I have always wondered why our country’s financial system functions the way it does. Growing up, I watched my parents struggle to stay afloat. They filed for bankruptcy early in my childhood, and my mom was laid off not long after. They worked side jobs, stretched every dollar, and did everything they could to keep our family stable. As I got older, my dad’s health began to decline. He went in and out of the hospital with heart problems, and I remember him telling me how the medical bills kept piling up. In December of 2025, he passed away from sudden cardiac arrest. The months leading up to his death forced me to confront a question I still can’t shake: how can someone fight so hard to stay alive, pay for treatment, and still lose everything in the process? I recently finished my first year as an honors student at the University of Arkansas, concentrating in Management and Investment. As I begin planning my honors thesis, I keep returning to the role medical debt played in my dad’s life. It shaped his final years, and it shaped the way I see our financial system. In my first semester, I took a Business Law course where I learned that medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States. That fact stunned me. How can a country built on opportunity and individual freedom allow people to go bankrupt simply because they needed medical care? Medical debt rarely comes from one bill; It builds layer by layer. People use credit cards to cover basic expenses while paying off hospital charges, and suddenly they’re facing two kinds of debt at once. If they’re hospitalized, they may lose income, which only accelerates the problem. Interest grows, payments are missed, and the cycle becomes almost impossible to escape. I don’t have the exact solution yet, but I want to be part of the generation that works toward one. Universal healthcare is often presented as the obvious answer. More than seventy countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, have adopted some form of it. While these systems reduce the burden of medical costs, they come with trade‑offs: higher taxes, longer wait times for specialized care, and complicated logistics. Implementing a similar system in the United States would be challenging, and many Americans are already frustrated with the taxes they pay. Even if universal healthcare reduced medical debt, the political and financial backlash could be significant. Still, I believe there are ways to ease the burden without completely restructuring the system. One idea I hope to explore further is a medical‑savings model established at birth. Similar to Social Security, a small portion of a parent’s paycheck would automatically go into an account designated for the child’s future medical expenses. Over time, the account would grow with interest and serve as a buffer against unexpected health costs. It wouldn’t solve every problem, but it could prevent families from falling into the kind of debt spiral my parents faced. I know my ideas are still developing, but I want to turn them into something meaningful. My goal is to help people become not only more financially secure but also healthier and more supported. My dad’s experience motivates me every day, and I hope that one day I can contribute to a system that protects families like mine.

On December 9, 2025, my dad passed away due to complications following cardiac arrest. His sudden death has been devastating for me and my family, and the wound is still fresh and painful and will be for a long time. However, I find peace in remembering the incredible man he was. He was so proud of me and my older brother, and he truly was our biggest fan. He is the strongest man I will ever know, and I would be lucky to be half as strong as he was emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Story after story reveals his selfless nature, and I hope to live the rest of my life the way he did. My dad’s funeral was yesterday, and everyone had nothing but admirable things to say about him. I met so many people I had never spoken to before, and I loved hearing their stories. One moment that stood out most to me was meeting my dad’s boss. He told me how often my dad talked about my brother and me, and how dedicated and hardworking he was. My dad always put others before himself, and I strive to live that way in everything I do. My dad has been gone from this earth for nineteen days, and I wish I could say that time has begun to heal me, but it has not, at least not yet. I miss my dad more and more every day. He provided so much for my family and me, not only financially, but through his advice, laughter, and encouragement. His absence has left a hole in my heart that can never be filled. While his death was tragic and unexpected, it has already taught me powerful lessons. Now more than ever, I understand that nothing in life is permanent or guaranteed. I was so excited to spend winter break with my dad, going golfing, going out to eat, or simply relaxing around the house together. Now, I will never experience those simple yet meaningful moments again. I took for granted the time I had with my dad, and his loss has taught me to be deeply grateful for everything in my life, knowing it can be taken away in a heartbeat. I do not know what the rest of my life will look like without my dad in it. However, I know he would want me to live with no regrets or sorrow. He would want me to keep my nose to the grindstone, just as he taught me to do from the time I was a little girl. I will continue to live the way my father did, though I know I have big shoes to fill.

December 5, 2025, was the day that changed my life forever. My mom called me, crying, to tell me that my dad had gone into cardiac arrest. I was driving to get dinner when my heart dropped into my stomach, my vision blurred, and my hands began to sweat. I had to pull over just to process the devastating news. I attend the University of Arkansas, but my family lives in central Texas. Because of this, I was a ten-hour drive or a three-hour flight away from home. At first, my older brother told me not to worry and said my dad had made it to the hospital. As time went on, however, he urged me to come home as soon as possible. I flew home on December 9 and arrived in San Antonio around 2:00 p.m. My mom picked me up and took me straight to the hospital. I was anxious to see my dad, as my brother had given me only limited updates about his condition. When we arrived, my brother pulled me into the hospital chapel and told me that the brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen was severe and irreversible. The only part of my dad’s brain that was still functioning was responsible for basic reflexes; otherwise, he had no thoughts or feelings and could not speak. In addition to this, he was suffering from multiple health issues, including kidney failure and a lung infection. He was being kept alive by a ventilator, and my brother and uncle had made the heartbreaking decision to remove it that day, knowing my dad would not have wanted to live in that condition. I stayed at the hospital and watched my dad take his final breaths as he passed away that evening. While my dad was in the hospital, I was still at school in the middle of final exams. I believed that no news was good news, and I held onto the hope that he would recover and that I would get to talk to him again. I never imagined that the last time I hugged my dad would be on Thanksgiving, less than a month before he passed away. My dad’s funeral was yesterday, and his death was tragic, unexpected, and incredibly painful. Even so, it has already shaped my life and taught me important lessons. Now more than ever, I understand that nothing in life is permanent or guaranteed. I had been so excited to spend winter break with my dad, going golfing, going out to eat, or simply relaxing around the house together. Now, I will never get to experience those simple yet meaningful moments again. I took for granted the time I had with my dad, and his loss has taught me to be deeply grateful for everything in my life, knowing it can be taken away in a heartbeat. My dad’s death is still recent, and the wound is still fresh and will be for a long time. There is a missing piece in my life that can never be replaced. However, I find peace in remembering my dad’s legacy. Story after story reminds me of the good man he was, and I will spend the rest of my life striving to be more like him and to follow in his footsteps.

