I have always found passion in helping people since I was younger. My first exposure to the medical world was when my grandfather was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and Parkinson's syndrome. When I would go visit my grandparents, I would be able to work alongside his caregiver and provide the help that he needed. There were many memorable moments I was able to share with him before he passed that stayed with me. Moving forward, I have witnessed many health problems within my family that were not addressed due to the lack of health knowledge. I want to change this for my community; I want to help bring more awareness of physical and mental health. My name is Melia Cobb, and I am currently a nursing student working towards my second bachelor's degree from Chamberlain University. I am expected to graduate with my Bachelor of Science in Nursing in August 2024. My first degree is a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies with a minor in Business Administration from the University of Arizona. I aim to be a Registered Nurse working in the Progressive Care Unit. I want to make a change and advocate for diversity and inclusion within the healthcare community. I am currently working as a Certified Nursing Assistant and Nurse Extern at Banner Health to progress toward my goal. I work on a medical-surgical/ progressive care floor where we care for patients who fall into both categories. To help in the community, I am also a member of Sigma Phi Pi and the Black Nurses Association. I learned from both of these organizations that I utilize them to better help me care for my patients in the clinical setting. Through this, I believe I can help provide holistic care with my patients. I am excited to continue my journey to becoming a nurse and helping people within my community. I am applying for this scholarship to help advance my education in Nursing. I have seen how great and inspiring nurses who look like me can be. I want to be that figure for someone else and remind them that no matter how arduous the journey is, they will make it to the end and make a difference. This will be my second bachelor's degree, and I am doing what I can to minimize my student debt. Getting the opportunity to receive a scholarship will help me move forward with my classes and set me up for success in the future.

I am the oldest of three girls in my household. I am constantly the first person that people look at when they look at my family. I am the one my mother talks about first, the one who leads for my sisters. When my family name is mentioned mine is always the first to come up. They say everyone always remembers the first, I want to be remembered for what I have done and accomplished for myself and my family. I am a recent 2020 graduate from the University of Arizona; graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies and a minor in Business Administration. I had a wonderful time at the University, learned many skills I can bring with me into the real world. Such as analytical thinking, team leadership, and empathizing with others. While I am pursuing a degree in Nursing, I wanted to be able to add a diverse emphasis to my resume. Hence the major within Africana Studies, I also wanted to use this degree to be an advocate for other people of color. I believe that people of color need more representation within healthcare. Being a person of color myself, I want to be an advocate for people who look like me. I did obtain my Certified Nursing Assistant License in 2016, giving me a clear idea of what I would be doing in the future. Getting that license made me certain that I wanted to be a Nurse in the future. By receiving a degree in Nursing would bring me so close to my end goal. I know with a little bit of help I will be able to achieve what many people thought I could never do. It will set me aside from everyone who doubted me throughout my journey. It will make everyone who supported me proud of all that I have done and I will know that I have them to thank. I know that I cannot do everything on my own and that even the strongest people need a little bit of help sometimes. I want to be that little bit of help for those strong people. I want to be able to pick people up when they are down and guide them back to their strength. I am a person who is willing to do what others will not, I am willing to go the extra mile to achieve my goals. I know that in the end when I have accomplished everything that I want to I will be the one they remember, I will be the one who made a difference within the world.

I am a strong believer of if you speak something into existence it will come to you. Therefore, I think the key to academic success is to manifest and see your end goal. I am a very big visual person when it comes to my academic success. I enjoy planning everything out in my planner and setting deadlines for my assignments. This helps me not get stressed out about upcoming due dates. An example would be; two weeks before the test I want to understand about 50% of the material expected. The week of the test I should be able to understand about 90-100% of the material and be quizzing myself. I then will make flashcards and test myself the whole week of the test. I have found this to be the most helpful to me when I have something upcoming. A day or two I would get together with my study group and we would go over and teach each other concepts in the library. The best way to understand and learn is by teaching someone else. This is a very hands-on and visual way of studying and always benefit deeply from it. Overall I like to set myself up for success, I speak and visualize it into the universe, and one way or another it will come back to me.

My name is Melia, but I can spell it out for you. The M is for magnificent in every way I can be. The E means eagerness to learn more every day. The L is for loveable because I know I am loved by many people in my life. The I means intelligent because I know I am smart and will achieve whatever I put my mind to. Lastly, the A is for active because I know that my physical health is very important. I put myself out there and stay ready for what is to come next.

I like to live in my head, my mind is constantly going different places. I like to imagine the unthinkable, hence as to why I probably read so many fiction books. The most memorable and inspiring book I read was Matched by Allie Condie. To summarize the first book of the trilogy is about a society that decided the fate of your whole life. They decide everything from who you love to when you die. I felt like it was almost a parallel for our world today almost. Many people live their lives based on what other people tell them to do and when to do it. When reading this book I spent a lot of time wondering if I was doing the right thing in life. But I became inspired by this book because it taught me to go out into the world and be brave for my own sake. If I was down due to my fault it will be okay and I will make it through. We are all humans and we are meant to make mistakes within our life. Sometimes we will fall in love with the wrong person or say the wrong thing, but it is okay because in the end we all live our lives and we all eventually die. We only get one life so I think it is important to live it how we want.

The first time I heard Clair de Lune was my sophomore year of high school. My band director played us a sample and said we were going to learn it for our marching band show next year. The song quickly became very symbolic for our band because we lost one of our members to suicide that year. This song personally reminded me of them because of its quiet and melancholy sound. The person who had passed away always knew how to subtly light up the room. I remember always being next to them in the band and every time I was by them they put a smile on my face. I picked this song as an inspiration because it reminds me to try and always make someone's day. You never know what they could be going through, and you never know what could turn someone's day around. I am constantly reminded because this song is on the playlist at my job. I am always happy to hear the rhythmic sound of the moon.

I am the oldest of three girls in my household. I am constantly the first person that people look at when they look at my family. I am the one my mother talks about first, the one who leads for my sisters. When my family name is mentioned mine is always the first to come up. They say everyone always remembers the first, I want to be remembered for what I have done and accomplished for myself and my family. I am a recent 2020 graduate from the University of Arizona; graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies and a minor in Business Administration. I had a wonderful time at the University, learned many skills I can bring with me into the real world. Such as analytical thinking, team leadership, and empathizing with others. While I am pursuing a degree in Nursing, I wanted to be able to add a diverse emphasis to my resume. Hence the major within Africana Studies, I also wanted to use this degree to be an advocate for other people of color. I believe that people of color need more representation within healthcare. Being a person of color myself, I want to be an advocate for people who look like me. I did obtain my Certified Nursing Assistant License in 2016, giving me a clear idea of what I would be doing in the future. Getting that license made me certain that I wanted to be a Nurse in the future. By receiving a degree in Nursing would bring me so close to my end goal. I know with a little bit of help I will be able to achieve what many people thought I could never do. It will set me aside from everyone who doubted me throughout my journey. It will make everyone who supported me proud of all that I have done and I will know that I have them to thank. I know that I cannot do everything on my own and that even the strongest people need a little bit of help sometimes. I want to be that little bit of help for those strong people. I want to be able to pick people up when they are down and guide them back to their strength. I am a person who is willing to do what others will not, I am willing to go the extra mile to achieve my goals. I know that in the end when I have accomplished everything that I want to I will be the one they remember, I will be the one who made a difference within the world.