Assalam Aleykum My name is Estefania Sanchez 1: My major is Biology and minor is French. My University is Loyola University Chicago. I selected a Biology Major because I am interested in how life is formed subhanallah. I completed 2 years of research at my university along a professor studying Fruit Flies and how their genome is very similar to us Humans to better understand understand our life components. I selected a French minor because I always wanted to visit France when I was very young. Cultures are something I always tend to gravitate towards. 2: My biggest strength is Resilience. I have gone through many obstacles in my life enough to have put me down from accomplishing many things and enough to discourage me from getting up and trying again. I have had an economic struggle throughout my educational career since I am a first generation student from Immigrant parents which lived paycheck by paycheck unable to help me pay for college nor I had a mentor growing up to teach me to apply for scholarships or to save money for my college studies. Up to this day even though now I am married I have always paid for my studies since my husband is also unable to help me financially with tuition costs and our family continues to grow. My weakness can be said that I overwork myself too much. This comes from my immigrant parents I think because I saw them working always everyday and for long hours per day doing strenuous work in factories with the minimal pay. This made me into a daughter that also keeps working all day to help her parents and her family. This is the least I can do for them since they sacrificed their youth and time with all their efforts for me and my sisters mashallah. 3. I am a mother now with the aspiration to finish my bachelor's degree so I can pursue Medical School in the future. I have been a certified nursing assistant that became a nurse that will become a physician one day and provide holistic care to my community in the future inshallah. I deserve this scholarship because I am different from other candidates. By this I mean that my life experience has been different than most. I work hard and I continue to work had to achieve milestones during my path. 4. My favorite book is my own book by the title: Tu Puedes! Which translates to You Can Do it! The first Mexican Muslim Latino Motivational book soon in the market. I wrote this book to be a source of motivation for any child to not give up and accomplish their dreams. That with the power of faith, hard work and dedication anything is possible! This book is part of how diverse Islam can be. I hope it can benefit my non Muslim Latino community to know who Muslims are and for my Muslim community to know who are Latino Muslims and get to know more about them. Islam is growing and continuing to seek knowledge is every Muslim's duty. This book will be released right after this Ramadan 2024. I already reached out to my local masjid to do a read out event and plan to do with more local masjids Inshallah. 5: My greatest achievement is becoming a Muslim. Alhamdullilah that Allah chose me for this and may it be through me that I can also be an example for others to be guided. JZK for this opportunity and may the winner honor the legacy of Al-Haj Abdallah Rashid Abdallah.

I am seeking to become a friend of an occupational therapist. I am planning to become a Physician one day. I have resilience in my genes. My parents and their parents accomplished so much for their children and that's something I would also like to do. I am a mother of 2 girls. One is in heaven and the other one is just 1 year and 6 months old. I am trying to finish my bachelor's degree at the moment. I am studying Biology and French at my university. I know the power of being educated and would like to be an example to my daughters so they can know how hard their mom worked to be able to defend herself in case something happened. Growing up English was my second language and Spanish was my first language. I self-taught myself English since my parents only spoke Spanish. It was very hard to learn a new language but with time I realized I loved languages and culture so I decided to also take on a new language (French) and minor in it in college. I am now a polyglot since I can also speak and understand Urdu a language I learned because of my marriage to an Indian man. I plan on becoming a doctor in the future and I will utilize the languages I have learned to provide for my patients more holistically in the language they speak. I say this because I am a daughter of immigrant parents that dedicated her whole life to translating for them. I remember being a 10-year-old child in a rheumatologist's office trying to interpret the medical jargon to my father whose knees were hurting from the heavy-duty jobs he would perform at work. I tried to my best abilities to interpret for him but I would get frustrated with the medical offices for their lack of Spanish-speaking staff on site. This continued the same as I was growing up. Physicians would see my interpreting skills and wanted to hire me when I was 14-15 years but I was too young to work. This motivated me to look into the healthcare field to find my calling. I knew I wanted to help people. I started by volunteering as a Spanish interpreter in clinics, then I became a Certified Nursing Assistant, then I became a Nurse, and now I am a Pre-Med student at my university so that I can become a Physician and help people like my dad understand their diagnosis in the language that they speak. We need to see more physicians, occupational therapists and medical professionals that look like the people that they treat to provide better care. As mentioned Christina Taylese Singh did pass away too soon. I lost a daughter too soon as well. I only got to be with her for 40 minutes alive after she was born. But for those 40 minutes, I gave her all the love I could have given her. A very special thanks and a very big hug to the Singh family for the loss of a beautiful woman in the occupational therapist field. Thank you for this scholarship.

