The values that matter most to me are compassion, resilience, and service. These values have shaped the way I approach my education, my relationships with others, and the career I want to build for myself. Growing up in Haiti, I saw how difficult it could be for people to receive the healthcare and support they needed. Those experiences made me appreciate the importance of having people who are willing to care for others, especially when they are at their most vulnerable. As I got older, I realized that I wanted my future career to involve helping people in a meaningful way. I am currently studying Rehabilitation & Recreational Therapy at Florida International University. My education has taught me that someone's health is not only about their physical condition. Mental and emotional well-being are just as important. A person's ability to participate in everyday life, connect with others, and find things that give them purpose can have a major effect on their overall quality of life. This has made me especially interested in healthcare that considers the whole person. One of my biggest values is compassion. I know what it feels like to need support, and I believe that the way we treat people during difficult moments matters. In my future work, I want people to feel that they are being treated like individuals rather than just another patient. I want to be someone who listens, remains patient, and helps people feel safe. I also value resilience. My path through college has not always been easy. Balancing school, work, finances, and planning for my future has pushed me to keep going even when I felt overwhelmed. Those experiences have taught me that success is not always about having an easy path. Sometimes it is about continuing to move forward when things do not go according to plan. My long-term goal is to work in healthcare and eventually become a Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant. I am drawn to this career because it combines my interest in medicine with the opportunity to directly care for patients. I want to continue learning, challenge myself academically, and eventually use my career to make patients feel safe and cared for during some of the most stressful moments of their lives. I do not want my success to only benefit me. I want my education to give me the ability to help other people. The values I have developed throughout my life will continue to guide me as I build my career, and I hope to use what I accomplish to positively impact the people and communities around me.

I believe making mental healthcare more accessible starts with changing the way we think about healthcare as a whole. Mental health should not be treated as something separate or something people should be ashamed to talk about. It should be part of the same conversation as physical health. As a student studying Rehabilitation and Recreational Therapy, I have learned how closely a person's physical, emotional, and social well-being are connected. In my future career in healthcare, I want to carry that perspective with me. I want to help create environments where patients feel comfortable speaking about what they are experiencing and where mental well-being is taken seriously. I also believe accessibility means meeting people where they are. Cost, stigma, transportation, and lack of resources can all prevent people from getting help. I would like to contribute to a healthcare system that connects patients with affordable resources and uses community-based support, education, and meaningful activities to promote well-being. My goal is to become a healthcare professional who treats the whole person. I want my education to help me make people feel heard, supported, and worthy of care , regardless of their financial circumstances or background.

My story is one of learning how to keep moving forward, even when the path is not always clear. Growing up in Haiti shaped many of my values and gave me an appreciation for opportunities that I might have otherwise taken for granted. When I eventually came to the United States, I had to adjust to a new environment while figuring out what I wanted my future to look like. Those experiences taught me to be independent, adaptable, and determined. Today, I am a senior at Florida International University studying Rehabilitation and Recreational Therapy. Getting to this point has been one of the accomplishments I am most proud of. College has challenged me academically, financially, and personally. I have had to balance school with work and the responsibilities that come with becoming independent. There have been times when paying for school and everyday expenses has been stressful, but I have continued looking for ways to support myself and stay focused on graduating. My experiences have also helped me discover what I want to do with my education. I want to build a career in healthcare and eventually become a Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant. I am drawn to this career because it combines science, critical thinking, teamwork, and patient care. I want to be in a position where I can help patients feel safe during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. My current degree has given me a foundation for understanding healthcare from a whole-person perspective. Through my education and healthcare shadowing experiences, I have learned how important communication, patience, and compassion are when caring for others. I am now preparing for the next stage by researching CAA programs, completing the requirements I need, seeking additional healthcare and anesthesia-related experience, and planning financially for graduate school. Receiving this scholarship would make a meaningful difference because I am working toward a career that will require additional education and a significant financial investment. As someone who has had to be intentional about finding ways to afford my education, even $500 would help with expenses such as application fees, certifications, transportation, or other costs associated with preparing for graduate school. More importantly, receiving this scholarship would remind me that there are people willing to invest in students like me and the futures we are working to build. I want my story to be about more than where I started. I want it to be about what I chose to do with the opportunities I received. My goal is to graduate, continue my education, become a CAA, and use my career to positively impact the lives of my patients and encourage other young women of color to pursue careers they may not have believed were possible for them. This scholarship would help me take another step toward that future.

