what is your next big educational goal by Ivan

what is your next big educational goal by Ivan - August 2024 Scholarship Essay

Growing up in a multifamily Latinx household, I was always told I wouldn’t do anything with my life out of my siblings and cousins. Although I was considered stupid, I never let other people’s perception of me stop me from achieving my goals. I experienced several obstacles in my life, and sometimes I felt like giving up. For instance, I was placed in elementary and high school special education classes. My teachers provided me with individualized support, and I made significant progress with my learning objectives, but I struggled with the stigma that many students with learning disabilities experience when they’re removed from general classes.

In the spring of my sophomore year, I lost my maternal grandmother, who raised me from the age of 4-10 when my parents couldn’t, and that was a significant loss. I stepped down from being a captain of my high school wrestling team and relinquished my chair membership with the HOSA Club. However, through it all, I still persevered. I was able to fill my position on my team and club and became a CIF champion and a state placer. I also helped win a team grant for HOSA for our cancer research; being taken out of the particular day class of Junior year so I could be mainstream, it was hard to adjust from classes with ten students to now 40 plus. Still, I could do it without using my IUP, but I had to help myself.

It was a problematic adjustment whenever college at Victor Valley College in 2020; the Covid-19 pandemic led to remote instruction and learning support being readily available. Still, I was able to pull through my first semester and also passed my classes the following spring term. However, my father had been affected by Covid-19 and passed shortly after. Many professors offered to drop me from my classes so I wouldn't be penalized, but that wasn't an option for me. My mother and father are both my biggest inspirations. See how both of my parents came from nothing and worked day and night so that I could have an education and have a shot to become somebody.

I thank God that he blessed me with my parents. I have obtained my associate degree in math and science, Public Health, and Nutrition and Dietetics from Victor Valley College. This year, I was selected for the spring CNA cohort at VVC, which will help me when I apply for schools. I plan to further my education by becoming an Endocrinology & ICU nurse specialist. After abstaining from my BSN, I plan to get my RDN (Registered Dietitian Nutritionist ). I would love to teach people individually about the importance of feeding your body correctly and that you do not have to spend money to achieve where you want to be. After obtaining both of my bachelor's degrees, I would like to go into a master's program for nursing, obtain my MSN, and then take my CCRN. I aim to become a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist), and I pray that GOD can also use me as a tool through my journey to becoming a nurse. This scholarship would help me by taking the worry away from my mother about the cost of school. I would love to show that through the grace of god and his guidance, being told that I wasn’t going to do anything for not being the brightest or being Latino and knowing that only 30% just get a high school education and stop and just be contain with that in their life and through grief and loss of my Grandmother and father that I was able to accomplish what I work hard towards and that my community of where lived was able to contribute.