I am currently a sophomore at Seton Hall University working towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. I want to use my education for many things, but most importantly, I want to become a doctor and a mentor to those in my community. For many, health is something that is often put on the backburner or not even thought of until something goes wrong. It is something we should be thinking about all the time. I want to be able to teach preventative care and healthy lifestyles to communities in order for them to prevent health problems in the future. Many people fear the cost of medicine, so taking small preventative care measures each day can prevent a major health scare. I would also like to practice medicine in an underserved community, one with low-income households, who are in need of affordable care. It is astonishing how living in a low-income area can lead a baby to be born with an estimated life span 20 years less than that of a baby born in a wealthier area just a few miles away. Everyone should have the resources to be healthy irrespective of their financial status. There is also fear and distrust with people, specifically in the black community, surrounding medicine due to a deeply rooted history of mistreatment. I feel patients being taken care of by people who look like them will encourage them to be more trusting of medical professionals and seek out the help they need. Additionally, I can be an inspiration to others in my community who want to pursue medicine, who may feel uninspired because they do not see many people who have similar backgrounds as them. I want to be the person who is able to guide them and encourage them to serve their communities through medicine. We need a diverse group of doctors to start being the change we want to see. I want to make it clear that health is for everyone, not just the wealthy and not just the sickly. As the cost of higher education continues to rise faster than the cost of wages which puts a financial burden on anyone who wants to attend. The thought of having to pay back student loans is enough to scare people away. I plan to attend medical school to become a doctor after I finish my undergraduate degree and I am desperately seeking funds to lessen the financial burden. The average cost of medical school tuition is over $50,000 a year. With the scholarship money, I can use it towards my undergraduate degree so I can save up more money for medical school. I would also like to study abroad during my undergraduate degree to gain different perspectives on the ways of life around the world. Unfortunately, the cost of a semester abroad is sometimes twice as much as a semester in the US. This scholarship would help me to pursue that goal. The cost of going to school for so long is a heavy price to pay to pursue my passions. But, I feel like the kind of impact I will have is one worth fighting for. This scholarship will deeply help me as I plan to live in on-campus housing on the east coast while attending a school with one of the best pre-med programs. I see education as an investment and I see this scholarship as an investment in me knowing that I will have a major impact on my community in the future.

I want to use my education for many things but most importantly I want to become a doctor and a mentor to those in my community. For many, health is something that is often put on the backburner or not even thought of until something goes wrong. But, it is something we should be thinking about all the time. I want to be able to teach preventative care and healthy lifestyles to communities in order for them to prevent health problems to begin with. Many people fear the cost of medicine, so taking preventative care measures use just small steps each day to prevent a major downfall. I also want to practice medicine in an underserved community, likely one with low-income households, who are in need of affordable care. Everyone should have the resources to be healthy no matter their financial status. There is also some fear and distrust with people , specifically, in the black community surrounding medicine due to a deep rooted history of mistreatment. But, I feel seeing someone who looks like them taking care of people like them will encourage people to be more trusting of medical professionals and seek out the help they need. In the same token, I can be an inspiration to others in my community who want to pursue medicine but may feel lost because they only know of a few trailblazers. I want to be that person who is able to guide them and encourage them to serve their communities through medicine. We need a diverse group of doctors to start being the change we want to see. I want to make it clear that health is for everyone, not just the wealthy and not just the sickly.

