I discovered my ‘personal mission’ when I was just six: I wanted to help others. A friend cut her wrist on woodchips in the playground, and I rushed over to help and comfort her. It was a natural response and the beginning of my interest in medicine. Over the years, my parents gave me multiple science kits, focusing on everything from suturing to phlebotomy. As I dove into the kits’ experiments, I became obsessed with the experimental process. As I learned about the inadequate maternal health care received by women in my family, I became determined to become a physician-scientist who works to improve health outcomes for women of color. I am confident that I can achieve this career goal because of my previous experiences working to improve the lives of others in my school community. These experiences taught me that I have the perseverance and leadership skills to advocate for change and inspire others to do the same. One of the ways I developed these skills was by helping build my school’s golf program. When I began high school, this program was neglected and underfunded. It was also a sport that less economically advantaged students felt wasn’t for them. I got to work advocating for the program in every way I knew how. I spent months persuading my school administration to support this program. When our coach announced he was retiring, I played a crucial role in helping ensure that our school hired a new one. When students balked at the costs of playing, I helped raise over $2,000 for golf equipment and clothing. I also encouraged other students to try the sport and work with me on building the program. I am proud to report that these efforts resulted in a vigorous women’s golf programming that is now one of my high school’s top sports. I have also worked throughout my high school career to increase the number of underrepresented, low-income students who engage in my school’s STEM activities. As President of my high school’s National Society of Black Engineers Jr (NSBE Jr.) club for the past two years, I’ve organized countless presentations from guest speakers who have shared the stories of their careers. These presentations helped our members gain perspective on the use of engineering. I also helped our NSBE members engage in service activities–a core value for the club– by participating in the annual CARDinals for Kids program. Through this program, our members created educational flashcards for underrepresented and low-income students. Put simply, I am a natural leader who loves to help others in all aspects of my life. In college, I will continue my efforts to change things for the better for my community. I see myself as a future doctor who mentors younger physicians while also helping to improve health interventions. With the luck of receiving this scholarship, I know that I will become Dr. Leya Edwards-Headen, a physician who brings knowledge, skill, and heart to the mission of helping others.

Golf is the sport I am passionate about. One of my earliest and fondest memories of golf was when I was in Panama with my family. My grandfather had me in the backyard trying out clubs to see if I was left-handed or right-handed. Of course, I just wanted to play tag with my cousins. But, when I swung a club for the first time, I was hooked. Luckily, my grandfather and my older cousin already were in the sport of golf and all I needed to do was learn from their expertise. I already had the discipline and determination from the other sports I have done like gymnastics, dance, and diving. So, all I had to do was focus my energy on golf. During the past four years, I have dedicated myself to playing and succeeding at golf in high school. Golf was a sport that challenged me mentally and brought out my leadership skills, which I used to help my school and fellow students. This sport can often be overlooked–it is expensive, underfunded, and associated with wealth. I believed that golf should be available to all, including the students at my public high school. Accordingly, I have worked tirelessly to secure the resources and support needed to make golf a top sport in my school and to create a community for students who love this sport. Last year, I helped raise over $2,000 for uniforms, golf bags, hats, golf shirts, and food through posters, announcements, emails, and phone calls. I spent countless hours communicating with family members, friends, teachers, and students to raise funds for the program and expand participation. As a result of such efforts, I have helped build a robust program for myself and other students. This year, I have already helped two other golfers and myself attain resources to play golf this season, including golf bags inscribed with our team name "Berry Cardinals,” new t-shirts, and pullovers for playing in the winter cold later in the season. As team captain, I had to repeatedly advocate for my team through numerous discussions with my school’s athletic director to ensure that our golf team had adequate support. I have also played a key role in helping ensure that our school hired a new golf coach after our previous coach retired. Again, my advocacy and persistence with my school administration made a difference. I was nervous over the summer into this year about not getting a coach in time but a coach was hired. I love helping my teammates improve their skills and step out of their comfort zone with a complicated sport like golf. The fact is, golf is great training for life. It provides the satisfaction that comes from completing a hard course and refusing to give up no matter how hard the challenge is. That is why I made an effort to create a legacy for future women golfers who will follow behind me once I have left Phillip O. Berry with the necessary resources to play the sport we love.

