My most memorable outdoor experience was when I was in Jamaica. I went swimming with dolphins and it is an experience that I will never forget. It was so awesome to be able to connect with animals and nature like that. I was so scared at first because we were in the ocean and I could not see the dolphins until they were 2 feet away from me. I know that dolphins are nice animals but it is still a wild animal. But I watched my mom swim with the dolphin first and then I went in after her. Holding onto the dolphin's fin while it swam was a feeling I will never forget. Ever since this experience, I have tried to do more activities outdoors. Last year for spring break I went to Colorado and I hiked with my friends on several different peaks. I grew up in Missouri, so there were no mountains there for me to hike. In Colorado, I hiked in Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, and other locations that I don't remember the name of. It was so beautiful and pictures could not describe the experience. I got goosebumps every time I would get to the peak of wherever we were hiking. Since the trip to Colorado, I have wanted to go back. From both of these experiences, I have become a more adventurous person. I try to get outside as much as possible. I have been looking into other places to hike as well. I just want to take time and enjoy nature. Sometimes with school and work life goes so quickly that I do not stop to appreciate the gift of nature. I also believe that you cannot experience a place until you were there. I looked up places of Garden of the Gods before hiking there and it did not do it justice. It was also cool to see the animals that were in the cliffs as well. I am so grateful that I was able to take that trip. Traveling, even if it is a weekend trip, makes you a more well-rounded person. I feel like I can connect better with patients and coworkers after having these experiences. Experiences like these also make you put things into perspective. Working, studying and doing every day activities are put into perspective when you travel, and when you see places that you have never seen before.

A situation in which I have exemplified being smart is during school! I am typically good at picking up on new subjects, especially when I am interested in what is being taught. I help others and put it into different terms where it can be easier for the person to understand. It also helps to study when I teach it to someone else. Sometimes my friends do not have any questions about a subject and I end up having to teach my mom. I like helping others, which is why I chose to go to college for nursing. I am in my first semester of nursing school and it is more difficult that I thought it was going to be. It is intense! Nursing school has a way of making me use my head in situations other than just quizzes or tests. We have clinical so I have to know what illness, disease, etc. that my patient has and know what to do to help them. I also have to know what the signs and symptoms are and I have to know what medications they are taking and why they are taking them. It is totally different from high school and even my general education classes. There have been times where I beat myself up for not getting an A or even a high B, but that is normal in nursing school. It took some time to get used to that. I enjoy using the knowledge that I learn in class in the clinical setting. It makes it feel so much more real and it makes me want to learn more to be able to help a wider variety of people. It is almost an incentive to learn more so that I am able to answer all of the questions during clinical and know what the RN is saying during report. I have been setting goals for myself in school for my first semester and I have been achieving them. I wanted to keep a high B average all semester, I wanted to hang out with friends at least twice a month, I wanted to be a day or two ahead in my homework, and keep ahead of nightly readings. I have to admit I have kept all of those goals besides the nightly readings, I have been missed it once or twice. My test scores have been above the class average and our class average has been higher than past semesters. I am not attributing it to when I help my classmates, but I am happy that I am maintaining my goals and that I am helping people out in school.

I am in my first semester of nursing school at Lincoln University of Missouri. I am paying for college by myself so I am trying to work through nursing school and have enough time for my studies as well. Trying to manage everything is more challenging than I thought it was going to be. I want to be in the emergency room until I get my critical care certification. I like adrenaline rushes and I like thinking on my feet. I enjoy not knowing what is coming through the door next. I will definitely get that from the emergency room. I was given a piece of advice to not specialize right away as a nurse which is why I want to get a broad experience in the emergency room. After I get my critical care certification, I want to switch to pediatrics. I enjoy being around kids and I think that kids are so funny and misunderstood. I have thought about extending my studies and getting a masters after my bachelor's degree, I do not know yet. My mother was a nurse, so she taught me a lot of medical terminology and procedures. She wanted my siblings and I to be independent so from a very young age we knew how to clean cuts and bandage them and check ourselves for concussions. I have always loved helping people. I wanted to be the one cleaning the cuts and putting the bandages on other people. I have always been the sibling or cousin that watches after the young ones and helps them if they get hurt. I know it is a cliche but helping people makes me feel good about myself. I feel happier and lighter when I help other people. Even if it is just answering questions that a friend has about a cough or a rash or if it is assisting someone with relocating a dislocated shoulder. I knew that I wanted to do nursing as my career for as long as I can remember. It seems to be my calling. I thought about different careers before applying to nursing schools so that I knew nursing was what I wanted to do, I kept coming back to nursing. I want to stay in Jefferson City, Missouri and give back to the people that have helped me. I want to make my litter corner of the world a better place. It is such a small community that I hope I will be able to see the difference in the work I do. As a nurse I am going to make sure that I am well educated in everything that I do and to make sure that I stay up to speed on the newest medical advancements. There is always new information to be learned!

I am in my first semester of nursing school! It is definitely not what I imagined it was going to be. It is way harder than I thought, which is a good thing! I like being challenged and using my brain for critical thinking. I have been studying human anatomy since I was 15 or before. I knew all of the bones by then and after that I started on medical terminology and muscles. I knew I wanted to be a nurse and I wanted to get ahead of the game. I do not have any healthcare experience, so what I lack in that, I make up for in knowledge and determination to do it correctly. I have been putting in hours at the practice lab at school and have been putting in a lot of effort when it comes to reading the books and taking notes. The hours in the lab help me make up for what I lack in practical experience. I would say I have made it my purpose to help people through nursing. I knew what I needed to do before entering nursing school and I got it done. I knew I had to have a high GPA from my high school and I knew I wanted to graduate as soon as I could so I took as many college credits as I could through my high school. I am now able to graduate a semester early! I knew I was paying for college by myself so I worked all throughout high school to be able to afford my first year at least. Nursing is a profession that is centered around helping others. The majority of nurses are very selfless people who only want to help other people. I have that gene. It makes me feel good about myself to make someone else feel good. It feels like my calling in life and I am happy to be able to say that I knew what I wanted to do from a very young age. Anytime I have the opportunity to help someone in need, I do. A couple of years ago I was in a ranger accident and was able to help my friends and assess them because of my medical knowledge, which is why I want to start my nursing career in the emergency room. If someone has a medical question and I know the correct answer I tell them. I am so excited to start clinical and to start working in healthcare to get more in person experience.

I am Makayla Luebbert. I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri and I am starting the nursing program next month. Growing up I played volleyball from around second grade to my sophomore year of high school. It definitely made me the person I am today. I had to quit volleyball due to some torn shoulder muscles and I needed to get a job to pay for college. I knew from my freshman year of high school that I had to pay for college by myself. My parents always told my older sister and I that if we were going to college we needed to pay for it ourselves so that we could be responsible for it. They thought that if they paid for our college that we would take it for granted and not take it seriously. They had seen a lot of their friends pay for their children's college and had seen some bad examples of kids going away to college. I knew that I had to get a job and make enough money to pay for school by myself. I got a job at a local pizza restaurant and made enough to cover the tuition of my first year of college. I set a goal for myself that I would graduate college debt free. I was very ambitious. Nursing school is expensive and it is difficult to work during nursing school. There are many hours that go into clinical, studying, tests, labs, class, etc. I did not know that I would not be able to work as much through nursing school. It is hard to pay for school when you can not have a steady income. I have 5 semesters left of my bachelors degree. That means I will have almost 3 years of school left without being able to work as much as I would like to besides school breaks and weekends. This scholarship will help me with that. It will help me not worry as much about my finances and help me to be able to put more time into my classes. Having for time to study for my classes will make me a better student and, in turn, a better nurse. I will still have to work but I would not have to worry as much about how many hours I work and how much I make. This scholarship will also help me not have to get a loan in the upcoming semesters.

What could go wrong? There are many things in my life right now that are on track that could easily go off the rails. Nursing school, family, jobs, finances, friends, location, etc. I work very hard to make sure that things do not go wrong but in the grand scheme of things, everything could go wrong. I have no control over the events that derail my actions. Nursing school for instance. I start nursing school in a month and a half. I could fail my first semester and drop out. I could decide that nursing is not what I want to do anymore. I could run out of money and decide that I cannot afford school. I do not want any of that to happen, nor do I expect any of that to happen. When I get anxious about nursing school those are always the thoughts that pop into my head. I tell myself that whatever happens, happens and I cannot control fate. I cannot let the fear of failing keep me from trying. If I never try I will never know if it would work out well in the end. Who knows I could end up as a bartender and absolutely love it! I would not complain, they make great tips! There is no job change that can happen that can be detrimental to me. I will work the job that I want and I will find a way to make the best of it no matter what. Finances are always something that scare me. I knew before I started high school that I would be paying for college myself. I would have to find a way to pay for college or set up a loan. I got a job at a pizza company in the middle of high school and was able to make some money. With the help of scholarships and tip money I was able to pay for my first year of college all by myself. This year it is more difficult. I am staying with my sister this summer because her husband is deployed. I am babysitting neighborhood kids when I can but it is not anything near what I made when I worked at the pizza place. Nursing school takes up a lot of time so getting a job when I get back will be difficult, it will require reduced and odd hours. Nursing school is also more expensive than the general education classes were, by a lot. Finances are always something that can go wrong. If I can not find a good job when I get back and have to get a loan. Before I started college I made a goal to myself to graduate "debt free" but I do see that being difficult to do without a job. If I do not earn scholarships and get a job when I return to Missouri I will definitely have to apply for loans from Lincoln University. Relationships with family and friends can always change or evolve. I get along with everyone at the moment and I am in pretty regular contact with everyone. Anyone close to me right now could move away, start having kids, get busy, get married, grow apart, etc and not be able to hang out or talk as much. I expect to talk and to hangout with everyone that I do right now but again, life is not certain. Life does not promise anything. I hope that I will know all of these people in 10 years time but if it is meant to be, it will be. In 10 years I might only be friends with my family, coworkers, and my cats, I do not know. My location is also something that seems set in stone but is really not. I am not in a relationship at the moment but I could marry a guy and move to Finland. I could accept a nursing job in New York. I will never know for sure until it happens or it does not. I love the unknown! Never be afraid of "what could go wrong?"