My journey to where I am today has taken me years and lots of obstacles my way to becoming who I am today. I have resilience in my genes. My parents and their parents accomplished so much for their children and that's something I would also like to do. I am a mother of 2 girls. One is in heaven and the other one is just 1 year and 6 months old. I am trying to finish my bachelor's degree at the moment. I am studying Biology and French at my university. I know the power of being educated and would like to be an example to my daughters so they can know how hard their mom worked to be able to defend herself in case something happened. Growing up English was my second language and Spanish was my first language. I self-taught myself English since my parents only spoke Spanish. It was very hard to learn a new language but with time I realized I loved languages and culture so I decided to also take on a new language (French) and minor in it in college. I am now a polyglot since I can also speak and understand Urdu a language I learned because of my marriage to an Indian man. I plan on becoming a doctor in the future and I will utilize the languages I have learned to provide for my patients more holistically in the language they speak. I say this because I am a daughter of immigrant parents that dedicated her whole life to translating for them. I remember being a 10-year-old child in a rheumatologist's office trying to interpret the medical jargon to my father whose knees were hurting from the heavy-duty jobs he would perform at work. I tried to my best abilities to interpret for him but I would get frustrated with the medical offices for their lack of Spanish-speaking staff on site. This continued the same as I was growing up. Physicians would see my interpreting skills and wanted to hire me when I was 14-15 years but I was too young to work. This motivated me to look into the healthcare field to find my calling. I knew I wanted to help people. I started by volunteering as a Spanish interpreter in clinics, then I became a Certified Nursing Assistant, then I became a Nurse, and now I am a Pre-Med student at my university so that I can become a Spanish-speaking Latina Physician and help my Hispanic community like my dad understand their diagnosis in the language that they speak. We need to see more physicians that look like the people that they treat to provide better care. A very big thank you to Estanislao for their Fuerzas y Ganas scholarship. Aqui hay muchas Fuerzas y Ganas en esta mujer a seguir adelante para su famila y su gente!

I am a mother of 2 beautiful girls. One is in heaven and my other one is 1 year and 6 months old. I am still in school to obtain my Bachelor's degree in Biology. My dream is to become a Physician one day. I have been in the medical field since I was 10 years old. I am a first-generation Latina student and I started interpreting for my father at the age of 10 when he started to have knee pain from the heavy workload at his jobs. My parents were immigrants coming to the United States for a better life for their 3 daughters. I am the eldest daughter so I translated for my parents all the time when they needed to know what the mail was saying, or what the car mechanic was talking to them about. Most importantly I was their medical interpreter to make sure they understood the Doctor's feedback. I would be frustrated at times with medical office staff since they could not find a Spanish-speaking person to interpret for my dad and I would have to do it. I got frustrated because I was young and I didn't understand many concepts when my dad would ask me what a certain word would mean. I didn't want to give him the wrong information. I wanted to be in the medical field because I wanted to speak to my patients in a language that they would understand and care for them more holistically. In my community, at the moment I am what they call a community catalyst member where I am a member of a group of 7 people that know my community pretty well and we try to highlight individuals in the city that are doing great things in regards to elevating equity and give them grants for their work. A major accomplishment of mine is that I am also a nurse and I spend my weekends at an assisted living facility in my community to take care of my patients that are 65+ years and over and suffer from Alzheimer's disease and dementia. I too am a mentor to my family members and their student friends and try to give them the advice to start saving for their child's education and connect them with scholarship resources. If awarded this scholarship, I will use this money and any other money I receive from other scholarships to cut down my $55,000 college debt. This new year I am going to try to prioritize cutting down my debt so that I can dodge the high-interest rates. I am savvier now in budgeting. I know how all that interest adds up. Thank you Cheesman Family for this beautiful opportunity to help me and my fellow student colleagues to help us decrease our student debt.

My journey to where I am today has taken me years and lots of obstacles my way to becoming who I am today. I have resilience in my genes. My parents and their parents accomplished so much for their children and that's something I would also like to do. I am a mother of 2 girls. One is in heaven and the other one is just 1 year and 6 months old. I am trying to finish my bachelor's degree at the moment. I am studying Biology and French at my university. I know the power of being educated and would like to be an example to my daughters so they can know how hard their mom worked to be able to defend herself in case something happened. Growing up English was my second language and Spanish was my first language. I self-taught myself English since my parents only spoke Spanish. It was very hard to learn a new language but with time I realized I loved languages and culture so I decided to also take on a new language (French) and minor in it in college. I am now a polyglot since I can also speak and understand Urdu a language I learned because of my marriage to an Indian man. I plan on becoming a doctor in the future and I will utilize the languages I have learned to provide for my patients more holistically in the language they speak. I say this because I am a daughter of immigrant parents that dedicated her whole life to translating for them. I remember being a 10-year-old child in a rheumatologist's office trying to interpret the medical jargon to my father whose knees were hurting from the heavy-duty jobs he would perform at work. I tried to my best abilities to interpret for him but I would get frustrated with the medical offices for their lack of Spanish-speaking staff on site. This continued the same as I was growing up. Physicians would see my interpreting skills and wanted to hire me when I was 14-15 years but I was too young to work. This motivated me to look into the healthcare field to find my calling. I knew I wanted to help people. I started by volunteering as a Spanish interpreter in clinics, then I became a Certified Nursing Assistant, then I became a Nurse, and now I am a Pre-Med student at my university so that I can become a Physician and help people like my dad understand their diagnosis in the language that they speak. We need to see more physicians that look like the people that they treat to provide better care. Thank you Seherzada and Masic Family for this scholarship opportunity and good luck to all the scholarship participants as well.