As a child, I found an interest in all the medical videos that were readily available. They ranged from brain surgeries to documentaries on rare diseases. Anything I could get my hands on, I watched, sometimes even three or four times over. I was fascinated with the whole process of discovery and treatment and, eventually, the technical aspect of performing surgeries. Doctors would travel the world to see these patients with unexplained conditions when no one else around them could offer help. After years of research, they would either discover a cause for their ailments or they would not. Either way, I felt satisfied because it seemed like the doctors would do everything they could with the technology they had. After years of watching videos, I decided it was time to dive into the real world as best a teenager can with the goal of majoring in biomedical sciences. In high school, I wanted to get some experience and narrow down an area of medicine I wanted to get into. I became a Personal Care Provider at a nursing home and really got to know the residents as people. This showed me a whole side of medicine that I never even thought about, the personal care aspect. Oftentimes residents would invite me into their rooms for a chat, but I usually did not have the time. On a particularly slow day, I decided to take this gentleman up on his offer. I sat in the chair next to him and he was enthusiastic, to say the least. At first, we talked about all the pictures on his wall and the history behind them. Though the pictures were in black and white, he told me that every member of his family had red hair going back generations. He would slide in witty comments like how he could be lying about his hair being red because I only knew it to be grey. Deep in the conversation, through his aged yet gentle voice, he would reminisce over the mischievous moments he and his brothers had in his youth up until the countless years he spent in the army. It felt like catching up with an old friend. After what felt like a long afternoon connecting, it was time to get back to work, but ever since that day, he would always share a short story with me when I was doing my rounds at work. I came to realize that there was a whole different side that I had never even considered. In those YouTube videos, they don't often show any doctor interaction with the patient except the ones where the patient is under the knife. I started to put the pieces together that those bodies on my screen were real people just like the ones I had the pleasure of conversing with. While they may have medical needs, their personalities are what define them.

I volunteer at the Food Bank as a food share assistant where I prep food for distribution and stock shelves if it's shopping day. I truly enjoy helping those who are facing food insecurities have a stable food source. I am most passionate about my work with Key Club, though. I was elected the president of Student Government and part of my job was to come up with new ideas to engage the community. I noticed many parents’ apprehension of trick-or-treating because of COVID-19 and wanted to create a safer alternative. I decided to team up with the president of Key Club to think of a new way of trick-or-treating. Because of COVID, we became aware of other people's situations and we wanted to accommodate for that. The idea was to get people to decorate the back of their cars with Halloween decorations and kids would go car to car and get candy in the school parking lot. This allowed for kids to be exposed to a smaller amount of people while outdoors, and for people with mobility problems, there were many cars in a small amount of space which made the experience even more accessible. Before the event started, I spent time sorting the donated candy, making sure it was unopened and safe while separating gluten, nut, and dairy-free candy into a separate pile for those with allergies. Although the task of getting everything prepared was daunting that no one else helped with this process, I knew how excited it would make those kids. On the night of the event, we had many people come out to decorate their cars in support of our mission. I decorated my car with characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas in hopes that some little kid would see someone who enjoyed the movie as much as they did. One little girl, who was about six years old, and dressed as Jack Skellington, took one glance at my car and smiled for the first time that night. I had many families with wheelchair-bound family members thank me for being able to have their kids experience Halloween to the fullest without the worries of a steep driveway or porch steps. Some parents even gave a simple, ”Thank you for doing this,” which made me feel like I impacted them in a way that I probably will never realize. At the end of the night, as I was cleaning up, I felt a sense of accomplishment not only because the night was successful but also because I was able to create an event tailored towards the inclusion of people who are often forgotten. Investing in your community is so important because your community is the one that holds you up. Building connections with the people there can bring about many opportunities for you and for them. A strong community is one that can bounce back after a troubling time and lifts each other up. Having the support of your community is unlike any other.

I want to use my education for many things but most importantly I want to become a doctor and a mentor to those in my community. For many, health is something that is often put on the backburner or not even thought of until something goes wrong. But, it is something we should be thinking about all the time. I want to be able to teach preventative care and healthy lifestyles to communities in order for them to prevent health problems to begin with. Many people fear the cost of medicine, so taking preventative care measures use just small steps each day to prevent a major downfall. I also want to practice medicine in an underserved community, likely one with low-income households, who are in need of affordable care. Everyone should have the resources to be healthy no matter their financial status. There is also some fear and distrust with people , specifically, in the black community surrounding medicine due to a deep rooted history of mistreatment. But, I feel seeing someone who looks like them taking care of people like them will encourage people to be more trusting of medical professionals and seek out the help they need. In the same token, I can be an inspiration to others in my community who want to pursue medicine but may feel lost because they only know of a few trailblazers. I want to be that person who is able to guide them and encourage them to serve their communities through medicine. We need a diverse group of doctors to start being the change we want to see. I want to make it clear that health is for everyone, not just the wealthy and not just the sickly.