Three years ago, I was recently diagnosed with iron anemia. Iron anemia can affect people in many different ways but for me, it was an up-and-down experience. At first, I didn’t know why I was so tired, sleeping all the time, and I didn’t even leave the house. There was one week when I didn’t eat at all. I was depressed and blamed it on the Covid pandemic, but I never had the illness. Eventually, I got better, but I still felt tired from time to time. When I went to my annual doctor appointment they noticed my iron levels were deficient. My iron anemia affected where I wanted to go and my overall mental health. On top of my diagnosis, I felt lost during the COVID pandemic since I recently retired from gymnastics, I didn’t know what to do. I was in gymnastics for so long, when Covid happened, it stalled my interaction with others and figuring out what I wanted to do next. I knew I wanted to dive into my passion for science, but I couldn’t, and I felt stuck. I was tired all the time, I felt so depressed that I just slept it off. It was a feeling I wanted to get rid of and my iron pills helped alleviate that burden. It was not until my mother sat me down and explained that I still had ample time to try other things. So, I began to play golf. In golf, I found a sport I could play without giving up all other extracurricular activities. It was also a sport that less economically advantaged students felt wasn’t for them. I got to work advocating for the program in every way I knew how. I spent months persuading my school administration to support this program. I practiced golf year-round and still had time to pursue my passion for science. I ended up residing as president of NSBE Jr. at my high school. I worked throughout my high school career to increase the number of underrepresented, low-income students who engage in my school’s STEM activities. Also, I created educational science videos with Discovery Education. This past year, I qualified for the National Student Leadership Conference, where I met medical professionals and collaborated with peers on medical simulations. Even though I am better overall, I still feel off sometimes to the point I am tired in the middle of nowhere. But, I push through to become the future doctor I want to be. Put simply, I am a tenacious leader who loves to help others in all aspects of my life, no matter the circumstances. In college, I will continue my efforts to change things for the better for my community and future generations who don't always have a voice. I want to be that voice in golf, NSBE in college, and whatever other group I touch in the future. I see myself as a future doctor who mentors younger physicians while also helping improve health interventions and providing compassionate clinical care. The reason is straightforward: When I identify a goal for myself, I work hard, and I focus on it until I achieve it. And, when I encounter a setback, I take a moment to process it, and then I persist. With the luck of receiving a scholarship like this one, I know that I will become Dr. Leya Edwards-Headen, a physician who brings knowledge, skill, and heart to the mission of helping others.

Golf is the sport I am passionate about. One of my earliest and fondest memories of golf was when I was in Panama with my family. My grandfather had me in the backyard trying out clubs to see if I was left-handed or right-handed. Of course, I just wanted to play tag with my cousins. But, when I swung a club for the first time, I was hooked. Luckily, my grandfather and older cousin were already in the sport of golf; all I needed to do was learn from their expertise. I already had the discipline and determination from the other sports I have done like gymnastics, dance, and diving. So, all I had to do was focus my energy on golf. During the past four years, I have dedicated myself to playing and succeeding at golf in high school. Golf was a sport that challenged me mentally and brought out my leadership skills, which I used to help my school and fellow students. This sport can often be overlooked–it is expensive, underfunded, and associated with wealth. I believed that golf should be available to all, including my public high school students. Accordingly, I have worked tirelessly to secure the resources and support needed to make golf a top sport in my school and to create a community for students who love this sport. Last year, I helped raise over $2,000 for uniforms, golf bags, hats, golf shirts, and food through posters, announcements, emails, and phone calls. I spent countless hours communicating with family members, friends, teachers, and students to raise funds for the program and expand participation. As a result of such efforts, I have helped build a robust program for myself and other students. This year, I have already helped two other golfers and myself attain resources to play golf this season, including golf bags inscribed with our team name "Berry Cardinals,” new t-shirts, and pullovers for playing in the winter cold later in the season. As team captain, I had to repeatedly advocate for my team through numerous discussions with my school’s athletic director to ensure that our golf team had adequate support. I have also played a key role in helping ensure that our school hired a new golf coach after our previous coach retired. Again, my advocacy and persistence with my school administration made a difference. I was nervous over the summer into this year about not getting a coach in time but a coach was hired. Put simply, I learned that I am a leader who loves to help others. I love helping my teammates improve their skills and step out of their comfort zone with a complicated sport like golf. The fact is, golf is great training for life. It provides satisfaction from completing a hard course and refusing to give up no matter how hard the challenge is. That is why I made an effort to create a legacy for future women golfers who will follow behind me once I have left Phillip O. Berry with the necessary resources to play the sport we love.