The impact I want to make begins with the reason I chose healthcare in the first place. I want to become a Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant, but my goal is bigger than having a career in medicine. I want to become someone who can make people feel safe when they are facing some of the most uncertain moments of their lives. Growing up in Haiti shaped the way I understand healthcare. I saw how access to medical care could be affected by circumstances that people could not control. Because of that, I learned early that having compassionate and capable healthcare professionals matters. It made me appreciate the opportunities I have now and motivated me to pursue a career where I can eventually provide that same sense of care and security to others. My education at Florida International University has helped me understand that healthcare is about more than science. Studying Rehabilitation and Recreational Therapy has taught me to think about patients as whole people. Their physical health, mental well-being, independence, and quality of life are all connected. I want to carry that perspective into my future career in anesthesia. The people who inspire me are the people who continue moving forward despite difficult circumstances. My family and my own experiences have taught me that your starting point does not have to determine where you end up. I have had to work through financial challenges, balance work and school, and figure out how to build my future while becoming increasingly independent. Those experiences have made me more determined to create a life where I can eventually help others in the same way that I have needed support along my own journey. As a healthcare professional, I want to give back through both my work and the way I treat people. I want my patients to feel listened to and respected, especially when they are anxious or afraid. I also hope to encourage other students from backgrounds where healthcare careers may feel out of reach. I want them to see someone who pursued a difficult path and made it possible. My education is giving me the tools to create that future. I am working toward graduation, preparing for CAA programs, gaining healthcare experience, and seeking opportunities to learn from professionals in the field. Every step brings me closer to being able to serve others through a career I genuinely care about. The future I want to help create is one where people receive not only excellent medical care, but compassion and dignity along with it. I cannot change every problem in healthcare, but I can control the kind of professional I become. I want to be the person who makes a difficult moment a little less frightening, and I want the education I receive to ultimately become something that benefits more people than just myself.

My goal is to become a Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant (CAA), and I have spent the last several years building an education and career plan that will allow me to get there. I am currently a senior at Florida International University studying Rehabilitation and Recreational Therapy, and I am preparing to graduate soon. Graduation is an important milestone for me, but it is not the end of my education. It is the starting point for the next part of my plan. My first step is completing my undergraduate degree and making sure I have everything I need to be a competitive CAA applicant. I have taken science courses including biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, anatomy and physiology, and statistics. After graduation, I will review the prerequisite requirements for each CAA program I am interested in and complete any remaining coursework or requirements that I need. I also plan to continue gaining healthcare experience and learning directly from professionals. I have already started exploring healthcare through shadowing. I shadowed a Speech-Language Pathologist at SpeechPathConnections in Lauderhill, Florida, where I observed patient care and learned more about working with patients in a clinical environment. I am also actively seeking opportunities that will give me more direct exposure to healthcare, particularly positions in surgical and hospital settings. My goal is to obtain experience that will help me understand the responsibilities of working in a fast-paced clinical environment while strengthening my future application. Another important part of my plan is anesthesia exposure. I intend to seek opportunities to shadow Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants, anesthesiologists, and CRNAs so that I can learn more about the profession before committing to graduate school. I want to enter a CAA program knowing that I understand the career and have intentionally prepared myself for it. Once I have completed my prerequisites and strengthened my experience, I plan to apply to CAA programs through the appropriate application process. I will research programs carefully based on their prerequisites, location, accreditation, clinical training, cost, and admission requirements. I will prepare my application materials early, including my transcripts, recommendations, personal statement, and any required exams or supplemental applications. Finances are one of the biggest challenges I have to plan for. I come from a low-income background, so paying for graduate school cannot simply be assumed. My plan is to apply for scholarships and grants, continue saving from employment, look for healthcare employment opportunities that will strengthen my application, and apply for financial aid. I will create a separate budget for application fees, prerequisite courses, transportation, certifications, and eventually tuition and living expenses. I also intend to compare programs based on their total cost rather than choosing a school based only on its name. My timeline is straightforward: graduate from FIU, complete any remaining requirements, gain additional healthcare and anesthesia exposure, prepare my applications, apply to CAA programs, secure funding, and begin graduate training. My ultimate goal is to become a CAA and work in a profession where I can combine science, critical thinking, teamwork, and patient care. I believe in the idea behind “Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan” because I am already doing exactly that. I do not expect my future to happen automatically. I know what I want, I know the steps I need to take, and I am willing to keep working through the financial and academic challenges required to get there.

I have always wanted my life to mean something beyond myself. My goal is to build a career in healthcare where I can make people feel safe, cared for, and understood. I am currently a senior at Florida International University studying Rehabilitation and Recreational Therapy, and my long-term goal is to become a Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant. Growing up in Haiti shaped the way I see healthcare and opportunity. I saw how circumstances outside of a person's control could affect their ability to receive the care they needed. Healthcare was not something I could take for granted. Those experiences stayed with me and became one of the reasons I wanted to pursue a career where I could directly help people. My journey to college has not been simple. Moving to the United States meant adjusting to a completely different environment while trying to build a future for myself. Throughout college, I have had to balance academics, work, finances, and the responsibilities of becoming independent. There have been times when I have felt uncertain about how I would pay for school or manage everything at once. Still, I kept going. I learned to advocate for myself, look for scholarships and financial aid, work while going to school, and continue pursuing my goals even when the path became difficult. My experiences have also shaped the kind of healthcare professional I want to become. Studying Rehabilitation and Recreational Therapy has taught me that caring for someone means looking at the whole person. A person's physical health is connected to their mental well-being, independence, relationships, and quality of life. I want to carry that understanding with me as I continue toward a career in medicine. What drives me most is knowing that my circumstances do not have to determine my future. I want to create stability for myself, make my family proud, and become someone who can give back to others. I also want other students who come from difficult circumstances to see that it is possible to keep moving forward, even when you do not have everything figured out. Receiving this scholarship would help relieve some of the financial pressure of finishing my education and preparing for the next stage of my career. More than that, it would help me continue investing in a future that I have worked hard to build. I am proud of how far I have come, but I am not finished. I want to graduate, continue my education, become a healthcare professional, and use my career to make a difference in the lives of others. That is what keeps me going.