If I could create my very own Barbie Dream House, my house would begin in New York City and go up so far that it hits the moon. Although the height of my house would be eye-catching, the sparkly paint on the outside of the first few floors would be jaw-dropping. My magic paint will allow others who are passing by to see a reflection of them achieving all of their goals. This magic paint will cause everyone to feel motivated and focus on working towards the vision they saw. Besides the paint, my house will have pink lights that can be seen from across the nation. The outside will have very abstract architecture, with different floors being shaped to the practicality of what is happening inside. There will be one certain floor in the clouds that has a large stretched balcony so people can have a bird's eye view of the earth below. As extraordinary as the outside is, the inside is even better. Each floor has a different showcase of all of the jobs that any Barbie can do. For example, one floor will be a rainforest with wild animals so that Adventure Barbie will be successful. Another floor will have a full-running, at no-cost, hospital so that Doctor Barbie can do her job along with Nurse Barbie and Therapy Barbie. Other floors include a five-star restaurant that feeds the homeless, a shopping mall, a school, a racetrack, a snowy mountain slope, a computer lab, an engineering site, and a huge concert stage. After all of the Barbies are tired after a long day of work, they will all disperse to the 500th floor where their luxury lofts are held. Each person has access to unlimited meals, coffee, shopping, and as many spa days as they need. People will be allowed to tour my house for the cost of one compliment to the person behind them in line. I’ll offer free field trips to schools so it will allow students to find what catches their interest. My house will be known for its complexity, sparkles, and opportunities.

Growing up, I’ve never had to worry about my mental health. I’ve had the perfect childhood with a loving family, my own space, and no traumatic experiences. I always thought everyone around me had the same experience as me, so I believed that mental issues were very rare and only in the movies. I was proved wrong as soon as I met a person that changed my perspective of the world. I first met my Boyfriend last fall. He was always someone that I would see in the halls. We would pass each other and I would think of how cute he was, but nothing more. By a glance, you would think his life is very different than it is. From a stranger’s perspective, you would see his shining blue eyes that are filled with happiness. You would see him laughing with his friends at school and you would see him with his happy family on social media. Little did you know how he struggles with depression, anger issues, ADHD, and is on the edge of borderline personality disorder. Most, if not all, of his mental issues, are rooted in childhood trauma. As strong of a person he is, you would have no idea what he deals with daily. Being with him has changed my whole perspective on people that deal with mental issues every day. I learned how it affects a person in how they act, or what they do. Most people would question how it affects our relationship, and the truth is, it doesn’t. Despite what he goes through, he’s still a person. We have hard days like everyone else and in our relationship, we get to find new ways that he can cope with his emotions. He has shaped my view of the world and caused me to open my eyes to the darkness people have to face every day. Hearing what he went through as a child has inspired me to work with children with disadvantages, mentally and physically with a career in Pediatric Occupational Therapy. I now try to incorporate mental wellness activities into the life of the people around me. I’m an advocate of sharing ways to deal with mental issues on social media to encourage others to keep pushing, even if it’s hard. I may have not had to deal with the stress of mental issues, but I will now keep in mind that you can’t judge anyone that you don’t know. I aspire to be a light in people’s dark lives and will spread positivity every day.

The person that I admire the most, would be my Mom. Having a single parent has taught me many things in life that I feel like I wouldn’t have learned if I wasn’t put in that position. It has changed my life by forcing me to build a strong independence. My Mom and I have always just had each other, so we had to find a way to get things ourselves because we didn’t have anyone else to help us. It has caused us financial hardships but my Mom has always found a way past them. It’s truly inspiring to see my mom work two jobs while being enrolled in school while also being a full time Mom and working to get the things that I need done accomplished. My relationship with my Mom is really good. I say that because I’ve lived with only her my whole life and as I’ve gotten older, we’ve gotten closer. It’s hard sometimes because she works a lot and I’m home by myself so it gets lonely but I’ve learned how to be by myself. I just believe that our relationship will grow closer when I leave for college. Having a single mom affects my day to day life by making me more aware of the things that I spend money on. I can either go shopping with my friends or I could be saving it to spend on my own gas. It affects the way that I think about my future by making me make career choices that will be able to provide enough money even if it was just me taking care of kids by myself. It’s also made me less dependent on anyone else, I try to do everything by myself because my mom has set the perfect example of that.