I am Makayla Luebbert. I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. I am going to college for nursing. I want to work in the emergency department until I get my critical care license and to get a more universal experience before switching to pediatrics. I want to be a nurse to give voices to people who do not think that they can be heard and to help people who need it. Mental health has impacted my life in many ways. My great grandfather hung himself and was found by one of his children (not my grandpa). My grandpa still talks about his father to this day and he always says how he wishes he could have helped his father. He says that his father never said anything about being depressed or needing help at all. It happened when my grandpa was a young boy but it still brings tears to my eyes listening to my grandpa talk about it. My brother wrestled growing up. There was a family that we had met while watching my brother wrestle, their kids wrestled at the same club. We grew closer to that family during that time. My freshman year of high school one of the kids of that family overdosed on his depression medication on purpose. It breaks my heart to this day to think about it. He was closer to my older sister and brother than to me but it still affected me. I did not know anything was going on until it was too late. Going through something like that at a young age changed the way I saw relationships completely. I thought about the last time I saw him and what the last thing that we had talked about was. That is when I broke down. It definitely has affected me more than I thought it would. I check in with my family and friends a lot more because I do not want to go through something like that ever again. I am always the one to call a friend and make sure that they are doing good if we have not talked for a while. If someone looks sad at a family event I talk to them and try to see if there is anything I can do. I am way more of an advocate for mental health more than I ever was. I do not let people get teased for taking medicine for their mental health or for opening up about their mental health. My immediate family is more open and honest in our communication. If we are somewhere and we are getting anxious or overwhelmed, we voice it. We talk about our emotions more and what is causing us to feel a certain way. My sister has anxiety and she is now medicated for it. She got medicated after hearing about our family friend, she did not want her anxiety to control her. * I did not say anyones name in this essay for privacy reasons

I believe that mental health is important for many reasons. I have lost several loved ones due to suicide and have many family members and friends who suffer from ADHD, ADD, depression, anxiety, OCD, etc. I have seen firsthand how important mental health is. My great grandfather hung himself after work one day and my great uncle found him. My grandpa still talks about his father to this day and about how he wished that his father would have told someone what he was feeling. My freshman year of high school one of my family friends overdosed on his depression medication on purpose. I wish he would have let someone in and let us help him. He had gotten some help from a psychologist but he needed to have support from his family and friends as well. We did not know what was going on until it was too late. I still think about our family friend to this day and how I never want to lose someone like that ever again. It is important for people to manage their mental health daily. It is not something that can be fixed one day and never thought about again. It is important for me to manage my mental health so I can be there for those who need me. I can not be a help to others if I do not check in on myself first. How am I going to tell someone to take care of themselves if I do not take care of myself? I do not want to cause anymore hurt to my family, that is why I care for myself and those around me so much. I am going to college for nursing so it is important for my mental health to be in check before and after every shift. I am going to have to learn how to check in with myself even during shifts to make sure that I am okay and good to help patients. I cannot help patients if I am distracted or feeling anxious about something not work related. That is why before my shifts I will have to check in with myself and talk things through before walking in the hospital doors if something is bothering me. I maintain my mental wellness everyday. I go on walks, I do breathing exercises, bake, call a loved one, play with my animals, read, and eat healthy food. There are definitely times in my life where I have more stress than normal: during a busy time at work, studying, arguing with someone, driving in an unfamiliar city or in rain or snow, forgetting to turn in an assignment, etc. If I am studying and feel myself about to freak out, I stop, take a step back, breathe, and go on a walk. I never let myself get to the point of negative self-talk or self-deprecation. I believe that my body listens to me so if I tell it that I am not going to succeed, I am not going to succeed. If I tell myself that I am going to be fine and I just need a break, I will be fine and get back to whatever I was doing after my break. I also do not think that negative self-talk helps anyone and can only hurt. I only just started doing that practice in high school and it is amazing how much positive self-talk changes my mood and mindset. I believe that if my mental health is good then everything else will fall into place.

I am Makayla Luebbert and I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. I am starting my first semester of nursing school in about a month. I want to work in the emergency department until I get my critical care license and then switch to pediatrics. Accountability is something that I take very seriously. I try to hold myself to a higher standard than what is probably necessary. I believe that if I hold myself to a certain standard, even if I do not do as well as I hoped, that I will end up somewhere in the middle. I set goals for myself and review the goals every so often. I make sure that I am on the right path. Take for instance my job, I worked at a pizza company for almost three years. I set goals such as: never being late to work, helping the cooks out when I could even though I was a server, keeping in contact with my boss regularly when issues occurred and when issues had not occurred, not leaving until everyone was finished with their job, etc. That is just one example. Another example is when I am studying. Studying for tests in college is completely different than high school tests. There are multiple hours involved in preparation for a college test. A big part of my success with accountability comes from the reward system I have in place. When I study and am focused for an hour or so, I indulge afterwards with snacks or shows. If I read a page of my book, I get a Nerd Cluster, you get the idea. Bigger things like graduating college or getting an A on a test, are different. If I get an A on a test, I get my nails done or buy myself lunch. When I graduate nursing school and pass my NCLEX test, I am going on a trip. I do not know where this trip is going to be yet but I know it will make me try harder when I feel tired or burnt out. When I do not do well on a test I do not give myself the reward I set in place. I know that I tried hard but it makes me to try harder for the next test. I did not set up a reward system at work. If I was late to work, I worked harder during the shift doing extra things to teach myself a lesson. I would think "what if I was late to a shift at the hospital?" Also if I was late to work I knew that I would not get paid for that time and if my boss was there he would tease me about being late, that was punishment enough. If I was early to a shift I got more in tips and I got paid more, that was reward enough. Time management is a learned behavior that I did not really know or have before that job. Holding myself accountable helped teach time management skills. Accountability is a learned skill and I am proud that I practice it. It takes hard work and concentration. The majority of women in business have to work harder to prove themselves. By raising their standards of themselves and holding themself accountable, these women will most likely outperform anyone who thinks that they can not do their job well (mostly men)!

The Super Mario game was definitely my favorite Nintendo game growing up! There were many other Nintendo games that I enjoyed but Super Mario was the best. My siblings and I hardly agreed on anything when we were younger. My sister just liked to argue and my brother was stubborn. Everything turned into a fight even if it did not start out as one. We got a Wii for Christmas one year and something quickly changed. When we sat down to play Super Mario, all of the pettiness and arguments faded. We no longer disliked each other in that moment, we actually got along! In the summer, we would play an entire world in a day or two. We loved it and we even bonded because of it. If someone would fall off of a platform and fall into lava, quicksand, or something else, we would tease them and just laugh. Of course there were arguments on who got to be which character or who got to be Player 1, but for the most part we had a blast! Those were normal kid arguments that were quickly shut down. I was the youngest child so it felt awesome to be included. There were many times growing up where I was too slow or too small to do something with my older siblings, but Super Mario was not one of them. My siblings got to hang out around me more and realized that I was "okay" and could be included in other activities. To this day we laugh about our Super Mario memories and how our parents probably loved when we played that game because it made us quiet. It was the best game since we could all three play as separate people but together. We all worked towards a common goal which I think helped us communicate and get closer. I am grateful that our parents bought us a Wii and that we got so closer while playing it. Super Mario will always have a special place in our hearts.

Success to me looks like happiness and being comfortable with my finances. I want to be successful in my career as a nurse, wife, mother and a family member and that would bring me the most happiness. I do not define success for myself as how new my car is or the new clothes I have bought. There are several people I know that are wealthy but they are not happy. They can buy anything for themselves that they want but they still do not possess something as simple as joy. I would rather have joy than a new Rolls Royce or a beach house in the Hamptons. If my children are happy, fed, and healthy, that is all I can ask for. Success as a mother is more difficult to describe. I do not think that I can know how I want my kids to turn out as adults until I meet them and get to know them. I want my children to love me and to have fun with me but I also want to them to respect me and follow the ground rules of the house. I want to know my children as adults, so I want to raise them in a household where they know they are loved and welcome at any time, day or night. Honestly all I can hope for my unborn children is that they are happy, healthy, fed, and know that they are loved, even if they do not think so. That would make me feel like a successful mother. Success to me as a nurse would mean to be the best possible nurse I can be. If I make people smile and laugh, if I can make a person healthy again, I will be the happiest version of myself. I pride myself in my work ethic and how I am able to work well with the majority of tasks that are given to me. Keeping that up in nursing will help me be successful and in total, a happy person. Success as a wife would be a long lasting, loving relationship. I want to grow happily old with my husband, that would make my relationship feel like a success. I like total transparency in my relationships so I would expect the same from my relationship with my future husband. If I can make my husband a more well-rounded, happier person than when I met him, I will have been a successful wife. This scholarship opportunity will definitely help me become a more successful student. $2,500 would be helpful in covering some of my tuition for a semester and nursing lab dues. It would help me not stress about my finances as much and make me be able to focus better on the coursework. I am paying for college completely by myself and I am trying to do graduate free" goal that I set for myself. There are just so many added fees that are not shown when applying. College in general is so expensive and even if someone is working during college it is hard to keep their head above the water without scholarships. This scholarship would definitely help me become a more successful person.

Team Conrad! I think he gets misunderstood by everyone. Conrad has always protected Belly while the group was out at the beach or boardwalk alone. Suzanne and Laurel trusted him to watch her. I admit there were times where Conrad was not the best. Times like at Belly's prom, the beginning of the first season, in the car in the last episode of season three, etc. In his defense, he was going through stuff at these events. He kept his mother's cancer diagnosis from the people he loved most so that they could enjoy their last summer together with her. At the prom he knew his mom was about to die and tried to take his mind off of it but he simply could not. I believe if anyone else was in the situation they would do the same things. Conrad flirts with Belly in the beginning right away. When Belly is swimming and Conrad sneaks up. He is smoking and Belly tells him to stop. He then asks something along the lines of "what will you give me if I stop?" That is flirty. There are several other moments in the first season where I think he makes his intentions known. In Belly's defense it would be difficult to know if Conrad was flirting or being friendly and teasing. He shows that he cares deeply for Belly in many situations. He is protective of her getting a ride home with "Cam Cameron" because he thought that she had just met him. He suggested going to the drive-in movie theater to spy on them, though I am sure he just wanted to make sure that they were not making out. He stepped in for Jeremiah at the "coming out to society" dance when Jeremiah found out about Suzanne's cancer diagnosis. He did that so Belly was not left all alone. He might have just wanted to get her attention and to dance with her but he still helped her out. Conrad asks Belly how he should act towards her father's new girlfriend. He also asked how she felt about her dad's new girlfriend and went along with her jokes and comments to make her feel better. Belly's mother also loves and trusts Conrad so that goes a long way, not to say Laurel does not care about Jeremiah too. Jeremiah on the other hand is a wild card. He makes out with random people at parties and eases through life. Conrad shelters him and makes Jeremiah's life easier. Jeremiah gets away with more because he is the youngest child. I believe that Jeremiah genuinely loves Belly and is her best friend but his attraction to her was only apparent when she grew up and grew boobs. Conrad always cared for her and helped her, Jeremiah was more flighty and went where the wind blew him. I think Jeremiah and Belly's story when they both got sick as kids was cute but that was about it from their childhood. Conrad taught Belly how to dance and how to play cards and Jeremiah was just merely there. Jeremiah is down to try anything even if it means straining a relationship with a close family friend. I believe that Jeremiah has youngest child's syndrome. He sees his sibling with something and thinks he has to have it as well. I can vouch for that because I am a youngest child. ( I have read the books and the TV series, I stuck with what happened in the TV series to not confuse myself even though I am team Conrad for both!)

I think I most resonate with Pam. It is not for the common reasons though. In my life there are many people who are loud, rash, and in charge and I sometimes like to fade into the background. I also do not mind being the center of attention when the time is right. I think Pam perfectly shows that. She is at the front desk (in the show's beginning) and she wears neutral colors. She does not speak loudly and does not do things in order to get attention from others. She wears neutral colored makeup and wears her hair in a way that does not draw attention. Near the people that she is closest to she opens up and is fine with attention on her. I also like her relationship with Michael and some of the others. She helps Michael become a more well-rounded person and makes him think of other people besides himself. She is not afraid to tell someone if their remark was rude or upsetting. She puts things into perspective for them. I do that with my siblings and sometimes my friends. I enjoy how she is not afraid to join in on the fun though. From the finger gun standoff to all of the accents to Jims pranks she jumped right in. I am quick to add onto a joke or if there is a spontaneous sing along or dance break out. I love making people not feel left out or odd for participating. She is also passionate. She has certain things, such as art and pranks, that she can talk on and on about if given the opportunity. I also have things, such as nursing and card games and music, that I can drone on and on about. She choses who she reveals herself to, which is something I do that can be frustrating. It does make her relationships more meaningful. There are things were I feel as though we are different. Her relationship with Roy went way over my head. I cannot imagine a woman as strong-willed, kind, and funny as her would stay with a guy that did not treat her correctly. It was only after they broke up that she gained confidence and her voice. I do not want to wait until a Jim comes along to show me what can be of my life. I want to be in control of my future. That is how I think we are different. This show has shaped my sense of humor a little bit. I enjoy more "that's what she said" jokes than before. I also tend to make the Jim face to an imaginary camera when something is unbelievable or surprising. I have watched "The Office" several times and I started watching it when I was younger. I think it helped mold my sense of humor a little bit. I can have dry wit like Angela, Oscar, or Phyllis or I can make a situational joke like Michael or Jim. I would say that I had a sense of humor before but it grew with watching "The Office". I have not seen any differences my workplace but I have only worked at a local pizza company to help pay for college. I think when I start working as a nurse in the hospital I will find more similarities than I thought I would!