At ten years old, my goal was to become an Olympic gymnast. Naturally, sacrifices had to be made. To pursue this dream, I missed out on many life experiences, from Science Olympiads to birthday parties. But I gained things, too. Through the process of pursuing—and ultimately stepping away from—gymnastics, I learned to follow my own compass and developed the resilience to navigate life’s challenges. Allow me to tell the story. By 5th grade, I was a Level 5 gymnast. I’d had my best year yet, winning every meet. But I was also questioning whether I truly enjoyed gymnastics. After initially ignoring these doubts and pressing on with the sport, I realized that I had pushed myself too hard. I had injured myself, diminishing a growth plate to where I couldn’t move my left elbow without excruciating pain. It wasn’t severe enough to end my gymnastics career but forced me to take time off. While on break, I contemplated why I was doing a sport I was no longer sure I loved. After my injury healed, I returned to gymnastics. I couldn’t give up something that was such a massive part of my life. I was doing better than ever, eventually competing in Level 7 meets. But I still had that nagging feeling. One evening after gymnastics practice, I realized gymnastics was not the path I wanted for my life. I replayed every step of my journey and realized I felt trapped in a cycle of obligation to continue gymnastics just because I was good at it. I retired. It was a breath of fresh air I didn’t know I needed. I loved the freedom of being a normal kid, hanging out with friends, joining school clubs, and participating in sports. Still, it took some time to adjust to all the free time and to find a similar sense of purpose. I needed to find things that would give me the same fulfillment I previously had with gymnastics. For a brief time, COVID shut things down and prevented me from trying new things. I was depressed until my mother sat me down and explained that I still had ample time to try other things. So, I began to play golf. In golf, I found a sport I could play without giving up all other extracurricular activities. I practiced golf year-round and still had time to pursue my passion for science. I ended up leading my high school’s engineering club and creating educational science videos with Discovery Education. This past year, I qualified for the National Student Leadership Conference, where I met medical professionals and collaborated with peers on medical simulations. Retiring from gymnastics made me think about who I was and what I was missing in my life. Today, I am happier and more excited than ever about my dreams for the future, which include going to medical school. Do I regret my time as a gymnast? No. Would I do it all again? Yes. Gymnastics taught me that it takes discipline and hard work to achieve your goals and how to get up again when you fall down—literally and metaphorically. Most importantly, my journey as a gymnast taught me how to pursue my dreams with self-knowledge and honesty. As a result of all the life skills this sport helped me develop, I am confident I will become Dr. Leya Edwards-Headen.

