Representation in STEM careers is everything. During my sophomore year of high school, I decided that I was going to be a speech-language pathologist. There was and is absolutely no doubt in my mind that that is my calling. Through my experiences working with special needs children and my more recent friendship with a girl who has childhood apraxia, I have truly found my calling. A few months ago, while trying to explain to my parents why I wanted to be a speech-language pathologist, I tried to find a mentor in the field, preferably a mentor who looked like me, a Black woman. I found that in Dr. Kia Noelle Johnson, an expert on stuttering and a college professor. I talked with Dr. Johnson for close to an hour as she gave me advice, but what stuck out to me most was how genuinely happy she was to see a young Black girl looking to her as a mentor. She explained to me that, in the field of speech-language pathology, only around three percent of professionals are Black. This has led to a disconnect between patients and speech-language pathologists, misdiagnoses due to dialect differences, and a reduced number of Black people going to speech therapy for help. That is absolutely unacceptable. The fact that care is diminished because of a lack of diversity in the industry is something that needs to change not just in the speech-language pathology field, but in other STEM careers as well. Seeing Dr. Johnson in a position of power and as an icon of what I could become was incredibly inspiring to me, but it was a long search to find a role model like her. The more diverse a career field is, the more diverse it will continue to be as children and teens gain people to mentor them, to look up to, and to aspire to be. My older brother is in college to become an engineer. He is usually the only Black person in his huge college classes. To call that discouraging would be an understatement. However, as people like him continue despite the lack of models in their fields, more underrepresented groups will be able to look up and see themselves in leaders of their fields. I hope to one day be as influential to another young, Black teenager figuring out what she wants to do in her life. I hope to one day be the reason more Black people are not against going to speech therapy. I hope to one day diversify the narrative in my future career field and in other STEM career fields until diversity is not a quest, but a reality.

I am inspired by people. All of the people around me have driven me straight to success and shaped me into the person I am today. My parents are both African immigrants, my mom from Ghana and my dad from Togo. They worked extremely hard to provide good lives for my brother and me despite the challenges and adversity they faced in this world. My father got his Bachelor’s degree when I was in the third grade after going to night classes straight from his day job for years, and his work ethic and determination have impacted me to push myself in every way I can. I’ve shown this in my consistent 4.0-grade-point-average and even in this application itself because, honestly, no teenager wants to spend a day in summer writing a scholarship essay. My mother is a firm believer in perseverance and effort. Through those values instilled in me, I became a starter on my school’s basketball team and earned a school award for students who, “represent academic excellence, ethical responsibility, global engagement, and living a purposeful life” in my freshman year at a new private school. I’m also driven by the people who allow me to help them in a program I participate in called Shooting Stars. Shooting Stars pairs up neurotypical teenagers with disabled or neurodiverse kids, teenagers, and adults. The program is not really about basketball, but really about building connections and empathy with all different kinds of people. The experience I gained from Shooting Stars and another service-learning group similar to it helped me solidify my goals for the future. I plan to become a speech-language pathologist, a career that will allow me to work with and help the people who drive me. It will take determination, because a Master’s degree is the entry-level requirement, and effort, because I plan on applying to Howard University’s highly exclusive five-year Master’s program, but it will be worth it because I will be able to drive those who drive me.

I am passionate about people. I love working with people, talking to people, and helping people. This is exhibited in all aspects of my life, from my volunteer work with disabled kids and teens to my free tutoring work at my school. It was only natural that I would be drawn into a career where helping people is front and center. I plan to become a speech-language pathologist in the future, a career that is defined by people. In that branch of work, I will be able to work with a wide audience of people including children, teenagers, adults, and senior citizens from all walks of life. I've taken the time to research the career options hidden under the speech-language pathology umbrella and I've talked to multiple speech-language pathologists about their work. My journey to becoming a speech-language pathologist led me to research Howard University, the school of my dreams. Not only is Howard University an HBCU, but it also boasts a special communication sciences and disorders program that will help me become a speech-language pathologist as soon as possible. The university offers a combined Bachelor's and Master's degree in communication sciences and disorders because the entry-level degree to become a certified speech-language pathologist is a Master's. However, college is expensive and my parents are already struggling with both my financially-aided private school education and the burden of my older brother's college education out-of-state at the University of Arizona. These struggles became very evident to me when I applied to and was accepted to a semester school in Washington D.C. called the School for Ethics and Global Leadership. The application was need-blind to ensure equity in the admissions process, but the hefty tuition was still thrice the amount my parents pay for my high school tuition yearly, even with financial aid cutting the tuition in half. The news hit me hard and, while I never, ever blamed my parents or our financial situation, I realized that I needed to take certain ideas into consideration when thinking about my future. After having to turn down the semester school, I quickly went back to work to look at other programs that I could afford and attend. I discovered Stanford's free neurodiversity camp for education and outreach and I realized that not only was the camp more connected to my passions and goals in life, as many people attending speech therapy are neurodiverse, the camp was also within my budget and reach. I applied to the program and was admitted, and I now understand that the two-week camp will benefit me more than the semester-long schooling. Additionally, it adds to my college resume in a more relevant way when applying for a communication sciences and disorders major. I will continue looking for these opportunities and striving to inject passion into everything I do before going to college, getting my combined Bachelor's and Master's degree at Howard, applying for my certificate of clinical competency with the American Speech and Hearing Association, and becoming a speech-language pathologist.

