Feltus Impact Fund Scholarship

Domestic Violence has been at an all time high. As a disciplined student, I have always believed that whenever you take a task; you complete it and do full justice with it. May it be academics, sports, projects or extracurricular activities I have given my best. Once I start work, I don’t get distracted until I complete it. And I believe this is very essential and positive characteristics of anyone’s personality trait. I think the best way to sharpen what you have learned is to apply the knowledge in the practical work. So my passion is to use my personal experience and my education in order to make a difference from on the inside; which is why I currently work for a Domestic Violence Shelter as a Youth Mentor. I am aiming for Adult Case Manager. This scholarship will give me the chance to increase my career options and continue to get the best education possible, in order to advocate for Domestic Violence Victims. My mother was a DV Victim for 12 1/2 years, and it really traumatized my siblings and I— even til this day. I still find myself dealing with certain triggers in certain situations because of that trauma. What we endured, I vowed to do as much as i could so another child wouldn’t have to suffer for as long as we did; so another child wouldn’t end up having to watch their mother be buried; so another child won’t have to worry about watching their back every time they go to school; so another chid wouldn’t have to hear their mother being threatened and verbally abused.

Being the only minority and black girl in my middle school in Brazil nearly drove me to my own suicide. Thus, discrimination has had the greatest impact on me and my dream career. I faced heaps of microaggressions and direct racist attacks, not only by students, but also teachers. Fortunately, I had my family to help me throughout a childhood that I missed out on due to trauma from racism and bullying. Funny enough, growing up in Brazil before moving to the United States as a teenager really instilled a passion for caring for the immediate needs of others because I also saw the major differences within the healthcare system, both cost and treatment for patients immediately. My passion for pharmacy only grew over the years. During my senior year of high school, I was accepted into the Pharmacology/Pharmacy Technician program at Miller Career and Technology Center which included an internship to earn a Pharmacy Technician Certification. Unfortunately, due to my mother’s battle with cancer, which she unfortunately passed away from later on, and my father being at high risk of contracting COVID-19, I was not able to partake in the class or the internship. Although this missed opportunity initially discouraged me, I have not given up on the desire to earn a Pharmacy Technician Certification. In fact, I am even more determined. I am currently studying Biology as my major, with Chemistry and Entrepreneurship as my double minors. Since I am on the Pre-Pharmacy track, I plan on earning a Pharm.D. degree from UNT’s Health Science Center after graduating from University of North Texas with my biology degree. Then, I would like to go a step further by becoming an actual, practicing pharmacist and dispensing medication to patients in need. My dream is to open my own practice, possibly after working in retail or in a clinical pharmacy for years. I would love to open up my own pharmacy so that I can develop personal relationships with my patients beyond other pharmacies and ensure their holistic wellbeing. I intend on working in this field so that I may help people in my community, and possibly even outside of it, with health issues by providing them with medicine necessary to live life to the full. Eventually, I look forward to helping minorities who have been underdiagnosed and ignored by a healthcare system that is meant to help them achieve prime health, considering the fact that I have an understanding of how discrimination affects people, even in the medical field, since my mother was a victim of that. I am willing to sacrifice years of my life to studying and learning about how systems have failed people and methods to improve the health of our community and help heal the world, person by person. In the past, I have been discouraged by criticism even if it were constructive, simply because I was a hypersensitive person- courtesy of my experiences as a child. Over the past year though, I have met with a couple counselors and many friends to talk about my wellbeing. Consequently, I have opened up to their comments and opinions concerning areas of my life that need improvement, which has allowed me to see myself from a different perspective and thus allow me to seek self improvement. Additionally, not only will I be open to correction, but I will also be sure to call out biased behavior, whether I am certain it will directly affect someone or not. This will be a use of time that I particularly look forward to, so that other people have healthier experiences.