I am going to college for nursing. I have felt a calling for the nursing profession for as long as I can remember. I have not really noticed people that have mental health issues up until 5 or so years ago. Some of my family members and friends suffer from ADHD, ADD, anxiety, OCD, etc. From this list I only have ADHD. I am unmedicated but sometimes I struggle. My main frustrations are: not being able to fully focus on someone while they are talking, not remembering lists if not written down, "doomscrolling", not being able to sit and do a task for more than 30 minutes without getting distracted or switching tasks. It is not bad enough to be medicated but it is there just enough to get on my nerves sometimes. I know what helps me and I know what makes me lose focus. I also know that my brain does not work normally and sometimes it is okay to give it a rest or to switch topics for a while. My sister is someone who suffers from anxiety. She is on medication and is fine but there are certainly things in her life that cause it to flare up. She calls me when her anxiety is bad and I talk through what is bothering her or just console her if there is nothing bothering her, she just feels anxious. It was an eye opener because she never had these anxiety attacks (as we call them) until the middle of her high school years. She did not open up to me about them until I turned 15, which was a little after they started. I am happy that she trusted me with it! In the nursing profession I will have the opportunity to help people such as my sister. I believe that my sister has given me practice to be able to help people that need it! I feel confident that I can use my skills for good! Also as someone who struggles sometimes with ADHD I can relate to a patient that has it. I have a lot to learn about mental health, I am nowhere near an expert.

I believe that the most pressing environmental challenge facing the world today is water pollution. I have seen first hand how dirty the rivers, lakes, and beaches can be in some places. It is sad to think that this issue can arise from improper trash disposal. It can also arise from littering, which the punishments should be more heavily enforced, in my opinion. In many countries, trash is not being thrown out or stored correctly. The trash gets caught up in the wind and blown wherever. It mainly ends up going to bodies of water or the streets. Land and water animals alike eat the trash thinking that it is food and die or poison someone that eats the animal. If the trash is not eaten by the animals, it then floats and contaminates the water. It is becoming an issue and is affecting the majority of water dwelling animals and sea vegetation. I fear that it will become an even bigger issue if left untreated, leading to more ocean life dying and more unsafe waters to use or drink. Cleaning the waters up will help with carbon emissions through a domino effect. I believe that this should be the first step in making the world a greener place! I believe that this issue can be solved rather easily (as easily as this issue can be solved). The countries that cannot properly dispose of their trash, should burn everything that will not release harmful gases or chemicals. All of the garbage that is not burnable should be put in a pile and we should let worms loose (such as mealworms or waxworms) that eat such things and can even digest plastic. It is also not bad to compact it and put dirt on it to hold it down until it can be dealt with. They should also use more recycling plants, that would alleviate some of the trash issue. There should be compost bins for people to use if they do not use the compost for themselves. There are many more things that can be done, I just have not thought about them or have forgotten to list them. I buy bracelets, shirts, bags, bottles, etc from 4Ocean for myself and as gifts for people and talk to everyone about supporting their mission. It helps their mission out and it reminds me to do everything I can to not cause ocean pollution. They have cleaned more than 36 million pounds of plastic from the ocean and they are only just starting, it is very inspiring. I can see myself helping with some of their cleanups in my future, they accept volunteers but also pay people to help them. Everyone should become a little more like the people that created 4Ocean. I clean up my little corner of the world and try very hard to not use single-use plastics. I use environmental friendly period products from August. Everything that I can compost gets thrown in the yard for animals to eat. I believe it is not on one person to reverse these issues, it is everyone's.

I want to become a nurse. I am currently less than two months away from starting nursing school. There have been many things that I have had to accomplish before even thinking about starting nursing school. Early on in high school I decided on nursing as my profession. I knew that I had to get ahead if I was going to impress and get accepted into a nursing school. I took as many dual credit (they count for both high school and college credit) classes as I could. I knew I could not only take the dual credit classes, I had to excel in them. My first semester of dual credit classes was chemistry. Chemistry was very hard and I was about to give up. I thought that if I could not understand chemistry how was I going to understand any other medical sciences? I had a lot of anxiety over it but then I started meeting with the teacher and I had a couple friends in the class I could rely on. I calmed down and was able to finish the class with a low B, which was amazing in my books! Not to be dramatic but there were many nights where I could not hang out with friends because I had to do homework or study for a test for these dual credit classes. The teachers expected us to spend more time on their class than the regular high school classes, which was not fun. I did not give up that much but I gave up more than others taking the same classes. I even took the earlier shifts at work so I could have more time to study. I told myself that sacrifice was a part of the game and that when I graduated (high school and nursing school) it would hopefully be all worth it. I graduated high school with around 30 college credit hours so about a years worth. It made the hard work worth it but during that time it did not feel like it. My mother was a nurse, so I also started reading a couple of her nursing school books (the ones that she still had). I also started using her manual blood pressure cuff and stethoscope to listen to breath sounds and to heart beats. I am a very "type A" person and do things very proactively. I do not leave things to the last minute and I dislike being behind. I wanted to put myself ahead of the competition. Then I started college. I met some of the girls I was going to be applying to the nursing school with and we became friends. We talked about the classes we were in and about the application. It helped me to discuss my classes with them because they were in the same classes for the most part. The Lincoln University of Missouri's nursing school is pretty particular on who they let in. They set high standards because of their reputation. There are GPA requirements, drug tests, class requirements, interviews, and background checks. It sounds scary but they know that they have to uphold a certain level of student to keep the nursing school as notable as it is. That came with a whole new level of stress. I am glad to say that I have the nursing school application process behind me! I believe that everything I did in preparation for nursing school has helped me and made me stronger. I do not regret a single night of studying or a single tear shed!

My first concert was spur of the moment. My sophomore year of high school my aunt called my mother and I and told us that she had extra tickets to a Brad Paisley concert that she was going to be attending. I had listened to Brad Paisley on the radio from time to time but I knew that my mom really liked him. My mother normally never treats herself to nice or expensive things, but she deserved it because she works hard. I got excited for her and finally convinced her to buy the tickets from my aunt. I was super nervous at first because I had never been to a concert before. I did not know what to wear and I did not know all of his songs. I then started to listen to them and try to memorize all of them, of course that did not work. But we ended up having a great time and I am so thankful for that experience! I even found that I liked his opening acts (Riley Green and Chris Lane) and still listen to them to this day! Even though I did not know all of the songs, I appreciated how funny he was in between songs and I knew more songs than I thought I was going to! My favorite concert happened a couple of weeks ago actually. I am in Texas right now visiting my sister for the summer. Her husband is deployed and she was going to be all alone so I decided to visit her for the summer before I start nursing school. I knew that she was going to need a pick-me-up and I knew one of her favorite singers right now is Noah Kahan. It just so happens that I also really like Noah Kahan. I talked to her about getting the tickets and to my surprise, she did not have to be talked into it. We were in the nosebleeds but we still had the best time! I was less worried about my outfit and I knew I did not know all of his songs but I was fine with that! He played song after song and only took a break to get a drink and tell a quick anecdote. He was very funny and even made jokes during instrumentals. He was very funny and lively. There were a couple of times that I thought he was going to fall off the stage because of how close he came. I have never laughed more at a concert. Some of his songs are so serious but the way he tells the story is beautiful. I could tell that he meant every word of every song that he has written. I absolutely adored it and I will definitely try to see him in concert again (maybe after his next album drops)! I was glad to get to share this experience with my sister and take her mind off of her husband's deployment! The picture is from the Noah Kahan concert. My sister and I took a selfie before the music started to send to her husband.

I am Makayla Luebbert. I was born and raised in Jefferson City, Missouri. I have known that I want to be a nurse from a pretty young age. I feel as though I have a calling for this particular profession. My mother was a nurse and my siblings and I were always getting cuts, scrapes, bruises, concussions, etc. She wanted us to be independent and she wanted us to know how to do these things for ourselves or others. I knew from around 12 years old how to check myself or others for a concussion and how to properly clean and bandage a cut. I do not think that mom knew when she was showing us these things that she was making a future nurse. I have always wanted to help people. At family functions I was always the one playing with the younger cousins, soothing them if they were crying, or helping them up and cleaning them off if they fell down. I have always been a sort of nurturer. I do not know where I got that from, possibly my mother. I do believe that I was born with some of it. I also just want to make my mother proud and be the best nurse I can be. She has taught me so much and has shown me how to be a good, well-rounded person. She has also helped me whenever I have needed it and has put up with a lot from me. I just hope I can be half of the nurse and person she is. Everyone says this but I do want to leave the world a better place than when I found it. I know I cannot change the world (that is too ambitious) but I do want to change my little corner of the world or even just make people's lives around me better. If I can ease someone's suffering or if I can help out in anyway, I will be better for it. I love seeing people happy and healthy, I also adore making people laugh. Through nursing I can help people and better the little corner of the world around me. I know this is corny but knowing that I am helping people, fills me with a greater sense of responsibility and calmness that I do not think I could find anywhere else. It is like my heart warms and swells when I am able to help someone. I believe that I will feel very accomplished as a nurse because of that.

The summer before my junior year of high school I got a job at a local pizza restaurant. I did not know when I started this job what I would be getting myself into. Within a year or so I had worked my way up to the head server position. The new position came with new little tasks for each shift. I now had the opportunity to open and close the restaurant, train new staff, talk to the cooks if the line was moving slowly or if there was a mistake with an order, and (even if I did not want to) talk to upset customers. It also entailed picking up slack during a busy shift, talking with the other workers to see if they can cover a shift for someone else, being in communication with the boss during or after shifts, or even being "on call" on nights that I was off. I do believe I worked more frequently and with more effort when I was given the head server position. It gave me some confidence that the boss knew what I was doing and that he could count on me to run the place during the night if he was out. There were many challenges of course. The person who was the head server before me was the boss's daughter-in-law so there were some big shoes to fill. The boss was used to being able to ask a question or call whenever because she was there almost all day. I could only work nights throughout the week so it was a hard transition for both of us. We were able to find a rhythm though! I was 18 at the time of starting the head server position so I was pretty young. A lot of high schoolers worked there so they all were fine with me but there was also an older manager (who worked full time) there during the day. It was hard for me to show that I could be taken seriously and that I knew what I was doing. It was also difficult to talk with customers who were mad. It was even more difficult if the person was stubborn or if there was nothing I could do because the order was not wrong. Sometimes people just want to yell at you if they had a bad day and I just had to accept that. I will admit that there were many times where we were in the wrong and I was able to fix it quickly. I am not saying that we were perfect by any means. I am going to college for nursing. Nursing will have its own leadership opportunities I am sure. I know now that I will be able to handle it if I am given a task that might have been too big for me a couple months ago. I also believe that I can show people that they can count on me. I also believe that this job has taught me how to talk with people and answer their questions and come up with a solution if an issue arises. I did not know that I would learn all of that from a high school job, but I am very grateful for it!