I believe the recent developments in gene altering technologies. People have been able to study genes and sequence whole genomes for years , but it was not until recently that we were actually able to use that technology to actually change certain visible effects. Until relatively recently, having a genetic disease was essentially incurable because we had no way of altering what people were born with. Currently, we are able to take genes from one animal and insert them into another animal in order to give them the same traits. This kind of ground breaking research could lead to humans with debilitating genetic diseases to possibly have their genomes altered so they can express a healthy version of the gene. This technology is also being studied in cancer cells because if there was a way to insert a gene that could message the cell to self destruct, as opposed to a hormonal method like your body would naturally do, cancer would not need such extreme treatments such as chemotherapy. There are also diseases related to aging which are caused by cells not functioning properly. Sometimes it has to do with the way that genes are expressed. This technology could possibly be used to prevent the cells from undergoing the wrong processes which could lead to a healthier, longer life. This technology has multiple implications for complex diseases for which older treatment methods are not always effective. This is cutting edge technology because gene altering is an advanced and complicated process but it has a wide variety of uses, some of which we haven’t even discovered yet.

I ran for president of my student body last year to combat the culture of hate at my school. In our halls, embracing a vocabulary of racist and homophobic language is too common. Some students even refuse to acknowledge the presence of any minority and only respect people who are white like them. I had never served in student government, but thought I could based on the leadership skills I developed in the concert band. I was the one who gave pointers to the newer percussionists since I had spent four years in that role. However, I would discover that my experience in the band could not prepare me for the wrath I faced in carrying out my promise to make our school the kind of place where people are no longer comfortable with disrespecting the LGBQT community and people of color. The depth of hate at my school was loud and clear and showed no signs of going away at the start of “Inclusivity Week,” an effort I led with three other students to call attention to underrepresented groups. Students revved their truck engines and flew American flags in front of the celebrate diversity booth that I managed with my team. They blared the National Anthem from their truck radios to intimidate us. There were moments when I wished I could fade into the background as one could as a percussionist, where I sometimes felt hidden by the rest of the band. My time in student government started out subtle and unassuming, but after directing Inclusivity Week, I unknowingly unleashed an aggressive army. All eyes and ears were on me. The comments in reaction to Inclusivity Week demonstrated the need for what the opposers claimed was unnecessary. “These people don’t exist,” an administrator wrote in an email, referring to members of the LGBTQ community at my school. But I saw them: a pin bearing their pronouns, a same-sex couple holding hands walking down the hall. After days of demonstrations against our inclusivity agenda, I realized my team of three activists had put a huge target on our backs. I never feared the hate would overwhelm my small group because our courage and motivation were too strong. I handed out informational fliers to the students and faculty passing by despite those who ignored my offer. We knew if our booth helped even one student at my school, that sense of empowerment would outweigh any fear I had of the booth being destroyed by a student or parent. Our boldness encouraged others to support our message and the quiet support for us took off. I learned courage is the domino that enacts change. Our booth swelled from four student government members into a legion of twenty-four supporters connected by a belief in equality. I saw the value and strength of their support when I was elected president of the student body for this year. Our work continues with a band of student leaders in full swing.

I want to use my education for many things but most importantly I want to become a mentor to those in my community. For many, health is something that is often put on the backburner or not even thought of until something goes wrong. But, it is something we should be thinking about all the time. I want to be able to teach preventative care and healthy lifestyles to communities in order for them to prevent health problems to begin with. Many people fear the cost of medicine, so taking preventative care measures use just small steps each day to prevent a major downfall. I also want to practice medicine in an underserved community, likely one with low-income households, who are in need of affordable care. Everyone should have the resources to be healthy no matter their financial status. There is also some fear and distrust with people , specifically, in the black community surrounding medicine due to a deep rooted history of mistreatment. But, I feel seeing someone who looks like them taking care of people like them will encourage people to be more trusting of medical professionals and seek out the help they need. In the same token, I can be an inspiration to others in my community who want to pursue medicine but may feel lost because they only know of a few trailblazers. I want to be that person who is able to guide them and encourage them to serve their communities through medicine. We need a diverse group of doctors to start being the change we want to see. I want to make it clear that health is for everyone, not just the wealthy and not just the sickly.

