Anna Sage Scholarship

Nursing is something that I always wanted to do but never thought I was capable of until life gave me the motivation I needed to push through and realize that I can do hard things. I decided to change course and pursue nursing after experiencing both a global pandemic and motherhood. My labor with my daughter was long and hard, and the nurses in labor and delivery supported me in my most vulnerable and scary moments in a way that no one else could, I left the hospital already considering making the change to be able to be that person in the lives of others. A few months after I had my daughter, the pandemic began. While sitting in my house during the lockdown and seeing how badly nurses were needed, I enrolled at my local community college in the prerequisite classes needed to start my career in nursing. I am now in the second year of my BSN with a 4.0 GPA. Receiving this scholarship would help me tremendously in reaching my goal of obtaining my BSN. As a mother and an adult student, I have more responsibilities than the average student both financially and physically. As a mother, my time must be split in order to stay present in my daughter's life. In order for me to be able to take on the class load that a BSN requires I have had to put my daughter in childcare while also working significantly fewer hours which has certainly taken its toll financially. I have rearranged my entire life and am basically starting over at this point in my life to make sure that I can reach my goal of becoming a nurse and providing a better life for my daughter. Despite my efforts, I still had to put most of my supplies and books as well as part of my tuition on credit cards this year as I did not receive enough funding which is not at all a sustainable way to go about paying for my education in the long run. Receiving enough financial support to not have to use any high-interest avenues such as credit cards or private loans would not only help for obvious financial reasons but would also take such a large mental load off my conscience that would allow me to breathe just a little bit easier. Any and every scholarship that I receive no matter how small helps greatly toward my goal of becoming a nurse and creating a better life for my daughter and a better community through nursing.