For a long time, I thought strength meant adjusting quietly and making sure no one could tell I was struggling. When my family moved from Florida to Georgia so my parents could care for my grandparents, almost everything familiar changed. I entered a new school and community while my family faced caregiving responsibilities, financial uncertainty, and extended unemployment. I worried about my family, whether I would fit in, and what our circumstances would mean for my future. The anxiety was not something I could simply tell myself to stop feeling. I began working through it by accepting that I did not have to handle every concern at once. My faith gave me a place to be honest about my fears. Creating routines helped me regain stability, and getting involved at school helped Georgia slowly feel like home. I learned to speak with people I trusted instead of keeping every worry inside. These choices did not make every difficult feeling disappear, but they taught me that progress can mean taking the next healthy step even when uncertainty remains. My experience also changed how I saw other students. As a co leader in my high school’s Big Little Mentoring Program, I helped incoming freshmen adjust to unfamiliar classes, expectations, and social pressures. Because I remembered what it felt like to wonder where I belonged, I tried to become the person who listened before offering advice. Some students needed help finding their way around school. Others needed reassurance that feeling nervous or overwhelmed did not make them weak. I learned that support often begins with a simple message, you do not have to face this alone. That belief also shaped my service outside of school. Through my church’s homeless ministry, I help distribute food, clothing, shoes, and hygiene supplies in downtown Atlanta. Yet the most meaningful moments often come through respectful conversation and prayer. During a medical mission in rural Panama, I helped with intake, triage, consultation flow, and pharmacy operations. Both experiences showed me that emotional well being, physical health, and dignity are deeply connected. People need competent care, but they also need to feel safe, heard, and respected. I am now a first year psychology student at the University of Pittsburgh, completing courses that also support my plan to transfer into nursing. Psychology will help me understand behavior, emotion, trauma, and the barriers that keep people from seeking help. Nursing preparation will give me the clinical knowledge to care for patients during vulnerable moments. I want to bring these areas together so mental health is not treated as separate from overall health. In the future, I plan to raise awareness through honest conversations, mental health education, and service. At Pitt, I hope to support stigma reduction and peer awareness through Active Minds and community projects through PittServes. As a healthcare professional, I want to notice emotional needs that may be hidden behind physical symptoms, explain resources without judgment, and advocate for care that respects cultural differences. As a Black woman and daughter of Jamaican immigrants, I also want to help make mental health conversations more comfortable in communities where asking for help can still feel shameful. My anxiety taught me that courage is not the absence of struggle. It is choosing to seek support, keep growing, and use what you have learned to help someone else. That is the kind of mental health advocate and healthcare professional I intend to become.

1. Please tell us about yourself and what specifically motivates you. If you could do anything with your life, what do you imagine you would do? I am a first year psychology student at the University of Pittsburgh who is also completing nursing prerequisites. I am drawn to both fields because I want to understand what people are feeling and have the clinical skills to care for them physically. Together, psychology and nursing can help me become a healthcare professional who treats a person, not only a condition. What motivates me most is helping someone feel safe during a difficult moment. During a medical mission in rural Panama, I assisted with intake, triage, consultation flow, and pharmacy operations. The experience showed me that healthcare requires knowledge, patience, communication, and respect. I carried that lesson home to my church’s homeless ministry, where I learned that listening to someone can be as meaningful as providing food or clothing. I am also motivated by my family. As a Black woman and the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, I was raised to value faith, hard work, education, and service. My family has faced financial challenges, but they have made me more determined to use every opportunity well. If I could do anything with my life, I would build a career that combines nursing, psychology, and mental health advocacy. I imagine caring for patients whose emotional needs might otherwise go unnoticed, serving communities with limited access to care, and mentoring young women who do not yet see themselves represented in STEM. I want my work to help people feel understood, supported, and hopeful. 2. What excites you about STEM? How could you make a positive impact through a job in information technology? STEM excites me because it gives us practical ways to solve human problems. Science helps us understand the body and mind, while technology can help that knowledge reach more people. I am especially interested in where healthcare, psychology, and information technology meet. During my medical mission in Panama, I saw how important accurate information and organized systems are to patient care. Intake, triage, consultations, and pharmacy services all depend on information moving clearly between people. When that process works well, healthcare teams make safer decisions and patients receive more coordinated care. That experience made me curious about how technology can improve healthcare beyond one clinic. Through a healthcare career, I could use information technology to make care more accessible and personal. Digital health platforms can connect patients with providers, organize medical information, support mental health screening, and help professionals recognize patterns that might otherwise be missed. Technology can also expand education and counseling resources for people who live far from specialists or feel uncomfortable seeking help in person. I would want technology to strengthen human connection, not replace it. A system may organize symptoms or identify risks, but patients still need someone who listens and explains what comes next with compassion. I hope to support tools and care practices that are easy to understand, respectful of different cultures, and accessible to underserved communities. That is what excites me about STEM. It allows careful thinking and compassion to become solutions that improve lives on a larger scale. 3. Please describe the greatest challenge you have overcome and how you managed to get past it. The greatest challenge I have faced was adjusting to major change while my family was under emotional and financial pressure. We moved from Florida to Georgia so my parents could help care for my grandparents. I left familiar routines while watching my family carry responsibilities that affected our stability and finances. My father experienced extended unemployment, which made college costs feel uncertain. I could not solve every problem my family faced, but I could decide how I would respond. I leaned on my faith, stayed focused on school, and looked for ways to connect with my new community. Joining activities was uncomfortable at first, but it helped me build relationships and find purpose. Over time, I became president of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, served on the Principal Advisory Board, and helped lead a mentoring program for incoming freshmen. Mentoring became especially meaningful because I understood what it felt like to enter an unfamiliar environment and wonder where I belonged. I used what I had learned to help younger students manage new expectations, build confidence, and feel less alone. I did not overcome this challenge by pretending everything was easy. I managed it by accepting support, staying consistent, and turning uncertainty into service. The experience taught me that resilience is not always dramatic. Sometimes it means continuing to study, show up, and care for others while life changes around you. That lesson guides me as I begin college, pursue psychology and nursing preparation, and work toward a future in healthcare.