As a child, I found an interest in all the medical videos that were readily available. They ranged from brain surgeries to documentaries on rare diseases. Anything I could get my hands on, I watched, sometimes even three or four times over. I was fascinated with the whole process of discovery and treatment and, eventually, the technical aspect of performing surgeries. Doctors would travel the world to see these patients with unexplained conditions when no one else around them could offer help. After years of research, they would either discover a cause for their ailments or they would not. Either way, I felt satisfied because it seemed like the doctors would do everything they could with the technology they had. After years of watching videos, I decided it was time to dive into the real world as best a teenager can. In high school, I wanted to get some experience and narrow down an area of medicine I wanted to get into. I became a Personal Care Provider at a nursing home and really got to know the residents as people. This showed me a whole side of medicine that I never even thought about, the personal care aspect. Oftentimes residents would invite me into their rooms for a chat, but I usually did not have the time. On a particularly slow day, I decided to take this gentleman up on his offer. I sat in the chair next to him and he was enthusiastic, to say the least. At first, we talked about all the pictures on his wall and the history behind them. Though the pictures were in black and white, he told me that every member of his family had red hair going back generations. He would slide in witty comments like how he could be lying about his hair being red because I only knew it to be grey. Deep in the conversation, through his aged yet gentle voice, he would reminisce over the mischievous moments he and his brothers had in his youth up until the countless years he spent in the army. It felt like catching up with an old friend. After what felt like a long afternoon connecting, it was time to get back to work, but ever since that day, he would always share a short story with me when I was doing my rounds at work. I came to realize that there was a whole different side that I had never even considered. In those YouTube videos, they don't often show any doctor interaction with the patient except the ones where the patient is under the knife. I started to put the pieces together that those bodies on my screen were real people just like the ones I had the pleasure of conversing with. While they may have medical needs, their personalities are what define them.

I ran for vice president of my student body last year to combat the culture of hate at my school. I had never served in student government, but thought I could based on the leadership skills I developed in the concert band. I was the one who gave pointers to the newer percussionists since I had spent four years in that role. However, I would discover that my experience in the band could not prepare me for the wrath I faced in carrying out my promise to make our school the kind of place where people are no longer comfortable with disrespecting the LGBQT community and people of color. The depth of hate at my school was loud and clear and showed no signs of going away at the start of “Inclusivity Week,” an effort I led with three other students to call attention to underrepresented groups. Students revved their truck engines and flew American flags in front of the celebrate diversity booth that I managed with my team. They blared the National Anthem from their truck radios to intimidate us. There were moments when I wished I could fade into the background as one could as a percussionist, where I sometimes felt hidden by the rest of the band. Our sounds are crucial to the pieces we played, but we are sometimes overlooked in the back section. Nobody will notice a good percussionist, but everyone can pick out a bad one by the mismatched timing of the rest of the band. And nothing is more awkward than a mistimed cowbell. Like a musical triangle, my time in student government started out subtle and unassuming, but after directing Inclusivity Week, I unknowingly unleashed an aggressive army of bass drums. All eyes and ears were on me. The comments in reaction to Inclusivity Week demonstrated the need for what the opposers claimed was unnecessary. “These people don’t exist,” an administrator wrote in an email, referring to members of the LGBTQ community at my school. But I saw them: a pin bearing their pronouns, a same-sex couple holding hands walking down the hall. After days of demonstrations against our inclusivity agenda, I realized my team of three activists had put a huge target on our backs. Like the intricate dance of overlapping jazz musicians, we took turns protecting our booth during the week while some of us went to class. I never feared the hate would overwhelm my small group because our courage and motivation were too strong. I handed out informational fliers to the students and faculty passing by despite those who ignored or declined my offer. We knew if our booth helped even one student at my school, that sense of empowerment would outweigh any fear I had of the booth being destroyed by a student or parent. In my mind, Inclusivity Week began to resemble another concert, and I visualized the conductor raising his or her arms to signal the beginning of the song. Our boldness encouraged others to support our message and the quiet support for us took off. I learned courage is the domino that enacts change. Our booth swelled from four student government members into a legion of twenty-four supporters connected by a belief in equality and others who voiced support in passing but said they did not have the time or stamina to join us at the booth. I saw the value and strength of their support when I was elected vice president of the student body for this year. Our work continues with a band of student leaders in full swing.