"You are a rising phoenix" I recall my community college advisor telling me when I visited her office. I just got done telling her how I have this big dream of becoming a doctor and how much time I had been in school to accomplish it. Why? because it seems I have been studying for the longest time! I have been taking classes at a time to finish my bachelor’s in biology with a minor in French at my University. But why has it taken me so long you may ask? It has taken me years because of similar reasons to "Manny's" financial needs obstacles. I have never asked my parents to contribute any dollar amount towards my education because they don't have any money where they can spare towards my education. I’m a first-generation student. I have always worked while studying and paying for rent and maintaining myself. Now that years have passed, I have gotten married and have a beautiful 1 year old daughter and I'm still in school. My husband is the patriarch of our family now and he oversees us, but his salary does not give him enough money to help fund my education. For me to continue my studies this semester I had to cut down to part-time status so I can work part-time to pay for my studies. I’m also a mom as I mentioned so my time is split with my Baby, Work and School. If I would win this scholarship, it would help me cover tuition costs for this semester and partially for the next semester. It will be of a great help. By now you can see I have never stopped studying to obtain this bachelor’s degree that I want so bad so I can apply to medical school and become a Latina doctor. Did you know there are only 2.4% of Latina Physicians in this nation? Yes, very few of us. I want to be a doctor so I can help patients like my dad to receive holistic care when they see their MD. In the past I was a 10-year-old in medical offices assisting him with interpreting medical jargon and saw the lack of diversity in many of these offices that pushed me to be interested in health care and that’s all I know now. I started working as a CNA for many years then I went to Nursing school and became a Nurse. In the future I would like to take care of my patients as their doctor. There is just something more beautiful when you treat your patient in the language that they primarily speak and its also something more beautiful when you treat patients that primarily look like you. I am also fluent in French and would love to help any French speaking patients in the future. Having endured financial obstacles and seeing the lack of diversity representation have helped me to continue to be resilient for my community and my future patients. Once a doctor, I won’t give up on my patients and I’ll always advocate for their health. Watch me as a rise from the fire world! and become a strong Phoenix! Thank you for the opportunity and good luck to all applicants.

We should all have the same same opportunity to obtain a college education. As mentioned above with the rising costs of tuition for college, less students are able to enroll due to financial hardships. With the many things I do, I recently signed up to help to look for inequity in my city and write grants to get funded for areas where we need resources especially financial resources so that children and adults can get opportunities like obtaining educational guidance and support. This is something we should all stand for because our children are our future and we are living longer than ever and it's never too late for adults to go back to school and get their educational goals complete. If we can have more educated individuals to the work force we can create a better world. Again, everyone deserves the right towards an education if they want to. Unfortunately many children and adults give up on this dream because of how hard it is to attain. We should all put in the work not just to provide equality but equity as well to those of us that need the extra push or help. I am one of those students: Unfortunately, I wanted to join the college life right after college but because of financial restraints I had to hold off almost 8 years to afford to go to college. I don't wish this on anyone but I also encourage them to keep on persisting. Thank you

I have lost my daughter. She died in my arms in the hospital and there was nothing I could do to save her. I wanted to know why this happened, but the most important thing was that I asked the Doctors to do the best they could to save her. I wanted her to live. I wanted to know what girl she would become. This was taken away from me because I went into pre-term labor at 20 weeks 4 days and delivered her 4 hours after admission from premature rupture of membranes. This was my greatest adversity because there was nothing the Doctors or myself could do to have her stay in this Earth. Her lungs had not developed yet and she could not be intubated. I held her for about 40 minutes because she was such a strong girl already and her heart was still beating. I tried to keep her warm and told her how much I loved her while she was still with me. I was allowed to keep her overnight with me at the hospital but then told I had to leave her in her cold hospital bed so funeral services could get her body ready for burial. The next day she was buried, and I said goodbye to her for one last time. It took time for the pain to heal in my heart and it hurts a little less every day since I know GOD wanted it that way and she is in better hands now. I have been blessed to conceive again. I just met my rainbow baby in June 2021. My rainbow baby is so beautiful just like her older sister that is now in heaven, and she has given me the gift to know what being a mother feels like. Having this experience has thought me that I am such a strong woman to have endured this that it makes me capable to go through anything. Before this I didn't knew how strong a woman's body can be nor how strong her love for her baby can be. This experience made me more hard working towards my goal. I want to finish my bachelor's degree and go into Medical School to become a Physician. I would like to participate in opportunities to deliver care and information to underserved communities. I’d like to work with professors and mentors to help the local area of Chicago with disease treatment and help diverse populations in the city. I’d also like to volunteer at schools and provide hands on learning to students to get them involved in Science/STEM field career interest when they grow up. My life has been hard because I have gone through some financial hardships that have stopped me from obtaining my education. I still have not given up nor will I give up. By being awarded this scholarship it will help me greatly because I can't return to work yet since I had a C-Section done with this baby and I won't be ready to go to work for a while and I'm relying 100% on scholarships. It's unfortunate because I love to work and pay for my own things and needs but I am relying on others at this moment that can't help me. By being awarded this scholarship it would help me much since it will allow me to heal before I go to work. Thank you to the anonymous donor that made this scholarship possible. I'm sure whomever wins it they will really appreciate it and do great things with it. Thank you for the opportunity.

