The best of times, and the worst of times. by Jessica

The best of times, and the worst of times. by Jessica - October 2019 Scholarship Essay

The person who has most inspired me academically is my aunt Mary Kay. . Because of her I will start my Master’s degree in the spring and will graduate in December with honors all while serving full time in the United States Navy.
I grew up in a very unstable household, my mother started going in and out of mental institutions when I was 9 years old after her uncle committed suicide on our family farm. Four years later my parents got divorced and my father left us with our mentally ill mother and started doing drugs which eventually led to him committing a series of armed robberies and ending him up in federal prison. My mother started drinking heavily which made her bipolar symptoms worse and I was stuck taking care of my three younger siblings and doing the best that I could. When things got really bad I could always call on my aunt and she would do everything that she could to come and help us.
Mary Kay worked her way through a nursing degree straight out of high school and has worked in the nursing industry since then, later in life she went back to school and became a Nurse Practitioner. She has always put an emphasis on bettering yourself however you can and has supported my decisions at all of the turns in my life even when she did not think that they were the best.
Aunt Mary Kay is the person I call whenever something has gone bad and the first person I call when things are good. Whenever I feel like I want to give up on myself and quit she helps me calm down and focus on the end. If I did not have my aunt Mary Kay I would not have turned out the way that I have, her stabilizing and calm influence have assured me many times in my life that I am worth it and I can achieve great things