One of the biggest influences on my decision to pursue a career in Healthcare has been my mother, who works as an occupational therapist. Growing up, I saw all the hard work and compassion she shows to her patients every day. I admire her strength. Watching her impact people's lives every day inspired me to search for a career in the healthcare field. She was the one who encouraged me to take my thinking seriously. Being in healthcare is very different than other jobs because you are working with real people who have feelings. You see them for more than a couple of minutes each day, and things can get very private and serious. Something else that inspired me to pursue a healthcare career is Doc McStuffins. It sounds silly, but as a little kid, seeing a black girl like me helping "people" made me passionate, like, " If someone that looks like me- same hair, same skin, same interests, same family" I could surely succeed if I put my mind to it like her. Because Doc McStuffins is proof that representation and diversity matter, this kids' cartoon helped me be confident in my goal of working in healthcare. While my path is slightly different from Doc's, my goal is to become a pediatric nurse practitioner. When I was searching for what I wanted to be when I grew up, the one thing I knew was that I wanted to work with children. As I got older and figured out that I wanted to work in the medical field and work with children. My mother was also another piece of inspiration, a black woman who works in healthcare. In my childhood, I saw her working hard and sharing her kindness with her patients every day. I'd go to work with her every day during the summer because she couldn't afford to pay for summer camp. So I really got to see her work firsthand. The health care career scene has always been there with me. Racial diversity is essential in every sense. In my church, I am a teacher in the Sunday school. One day, a little black girl that I knew very well came up to me and said, I'm so glad that there's another black girl here," and that really touched my heart. I felt honored to be someone who can be looked up to. Increasing diversity in healthcare is essential for that same representation. When patients go into a healthcare facility, they can feel at ease to see someone who looks like them. Diversity also shows others that a certain occupation is not only for a certain race/ group of people. It proves that people can obtain their jobs through their hard work. Lastly, it inspires others who also want to work in healthcare, exemplifying that someone who looks like them can also acquire their dream career.

Apparently, Grey's Anatomy is very unrealistic. I didn't know this when I first saw it. As someone who doesn't usually watch mainstream shows, when Grey's Anatomy was getting popular a few years back, I never got the hype. I thought to myself, why is everyone so involved in a show about the hospital? In highschool I took a health care course for 3 years, and now and then, my teacher would bash Grey's Anatomy for its unrealistic representation of health care workers. What? Even my teacher's watching this show? Am I missing out on something? So I gave it a watch and watched the first episode, which was frankly boring. This didn't change my mind about pursuing a career in nursing, though. I decided to become a nurse because of my hard-working mother. She is a Physical therapist; she raised me by myself in a country she barely knew. On top of being a PT, she is also a CMA. Seeing my mother work so hard also inspired me to work hard. When certain things surround people, they grow up wanting to become like the people around them. Like a kid going to the doctor and thinking the doctor is cool, they later want to become one. The health care community is what I've come to know closely ever since I was a baby. My mom told me she used to put me in her car while she was at work at the facility she used to work in and come check on me every 30 minutes. As I got older, she started taking me to work with her. I would sit in the break room or in the gym of the PT part of the facility. I watched my mother as she brought in residents to throw a ball or hit a balloon. At times, she would let me interact with the patients, draw, or color with them. Though my least favorite thing about this was that the place smelled strange. One reason I didn't want to work in geriatrics. The other option was to work with everyone or in pediatrics. I love working with children; I've been in childcare for almost six years, and it brings so much joy to take care of children. That's how I decided to become a pediatric nurse. Caring for children has taught me the importance of patience and kindness. I've made bonds with them and friendships. The way they light up when they see my face is so heartwarming. I want to combine my passions for working with children with my interest in a healthcare career. I found this scholarship on the Bold.org scholarship page that was on my matched list.

