My love for nursing has been rooted in taking care of my mom and grandparents in critical care. Alongside this, working as a phlebotomist has exposed me to the daily challenges faced by patients and healthcare professionals alike. It has ignited a passion within me to provide comprehensive care and support to individuals in need. Witnessing the crucial role that nurses play in patient outcomes has served as a significant inspiration for me to pursue advanced education in nursing. I am eager to expand my knowledge and skills to have a more direct impact on patient care. Being part of the honors program at my college has further fueled my drive to pursue advanced education in nursing. The program has nurtured my critical thinking, research, and leadership abilities, enabling me to develop a strong foundation in academia. The interdisciplinary nature of the program has exposed me to diverse perspectives and cultivated a holistic approach to problem-solving. These skills and experiences have reinforced my belief in the transformative power of education and motivated me to seek higher levels of achievement in nursing. Pursuing an advanced certification or degree in nursing will allow me to deepen my knowledge and expertise in a specialized area. I aspire to specialize in pediatric/labor & Delivery nursing, where I can make a significant difference in the lives of patients. This field demands advanced skills, critical thinking, and quick decision-making abilities, all of which I am eager to develop through an advanced nursing program. I want to be at the forefront of providing comprehensive, evidence-based care to patients in a variety of conditions. An advanced degree in nursing will equip me with the knowledge and skills needed to take on leadership roles in healthcare. I aspire to be a voice for patients and advocate for improved healthcare policies and practices. Through continued education, I aim to contribute to the advancement of nursing practice, quality improvement initiatives, and interdisciplinary collaboration. By becoming an influential leader in the field, I hope to drive positive change and enhance patient outcomes on a broader scale. In conclusion, the inspiration derived from my work as a phlebotomist and my involvement in phlebotomy solidified my resolve to pursue advanced education in nursing. I am driven by a deep passion for patient care, a commitment to lifelong learning, and a desire to make a significant impact in the healthcare field. By specializing in pediatric / L&D nursing and developing critical skills, I aim to become a catalyst for change, improving the lives of patients and advocating for excellence in nursing practice. Through continued education and dedication, I am confident that I will achieve my goals and contribute to the advancement of the nursing profession.

As captain of my high schools' women's Wrestling Team, I carry a heavy task of paving the way of opportunity for my teammates. Up until 2021, women's wrestling has been unsanctioned, therefore not recognized as a sport in the state of Florida. Despite Florida producing some of the greatest wrestlers in the country, we had no funding nor recognition. Being captain of my wrestling team and mentoring my peers has taught me to overlook the opinions of those who don't wish to see you succeed. I have had to teach my peers the importance of ignoring those who say wrestling is only for males or that they aren't physically capable of accomplishing the tasks at hand. I have had the privilege of guiding them not just in their wrestling paths, but in their schooling as well. I have been able to encourage them to take more rigorous courses and push themselves as much as they do in wrestling, in every aspect of their lives. I have had the honor of breaking barriers for the community as well as for my teammates'. My overall goal of mentoring my teammates is that they will walk away with the confidence of knowing there are no restrictions to what they are capable of accomplishing if they simply put their minds and hearts to it. I want them to walk away from their high school careers and be able to associate a portion of their work ethic to their wrestling careers. I want for them to know that the tears, blood, early mornings, and late nights, all have a beautiful victory waiting at the end of them. I want them to face adversities that will teach them to maneuver through their futures. I will never forget what being a mentor has done for my life.

A friendship is a place where you should be able to find joy, peace, and love. In a friendship that is equally yoked, you experience a person who pushes you beyond your limits and is there for your success and your failures. I personally am blessed enough to have a best friend who has been by my side for 3 years through everything I have gone through. I often think about how lucky I am to have this person in my life. There have been many highs and lows in these past years for me and having a person who genuinely cares for me has given me a reason to continue pushing no matter what. Having this person in my life is a blessing and a perfect representation of what a friendship should feel like. I have experienced many toxic friendships, and they caused me to close off my feelings which put me in a bad mental state; but having my family and my best friend by my side has portrayed the purpose and power that a friendship has in one’s life. I think friendship is an incredibly important aspect in one’s life. When you spend time around a person, you pick up aspects of their personalities and their mannerisms. Humans are a collection of what we surround ourselves with, and I believe that alone is reason enough as to why we need to surround ourselves with friendships that are in the interest of just one person, but one another instead.

