Fulfilling the American Dream by Toluwalope

Fulfilling the American Dream by Toluwalope - March 2020 Scholarship Essay

I came to America when I was four. One day my family miraculously won a drawing for an American visa and believing that America was the land of opportunity my parents packed our bags and we left Nigeria. Growing up there was always a great emphasis placed on the belief that there is no limit to what you can achieve as long as you work hard, hence my ten-year plan, is to achieve the American Dream. Currently, I am a high school senior and I have been accepted to a public university in my city. I have already mitigated some of the cost of attending college by participating in a dual credit program at the high school. The program will enable me to graduate with an associate's degree from my local community college. I also plan to use my degree to get an administrative job considering my associate's degree will be in Liberal Arts. So I will likely work as a receptionist or an assistant for my first year of college to somewhat support myself in school and gain work experience. In that year I will be a Health major and work towards fulfilling the prerequisites needed to switch to a nursing major. In my second major, I will officially switch to a nursing major. As a nursing student, I will be qualified to take jobs with direct patient access like a patient care technician. So my second year I will work as a patient care technician. In the summer of that year, I will participate in the Americorp program. Americorp is a service program were volunteers support communities that are underserved or in need of support. As a nursing student, I hope to work in some capacity as part of the medical staff. In my third year of school, I will participate in hospital internships. That same summer I hope to participate in a study aboard. So by the end of the school year hopefully I would have established the connections required to obtain a nursing position at a hospital. By that period I will have taken my boards and be certified. So my fourth year I will officially be a full-fledged nurse. In my fourth and fifth year, I will work as a registered nurse. By the end of my fifth year, I will apply for a physician assistant program. Physician assistants are health care providers who work in coordination with a physician. I will be working towards a physician assistant program from year sixth to year eighth. Throughout this period I will be working as a medical scribe part-time to support myself financially while in school. I will graduate my eight-year and take the exams necessary to be certified. So by the ninth year, I will be a qualified physician assistant. So my ninth and tenth year will be spent starting my physician assistant career. The fact that I will be getting my bachelor's and master's is significant and monumental because I will be the first person in my family to graduate from college. When my parents first brought us to America they held the hope that this would be the place where my sister and I could move further than they could ever. So I look towards the future with the belief that my academic and career pursuits will validate every sacrifice that they have made for our family.