I am a rising junior studying Biomedical engineering student at North Carolina A&T State University. My ultimate career goal is to strive to obtain a doctorate degree upon completion of my undergraduate journey. I want to secure a job with a pharmaceutical or biomechanic company because I want to aid in the improvement of medical devices. I have always been captivated with medical robotics and how they could impact and improve the daily works of society. I will achieve these goals by building network connections with program coordinators and facilitators, participating in engineering research projects, and gaining more internship experience in substrands of Biomedical engineering. Since the beginning of my junior year of high school I have been trying to build on my engineering knowledge. I participated in the Young Women In Science Investigation Program(YWISE) partnered with The University of Texas at Dallas for two consecutive years. Junior year of high school, I worked amongst a team to assemble a submersible drone for underwater exploration. The objective of the drone benefits research in underwater locations that are not feasible to physically be present in. Senior year, I worked with another team to experiment with the elastocaloric effect, the expanding and contracting of rubber bands to cool down objects through conduction. A small prototype refrigerator was developed with this effect to display an alternative refrigeration system without the use of pollutants present in modern day refrigerators. In addition, in the summer of 2021 I committed to my first internship with the University of California Irvine-Pathways to Accelerating and Computing Engineering AAMU program. I worked with my faculty mentors in implementing the picasso method, blindly unmixing overlapping fluorophore proteins via matlab. During the research, I learned that picasso is beneficial in Biomedical engineering when attempting to unmix overlapping cells for identification. Recently, I was a mentee in the The Apple Women In Science Engineering Mentorship program. In this program I learned how to prepare for graduate school, interview discussions, and the transition to industry work. Currently, I am a mentor in the HBCU First Near-Peer Mentorship program. I am guiding my first year intern through a 10 week program involving the preparation of undergraduate studies. Attending daily career building workshop events to expand knowledge on the entrance into industry and creating a capstone video with my mentee detailing our experience in the program. In conclusion, I also want to learn more about the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry of Biomedical engineering and would like to secure an internship in biotechnology to broaden my knowledge. I want to advance medical equipment making it accessible and safer for future medical procedures.

My grandmother has always been an inspiration for me when choosing my career. She was a prestigious Registered Nurse receiving multiple accolades and head positions. She would always tell me the stories of being a nurse. She would also tell me how hard it was for her to achieve all that she did, especially being one of the few black females. After hearing her stories, I felt so empowered. I knew what I wanted to do. I did not just want to be a registered nurse, I wanted to go further. I want to be a General Nurse Practitioner! I have a powerful urge to help people in any way I can and I know that if I am a Nurse practitioner I will be able to achieve my goal while not only representing the black community but also representing black females! I know that it is not going to be easy. I know being a nurse will be more than just an impact on my local community, becoming a nurse will be an impact on the world. My biology degree along with my nursing degree will be a step towards a better future for those who are less fortunate, those who feel alone, those who feel like they are at the end, and so many more individuals and families. My major will be the beginning of flourishing occasions and bountiful blessings for many. Because I will have both my biology and my nursing degree, I will be the educated female this world needs. I will be able to say that I am not a statistic. I am not a number, but in fact an educated Black nurse practitioner. I am willing to go the extra mile just to make sure someone is taken care of and knows they are loved. When I become a General Nurse Practitioner I will also become a part of Black Excellence! Being a Nurse means you must have the desire to help people. With that being said, I love to work in the community and give back to the less fortunate. By becoming a licensed nurse practitioner I will be the face of medicine as well as the leader that will push our community to offer adequate care to all. I will provide a safe space for all patients as well as a sense of security to ease the daunting and fearful choices patients and their families might have to make. Although I know I will be put in strenuous situations and what feels like impossible places to get out of, with my persistence and my beaming vision of my goals and aspirations I will always put my community on a high pedestal. Huston-Tillotson University will allow me to embrace the community and give back more than I could ever imagine. Huston-Tillotson will offer me my biology degree that will give me the confidence and the strength to become a leader for not only my local community but for little girls who desire to be a nurse just like me . My college education will pave a path for me to not only grow and mature but to also become a leader in my medical profession. Huston-Tillotson University will mold me and ground me to become an active member in my community even when I am off duty as a nurse. Having the label of a licensed nurse is just the surface of giving back, but how much you are willing to give even for non-profit organizations outside of the workplace determines how dedicated and how true you are to the future generations.