There are many attributes that define leadership. Whether it is being in control, being calm in the chaos, communication, courage, quick thinking, etc. I have had several leadership roles. I have loved every single one of them! I was the head manager of the boy's wrestling team at my high school. That consisted of being in constant communication with the other managers, wrestlers, the AD, and the coaches. I had to tell the other managers when to be on the bus, when to come clean mats, when to organize wrestling bags, and when the duals and tournaments were. Let me tell you, it is not easy to get information out of wrestling coaches. It is also not easy to get high school girls to listen when they do not want to. But I had to figure out a way to try to do both! I had to show the managers, the wrestlers, and coaches that they could trust me to do my job and that they could trust me with whatever task was thrown my way. I also wanted to show the girls that they could follow my lead and be fine! The summer before my junior year of high school, I got a job at a local pizza restaurant. I quickly worked my way up and became the head server. That job title entailed training new hires, closing and opening the restaurant, and keeping in constant communication with the boss during and after shifts. It also entailed getting people to cover shifts if needed and picking up slack if we were short staffed and I was not scheduled. I was also the person to talk to the cooks if the line was running slow or if there was a mistake with an order and (even if I did not want to) talking to customers that were upset. It taught me how to be responsible, it taught me time management skills, and how to speak to people in a respectful manner. I worked there until the end of my freshman year of college. I am going to college for nursing. When I start practicing as an RN, that role will come with leadership opportunities as well. I can not wait! From these previous leadership roles, I learned how to show people that they can trust me and follow my lead, correctly speak with people, how to be on time, and how to dress correctly for business interviews, other business outings, and banquets. I am confident that I will be able to work well under pressure and now know how I am in leadership roles. What I have learned from these leadership roles was to not plan too much. There are many times in my life where I over planned and it made it more complicated. Such as: calling in the boss when we thought we were going to need help, just for them to stand around with us because we were slow, cleaning the salad bar early for it to get dirty again before the shift's end, or worrying too much about how the mats looked for our tournament just for the coach to change it at the last minute anyway. Life is unpredictable and the more you try to plan, the less it makes sense. I am not saying to throw out your calendars and notebooks but life is too precious to waste it over planning and worrying. I have learned to be prepared but live in the moment and to go with the flow.

There are many things that define a leader. Whether it is being in control, being the calm in the chaos, communication, courage, etc. I have had many leadership roles in my life. I have loved every single one of those roles! I was the head manager for all four years of the boy's wrestling team at Helias High School in Missouri. That consisted of being in constant communication with the other managers, wrestlers, the AD, and the coaches. I had to tell the girls when to be on the bus, when to come clean mats, when to organize wrestling bags, and when the days were for duals and tournaments. Let me tell you, it is not easy to get information out of wrestling coaches. It is also not easy to get high school girls to listen when they are distracted. But I had to figure out a way to do both! I also had to show the other managers, coaches, and wrestlers that they could trust me to do a good job and that they could follow my lead and be fine! Starting the summer before my junior year of high school I got a job at a local pizza company. I quickly worked my way though the ranks and became the head server. That entailed training new hires, closing and opening the restaurant, and keeping in constant communication with the boss during and after shifts. It also entailed getting people to cover shifts if needed and me picking up slack if we were short staffed and I was not scheduled. I was also the person to talk to the cooks if the line was running slow or if there was a mistake with an order and (even if I did not want to) talking to customers that were upset about something. It taught how to be responsible and definitely taught me good time management skills. I also made some money and friends along the way. I worked there until the end of my freshman year of college. I am going to college for nursing. When I actually start practicing as an RN that will come with leadership roles as well. I can not wait! What I have learned from leadership roles was to not plan too much. There are many times in my life where I overplanned and it made it more complicated. Like calling in the boss when we thought we were going to need help on a Friday night, just for them to stand around with us because we were slow. Cleaning the salad bar early just for it to get dirty again. Or worrying too much about how the mats were going to look for our tournament just for the coach to change it up at the last minute anyway. Life is unpredictable and the more you try to plan, the less it makes sense. I am not saying to throw out your calendar and notebooks but life is too precious to waste it overplanning and worrying. I have learned to be prepared but live in the moment and to go with the flow. All in all being a leader is having people around you that will follow your lead because of trust that has been earned. It is not a job title or a fancy corner office. Being a leader does not mean not doing any work, it means working beside other people and knowing what needs to be done next and how to get it done.

Traveling is something that I think everyone should do if given the chance. I know that it is easier said than done. It is a chance for someone to hear a different language being spoken, to eat foods they have never eaten or heard of before, see places they have never seen, speak to people they have never and probably will never see again, to see different cultures, attend masses or religious ceremonies of the country they are in, seeing the different types of government, seeing the different types of businesses or houses, being in a different climate or ecosystems, etc. My first time out of the country I was around 13 years old. My parents decided that the kids were all old enough to be able to handle a big family vacation (I am the youngest child). I remember being shellshocked when I saw the Dominican Republic. Their houses and businesses were so unique and they did not look anything like the United States' houses or businesses, but they did the same thing. People from the Dominican Republic have their own Spanish dialect, I had never heard someone speak Spanish in person before. Even how the people drove intrigued me. In the Dominican Republic many people drive mopeds or motorcycles and drive in the middle of the lanes to avoid traffic. I also saw the Dominican Republic's form of currency, I had never thought of different countries having different currencies. I had never seen such a blue ocean! Unfortunately, I also found out about traveler's diarrhea on this trip, enough said about that. Everything about that trip has stayed with me, even now when I am almost 20 years old. After that trip I started learning Spanish on the Duolingo app, I am now minoring in Spanish at my college. I was still interested in their culture when we got home so I kept googling things and found myself interested in other countries' cultures. I would not trade that trip experience for anything! Traveling does not even have to be out of the country. In the United States, every state has their own unique thing. Some states even have their own accent. I believe that traveling anywhere can make a person more well-rounded. It can open people's eyes and make them see people that are unlike themselves. It is also an opportunity to explore places that you have never seen before. Traveling can make a person develop into a more adventurous or curious person and someone who understands or just respects other cultures. It can change your perspective on how you see your everyday life after seeing a different country or even a different state. Traveling also brings a peace and curiosity over people that seriously needs to be studied more. It is amazing how different people act when they are on vacation. It is also amazing how much a person can change or learn from a single trip!

Technology can be either a good thing or a bad thing. In the medical field, I think it can be viewed as mostly a good thing. EKGs, CT scans, X-rays, heart monitors, MRIs, medication dosage calculators, newer defibrillators, new high tech surgical tools and techniques, pulse oximeters, etc have made the healthcare setting more efficient and fast. There are not as many guesses from taking a manual blood pressure, pulse, or miscalculating drug dosages. In my opinion the hospital is a better place because of technology. From a nursing standpoint, these technology advancements make taking vital signs quicker. This makes further testing happen quicker which in turn can make the diagnosis occur faster. A rise in useful medical technology could increase survival rates and decrease time that the doctors or nurses have to spend doing menial tasks. They also make the mortality rate of trauma cases lower. Technology has made all of that possible! I do agree with people that nurses and doctors still need to know how to do everything manually that they can. My nursing instructor always teases "how do you think we did it before these machines were invented?". If there is a power outage, machine malfunction, hackers, or anything of the sort it is important to be able to go back to basics. Technological advancements do provide more effective care. Imagine if surgeons could not see a CT scan to see where things are before starting on an unusual medical case or a bad trauma. Imagine if a doctor could not use a CT to see a bowel obstruction, tumor, cancer, or inflammation, so they had to open the patient up. It uses both the patient's and doctor's time for an exploratory surgery and is painful for the patient. Before X-rays the doctors could only guess that a patient had a broken bone if it was not badly misplaced. I figure that if the break was bad enough that doctor had to slice the arm open to screw or plate the bones back together. It is important for healthcare people and first responders to be up to date on the newest medical technology. It would not be good if a new nurse can in a could not use the new EKG or the new defibrillator. Many of these new machines come with instructions but there also needs to be a class or instructional meeting. I also think it is important for hospitals and ambulances to have the option of implementing the new machines in their places of work. I believe that technology will only improve and keep improving patient outcomes.

We can all agree that there are many changes that are needed to the United States healthcare system. I am not saying that our healthcare system is not good, but it could use some help. If I could change our healthcare system, I would make it to where there is no preferential treatment of patients. I know that it is a broad and ambitious change to suggest. I want to make it to where there would not be better care for people based on money, different skin tones, age, gender, appearance, or based on their living arrangements. Everyone deserves the same level of treatment no matter who they are. My grandmother always says "if you have your health, you have everything" and she is correct. I can be as rich as Bill Gates but if I have a terminal illness, (especially one that has no know cure) does the money really matter in the end? People who work paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet should not get any different medical care than successful stockbrokers. They both work hard and they both have a life that is important. I am not exactly sure how I would go about it but it might have something to do with having patients change into a gown as soon as they come into the hospital so they are all in the same clothes. Another way to approach it that may be easier is to check the medical records and make sure that if two patients came into the emergency department on the same day with appendicitis symptoms that they received the same level of care no matter their socioeconomic status. I know that there are cases which are difficult to compare. If two patients came in the hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) but one is becoming comatose and is in end stage renal failure, and the other is fine besides the DKA, they cannot necessarily receive the same type of care. It also depends on how much can be done for someone in a situation like that, it sometimes just depends on the specific case. It is difficult to change the entire healthcare system. This system has been growing and evolving since Florence Nightingale's time. I think that it is more important to teach the nurses and doctors in college how to be unbiased and how to be compassionate towards everyone. It starts with a single change.

I have always wanted to be a nurse! From a very young age I remember asking my mom (who was a nurse) all sorts of medical questions. My siblings and I were always getting scrapes, cuts, bruises, and concussions so we were all taught by our mom how to handle it ourselves and how to clean ourselves up very early on. She wanted us to be independent and she wanted us to know how to do it. I was able to tell if I had concussion-like symptoms from the age of 12 or so. Since then I have loved everything medical and have felt a calling towards the nursing profession. There are many rewarding jobs out there and nursing is near the top of the list (in my opinion). I love the feeling that I get when I am able to help someone. Not to be corny but it is like my heart swells and warms up. It makes me feel better that I made someone else feel better. It is so rewarding to have a person leave the hospital with a smile on their face after they were sick and feeling horrible just a week ago! I want to do pediatrics because I am sure that there is no better feeling than to see the relief on a parent's face when they are told that we know what is happening to their kid and we can fix it. I know that there are bad or sad days in nursing. I believe that the good days just have to outweigh the bad days and the good that we do has to be better than the bad that happens to people. My mother definitely inspired me to become a nurse. She taught me how to be tough under pressure. She also taught me how to be a calculated thinker, how to read the situation and then act. I do not think that when she was showing her kids how to do medical things that she thought it would end up making one of her kids want to become a nurse. She has a calming presence and I knew that is how I wanted to be when I was older. My other family members would come to her with questions and problems and she would be able to answer the questions and give her best possible answer. She is now retired so I want to become that person for my family. All I want to do now is make her proud.

I have always wanted to be a nurse! From a very young age I remember asking my mom (who was a nurse) all sorts of medical questions. My siblings and I were always getting scrapes, cuts, bruises, and concussions so we were all taught by our mom how to handle it ourselves and how to clean ourselves up very early on. She wanted us to be independent and she wanted us to know how to do it. I was able to tell if I had concussion-like symptoms from the age of 12 or so. Since then I have loved everything medical and have felt a calling towards the nursing profession. There are many rewarding jobs out there and nursing is near the top of the list (in my opinion). It is so rewarding to have a person leave the hospital with a smile on their face after they were sickly and feeling horrible just a week ago! I want to do pediatrics because I am sure that there is no better feeling than to see the relief on a parent's face when they are told that we know what is happening to their kid and we know how to fix it. I know that there are bad or sad days in nursing. I believe that the good days just have to outweigh the bad days and the good that we do has to be better than the bad that happens to people. Right before my sophomore year of high school I was in a ranger accident. It rolled onto its side and I was thrown through the roll-bars (I went through the top "roof" of the ranger). I got up right away and heard that my family friend's wrist was stuck underneath the roll-bar. I then got everyone else up from the ground and was able to flip the ranger back up. My sister called for our family to come help bring him to the hospital while we helped him out from under the ranger. I sat with our friend and started doing what I was taught how to do. He was acting confused and said he had hit his head when the ranger went on its side (he played football and had been hit hard in practice the same day as well). He was also not speaking normally and his pupils reacted weirdly to light stimulation. I knew to look at his wrist since that is what had him trapped underneath the ranger. I saw that the bump that was supposed to be coming from the ulna was not there. It also looked like there was a big dent from where all the weight had been concentrated on his wrist. I knew in the field that he had a concussion and a broken wrist. Even if I did not look at the wrist I am sure I would have known that he was a broken wrist just because of the weight of the ranger. Everyone was safe and he was the only one that was brought to the hospital. I am thankful that everyone ended up being okay and I am thankful to my mom for teaching me all that I knew about nursing at the time.

