What I find most challenging about being a single parent in medical school is striking the balance between my studies and spending plenty of quality time with my children. While many single parents have the benefit of co-parenting with a former partner at least part of the time, I am my children's sole parent and exclusive provider. I am attending medical school and training to be a physician with the knowledge that my eventual career will create enhanced financial security for us and with the guiding philosophy that it is important for my children to see me succeeding in education and pursuing bettering myself despite challenges. However, it is not without sacrifice and difficulty. I see this scholarship helping us by providing a desperately-needed financial lifeline so that I can focus on studies with less worry about covering essential basics and making tuition payments. Each less hour spent on working to meet financial obligations is time that I can devote to them, playing, reading, and bonding. We have had to rebuild our family life after leaving domestic violence last year, which was both financially expensive and emotionally draining. Despite that adversity, the children are thriving, safe, happy, and resilient. They have made new friends and community in their school, and we are looking forward to the day that I start medical school in August. This will be a very special day for us as we each mark big milestones on the same day: my oldest child starting Kindergarten, my youngest son starting preschool, and me beginning medical school. Aside from my own passion for medicine, based in a love of science and a lifelong penchant for problem-solving combined with the desire to serve others, I am excited about the stability that this career can afford me and my children. I feel confident that once I have my medical degree in hand, I will be able to provide a secure life for us, including earning enough money to one day pay for their educations in turn. It is difficult to be a single parent and many times I have sacrificed meeting my own basic needs to ensure that my children have access to enrichment opportunities such as swim lessons and attending friends' birthday parties. I dream of a day when I am settled in my career and no longer feel stress and dread when the bills are due. I dream of my children having all of the same opportunities to grow into educated and well-rounded individuals that children growing up in dual-parent households can take for granted. With these funds, I can complete my degree and show my children that despite difficult circumstances, what we can dream we can achieve, as long as we are willing to work hard for it and remain adaptive. My children are the most important thing in my life and I am doing this just as much for them as for myself and my community. It has not been easy to leave family violence, navigate the family court system, keep my children safe, and attune to all of their needs (physical, health, emotional, social, spiritual, educational, and developmental) by myself. However, it is an honor to be their mother and I hope that I make them proud by prioritizing my education. I cannot wait to see their faces when I walk across the stage after earning my white coat.