I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine, to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not opened, joining hands with our school’s medical staff in educating others on basic first- aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. I would see cleaners in my boarding school and buy them snacks in case they were hungry. I would see myself putting others’ needs before mine but there was only so much I could do alone. I was tired. I was tired of constantly waiting for someone to help me help others; I felt weak and useless so I decided to create my own community service group. I called it “The Innovators”: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school I knew I had to do more in bettering their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty as they did not have any. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come summer 2020 the restroom construction was complete! I also had the opportunity to shadow nurses and the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in the health field and I believe under my compassionate, people-centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions, and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that a career in Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care towards people in their most vulnerable moments every day.

I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine, to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not opened, joining hands with our school’s medical staff in educating others on basic first- aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. I would see cleaners in my boarding school and buy them snacks in case they were hungry. I would see myself putting others’ needs before mine but there was only so much I could do alone. I was tired. I was tired of constantly waiting for someone to help me help others; I felt weak and useless so I decided to create my own community service group. I called it “The Innovators”: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school I knew I had to do more in bettering their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty as they did not have any. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come summer 2020 the restroom construction was complete! I also had the opportunity to shadow nurses and the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in the health field and I believe under my compassionate, people-centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions, and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that a career in Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care towards people in their most vulnerable moments every day.

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. A life without service seems unfruitful, you could say all these thoughts drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to later become a CRNA. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not open, joining hands with our schools’ medical staff in educating others on basic first-aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me on the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion by starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school, I knew I had to do more to better their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come the summer of 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break, I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people-centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care toward people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion to success will serve me well

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. A life without service seems unfruitful, you could say all these thoughts drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to later become a CRNA. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not open, joining hands with our schools’ medical staff in educating others on basic first-aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me on the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion by starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school, I knew I had to do more to better their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come the summer of 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break, I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people-centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care toward people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion to success will serve me well

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. A life without service seems unfruitful, you could say all these thoughts drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to later become a CRNA. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not open, joining hands with our schools’ medical staff in educating others on basic first-aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me on the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion by starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school, I knew I had to do more to better their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come the summer of 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break, I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people-centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care toward people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion to success will serve me well

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. A life without service seems unfruitful, you could say all these thoughts drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to later become a CRNA. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not open, joining hands with our schools’ medical staff in educating others on basic first-aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me on the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion by starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school, I knew I had to do more to bettering their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come the summer of 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break, I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people-centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care toward people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion for success will serve me well

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. You could say it’s what drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to pursue a Master's in Nursing within the next decade. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine, to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not open, joining hands with our school’s medical staff in educating others on basic first-aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me on the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion by starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school, I knew I had to do more in bettering their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come summer 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break, I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned that CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people-centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions, and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care towards people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion for success will serve me well.

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. A life without service seems unfruitful, you could say all these thoughts drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to later become a CRNA. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine, to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not opened, joining hands with our schools’ medical staff in educating others on basic first- aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me in the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school I knew I had to do more in bettering their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come summer 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people- centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care towards people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion to succeed will serve me well.

Thank you, Pratibha, for recognizing students engaged in multiple activities yet manage to maintain a substantially high GPA. I am Chinelo Ejiofor, currently a junior at Texas State University with a Nursing major and both Business Administration & Health Communication minors. I am the Secretary and Vice President of my university chapter Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society in which I devoted 3 hours a week, both Public Relations Officer and Treasurer of my Black Health Professions Organization on campus with a devotion of 2 hours a week, Student Liaison of my Organization of Student Social Workers with a devotion of 2 hours a week and Student Peer Mentor of my university in which I dedicate 6 hours a week. Outside of these organizations I also am a member of my schools Financial Management Association, Pre-nursing Organization and Healthcare Leadership Coalition. I joined these student organizations as they align with my belief that a life without service is an unfruitful life lived. I worked at my university's' College of Science and Engineering Advising Center 20 hours a week all through my Spring 2022 semester while juggling my leadership positions and was able to successfully end the semester of 17 credit hours with a 4.0 GPA, putting me on the semester Dean's List and effectively carried out all obligated duties in each organization I identified with. This summer I took on 10 credit hours of Summer School while working 25 hours a week on my university campus and attending regular organization meetings, I recently wrapped up my summer classes managing to finish with 3 A's and 1 B. I also do enjoy participating in volunteer opportunities and the largest one I have upheld this year would have to be Texas State university's' Bobcat Build. This is a whole day dedicated to volunteering help where needed to the residents of San Marcos and include but not limited to the river cleanup, school paintings, park cleanup. I along with my Pre-nursing organization were assigned to an elderly resident where we helped her clear out her garden and gutters. Because of my leadership and civic activities, I was nominated by a professor and became a recipient of my university award, "The Texas State University LBJ Civic Leadership Award". Because of my academic achievements I received invitations to join my university's' chapter of Sigma Alpha Lambda National Leadership and the National Society of Leadership and Success. Also because of my academic achievements, civic duties, and leadership to my local Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society I recently received an exclusive special honor chord and gained admission into my university's Honors College. These achievements have also helped me gain admission into some company Insight conferences, Leadership Development Programs and Management programs. These are just experiences of my most recent college semester and a few things I have taken away from them are that discipline and boundaries go a long way in mastering the act of successfully and effectively multitasking events that happen in your life. These attributes enabled me to strategically manage my time between leadership experiences, extracurricular activities, and college work to still maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.73 that I have today.

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. A life without service seems unfruitful, you could say all these thoughts drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to later become a CRNA. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine, to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not opened, joining hands with our schools’ medical staff in educating others on basic first- aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me in the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school I knew I had to do more in bettering their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come summer 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people- centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care towards people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion to succeed will serve me well.