Faith has always been a big part of my life. I have gone to church since before I can remember. I read the Bible, pray daily, and attend Mass every weekend. I attended catholic schools all the way up until college. That is how I was raised. I am grateful to my parents for raising me in that type of home. Otherwise I might not have learned as much about faith, beliefs, Jesus, and God. My grandmother is the most religious person that I know. She attends mass every weekend, volunteers to clean the church after Mass or clean the church after holidays, she goes to a prayer hour every week, she has a prayer list for people in her community that she needs to pray for, etc. She has taught me a lot of what I practice in my faith. She is the reason that I believe in God as fully as I do now and she is why I believe many people in her community are happy and healthy (though I cannot prove it). She has made me the person I am today and for that I am grateful! There have been many times in my life where my faith has helped me. Just to name one, my family lost a family friend about 8 years ago in a car accident and I remember sobbing and asking my dad how God could do that to her and her family. He said "everything happens for a reason". At the time the answer made me mad but I realized now what he meant. The family had been fighting for a while before this accident had happened. There were certain issues that had come up and had not been resolved. Now they are closer than before and they all attend Mass together every weekend. Her death brought the family closer together and closer to God. I am sure the family would rather have her back but a certain peace has come over them about her passing. They still talk about her all the time. I am going to college for nursing. I prayed about getting into the nursing school and now I have been praying a lot when I get nervous about starting nursing school in two months. I believe that having a relationship with God will help me as a nurse. I can do all that I can do medically but sometimes patients need an extra nudge. They need someone else's help besides doctors or nurses. That is where God comes in. It will be a gift from God when I help heal people and then pray for them. It is so special to be able to pray for people, especially people in desperate need for prayers. What I am trying to say is that medicine can only get people so far. We have seen this many times in the Bible and in real life. In the Bible, the paralyzed man is sent through an open hole in the roof so Jesus can touch him and heal him. The paralyzed man then stood and walked. I do not have a personal story about my faith or prayers healing people but I hope I do have one! I think that medicine works fine in the majority of cases but it does not hurt to have faith that God will also help these suffering people. I believe that my faith in God will make me become a the best nurse I can be!

I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. It is an accredited nursing college. I knew that I wanted to be a nurse from a very young age. I have always enjoyed helping people and nursing is the best way to do it in my situation. My mother was a nurse and she taught me from a pretty young age how to do things like checking for a concussion, bandaging a cut, properly cleaning out a wound, etc. All of these things intrigued me and made me want to start helping other people. I would say my mother inspired me into becoming a nurse and I would love to make her proud of me! My end goal is to become a pediatric nurse. I want to start in the emergency room to be able to see different ailments or cases that I might not get to see if I specialize right away. I want to have a broad sense of nursing and I want to be a well-rounded nurse. In my opinion, starting somewhere like the ER, any ICU, or medsurg is the best way for me to become a well-rounded nurse. Everyone's situation is different. I want to be in the emergency room until I get my critical care certification and then transfer to pediatrics. My goals for pediatric nursing are simple. I want to make my little corner of the world better than how I found it. I want to help ease parents minds and I want to make the little babies feel better. I know that nursing is not easy and there will be times where it is very sad or hard, but I have to remember my goal. I need to remember why I chose to become a nurse and remember all of the good days that have happened in my nursing career! Later on in my career I might go back to school for my masters. Lincoln University is going to be adding on an MSN program in the next couple of years. I would definitely consider it but I want to be a registered nurse for a couple years at least. I want to be the best nurse I can be and for me to help or to teach RNs as a NP it would help me if I was an RN for a while. Who am I to tell someone how to do their job if I have not done it or if I have only done it for a year or so. I would either go back to get my masters in nursing to become a pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) or to become a family nurse practitioner (FNP). I do not know yet, my goal is to focus on obtaining my bachelors first.

There have been many times in my life where I had to show strength and determination, where I had to square my shoulders and turn my jaw upwards. I believe that these experiences have made me the person I am today and have made me only stronger. During high school I was the head manager of the boy's wrestling team. I had to show the coaches that I could handle whatever task I was given and I had to show the boys and other managers that they could listen to me and trust me. It is not easy to get high school girls to focus on something for a long time but it is something I had to try to do. It is also not easy trying to get any information out of wrestling coaches but again, I at least had to try. I had to be patient and establish guidelines and boundaries so everyone would trust that I knew what I was doing. I was also the head server at a pizza place I worked at in my hometown and I had to be the one to talk to upset or confused customers. It was not the best part of the job but, if not me then who? I had to learn how to address customers who were upset and try to resolve the issue to the best of my ability. I had to listen and be understanding. I also had to think on my feet about how to try to fix the problem. I also had to communicate with the other serving staff about that was going to be going on during that shift and any changes that may have occurred (in the restaurant business things can change daily). Both of these experiences have given me the opportunity to work on my people skills and to become a more well-rounded person. I now know how to think better on my feet and I know how to be calm under pressure. I learned to be serious and understanding in conversation and to listen to the other person's side of the story before responding. All of those attributes that I have learned will help me in becoming a pediatric nurse. I like kids and I think kids enjoy being around me. There is no better sound to me than a child's giggle and there is no better sight in the world to me than seeing a baby smile. I know that nursing will have its challenges and it will not be anywhere near the easiest thing that I have done, but I believe that the good days will outweigh the bad days. I cannot wait to see the relief on a parents face when they realize that their baby is going to be fine! That will make all the heartache worthwhile. I am glad to have done both of those endeavors! Looking back I did not know what I would learn before starting both of those activities. I am happy with what I learned and I know that I am better for it!

There are many challenges in everyones life that they will have to overcome. I know that many people's challenges will seem huge compared to mine. It just depends on the perspective I guess. For background information, I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. I am studying nursing, more specifically trauma/ER. I have a little over 2 years left before I get my degree! I played volleyball since I was in second grade. I had watched my older sister play for a couple years and I loved it, as soon as I could start playing, I did. In high school I thought I wanted to play in college while I was earning my degree. My sophomore year starts and so does volleyball season and training. I did not know that season would be my last. During the season I started having issues with my shoulder and knee. I played back row and was very physical which was hard on my body. It was painful for me to serve or hit, it was even painful for me anytime I would dive for a ball. I would go home and ice them and hope by the morning it would feel fine. I also started looking into colleges at that time and had gotten a couple brochures in the mail about volleyball teams and camps for colleges. I started adding up the cost of college and my anxiety went through the roof. I had not even started to think about saving up for school or the cost of school in general, I was only 16. I knew that I was going into nursing and that was not a field that you could go into and play a sport. Sports in college are more time consuming. I knew that I had to make a decision about my future and soon. I sat down with my parents and I had a heart-to-heart with them. They loved watching me play volleyball and were my biggest cheerleaders. It made them sad to hear what I was thinking but they stood by me. They told me early on that they were not paying for my college and I would be on my own. I then started to put the pieces together that it was either volleyball or nursing. I thought back to my hurt shoulder and knee and that I was exhausted from volleyball all of the time. I knew my knee and shoulder would not get better without surgery, which I did not want. When I got home from practice I would do homework, eat dinner, and go to bed. I had no time to hang out with my friends. Finally, I had made my decision, I was going to give up volleyball. After my season ended I realized that I needed a job if I was going to be able to pay for school on my own. I got a job at a local pizza place in Jefferson City and worked almost every night and weekend. I put in the work and I was able to still have a social life, which was important to me. I worked my way up and became the head server. I was able to pick my hours and get more in tips. Looking back now, I am happy with my decision but it was not easy to make. There were many tears shed in the decision-making process and it was not something I took lightly. At the time I thought I would never get over it but I wish my high school self could see me now.

I am Makayla Luebbert. I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. I am not in the army but I have had several people in my life who have severed for the military. My great-grandpa and uncle (just to name a few, I am unsure of how many more there are in my family) have all served in the military. My great-grandpa always told my dad growing up that he worked on John F Kennedy's U-boat. We are not sure if that is actually true but we do know that he did work on U-boats. It is kind of cool to imagine that we have a family member that did maintenance on the presidents U-boat. My uncle did 1 tour overseas and only did 1 contract. He joined right after high school and wanted to see things and travel while he was young. They both enjoyed it and talk about it every once in a while. Fast forward to today, my sister is married to a military man. They met while she was a senior in high school and they got married a year after. It was very quick but that is normally how it goes with military engagements. He is actually overseas right now on a rotation and it is nerve-racking. She is a couple states away from home so I am staying with her just for the summer before my next semester of school starts. They do not have any kids yet so she was going to be home all alone. So far he is enjoying the rotation and is getting accustomed to life away from his wife. They call when they can but the time change makes it difficult to do anything but text. He is very brave and I am glad that we have soldiers like him to protect us. We have not had someone do a tour overseas in a while so it is a tough adjustment. You get used to seeing this person everyday and then suddenly for 9 months to a year they are working far from home. Civilians can never really understand what happens on base during training, rotations, the "field", etc. I feel as though some people take our soldiers for granted and just think that there is an army and nothing else goes into it. I think that civilians do not do enough for their soldiers at home or overseas. I am in college for nursing. I have a little over 2 years left before I finish my bachelors degree. My brother-in-law has tried to talk me into joining the military several times. I do not have anything against doing a contract or two in the military. I do think it would be cool to be a nurse in the military but I do not know yet, I guess I will have to wait and see.

"Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life's deepest joys" - Tony Robbins. I heard this quote a little bit ago in a video and I had to look it up once I saw the prompt for this scholarship. I would say that I am selfless, but there are many things I can work on. Like right now, I am staying with my sister 2 states away from where I live, because her husband is deployed in the army. I am 3 months away from starting nursing school and could be back home working at a hospital, relaxing, and studying before nursing school. She asked me to come here, so I dropped all of my summer plans with my friends and family to come and stay with her since her husband is away. Now, it is fun for me to be here with her and I do get to things that I normally do not back at home in Missouri, like go to In-N-Out, go to a major city within an hour drive, have good concert venues close by, Raisin' Canes, Crumbl, etc. So it is not 100% selfless on my part, that is why it is hard to deem is something is truly selfless or not. Many actions or deeds can look like they are solely to help another person, but if you are getting something out of it as well, can it be considered selfless? I help at my parents small business and I go over to my grandparent's house a lot to help clean, cook, or to just hangout and play cards. I do not spend a lot of time by myself or doing things that only benefit myself. If I go to the grocery store for some down time, it is for the whole family and I might have to make a stop for someone else on the way home. I am in the final stages of a project helping my grandmother. Her mother left her 8 or more books of her handwritten recipes. My grandmother told us about wanting all of these recipes types up but she could not and no one else wanted to. She has bad arthritis in her hands and she does all of her house work and cleans so it leaves little time for her to be able to tackle this project by herself. I then felt like it was my calling to help her with it. My great grandmother died when I was probably 1 or 2 years old so I do not remember her. This project is a way for me to connect with her someway. I wanted to do this project to be able to give to my grandma and my family. I think it is amazing to read my great grandmother's handwriting and see the dates and other things written in the margins. I am thankful that I volunteered myself. I am going into nursing, which can also be a thankless job. I wanted to go into nursing to help other people and to make a change in my part of the world. I will be working long days and it is all for someone else. I will not have time to think about what I need or want until a break or my shift ends. I think it is a pretty selfless job. There are many professions that totally benefit the person working but healthcare (and many other professions) is not one of them. So again, who I am to judge what is selfless and what is not? Thank you!

