Betty and Earl Hinson Scholarship

Someone who has made a significant impact on my life is my 6th-grade math teacher Mrs. Parker. During that time I was struggling with my identity heavily. I was always a smart student and I wanted to embrace it, but I was always scared of being too smart to be cool; or too smart to hang out with black kids. However, Mrs. Parker changed that for me; by having a black teacher she showed me I can still be cool and have black friends while valuing my education. At the end of 6th grade, she had me take a test to advance myself in math in middle school, and I passed! This led me to take algebra 1 as a 7th grader, and my whole life has been a snowball effect from that. By taking accelerated math I forced myself to excel in school at an early age, and now that I want to apply to college and for scholarships, I’m reaping the benefits of those decisions. If I chose to ignore Mrs. Parker and stayed on level, I probably would have never cared about my grades as much as I do now, because I would have never been pressured to. Because not only did Mrs. Parker teach me to apply myself, but she also taught me to break stereotypes. As a black woman Mrs. Parker understood the struggles I would go through more than I did at the time. She never wanted to let people assume that I was the black kid cruising through school, so I always applied myself attempting to be as smart as possible. She also taught me to value my identity and race and not to conform to anyone else’s beliefs to try to fit in. Through her lessons, she gave me the tools I needed to be able to sculpt my own identity, not what people think I should be or what people wanted me to be. Mrs. Parker allowed me to grow into the intelligent and proud African American man I am today. Through Mrs. Parker's teaching's I hope to replicate the impact she had on my life within others, In the future I hope to be a physical therapist who not only rehabilitates their patients, but is also an ear to talk to. I especially hope to work with young athletes because as one myself I believe I'd see myself in them. Through that I can work with them not only to get back on to their sport, but also help them with any mental health or identity issues like Mrs. Parker did for me.