Competence is a big word with big action behind it. To be competent you have to have the knowledge and the skill to complete the task. It is important to know exactly what you should do in your workplace to keep everyone safe. To be competent as a nurse it is important to pursue higher education. Higher education to me is going to school for a specific career, and gaining knowledge along with hands-on time. A higher education to me also means security and the ability to be prepared for possible situations that you may be able to fix. Growing up I have always been interested in nursing. My favorite classes involved anatomy, biology, and chemistry. Something was intriguing about how the human body and all of the things around us worked and how they were created. I often thought that I was going to be some sort of scientist but, once I started to look around and discover all of the different careers that used science I fell in love with nursing. Nursing involves the two things that I love which are science and helping people. There are many types of nursing and hospital jobs to choose from, yet I struggled to focus on just one. I spent years researching all the different nursing careers that involved the things I like such as music therapy, physical therapy, etc. However, there was one class that I took that helped me finally settle on Labor and Delivery Nursing. During my Sophomore year, my school offered an African-American History Class. As a young black girl, I felt I should take the class to get the chance to learn about my people more. In the class, I learned that black women had high maternal death rates from giving birth. They were not given the proper care compared to other women which led to serious issues that many suffered from. I became curious and started to talk to some close family members and asked them about their experiences giving birth. They also had doctors who were dismissive or did not take their pain seriously. It is a sad subject because it is very common amongst all races for women not to be treated harshly, but seeing people who looked like me tell me how harshly they were treated truly opened my eyes. Many women have suffered from complications, postpartum depression, and even death because there are doctors out in the world who do not listen to their patients' needs. These unfortunate circumstances are the reasons why I feel like getting higher education is important. I know that I will not be able to fix a broad issue like this on my own, but I do hope to help relieve part of the issue the best way that I can. Having a higher education will allow me to help others but help myself and my family. I will be able to provide and not worry about money. It will give me the chance to donate and invest money in my hometown and my state. This scholarship would me the world to me. It would give me the chance to not only change lives but possibly help the future. I want to be able to go to school and give other children the chances that I was able to receive in my home state of Alabama. I hope to come back and encourage children to take the opportunities that your schools offer. Even if I do not get this scholarship I am thankful for the opportunity that I was given.

Growing up in a small country town as a person of color is a unique experience. Constantly faced with the feeling of uncertainty. Uncertain if you fit in with the white kids and you are uncertain if you fit in with the black kids. Faced with so many opportunities that many people wish to have, it's difficult to take the chance because of the constant "what if's". What if I get made fun of? What if I'm not good enough? Constantly second-guessing yourself in the name of "fitting in". During the summer of Covid-19, I was unsure of what I wanted to be. Constantly being questioned by my family made me even more confused. I thought about being a doctor, teacher, and many other things yet I still didn't know. The week that our sophomore schedule requests were due, I had an epiphany, "Momma, I want to be a cosmetologist ". My mother has been doing hair since the early 2000s. Growing up my mom always took me to the salon with her. The salon was always my second home. She was one of the few Black cosmetologists in our predominately white town. She has taught me the majority of hair concepts. She is the reason why I decided to take up a trade class in cosmetology. Yet, in my junior year, I still was unsure if being a stylist was my career. Yes, I am good at my trade, but was that my true calling in life? In my sophomore year, I took a human anatomy and physiology class. That was one of my favorite classes that was offered at my school. That class made me realize that I truly wanted to become a doctor of some sort. After all this time my answer to the loaded career question. I spent so much time researching different nursing careers during my junior year, but the most interesting career was Labor & Delivery nursing. What drew me to this career was the information on improper care for women and the lack of care for women of color. Black women have a mortality rate of 69.9 out of 100,000 which is double the mortality of white women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This statistic made me realize that there needs to be more female people of color in the medical scene. We can sympathize and relate to each other in a way no one else could explain. When I finally made my decision to become a nurse my family questioned me. "Why would you take cosmetology if you want to be a nurse? You should've taken a trade in nursing". When you are young sometimes you are not sure what you want, but you can discover who you are and what you want to be even if that means starting over. Now, I am in my senior year and I have a sense of what I want in life. I plan on going to nursing school while being a cosmetologist. I plan to save my money to put towards schooling and having my own home. This scholarship would be a big step in the right direction. The scholarship could help put me through nursing school. It would help rid the burden of paying back loans on me and my family. This scholarship could help me to attain the future that I dream of. In the end of this all I would love to give a clueless child the same opportunities that I received throughout my life.

