I aspire to do small things with great love. I'm an active leader in my school through extracurriculars such as Varsity track and field and cross country. I was also captain of the varsity sideline cheer squad and co-captain of the state-qualifying quiz bowl team. Being a leader on a team means cheering on every teammate, including those in first place and those in last. Additional leadership roles that I have undertaken include being class president for 3 years and being president of the National Honor Society of LHS which organizes service projects for the school and local area. I am also the oldest of 5 siblings which involves a lot of responsibility and family cooperation. In my free time, I enjoy reading, athletics, and being involved in my community and church through youth group and music ministry. Some of my most influential works and personal developments were inspired from overcoming an eating disorder, and ironically, homemade fudge. As a rising high school junior, I was spiraling into the depths of an eating disorder and eventually had to go to an out-of-state residential treatment facility. It was challenging to learn to heal while away from home and my family, who my sickness had all deeply affected. I had hit rock bottom, yet they never gave up on me. They were supportive, patient, and loved me every step of the way. My psychiatrist at the facility was also uplifting and counseled me to relinquish the disorder and choose recovery. I returned home in October grateful to be healthy, immersing myself back into school and extracurriculars. Shortly after, I learned heartbreaking information: a childhood friend was diagnosed with cancer. My sister and I brainstormed ideas for an act of kindness to show them love, because we knew firsthand the havoc illness can bring to families. Working with a local non-profit, the Childhood Cancer Campaign, we organized a fundraiser for our friend by selling a variety of homemade fudge. Dubbing ourselves the “Fudgie Friends”, we recruited friends and started a whirlwind fudge-making adventure. After 48 hours of cooking and delivery, we’d raised over $2000 to help our friend. Since then, we’ve offered 7 additional fundraisers, making over 940 lbs of fudge and raising over $18,000. We continue these efforts with many upcoming fundraisers, which have helped local families not only with the obvious expenses of medical care, but also have prevented some from losing their homes or well-being. Through my adversity, the Fudgie Friends, and work experience, I’ve realized how small acts of love and sacrifice make a huge difference in the lives of others and perpetuate profound goodness in the world. While in eating disorder treatment, I was able to meet incredible medical professionals whose vocations saved me. This experience has inspired my desire to work in mental health. Last summer, I became a certified nurse assistant so I could gain valuable experience working in a long-term care facility. I plan to work as a CNA this summer, as well as throughout college. I’ll be attending the University of Notre Dame to study Biological Sciences, Spanish, and Compassionate Care in Medicine on a pre-med track. Afterward, I hope to attend medical school to become a psychiatrist, where I can reciprocate the care I received to others. This will take 8 years of school and 4 years of residency training, which involves significant financial and laborious muscle, and this scholarship would help make my goals attainable. I hope that throughout the course of my life, I can continue to do small things with great love. Thank you for your consideration for this award.

As a rising high school junior, I was amidst a painful time. Brought on by the stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, toxic social media experiences, and other matters, I was spiraling into the depths of an eating disorder. To get the best treatment possible, I had to go to an out-of-state residential eating disorder treatment facility. It was challenging and isolating to learn how to heal while away from friends and family, and maintain school obligations online. Eating disorders are complex to treat because the afflicted have no interest in healing. Indulging in unhealthy behaviors becomes instinctive and even gratifying; hence why almost everyone I met in the facility had already undergone multiple rounds of residential treatment. This dissolved the morsel of hope I had in the belief that maybe, recovery was possible. I had hit rock bottom, yet my psychiatrist at the facility was so encouraging and guided me through the darkest time of my life. With her and others’ professional counsel, I ultimately relinquished the disorder and chose recovery. I returned home in October grateful to be healthy. Immersing myself back into school and extracurriculars, I was no longer tormented by every thought involving food. Life was fun again. A month later, I learned heartbreaking information: a childhood friend had been diagnosed with cancer. This was devastating, as she’d already experienced significant childhood trauma from an abusive father, currently incarcerated. My sister and I, distraught imagining how their family of eight kids and a single mom would handle this new adversity, brainstormed ideas for an act of kindness to show them love. We worked with a local non-profit organization, the Childhood Cancer Campaign, to organize what became known as “fudge-raisers”-- fundraisers to raise money for our friend by selling a variety of homemade fudge. Dubbing ourselves the “Fudgie Friends”, my sister and I recruited friends and started a whirlwind fudge-making adventure with hopes there’d be interest in buying sweet treats for a great cause. Our community rallied behind our initiative and we were inundated with orders. After 48 hours of fudge making and delivery, we had made over $2000 to help our friend. This experience inspired us to offer five additional fudge events throughout the last year. In total, we have made over 700 lbs of fudge, raising over $14,500 in proceeds for the Childhood Cancer Campaign. We plan to continue these efforts! I share this story because it helped me realize the qualities that I value most in myself: dedication and my servant’s heart. These two qualities are what allowed me to create such an enormous community service project and also wake up from the nightmare of my eating disorder that was ruining my life and the lives of others. While in treatment, I had the opportunity to meet incredible medical professionals who, through their vocations of determination and service, encouraged me every step of recovery. Every facet of my treatment plan was meticulously (and fascinatingly) designed to ensure the best chance of healing. This originally troublesome experience has inspired my desire to work in the mental health field. I plan to attend university and then medical school to specialize in psychiatric medicine. As a psychiatrist, I’ll be able to reciprocate the hard work and service that I received from others. I yearn to be a dedicated and caring doctor, for patients and healthcare workers alike. My goals will take 8 years of school and 4 years of residency training, which involves an immense amount of financial and laborious muscle. This scholarship would help make my goals attainable. Thank you for your consideration.

