Khayla Boykin, a Health Care Management student expected to graduate August 2021, has been awarded a UAB School of Health Professions Blazer Forever Scholarship. She is one of five SHP students selected during Homecoming Week based on their answer to an essay question. Here is the question and Khayla's answer.

What makes you most proud to be a UAB Blazer?

Fellow UAB family, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Khayla Boykin. For as long as I can remember, health has always been a love of mine. As little children, we do not realize just how often we tend to care for ourselves and others. Between caring for my mother and late grandmother, I never payed attention to what I believe is my calling until June 2019. This is when I decided to take an alternate route in my life and I feel that UAB was the smartest and most logical decision for what I plan to achieve in the near future.

I have had about a year to grasp a feel of the atmosphere from this school, despite being a strictly online student. As a transfer student from Lawson State Community College, I must say that the “vibe” is completely different at this school. From the professional advisors and professors to the friendly and positive classmates I have had a chance to team up with in past and present projects, UAB has done nothing less than make me feel like I am right where I belong. This is just one of the many reasons why I am proud to call myself a UAB Blazer. Aside from the students and staff, another reason for my pride is the amount of scholarship opportunities for people like myself. Ever since high school, there was always a struggle for students who have the book smarts, but may not be the best standardized test takers. That is where I fall in line. Also, as an undergrad health care management student, there are very few scholarship opportunities for my specific major. That is why I was so pleased to see this following scholarship.

In the future, my plan in life is to eventually have my own nursing home facility and change the dynamic in the way many elders are being treated in the world today. In August of 2019, my grandmother was placed in a nursing home facility for a rehab program and to keep a long story short, that experience is what put the fire in me to become a caregiver and dedicate my life to her.

To answer your question, what makes me most proud to be a UAB Blazer is the fact that I will soon make a difference in my community. As the late Gandhi once said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”