My greatest goal in life is to change the lives of others. Shadowing a nurse anesthetist in the hospital this year showed me how much of an impact nurses have on the lives of others. The nurse that I shadowed was patient, compassionate, and had a great sense of humor that lit up every room we walked in and changed the mood of each patient he saw. That is the type of impact I want to have on every patient that I see. I want to pursue a career in anesthesiology because as the last person a patient sees before they go to sleep and the first person they see when they wake up, I can drastically change the experience they have in some of the scariest times of their lives. I will have the ability to take away the pain that patients are going through, which is a superpower through my eyes. Shadowing a C-Section in the operating room and seeing the happiness on the new mother's face solidified for me that I have chosen the correct career path. Through nursing school, I will maintain positivity and help my peers stay motivated so we can change the world together. As a member of the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, I have spent over 200 hours serving my community throughout high school and loved every second of it. My biggest blessing is my ability to bless others and I want to continue helping others every day as a nurse in the future. I joined AFJROTC because my biggest role models in my life are my older brothers that serve in the Air Force. After watching them selflessly dedicate years of their lives to the country, I knew I wanted a similar future. Having brothers in the military hasn't always been easy. The military keeps my brothers away from home for holidays and sometimes prohibits me from seeing them for years at a time when they are overseas, but the fact that they continue serving through these hardships encourages me to have the same love and passion for helping others. My heart condition prohibits me from serving in the military, which is why I am passionate through my personal experiences about serving my community through healthcare and making an impact on the world in my own way. AFJROTC has taught me not only the sacrifices that military members make for our country each day, but also the disciplines of the military including integrity, service before self, responsibility, and determination. These lessons have developed me as a leader and led me to being in the Corps Management this year, guiding members of the corps below me through their journey in the program. I have applied leadership and determination in other areas as National Honor Society President where I have started tutoring programs in elementary schools for students with less help at home, and through starting a DECA chapter where I presented my community awareness project on the dangers of distracted driving at the international competition. As a teammate in swim and track, I help my teammates inside and outside of practice and always remain positive. These lessons will last for a lifetime, and I will use them in my future career by serving my community and lifting up those alongside me on my journey. I know that my future lies in medicine, and I will do everything in my power to learn from others and make a lasting impact that leaves the world a better place than it was before I had the gift of being a part of it.

Encouragement, positivity, determination, and kindness are all key traits of a good teammate. A good teammate supports their team on and off the field in their best and worst times, no matter what they are going through. As a teammate, I try to be known as someone with a positive outlook who never gives up. When I am swimming and it gets hard, I think about how thankful I am that God has given me the ability to swim when there are so many people who wish they could. These are the kinds of messages I spread to my teammates when they are lacking motivation. The best teammates aren't afraid to be honest when their team isn't doing their best. I enjoy swim because relays hold all members accountable to do their best. The most important team I have been on is my gymnastics team. I started gymnastics when I was four years old and fell in love with the sport. As I got older, I got more serious about the sport and I was spending almost twenty hours a week in the gym. My teammates became my second family when I was spending more time in the gym than at home. Finding my second home in the gym and talking to my coaches like family was a true blessing that I never took for granted. I worked hard and became State Champion three years in a row for my level. During COVID, the gym shut down and I felt very lonely. My team worked out together daily on zoom, but not being able to laugh with my friends in person took a toll on me. I was online in eighth grade and didn't go back to school until high school started. In high school, I became focused on academics and extracurriculars, and I wanted to try swimming and pole vault. I had to make the decision to quit gymnastics because it was the only activity I had time for. The connections, determination, and strength I gained from the sport will last a lifetime. As a freshman, I started pole vaulting. Pole vaulting has pushed me to new limits and taught me to keep going even when I feel like I can no longer improve. It helped me find a purpose after struggling without gymnastics because it had been my whole life for so long. In my sophomore year, I saw my faith support me as I became stuck at a plateau in my jumping height and I prayed about it. I discovered an indoor vaulting gym in the area and through practice and prayer, I improved by three feet during the season. In junior year, I became West Virginia High School Pole Vault State Champion, a moment I had been praying for since I started pole vaulting. I was reminded of my gymnastics career and saw that God works in mysterious ways to answer my prayers about missing the atmosphere of gymnastics. Many people say I am lucky, but my accomplishments are not a result of luck. My accomplishments are blessings from God. The moments that I succeed are a result of each prayer before I did my mount on the beam, stepped on the block at the pool, began to run down the pole vaulting runway, or began a test. God has supported me through failures and triumphs, and I wouldn't be where I am today without him. I help others outside of sports through tutoring and community service, and will continue to exhibit the lord's love by helping others in the medical field in my future career.

The greatest driving force in my life has been my passion for helping others. I was born with Ebstein's anomaly, a rare congenital heart defect where my tricuspid valve was incorrectly formed. This means that physically, my heart is incomplete as it has holes in it, but to me it feels full. My condition almost required major heart surgery at birth, but I defied the odds and over the course of many visits to John's Hopkins, my condition became manageable. I was not able to participate in a running sport, so my parents put me in gymnastics. I fell in love with the sport and despite not having the greatest endurance on the team, my artistry and passion led me to become a state champion three years in a row. During COVID, my condition put me at a higher risk if catching the disease, so I went to school online. My gym shut down and I felt lonely, like I had lost my purpose without gymnastics. High school started and I went back to school, and I was able to get involved in color guard. I found a love for the musicality and team aspect similar to gymnastics. I was able to learn quickly and teach my teammates routines as well as choreograph some of my own. I became captain my junior year and I felt so freed every time I stepped on the field. I also started pole vaulting on the track team, and even though I may finish the warmup run last, I am great at my event. I have improved each year and last season, I was the West Virginia Pole Vault State Champion. The greatest thing that happened to me in high school was finding AFJROTC. I loved that I was able to be a leader and serve my community. Over the course of high school, I have spent almost 200 hours doing community service with the unit and loved every second of it. I am in the APT Commander in Corps Management this year, meaning I lead the corps and capture everything we do. I also share our impact with the middle schoolers through presentations and encourage them to become a member in high school. Although my condition prohibits me from serving in the military like my brothers who inspire me each day, my ambition is far from prohibited. I am determined to help people in the future and be a part of the field that allowed me to live a life full of love, the medical field. I want to go to undergraduate school in the most affordable way and then go to medical school and become an anesthesiologist. I would love to work in the cardiac unit and interact with patients who are like me, encouraging them to keep going and defying odds. As an anesthesiologist, I would be the last person a patient sees when they go to sleep, and the first person they see when they wake up, meaning I could have a huge impact on their experience in the hospital. I have learned through my visits that the hospital doesn't have to be scary when great doctors are there to make the experience better. My personal experiences drive me to be that doctor for future patients and make them feel at peace in such a scary time of their lives. Shadowing at my local hospital has grown my passion for medicine, and given this scholarship, I would get an education to use my drive for serving my community and making a difference in the lives of each person I encounter.