Some of Mother Theresa’s most influential words are not to aspire to do great things but instead to do small things with great love. I would’ve never thought that these inspiring words would have anything to do with homemade fudge. As a rising junior in high school, I was experiencing one of the most difficult times in my life. Brought on by the stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, toxic social media experiences, and other matters, I was spiraling into the depths of an eating disorder. To get the best treatment possible, I had to go to an out-of-state residential eating disorder facility and miss the start of my junior year. I left home sick and broken. It was challenging and isolating to learn how to heal, be away from friends and family, and maintain school obligations online. Sometimes small, great things come in encouraging words and sacrifices from those who love us. My family never gave up on me and guided me through the darkest time of my life. Against all odds, I Iearned to relinquish the disorder and chose life and recovery. I returned home in October grateful to be healthy again and spend time with my family, appreciative of the sacrifices they made to facilitate my recovery. My eating disorder had wreaked havoc on our once close-knit relationships and we were all thrilled to reconnect. Slowly, immersing myself back into school and extracurriculars, I was no longer tormented by every thought involving food. Life was finally fun again. Unfortunately, a month later, I learned some heartbreaking information: a childhood friend had been diagnosed with an aggressive type of cancer, Burkitt’s lymphoma. This was devastating, as she'd already experienced significant childhood trauma from an abusive father who was incarcerated. My sister and I were distraught imagining how their family of eight kids and a single mom would handle this new adversity, so we brainstormed ideas for a small act of kindness that we could do to show them love. We worked together with a local nonprofit organization called the Childhood Cancer Campaign to organize what became known as “fudge-raisers”-- fundraisers to raise money for our friend by selling a variety of homemade fudge. Dubbing ourselves the “Fudgie Friends”, my sister and I recruited some friends and started a whirlwind fudge-making adventure with hopes there'd be interest in buying sweet treats for a great cause. We made three recipes, a flier that we promoted on social media, and offered free delivery. Our community rallied behind our initiative and we were inundated with orders and spent the next 12 hours straight making fudge. 48 hours later we delivered the last order and made over $2000 to help our friend. This experience inspired the Fudgie Friends to offer five additional fundraisers throughout the past year where we've made over 700 lbs of fudge and raised over $14,000 in proceeds for the Childhood Cancer Campaign. We plan to continue these efforts! The most extraordinary aspect of this experience wasn’t the massive quantity of fudge made or the money raised, but rather the positive impact our kindness had on giving our friend emotional support and hope. Through my own adversity, I've realized how small acts of love and sacrifice can make a huge difference in someone’s life and perpetuate profound goodness in the world. For some, it might mean feeling the embrace of love from a community to keep you fighting through seven rounds of chemotherapy. For others, it might mean recovery from an eating disorder. Love itself is what truly makes something great; and, as a bonus, we do make pretty fabulous fudge!

