When going back to school, I had every intention of becoming a registered nurse. I always wanted a career in healthcare because I was fascinated by how the human body was so fragile yet so remarkably resilient. During the first two years of my journey back to school, I completed five full-time semesters worth of prerequisite courses in that time all while being a care provider and a dedicated mother to my beautiful three-year-old son. I did it all with no complaints because I wanted to be able to give my son a better life than trying to survive paycheck to paycheck. However, when it was time to transfer into the Nursing program, I decided to leave with my child from an abusive household and became a single mother. I have no familial support near me and could not find the financial resources in time to help with child care during the clinicals I would have to complete as a required part of the program. I made the very hard decision to change my major to Public Health. At the time, I did not know that this would be the start of finding my true passion. During this last year, I have lived and survived through some of my worst fears of being a parent. I constantly worried about how I would feed, house, and provide for my child all while still trying to work and complete assignments for my classes. If not for a friend who let us stay with them for a few months, we would have been truly homeless and either living out of my car or in a shelter. With their help, I was able to move into a small apartment and find various resources available to help with paying for food and utilities. However, I still struggle to provide adequate income and have to rely on student loans to help pay for expenses. I still wear the same faded pants, stained shirts, and torn-up shoes to work so that I can afford for my son to have nice clothes and footwear for school. And because my son loves to build with legos, I still use the same pair of glasses with a very old prescription, so that I can afford to buy him a new set every once in a while because I never want him to lose his creative imagination. When I changed my major to Public Health, I discovered a whole new healthcare career path that aligned more with my passions and ideals. We, as a human population, have overcome countless physical and mental barriers and I wanted to do my part, especially by helping others who did not start at the beginning but were set back multiple steps because of a variety of crippling disparities. I want to use my knowledge to help many others who have been in my position, scared and worried about providing the basic needs for them and their families in times of emergency. I would also like to help develop community programs that could bring better access to healthy foods, which is part of the foundation for building better health outcomes for individuals and families. I want to thank the donors for funding this scholarship. For any single parent going to school, receiving this scholarship would be a chance to finally take a breath in a time of near-drowning in student debt. For me, it would mean a start to a better life for my son and me after I complete my degree, and become a Public Health professional where I could pay it forward.