I firmly believe that it is more important to help this present generation because if we can accomplish that then we ensure that the future goes well for the generations to come. By working as a CNA and Nurse for 13 years around the population of 65 years and over I came to learn the beauty of aging. Yes, as it's mentioned in this scholarship overview, we cannot escape aging or reverse its effects yet, one can continue to study aging and how it affects people. One example is Alzheimer's and how it affects the aging person. Working as a CNA in an assisted living facility I got to see many cases of Alzheimer's and one that stood out to me was when this beautiful lady that aged gracefully could not communicate with you anymore because her sentences weren't structured anymore and her speech was like baby speech yet when she saw a piano, she seemed like an unimpaired professional piano player. It's marvelous what the human brain can do like in the above example: It's wonderful how this lady that has advanced Alzheimer's that cannot communicate with you anymore can play wonderful piano music without the musical notes and how her brain seems to remember that only is such an intriguing topic to study. I am interested in becoming a family physician and just recently I have been curious in pursuing an MD/PHD since I have been doing research at my current university and I have been loving it. I plan to apply for the MD/PHD program in medical school and if accepted I plan to work on more research about the aging process and how Alzheimer's affects our aging brain. As mentioned above I have worked for 13 years in the field of gerontology and that has given me the opportunity to hear many past stories from my elderly patients and it's wonderful to hear who these people used to be before aging. I also see many young people in the field being CNA's or nurses and I think that is helping this present generation to get to know more about our aging population. Because of this we are ensuring that our future is taken care of for future generations because our present generation is paving the way for others like themselves to become interested in research or to see the effects of aging and seeing that they themselves will age too and that aging should be something we should study further. As a first-generation college student, I have had hurdles in my path to become a Physician but never have I stopped serving my geriatric community. As you can see, I am passionate about Alzheimer's disease and every year I attend the Alzheimer's walk in hopes that one day there will be a better outcome for those that are struck with this harsh disease that erases their memories. I do it for my residents and their families hoping that one day we come closer to find the cure for this and many aging related diseases existing today. Thank you for giving me and others for the opportunity to apply.

My art piece is not completed yet but it's in my mind waking me up often in some nights on how to make it a real-life idea. As stated in my bio on bold.org I want to be a physician and help many patients seeking care like my dad and many others that can't understand English and give them a straight away hassle-free interpretation service that is well put together and can reach many clinics, and hospitals to help the communication barriers many patients go through when seeking care. Unfortunately, people have been misdiagnosed and suffered great consequences due to the lack of the physician unable to communicate with them. My plan is to create a dial system 24/7 where physicians and clinical staff can call that number and ask for interpretation services at any time of day, any day. This service will be staffed by students or people that are trained in medical terminology and obtain their certificate by my own online certification program. Hospitals and clinics can rest assured that with my dial interpretation system they can provide holistic complete care to their patients by counting on my team to interpret for their patients and minimize the miscommunication and diversity gap there are in the healthcare system. Like Terry Crews mentioned in his partnership video with Bold.org I too am looking for a scholarship. With my hard work and dedication, I am willing to work hard to obtain scholarship opportunities to help me throughout college and allow my dream to come true of becoming a physician, and give my patients care in a language they can speak. Thank you for allowing me to participate in this wonderful opportunity and good luck to the rest of the applicants!

I have lost my daughter. She died in my arms in the hospital and there was nothing I could do to save her. I wanted to know why this happened but the most important thing was that I asked the Doctors to do the best they could to save her. I wanted her to live. I wanted to know what girl she would become. This was taken away from me because I went into pre-term labor at 20 weeks 4 days and delivered her 4 hours after admission from premature rupture of membranes. This was my greatest challenge because there was nothing the Doctors or myself could do to have her stay in this Earth. Her lungs had not developed yet and she could not be intubated. I held her for about 40 minutes because she was such a strong girl already and her heart was still beating. I tried to keep her warm and told her how much I loved her while she was still with me. I was allowed to keep her overnight with me at the hospital but then told I had to leave her in her cold hospital bed so funeral services could get her body ready for burial. The next day she was buried and I said goodbye to her for one last time. It took time to forget the pain in my heart this caused but thankfully I have been blessed to conceive again. I just met my rainbow baby just exactly a month ago from today. My rainbow baby is so beautiful just like her older sister that is now in heaven and she has given me the gift to know what being a mother feels like. I want to finish my Bachelor's Degree. My life has been hard because I have gone through some financial hardships that have stopped me from obtaining my education. I still have not given up nor will I give up. By being awarded this scholarship it will help me greatly because I can't return to work yet since I had a C-Section done with this baby and my job consists of me doing a lot of walking, ending and carrying that I won't be ready to go to work for a while and I'm relying 100% on scholarships since my parents nor my husband can help with my tuition costs since they have their own things to pay for. It's unfortunate because I love to work and pay for my own things and needs but I am relying on others at this moment that can't help me. By being awarded this scholarship it would help me much since it will allow me to heal before I go to work. Thank you to the donor/s that made this scholarship possible. I'm sure whomever wins it they will really appreciate it and do great things with it. Thank you for the opportunity.