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. A life without service seems unfruitful, you could say all these thoughts drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to later become a CRNA. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine, to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not opened, joining hands with our schools’ medical staff in educating others on basic first- aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me in the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school I knew I had to do more in bettering their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come summer 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people- centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care towards people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion to succeed will serve me well.

“It’s nice to have a nurse in our friend group.” This is a statement I have become accustomed to hearing since middle school as well as “she’s the mum of the group” and I have always taken and will continue to take pride in being addressed as those. You could say it’s what drove me to where I am now, a college junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with hopes to pursue a Masters in Nursing within the next decade. I have always had a passion for helping others and volunteering amongst my peers all through my years of boarding school in Nigeria only amplified that passion. From purchasing and distributing first-aid kits to the less privileged community schools around mine, to caring for my peers in our hostel throughout the night when the school clinic was not opened, joining hands with our schools medical staff in educating others on basic first- aid care, tending to them for visual learning and visiting Elderly homes every school semester to entertain them with donations of all kinds. My fundamental values surrounding compassion and human connection have steered me in the path of pursuing a nursing career. I took a step towards fulfilling that passion starting The Innovators: a community service group a couple of friends and I organized to elevate the poor learning conditions of a neighboring community school for younger kids with the initial goal of weekly visitations to give healthcare lessons and tips. However, upon arrival at the school I knew I had to do more in bettering their learning conditions. I felt a responsibility for my community’s welfare and so I suggested we construct restrooms for the students and staff faculty. Instead of simply asking our parents for money, we worked on numerous fundraisers to allocate funds for the project as I knew that would be most appreciated by the school. The fundraisers were successful! While unfortunately I relocated from Nigeria to Houston for my last years of high school and was not able to be there, I was still able to remotely contribute to the process of the project and come summer 2020 the restroom construction was complete! During a summer break I was invited by our family surgeon to shadow nurses and operations in the hospital. I learned CRNAs standardly provide anesthesia care for their patients before, during, and after surgery, differing from doctors who typically visit multiple patients a day. As I observed vigilantly the interactions with the CRNA and her patients, the beauty I saw in the patient-nurse relationship solidified my aspirations for a career in nursing and I believe under my compassionate, people- centered care I can become a source of relief and comfort for others, a true gift. Since then, I assisted the school’s medical staff with certain duties like ensuring students on call for medications received them at the appropriate times, while away on competitions, accompanying the medical team on away competitions and assisting in rendering care to anyone hurt during a game, no matter how small the injury. These cumulative experiences showed me that Nursing offers me a career where I get to experience a sort of compassion and care towards people in their most vulnerable moments every day. As I head back home for Christmas break, I am looking forward to shadowing more nurses in the First Cardiology Hospital in Nigeria. I am beyond excited to showcase what my willingness to learn and help people can offer and although pursuing this career may be laborious, I believe my passion to succeed will serve me well.

American author Napoleon Hill once said, "If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." We often for-see how the little things in life make a difference and solely focus on a bigger picture, but I feel we all forget to notice that a bigger picture is not just drawn, there are little steps taken to achieve that, little steps in which ought to be great to accomplish greatness of a bigger picture. This quote means a lot to me because lately, I see some of my peers on social media, if not some a little older, already living the life we most wish to have and sometimes feel like I am in a rush, a competition to reach the same level in which they are, feeling like a failure since I have not. I remind myself that it's okay to still be at the pace I am in, it's okay to progress a little slower than others as these small accomplishments will eventually build up to how great I become in the future. The fact isn't to be superior to other people, however, to be superior to who I was the other day. This quote is special to me as it gives me hope and comfort that my race is not to be rushed butt taken at the pace I am most comfortable in.

Daria Bagrintseva, Russian artist and her BDSM painting is one of my favorites. I feel like when it comes to exploration of different sex lifestyles, females are made out to just settle for what is common, vanilla missionary sex. I feel that women having interest in likes of BDSM portrays a kind of sadistic and degrading role amongst some people and quickly dismissed as something offensive. I believe Daria’s paintings speaks up for women interested in the lifestyle, portraying the kind of trust invested in BDSM relationship and just how powerful people who indulge in the lifestyle are, both mentally and emotionally. Sometimes a woman's pleasure is often ignored and unfulfilled and women should be given just as much a right as men are in exploring her sensual needs. This genre is anything but vulgarity as the acts that inspire her kind of work are a part of human nature.

Firstly, I would love to commend the degree in which the program uses to give back to those with special circumstances which wouldn't easily enable them to accomplish what they wish to achieve. I have a 3-year-old cousin who has recently been diagnosed with autism and have always found that I took extra care for him compared to that of his twin sister. I always felt he was special and just needed time for growth as compared to his sisters’ rapid rate in growth, but he was not showing growth in some sense and was checked out. He undergoes speech therapy to help him in formulating of words while his sister could be mistaken for an adult with the way she speaks. I feel like joining this program would be a duty I can fulfill to him and other people in the world like him, show them there are people who care about them, and go out of their way to to advocate for them, it would be an honor.

Would it be considered selfish if I say my heart is my “everything”? On the off chance that my heart were to at any point go hard like Pharaoh or Israel it would be the most lamentable thing I might go through. It stays the principal wellspring of everything in my life, my satisfaction, my pity just as my solace. My heart has consistently been with me through difficult stretches, have confidence it's my most esteemed belonging. Protecting my heart at all costs is what’s generally imperative to me, protecting my aura, it gives my avowed identity and never lets me forget to hang onto who I am as if I leave my heart unguarded, I'd only suffer heartache and sorrow. Some might disagree and consider family their everything, but even family can turn its back on you, desert you at needed times but the heart, always there no matter what. My custom blanket of comfort, I’d always keep my hearts peace.