Joy is not always easy to obtain and maintain. There will be hardships that you face in your life that make finding joy seem impossible, but there is always a reason to find joy in your life. For me, joy isn’t always being happy, but sometimes just being content to look out at something and find it beautiful. For me, there are several levels of joy, with the highest being super loving or excited about something. When you are just content, you are still in a state of joy, but you aren’t at the highest point of joy that you could be. Every day, I try to find something to be grateful for, even if it is just that I traveled safely or that I was able to do something that I enjoy like reading a book or looking at the sunset. I always ask my family what the best part of their day was, just so that we are focused more on the positive that happens in our lives, rather than the negative. I try to notice the little things that go well each day so that I have a list of things when some days just aren’t as good as others.

I want to become a veterinarian and eventually own my own veterinary practice. I want to be able to help people who can’t always afford the super expensive veterinarians. I want people to be able to receive quality care for their pets, while not breaking the bank to give them that care. Owners and pets deserve quality care and comfort throughout the entirety of the visit and throughout the life of the pet. I plan on working part time through my bachelor’s degree and applying for scholarships to help me earn the money I need to obtain my bachelors degree. I may have to end up taking a year off between my bachelors degree and veterinarian school to save up enough money for the first year, but I will still be applying for scholarships to help me pay for my schooling. After completing veterinarian school, I plan on working with another veterinarian for at least a year after I complete my veterinarian degree so that I can gain experience. I will also work with a financial advisor to help me learn how to start my own business and manage my finances when it comes to my business.

I love to read books, mostly fantasy and sci-fi. If I'm not doing homework or something else that I need to get done, you can usually find me with a book. I usually end up reading at least a book a week, because that is my "relax" time. I love to be out in nature and take photographs of the things I find. I like photographing animals, trees, flowers, the sky and just about anything in nature. I like to play the piano and I have been playing for 8 years. I love to hike and be outdoors as much as I possibly can, which I will admit, is not quite enough. I like to play the guitar and the ukulele, which I do play near often enough, but I enjoy playing them, and they are fun to have and pull out whenever I get the inspiration to do so.

Influential, determined, passionate, active, kind. I want to be known as someone who made a difference in the world around her. I want to be an inspiration for people to follow their dreams. I want people to remember me as someone who was determined to help others and make a difference. I want to be remembered as someone who was passionate about animals and did something with that passion instead of letting opportunities pass me by. I want to be known as someone who took chances and learned from their failures. I don’t want people to remember me as someone who was passive with life and just let everything pass me by. I want to be remembered as kind because just a little kindness can go a long way in life. One simple act of kindness can save a life, but your kindness needs to be genuine not fake. I want to be remembered as influential, determined, passionate, kind and active because I think that people need inspiration in their lives and sometimes you are that inspiration. I want others to realize that you can follow your dreams and that you don’t have to watch life pass you by, you can take chances and make something great out of it. I want people to know that I did as much as I could and that I wanted to. Not everything is about how much you did or what you wanted to do in life, sometimes it is about how you treat people in life. Kindness is a great asset to have and share with the world.

I am pursuing a degree in STEM because I love animals and that is my passion in life. Becoming a veterinarian has been a dream of mine since I was about the age of seven. I want to become a veterinarian and I feel like people need to recognize and pursue their passions; I am hoping to follow my own. I also feel like there needs to be more female veterinarians because we are severely underrepresented in this field, as well as in several other fields. I think that one of the major challenges I will face pursuing this degree is that I don't have the money for the cost of education. I am entering my first year of my bachelor's degree, and I am struggling to find money to afford this semester, even with the two scholarships that the college has offered me. As I was looking into the future for the cost of a four year veterinary medicine degree, it was over $100,000. This number was a bit overwhelming, especially when I will still have a lot more money to pay just for my bachelor's degree. I think that another challenge I might face pursing a degree in STEM is that I might not be given as much consideration (of acceptance to the program) when attempting to enter the program as this is a male dominated field and women might be seen as weak or incompetent in the field because there isn’t enough representation to show that women can also be amazing in this field of work. I think a possible challenge that I might face is the fact that I will most likely be one of a very few females in the program for this profession. I think that this might be a little despairing, but it will also be amazing to see that I am helping to provide gender diversity in a male dominant profession. I think that the workload could be overwhelming because you are basically going to medical school, but for animals, which can be worse because you have so much more anatomy to memorize. Even though the workload could be overwhelming, it could also be beneficial to help show that you can get through something that is difficult, because you are constantly going to be facing difficult situations in your life and you are going to have to deal with them. I feel like if you are determined enough and you want something bad enough (like to become a veterinarian), you will work through the hard situations to obtain your goal.