When I interpret the meaning of self-reflection, I think of who I am today, my values, feelings, and how changes affected my life in a good way. To be honest am I happy with where I am in life right now? My answer to that is yes and no. Yes, it is the pride that comes from my heart, the chance that I struggle and overcome the adversity I face. The no comes from the decisions I have made that didn’t progress my life in a better way. Growing up, I had a normal childhood, but it wasn’t the best with the relationship between my mom and dad. School for me was hard because I never caught on to certain things especially with math because I just always struggled. When I reached High school, I faced a HORRIBLE TRAUMATIC TRAGEDY that I couldn’t have imagined would happen. I lost my mother during my freshman year in October 2016 because of domestic violence. Many days went by of being speechless, and a few weeks to where I had to return to school and ever since that situation of growing up without a mom. I have been hard on myself to make her proud and set an outstanding example for my little brother to be the best that he can be and live a significant life. Every decision, step, and things I do is for my mom, family, and myself but that hardship didn’t stop me to forget that I have a life with people counting on me. It strengthened me to go for my goals, become strong, and never give up because my mom showed independence, a fighter, intelligence, and she always worked hard to show her kids that this response is what it takes, and I want you guys to strive and work even harder than me. What I hope to achieve in life with the loss of a loved one gave me the "FIGHT" to achieve a better life for my brother and I because I am a role model for my brother to look up too. Not only that but the fight to avoid or help others to avoid a situation of domestic violence before it's too late. I based part of the reason I took on majoring in Nursing was to give back to others in a way of giving my all to help patients and people whether it's critical. My purpose from this traumatic situation is to create my legacy to the world and other people like myself that your life doesn't stop there. You are a blessing with many more blessings to embark and spread to the world because what happens to you doesn't define your life, character, spirit, and self. Being 19 in college, I am preparing myself to achieve it by being on the right path to my goal and outlining now in life what lifestyle I want to have. Now, I have majoring in nursing and will apply to nursing school next year in the fall. Pursuing in nursing has been hard for me, but I’m not giving up. It’s all in the mindset And I maintain a mediocre attitude towards my choices, actions and work it takes to do what I need to do because school is my priority. My dream is to become a General Nurse Practitioner because I want to affect the lives of as many people as I can. Knowing that you affected someone’s life whether it was helping with something critical or minor only encourages me. Waking up just knowing that I fulfilled a purpose in people’s lives will always stick with me and make my career more 10x’s better.

Hello, I am Destiny Wallace and growing up around the age of being in elementary school. I started becoming obese for my age with the number of sweets and fast food I would eat with no exercising or extracurricular activities. I wasn't paying attention to the things I was eating. When I started sixth grade things started changing because I came across the knowledge of learning about the sport Volleyball. Once I started the seventh grade, I tried out for the volleyball team because I fell in love with how the sport was fun. Ever since then, I have been playing Volleyball all the way until I graduated from High school. When I was in High school, my mind changed with what I am eating and how much I was eating with being an athlete. My experience playing volleyball in High school on a varsity team was a very hard core. We worked out every day from six a.m.- ten a.m. in the summer before volleyball season started in August. I forgot to mention when I started and completed middle school; I started slimming down once I got to High school and was no longer considered obese. The four years of playing volleyball made me very fit, and I weighed around one-forty to one-fifty. Looking back, I realized that Volleyball saved me away from becoming obese because that was my exercise and cause of changing how I was living my lifestyle with how I was eating. Now, at the age of being nineteen in college, I take the determination to get up every day and workout at the gym on my campus. Not only that but I walk and run around a two-mile track that surrounds my campus with incorporating small portions of what I eat and staying away from foods that will put me back into the category of being obese. The benefits that I have achieved by staying fit are better health, low blood pressure, better sleep, weight loss, and a happier me on the inside and out.