At ten years old, my goal was to become an Olympic gymnast. Naturally, sacrifices had to be made. To pursue this dream, I missed out on many life experiences, from Science Olympiads to birthday parties. But I gained things, too. Through the process of pursuing—and ultimately stepping away from—gymnastics, I learned to follow my own compass and developed the resilience to navigate life’s challenges. Allow me to tell the story. By 5th grade, I was a Level 5 gymnast. I’d had my best year yet, winning every meet. But I was also questioning whether I truly enjoyed gymnastics. After initially ignoring these doubts and pressing on with the sport, I realized that I had pushed myself too hard. I had injured myself, diminishing a growth plate to where I couldn’t move my left elbow without excruciating pain. It wasn’t severe enough to end my gymnastics career but forced me to take time off. While on break, I contemplated why I was doing a sport I was no longer sure I loved. After my injury healed, I returned to gymnastics. I couldn’t give up something that was such a massive part of my life. I was doing better than ever, eventually competing in Level 7 meets. But I still had that nagging feeling. One evening after gymnastics practice, I realized gymnastics was not the path I wanted for my life. I replayed every step of my journey and realized I felt trapped in a cycle of obligation to continue gymnastics just because I was good at it. I retired. It was a breath of fresh air I didn’t know I needed. I loved the freedom of being a normal kid, hanging out with friends, joining school clubs, and participating in sports. Still, it took some time to adjust to all the free time and to find a similar sense of purpose. I needed to find things that would give me the same fulfillment I previously had with gymnastics. For a brief time, COVID shut things down and prevented me from trying new things. I was depressed until my mother sat me down and explained that I still had ample time to try other things. So, I began to play golf. In golf, I found a sport I could play without giving up all other extracurricular activities. I practiced golf year-round and still had time to pursue my passion for science. I ended up leading my high school’s engineering club and creating educational science videos with Discovery Education. This past year, I qualified for the National Student Leadership Conference, where I met medical professionals and collaborated with peers on medical simulations. Retiring from gymnastics made me think about who I was and what I was missing in my life. Today, I am happier and more excited than ever about my dreams for the future, which include going to medical school. Do I regret my time as a gymnast? No. Would I do it all again? Yes. Gymnastics taught me that it takes discipline and hard work to achieve your goals and how to get up again when you fall down—literally and metaphorically. Most importantly, my journey as a gymnast taught me how to pursue my dreams with self-knowledge and honesty. As a result of all the life skills this sport helped me develop, I am confident I will become Dr. Leya Edwards-Headen.

At ten years old, my goal was to become an Olympic gymnast. Naturally, sacrifices had to be made. To pursue this dream, I missed out on many life experiences, from Science Olympiads to birthday parties. But I gained things, too. Through the process of pursuing—and ultimately stepping away from—gymnastics, I learned to follow my compass and developed the resilience to navigate life’s challenges. Allow me to tell the story. By 5th grade, I was a Level 5 gymnast. I’d had my best year yet, winning every meet. But I was also questioning whether I truly enjoyed gymnastics. After initially ignoring these doubts and pressing on with the sport, I realized that I had pushed myself too hard. I had injured myself, diminishing a growth plate to where I couldn’t move my left elbow without excruciating pain. It wasn’t severe enough to end my gymnastics career but forced me to take time off. While on break, I contemplated why I was doing a sport I was no longer sure I loved. After my injury healed, I returned to gymnastics. I couldn’t give up something that was such a massive part of my life. I was doing better than ever, eventually competing in Level 7 meets. But I still had that nagging feeling. One evening after gymnastics practice, I realized gymnastics was not the path I wanted for my life. I replayed every step of my journey and realized I felt trapped in a cycle of obligation to continue gymnastics just because I was good at it. I retired. It was a breath of fresh air I didn’t know I needed. I loved the freedom of being a normal kid, hanging out with friends, joining school clubs, and participating in sports. Still, it took some time to adjust to all the free time and to find a similar sense of purpose. I needed to find things that would give me the same fulfillment I previously had with gymnastics. For a brief time, COVID shut things down and prevented me from trying new things. I was depressed until my mother sat me down and explained that I still had ample time to try other things. So, I began to play golf. In golf, I found a sport I could play without giving up all other extracurricular activities. I practiced golf year-round and still had time to pursue my passion for science. I ended up leading my high school’s engineering club and creating educational science videos with Discovery Education. This past year, I qualified for the National Student Leadership Conference, where I met medical professionals and collaborated with peers on medical simulations. Retiring from gymnastics made me think about who I was and what I was missing in my life. Today, I am happier and more excited than ever about my dreams for the future, which include going to medical school. Do I regret my time as a gymnast? No. Would I do it all again? Yes. Gymnastics taught me that it takes discipline and hard work to achieve your goals and how to get up again when you fall—literally and metaphorically. Most importantly, my journey as a gymnast taught me how to pursue my dreams with self-knowledge and honesty. As a result of all the life skills this sport helped me develop, I am confident I will become Dr. Leya Edwards-Headen.