When I was about 6 years old, my mother gave me money so I could go buy a toy of my choosing. Unfortunately i didn't find one that I liked, so I thought, "Why not save this money for the next time I go to the store?" When it was time to check out, I stuck the money in my pocket, and it seemed like my mom had forgotten about it anyway. On the way out of the store, there was a lady who looked tired, cold, and sad, asking for money. I felt the money in my pocket and gave it to her. She held my hands and gave me the biggest smile. She looked so happy, and it made something in my soul light up. Being part of a low-income family shouldn't mean you should stop helping people. In the end, we are all struggling. It may be simple but I learned to be compassionate by watch TV shows like My Little Pony and the PBS channel. Growing up as an only child, I had a lot of time to myself. nothing to share, no one to argue with. All of the only child stereotype types didn't really apply to me because I learned to share from TV shows like Sesame Street, so I was never selfish. I never learned to be spoiled because I learned you can't have everything you want from The Bernstein Bears. I have tried to put compassion into action through volunteering. Throughout my first couple of years in High school, I was volunteering just to get service hours, but the more I volunteered, the more I actually enjoyed doing it. Our school had a fook pantry every Wednesday after school, and every Wednesday I would go. I'd go even if any of my friends were there; I went just to do good for the community. There was a time a lady who mostly spoke Spanish gave me a hug and thanked me the best she could with broken English because she wasn't sure where her next meal would come from. There was that fuzzy feeling in my stomach. Another time was when I was in HOSA, and we hosted a "senior senior Prom," where senior citizens dress up, play games, and get to relive their high school prom. During the event, I was hanging out with this one lady, saying she's been stuck in her nursing home for months and had been itching to get out. None of her family came to visit or check on her, so she'd been feeling lonely. After, she thanked me for keeping her company and said it was the best time she'd had in a while. As I continue my education, I plan to keep demonstrating compassion through frequently looking through what my university has to offer volunteer-wise. I will continue to treat everyone with the respect and kindness they deserve. I may have some issues, but everyone does, and we need to make light of that. I hope to make people feel seen, valued, and supported. Compassion is shown through everyday actions, and I strive to present it no matter where I go.

Doc McStuffins is someone I looked up to a lot as a kid. I'd sit in my living room and hear the theme song playing. I loved that she was a girl; she looked just like me, a little black girl who loves her toys a lot. Not only that, but she was a doctor, a doctor with pretty pink and purple equipment, which isn't something you see every day! A nursing career has always interested me because I enjoy the "hands-on" parts of science and learning the "why" of things. Nursing is a combination of science and compassion; you get to make a great impact on people's lives every day. My mother is another big part of my interest in becoming a nurse. She is an occupational therapist, and she works hard every day. As a child, she would have to take me to her job at a nursing home. She displayed great kindness and compassion that her clients really appreciated. As opposed to becoming a physical therapist like my mother or a doctor like Doc McStuffins, I chose to become a nurse because I heard the need for nurses is very high. So many people want to be nurses but never follow through. This field of work needs people who will take their job seriously and show love towards the people they are working for. I hear stories of people being rude to clients or mistreating them, and that just breaks my heart. We need more kind-hearted people in this industry. When I become a nurse, I will show as much love as possible! My goal is to ultimately become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I want to provide excellent medical care while helping children and their families. I believe that if you really put your mind to what you want to do, you can actually do it. It sounds cliche but it is true, as long as you work towards your goal, then it can happen. That is what I've been striving to do for years. In middle school, I learned more about anatomy so I could be ahead of the game. In my free time, I go over medical abbreviations so I'll be prepared to use them in the future. Things that have helped me feel successful with myself have been my 3rd-year patient care class in high school. The class really helped me with the hands-on experience rather than learning through books and videos. In that class, we practiced many skills. I'd say the thing that stuck out to me the most would be a field trip we took to an elementary school to perform hearing and sight screenings on them. We were doing screenings on people we hadn't seen before, so what they'd do was unpredictable. There were challenges, but it made me feel better knowing this is how things would be in real life, not just some scenario on a skills check off. The children at the elementary school would get off task and talk about random things, and I loved it! I was also in leadership for the HOSA club, which helped me develop leadership and teamwork skills. Lastly, this summer I set out to take CNA classes so by the time I start college, I can gain work experience from the get-go. In these classes, I am taking what I learned from my healthcare classes and putting them to use. All of this so I can take the HESI exam in my sophomore year of college to officially get started on my journey in becoming a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.