PERSONAL STATEMENT

I grew up in Trinidad eating whatever my great-grandmother cooked. My favorite meal was spaghetti and ground beef, and I also thoroughly enjoyed the island's most popular dish, curry potato and chicken. I ate because I enjoyed food and I ate because food was needed to sustain life. That's all I knew, eat to survive. I had no idea of the nutritional implications of food and was unaware of its physiological benefits other than preventing hunger and starvation.

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Due to this mindset, I did not know that diet might have been the source of my digestive problems in high school. My mom attended a medical missionary class and she brought home a book entitled The Natural Remedies Encyclopedia. This book contained remedies to over 730 diseases and disorders. Out of curiosity and an intense desire to alleviate my digestive problems, I skimmed through the book and noticed that the main remedy for much of the conditions was to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and eat less meat, processed foods, and sugary foods. I was unaware of the relationship between diet and disease and thought, "surely there are many others who are ignorant of this fact…I would like to educate them." At the age of sixteen, my eyes were opened to the field of nutrition and wellness, and then came a burning desire to seek to promote health and prevent disease.

Because of this passion, I enrolled in Oakwood University and declared Dietetics as my major because I wanted to make an impact in health and nutrition. I volunteered at the Abundant Life Wellness Institute, a newly developed wellness center in rural Alabama, and worked as a kitchen assistant to aid in preparing nutritionally balanced meals for guests receiving care. This gave me insight into my career as a dietitian because I saw an improvement in the conditions of people with hypertension, diabetes, kidney failure and even brain cancer. Once they were introduced to individualized lifestyle interventions and a personalized nutrition care plan, they lost weight, their blood pressures and blood sugars decreased, and as a result, the doctor reduced or eliminated some of their medicines. The greatest testimonies was when one of the guests reported that her brain tumor shrunk and she no longer needed surgery.

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Also, my passion for health and wellness has propelled me to be actively involved in the Student Nutrition Awareness Club (SNAC), where I served as the secretary, event coordinator, and eventually president. I conducted food demonstrations and cooking classes for community members and an interactive presentation on healthy eating for the resident assistants at Oakwood University. This awakened a desire to eventually study culinary medicine so that I can teach people how to cook and take charge of their health. I have also been actively involved with Oakwood University's Healthy Campus 2020 program, an initiative to empower students to make healthy choices. As the Head Ambassador for Healthy Campus, I have collaborated with other students to plan simple, fun events that highlight the importance of utilizing all eight health laws.

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My passion for health and wellness led to participation in the Summer Public Health Scholars Program at Columbia University which afforded me the opportunity of a lifetime to gain exposure to the field of public health. This program included public health coursework, hands-on field experience in the surrounding areas of New York City, and immersion in a diverse, economically disadvantaged urban environment. I had the opportunity to observe public health interventions and programs in operation which piqued my interest in the field.

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Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, yet many premature deaths from heart disease could be prevented. This is something that is said all the time, but it became personally real when I had the opportunity to gain clinical experience at Huntsville Hospital. My classmates and I saw patients on the general medical floor and most of them had previously experienced a heart attack, most of them were suffering from kidney failure, most of them had hypertension, and most of them had diabetes. These experiences intensified my desire to seek to promote health and prevent disease because I grew tired of seeing people burdened with diseases and health conditions that are preventable.

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I desire to become a registered dietitian because nutrition is a very important, yet highly neglected aspect of health, and I would like to impart the knowledge I have learned in this area of study to aid in creating healthier communities, healthier cities, and hopefully a healthier nation. I desire to study public health because I want to uncover the root causes of complex health problems and develop practical and cost-effective solutions. I hope to explore culinary medicine to assist my patients in achieving and maintaining optimal health, as well as graphic design so that I can create health infographics and use it as a platform for health education. I want to convey information to the public in ways that people will understand and find interesting and useful.  I want to do this through visual aids because I desire to integrate my two passions, art and health, into something that can benefit the world. There is a countless amount of individuals burdened with the onset of chronic diseases and it would bring me great pleasure to assist such individuals, especially the underserved. Seeing people healed brings joy to my life and I would love to experience it every day.

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My strengths include communication and time management, and my weaknesses are that I don’t speak a second language and I tend to take on too many tasks. I have demonstrated stellar communication skills through many oral and written presentations, especially in the Summer Public Health Scholars Program where I produced a research paper and delivered a ten-minute presentation on the topic: "Health Education for Risk Reduction of Inner-City Children". I have also demonstrated excellent time management skills. I have been placed on the Dean's List and have even been awarded the Highest Scholastic Achievement in Category I, III, and IV for having the highest GPA in my class in 2015, 2017, and 2018. In spite of my hectic schedule, I was able to accommodate extracurricular activities, hold leadership positions and work in two part-time jobs on campus.

My involvement in various internships and committees show that I have a passion for the health field and that I desire to further my knowledge and experience in this area of study, and I am eager to learn all that I can so I be a part of implementing changes everywhere I can.