Higher education will prepare me for my career and help me develop life skills in many ways, because my career aspirations involve a lot of rigorous schooling to be successful and a college experience will give me a chance to fully mature as an adult. A rising junior in high school, I was experiencing one of the most difficult times in my life. Brought on by the stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, toxic social media experiences, and other matters, I was spiraling into the depths of an eating disorder. I was desperate and hopeless and could not envision a world without the unhealthy habits of my eating disorder. It was like a python slowly strangling me to death so it could swallow me whole. At the time, I was not insightful enough to acknowledge the devastation, havoc, and chaos it was inflicting on my life, relationships, and family. To get the best treatment possible, I had to go out of state to a residential eating disorder treatment facility. I didn’t want to go; I was going to have to miss the start of my junior year. I left home sick, angry, lonely, and broken. It was challenging and isolating to learn how to heal and be away from friends and family, all while keeping up with school obligations online. Eating disorders are complex to treat because the afflicted have no interest in healing. Indulging in unhealthy behaviors becomes instinctive and often even gratifying; hence why almost everyone I met in the residential facility had already undergone multiple rounds of residential treatment. It dissolved the morsel of hope I had in the belief that maybe, recovery was possible. I had hit rock bottom, and yet my psychiatrist at the facility remained reassuring and hopeful. She kept telling me that yes, recovery is possible. She told me that I had a choice to make: I could actively try and repair my life or I could lose everything. It wasn’t easy, but these incredible medical professionals offered me guidance during one of the hardest times in my teenage years, and I was fascinated by their knowledge and skills. I came to realize what a definite possibility this career choice could be for me. I want to be able to help others improve their mental health like these psychiatrists did for me. I know first hand how debilitating mental health conditions can be to a person's quality of life, and am determined to make a difference in that area of the world. For this reason, I aspire to go to college and major in a science-related field so that I can attend medical school and specialize in psychiatric medicine. Being a doctor is a profession that requires a higher education because it involves so much skill and knowledge. While this has certainly been the biggest challenge I have had to overcome while working toward my high school diploma, it has inspired me to achieve dreams I never even thought of before. Aside from providing me with the essential skills to be successful in my career, a higher education will also prepare me for my career by giving me the chance to individually grow as a person. The time in my life while I will be in college is a critical time to learn skills to be successful in the real world. I will have to become good with time management and organization, especially since studying to attend medical school will require a lot of time and dedication. I will need to learn to thrive without as much intervention from my parents, and be able to mature into a more independent person. Living away from home at a university is the perfect chance for me to both grow in knowledge related to my desired career path, but also attain the skills needed to be successful as an adult. For this reason, I am confident that higher education will be an amazing opportunity for me.

A rising junior in high school, I was experiencing one of the most difficult times in my life. Brought on by the stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, toxic social media experiences, and other matters, I was spiraling into the depths of an eating disorder. I was desperate and hopeless and could not envision a world without the unhealthy habits of my eating disorder. It was like a python slowly strangling me to death so it could swallow me whole. At the time, I was not insightful enough to acknowledge the devastation, havoc, and chaos it was inflicting on my life, relationships, and family. To get the best treatment possible, I had to go out of state to a residential eating disorder treatment facility. I didn’t want to go; I was going to have to miss the start of my junior year. I left home sick, angry, lonely, and broken. It was challenging and isolating to learn how to heal and be away from friends and family, all while keeping up with school obligations online. Eating disorders are complex to treat because the afflicted have no interest in healing. Indulging in unhealthy behaviors becomes instinctive and often even gratifying; hence why almost everyone I met in the residential facility had already undergone multiple rounds of residential treatment. It dissolved the morsel of hope I had in the belief that maybe, recovery was possible. I had hit rock bottom, and yet my psychiatrist at the facility remained reassuring and hopeful. She kept telling me that yes, recovery is possible. She told me that I had a choice to make: I could actively try and repair my life or I could lose everything. It wasn’t easy, but these incredible medical professionals offered me guidance during one of the hardest times in my teenage years, and I was fascinated by their knowledge and skills. I came to realize what a definite possibility this career choice could be for me. I want to be able to help others improve their mental health like these psychiatrists did for me. I know first hand how debilitating mental health conditions can be to a person's quality of life, and am determined to make a difference in that area of the world. For this reason, I aspire to go to college and major in a science-related field so that I can attend medical school and specialize in psychiatric medicine. Being a doctor is a profession that requires a higher education because it involves so much skill and knowledge. While this has certainly been the biggest challenge I have had to overcome while working toward my high school diploma, it has inspired me to achieve dreams I never even thought of before.

A rising junior in high school, I was experiencing one of the most difficult times in my life. Brought on by the stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, toxic social media experiences, and other matters, I was spiraling into the depths of an eating disorder. I was desperate and hopeless and could not envision a world without the unhealthy habits of my eating disorder. It was like a python slowly strangling me to death so it could swallow me whole. At the time, I was not insightful enough to acknowledge the devastation, havoc, and chaos it was inflicting on my life, relationships, and family. To get the best treatment possible, I had to go out of state to a residential eating disorder treatment facility. I didn’t want to go; I was going to have to miss the start of my junior year. I left home sick, angry, lonely, and broken. It was challenging and isolating to learn how to heal and be away from friends and family, all while keeping up with school obligations online. Eating disorders are complex to treat because the afflicted have no interest in healing. Indulging in unhealthy behaviors becomes instinctive and often even gratifying; hence why almost everyone I met in the residential facility had already undergone multiple rounds of residential treatment. It dissolved the morsel of hope I had in the belief that maybe, recovery was possible. I had hit rock bottom, and yet my psychiatrist at the facility remained reassuring and hopeful. She kept telling me that yes, recovery is possible. She told me that I had a choice to make: I could actively try and repair my life or I could lose everything. It wasn’t easy, but these incredible medical professionals offered me guidance during one of the hardest times in my teenage years, and I was fascinated by their knowledge and skills. I came to realize what a definite possibility this career choice could be for me. I want to be able to help others improve their mental health like these psychiatrists did for me. I know first hand how debilitating mental health conditions can be to a person's quality of life, and am determined to make a difference in that area of the world. For this reason, I aspire to go to college and major in a science-related field so that I can attend medical school and specialize in psychiatric medicine. Being a doctor is a profession that requires a higher education because it involves so much skill and knowledge. While this has certainly been the biggest challenge I have had to overcome while working toward my high school diploma, it has inspired me to achieve dreams I never even thought of before.

