Healthcare was an unplanned career for me. I am not one of those people who knew that I was going into healthcare from an early age. I spent twelve years in and out of the foster care system and worked as a warehouse laborer. Did I even have the opportunity to consider my passion at all? I was asked, “Where are you going from here? What are your future goals?” I automatically replied, “I don’t know. I’m comfortable.” Which was immediately silenced by the response, “You don’t seem like the comfortable type.” This was the conversation that caused me to wake up and initiated my pursuit of progress.
Growing up in the foster care system meant I was forced to adapt to constant change, forced to live a life of harsh independence. Back then, I was a girl with a weak grasp of the English language, with the singular goal of having food to eat and a roof over my head. Back then, I didn't have the luxury of whimsicality. I had no childhood, no choice.
As a result, my sense of fulfillment when helping others was heightened when I realized that I was not alone. As a Latina woman living in Chicago, I experienced the prejudice; in addition to, the choking reigns socioeconomic status had on career and life opportunities for people of my background and gender. When I turned eighteen, I
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I know I want to study Public Health because I was one of them. I want to learn skills to empower individuals, making a difference locally within a community that can change lives. I want to combine service with education and medicine. My life experiences, my hardships growing up, my path towards a future where I can make my own choices and have the resources to pursue a career in healthcare, have given me strength, commitment, and most importantly,