Selective mutism has been very difficult in my life as a 16-year-old girl. Every day I wish to interact with people and show them my real self, but I always end up showing them someone who isn’t me—the girl people see as weird or maybe even rude. I don’t have a very friendly expression, and I struggle with that because it makes me look like someone who thinks low of others, and that is NOT who I am. I can’t even form a good conversation with a family member, and I don’t want them to think I don’t like them or anything; it’s just that I cannot speak, if that makes sense. People tend to see me as someone who probably has mental issues—no disrespect to people who do. Everyone goes through difficult mental health situations, and I do too, but before, speaking with people wasn’t so bad. I tend to sound fake or maybe uninterested in some conversations by not knowing how to respond, and sometimes I find myself about to send messages to my friends or family to excuse that behavior. Some cousins of mine even see me as less just because I struggle, in general, to form conversations, and I will prove them wrong. I have goals and dreams, and I am willing to go after them. Sometimes a quiet person might seem shy or even brainless, but I want to show that a quiet person plans for the future—how they will reach it—and sometimes even daydreams about how different their life would be if they focused on their education and worked on themselves, and that’s my plan. I don’t like how I am dominant in conversations with myself in my brain but sound like a brainless teenager when I speak to an adult or someone my age, which is why I will attempt to fix it. I am not going to live like this my whole life, and if I do, I will find a way to manage it. My goal to pursue better and higher intellectual education will help me, and it will define me as a person. Maybe people will treat me differently or attempt to understand me and speak with me if they see that I play an important role in society. I say this because I wish to be a doctor when I grow up, and if there is a patient who has selective mutism, I will think about how I struggled and will show care and understanding toward any of their complaints or anything in general, because I refuse to be like the people who saw me as less just because of this issue that other people and I carry throughout our lives.

I am Marjorie, and I wanted to speak about the impact this scholarship would have on my life. This scholarship will help me get to my dream career, which is becoming a doctor. I am not really sure which branch yet, but I am excited to explore different careers and have been doing so. A way I would honor Arlin’s memory and legacy as a recipient of this scholarship is that if anyone asks me for financial tips or how I got to where I am one day, I will mention Arlin and how the impact of this scholarship helped my financial life in college. I used to have a cousin who unfortunately passed away due to an epilepsy attack. He and I were very close, and he was like an older brother to me. This scholarship reminded me of him based on Arlin’s story. This scholarship would help me pursue my career, and eventually I will help people like Arlin. I am a 16-year-old girl who has goals and dreams that I really want to reach. My daily life consists of waking up, going to school, and going to church at 7, finishing around 8:30 PM. I only have about two hours of free time, which I use for eating, studying, or working. I really don’t want to be a burden to my parents. Parents always choose the best for their children and tend to ease their worries. They may be struggling financially and don’t want me to know, which is why I apply for this scholarship—to try not to make my parents’ lives harder. We all have the same schedule, except my father tends to work a lot more, and I am sure seeing education bills after a long day at work is not easy. Knowing how much education and how many years of studying it takes to become a doctor, I want to be financially prepared and calm my financial worries. Especially as a Hispanic girl, we tend to struggle financially, and sometimes, based on our ethnicity, we are treated as less. I want to prove that I can do better than how I look or how others may perceive me. I have an aunt who is a therapist, and she shared her hard yet successful journey to become who she is today. I want to follow in her footsteps and become the first Hispanic woman in my family to graduate from a university. Finally, I believe this scholarship will motivate me to follow my dreams and reach goals many cannot due to financial struggles. I want to help people in general, especially those with disorders that are not fully understood and who are not always treated or valued equally because of their disabilities. It is truly disappointing how even doctors sometimes treat patients unequally because of their medical conditions. I am confident and promise that I will be a doctor who will genuinely care for a patient no matter what their disabilty or disorder they have.