Meet the 2022 Scholars

"2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the AbbVie CF Scholarship. As we celebrate this milestone, we look forward to continuing to recognize more students pursing their educational goals. Please share your future ambitions in the Cystic Fibrosis community, professionally and personally."

The biggest themes I desire for my life consist of support and stability. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, CFF, is one of the biggest factors in my life that has constantly provided me with support and stability since my diagnosis after only a few months of age. I am currently a rising sophomore pursuing a psychology degree at the University of Mississippi. With this degree I hope to pair with the CFF to use my psychology degree to help patients recently diagnosed as well as their loved ones. The diagnosis of cystic fibrosis can not only take a physical toll on those involved, but a mental one as well. I hope to use my personal experience with this disease, as well as my knowledge acquired from my psychology degree to help those cope and manage with their diagnosis. I look forward to learning about new future advancements and incorporating that within a plan for CF patients. Helping patients succeed both physically and mentally would be one of the most rewarding feelings I could achieve. Until I reach that goal, I can give back to the CF community through adding value by raising awareness and funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Raising awareness and funds at my university holds a significant impact for the CF community as young adults around my age are not as informed about what Cystic Fibrosis is and how much it can impact lives. Most people in my hometown of Baton Rouge knew that I had CF, but in my college town of Oxford I see that there is an education opportunity about this disease. I even found a fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, whose philanthropy is to raise money and awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I plan to help in the future by getting involved with this fraternity to help create events that raise money and awareness for CF. I want to help advance the CF community by increasing mental health well-being in adult CF patients. As I am maturing into a young adult and becoming responsible for my health, I have learned there is more to CF than performing the physical aspects such as taking pills and doing treatments. I want to address the fears associated with growing old having CF, such as fear of missing class or work, providing for a family, or getting married and having a family. By partnering my degree and personal experience with the CFF after graduation, I believe that I can make a significant contribution to the adult CF community. I seek to provide the help to others that I received as a young child and move it further for adult CF mental health. With many in my corner during my lifetime with CF, I learned valuable lessons about the importance of showing support and care for someone. I hope to continue to live a life where I show encouragement and servitude towards those facing similar diagnoses as cystic fibrosis.