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.