One of my biggest influences in my life after my parents is another woman. She is a single, giving, humble, artistic, powerful, educated African American woman. Oh my god the list can go on! This woman Dr. Rise Jones has been a mentor to me since the 4th grade. I was a very shy girl that barely talked and nevertheless, I was so bad during speech presentations because I had terrible stage fright. I remember she came to do a presentation for an after school program about a year long program that would help children create their own opera and they would be the designers of their own clothes, choreography and music design and I was interested and I joined. That year program changed my life as I learned so much from it like appropriate stage directions, working with different local and outside talented artists and more. This program had a continuation for community service outreach after completion of the first year opera. I joined that too. Throughout the years I really enjoyed this program and had the opportunity to spend more time with Dr.Jones that's what we all called her. She runs her own non-profit organization and it's called Hamilton Wings, this program is one of many other programs she runs in her organization. Her non-profit caters to children and parents but mostly to children and these children come from low-income families or that struggle communicating and performing. She literally dedicates her whole life to the education of the future generations which are our children of today. She is so dedicated that if you invite her for your birthday party or choir concert or performance she will come and gift you something. She is such a busy woman but yet makes time for everyone and that is what I admire from her the most. When she is not running her own non-profit organization she is seen performing or increasing her knowledge as well although she already has her PHD in Education. She is an opera singer and she performs locally and internationally. Currently she is taking some classes at The University of California, Berkeley to broaden her education. She never stops learning and that is something I also admire from her. It is hard to find women, and especially women of color in fields such as IT, STEM, Technology, Engineering and Etc. Our workforce needs engineers, astronauts, chemists, software developers, and doctors to name a few that look like our growing population of diversity. With her non-profit she has helped many people of color like myself to give us the opportunity to stay away from gangs or drugs for example by giving us the opportunity to see a performance, be on a stage, or make our own costumes and we are all grateful for that. This woman shaped my career aspirations because I do not just want to be a Physician. I want to be a dedicated physician to all my patients like Dr. Jones is to her students. I am glad to have met Dr. Rise Jones and had the opportunity to have her as a mentor because she has changed the lives of many children like me and still establishes a long term relationship with us and gives us all her support. It is truly beautiful to have wonderful people that are like angels like her. I hope one day I can be half the woman she is and help many and touch the lives of many like she does everyday.

Close your eyes and imagine being a 10 year old in an orthopedic doctor’s office, and trying to find the word for ligament in Spanish. Imagine trying to understand the doctor’s complex medical vocabulary and translate it to your Spanish speaking father. Well, that 10 year old child was me at some point in my life. That day would mark the beginning of the many occasions I'd translate for my parents, and today I don't regret any of them. I have grown to have an interest in medicine and I have grown to love cultural diversity. I am the first one in my family to go to college. I know I can do much with my Associates in Arts and I am blessed to where I stand now. I have learned a lot in my years at Elgin Community College in regards to Medicine . I have been working as a C.N.A for 7 years and I have developed the interest in becoming a Physician and this is exactly what I desire to be doing. That would be my dream career. I am just a recent graduate to nursing school and on Oct,22,2019 I became a Licensed Practical Nurse. I’m on my path to achieve my dream career. I want to continue helping patients, I want to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at University and become a Physician. I would love to participate in medical research studies to solve the mysteries that are yet to be solved in our complex medical field. I’d like to publish my findings in cancer research or arthritis pain management one day. I would really like to participate in opportunities to deliver care and information to underserved communities abroad or locally. For example: I’d like to work with professors and mentors to help the local area of Chicago with disease treatment and help diverse populations in the city. I’d also like to volunteer at schools and provide hands on learning to students to get them involved in Science/STEM field career interest when they grow up. I speak 3 languages (Spanish, English, and French) and I am on my way to becoming a polyglot by currently learning Urdu. Now I am not a child anymore and I still translate for my parents when they get a letter in the mail or for a phone call they may not understand. Language develops that connection one can only have when talking to others in their native language. There is a small percentage of cultural diverse bilingual physicians in the USA and I dream of becoming one to help this beautiful diverse country. I would love to study abroad and I have hopes that one day with my hard work and dedication I’d work as a Physician in different countries as well to provide healthcare to those in need. Thank you for allowing me to participate in this scholarship.

I need this scholarship because I can't afford to pay $10,000 per semester for my tuition out of pocket. Last year I was able to fund my education since I was single and didn't need to file with my husband like this year that I am married and needed to input my husband's income as well. The thing is that my husband has things to pay and with our baby he now has more responsibilities on his plate and he cannot afford to help me pay for my school. I have always worked and went to school and previously before my high risk pregnancy I was working full time and attending college full time. I do not have the luxury to not work while in school. The money I earn as a nurse helps me to pay for college but this whole year and halfway of last year I have had no income due to COVID and my pregnancy. I have never stopped going to school even if it's one class at a time if that's all I can afford. I have perseverance, I know I want to become a physician and practice in a third world country to provide healthcare to those that cannot afford it. I wish to save many lives and touch many people by inspiring them to follow their dreams and not let their failures, mistakes, or obstacles get in their way to achieving their goals. I need this scholarship because any monetary amount so I can pay my school and continue my dream is a blessing and will ease my mind to know there is something less to worry about. Thank you for the opportunity.

As stated in my bio portion of this website and in my past submissions of past scholarship essays: I was very young when I started translating for my hardworking dad that visited the Doctor's office in his early 30's because of his hard labor factory work he had to do for long hours. He had no choice because he couldn't get a better job and up until this day he does the same back breaking job because he can't obtain a better job due to his status in this country and his education level. As I was saying above he took me to his appointments and I had to translate the complex medical jargon to him as early as 10 years old. I would ask the medical offices if they had a Spanish speaking translator and most of the time they would say no. This was very hard to do because I was still a child and I tried my best to explain to dad what was going on and if dad didn't take me then he would be wrongly diagnosed or his needs would not be taken care of because of the lack of diversity in these medical offices. These experiences and trips to the many medical offices I visited prepared me to see the lack of Physicians, Nurses, CNA's, Medical Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Receptionists, and the whole health care professionals that lacked diversity in medical offices. It is sad to see my people the people of color today in hard labor jobs, minimum wage jobs, in unemployment, living in poverty, living paycheck by paycheck due to the lack of resources for them and the lack of equity, the residential differences, school district boundaries for the less fortunate and lack of playgrounds or libraries due to money shortages depending on where you live. Unfortunately, these things affect the people of color most and they have a higher ladder to climb than their white counterparts. I have seen it first hand and this is why I too have dedicated my life when I'm not studying or working to give back by volunteering to the most needy and most important to give back to the children that are our future. Just because I am not well off at the moment I can't help by giving back monetarily but I do make sure I give back by giving my time and effort when I can. When I become a Physician I would love to practice in a third world country and provide healthcare to the people that can't afford to be seen by a doctor due to monetary problems and often can die sooner of something that could have been prevented by a checkup at the Doctors office. I'd also love to work with professors and mentors to help my local community of Chicago with disease treatment and help children at schools to provide hands-on learning to get them involved in Science/ STEM field career interests when they grow up.

