Throughout my early childhood, I struggled with reading due to my dyslexia. I was chastised by teachers who claimed I was just a difficult kid who did not want to learn. They would tell me terrible things like that I would never be a good reader. One memory that sticks out in particular was when a teacher came up to me and asked, "Why are you not doing your test?" I had explained that I could not read what was on the page. She had replied, yelling; "Why can't you just be like everyone else?" I started crying in my second-grade classroom, wondering the same thing. In that moment, all I wanted to do was learn how to read. After that, I was determined to do whatever I could to be a great reader. To become the reader I wanted to be, I had to use the resources I had available to me. I had started reading at home every night, got a tutor, and acquired accommodations to make things a little easier. Throughout elementary school, I was met with similar teachers who were frustrated at my lack of reading skills. But every year, I had gotten a little better at reading, and their doubt fueled my desire to read better. In fourth grade, I had finally reached grade-level reading, which may have been easy for some, but it was like climbing Mount Everest for me. Once I reached that point, I could not help but want more. I did not want to be average because I knew I could do so much better than that. I read all the time. Sometimes more than one book at once. I got better in my classes and kept moving forward. Throughout middle school and high school, I enrolled in honors classes and excelled in them. My greatest accomplishment, though, was being accepted into the International Baccalaureate program, the highest level of education a high schooler can have. I knew from then on that the sky is the limit. I started to become more resilient, disciplined, and confident within myself. Being dyslexic will not stop me, nor should it stop anyone from following their dreams. A piece of advice I would give to someone who is in that position is to find one person who believes in you. To succeed, you need someone who is there to remind you why you started and why you are good enough. For me, it was my mom and dad who were my voice when I thought I did not have one. With this scholarship, I will be able to join a volunteer program where I can help kids, like me, who struggle with their dyslexia. I want to be that one person for the next generation of dyslexics, so they can know their worth and to not give up when times are hard.

I am a First-Generation college student at the University of Kansas, pursuing a degree in Applied Behavioral Science with a specialization in Early Childhood Intervention. I work as an outreach assistant at the KU Natural History Museum, where I help facilitate events, including our Women in STEM day. One thing they both have in common is working with kids and incorporating science in an attention-grabbing way. At a young age, I was diagnosed with Dyslexia, a reading disability that caused me to have a hard time in school. I struggled with teachers listening to my needs and would have to fight for every piece of help I could get. My pediatrician had caught the symptoms early on in school and directed my parents to resources I had access to, like an IEP, Individual Education Plan. I had felt seen not only because she helped me but because my doctor was also dyslexic. At that moment, I knew I could be anything I wanted to, and my disability does not define me. I decided that, with my love of science and working with kids, I should be a pediatrician. In Applied Behavioral Science, I get to learn about why we do things and how we can alter those behaviors. Specifically in Early Childhood intervention, I get to learn about why and how kids do things. We do not believe a kid is just difficult because they want to be. Growing up, I had heard the phrase 'you do not want to do it, that's why you cannot', which, looking at it from a behavioral analysis point, was incorrect. A child is not born difficult; a child has had an unhealthy environment that has led to this behavior, which is okay. I want to help those kids who are having a hard time in school find outlets and shifts in life that will benefit them throughout their lives. Further down my degree path, I am going to be able to work hands-on with kids on the autism spectrum and help them establish behaviors that will help them do simple things like get a haircut or go to a doctor's appointment without feeling overwhelmed and scared about what is happening around them. Along with this, I plan on joining a program that helps kids who have dyslexia or show dyslexic tendencies, so we can help kids sooner, so they can struggle less through behavioral techniques. With this scholarship, I would be able to complete these programs with little to no financial worry, to focus on helping kids so they do not feel alone with their disability.