From grades 3-8, I was homeschooled as my mother wasn't in the best mental state and having her kids home with her helped her a lot. We personally enjoyed being homeschooled, so to us, it was also a win. Although I enjoyed homeschooling, I soon met the conflict which was self-discipline. During this time, I had nobody to help me push through my work and it seemed to be all I would do, which made it even harder for me to want to stay on task. When I got to my 8th grade year, I informed my parents that I wanted to go to public high school like a normal kid and get a full high school experience. When it came time for enrollment however, we met our first conflict. I had fallen about two years behind in math work as I avoided it because I didn't like it and I had nobody to keep me accountable for doing it anyways. After multiple trips, we concluded that for me to reach this goal of getting into high school, I am going to have to push through these courses. for the next two months, I spent every waking minute doing work in hopes of being a normal kid. At the end of these two months, I successfully finished these courses and quickly enrolled into a public high school, where I met my second conflict. Due to finishing up my enrollment credits, I had to come into the school year late. This meant that by that point, everyone had their own friend-groups. At this point, I knew I had no choice but to come out of my shell, and I did just that. I soon began introducing myself to everyone and making many friends, despite my often-introverted self. My biggest fear, of going into high school, however, was feeling like I was behind in my education. I was highly self-conscious about this topic. This quickly changed as I found myself excelling in all of my classes, which made my self-esteem boost. Due to the fact that my parents didn’t attend college, they had no real way to guide me in the importance of things such as GPA, class, rank, or even AP classes. I hadn’t learned about these things until my Junior year, which felt like a huge setback because I thought for once, I was finally aligned with my peers. Knowing what this felt like, I knew I never wanted to feel it again. Straight into my junior year, I put 3 AP classes on my schedule in hopes of raising my GPA to be alongside the "Smart kids” in my school. I worked really hard and ended that year with all A’s and a huge GPA boost. As I transitioned into my senior year, I realized that this still wasn’t enough to get me into my dream college, so once again, I knew what I had to do wasn’t going to be easy. I knew I wasn’t going to get to do what many seniors did if I wanted to attain these goals of mine. This year, I am taking 6 AP classes that are notably some of the hardest AP courses offered in hopes of shifting the name of my family to a path that future generations can push towards. Although this isn't an easy journey and it has felt like I had many setbacks, I know why I am doing it and for this reason, I will continue pushing these limits! 1) To me, a college education is much more than a degree. When I think about a college education, I think about paving a way for the future generations. I never want my future children to feel like they can't push the limits of their education simply because their former generations didn't get to. In my journey as a first-generation student, I believe its important that I do all I can to blaze a trail for the next generations ahead of me. I understand that due to circumstance my family never got to attend university, and this fuels me in my journey of doing so. When my father was 17 years old, he was in the U.S Marine Corps and his parents had both simultaneously passed away. Owing to the severity of the situation, he was honorably discharged to take care of his two little brothers at home, whos well being he was now solely responsible for. Shortly thereafter being home, my parents had my eldest brother who became their primary focus, hence their inability to attend university. Growing up, my parents have never used their circumstances to excuse us, but rather motivate us. I want to show my parents that all of their sacrifices and hard work was not for nothing and this is why I will continue my education in with intent of changing the pace of the generations to come and proving to myself, my family, and my peers, that our circumstances do not define our futures. 2) In a typical day, I will attend my classes (AP chemistry, AP literature, AP Biology, AP macro- economics, AP Government, and AP statistics). After school I usually will be doing homework, attending wrestling practice, volunteering at Give Kids the World, or at my local hospital. 3) As I previously mentioned, I volunteer at Give Kids The World and my local hospital. My goal in life is to work as a pediatric oncologist, and because of this, I love spending my off time working with kids in need and helping make their lives a little better. I genuinely love doing this because it reminds me of why I am working so hard right now. I know I am meant for this field and I will continue doing everything in my power to achieve this goal to improve as many lives as I can.

