I see myself, owning my own private practice and helping my community by providing the best nutrition advice I could possibly offer.

I have received the National Hispanic Recognition Award for my commendable PSAT score and the AP Scholar with Honor Award because of my high scores on the four AP exams. I participated in Spanish Honors Society to help build a better connection with my community and promote a better dynamic by volunteering and running various donation drives. UT Outreach helped me gain a better understanding of how to help beautify my community and take care of our greenery. I gained leadership experience by participating as a mentor at United Way Ambassador Program. In my four years of high school, I was unaware of what career path I wanted to take. I thought I had more time to decide. Eventually, I landed on Nutritional Sciences as a major because somewhere along the way it hit me that I wanted to help people with their health. Throughout my life, I struggled with my body image constantly flip-flopping with whether I saw myself as the prettiest thing alive or as the ugliest thing to grace the Earth. This all stemmed from a constant desire to be skinny, the constant crash diets I saw my mom struggle with, and being taken as a joke for simply being overweight. I want to help people with the same struggles I faced by helping them lose the “unwanted” weight while helping them disassociate calories as a negative thing. This is why I want to study to be a dietician specializing in weight loss. After I graduate college, I want to gain experience as a Clinical Dietitian before opening up a private practice in my hometown. McAllen was named as having the highest percentage of obese adults at 44.9% by Wallethub in 2018. This alarming percentage has led me to choose a career path that will help my community. I have grown tired of the popularity of fad and yoyo diets. I want to promote cultural but healthy food and balance to show my fellow Latinos that we don’t have to cut out our favorite food to achieve our goals. My future private practice will strive to help my community let go of the juice cleanses and Keto diets that have them in a tight choke hold and instead focus on intuitive eating and understanding hunger cues. Receiving the Voila Natural Lifestyle Scholarship will allow me to pursue a master’s degree in Nutritional Sciences so that I can become a Registered Dietitian and help my community. This scholarship will give me the resources to be the best student I can be and reach levels I never thought were possible. I will use this scholarship to study how the body works, how to build a nutritious balanced meal, and overall learn how we can take care of the body that gives us so much. As time goes on, I am reminded more and more of the importance of seeking higher education. The entire balance of my future relies solely on the decisions I make today. From the groups, I join to the major I choose, my high school career has been a major source of stress. After constantly suffering through identity crisis after identity crisis I want to use this scholarship to further my journey in helping my community flourish.

In my four years of High school, I was unaware of what career path I wanted to take. I thought I had more time to decide. I began to spiral, it felt like the weight of the world fell on my shoulders. I constantly, switched my decision from translator to nurse to Dietitian to nurse again until I eventually landed on dietitian. I chose to commit to this field path so that I can help my community improve. I want to be able to help people with the same struggles I had faced by helping them lose the “unwanted” weight while helping them disassociate calories as a negative thing, which Is why I want to study to be a dietician specializing in weight loss. Throughout my life, I struggled with my body image constantly flip-flopping with whether I saw myself as the prettiest thing alive or as the ugliest thing to grace the Earth. This all stemmed from a constant desire to be skinny, the constant crash diets I saw my mom struggle with, and being taken as a joke for simply being overweight. After I graduate college, I want to gain experience as a Clinical Dietitian before opening up a private practice in my hometown. McAllen was named as having the highest percentage of obese adults at 44.9% by Wallethub in 2018. This alarming percentage has led me to choose a path that will help my community. I have grown tired of the popularity of fad and yoyo diets, I want to promote cultural but healthy food and balance to show my fellow Latinos that we don’t have to cut out our favorite food to achieve our goals. My private practice will strive to help my community let go of the juice cleanses and Keto diets that have them in a tight hold and instead focus on intuitive eating and understanding hunger cues. To truly commit to this career path, I chose Nutritional Sciences as a Major at UTRGV because this will allow me to stay close to my culture and observe the diet culture that is heavily affecting our community while studying to be a Dietitian. My love for my community in The Rio Grande Valley will be my driving force to complete my Master’s degree so that I will help build a brighter and healthier future for Latinos in the Rio Grande Valley. Receiving this scholarship will allow me to further my education and make a positive impact on the community I hold so dear.