One of my biggest influences in my life after my parents is another woman. She is a single, giving, humble, artistic, powerful, educated African American woman. Oh my god the list can go on! This woman Dr. Rise Jones has been a mentor to me since the 4th grade. I was a very shy girl that barely talked and nevertheless, I was so bad during speech presentations because I had terrible stage fright. I remember she came to do a presentation for an after school program about a year long program that would help children create their own opera and they would be the designers of their own clothes, choreography and music design and I was interested and I joined. That year program changed my life as I learned so much from it like appropriate stage directions, working with different local and outside talented artists and more. This program had a continuation for community service outreach after completion of the first year opera. I joined that too. Throughout the years I really enjoyed this program and had the opportunity to spend more time with Dr.Jones that's what we all called her. She runs her own non-profit organization and it's called Hamilton Wings, this program is one of many other programs she runs in her organization. Her non-profit caters to children and parents but mostly to children and these children come from low-income families or that struggle communicating and performing. She literally dedicates her whole life to the education of the future generations which are our children of today. She is so dedicated that if you invite her for your birthday party or choir concert or performance she will come and gift you something. She is such a busy woman but yet makes time for everyone and that is what I admire from her the most. When she is not running her own non-profit organization she is seen performing or increasing her knowledge as well although she already has her PHD in Education. She is an opera singer and she performs locally and internationally. Currently she is taking some classes at The University of California, Berkeley to broaden her education. She never stops learning and that is something I also admire from her. It is true as stated by Rhonda Jones the donor for this scholarship that it is hard to find women, and especially women of color in fields such as IT, STEM, Technology, Engineering and Etc. Our workforce needs engineers, astronauts, chemists, software developers, and doctors to name a few that look like our growing population of diversity. With her non-profit she has helped many people of color like myself to give us the opportunity to stay away from gangs or drugs for example by giving us the opportunity to see a performance, be on a stage, or make our own costumes and we are all grateful for that. This woman shaped my career aspirations because I do not just want to be a Physician. I want to be a dedicated physician to all my patients like Dr. Jones is to her students. I am glad to have met Dr. Rise Jones and had the opportunity to have her as a mentor because she has changed the lives of many children like me and still establishes a long term relationship with us and gives us all her support. It is truly beautiful to have wonderful people that are like angels like her. I hope one day I can be half the woman she is and help many and touch the lives of many like she does everyday.

I was born and raised in a small town in Illinois when my parents immigrated from Mexico to pursue a better life for their children. My parents believed if we learned english and went to college we will be in a better position than them and a life away from violence that affects Mexico everyday. We attended public schools and they helped us a lot to develop and challenge us to become a better version of ourselves academically. These schools didn't charge much and most of the time we received assistance from the school to get free or reduced lunch since we were a low-income family. That being said it was a surprise when I got my admission letter in high school from one of the public universities in my state and I was so happy I got the admission but it was a surprise to see the cost of tuition for the year. I remember informing my parents at the time and they were worried how they would pay for the cost of attending. I didn't want to worry them because they both worked in factory jobs earning just the minimum wage and struggled themselves to pay the rent of our house and the costs of daily living that they wouldn't have the money to pay for my school. At the time I would ask myself "How come they didn't save money for when I started college like some of my friends parents did?" Now I know why, because they worked long hard hours to provide for us a better life than the one we would have had in Mexico. So I decided that I would go to a community college and see how that would go. I didn't worry my parents more and I took it upon myself that I would work and that would give me money to save for my tuition. That itself was hard, let me tell you. It was hard because when you start earning and see money coming in you want to spend it and treat yourself to things you never had f.e things like new clothes, or a purse etc. It's hard to save money for college when the money comes in and you start to love earning. This love for spending caused me a setback of a couple years before I restarted college and stop this cycle. I am now trying to complete my bachelors degree to become a physician one day. I am still struggling financially but I am not giving up, I have never stopped working both academically, and in the workforce to help me pay for my education. Legacy to me means leaving a footprint in this world and someone out there talking about you when you are here or no longer here anymore. I feel that my upbringing has led me here today and in the future and I was meant to struggle all this for a reason. I plan and hope to inspire other people of color like myself, women or anyone that has had a struggle and a dream and show them that even if many years pass they are not years lost because certain of us are meant to go through some pain, defeat and failure to make us who we are. I am not giving up, I'm here to fight for my dream, I've come a long way and I will be a physician and heal many people and will become a mentor for children that have the same aspirations. Attached is a picture of my inspiration my mom and dad.