A challenge that I had to overcome this year was social anxiety. Ever since my 8th grade year was cut short due to the Coronavirus, it has been hard to interact with the people at my school. I went from being a social butterfly to being a kid who barely had the courage to ask her teacher to use the restroom. I was a virtual student my freshman year of high school. It was difficult, because I missed out on a major year of school. Freshman year was the year that I was supposed to finally be considered a "teenager". I was finally supposed to experience raves, dances, and all the fun events held for high school students. Sadly, I was not able to experience those events. When I came back in the 10th grade I had no clue how to interact with anyone. I thought that everyone forgot who I was. I felt lonely even with a room full of people around me. Now that I am in the 11th grade my social life has improved. I still am very shy, but I am not as scared to interact with others. I overcame my shyness by simply forcing myself to speak and hold a conversation even when I didn't feel like it. I allowed myself to reach my limits. My friends are even able to pick up on when my social battery is running out. I have even explained to people that I enjoy listening more than I enjoy talking. When I overcame my challenge of social anxiety I learned that it is okay to not want to talk all the time, but you do need to learn how to interact with people no matter what. This scholarship will help me obtain my dream of becoming a Labor & Delivery Nurse. My plan is to graduate and get my degree in Cosmetology, so that I can work hard to pay for Labor & Delivery schooling. I will have to get a Bachelor's Science in Nursing, so this scholarship will help be a step towards my dream job. Once I get my job in Labor & Delivery Nursing I plan to give back to the community. I want to be able to be a sponsor for scholarships to help the people coming up have the same chances that I am given. I have many hobbies and interests. My favorite hobbies are listening to music, dancing, drawing, cooking, and baking. I love driving around in the car with my mom blasting music. When I cook and clean I always play some of my favorite artists like SZA, BTS, NCT, and Blackpink. When i was virtual for my freshman year I learned over 10 k-pop dances. I am not an extremely artistic person, but I do enjoy drawing with pencils and painting with watercolor. One of my favorite art forms is art that uses different elements such as paint, watercolor, colored pencils, oil pastels, and paper mache. It is a very intriguing art style. I love to cook food from different cultures. One of my favorite dishes that I got to make was Gimbap, which is a Korean seaweed roll with rice,vegetables, and cooked fish or beef. One of my favorite deserts to bake is pound cake. It is always delicious no matter the kind.

Feminism to me means when we as a whole fight for equality for women; we not only fight for the fact that we are women, but we also fight for P.O.C women, trans women, etc. I feel like feminism is less based on action but based on mindset. Feminism is a way for us to fight for women's equality and ensure a brighter future for the ones to come after us. Feminism is important, because without feminism women would not have as many of the rights and chances that we have now. For example, feminism is known for fighting for women's rights for our body control. People fight to ensure that we are able to make decisions when it comes to our body whether they are fighting for safe access to abortions, fighting against rape, etc. Feminist work hard to advocate for us to be able to have control of our life. They are giving the future generation of women to be able to choose what they want to do with their body. A feminist that has impacted my view on feminism is Cailen Easley. She is a 22 year old social media influencer who sheds light on social issues of the world. She has made me realize that the world tends to view feminism in a surface level mindset. Many people tend to view feminist in a very stereotypical light, they see feminist as women who are complaining constantly about not being treated fairly. She has taught me that there is nothing wrong with pointing out double standards and the unfair treatment that women face day to day. She also explains that not all women's experience is going to be the same. This means it is especially important to listen to other women's stories. She has impacted me by educating me on different stories from different women. Recently, through her content I was introduced to the amazing woman Dylan Mulvaney. Dylan has been working very hard to shed light on trans women(trans community). Calien has been a big part of me expanding my education and I appreciate her for her helpful content. In my community I am contributing to feminism by educating the people around me. Even though I am young I try my best to correct people with ignorant views about women. I try to educate them on how stereotypes even good ones can also be negative. I try my best to be open minded and hear their thoughts out, until they begin to be ignorant and sexist. I hope in the next few years of my life that I can learn more as a person. Thank you all for the chance to apply for this scholarship.

