My name is Marla Cius. I am a 22-year-old woman with many dreams for the future.

Throughout my life, I always wondered what career I would choose . In the past several years, I
discovered my love for medicine and helping others. I have learned which values I need in order
to achieve my goals for myself, my education, and my community. Throughout my life,
experiences have led me to set goals for myself, whether it's emotional or physical. In terms of
qualities and behavior, I have learned that a strong work ethic and motivation are strong values I
value. I want to have everlasting motivation and a strong work ethic so I will never give up and
always keep trying. I want to always continue to have the drive that motivates me to wake up
every day and do the things I am trying to do. I want to acquire patience and wisdom because
when you will be faced with hard decisions and you have to have these qualities in order to
make a decision that is better for you and those who surround you. I come from a Haitian
religious and traditional family. I grew up with contrasting beliefs and differences from people
that interacted at school. My parents migrated from Haiti to the United States of America for a
better life. They had to find better opportunities for my siblings they left behind in Haiti and also
for me. They had suffered humiliation and difficulties before they got to where they are now. My
father has worked and continues to work two restaurant jobs for 20 years. My mother also has
worked two jobs but left one to spend more time with her family. As a family, we faced leaving
behind some Haitian traditions and adjusting to the American lifestyle.
One of the biggest obstacles I faced was being a first-generation student. Like every
first-generation student, I was completely lost when it came to college because I didn’t have any
clue where to begin. I didn't know what degrees you get in college or even if you had to pay for
college. At that moment, there weren’t people to guide me or inform me about the first steps of
the college experience . This led me to believe that I wouldn't be in a place where I would be
successful and become a failure for me and my parents. However, one day my eyes became
open when I was talking to this girl and she had her whole career path and education path
planned. At that point, I admired how she planned out her life. Even if her life may not necessarily
line up with her plan perfectly, she had a plan. This obstacle has taught me in life that you are
going to be lost one day, where you won’t even know where to begin, but you have to push
yourself out of that hole. I also learned about how negative my mindset is and how it affected my
grades, my vision for the future, furthering on to self-love. I began to learn what skills I have and
what my interests were. In junior year, Hope hosted a college tour, and took the opportunity to
attend it. I learned about different degrees offered in college, different ways to pay for college,
and had an opportunity to talk to college advisors and students. Because of this obstacle, I
learned to be open-minded and a risk-taker because I learned to take risks in order to uncover
different programs that college offers and I had to be open-minded in order to explore what I
wanted to do in the future.
As soon as I started to inform myself, I started to apply the advice to be a better college
applicant. Because my parents and I had high expectations of myself,I felt the need to get into a
good college on my own. I entered into an excessive amount of extracurricular activities and
joined many opportunities,and enrolled into challenging classes. Due to the amount of things I
took, I became so overwhelmed and stressed. There were points where I had burned out
because I was so stressed and there were things that I had to sacrifice to do something else
that was important. Due to the amount of expectation, when I fail, it would take me longer to pick
myself back up because I am hard on myself. This taught me that in life there will be a point
where you have a burn out but this taught me, you still have to fight and remember why you did
that in the first place. The values I have developed are persistence because I manage to keep
fighting and continue to work through the end. I also leaned the meaning of sacrifices because I
had to give up certain things to make a good choice in the end.This obstacle did not impact the
direction of my life however all the activities and the classes have helped move the direction of
my life into a good college and taught me the persistence I need for my educational and career
path.
Additionally, through volunteering at Shepherd's Hope clinic has truly affirmed my career as a
physician. Every medical profession that has walked through the doors of the clinic has truly
cared for their patients. However, Betsy Ciroli and Dr. Josette Romain has truly been set apart
from the physicians as they have taken their time to care for their patients whether through
medical or emotional support. These providers have shown each patient that they are heard and
will do their best to take care of them in the ways that they can. Their life experiences have
shaped them into becoming who they are and always ready to teach those who are surrounding
them. Also the teamwork between these medical providers with other medical staff has
influenced me greatly and has motivated me to pursue a career as a surgeon. Additionally, as I
have a hands-on person which has led me to practicing interventional medical treatment. Not
only that, through Hope, I have met amazing leaders and seen the work that they have done. I
have seen people want to create change in this world and do whatever it takes to see that
change. I see the impacts the leaders have on those who were watching them and the
awareness they bring to others. I have seen people change their mindsets when they soon open
up their eyes to these issues. My participation at Hope Community Center has helped shape my
values and goals by showing me awareness and mentorship. I want people to be aware of the
social issues faced by society and for people to find better solutions to these issues. I also want
to be a role model like the leaders at Hope Community Center because I have seen the care for
each participant in Hope Community Center. I want to make a change in this world whether it’s
big or small. In my community, one of my main goals is to be a role model to others. I want to
be an example to other people in ways I have seen people become an example to me. I want to
be able to pay it forward to the people that surround me. Hope Community Center has helped
me find community because of the relationships I make each time that I go there. Every person I
met and had a chance to share their story with, I have learned a lesson in each such as
resilience and hopes from a high school student who volunteers frequently, I want to increase
my knowledge and diligently pursue a career in the healthcare field. What makes me a viable
candidate is possessing endurance, determination, and ambition because I know I will be able
to withstand the pressures and the hardships of college and will be determined to be on top
whether it's academically or personally. I dedicate my time to college and will continue to do so
after I graduate high school. I will serve as a guide for future students coming into my career
and obtaining a higher education. I will also help my community in advising a healthy lifestyle
and become a role model. This community means family to me because I found so many people
that care about me and I for them. I learn how to appreciate everyone there and respect
everyone I encounter because I don’t know what they’re going through.
My educational goal is to study health sciences at University of Central Florida. Being at
University of Central Florida feels like a place where I would build new connections with people
and learn about new things. Strolling around felt as if I was breathing a new air because of the
large amount of opportunities and positive energy presented on campus. Another reason why I
chose UCF is because it resides close to home. The location helps me stay close to my family
and my city because it will be easier to guide myself through this transition. Pursuing this major
will fulfill my infinite curiosity by learning the different ways people problem solve and
understand why we have the thought process that we have. To learn about humans, you have to
look at the mind where it holds all the information. Every organ has a function but the mind is
what controls the organs and us. Our mind makes up the way we think, our actions, our
cognitive abilities, our emotions, and our behavior. If I major in neuroscience and psychology, it
will answer all my questions. Eventually, it will lead me to better understand my patients when I
become a doctor and a surgeon and know more of a side that people don’t take their time to
notice. Soon I will enter medical school to become a doctor and a surgeon in my field. I want to
pursue a career in health care because it is amazing how simple innovative ideas can inform
thousands of people on how to live healthily and happily. In the healthcare field, I admire how
benign people come together to try to help others for the better, and work to find solutions to a
patient’s illness. The care they provide for patients is amazing, and like them, I would also like to
take time to listen to a patient’s malady and find solutions that work with their lifestyle. I will
achieve my goals by working harder than before and having a strong work ethic. I will also use
the skills that I learned from past experiences to help guide me to successfully achieving my
goals. I will apply the advice I learned from other college students to being an exceptional
undergraduate student and medical school applicant. Achieving these goals will make a
difference because it will aid me in gaining skills that are useful in my community and I will better
understand people because I have more experiences and know better ways to help my
community.