Science was the first thing I ever learned to love. It started when I was six years old when a friend cut her wrist on some wood chips on the playground during recess. I rushed over to comfort her and made sure she was alright. The feeling of gratification that came over me from helping someone in physical pain was a feeling I knew I wanted to feel again. It felt natural for me, and that was the start of my path into medicine. Growing up, my parents saw how interested I was in medicine. When they bought me my first medical kit for Christmas; I was ecstatic. I was just eight and now the family doctor, who checked my family's temperature and blood pressure and wrote prescriptions. I still have that first medical kit with the fake diploma from the University of Medicine, the eye chart, and the graph of the human skeleton. I pursued many things to nurture my interest in science, from the Science Olympiad in elementary school to becoming the president of the National Society of Black Engineers Jr. (NSBE Jr.) club in high school. As a recipient, I believe I will have the resources to pursue my dream of becoming a physician-scientist. As a college student, I plan to major in environmental science and biology while on the pre-med track. I hope to develop research related to my future career in medicine. I want to become an OB/GYN or a neonatologist who cares for babies and women. My ideal research topic would be to investigate the linkages between environmental problems and human clinical health conditions. More specifically, I hope to understand how environmental degradation has affected humans. Human DNA is gradually transforming, evolving to survive on this ever-changing Earth and the ecological footprint is changing our DNA for the worse as our impact on Earth is worse. I can pursue these deep academic interests and my career as a physician-scientist. I want to have my medical practice where I aim to focus on women of color due to the many health inequities they face. In addition to serving as a compassionate clinician, I want to conduct research addressing those health inequities impacting women of color in the U.S. and globally. My interest in this issue stems from the experiences of my mother and my aunt, both of whom did not get the proper care they deserved while pregnant. One of the topics I look forward to researching is preeclampsia. I aim to understand why this condition is more prominent in women of color and how this health risk can be prevented. I also hope to pursue stem cell research. I aim to learn why the placenta in women of color is different from that for white women, a modern medical mystery. As a recipient of this scholarship, I will have the support needed to pursue all of these interests and share what I know. Finally, it would be amazing to have resources and support to be at the cutting edge of technology and healthcare and thus poised to play a critical role in solving environmental and health issues that will impact us for generations to come.

I'm in a hospital helping a long-awaited pregnancy through its last minutes, saying, "Push, push, and breathe," the baby emerges, and I have a lightbulb moment where I see my past and future colliding together with all my hard work in college in my rearview mirror and my family of four waiting for me in our beautiful home, something I have made happen but nonetheless feels like a dream.

