I’m a high school senior attending Chinquapin Preparatory School. My future aspiration is a career in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Because of my future aspirations, I chose to do my project on maternal mortality. When given the opportunity to focus on something that can possibly impact our community, I knew that I wanted to do this awareness project. This societal issue is close to my heart because my mother was close adding to Houston's maternal mortality statistics.

When trying to learn about maternal mortality as an issue, I did research on its global impact. The majority of my global research focused on medical journals who did studies in Nigeria, where the maternal mortality crisis was very prevalent. I then compared the most common causes of maternal mortality in Nigeria to the most common causes in America. In America, Texas has the highest maternal mortality rate of all the states; which can be compared to that of one of a developing country. The next thing I did was find if there were organizations that were fighting this crisis. I discovered that there is a Maternal Mortality and Morbidity task force in Texas fighting to lower the Texas maternal mortality rate.

My initial plan for the execution of my project was to create a group/class where teens could ask questions and talk about sex education, reproductive health, and the causes and preventative measures for Maternal Mortality. When scheduling issues made this idea unfeasible, and after talking with some friends about some of my artwork from a few years ago, I realized I could combine my passion for art with my new passion for maternal health. I created an art exhibit to raise awareness about the causes of maternal mortality. My paintings depict various causes of maternal mortality, accompanied by cards with statistics on their rate in Houston, Texas.