Helping at a food bank or giving to the homeless are usually the first things that come to mind when you consider changing your community. However, as a culture, we seldom consider other options when it comes to changing things. My contribution to my community may not seem like much, but it had a profound impact. My dancing coach was wrongly fired, which is when this disparity began. The team as a whole looked up to her as an inspiration. Initially, we wanted to get our coach back by drawing attention to this unfair termination. The more that came into light made it so much more. Numerous players from a variety of sports at my high school mentioned verbal abuse, injuries they were forced to endure, and the ongoing abuse they faced from their coaches the moment my coach was terminated. My coach's unjust termination felt like hypocrisy because these other sports had been given a pass for such serious incidents. However, because of her choice of music, her use of an app, and her ability to refuse an athletic director, my coach was fired. With the cooperation of parents, students, and community members who have made it possible for us to attend events such as nationals and competitions; we decided to give back by providing a voice to the students who are afraid to discuss this maltreatment. The first person in this group to email the Lyon County School District to alert them to the maltreatment of student-athletes was myself. I gave voice to parents who are afraid to speak up for their children and to children who are afraid to speak out because they fear losing the sport that may allow them to pursue secondary education in a four-paragraph email to the superintendent's assistant. This communication and the incident set off a domino effect among students and parents. What started as a termination turned into so much more. It turned into a platform for students to voice their opinions and alter Fernley High School's sports politics. Even though this dispute is still ongoing, it united a group of athletes from cheerleading to wrestling. Every athlete's experience was included. The school board has been informed of every instance of verbal abuse, maltreatment, and injury brought on by a coach and will continue to do so until something changes. All of this reaffirmed my desire to help others who, under any circumstances, are unable to help themselves. Being a nurse will enable me to save people's lives both physically and emotionally, in addition to helping them during their darkest moments, much like the Fernley sports community pulled together to support one another in this dark moment. You can only imagine the thoughts these student-athletes had as a result of the abuse, and I want to be able to support and assist people who are going through similar things.

I've had a strawberry allergy for as long as I can remember. When the usual "any allergies?" question was asked at a class party, I would always raise my hand and respond "Strawberries." Naturally, I would receive the startled looks and the "you're missing out" remarks. All of the physicians' advice was that I would ultimately grow out of my allergy, but allergies are scary for everyone. Growing up, I gradually lost the recollection of learning I was allergic, but I was always aware that I had a strawberry allergy. When asked if I had any allergies, I continued to answer the same way when I started high school. When I was fifteen, I went to an approaching Colorguard banquet and met a boy. We quickly started dating as a result of our shared love of music. He helped me learn a lot of things, including how to defend someone when they were in the wrong. He turned into an allergy after I ended our relationship because of the verbal abuse about how I never stood up for him enough. My heart would race at the mere mention of his name. This all was until a completely different guy added me on social media. He merely said hello to me, yet we spoke all day and night. Everything was discussed, including our allergies. He was allergic to mangos, and I was allergic to strawberries. We gradually got closer as we discussed our unpleasant allergy experiences. He showed me the value of taking risks and that it's okay to face our anxieties about our allergies. As time went on, our bond grew and we threw ourselves into trying our allergies. Before I knew it, we started dating, and I started throwing strawberries on my plates. Before I knew it, I did not have any reaction. I loved them. He threw mangos on his plate, and he did not react. Our fears of trying something we were told we were going to grow out of eventually, the fear of jumping into a new relationship after our horrible experiences, we grew out of. Trying something new is not scary if you are around the right people is what he told me. All you need is the right person to show you how good something can be. All you need is the right person to show you how good a healthy relationship can feel. The doctors were right, and these experiences of trying something new that I was once scared of weren’t terrifying.