2026 Scholarship America Dream Award Spotlight: Sienna Anderson

Scholarship America is proud to celebrate our 2026 class of Dream Award Scholars.

Each of these students has overcome obstacles and begun their college journey thanks to their grit, drive and determination—and the Dream Award provides them essential financial support so they can complete their education with less debt and less stress.

These renewable scholarships stay with students through the remainder of their college careers, ensuring that they can stay on track and finish their degrees. Since its founding in 2014, the Dream Award has helped nearly 200 talented, determined learners, and we’re excited to welcome the 2026 Dream Award cohort.

Today we’re introducing Sienna Anderson, a native of Sergeant Bluff, Iowa who’s attending Wayne State College in Nebraska. Spurred by her own experience with autoimmune disease, Sienna is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in public and global health, and she plans to go on to graduate study and a career that will allow her to help others facing chronic illness.

Here’s our conversation with Sienna; watch our blog to meet more Dream Award Scholars over the coming weeks.

What inspired you to pursue your field of study?

When I was sixteen years old, I fell terribly ill with an unknown ailment and started to lose a lot of who I was as a person. Before that period, I was a spunky, workout-obsessed and highly creative person. But I found myself having difficulties walking, thinking and remembering properly, feeling shocking pains in my joints, gaining weight rapidly, and having trouble staying awake.

I lost a lot of my spark and was forced to give up a lot of my hobbies. Others around me didn’t understand what I was going through, and neither did I. I spent over a year bouncing around specialists trying to figure out what was plaguing my body to react in the way it was. Eventually, I was diagnosed with an aggressive autoimmune thyroid disease, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

After my diagnosis, I was immediately taken aback by one fact surrounding the disease: there is no cure. Although it took a while, I did come to terms with my new lifestyle, and I realized that it sparked a passion within me to fight for my health and my healthcare despite there being no cure or true fix-all treatment.

Because of this, I believe in looking past general treatments into broader public health initiatives like prevention, management, quality of life and equity for individuals like me.

What stresses does the Dream Award relieve? Are you able to pursue opportunities or outside activities you couldn’t before?

Coming from a family that didn’t always have a stable home or finances, the Dream Award gives me the biggest sense of relief. Not only does this award allow me to graduate debt-free with my bachelor’s degree, it also allows me to focus solely on my education rather than worrying about my family and working to pay for my education. I can also participate in internships, attend health conferences, and other opportunities I may have formerly passed down.

How do you plan to spend your summer, and what are you most looking forward to when school starts again?

I like to think that I can take up just anything, so I challenged myself to work two jobs this summer, with a commercial signage company and local retail store. It definitely keeps me busy, but I make sure to save some time to relax and unwind, too. I’m looking forward to returning to college to work with the clubs I am involved in as well as working on more service-learning projects to help the local community in Wayne, Nebraska.

What’s your dream or ideal plan right after graduating? How about in five years?

After graduating from Wayne State College, I plan to attend the University of Nebraska Medical Center for my master’s degree in public and global health. After being selected as a recipient of this award, my dreams are beginning to feel like my reality.

Who knows, after finishing my master’s degree, I may even pursue a doctorate degree! After all, knowledge is powerful to create true and meaningful change in the world.

If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

I would tell her to stick to her gut and be true to herself. I haven’t always had the confidence to be true to who I am and my beliefs, but every time I do I prove to myself that I can succeed and do great things in the world.

This isn’t just a piece of advice I’d give to myself, but every young boy and girl around the world. You are capable, you are more than enough and never forget to always be yourself.

Is there anything you’d like to add?

One lucky Google search for scholarships led me to this opportunity. From the bottom of my heart, I’d like to thank the wonderful organization, Scholarship America, who has made dreams a reality for countless students like me.