A rising junior in high school, I was experiencing one of the most difficult times in my life. Brought on by the stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, toxic social media experiences, and other matters, I was spiraling into the depths of an eating disorder. I was desperate and hopeless and could not envision a world without the unhealthy habits of my eating disorder. It was like a python slowly strangling me to death so it could swallow me whole. At the time, I was not insightful enough to acknowledge the devastation, havoc, and chaos it was inflicting on my life, relationships, and family. To get the best treatment possible, I had to go out of state to a residential eating disorder treatment facility. I didn’t want to go; I was going to have to miss the start of my junior year. I left home sick, angry, lonely, and broken. It was challenging and isolating to learn how to heal and be away from friends and family, all while keeping up with school obligations online. Eating disorders are complex to treat because the afflicted have no interest in healing. Indulging in unhealthy behaviors becomes instinctive and often even gratifying; hence why almost everyone I met in the residential facility had already undergone multiple rounds of residential treatment. It dissolved the morsel of hope I had in the belief that maybe, recovery was possible. I had hit rock bottom, and yet my psychiatrist at the facility remained reassuring and hopeful. She kept telling me that yes, recovery is possible. She told me that I had a choice to make: I could actively try and repair my life or I could lose everything. It wasn’t easy, but these incredible medical professionals offered me guidance during one of the hardest times in my teenage years, and I was fascinated by their knowledge and skills. I came to realize what a definite possibility this career choice could be for me. I want to be able to help others improve their mental health like these psychiatrists did for me. I know first hand how debilitating mental health conditions can be to a person's quality of life, and am determined to make a difference in that area of the world. For this reason, I aspire to go to college and major in a science-related field so that I can attend medical school and specialize in psychiatric medicine. Being a doctor is a profession that requires a higher education because it involves so much skill and knowledge. While this has certainly been the biggest challenge I have had to overcome while working toward my high school diploma, it has inspired me to achieve dreams I never even thought of before.

I went to a small, private elementary school, with classmates who knew each other as brothers and sisters. I will refer to one of the girls in my class as "Grace." Grace was a quiet girl with a rough family life, and endured abuse as a very young child. Yet, she was always a good friend to me, and my whole class would agree that she was the sweetest soul. I have fond memories of playing make-believe on the playground and singing songs in music class. Years later, my private school class was in high school; most of us had taken separate paths. I had not talked to Grace in a long time. One day, my mom and I came across a Facebook post with heartbreaking news: Grace was diagnosed with cancer. I was deeply saddened, especially since I knew how much Grace had suffered already in her life. My sister was also devastated, since she was only a few grades behind Grace in school so she knew her from elementary days. We decided to gather some of our friends together and create a fundraiser to help Grace and make sure she knows that she has people who love her. Sponsored by a local cancer organization, we baked over 500 pounds of fudge over two months and sent 100% of the profits to her family. Grace's mom has messaged us frequently about how much Grace has appreciated our efforts and how much it means to her to have people who support and love her. It has given Grace the strength to persevere in her treatment, which shows how much love can do to inspire and strengthen an individual. It makes me feel happy to show love to others, because ultimately, it will make the world a better place for all.

Personal experience and achievement helped me to find fulfilling goals for future success. In the summer of 2021, I was diagnosed with an eating disorder after struggling for a very long time. I had to go to treatment out of state. The other teens there were struggling too, and like me, they didn't want to recover. Bad habits thrived in an environment where we all had similar goals and mindsets. However, I soon realized that my life would completely lack substance if I did not get better. I needed to at least try. From there on, I worked hard to push back the negative feelings and do what I needed to do to get better and go home. I was inspired by the adults who surrounded me with support and encouragement during my recovery journey, especially my psychiatrist. Every day, she worked hard to make me feel loved and proud of my achievements and progress. I would not have been able to fully recover without her support. This experience has shown me what it means to be successful: to have a meaningful impact on the lives of others. I have learned how important mental health is. Quite literally, it is the driving factor between every decision and action we make. I want to make the world a better place by helping others improve their mental health- as my psychiatrist did for me. I want to eventually go to medical school to specialize in psychiatry, and perhaps even open my own practice someday. One of my dreams is to write books about important aspects of mental health to reach millions of people. I want to use my experience to better the lives of others and change the world. A society full of mentally strong individuals is a society built for success.