I grew up with a brother who’s almost 10 years older with me. I always looked towards him as one of the biggest role models of my life. He played football since he could walk, and I was raised going football games with my family. All I wanted was to play football at a competitive level, but as a girl, that was not an option for me. So, I decided soccer was the best choice for me. I continued playing soccer at the high school and club level, and through the sport, I have been taught how to manage time efficiently to simultaneously thrive in school and work, and I have learned how to not let anyone walk all over me. During my time in high school, I have played soccer for New Braunfels High School all 4 years, LionsSC my freshman year, and Dallas Surf during my junior year. When I went to club practice, we would always play against the older boys’ teams. They were faster, stronger, and more physical than us, but this strengthened us as female athletes. We never backed down from a “friendly” scrimmage, and this taught me that no challenge is too difficult to conquer. Staying busy has been pivotal for me thrive because too much down time makes me lose track of my educational and career goals. While going to weekly practices, games, and tournaments, I have still excelled as a top student at New Braunfels High School. I will be graduating with a class rank of 4th out of 565 students, and distinctions like Summa Cum Laude, AP Scholar with Distinction, and NBISD Student of the Month. I was also elected into leadership roles in which I had to compete with boys to earn, but through being a female athlete, I learned to not back down in competing with them. I was elected as NHS Secretary and Student Council Community Service Chair. While many boys were running for these roles, I proved my ability to run these roles efficiently through my time management skills as a dedicated student-athlete, thanks to my involvement as a soccer player. Additionally, since I was 16, I have worked at the David Ogrin Golf Academy, the local golf range in my town. I began in Outside Operations and Maintenance, and I was later promoted to Inside Sales and Membership Services. Working outside on the range, I collected balls in a John Deere Gator that I connected to a metal golf ball picker attachment. Once I had picked enough balls, I would bring them back to be washed and brought inside for sale. Because I live in Texas, I have worked in over 100 degree and less than freezing temperatures. Many think that this job is more of a “blue collar”, “man” job, but I worked harder than the boys. I was given the task of hiring new outside workers and promoted to work inside. Working inside, 95% of the clientele that golfs at the range are men. However, I have interacted with them with the confidence instilled in me through my time as an athlete. I have been named as employee of the year because of my friendly interactions with customers, organization skills, and going above and beyond in every way. I plan on majoring in Finance at The University of Arkansas. I want to be a financial advisor before opening a golf range of my own. Finance is a male dominated field, but I am sure I will thrive in this field because of my strength instilled in me as a female student athlete.

Seventh grade is an awkward stage for kids; You’re barely a pre-teen and are navigating the tumultuous waters of middle school. When I was in seventh grade, my mom broke the news that my father had cheated on her, and it was just going to be me and her from now on. From that moment on, my mom became my greatest supporter in all of my endeavors, and her support has driven to be to strive for as close to perfection as I can achieve. My mom was never hard on me to make good grades, but I wanted to excel in school in order to take one more worry off her plate. She already juggled multiple jobs and side gigs to keep our little family afloat, and watching her stress made me want to do my best in everything to make her proud. Her constant and unwavering support added fuel to my fire to thrive in school, extracurricular involvements, and work. My mom’s unwavering dedication to make my life better in any way that she could was prevalent throughout my middle school years. Middle school was a busy time for me; I played club soccer, school basketball, golf and volleyball, and my mom had to haul me around to my practices and games. She could have easily said, “No, find a ride,” but she selflessly did carpool for my friends and I throughout this time. My mom was never worried about my grades, and she had trust in me that I could do well in school. I finished middle school with all 100s in my class, hoping I could secure a top 10 spot in my class early on. She always praised me for my grades, but if I was hard on myself, she reminded me not to stress myself out too much. I never knew what internal battles she was struggling with because she was so resilient throughout this time, even though I knew she was putting on a brave face everyday so she would not worry me. Freshman year began, and I started with a class rank of 6th out of 799 students. I was happy with this placement, but I knew I wanted to be higher. Throughout this time, I was playing varsity golf, junior varsity soccer, and club soccer, and my mom was still hauling me around to practices, games, and tournaments. She helped me excel in my classes in any way she could. Whether it was dropping me off to tutorials early in the morning or getting poster boards for last minute projects, my mom was always there for me. Throughout my time in high school, she was my calm in the storm. I was hard on myself with striving to be perfect, but she was proud of my all my accomplishments and even my shortcomings. Now, I am about to graduate, and my final rank is 4th out of 565 students. I know that my mom’s sacrifices were pivotal to my success in and outside of school. I was named academic all-district all 4 years of high school, academic all-state my senior year, and TASCO first-team academic all-state. Additionally, I was nominated as NBISD’s Student of the Month December 2024. I have over 150 service hours through my roles as NHS Secretary and Student Council Community Service Chair. All of these achievements would not have been possible without my mom’s constant support, even though she was struggling with battles of her own. I could not have been blessed with a better mom and support system.