I want to pursue a degree in nursing because I have always felt like I had a calling to help people. Ever since I was little I was always looking out for my younger cousins and my immediate family (even if I was the youngest). I like helping people and I love the feeling of people knowing they can rely on me to be there. There has never been a doubt in my mind that the nursing field was the field that I wanted to go into. My mother was a nurse so I was taught from a pretty early age on how to take care of myself. How to clean up and bandage a cut or wound, how to assess and diagnose a concussion, how to help heal a sprained ankle, etc. I have always found medical things interesting. I remember playing with my mom's stethoscope and playing "nurse" with my older siblings. I was also the kid asking my mom all types of medical questions when they arose. I want to become a nurse because nurses are highly trusted. It is a hard job at times but it is also very gratifying. It can be a thankless job but getting to see people get better makes it all worth it. I was born and raised in Jefferson City, Missouri. My community has really helped me. I would not be were I was today without the support of my family and my family friends. I want to stay in Jefferson City because of my community. I want to be able to give back what they have given me my entire life. They have supported me through some of my hardest times and I want to show them how much I appreciate them. I also want to be the family member who gets pictures of bruises or rashes and helps give advice or recommendations. I know that sounds silly but it is true. I want to be a pediatric nurse. I do not know why but that specific area of nursing stuck out to me ever since my sophomore year of high school. I was the youngest child in my immediate family so I have not been around kids that much besides babysitting and being around my younger cousins. I absolutely adore kids and I love their imagination and their playfulness. I also think that there is no better sound than a baby squealing from laughter. I want to be the nurse to tell parents that we found out what was going on with their baby and to see the relief on their faces. I know in return that I will be the one to offer my shoulder to cry on when I tell parents that we did all that we could and their baby did not make it, or that whatever illness that their baby has is terminal. I know that there will be days like that, but the good will outweigh the bad. I just want to help people, one patient at a time.

I have always been an avid reader. My mother would sometimes get mad at me for having my nose in a book all of the time. I am not particularly picky on what I read as long as it is entertaining or mentally stimulating. I have read myths to crime to romance books. What I most like about books is that I can imagine the characters in my head. I am not told what they look like, rather I can conjure up whatever image I like based on the description of the character. I also like how people are described more in books, like it is intentional for a mole to be on someones face or how they smile. You do not get that from a T.V. show. T.V. characters can look like however the director likes but in the book every description is written for a reason. From the mythology section of books I read I learned to look at normal objects differently. Things that look normal, like trees, can have a story that we just don't know yet. I like stories that come from simple, everyday things. To someone else the run might rise because of the poles and gravity. To someone who reads myths, the sun might just be Apollo's chariot. These books also taught me to have an imagination even though I might have been considered too old to read those books. They also taught me that being young is a good thing because I can see and imagine things that adults can not anymore. It is an escape from reality when needed. From the romance type books I learned about love. I learned different types of relationships and I learned about unconditional love that can come from relationships. I saw the ups and downs and it made me understand what I want and what I do not want in relationships. I also saw how different age groups of people interacted with each other. I have come to understand many things from reading books. 1) Everyone's story is different and you should not compare yourself to anyone else's story or timeline. 2) Life does not come with backstories and background information. You never really know what someone else is going through unless they tell you. 3) It is okay to lose yourself in a book for a day. I have become a more well rounded person and have become a better spoken person since I began reading. It is beneficial for learning vocabulary, especially if you are reading a book in a different language than your native tongue. There are things that you get from reading a book that you can not get from watching a show or playing a game. To me, there is no better feeling than to have a paperback book in your hand and nothing but time.

Outer Banks! I was hesitant to watch it because I thought it would be like a modern day "Goonies". I put it off and put it off and finally my brother pulled it up and sat me in front of the T.V. He is a busy body and normally never watches a show from start to finish. He would rather be doing something. So for him to start and finish this series within a short amount of time means something. I watched it start to finish pretty quickly as well. The first season came out right before COVID hit the US and then quarantine. It was kind of fun to imagine myself on the shores of a North Carolina beach or the Bahamas when I was stuck in my house. I instantly fell in love with John B and JJ. It took some convincing to like Sarah Cameron, Kiara and Pope. It had nothing to do with them I just go off of first impressions when I watch shows and if I do not like them right away it takes a lot of bring them back. The whole first season is basically John B running from Social Services because his dad (his only caretaker at the time) went missing suddenly after following a trail to find treasure. He has to run from Social Services to avoid going into the foster system. He is also 16 at the time the show starts so it is a little hard to comprehend why Social Services is going after his so hard so quickly after his dad's disappearance. I do not know if that was movie magic or what. Then, John B decides to follow his father's trail to the gold and hopefully find his dad as well. The next two seasons go a little off the path but they are still action packed. It follows these 5 people on their quest to find the treasure and just along their lives as well. There are more characters but these are the main 5. Outer Banks has romance, thrill, treasure, comedy, suspense, you name it. It makes adults feel young again and teenagers feel as though they can do anything. It is also pretty fast pace so it engages watchers quickly. There are also some parts that make the viewer think back to past scenes and guess on what is coming next, it is not always spelled out for you, which I like in a show. I think the last season is coming out sometime this year which is hard to believe. If you want to escape reality for a little bit this is the show for you!

My favorite book-to-film adaptation would have to be "Gone with the Wind". Hear me out. I know that this is not a response that is normally given to this question. I read the book first and then I watched the movie. I absolutely loved the book and have read it again since watching the movie. I read the book and my mom was the one who told me about the movie. She had not read the book but she liked the movie. I enjoyed getting to watch the movie with my mom and tell her things that were left out in the movie. I also liked watching her watch the movie. She loved it without even getting to know some of the most important parts or descriptions of characters. I think the casting for the movie was good and I think that the actors played their parts wonderfully. The book is more than 1,500 pages so it is hard to fit that into a normal length movie (which it is not, since the movie is around 3 hours long). The movie covered the high points and what would make the story make sense while still omitting things. There are a lot of lengthy descriptions and monologues in the book that are hard to translate into a movie scene. I think that the directors and writers did the best with what and who they had. I also appreciate how long it took for them to cast Scarlett for the movie, that just goes to show the attention to detail. I loved the movie and I laughed several times. Now, I do think that they left out some integral parts (Scarlett's other two babies, Scarlett's sisters were not as involved or talked about as much, and some other scenes that were omitted). Rhett was played wonderfully and so was Scarlett. I loved Mammy in the movie! I normally do not read a book and then watch the movie and vice versa. If I liked the movie I feel as though it covered what the book would. But, with "Gone with the Wind" I had to watch the movie. I do admit that Scarlett in the movie is a little misunderstood. She does not get the background information that she does in the book. Although she is a handful in both, it is appreciated more in the book. There is also nothing better than holding a paper book in your hand and getting to understand and imagine things for yourself. I would say watching a movie is easier because you get the characters drawn up for you. You do not have to imagine someone in your mind and create a whole person in your imagination. But, sometimes if I read a book first, then I get confused as to why a character looks the way he does when I pictured him one way when I watch the film adaptation. It is just fun to see who is casted and it can kind of be interesting that the directors pictured a character that looked different than I did. It just depends on the person whether they choose to watch films or read books. After watching "Gone with the Wind" I have definitely grown to appreciate book-to-movie adaptations and have began to look out for them more than I used to.

I was about 15 years old when I first realized how important mental health and mental health issues were. Even as a kid I knew that mental health was important but I was not well versed in what the signs are and how to boost mental health. It was not a topic that was frequently discussed in my household. I had always been a happy kid and so were both of my siblings. My parents are together and so that was also not an issue. All in all I had a pretty easy childhood compared to most. My freshman year of high school went well until around 4 months in. I managed the boys wrestling team for the high school I was attending and loved every second of it (even though the season had not technically started yet, the boys were still practicing). One kid on the team, Jackson, was a senior. He had wrestled with my brother (who was a year older) for as long as I could remember and I considered him a good family friend. I went to school one day thinking that it was going to be a normal day. Half way into my first hour class my teacher gets a paper handed to him. He was told to read the note to the class and then answer any questions. Jackson, my good family friend, had committed suicide the night before. I was completely shocked. Before that I had only heard of suicide and had never known anyone that had done it. I started to think back on past interactions and think if there was anything that really stood out to me. It was not until I got home and I thought back to our last interaction that I broke down. I wish he would have told anyone what he was feeling or thinking. I wish that someone, even me, could have helped him with whatever he was feeling or going through at the time. It definitely hit my older sister worse (she was probably the closest with him). It has been four years or so and I still remember crying with my older sister and talking about him. Ever since that day I have made it my priority to regularly check up on all members of my family and my friends and to go above and beyond with them. Maybe if everyone did this, then everyones mental health would get just a little better. All I know is that it makes me feel better when the people around me feel good. Now, I am at Lincoln University of Missouri for their nursing program. I want to help people who are struggling physically and mentally and make sure that everybody gets the help that they need, even if they do not ask for it out right. I know that there are many, many people who are struggling with mental health who need help. I would not say that Jackson's suicide was the turning point in my decision to be a nurse but it definitely has influenced the type of nurse and person I want to be. I hope everyone takes the time today to tell a loved one what they mean to them today! Thanks for this scholarship opportunity.

I was about 15 years old when I first realized how important mental health and mental health issues were. Even as a kid I knew that mental health was important but I was not well versed in what the signs are and how to boost mental health. It was not a topic that was frequently discussed in my household. I had always been a happy kid and so were both of my siblings. My parents are together and so that was also not an issue. All in all I had a pretty easy childhood compared to most. My freshman year of high school went well until around 4 months in. I managed the boys wrestling team for the high school I was attending and loved every second of it (even though the season had not technically started yet, the boys were still practicing). One kid on the team, Jackson, was a senior. He had wrestled with my brother (who was a year older) for as long as I could remember and I considered him a good family friend. I went to school one day thinking that it was going to be a normal day. Half way into my first hour class my teacher gets a paper handed to him. He was told to read the note to the class and then answer any questions. Jackson, my good family friend, had committed suicide the night before. I was completely shocked. Before that I had only heard of suicide and had never known anyone that had done it. I started to think back on past interactions and think if there was anything that really stood out to me. It was not until I got home and I thought back to our last interaction that I broke down. I wish he would have told anyone what he was feeling or thinking. I wish that someone, even me, could have helped him with whatever he was feeling or going through at the time. It definitely hit my older sister worse (she was probably the closest with him). It has been four years or so and I still remember crying with my older sister and talking about him. Ever since that day I have made it my priority to regularly check up on all members of my family and my friends and to go above and beyond with them. Maybe if everyone did this, then everyones mental health would get just a little better. All I know is that it makes me feel better when the people around me feel good. Now, I am at Lincoln University of Missouri for their nursing program. I want to help people who are struggling physically and mentally and make sure that everybody gets the help that they need, even if they do not ask for it out right. I know that there are many, many people who are struggling with mental health who need help. I would not say that Jackson's suicide was the turning point in my decision to be a nurse but it definitely has influenced the type of nurse and person I want to be. I hope everyone takes the time today to tell a loved one what they mean to them today! Thanks for this scholarship opportunity.

