attend my dream school, Howard University with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. I have hopes of becoming an OBGYN and creating a clinic where women feel empowered and heard. Overall, I learned that I should use my hardships to make them easier for others to endure.

As women, specifically women from minorities, we continue to face some of the same injustices and forms of discrimination that our grandmas, mothers, aunts, and other female ancestors faced. Although the 19th Amendment gives all American women the right to vote, women are still denied equal pay, equal opportunities, and other forms of equality. You may be wondering, “Why were women denied the right to vote in the first place?”. In the simplest terms, stereotypes are the origin of misconceptions concerning women. A stereotype as is known certain ways of behaving intended to represent the entire group of those individuals or behaviors as a whole. These stereotypes are deeply rooted in history. In fact, women were stripped of their voting rights because people believed that “women simply had inferior brains, which made them unsuited to the rigors of voting” or “if women overexerted their already inferior brains, their health would suffer”. Many people believed that the human body contained a finite amount of energy. As a result, this perception became more inconvenient to women as people thought women needed to put their energy towards their reproductive capabilities and at-home duties. Being a high school student where plenty of rumors are spread, I heard plenty of stereotypes that surround girls and women. Specifically, I've heard boys talk about a girl’s private odor and relate it directly to a yeast infection, UTI, STI, or some other reproductive health issue. When these ideas get around school, it can make girls, like myself, discouraged to see an OBGYN about their symptoms. I can remember a time when I didn’t feel quite sure about my reproductive health but I was too ashamed to discuss my symptoms with a physician because I feared being shamed or perceived as dirty. Therefore, I turned to at-home remedies, unprofessional Youtube videos, and my mom who is not medically trained. Soon, I realized that all of those options failed and I came to the conclusion that urgent care was my best bet. After testing and examination, the doctor ensured me that my symptoms were common in other women and there was a simple cure to my diagnosis. All in all, I learned that a lot of the embarrassment women endure comes from the wealth of misunderstanding, the lack of opportunities to learn about women’s health, and the lack of empathetic caregivers. This is my prime inspiration to become an OBGYN. There are too many girls and women around the world that are ashamed to seek help for their reproductive health because of their fear of being judged or put in a box. Too many women are suffering because they are not educated on how a woman’s reproductive system actually operates. Women should feel comfortable enough to go see a physician about their concerns and I can truly say that my experience and passion can play a role in the OBGYN field. I believe that it is crucial to continue my education at Howard University. I'm working towards earning my bachelor’s degree with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. Not only will I learn about the female reproductive system, but I'll also be able to develop skills that will help me to empower women in their bodies. I believe that learning isn’t just memorizing facts. Learning is applying these facts, ideas, and experiences to the real world to make it a better place. A better place is a place where women that are a part of minorities have equal access to high-quality care. This is possible if passionate and driven individuals like myself have access to education.

A revolution can be defined as a sudden, radical, yet great change. Revolution can look differently for everybody based on their social status, race, age, gender, or even their beliefs in general. Revolutions are usually initiated because some form of injustice, dissatisfaction, or need is surfaced. A lot of times, change can be intimidating. We often get so caught up in our current circumstances and the status quo that we fear that there is no way out of it. As a black woman in the United States of America, I have experienced this myself. Growing up in a low-income neighborhood, I was surrounded by people that were exposed to the one story of Black people. By the one story, I mean the stereotype that Black people were not educated or couldn't occupy higher statuses. Instead of settling for the lifestyle that I was told I was destined to live, I reached higher. I maintained great grades in school, I attended specialty schools, and I volunteered in local communities. In other words, I became an example of change in my community. I became revolutionary. To be revolutionary, one must fearlessly advocate for the change that one would like to see. Their strong beliefs, persistence, motivation, endurance, and courage gives them the blueprint to succeed in their endeavors. This is true because revolution doesn't happen overnight. It takes consistency. A revolutionary person must persistently defy the odds that are working against them. With that being said, revolutionary people aren't just born as such. As they live on, they have experiences that feed into their understanding of the world. These understandings help them to adopt skills that help them to overcome hardships and events in the future. In other words, a revolutionary person is a life-long learner. They believe that learning isn't just about memorizing facts and ideas. Instead, it's about applying what you grasp to the real world to make it a better place. With these qualities, revolutionary people do not place limits on their abilities. They do not let society place limits upon their abilities either. They are innovative. They are willing to be creative to accomplish their goals by any means necessary. To add, this does not mean violence. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” Change can be made without putting others at risk. Instead, revolutionary people are leaders. They aim to guide others in the direction they believe to be right. This allows them to make a difference on a wider scale. All in all, the ideal revolutionary person is somebody who commits themselves to create a better world around them. Like the First Lady, Michelle Obama, once said, "becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.”