4 years ago, I took a leap of faith, making one of the greatest decisions of my life. At about 13 years old, I decided to join wrestling. Not only was women's wrestling not sanctioned in the state of Florida, but it's also very unrecognized by the general public. This was also my first time going into public school since I was homeschooled. Initially getting into it, I was most excited about the team aspect and making memories. Little did I know my entire life would soon take a complete 180. Although I can't truly hard to choose one memory, this is a series of memories that closely followed each other and have changed my life and work ethic forever. Throughout my journey in wrestling, I have experienced heartache, blood, sweat, tears, success, failure, the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. I have hated the sport, and I have been obsessed with it. I met mental battles that were greater than what I thought I could overcome, but I did it anyway. Never could I have imagined that it would have brought me to where I am now. In my first year of wrestling, I met great success, however, not nearly what I wanted. I worked harder than I had ever worked in my life, and it felt as though I finally had a purpose. A goal that I stayed awake at night thinking about achieving. I told myself I was going to become a State Champion. Fast forward to my freshman year at states, I overworked myself on the day of states trying to cut weight and passed out mid-match from exhaustion. This caused me to go 0-2 at the Florida Girls State Championship. No placement, let alone a championship. As I mentioned before, my brothers both wrestled during their high school careers. They worked harder than I have ever seen people work. My brother was one match away from placing in his senior year at states and lost in the blood rounds by one point. At that very moment that I saw the disappointment in his eyes, I decided I didn’t care what it took, I was going to win for myself and my brothers. I hated the thought that bordering success could be recognized as a curse in my family. Come Junior year, I had evolved my mindset again. There was nothing that was going to get in my way. At the end of the wrestling season, 2 weeks before the girl's state championship, I wound up tearing my MCL. The mental battle that was served alongside this injury was immense. It felt as though my goal shattered before my eyes. I continued to train despite this circumstance while undergoing rehabilitation. My resilience in this situation brought me to placing 3rd in the state. Accomplishing this goal felt amazing, and I was so proud of myself. Following this, I competed in AAU nationals and placed as an All-American going 12-1 and ended with a record of about 12 pins in under 10 minutes. Due to this, I wound up winning the award for the most pins in the least time out of the entire tournament and received a beautiful glass award. The best part of this entire tournament was that it fell into my hands as a paid spot that needed to be filled. Accomplishing one of my biggest goals by way of such a huge blessing was something I could never forget and I am forever grateful for this. I can't wait to continue this journey and bring these memories with me!

The quality I admire the most about myself would be my resilience and ability to take lessons from hardship . 4 years ago, I took a leap of faith, making one of the greatest decisions of my life. At about 13 years old, I decided to join wrestling. Not only was women's wrestling not sanctioned in the state of Florida, but it's also very unrecognized by the general public. This was also my first time going into public school since I was homeschooled. Initially getting into it, I was most excited about the team aspect and making memories. Little did I know my entire life would soon take a complete 180. Growing up, my brothers both wrestled and I was the little girl in my family that did dance. Many toxic things happened to me throughout my dance journey; stuff a child shouldn't have been dealing with, however, I choose not to give it more gravity than it deserves as it built my character and It’s something, I can carry with me through the rest of my life. Once I began wrestling, I grew past these experiences and began changing my mindset to learn rather than dwell. Throughout my journey in wrestling, I have experienced heartache, blood, sweat, tears, success, failure, the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. I have hated the sport, and I have been obsessed with it. I met mental battles that were greater than what I thought I could overcome, but I did it anyway. Never could I have imagined that it would have brought me to where I am now. In my first year of wrestling, I met great success, however, not nearly what I wanted. I worked harder than I had ever worked in my life, and it felt as though I finally had a purpose. A goal that I stayed awake at night thinking about achieving. I told myself I was going to become a State Champion. Fast forward to my freshman year at states, I overworked myself on the day of states trying to cut weight and passed out mid-match from exhaustion. This caused me to go 0-2 at the Florida Girls State Championship. No placement, let alone a championship. As I mentioned before, my brothers both wrestled during their high school careers. They worked harder than I have ever seen people work. My brother was one match away from placing in his senior year at states and lost in the blood rounds by one point. At that very moment that I saw the disappointment in his eyes, I decided I didn’t care what it took, I was going to win for myself and my brothers. I hated the thought that bordering success could be recognized as a curse in my family. Come Junior year, I had evolved my mindset again. There was nothing that was going to get in my way. At the end of the wrestling season, 2 weeks before the girl's state championship, I wound up tearing my MCL. The mental battle that was served alongside this injury was immense. It felt as though my goal shattered before my eyes. I continued to train despite this circumstance while undergoing rehabilitation. My resilience in this situation brought me to placing 3rd in the state. Although this feeling felt amazing, I am proud, but not satisfied just yet. This year, I plan on taking that championship as well as working on getting into my dream college. I plan to take this quality with me throughout my life in every journey I venture.