Thinking about my life always end up in a self-reflection to where, I think of who I am today, my values, feelings, and changes that has affected my life in a good or bad way. To be honest, I am happy with where I am in life right now but there are two perspectives to describe it. Yes, it is the pride that comes from my heart, the chance that I struggle and overcome the adversity I face. The no comes from the decisions I have made that didn’t progress my life in a better way. Growing up, I had a normal childhood, but it wasn’t the best when it came to the relationship between my mom and dad. School for me was hard because I never caught on to certain things that most students achieved, which made myself different when it came to the education aspect. When I reached High school, I faced a HORRIBLE TRAUMATIC TRAGEDY that I couldn’t have imagined would happen to me. I lost my mother in the midst of my freshman year in October of 2016 due to domestic violence. I got off on a bad start mentally, and a few weeks went by to where I continued my life by going to school. Ever since that situation, I have been living with a hardship of growing up without a mom. As I got older, being hard on myself to make her proud and set a great example for my little brother to be the best that he can be and live a great life was always my main motivation. Every decision, step, and things I do is for my mom, family, and myself but that hardship will forever live with me in life because I have people counting on me such as God, family, and myself. It made me stronger to go for my goals, become strong, and never give up because my mom was very independent, a fighter, intelligent, and she always worked hard to show her kids that effort, drive, and motivation is what it takes, and I want you guys to strive and work even harder than me. Being 19 and in college, I feel that I am on the right path to my goal and what lifestyle I want to live. Also, I am majoring in nursing and will be applying to nursing school next year in the fall of 2022. It is very difficult to engage in nursing but I’m not the type of person to give up. Everything is well prepared in my mind to fully be aware of the choices, actions, and work it takes to do what I need to do because school is my main priority. My dream is to become a General Nurse Practitioner because I want to impact the lives of as many people as I can. Knowing that you impacted someone’s life whether it was helping with something critical, or minor encourages me. Waking up just knowing that I fulfilled a purpose in people’s lives will always stick with me and make my career more 10x’s better. My purpose from this traumatic situation is to showcase my purpose to the world and other people like myself that your life doesn't stop there. You are a blessing with many more blessings to embark and spread to the world because what happens to you doesn't define your life, character, spirit, and self.

For starters, I would like to start off by saying thank you Cat Zingano for this inspiring scholarship because it is an opportunity that I was always looking for to tell my story. Growing up, I would say that I experienced being a normal kid coming from a household of working hard. By providing for your family, without hard work, including education, money, support, transportation, etc., people will get nothing. Meaning that I worked hard in school, and asked for help from my family to get the resources and things I needed. When I was around the age of 8 and up, I acknowledged many things that were happening between my parents and things that a human wouldn't do to a human to harm them. When I was in elementary school, my father got arrested and taken to jail for plenty of chargers that pertained to my mom and outside of that. As time passed, my mother moved to a new neighborhood. Amidst my father being in jail, my mother continued to be there for him, despite the many situations that they had. Once I reached the 4th grade, my father had gotten released from prison during that time and lived with my mother and me. When my father was living with my mother and I, things were fine as if he became a changed man but as time went on, he changed into this horrible person. Fast forward to my first year in High School, I will never forget the day of October 10, 2016. That day was when I found out that my mother had died and that my very own father had killed her. When I lost my mom, I continued asking myself why because I was so shocked that I couldn't believe what happened to me. As the days went by, I thought about the woman my mom was and how she took care of me and my younger brother. Which gave me the motivation to give my all in life to live the life that I want and to always strive for nothing but the best. Many people in my situation or in similar cases may stop everything that they had going on in life when that person they loss was here. Causing them to shut down from the world and feel that their life and purpose of living is over without that person being here anymore. I questioned so many things in my life including family and myself on how I'm going to continue my life without the guidance of my mother. Instead of giving up on Brother, Mother, Family, and myself. I turned that anger, trauma, sadness, and much more emotions I felt into dedication and motivation. Knowing that my mom is in a better place with God gave me a sense of relief because I know she is looking down on me and watching my every move proud. The thought of being in a blessed situation to be here in the position that I am who is a part of her in a way is me continuing her legacy by being a part of her. A big commitment that I have dedicated to myself and mother in life was pursuing college. No matter what I make of myself in life, my mom would be very proud of me if she was able to be here today to be a part of many accomplishments I have achieved. Important memories such as graduating from High School and furthering my education at the Auburn University at Montgomery to pursue a Nursing degree. Loss of a loved one gave me the "FIGHT" to achieve a better life for my brother and I because I am a role model for my brother to look up too. Not only that but the fight to avoid or help others to avoid a situation of domestic violence before it's too late. I based part of the reason why I took on majoring in Nursing was to give back to others in a way of giving my all to help patients and people in any way whether or not it's critical. My purpose from this traumatic situation is to create my legacy to the world and other people like myself that your life doesn't stop there. You are a blessing with many more blessings to embark and spread to the world because what happens to you doesn't define your life, character, spirit, and self.