My name is Sania Hogan, and I am a rising freshman at Northeastern University. At Northeastern, I hope to pursue my bachelors in criminal justice and psychology. And then hopefully apply my studies to become a Criminal Psychologist. My dream is to, one, come out of college in one piece, two, find a job that focuses on my studies, and then be able to live comfortably. This would be being able to live on my own. I want to live without the thought of not having enough money to do certain things. I want to be able to rely less on my family financially. Then even potentially help them out when I become successful. I want to achieve all my goals by taking every opportunity I can grasp at. With all this in mind, I know that the ugly must come before the beautiful. That a little bit more of struggling and stress is bound before I reach my goals. Even though there may be times where I feel overwhelmed by the work that I need to put in, I am reminded of my dream. That there is an overarching reason why I have to keep going. So I push on and get through the bad times whether that be through family and friends or setting smaller goals for myself. So the big question is, why do I believe that my best is yet to come? Well I know my best is yet to come because I do not easily give in. I can be intimidated by the obstacles that come my way, but that is not an excuse to carelessly give up. I know that through my self determination and through the support systems that I have, I can achieve my dreams. You can only go as far as you push yourself, and that is not to say you should push yourself to the max. It means that if you put in the minimum effort you get minimal results. Finding the right balance is important, and I think that I will do well with that since I have got to know myself throughout high school. I know that once I get adjusted to college, since I expect it to be a drastic change, I will implement these ideals into my daily routine. In conclusion, certain aspects of our lives try to test our ability to reach goals. Even when things like this occur we have to remind ourselves of the capabilities that we hold. Later on in life the problems that seemed inescapable become irrelevant. Reaching for our dreams and being our best selves is the best way to do.

Just last year was my first full experience of being able to volunteer. From this experience, I’ve learned the importance of giving back to others in my community. My name is Sania Hogan, I am now a senior in high school, and soon to be a college freshman. I have just recently had the opportunity to volunteer, and it took place at my school. The program was called Peer Health Exchange, and in this program my peers and I were able to make lessons. In these lessons, we were able to teach other kids about mental and physical health. This was done mostly through slides but also through a seminar-type format with a group of high school students. Examples of what our lessons entailed were safe sex, creating boundaries, and common mental illnesses in teenagers. This experience was a key factor in how I view topics such as mental and physical health, and I would gladly have done it again if I had the opportunity to. Peer Health Exchange gave me an opportunity to inform others in my school community about how to improve their health. It proved to be a very rewarding experience considering the feedback I received from my peers about how helpful the lessons were. Not only was it beneficial to them, but teaching these lessons served to be a learning experience for myself as well. Being able to learn about certain topics to teach to my peers and also hearing their experiences was eye-opening. Without this experience, I wouldn’t have known some of the vital information teenagers should know going into adulthood. Then in addition to that, I don’t think I’d have as good of a connection with my peers as I do now from being able to share our personal experiences. Proceeding Peer Health Exchange, I also had the opportunity to volunteer at my old middle school. Here I got to talk with the students about what they were learning about and I got to assist the teacher with any work they needed help with. I also was able to help set up a cultural event that the school was holding for Hispanic Heritage Month. It was a very fun experience to one, see my old teachers and peers again, but also to help out in any way that I could. This experience put volunteering in a different perspective for me since it was so much different from my previous opportunity. It made me realize there isn't only one way to help the people in your community whether it be younger or older people. In the future, I hope that I’ll be able to find more ways too volunteer in my community. Whether that be at my new university or going back to places I’m connected to. I’ll be able to use the content I've learnt from my volunteer work in my future professions from the aspects of mental health discussion and working under someone. Thank you for your time, and I hope that you would consider me for this scholarship opportunity

I’ve always been a part of underrepresented social groups. Whether that includes being a woman, African American, or having a lower social status. In coming to realize this, it makes me want to find a way to help those who are pushed aside or have a target on their back just because society says so. Throughout my life, I have been pretty adamant on professions surrounding helping people with their relationships or mental health. First it was a therapist,then it changed to psychologist, but the ideas were too broad. One day, I happened to get introduced to Netflix documentaries. And in these shows, they have criminal or forensic psychologists explaining the root of these heinous criminals in society today. That experience has led me to want to purse a career in criminal psychology. Now I know it may seem a bit strange as to why I’d want to get to understand the mind of these criminals, and I feel that a job like this is underrepresented for that reason as well. Despite that, criminals are people too. They have stories of their own that have brought them to where they are today. I want to be that outlet for them to get their story out and help them to understand themselves. If we promote career paths like this more it may even be a way to limit crimes in the future. Criminal psychology would help me to make a difference in the stigmas that have been established in society. Society has shunned individuals because of the acts they commit but never ask the question, why? There have been many cases where people have been in abusive relationships or haven’t gotten the proper healthcare, these can ultimately become factors in the crimes they commit. Being the driving factor between criminals ability to tell their story and society taking one narrative of who that person is, beyond their crime, is my main goal in pursuing criminal psychology. If I were awarded this scholarship, I would be able to pursue my dream of helping underrepresented groups, and at the same time, add to the pool of diversity in criminal psychologists. Being awarded would also relieve some of the burden of financial debt for myself and my family as I enter into college life. I want to be able to make my family proud of the impact I make on others without creating such a financial burden, I hope that you considering me. Thank you.