My favorite Disney character is Mable from Gravity Falls. I have watched Gravity Falls ever since the first season came out in June of 2012. Mable is a character who is seen as air-headed, but she has good intentions behind everything she does. She is my favorite character because she reminds me of myself in multiple aspects of my own life. In Gravity Falls, Mable is a very helpful person. She has her heart set to help the people around her even if she does not know them. She reminds me of how I am with most people. I love to help others, especially when I physically see that they need help. Me and Mable both even have a tendency to be so kind and helpful that we do not realize when people are taking advantage of us. However, both of us never truly regret helping people even if they took advantage, because as long as we can see others happy it does not matter if they used us. In Gravity Falls, Mable has such a bright personality that draws everyone in. She is funny, kind, and is free-spirited. Her bright personality compliments her twin brothers nerdy personality. She is enjoyed by many of the people in town from her grumpy old Gruncle-Stan (Great-Uncle) to Gideon her stalker. I see much of my personality in Mable's character. Many people at my school tell me how kind I am and that I am a very sweet person. I have always been taught to be nice to others because you never know what anyone is going through. It has always been a part of me to compliment or even simply say high to people despite my shy nature. I know that when people simply acknowledge me and are kind it makes my day better instantly. Mable's character has helped shape me especially when it comes to my charm. In closing, Mable is my favorite Disney character because she was a kid who spread her joy and kindness to the world. She is a character that I will always look up to. Mable has always taught the audience to make any situation positive. Mable will continue to be a character who can bring out the best in the ones around her.

A higher education is important because I plan to go into the nursing field. It is important that I have a higher education because our doctors need to be able to perform their jobs properly. Education is important because knowledge is a major part of how we as individuals' function in life. Having a higher education is a privilege that we should not take for granted. Growing up, I have always been interested in nursing. After a few years of going back and forth on my career path I have decided to be a Labor & Delivery Nurse. I never had an exact reason I wanted to work in Labor & Delivery. The more I thought about taking this path the more I thought about my intentions. It is common for many women to have a challenging time or little to know support during labor. I want to be the change for young women/birth-givers who need someone to listen to them and help them with such a tough process. It is important for nurses not only to get their education, but it is also important to be compassionate to their patients. Education is a major part of being any kind of nurse or medical professional. Being a Labor & Delivery Nurse requires me to have a Bachelor's in Science and Nursing. It is extremely important that I go to college and receive a higher education. I would not be able to receive certain knowledge that I will need for my career at my high school. Being able to receive a higher education will put me closer to my degree. There are classes such as Gynecology-Oncology, Human Anatomy with statistics, etc. that will be extremely important when I am furthering my education. If I can get my bachelor's degree and pass my NCLEX exam it would be a major accomplishment in my life. The main reason higher education is important to me is not just because I want to be an L&D nurse. Higher education is important to me because I want to be able to have stability. I want to be able to have a job that can make me live a comfortable lifestyle. My family has struggled financially at times. I want to use my higher education to my advantage in hopes that my future family will not have to suffer. I want to be able to provide and give my partner or my family a worry-free life. That is why it is important for me to further my education. In closing, having a higher education is important to me. Being able to provide for the ones who have helped me and being able to take care of my future family is part of my motivation to keep working hard now and later. I also hope to be able to guide and take care of my patients in Labor & Delivery. It is important that I continue to set goals and push my limits, so I can use my higher education for good.