When I hear my peers describe their reasons for attending nursing school, many of them say that they want to help people. However, my desire to help people arises from one very special person: my sister. She was very important in my life, but I lost her when she passed away. She had lupus, heart problems, and many other health issues which ultimately caused her death. Seeing her struggle was very difficult, but seeing how nurses were there to help her inspired me. These nurses saw her and our family during the very worst times, but they did their best to help. I want the opportunity to help other people during their very worst times, as those nurses did for my sister and our family.

I am currently a sophomore in nursing school. I work as a pediatric medical assistant as well as a server at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. My job as a pediatric medical assistant job arises from my deep appreciation for what health care professionals do and from my experiences with my sister. I believe that working in the healthcare field now gives me a better understanding of what to expect and what skills I need to develop in my future as a pediatric nurse practitioner. Nevertheless, being a pediatric medical assistant does not pay all the bills, so I must also work at Cracker Barrel which also affords me the opportunity to develop skills I will use as a nurse. In this job I meet a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds. I have to learn how to communicate with them and get along with them in order to provide quality service. Many of those same principles will apply when I am a nurse.

If I were to receive the scholarship, it would go a long way towards helping me pay for nursing school and other living expenses. I would continue to work as a pediatric medical assistant and a Cracker Barrel server, but the money from the scholarship would keep me from having to work as many shifts as the restaurant. Not having to work as many shifts would free up time and energy I could focus on school. I could devote more time and effort to assignments, studying, and preparing myself to become the pediatric nurse practitioner I want to be. I recognize that nursing school is not easy, so having the physical resources (financial support) that free up my personal resources (time and energy) is invaluable. This is why the scholarship would be so important and beneficial.