Northwest Nazarene University Nampa, Idaho
Lewis-Clark State College Lewiston, Idaho
Idaho State University Pocatello, Idaho

I have always wanted to help people, especially in the medical field. I figured out nursing wasn't for me and I wanted something different but similar. After taking a mental health class I was inspired by psychology. I liked the science behind it and the studying of the human brain and behavior. Following that, I investigated professions involving the application of psychology. Later on caught my eye in clinical psychology. In clinical psychology you get to work with many groups of people. It focuses on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders to promote well being. It was something I really was passionate about doing. I have been reading books about the many types of mental disorders and ways to help people that have those disorders. I also get an understanding of the motives and influences behind why people act the way they do. Which fascinated me. I also like to help my community in something and I know being a psychologist would be a good way to do it. I also just wanted to study in something I would be very interested in studying and I know psychology would be the best choice.

I plan to attend Northwest Nazarene University. There I plan to major in psychology and minor in philosophy or photography. After receiving my bachelor's degree, I want to continue my education by going to graduate school to earn a Psy.D. With my Psy.D, I plan to become a clinical psychologist.

As a clinical psychologist, I want to work in a hospital setting or a mental health clinic. Working in the health care field is my big dream. I want to use my education to help my community in mental health. I know Idaho has really bad mental health support. I want to be able to help provide that help to many people as I can in my life.

Many people in Idaho don’t have a lot of support on their mental health, which is why there is a high rate of suicide. As a clinical psychologist, I want to be able to help prevent suicide. I want to help the people in my community. Just knowing my community, doing what's right for them would make me feel like I accomplished well in my life.

I have joined three clubs over the past two years. I joined HOSA my Junior year and became the secretary for the club.
My second club is Rising Voices. I started the club my sophomore year. I was first just a member but during my junior year, I became a group leader. My other club I joined was Behind The Senior, which I joined this year. I also helped tutor kids at Heritage Community Charter School. While joining these clubs, I have learned a lot of leadership skills, including time management, organization, and communication.

To me, the most impactful experience that I had in TRIO Upward Bound is in the Summer Program of 2024. I was new to the program and I didn’t know many of the students at the time, so I felt out of place while being in the class and just felt like I didn’t belong. Josh Engler, my TRIO Educational Specialist, recommended me to go to the Summer Program.

I was at first hesitant to go because I never once left my family for so long before. But I decided, why not just try it the first week. I, of course, still remember how nervous I was stepping on the bus and saying bye to my family. When I arrived at Boise State campus, I was greeted with smiles. I got to my dorm and met another student from the same program but from Meridian. She was so welcoming and very nice.

I got to talk to many other students even from my own school. When they started to talk to me, I started to feel like I belonged to be in the program. I did so many fun things, and got to hang out with amazing people and teachers. After the TRIO Upward Bound Summer Program, I felt like something in me changed and in a good way. Because of TRIO and the people in it, I have grown into the person I am today. I am no longer as shy as I used to be and have become so outgoing and talkative. So that's why that summer program means so much to me.

My biggest obstacle to completing college is definitely not knowing what to do. None of my older siblings or parents were able to go to college. I feel like I will mostly be lost in what to do when I begin college. I would have no one to go ask if what I’m doing is correct or wrong. I would definitely lack guidance on complex processes like financial aid, academic planning, and career preparation.

I could become overwhelmed with the new surroundings in a college setting. Another big obstacle would definitely be emotional and family struggles. I’m not even in college yet, but I know I would struggle to fit in. As a first generation in my family, I always feel this intense pressure to succeed. Even right now I still have this type of stress. It's a lot to take in when you don’t know how to do what's best for yourself and your future.

Some resources I would use to overcome these challenges is asking help from my TRIO Upward Bound educational specialist Josh. I feel like he would be a big help in navigating me to know what to expect during college. Even using the college's resources as well like financial aid, counselors, and asking for help. Surely using the support services and asking friends about these struggles would definitely help me a lot as well. Using these resources could help me face the challenges while navigating the unknown, as well as could use all the opportunities given to help me succeed.

Being the recipient of this fund would mean a lot.
To me, it would mean resilience and hope. Knowing if I got this opportunity, it meant that I was resilient in doing my best. It also would mean a lot for my family. I feel like my hard work was recognized. It would mean that I would have a lot of hope in my dream.

The benefit would help me with not burdening myself and my family financially. I wouldn’t have to work multiple jobs and allow my focus to be on my academics. I want to pursue this opportunity to gain college experience and help me grow more into an adult. Significantly this Opportunity Fund will bring me a lot of support and help on enhancing my academic focus, reduce financial burdens, and opportunity for experience in my college life.

I have done multiple community services during high school. I have done most of my services during the TRIO Upward Bound Summer Programs of 2024 and 2025. I even got to do some community service during the summer of 2025 for my senior project. There were multiple community service projects that I did that made it feel rewarding. This specific event that was a Friendship Feast was very memorable because I was able to help people in the community who needed extra food.

During the Friendship Feast, I was able to talk to some of the people that came. I even got to serve them food. When I talked to them, they told me their stories, about how sometimes they never knew when their next meal would be. They were so happy that we offered them some food. Just being able to hear their stories impacted me about our community. Food insecurity is a very scary thing to have to deal with from day to day. I even got to learn about homelessness and how many myths there are about it.

How this volunteer experience was rewarding was from getting to help my community and having to hear their stories. Knowing that I could make a difference with just putting some of my time into helping others really does show someone that there are always people out in the community who need just a little help.

I have only been able to work during my senior year of high school. During this time, I worked at Ross for three months. My first day was October 15, 2025 and my last day was December 31. I would usually only get paid every other Friday and my paychecks weren’t really big.

However, I would save most of my paycheck into my savings account. I was able to save about one thousand dollars into that savings account and I never once got money from it because I know it's my college savings money. I plan to work again during March to be able to save a bit more money. Although, I am not sure I can continue working since I'm gonna do babysitting again.

I definitely will be paid when babysitting. If I earn enough, I plan to save more money from my babysitting job. When I babysit, I charge 10 dollars an hour and I do get some money from babysitting and plan to use most of it for my college savings. If I can, I plan to save about five hundred dollars. I have put a lot of my investment into trying to fund my college. Even if I go to my dream college, I also plan to work to earn more money if I need to.