When I was six years old, I begged  my parents to buy me a puppy. They told me if I wanted a puppy, I would have to buy one myself, so I decided to start my own business and ended up buying my own Chocolate Lab puppy a little while later! The consequence of wanting a puppy was the start of a lifetime of opportunities for me. In our family, each of us children will support ourselves throughout college. I believe that scholarships would be of great assistance and much appreciated at this point.

I started my first social entrepreneurship business, Every Girlz Dream with the  vision to buy handmade jewelry from the Peruvian citizens and sell it in the United States and then send money made back to Peru, so the Peruvian citizens would have a higher standard of living.           

Throughout my high school career, along with being a social entrepreneur, I have logged 1,467 volunteer hours to date, which has greatly improved my leadership skills. My favorite long-term experience has been serving as a mentor and role model for the elementary classes. I help those students with their reading, writing and math skills. Working at the Food Pantry, along with cooking and serving the Community Lenten Meals for the last five years, ringing the bells for Salvation Army and volunteering through our church’s clean-up projects, has made me a more compassionate person.  For the last two years, I have worked as a CNA taking care of the elderly at Holdrege Memorial Homes, working an average of 30 hours/week.   

And for school activities, I have been involved in FCA, cross country, track, basketball, speech team, art club, language club, 4-H, L-Club, one-act, choir and band.

For church activities, I have been involved in summer camps, along with being an active member of Grace Fellowship Church. 

 Through volunteering and being an entrepreneur, I was an extremely determined young individual. From an early age, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I was young, I was always carrying around a baby doll; you would never find me without my baby doll. I was a little mother, trying to mother everything and everyone in sight.

My life experiences and innate traits led me to go into nursing, specializing in neonatal intensive care nursing, or better known as being a NICU nurse, which would require a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, plus some on-site job training.   As a neonatal intensive care nurse, I would be responsible for the fragile care of infants who may be diagnosed with congenital defects, have had delivery complications, or most often, babies who were born prematurely. 

I want to care for and be the voice for the smallest and sickest of patients who have no voice. Receiving this scholarship would be a great help to furthering my education!  Without financial aid my dreams of becoming a caring NICU nurse may not become a reality.