As I looked into the cheap full-body mirror, I psychoanalyzed every little detail of myself. From the dark mole on my upper right eyebrow to my thighs that seemed to spill over every surface I sat on. Once upon a time, I never gave a second thought to these “minuscule” details that now plague every corner of my brain. Little 10-year-old Tamara would never imagine the kinds of things I’ve thought of the body we shared. Throughout my life, I struggled with my body image constantly flip-flopping with whether I saw myself as the prettiest thing alive or as the ugliest thing to grace the Earth. This all stemmed from a constant desire to be skinny, the constant crash diets I saw my mom struggle with, and being taken as a joke for simply being overweight. Through the years, my self-esteem has had its ups and downs; Using various methods to try and rebuild itself. As time went on, I believed I was “too good for this world” and eventually deluded myself into learning how to "love" every flaw I owned. But this bandaid-like solution could only last for so long. I realized I needed to find a brand new approach that wouldn’t bring even more harm to my mental health. After a while, I learned I could still strive for my “dream body” and not cause myself to go into a downward spiral. Instead of focusing on how I am “less” beautiful than another, I chose to focus on developing my mental and physical health. I am determined to stop this curse of constantly putting ourselves down just because we are a couple of pounds heavier and falling victim to trendy crash diets for the rest of our lives. I have been confused about what I wanted to be for the past couple of years, but along the way, I realized what was most important to me in life. I looked back on the things I struggled with during my childhood and realized that I wanted to help people overcome their own body image issues by majoring in Nutritional Sciences at my local university, UTRGV. My career plan is to start off by gaining experience as a Clinical Dietician in a hospital setting and then starting my own private practice where I offer online and personal counseling. My private practice would focus on making cultural Hispanic dishes catering to our dietary needs and showing clients that we could enjoy our favorite dishes and achieve our goals at the same time. I want to be able to help people with the same struggles I had faced by helping them lose the “unwanted” weight while helping them disassociate calories as a negative thing. Obtaining this scholarship would allow me to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutritional Sciences and start up my private practice so that I can help my community prosper physically and promote healthy living.

In my four years of High school, I was unaware of what career path I wanted to take. I thought I had more time to decide. I began to spiral, it felt like the weight of the world fell on my shoulders. Constantly, I switched my decision from translator to nurse to Dietitian to nurse again until I eventually landed on dietitian. I chose to commit to this field path so that I can help my community improve. I want to be able to help people with the same struggles I faced by assisting them to achieve their goals while helping them disassociate calories as a negative thing, which Is why I want to study to be a dietician specializing in weight loss. Throughout my life, I struggled with my body image constantly flip-flopping with whether I saw myself as the prettiest thing alive or as the ugliest thing to grace the Earth. This all stemmed from a constant desire to be skinny, the multiple crash diets I saw my mom struggle with, and being taken as a joke for simply being overweight. I have lived in McAllen since the day I was born, and I have built an emotional connection to this community. Seeing the bustling people struggle to find their favorite stores at the mall, to the people relaxing at our local shops, brings me inexplicable joy. But as I watch the years go by, I begin to see the various flaws within this city. One of the most prevalent ones is a constant desire to lose weight mixed in with a desire for a shortcut. Instead of putting in the work, they look for anything they can get their hands on from supplements to weird creams that someone most likely made in their home kitchen. I want to help my community heal from this mindset and inspire them to put in the effort. To truly commit to this career path, I chose Nutritional Sciences as a Major at UTRGV because this will allow me to stay close to my culture and observe the diet culture that is heavily affecting my community while studying to be a Dietitian. My love for The Rio Grande Valley will be my driving force to complete my Master’s degree so that I will help build a brighter and healthier future for those in the community. Receiving this Scholarship will allow me to further my education and make a positive impact on the community I hold so dear. After I graduate college, I want to gain experience as a Clinical Dietitian before opening up a private practice in my hometown. McAllen was named as having the highest percentage of obese adults at 44.9% by Wallethub in 2018. This alarming percentage has led me to choose a path that will help my community. I have grown tired of the popularity of fad and yoyo diets, I want to promote culturally healthy food and balance to show my community members that we don’t have to cut out our favorite food to achieve our goals. My private practice will strive to help my community let go of the juice cleanses and Keto diets that have them in a chokehold and instead focus on intuitive eating and understanding hunger cues.

