Mamalee Milton Making Community Healthcare a Priority When I slipped and fell in the hallway during school hours, I had a swelling knee sprain and realized how hard it was to treat an injury. In order to give the injuries time to heal, I had to walk with crutches, miss weeks of school, and receive treatment at the hospital. Resilience and compassion were instilled in me by my hospital experience, which also affected my future professional path as a medical surgical nurse. I was able to connect with other patients who were residents of my community as well as my healthcare team. I began my academic journey as a biology major in order to develop an understanding of human anatomy and to acquire foundational information that would help me in my future nursing job when it comes to patient care management, diagnosis, and therapy. I received invaluable experience working as a volunteer at Christ House's Nurse's Station during my undergraduate years. Christ House is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that offers compassionate care to individuals who are homeless and have urgent medical needs. I got to know the patients in this role by interacting with them respectfully and learning about their need for care as they shared their life stories, obstacles, and issues with nurses who provided comprehensive healthcare. As part of my job, I helped patients by creating a timetable that would remind them to take their medications and to call their families and friends for emotional support. In addition to teaching me empathy and compassion, this experience strengthened my interpersonal skills, increased my sense of wellness, and earned me the President's Volunteer Service Award. With just 55% of nurses working in medical surgical nursing in the US, it also strengthened my resolve to pursue a career in this sector and gave me a better knowledge of the human condition. As I am a nursing student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, the medical surgical nursing field will provide me with the opportunity to have a comprehensive knowledge base to care for patients with numerous comorbidities, or who are recovering from or preparing for surgery. My career goals are to become certified to validate my knowledge and skills to practice higher standards of care to people in need of healthcare both inside and outside of my community, and to maximize my efficiency in clinical, and the nursing field by growing and improving my skills to stay competitive. My family and community have shown me love and support at various points during my life and academic career, and I am dedicated to continuing on the path of knowledge. Given my tenacity and natural ability for success, receiving the Dashanna K. McNeil Memorial Scholarship would enhance my academic experience and my time in college.

Mamalee Milton Eligibility Requirements Do Not Define Me. I chose to live my American dream without eligibility requirements hindering my progress because I decide to create an innovative space for myself where I thrive, appreciate the community I live in, and extend a loving hand to those in need. Like other dreamers, I have faced a lot of challenges due to my status either academically or socially. The most outstanding rejection theme being eligibility criteria and to some extent ‘thank you for applying’. I live with my mother who works a cash job as a kitchen staff in a restaurant. Due to her ill health, I feel obligated to help financially to offset some of the bills. However, I find that no matter how hard we try, our family struggles with poverty and our future seems uncertain. There are days where I must stand in a long line to get a bag of groceries from the food bank; not what we crave or would love to eat, but just to keep the hunger at bay to survive the day. Moreover, the memory of my mother being taken to court because we did not have enough money for rent was disheartening. This was because our status and eligibility criteria prevented our family from accessing resources in the community. I felt like we were walking in circles and my potential was limited. After being rejected severally from paid internships, I did not allow eligibility criteria to define me, but went ahead and applied to community services and unpaid internships with organizations that were welcoming to dreamers, and I opted for valuable experience to advance my academic career, and this earned me the President’s Volunteer Service Award. I volunteered at the Nurse’s station at Christ House, an organization in the Washington, D.C. that provides compassionate care to people experiencing homelessness with acute medical needs. In this position, I was able to interact with nurses as well as the patients and understood their need for care as they shared their stories and struggles in life. I was assigned to make a schedule to remind patients to take their medications and to place a call for them to reach their family members for emotional support. This experience taught me resilience, awakened my compassionate mind, and helped me to live wisely in good and bad times. The attending nurses provided quality care that inspired me to seek a career in nursing; and currently, I am a nursing student at Johns Hopkins University. I choose to live my American dream on a solid foundation to support my desire to help others find specialist support for their healthcare needs in my community. Since healthcare practices keeps evolving, my professional goals are to optimize my efficiency in the nursing field by developing and improving my skills to remain competitive, provide quality care to my patients, and get certified to validate my knowledge and skills to practice higher standards of care to people in need of healthcare. I have the determination to walk in the path of knowledge. My community and my family have demonstrated their support towards me at different levels of my life and educational journey. Using my college training to give back is one of the ways I anticipate showing my heartfelt appreciation for the love, support, and encouragement I received growing up. If awarded the American Dream Scholarship, it will positively impact my college experience and help me to focus and finish my degree. I am determined, I am born ready.

Reevaluating my career as a nurse As I waited for my summer research Principal Investigator (PI) to meet me at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg for my laboratory tour, my eyes viewed the four pillars of John Hopkins excellence: Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Ross Medical Building, Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Hopkins School of Nursing. I was thrilled to learn that the School of Nursing was right next door because, as a biology major, I have always had a fascination for the medical industry. My desire to launch my healthcare career was reawakened by the memory of my time spent volunteering at Christ House's nursing station, catering to the requirements of ill homeless men who live in the Washington, D.C. region and endure everyday hardships. Between my senior years of college as a biology major, I spent some of my weekend’s volunteering at Christ House's nursing station. I had the opportunity to speak with and spend time with older patients who wanted to share their experiences as well as reach out to family members for support. I realized that these men, who are a part of my community, needed compassion and care; and I made myself available to assist with calls to family members and setting up a regular routine to remind them to take their medications. I gained knowledge, teamwork skills, and a new perspective on the comprehensive care provided by the nursing station to patients while interacting with the nurses, and this helped me to build a patient as well as a sympathetic personality. Moreover, I will never forget the feeling of helplessness and lack of knowledge I experienced when my aunt was rushed to the hospital. She was in a serious condition and later, diagnosed with kidney disease and complicated breathing problems. The attending nurses provided quality care that inspired me to seek a career in nursing as I never wanted to be unprepared and helpless again. I wish my aunt was alive today to support me in my journey to become a nurse. I decided to apply to the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing because I felt I needed a solid foundation to support the development of my communication skills and my desire to help others find specialist support for their healthcare needs in my community. Since healthcare practices keeps evolving, my professional goals are to optimize my efficiency in the nursing field by develop and improve my skills to remain competitive, provide quality care to my patients, and get certified to validate my knowledge and skills to practice higher standards of care to people in need of healthcare. Currently, I have been accepted into the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing 2024 cohort, and obtaining the Joseph Joshua Searor Memorial Scholarship will assist me financially to achieve my dreams, help people feel heard, understood, and validated regardless of their experiences and cultural background, while advocating for better health outcomes.