A Disney movie is an odd place to find a quote that can change a life. However, Disney’s 2009 film The Princess and the Frog is home to a quote in a song that constantly motivates me. As Tiana, a young Back woman with a dream, belts out her iconic song “Almost There”, she sings, “But I've climbed the mountain/I've crossed the river/And I'm almost there”. Those lyrics carry Tiana’s hope and passion, a passion that follows the character from the beginning of the movie to the very end. Her goal of opening a restaurant in the 1920s as a Black woman is a testament to her strong ambition. In my own life, I plan to graduate high school, pursue an accelerated master’s degree in speech-language pathology at Howard University, and then pursue a clinical doctorate in speech-language pathology in hopes of becoming a leader in the field. The time, money, energy, and preparation this takes is a huge commitment, but I have the support of my teachers, friends, and family. Tiana’s quote has followed me through the hardest parts of middle school and the most exhausting parts of high school, and it will continue to motivate me despite the massive undertaking in my future.

I am the daughter of two African immigrants. My mother and her sister immigrated to this country in 1996 for their education by pure chance, each of them having to win visas in their home country of Ghana. My father left Togo at the age of sixteen fleeing civil unrest in his country. He spoke little English and moved to the unfamiliar and unfriendly city of New York, where he was lucky enough to meet kind individuals who eventually led him to California and to my mother. They raised me with the idea that education is a privilege and that, if I worked hard, I could become anything I wanted to be. They also pushed my older brother and me to serve our community, during which I realized what I wanted to do with my life. Since the sixth grade, I have volunteered in a program in my community called “Shooting Stars” where special needs children are paired up with children, teens, and adults to play basketball in a non-competitive, fun setting. I have been teamed up with a special needs young adult named Becca since the seventh grade. She and I were placed on the third court on the latest time-slot, meaning we were on the court with the oldest, least-competitive individuals. Those experiences helped shape my mind and further my empathy, steering me towards a career where I could help people in a similar way. I was thinking of becoming a special-needs teacher until I had an experience in babysitting the summer after my freshman year of high school. I babysat two children, one of them who had to go to regular neurology appointments because of complications before he was born. He had slight movement disabilities and doctors worried that he would have difficulties with speech, but that definitely wasn’t the case when he perfected how to say “cement mixer” to build his growing obsession with trucks. His confidence in his ability to communicate his ideas inspired me to want to become a speech-language pathologist, a profession where I could work with children, teenagers, and adults on their communication disorders. When I presented this idea to my mom, she suggested that I pursue a doctorate degree in speech-language pathology to open up more job opportunities in the growing field. With this in mind, I researched and decided that I wanted to go to Howard University, an HBCU, to pursue a master’s degree in their accelerated master’s program for communication sciences and disorders. I will then apply for either Northwestern or the University of Kansas’s speech-language pathology doctorate programs. Post-college, I will work to become a speech-language pathologist in either an elementary school or a clinic to help people build the skills and confidence they need to thrive in a world all-too-ready to put-down anyone who shows vulnerability. Currently, aside from my community service in Shooting Stars, I am a member of a service-learning group at my school that travels to schools with special-needs children to build crafts, play games, and make connections with kids. We are trying to build awareness and a culture of empathy in my school and beyond.

My goal in life is to help people. That goal inspires me in everything I do, from helping my teammates on the basketball court to tutoring middle school students who are struggling in math. My passion for people drove me to my career goal of becoming a speech-language pathologist. Initially, my goal was to become a teacher because I respected how many people's lives they formed and how education is the basis for a person's beliefs and values. However, I discovered how poorly the government treats teachers and realized that, if I were to become a teacher, I would not be able to spend the time or money I would need to further my community service goals. By becoming a speech-language pathologist, I would be able to lift the confidence of countless children, teenagers, and adults and prepare them for a world where words are oftentimes the strongest weapons. I plan to go to college pursuing a master's degree in audiology, speech-language pathology, or communication sciences and disorders. After that, I will seek a job in either a school or a hospital to practice speech-language pathology. The idea of helping others excites me most about the world. During normal times, I volunteer in a program called "Shooting Stars". It pairs neurotypical people up with special needs individuals and introduces them to basketball in a nonthreatening, non-competitive manner. I have been volunteering since I reached the eligible age requirement after my brother had volunteered for his community service requirements in middle school. When I am old enough, I hope to become a "coach" in the program and be able to invest in the lives of so many wonderful people.