I think everybody has their own idea of their truth. God's truth is what actually occurred and what is to come. Sometimes I interpret a passage of the Bible one way and then my pastor says something that makes the passage have a whole other meaning. There are many ways thinks can be understood. I think that that is what God intended. God intended for scripture to be for everyone and every age. Whatever stage of life you are in, scripture can make an impact on you. Passages can also change depending on what mood I am in. There is a difference between our truth and God and the Bible's truth. I think that God's truth and the truth of the Bible are similar if not the same. Every person has their "our truth". Take this passage for instance in Psalms. "The Lord will keep you from all harm, he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore". This could have different truths according to different people. To a mother who just lost her baby: she might be mad at God and hurt and confused. She might be wondering why it says "The Lord will keep you from harm" and yet her child is dead. But later after more time has passed she might take comfort that the Lord will watch over her child in his Kingdom. Now this passage to a college kid might take a different meaning. It might mean that she feels comfort in knowing God will protect her when she's walking to her dorm from her class at night. Or that she will be protected on the drive home from school. This passage to a homeless person might mean that they will make it through the night when it is cold. Or that they will be able to find food and a blanket the next day. There is no universal truth for everyone except the Bible. That is what I was taught in my years in a Christian grade school and a Christian high school. I attend Mass every weekend and read the Bible when I can. In this day and age it is hard to find people that I can discuss the sermon or Bible with. I can discuss it with my family and close friends but other than that there are not many people I can do it with. I try to spread the Gospel and talk to people about God's truth to whoever will listen and whoever is accepting. Thanks for offering this scholarship.

It is a basic answer but I would have everyone read "Gone with the Wind". I love Scarlet O'Hara and her battle for love in the wrong places. I love her angst and her stubbornness which sometimes remind me of myself. My explanation for why she acts the way she does is because she was never actually shown how to love someone. Her mother called her father "Mr. O'Hara" and was very formal. She was told to "catch a beau" but not act too flirtatiously. She must act like she wants male attention and blush but then must not lead them on too much. She is also around 17 when the book starts, so she is just a child. She is supposed to be married and have children before her pre-frontal cortex even finishes developing. I think Scarlett had a fascination with Ashley because he was different. I believe that that was the only thing he had going for him. The reader can not help but feel sorry for Charles,Frank, and the kids she has with both of them. She did not treat them very well. I like Rhett because he eventually grounds her. I like the time period that the book is written and the little comments such as "You can't show your blossoms before 3 o'clock" and “Death, taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.” It is a time period piece but it can be appreciated by any age. I love how Margaret Mitchell wrote the ending to where it was open ended. I appreciate when books leave the ending open to interpretation. I have not met anyone that has read the book cover to cover and I would like to discuss the book with someone who did not just watch the movie. The movie does not do the book justice at all!! In the end I think Scarlett and Rhett get back together because when Scarlet sets her mind on something, she always gets it. I think everyone would enjoy it if they read it and it makes me smile every time I pick Gone with the Wind up. People would get lost in the world of the O'Hara's and Butler's and Fontaines. It is a classic for a reason and it deserves to be appreciated as one! I have read it twice so far and it has 1,400 pages. 10/10 recommend!

It is very important to me to help others that are struggling with addictions. Many people adopt the stigma that addiction is self-inflicted and they choose to get drunk or high (these are just 2 examples there are many more things that people can be addicted to) every day. Addiction is a mental illness just like anxiety or depression, even though some people do not think that. Some of my family members and family friends are addicts who go untreated every day. They think that they are fine and they just like to party a little more than the next person. I know people who have almost frozen to death because they were drunk and stayed outside in the snow because they felt warm even when they actually were not. It is not safe and it is not fun being the person waiting for someone to come home safely that is out hanging out with their friends. Seeing all of this around me from a young age makes me want to stop the amount of people who become addicted to substances. The amount of people who are struggling with addictions has risen since past years, I want to help lower that number. I also want to be there for the family members who have chosen to stay to help the person with the addiction as well! I am beginning the Lincoln University of Missouri Nursing Program in the fall of this year! I want to be an ER nurse. I know that nursing can be scary and that there may be many people who are frequent fliers and will come to the emergency room that are under the influence of substances. I will try my best to help them with whatever they are struggling with and give them options. I want them to know that the world has not given up on them yet and that their story does not have to turn out the way that they think it does! Lincoln University is going to be adding a Masters of Nursing Sciences program in a couple of years and I am very interested in that. If I did that I would want to be a PNP (Pediatric Nurse Practitioner). I know that there may be babies at the hospital whose parent was addicted to drugs and now the baby is addicted to drugs. I will do my best to help the baby and mother out and give the baby the best care I can to wean the baby off of drugs. I just want to best for people who have come from bad situations. People can not help where they came from or how they started out, but I want to show them that their life can change in ways for the better! That is how I will use my career and degree for helping those who struggle with addictions. Thanks for this scholarship opportunity.

Being a Christian is not always easy. There are many trials and tribulations that are faced by Christian people everyday. I attend mass every weekend and I am currently reading the Bible, little by little everyday. I pray at least once everyday (or more if I am taking a big test or just feel a little tired and need a pick-me-up). I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. I am attending the nursing program starting the Fall of 2024! It is a very exciting time for me! Being a Christian means having faith. Faith is believing in things you can not always see. Nursing can be the same way. Sometimes you can not see the effects you are having on the people or community surrounding you, but you are! Nurses just have to have faith that they are helping out even if they can not see it all of the time. Maybe there is a patient with an illness that you know that they have, but you can not find the source or cure for it. As a nurse you have to have faith that you will find an answer for this patient. That type of faith is not so different from the type of faith we put in God! It is hard being pro-life in the nursing (or healthcare) industry sometimes. A lot of stem cell research comes from embryonic stem cells and of course those cells come from direct abortions. It is hard to believe in a system that can promote the use of embryonic stem cells even if it means taking a life to save a life. Even some vaccines are created by using human fetal cells in the testing stage. My career path has definitely been impacted by my faith. I was born and raised in St. Martins, Missouri. I still live here and I plan on staying here for the long haul! My little community is very close and that is very important to me. I was to practice as an RN in Jefferson City, Missouri when I get by BSN (Bachelor of Nursing Sciences). I want to help the people who helped me growing up and I want to give back to the community that was so kind to me. To be completely honest, if it was not for my faith, I do not think that I would want to stay in St. Martin's. My faith and family are 2 of the major reasons why I love living in this small little community! I am very excited about the future and what it holds for me because I know God will be there to guide me! Thank you for this scholarship opportunity!

I have always wanted to help people! Even as a young child I was always putting bandaids on my siblings, friends, or cousins. My mother was a nurse in the nursery so I was also asking her medical questions from a pretty young age. I am sure she got tired of it after a while. Since I was little I felt like I had a calling to help people and to heal people or even just to make them feel calm and a little better about their situation. I was in the hospital a lot as a child. I got hospitalized for strep when I was 4 due to dehydration. It got bad enough I needed to be put on an IV. I broke both bones in my arm when I was in kindergarten. My brother dislocated his shoulder and has needed stitches more times than I can count since he wrestled in grade school and high school. I felt as though we could not go a year without needing to go to urgent care or an emergency room. I have always appreciated nurses and the work that they do. They do not get enough recognition for all of their tireless (and sometimes thankless) work. I have gone back and fourth as to what I want to do in healthcare for a while. I wanted to be a paramedic but I finally decided on becoming a registered nurse. I want to be an ER nurse until I get my critical care license and then become a pediatric RN. Lincoln University of Missouri is adding an MSN program within a couple of years so that is something I will think about as well! It is very exciting! I got stuck on wanting to become a pediatric nurse because I love children. I know that healthcare can have sad days, when nothing seems to be going correctly. But, hearing a child giggle or making a newborn smile, makes it all seem small in comparison. Also, pediatric nursing is not just about the children. It is about educating the mothers and fathers who may not know what is going on completely. It is about offering the parents a shoulder to cry on or giving the parents the good news that you found out what it going on with their child, and their child is going to be okay! I grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri and I am planning on staying here! It is a really small town so everybody knows everybody. I like the little tight knit community that I have come to know and love. I also want to be able to help that have helped me along the way, that is why I want to stay near my people. My family also is all around central Missouri so I do not want to stray too far from them. I am starting the LU nursing program in the fall. It is rigorous but I am excited! If it was easy many more people would do it! I have a lot of good people in my class so I am excited for us to become RN's together.

I'm Makayla Luebbert and I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. In the fall I will be starting the nursing program at Lincoln! I am very excited! I love helping people and I love that I will be able to for my career. I like having to think on my feet. I want to be in the emergency room of a hospital until I get my critical care license. I think starting out in the emergency room will give me the opportunity to obtain knowledge to do many things that I would not know how to do if I started off in a specific area (like cardiology or urology). I just feel like I will experience more in the emergency room as a new RN that I might not have experienced if I would specialize right away. After I get my critical care license, I want to be a pediatric registered nurse! I do not plan on moving from my hometown of Jefferson City, Missouri. I absolutely love it here and I love that I have known everyone my entire life because it is such a small community. I plan on being in Jefferson City for my entire career. I want to stay in this area because of everyone that has helped me. I want to be able to help them if they need it and I want to be there in return for everyone that has helped me. My entire family lives in Missouri so I also do not want to move far from them. My mom was a nurse and she loved it! She is always the person that is helping out other people and if something happens she is the first one to say "I was a nurse, what can I do to help?" I want to have the knowledge to do that! I want to be the person to tell a family that their loved one is going to make it. I know that there are some very sad aspects of healthcare but helping people and seeing the relief on their face once they know that they are okay, makes it worth it. After a while I might go back and get my masters degree. Lincoln is talking about adding an MSN program within the next couple of years. If I was to get my masters I would become a PNP (Pediatric Nurse Practitioner). I adore helping kids and I think kids are the most wholesome things out there. The world has not made them hard or grumpy yet and their imagination is just so interesting to me. Hearing a child giggle would make anyone smile, they just spread happiness. I have several younger cousins and I am always the one making sure they are okay and putting bandages on their "owwies". I think I have always known that I want to be in healthcare. I remember asking my mom medical questions when I was younger about random things. I was just always curious about medical topics. I want to help my community anyway I can!

"The greatest threat to Earth is the belief that someone else will save it". We only have one Earth. I always try to be sustainable in everyday life. From a young age I was always the kid of the family recycling glass bottles and plastic bottles. I started my family on recycling around 7 years ago. I recycle old clothes. Any clothing item that can be donated, I donate to either Goodwill, the Samaritan Shelter, or a women's shelter. I also give my younger cousins clothes if they want it and will use it. I send clothes that cannot be donated (they have holes in them or badly stained and cannot be worn anymore) to ThousandFell. They take the donated clothes and make new clothes or make tennis shoes with it. I also buy thrifted clothes or get hand-me-downs from my sister and older cousins. I believe it is important to donate clothes because of seeing how much water and how much cotton or other materials goes into the production of one shirt or a pair of jeans. Thrifted clothes is cheaper and sometimes is even cuter than what I could find in a store in the mall. I recycle plastic, cardboard, and glass when I can! I wait until it piles up and then take it all in one trip. I also carpool when I can. If I can make the meeting/interview into a phone call, I do it. I do not let my car idol if I can turn it off. I have started looking into buying an electric car when I eventually get rid of my old car. I also wait until I have a couple errands to run so that when I go into town, it is just one trip. It is important to reduce my carbon footprint on the Earth because I worry for the future generations. I want to have kids and I want to see my kids have kids of their own. I want the world to be better than when I was growing up. If the environment is not clean, it leads to health issues and contaminated food/water. I think taking simple steps every day can help reduce my carbon footprint. It does not have to be a drastic life style change, it can just be some simple steps in your everyday life. Many people think that to be "green" is to make a 180 degree life change, but it is not. Showing people how to become "greener" is also a big step that needs to be made. People would recycle or reuse more if they were shown how to, or given the resources to. Let's leave the world greener than we found it! Thank you!