Having a single parent has taught me many things in life that I feel like I wouldn’t have learned if I wasn’t put in that position. It has changed my life by forcing me to build a strong independence. My Mom and I have always just had each other, so we had to find a way to get things ourselves because we didn’t have anyone else to help us. It has caused us financial hardships but my Mom has always found a way past them. It’s truly inspiring to see my mom work two jobs while being enrolled in school while also being a full time Mom and working to get the things that I need done accomplished. My relationship with my Mom is really good. I say that because I’ve lived with only her my whole life and as I’ve gotten older, we’ve gotten closer. It’s hard sometimes because she works a lot and I’m home by myself so it gets lonely but I’ve learned how to be by myself. I just believe that our relationship will grow closer when I leave for college. Having a single mom affects my day to day life by making me more aware of the things that I spend money on. I can either go shopping with my friends or I could be saving it to spend on my own gas. It affects the way that I think about my future by making me make career choices that will be able to provide enough money even if it was just me taking care of kids by myself. It’s also made me less dependent on anyone else, I try to do everything by myself because my mom has set the perfect example of that. My dream would be to be successful financially with a small family. I want to live my life and not have to worry about money like many people do. I see myself traveling, working, hosting big family events, getting the car I want and lots of shopping. I plan to accomplish all of that with my Pediatric Occupational Therapy career. Right now, I’ve gotten accepted into the Pre-Occupational Therapy program at Texas Woman’s University. I will take the Child Development pathway, so I will get my bachelors degree in Child Development. I will be the top of my class because I plan to work really hard due to the competitiveness of OT school. This scholarship will help me achieve my goals by paying towards the classes that I need in order to be successful. I will have to pay for college myself so every bit of contribution helps a lot. While I'm in college, I will be working part-time at school to try to pay towards my tuition. I will also be working outside of school to have money to have for myself. Applying to scholarships is something that I’ve really focused on so I can push my way through school in order to make my mom proud of me and my hard work.

Ever since I was little, I’ve lived in Keller, Texas. Keller is not a very diverse city, with 88% of its residents being white. Growing up as a young black girl, I went to predominantly white schools which made me realize how different I was from my friends, which caused a conflict in me. I started questioning my curly hair, my skin tone and why I was so different from everyone else. Eventually I began my process of “fitting in” which consisted of straightening my hair constantly, changing my wardrobe, music taste and overall interests. I officially lost my identity by the 5th grade and I kept the altered identity up until the beginning of high school. My freshman year of high school was when I took my first step in finding myself, I realized that I wanted to start wearing my natural curly hair. It wasn’t easy transitioning from straight to curly hair, but I finally learned how to take care of my natural hair with a lot of practice. Even though my hair was natural, I still was lost in my identity. The thing that shaped me into who I am today came into my life my sophomore year, which is my group of best friends. Although Keller is predominantly white, everyone in the group is African-American. When I met everyone for the first time, I instantly felt comfortable and like I can have someone else to relate to. After I started bonding with them, I slowly began to find myself again. I wasn’t afraid to express my culture anymore and I learned to love who I was, despite being different from most people in the area. The thing that I hope to achieve is to be an Occupational Therapist. I want to be an Occupational Therapist because of my passion that I have for the disabled, and because of the rare qualities that I have for the job. My passion for the disabled started when I was in 6th grade. I signed up for partner P.E. not knowing what to expect, I have heard about it before but I just didn't want to go to actual P.E. and work out. The first few weeks were tough because the kids didn't know me and I didn't know them either, there was no bond. Once we got to know each other, I fell in love with the class. I asked my Mom if I could participate in any way outside of school and that's when I started to work with the special needs at my church. Working at church has given me years prior with hands-on experience. Along with experience, I gained rare qualities that it takes to be successful in the Occupational Therapy field. One of the most important qualities that it takes to be successful in the Occupational Therapy field would be patience. Like the quote, patience is a virtue. In OT, we have to have the perfect balance of being able to push someone and also being able to work at their pace. Everyone's pace is different and that takes a special person to work with. Another important quality to have is creativity. As an OT, we have to create plans for our patients to follow in order to accomplish their goal. Creativity is something that I pour out constantly, whether it's making arts and crafts with my Mom or fixing something in the house. I'm preparing myself to achieve my goals by choosing a the best college for that career path in my state. I will work harder than I ever have in order to reach the end goal. I have also reached out to other Occupational Therapists around my town to see what to expect going into OT school and what I could do to have to stand out from the crowd in that field.

This is Mango! Mango was adopted from a no-kill shelter in 2017, he is a mix between a Yorkie and Maltese. One day while I was getting ready for school, I saw Mango laying on my bed while his tongue was out of his mouth. I haven't ever seen his tongue stick out like that so I rushed to get my phone and snap a picture. This is my favorite picture of my best friend!

The major that I want to study in college is Occupational Therapy. I want to study Occupational Therapy because of my passion that I have for the disabled and because of the rare qualities that I have for the job. My passion for the disabled started when I was in 6th grade. I signed up for partner P.E. not knowing what to expect, I have heard about it before but I just didn't want to go to actual P.E. and work out. The first few weeks were tough because the kids didn't know me and I didn't know them either, there was no bond. Once we got to know each other, I fell in love with the class. I asked my Mom if I could participate in any way outside of school and that's when I started to work with the special needs at my church. Working at church has given me years prior with hands-on experience. Along with experience, I gained rare qualities that it takes to be successful in the Occupational Therapy field. One of the most important qualities that it takes to be successful in the Occupational Therapy field would be patience. Like the quote, patience is a virtue. In OT, we have to have the perfect balance of being able to push someone and also being able to work at their pace. Everyone's pace is different and that takes a special person to work with. Another important quality to have is creativity. As an OT, we have to create plans for our patients to follow in order to accomplish their goal. Creativity is something that I pour out constantly, whether it's making arts and crafts with my Mom or fixing something in the house. Occupational Therapy inspires me because I want to help people that have had traumatic experiences feel normal again. There is nothing worse than feeling hopeless in yourself and I want to be the person to help you find yourself and your shine again.