Close your eyes and imagine being a 10 year old in an orthopedic doctor’s office, and trying to find the word for ligament in Spanish. Imagine trying to understand the doctor’s complex medical vocabulary and translate it to your Spanish speaking father. Well, that 10 year old child was me at some point in my life. That day would mark the beginning of the many occasions I'd translate for my parents, and today I don't regret any of them. I have grown to have an interest in medicine and I have grown to love cultural diversity. I am the first one in my family to go to college. I know I can do much with my Associates in Arts and I am blessed to where I stand now. I have learned a lot in my years at Elgin Community College in regards to Medicine . I have been working as a C.N.A for 7 years and I have developed the interest in becoming a Physician and this is exactly what I desire to be doing. That would be my dream career. I am just a recent graduate to nursing school and on Oct,22,2019 I became a Licensed Practical Nurse. I’m on my path to achieve my dream career. I want to continue helping patients, I want to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at University and become a Physician. I would love to participate in medical research studies to solve the mysteries that are yet to be solved in our complex medical field. I’d like to publish my findings in cancer research or arthritis pain management one day. I would really like to participate in opportunities to deliver care and information to underserved communities abroad or locally. For example: I’d like to work with professors and mentors to help the local area of Chicago with disease treatment and help diverse populations in the city. I’d also like to volunteer at schools and provide hands on learning to students to get them involved in Science/STEM field career interest when they grow up. I speak 3 languages (Spanish, English, and French) and I am on my way to becoming a polyglot by currently learning Urdu. Now I am not a child anymore and I still translate for my parents when they get a letter in the mail or for a phone call they may not understand. Language develops that connection one can only have when talking to others in their native language. There is a small percentage of cultural diverse bilingual physicians in the USA and I dream of becoming one to help this beautiful diverse country. I would love to study abroad and I have hopes that one day with my hard work and dedication I’d work as a Physician in different countries as well to provide healthcare to those in need. Thank you for allowing me to participate in this scholarship.

Close your eyes and imagine being a 10 year old in an orthopedic doctor’s office, and trying to find the word for ligament in Spanish. Imagine trying to understand the doctor’s complex medical vocabulary and translate it to your Spanish speaking father. Well, that 10 year old child was me at some point in my life. That day would mark the beginning of the many occasions I'd translate for my parents, and today I don't regret any of them. I have grown to have an interest in medicine and I have grown to love cultural diversity. I am the first one in my family to go to college. I know I can do much with my Associates in Arts and I am blessed to where I stand now. I have learned a lot in my years at Elgin Community College in regards to Medicine . I have been working as a C.N.A for 7 years and I have developed the interest in becoming a Physician and this is exactly what I desire to be doing. That would be my dream career. I am just a recent graduate to nursing school and on Oct,22,2019 I became a Licensed Practical Nurse. I’m on my path to achieve my dream career. I want to continue helping patients, I want to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at University and become a Physician. I would love to participate in medical research studies to solve the mysteries that are yet to be solved in our complex medical field. I’d like to publish my findings in cancer research or arthritis pain management one day. I would really like to participate in opportunities to deliver care and information to underserved communities abroad or locally. For example: I’d like to work with professors and mentors to help the local area of Chicago with disease treatment and help diverse populations in the city. I’d also like to volunteer at schools and provide hands on learning to students to get them involved in Science/STEM field career interest when they grow up. I speak 3 languages (Spanish, English, and French) and I am on my way to becoming a polyglot by currently learning Urdu. Now I am not a child anymore and I still translate for my parents when they get a letter in the mail or for a phone call they may not understand. Language develops that connection one can only have when talking to others in their native language. There is a small percentage of cultural diverse bilingual physicians in the USA and I dream of becoming one to help this beautiful diverse country. I would love to study abroad and I have hopes that one day with my hard work and dedication I’d work as a Physician in different countries as well to provide healthcare to those in need. Thank you for allowing me to participate in this scholarship. I also want to note that I understand the loss of a close family members because I too just recently lost my daughter at 20 weeks and 4 days of gestational life in March, 12,2020. It has been very hard to lose her and had carried her in my arms for a couple of minutes before her heartbeat stopped. It was so hard to say goodbye. She was my first child. Her name was Violeta Fatima. I don’t know what kind of daughter she would have been I don’t know if she would have enjoyed to bake or care for animals for example but I do know that I have hopes to one day meet her again and get to know what she has been up to all these years I missed out of her life. God has blessed me with another pregnancy and I’m expecting very soon. I can empathize with parents who have lost their child and let me tell you it’s the worst kind of pain. Cat Zingano says it very well when she states “ The best motivation in life is knowing what you're fighting for." I am fighting for both my daughters everyday to show them not to give up, to be a role model for when they encounter obstacles in life to look up to me and other strong individuals that have been able to push themselves up through hard times. Thank you for allowing me to participate in this scholarship.

In this pandemic I encountered the loss of a child at 20 weeks and 4 days of gestational life. It has been very hard to lose her and had carried her in my arms for a couple of minutes before her heartbeat stopped. It was so hard to say goodbye. She was my first child. Her name was Violeta Fatima. I don’t know what kind of daughter she would have been I don’t know if she would have enjoyed to bake or care for animals for example but I do know that I have hopes to one day meet her again and get to know what she has been up to all these years I missed out of her life. God has blessed me with another pregnancy and I’m expecting very soon. I can empathize with parents who have lost their child and let me tell you it’s the worst kind of pain. Thank you for allowing me to participate in this scholarship.