My interest in medicine began when I was six years old when a friend needed help when she cut her wrist on some wood chips on the playground during recess. I rushed over to comfort her and made sure she was alright. The feeling of gratification that came over me from helping someone in physical pain was a feeling I knew I wanted to feel again. It felt natural for me, and that was the start of my path into medicine. Growing up, my parents saw how interested I was in medicine. So, they bought me my first medical kit for Christmas; I was ecstatic when I opened this gift. I was an eight-year-old and now the family doctor, who checked my family's temperature and blood pressure and wrote prescriptions. I still have it to this day with the eye chart and the graph of the human skeleton. With my love for medicine, I still did a lot of different sports, such as dancing, gymnastics, diving, and now golf. Gymnastics helped me learn time management, responsibility, and discipline, which helped with my grades in school. I trained hard and was winning meets, leveling up every year, but this all came at a price to my body. One day, I couldn’t move my elbow without feeling terrible pain, so my mom took me to the doctor. My MRI scans showed a diminished growth plate, so I had to take several months off so I could give my arm time to heel and not cause further damage. I was distraught, this was the best year of my career. During this time, the doctor treated me with such a high level of care and concern that I will never forget it. It was inspiring. She did more than treat me, she helped me to understand my MRI and how time off would help my arm to heal. She told me that 'I will be alright either way with or without gymnastics.' Eventually, I had to give up gymnastics if I wanted to heal and protect my elbow from long-term damage. Soon after I began to play golf, which was not too demanding and gave me time to do other things. I could still excel at this sport and put enough time into it to be good. I focused on golf, practicing year-round, and had more time to indulge in my passion for science. I figured out that I wanted to pursue a career in medicine as an OB/GYN or specializing in neonatal surgery. Those little medical kits my parents bought over the years turned into internships that introduced me to different medical fields. This past year, I qualified for the National Student Leadership Conference, where I met professionals in the health field and learned about teamwork with peers from around the U.S. I even had the opportunity to create educational science videos with Discovery Education for children. This scholarship would impact my college experience by giving me the finances to help pay for my education in medicine along with things like books, toiletries, and clothes for college. Please know that your money will be well invested in me, which will help further my journey to the life of neonatal surgeon or as an OB/GYN. I understand what it takes to work hard for something, to focus on a goal, and to achieve it. With the tools I gained from gymnastics, I know what I want and how to get it. I can’t wait to meet the future Dr. Leya Edwards-Headen.

From dance to gymnastics to acting to medical programs, these activities have expanded my interests in my life. The extracurricular activities I love to do outside of golf are playing the piano and guitar, baking confections and cakes, and I am a Torch Fellow who engages in hands-on college readiness and personal development workshops and building community with peers and professionals. I have volunteered for many organizations for events like Hope Community Clinic Back to School Event, where I maintained and reviewed loaned books and bookbags for low-income neighborhoods. At the Westerly Hills Science Fair, I facilitated science activities with elementary students and communicated with parents and siblings about science fair activities. Finally, I helped organize the Online Youth Summit with Community Alliance. I advertised the event through social media and school emails and encouraged others to communicate about their mental health during Covid-19. Science will be one of the many things I plan to explore and nurture in college. So, I plan to take advantage of the research opportunities in college, which will help me down the road of pre-medicine, where I can major in anything for medical school. Therefore, I would like to major in medicine, biomedical engineering, or environmental science. I look forward to stem cell research on organs and learning how scientists can grow healthy tissues from the patient and create an organ specifically designed for them, so there is no rejection of the vital organ. Also, I would like to see how I can make more biodegradable materials or utilize other natural resources from the Earth instead of oil. I love science, and I want to explore many options on what I can do to help others. To keep the connection alive, I would love to participate in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) at the college since I'm the president of the NSBE club at my school. I hope to take advantage of getting to know new people and making friends interested in the same things that I love too. Apart from science, I was able to focus on my acting, booking jobs this past year with Discovery Education and Carowinds. I would love to explore it in college and develop it more. So, I can pursue bigger things like tv shows or movies. I want to be able to join the dance club at college and rekindle my passion for dance which will help me keep in shape. I have done gymnastics, diving, and now golf. Although, I had to stop gymnastics because of an injury. Through it all I was able to find golf and would love to do it in college. After college, I want to go to medical school to pursue a career of being a doctor like an OB/GYN or neonatalogist. While in medical school, I plan to volunteer at First Tee. Also, I would further my research in stem cells or biodegradable materials with natural resources. This scholarship would impact my college experience by giving me the money to help me experience studying abroad for my medical interests and help pay for the little things like books, toiletries, and clothes for college.