I woke up paralyzed. At the age of 12 years old, the entirety of my life was changed. The fall of 2011 was very eventful, to say the least. I had been heavily involved in cheer leading since I was five years old; this interest has continued into my early teenage hood. The Saturday of October 15th was no different than how I had spent seven years of my life; I woke up at eight A.M. and went to tumbling practice. I left that practice with a pulled muscle in my back, but I had absolutely no idea that something so minuscule would impact my life forever. Sunday morning changed my life. I woke up around nine A.M and by 10:45 A.M, I was paralyzed from the waist down; I had suffered from a Fibrocartilaginous Embolism (in layman's terms, a Spinal Stroke).
For two months I was in a rehabilitation center that focused on spinal cord injuries. I learned so much about myself through failure, and through trial and error. This phase, and even today, is and was so much about learning how to adapt. At 12 years old I had to learn how to work a body that did not want to function. I started with learning how to brush my teeth and dress myself. This turned into how to cook and navigate practical everyday skills. Which then lead to how to use a manual wheelchair for my everyday transportation. There is no doubt that my life changed physically during this time; however, I also changed quite drastically in my mentality. As I was adjusting to my new body, I overcame so many mental barriers. Today I am 17 years old. I am still paralyzed from the waist down. I still use techniques I was taught in rehabilitation in my everyday life. I now embrace change; I love myself and how different I can be.
My accident has influenced my life goals in many ways. I plan on majoring in psychology. Since I have first hand knowledge in how physical changes can affect your life, I want to be a rehabilitation psychologist. I am absolutely fascinated with how your physical brain can affect your mentality. I have become extremely passionate about rehabilitation psychology since I had to go through it myself.
I have also become very active in my school within these past five years. I cannot play sports because of my physical limitations so I am involved in almost every club/ council there is. I am a Senior Class Officer, Vice President of SCA, and Secretary of National Honor Society. Along with holding these positions of leadership I am a member of 5 other student empowerment clubs.
Extracurricular Activities also take up a lot of my time that is not spent on academics. I have participated in my school musical for the past four years with titled roles for two of those years. I auditioned for and made district choir for the past two years. I have held a part time job for over a year. I am also extremely active in volunteer work. All of these extra things that I am involved with make me the person I am. I think it is very important to balance your academic success with extracurricular activities . The balance of these two things can lead to a bright future.

Essay: SmartDrive

During the five years that I have been a paraplegic, I have come across many tools and gadgets that are available for people with disabilities . In my time of two months in rehabilitation I was exposed to about 10 different types of manual wheelchairs, shower benches, brakes, transfer boards, and endless other products. Even though I had been over exposed with accessories, none of them had truly made a difference in my day to day life. At one of my yearly doctors appointment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, my physical therapist told me about a product called a SmartDrive; I had never heard of this before, so naturally I was curious. I got to ‘test drive’ this SmartDrive and I instantly fell in love with it. I am a very petite body type, so pushing my manual wheelchair is extremely hard on my entire body, but more specifically my shoulders. The SmartDrive allows me to only be responsible for one initial push, and then the Bluetooth bracelet and attachable wheel keeps my chair at the same speed of that first push. Going down one hallway of my high school used to take a couple hundred pushes, which created immense pain by the end of the day; however, with the SmartDrive, I do roughly 20 pushes the entire day. Having this product improves my daily life so greatly; I have the versatility of a manual wheelchair, while having the physical luxury of a power wheelchair. The SmartDrive is also super light weight and is easily attachable so I can still keep my independence with driving. I simply just re attach the SmartDrive when I have finished assembling my chair. This medical product has saved my shoulders so much strain, and allowed me to be fully independent and not be hampered by my disability. I recommend the SmartDrive to anyone, and I can only say positive things about it. The SmartDrive truly has improved my quality of life.