Close your eyes and imagine being a 10 year old in an orthopedic doctor’s office, and trying to find the word for ligament in Spanish. Imagine trying to understand the doctor’s complex medical vocabulary and translate it to your Spanish speaking father. Well, that 10 year old child was me at some point in my life. That day would mark the beginning of the many occasions I'd translate for my parents, and today I don't regret any of them. I have grown to have an interest in medicine and I have grown to love cultural diversity. I am the first one in my family to go to college. I know I can do much with my Associates in Arts and I am blessed to where I stand now. I have learned a lot in my years at Elgin Community College in regards to Medicine . I have been working as a C.N.A for 7 years and I have developed the interest in becoming a Physician and this is exactly what I desire to be doing. That would be my dream career. I am just a recent graduate to nursing school and on Oct,22,2019 I became a Licensed Practical Nurse. I’m on my path to achieve my dream career. I want to continue helping patients, I want to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at University and become a Physician. I would love to participate in medical research studies to solve the mysteries that are yet to be solved in our complex medical field. I’d like to publish my findings in cancer research or arthritis pain management one day. I would really like to participate in opportunities to deliver care and information to underserved communities abroad or locally. For example: I’d like to work with professors and mentors to help the local area of Chicago with disease treatment and help diverse populations in the city. I’d also like to volunteer at schools and provide hands on learning to students to get them involved in Science/STEM field career interest when they grow up. I speak 3 languages (Spanish, English, and French) and I am on my way to becoming a polyglot by currently learning Urdu. Now I am not a child anymore and I still translate for my parents when they get a letter in the mail or for a phone call they may not understand. Language develops that connection one can only have when talking to others in their native language. There is a small percentage of cultural diverse bilingual physicians in the USA and I dream of becoming one to help this beautiful diverse country. I would love to study abroad and I have hopes that one day with my hard work and dedication I’d work as a Physician in different countries as well to provide healthcare to those in need. I also want to note that I understand the loss of a child because I too just recently lost my daughter at 20 weeks and 4 days of gestational life. It has been very hard to lose her and had carried her in my arms for a couple of minutes before her heartbeat stopped. It was so hard to say goodbye. She was my first child. Her name was Violeta Fatima. I don’t know what kind of daughter she would have been I don’t know if she would have enjoyed to bake as well or cared for animals but I do know that I have hopes to one day meet her again and get to know what she has been up to all these years I missed out of her life. God has blessed me with another pregnancy and I’m expecting very soon. I can empathize with parents who have lost their child and let me tell you it’s the worst kind of pain. Thank you for allowing me to participate in this scholarship.

Close your eyes and imagine being a 10 year old in an orthopedic doctor’s office, and trying to find the word for ligament in Spanish. Imagine trying to understand the doctor’s complex medical vocabulary and translate it to your Spanish speaking father. Well, that 10 year old child was me at some point in my life. That day would mark the beginning of the many occasions I'd translate for my parents, and today I don't regret any of them. I have grown to have an interest in medicine and I have grown to love cultural diversity. I am the first one in my family to go to college. I know I can do much with my Associates in Arts and I am blessed to where I stand now. I have learned a lot in my years at Elgin Community College in regards to Medicine . I have been working as a C.N.A for 7 years and I have developed the interest in becoming a Physician and this is exactly what I desire to be doing. That would be my dream career. I am just a recent graduate to nursing school and on Oct,22,2019 I became a Licensed Practical Nurse. I’m on my path to achieve my dream career. I want to continue helping patients, I want to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at University and become a Physician. I would love to participate in medical research studies to solve the mysteries that are yet to be solved in our complex medical field. I’d like to publish my findings in cancer research or arthritis pain management one day. I would really like to participate in opportunities to deliver care and information to underserved communities abroad or locally. For example: I’d like to work with professors and mentors to help the local area of Chicago with disease treatment and help diverse populations in the city. I’d also like to volunteer at schools and provide hands on learning to students to get them involved in Science/STEM field career interest when they grow up. I speak 3 languages (Spanish, English, and French) and I am on my way to becoming a polyglot by currently learning Urdu. Now I am not a child anymore and I still translate for my parents when they get a letter in the mail or for a phone call they may not understand. Language develops that connection one can only have when talking to others in their native language. There is a small percentage of cultural diverse bilingual physicians in the USA and I dream of becoming one to help this beautiful diverse country. I would love to study abroad and I have hopes that one day with my hard work and dedication I’d work as a Physician in different countries as well to provide healthcare to those in need. Thank you for allowing me to participate in this scholarship.

My name is Estefania Sanchez. I am a Biology major and a French language and literature minor student pursuing medical school. My interest to become a physician started since I was a very young girl. My parents immigrated from Mexico for a better life for me and my siblings. I was born here and since I remember I have translated for them. My dad has been working long hours in factory jobs since he immigrated to the US and has suffered knee pain due to the hard labor he does at work, this eventually caused him to visit the doctor’s office frequently. I always accompanied him to help him understand the complex medical jargon the physician’s would tell him. Even though as I mentioned above I was a little girl but I did my best to make sure dad would get the appropriate care he needed. This is when I saw the lack of diverse physician’s/medical clinic staff to help patients from different backgrounds and cultures. Since then I have worked as a CNA then now as an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) to be of any help to the people like my father that need the care they need in the language they speak. I am also in advanced French classes at my university to broaden my study about Europe and the culture. I am currently in a high risk pregnancy at the moment and as per my doctors suggestions it was advised to me to stop working. I love what I do, to look after my patients and connect with them is very rewarding but unfortunately because of my pregnancy and COVID at this moment I am not earning any money. I would really benefit from any assistance. Thank you for the opportunity.