It was about a year ago, I had a conversation with my dad. It was when the BLM protests were happening, and I was questioning whose side to be on. I’ve always had respect for cops, but I never quite understood the meaning behind “Black Lives Matter” until he explained it to me. I know black lives matter, but I also know and believe all lives matter as well. The color of your skin doesn’t make your life more important than someone else’s. My dad explained the organization, “Black Lives Matter”, is more about creating division. They don’t care about black lives at all. If they did, we would see them protesting every time a kid gets shot in Chicago, or when a baby gets aborted at Planned Parenthood. This conversation with my dad changed my whole view about the saying, “Black Lives Matter”. It now helps me have a better understanding of what I see on the news when they spread false narratives. To summarize, this is the time I had changed my view on a significant issue and has shaped a part of who I am today.

I've had 3 career changes since I was 10 years old. I wanted to be a model, fashion designer, and stylist. During those career changes, I had to think about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I see people who get up, go to work, and repeat. There is no true desire or passion for why they work. They just work because it pays the bills. I don't want to have a job like that. That's when I started thinking about nursing. I've thought about it before, but it's always been in the back of my mind. When I started thinking about that being my career, I checked all the boxes. Ever since | was little, I was always a helper. My dad calls me the worker bee of the family. I love helping people and in the field of nursing, I believe that's where God wants me. I don't want to have a job, where later down the line I regret doing it every day. If and when I become a nurse, I hope to accomplish making people's lives better. My desire to become a nurse grew during the peak of COVID-19. I saw how nurses around the country were sent to New York to help out and that just made me excited even more. If I can help someone by just being there, or taking care of them, then that's what I want to do. I've already started watching YouTube videos about the day-to-day life of what a nurse sees and goes through every day. I'm preparing myself for all the blood and gore so that way when the time comes, I'll be ready. In closing, this is the impact I hope to leave on the world, and how to do so.

An experience that dramatically affected my life was when my sister went to the hospital. We were planning her 16th birthday party when all of sudden, she had pain in her right hip. We thought she had just slept on it wrong, but it was something much worse. She went to the hospital and they gave her medication, she went home the next day. The medicine wasn’t working; she was moaning in agony, couldn’t move, couldn’t sleep, she was completely restless. My mom and dad were worried because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. The doctors couldn’t even figure out what was wrong with her until days later. The doctors told us she had sciatica nerve pain. As we saw her condition declining, we had to cancel her party. I saw how my sister was looking depressed and having anxiety. She later told me how she was feeling suicidal and just wanted the pain to end, this broke my heart. She couldn’t fathom why this was happening to her. My sister is my best friend, so to see her like that was hard. I had to be strong for her and my sisters. I had to take on most of the household responsibilities while my parents were caring for my sister. This experience changed everything for my family, but I praise God that we overcame it together. After she recovered, I realized everything around our family had drastically changed. I thank God every day for her being able to walk again, be herself again, and thrive ever since. I live with gratitude now more than ever because tomorrow isn't promised and while I complain sometimes, you never know what someone else could be dealing with.

I have had 3 career changes since I was 10 years old. I've wanted to be a model, fashion designer, and stylist. During those career changes, I had to think about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I see people who get up, go to work, and repeat. There is no true desire or passion for why they do what they do. They just work because it pays the bills. I don't want to have a job like that. That's when I started thinking about nursing. I've thought about it before, but it's always been in the back of my mind. When I started thinking about that being my career, I checked all the boxes. Ever since | was little, I was always a helper. My dad calls me the worker bee of the family. I love helping people and in the field of nursing, I believe that's where God wants me. I don't want to have a job, where later down the line I regret doing it every day. If and when I become a nurse, I hope to accomplish making people's lives better. My desire to become a nurse grew during the peak of COVID-19. I saw how nurses around the country were sent to New York to help out and that just made me excited even more. If I can help someone by just being there, or taking care of them, then that's what I want to do. I've already started watching YouTube videos about the day-to-day life of what a nurse sees and goes through every day. I'm preparing myself for all the blood and gore so that way when the time comes, I'll be ready. This is the reason why I want to become a nurse, simply to help people.