In my four years of high school, I was unaware of what career path I wanted to take. I thought I had more time to decide. Eventually, I landed on Nutritional Sciences as a major because somewhere along the way it hit me that I wanted to help people with their health. Throughout my life, I struggled with my body image constantly flip-flopping with whether I saw myself as the prettiest thing alive or as the ugliest thing to grace the Earth. This all stemmed from a constant desire to be skinny, the constant crash diets I saw my mom struggle with, and being taken as a joke for simply being overweight. I want to help people with the same struggles I faced by helping them lose the “unwanted” weight while helping them disassociate calories as a negative thing. This is why I want to study to be a dietician specializing in weight loss. Pursuing higher education is such an important task, especially for minority groups. It allows marginalized groups to gain footing in society and prove the oppressors wrong. With the higher amounts of minorities in a higher level of education, the closer we get to evening the playing field. Just seeing the percentage of minorities in different career fields go up brings a smile to my face, because then I am reminded how far along we have come from the times when our ancestors couldn’t even step foot into schools let alone a college. It is our job to honor their sacrifices and take advantage of what they could not receive. Pursuing a higher education allows us an opportunity to expand our horizons in society and prove the stereotype that Latinos are only good at stealing jobs and manual labor wrong. After I graduate college, I want to gain experience as a Clinical Dietitian before opening up a private practice in my hometown. McAllen was named as having the highest percentage of obese adults at 44.9% by Wallethub in 2018. This alarming percentage has led me to choose a career path that will help my community. I have grown tired of the popularity of fad and yoyo diets. I want to promote cultural but healthy food and balance to show my fellow Latinos that we don’t have to cut out our favorite food to achieve our goals. My future private practice will strive to help my community let go of the juice cleanses and Keto diets that have them in a tight choke hold and instead focus on intuitive eating and understanding hunger cues. As time goes on, I am reminded more and more of the importance of seeking higher education. The entire balance of my future relies solely on the decisions I make today. From the groups, I join to the major I choose, my high school career has been a significant source of stress. After constantly suffering through identity crisis after identity crisis, I have finally come to terms with the major and career I wish to pursue. To honor the experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today and to prevent other young minds from falling victim to the same mentality. I want to use this scholarship to further my journey in helping my community flourish.

In my four years of High school, I was unaware of what career path I wanted to take. I began to spiral, it felt like the weight of the world fell on my shoulders. Constantly, switching my decision from translator to nurse to a dietitian to nurse again until I eventually landed on dietitian. I chose to commit to this field path so that I can help my community improve. I looked back on the things I have struggled with during my childhood and realized that I wanted to help people overcome their own body image issues by becoming a Dietician specializing in weight loss/gain. To truly commit to this career path, I chose Nutritional Sciences as a Major at UTRGV because this will allow me to stay close to my culture and observe the diet culture that is heavily affecting our community while studying to be a Dietitian. I already have some advanced credits because of the AP tests I took in high school. I am currently in a CTE course to become a certified substitute teacher in the state of Texas which will help me gain experience in guiding people to achieve their goals. My love for my community in The Rio Grande Valley will be my driving force to complete my Master’s degree so that I will help build a brighter and healthier future for Latinos in the Rio Grande Valley. My career plan is to start off by gaining experience as a Clinical Dietician in a Hospital setting and then starting my own private practice where I offer online and personal counseling. My private practice would focus on making cultural Hispanic dishes cater to our dietary needs and show clients that we could enjoy our favorite dishes and achieve their goals simultaneously.