I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. I am about a month away from applying to the nursing school! It is a very nerve racking time in my life. My parents are amazing and they are my biggest supporters. My mom and dad support me with whatever I decide to do (within reason). I have really always know I wanted to work in healthcare or help heal people. My mother was a nurse so I picked up a lot of things from her. She was a nurse in the nursery. I thought I wanted to take after her but I decided I wanted some adrenaline rushes and more exciting things in my work life. I want to be a nurse in the emergency room. I like being the calm in a chaotic event. I want to be the one to tell a patients family that their loved one is going to survive. I also know that there are going to be some days where I will have to comfort a family member after telling them that their loved one did not make it. But, I know the highest highs will outweigh the lows. Being able to tell a mother that we found out why her child is suffering and that we know how to help them will always outweigh the bad. Since I was a freshman in high school I knew I wanted to become a nurse. It honestly feels more like a calling than a decision I made, I think I always knew that this is the profession for me. When a lot of kids are unsure even until their freshman year of college, I already knew. There has been times where I have really thought about not becoming a nurse because of the long hours, night shift, being around sickness, or mean doctors. My cousin is an EMT and she tried to talk me into joining her squad. But I always come back to nursing. Now when I actually start working in the hospital I may change my mind about working in the ER but for now that is what my heart is set on. I think I will genuinely enjoy the ER and the rush that comes from it. I want to make my parents proud, especially my mother. I want her to be proud of her little nurse and I want to make my section of the world a better place. The nursing shortage is a real problem and I want to help by adding one more nurse into the world!

I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. I am about a month away from applying to the nursing school! It is a very nerve racking time in my life. My parents are amazing and they are my biggest supporters. My mom and dad support me with whatever I decide to do (within reason). I have really always know I wanted to work in healthcare or help heal people. My mother was a nurse so I picked up a lot of things from her. She was a nurse in the nursery. I thought I wanted to take after her but I decided I wanted some adrenaline rushes and more exciting things in my work life. I want to be a nurse in the emergency room. I like being the calm in a chaotic event. I want to be the one to tell a patients family that their loved one is going to survive. I also know that there are going to be some days where I will have to comfort a family member after telling them that their loved one did not make it. But, I know the highest highs will outweigh the lows. Being able to tell a mother that we found out why her child is suffering and that we know how to help them will always outweigh the bad. Since I was a freshman in high school I knew I wanted to become a nurse. It honestly feels more like a calling than a decision I made, I think I always knew that this is the profession for me. When a lot of kids are unsure even until their freshman year of college, I already knew. There has been times where I have really thought about not becoming a nurse because of the long hours, night shift, being around sickness, or mean doctors. My cousin is an EMT and she tried to talk me into joining her squad. But I always come back to nursing. Now when I actually start working in the hospital I may change my mind about working in the ER but for now that is what my heart is set on. I think I will genuinely enjoy the ER and the rush that comes from it. I want to make my parents proud, especially my mother. I want her to be proud of her little nurse and I want to make my section of the world a better place. The nursing shortage is a real problem and I want to help by adding one more nurse into the world!

I chose a career in nursing because I have always loved helping people. As a young kid I would be the one to help my older siblings apply bandaids. I know little kids like getting bandaids put on them, but I was the one putting the bandaids on them! I absolutely love adrenaline and I know I will enjoy being in a career that I have to actively use my brain. I also like being calm under pressure. A couple years ago I was in a ranger accident with family members. My sister and I were thrown from the ranger so our injures were minor. One of our cousins got stuck under the ranger by his wrist. I knew that I needed to stay calm if I was going to help my cousin save his hand. My other cousin was able to untangle himself and he and I helped turn the ranger right-side-up again while my sister called for help. While we waited for help to arrive I assessed our injured cousin. I found out pretty quickly into examining him that he had a concussion and since a lot of the ranger weight was on his wrist I knew it was a possibility that he could have broken his wrist. We took him to the hospital and everything turned out okay. I liked the rush that I got and I found out that I was good under pressure. Now, I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri and I am about a month away from applying to the nursing program! I am so excited to start the program. I want to be an ER nurse for a while since I feel like the nurses that work in the emergency room get more experience with everything. I know I will enjoy the rush of working in an ER. I want to be able to experience a lot of medical procedures/cases before I specialize. After I get my critical care certification, I want to become a pediatric nurse. I like kids and kids have always seemed to enjoy being around me. I like little kids but I have not had to opportunity to be around them as much as I would like to, besides babysitting. Kids are very innocent and they are the future. There is absolutely nothing better than getting hugged by a small child, there is also nothing better than hearing a toddler giggle or squeal in delight. They sometimes do not know how to express how they are feeling to people, so I want to be the one to help find out what they are suffering from. I want to be the one to tell the parents that their sick baby is going to be okay, that we know what is wrong with them and can help. My mother was a labor and delivery nurse and she said the most rewarding part was seeing the mothers faces when they got to hold the baby for the first time. She has instilled in me a drive to become a nurse and not only a nurse, the best nurse I can be. I want to make her proud. I want to heal people and I want to make my section of the world a better place. I want to be able to teach the parents how to help heal with their sick child, or comfort them as their child grows sicker. The world is full of people, but where would the world be if there were no children?

I want to chose a career in nursing because I have always loved helping people. As a young kid I would always be the one to help my older siblings put on bandaids. I know little kids like getting bandaids put on them, but I was the one putting bandaids on them! I absolutely love adrenaline and I like being in a career that I have to actively use my brain. I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri and I am about a month away from applying to the nursing program! I am so excited to start the program. I want to be an ER nurse for a while since I feel like the nurses that work in the emergency room get more experience with everything. I want to be able to experience a lot of medical procedures/cases before I specialize. After I get my critical care certification, I want to become a pediatric nurse. I like kids and kids have always seemed to enjoy being around me. I am the youngest child and about the young cousin on both sides of my family. I like little kids but I have not had to opportunity to be around them as much as I would like to, besides babysitting. Kids are very innocent and they are the future. There is absolutely nothing better than getting hugged by a small child, there is also nothing better than hearing a toddler giggle or squeal in delight. They sometimes do not know how to express how they are feeling to people, so I want to be the one to help find out what they are suffering from. I want to be the one to tell the parents that their sick baby is going to be okay, that we know what is wrong with them and can help. My mother was a labor and delivery nurse and she said the most rewarding part was seeing the mothers faces when they got to hold the baby for the first time. She has instilled in me a drive to become a nurse and not only a nurse, the best nurse I can be. I want to make her proud. I want to heal people and I want to make my section of the world a better place. I want to be able to teach the parents how to help heal with their sick child, or comfort them as their child grows sicker. The world is full of people, but where would the world be if there were no children?

My ideal bookshelf based on Book-Tok would be anything by written by Colleen Hoover, Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty books, Gone with the Wind, The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and My Life with the Walter Boys. All of those authors or books are my must-reads for new beginners. These books are so much more than rom-coms or sappy romantic stories. They tell a story of people who were changed by love or they were destroyed for loving. They are heart wrenching or they are heart warming. I personally like the heart warming ones but I will throw a heart wrenching one in there sometimes. During college it is hard to find time to read but during breaks or when I am caught completely up on homework I will read them! Even though the majority of these books end the same way it is fun to see how their particular story pans out. It also gives high school girls hope that they will find someone who is willing to love them for who they are. I am not sure about other schools but my high school was filled with self-conscious people (myself included). It was great to read stories of nontraditional high school girls being swept off their feet by someone. All of the mentioned above books have changed the BookTok community. I love seeing people give their takes on certain parts of the books or the book in general. When I first started reading again it was hard to know which books were worth reading and which ones I could skip. BookTok influencers helped me find which books I would enjoy reading and which ones were a little out there. I have loved reading ever since I was in grade school but around my junior year of high school I got obsessed with all of these books that were being recommended to be on my TikTok page. I took a break from reading in about 7th grade because it wasn't "cool" anymore but I started up in high school again. I love getting lost in the pages of books and not knowing what time it is anymore. I would also recommend to read the books before you watch the series (if it has been made into a show or movie). The way the shows and movies portray the characters can be so frustrating. The characters of high schoolers are played by 30 year olds who have had plastic surgery or have spent years training in the gym. It gives high schoolers a lack of confidence when they see how high schoolers are perceived.

Online learning is at an all time high. Online courses are being offered almost as much as normal in-person classes. I am a sophomore at Lincoln University of Missouri. I take classes both online and in-person. Some of the classes I chose to take online and some classes are only offered online. College was the first time I have taken a class completely online. I use many online platforms but the name a few: Quizlet, Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, any online new sources (CNN), and online medical journals. The internet holds so much information that is helpful to students, especially students learning online. Those online platforms listed above have helped me even through out my high school years. It is so simple to get confused. Students are expected to learn so much about so many things. It is har to keep it all straight. It is so easy to Google a question you have and then you have a wealth of knowledge at your disposal. You can also know that you are getting reliable information, depending on the source you use. There are many times I have had to teach or reteach myself things because I had never heard of the things I was learning or it had been a while since I had heard of it. A simple look at a Quizlet flashcard or a YouTube video explaining what you were confused about can help clear up any of your doubt. These resources have not only helped me but they help others every day. Online learning is good not only for students that do not want to commute daily but for parents that are trying to go back to school or someone who is immunocompromised. There are many reasons why someone would not want to take in-person classes but it is helpful to them to also have these online resources. Everyone should have the same ability to learn no matter their situation in life. It should not only be for the people in school, everyone should have to opportunity to learn. It might just be that you need to see what the weather is going to be like next week, or what temperature a baby bottle needs to be, but that information will stick with you for as long as you need it. Knowledge is free and it is an important thing to have. Nobody can take away whatever knowledge you have!

Mental health is an important topic in my everyday life, not only as a student. I come from a family that has a history of alcoholism and I also have people in the family that do not believe that mental health issues exist. It is frustrating to try to talk to them about anxiety or feeling a little blue. I believe that students have a harder time mentally than other people. We are asked so much of, especially student athletes. We are asked to do hours of homework every night or every other night and on top of that hang out with friends and family. We are also supposed to get 8 hours of sleep every night. It is unrealistic to think that teenagers or people in their early 20's can try to manage all of that. We are barely young adults and some of us are living alone for the first time in our lives. It is a lot to manage all by yourself. A lot of students I know put the pressure on themselves without any outside force. It is important to take breaks while studying and to realize that receiving a B in a class is more than acceptable. Nobody is going to judge you for not understanding a topic right away. There are so many other things I wish I could tell high school Makayla. My parents were very calm with me and my grades. My grades were rarely checked by them in high school. Even though I knew they would find out if I received less than a C in any of my classes. I took 36 college credit hours in high school (between my junior and senior year). I also played volleyball and managed the high school boys wrestling team. I worked as a waitress at a pizza place in between those sports seasons to be able to afford the things I wanted. To this day I have no idea how I did it. All I know is that I could not do that now as an almost 20 year old. I put all of the pressure on myself though. I guess I wanted to prove that I could do everything I wanted and still get the desired grades. I always had a study hall or studied on the bus to away games. I would stay up late at night to catch up on what I missed in classes due to sports or what I could not do earlier because I was practicing, weightlifting, or had a game. I can not imagine going through any of that with strict parents who monitored my grades every week. I always joke with my parents that they had it easy with raising me. But, I realize looking back on all of it that I was not living well. I was not eating clean, not getting enough sleep, not having mental breaks or alone time, and not spending quality time with friends or family (beside teammates). I definitely took myself too seriously and I am glad that I finally realized that there is a life outside of school and sports.