In my opinion, the biggest thing missing in this world is unity. As an aspiring pediatric oncologist, I make a conscious effort to treat everyone in the best way I can. I am far from perfect, but I would say that I have a big heart, and even when times aren't the easiest, I do my best to love despite my circumstance. You never truly know the impact a simple smile or comment can have in a person's day or life. My central goal in life is to reach out and touch the lives of as many people as I possibly can. I believe the best way that we can truly unite our world is through compassion. As simple as this concept sounds, it's, unfortunately, rarer than many know. I believe every person in this world has a purpose they are made to fill, but not everyone understands that purpose. Rather than pushing our peers to venture this purpose, there is a common tendency to be competitive rather than wishing the best for one another. I believe that if every person could make a conscious effort at taking the time to encourage and unite one another, the world would flourish like never before. I have grown up as an athlete and have competed in multiple sports. The one thing that has been consistent in all of these competitions is that it's really difficult to find people that genuinely want to see one another succeed. Love is so important and I think we live in a world that judges far too often when in reality, nobody has the right to judge. Every person is molded by the story that becomes their testimony. We should encourage people to speak out and use this rather than allow it to divide us.

Growing up, my mother went through about 2 severe depressions. These all occurred when I was pretty young, and despite the situation, my family was my rock through it all. My brothers and I grew pretty close during these times because we only really had each other in terms of the circumstances. My father worked full time and every day we ate his signature “coconut pancakes” for breakfast lunch and dinner as his cooking skills were limited at the time and he didn't want my mother worrying about that stuff. As far as I was concerned at the time, mom wasn’t feeling great, and dad loved making coconut pancakes! Life was pretty decent for me. They never truly let me see the darkness of any situation. Around this time, I was in 3rd grade. My siblings and I transferred into homeschool as it was closer and in our favor. In 8th grade, I decided that I wanted to transfer into a public high school as I found myself struggling to stay on pace between my lack of discipline and motivation. When I made this decision, I was behind in some of my courses, and I had to work months on end to catch up and enroll in high school. This was not an easy task as I was doing it alone and I couldn't help but feel self-conscious about my situation. By the grace of God, I finished up my homeschool courses and enrolled in public high school. This was a rather scary experience for me. It forced me out of my comfort zone, however, I knew it was a necessary step for my life. Coming in halfway through the year, all my peers had already found their friend groups which made this situation even trickier. I knew I had two choices: let my circumstance defeat me, or rise and make the most of it. After this realization, I began introducing myself to everyone I passed by which was very unlike my reserved self. I quickly found people who welcomed me with open arms. I was still very self-conscious about my education level, but I found myself climbing the academic ladder rather fast. My parents never attended university as they had my brother while they were in high school. Due to this, I was unaware of how a GPA worked or what was necessary for me to excel in high school. I learned this stuff during my junior year of high school, therefore I couldn't do what many seniors could. I understood that to get where I want to go, I have to do what it takes. I made the conscious decision to load up on as many AP classes as I could take while still balancing my extracurriculars. Each year, my classes have gotten more rigorous, and as of this year, I am taking 6 AP classes. I am forever grateful for this journey and everything it has taught me. I can't wait to continue pushing the limits.