Calvin C. Donelson Memorial Scholarship

Growing up without a dad was a tough experience. I couldn't do the things other kids got to do and or experience. Even now paying for college, or buying any nice things I want for myself I have to work hard. Finishing high school was a huge challenge, but it paid off knowing I made my mom proud. All my mom wants for me is to succeed and not make the same mistakes she did. Due to her constant push, I have always had a hard drive to succeed, I can't fail and will try my absolute hardest to perform the best that I can. I have always been interested in being an electrician, I enjoy working with my hands and being outdoors. My current job is at Americas Tire and it made me fall even more in love with the thought of working with my hands. It wasn't easy at first and some days I still struggle, but it's a learning experience. As long as I keep pushing and never quitting I will be able to use these experiences in the real world to help myself as well as others. I do come from a single mother who raised 3 kids on her own, with her mother being an immigrant we always had huge shoes to fill. With the decisions my mother made growing up, the shoes got even bigger for me to fill. My mom was seen as a failure so I had to break the curse. I am a handworker who is trying to make a name for herself so I enrolled at UEI Oceanside to become an electrician but I'm trying to find ways to help pay for college. Any help I can get so I can take the correct steps towards a dream career is very appreciated. Trade work for me was always important because it is needed. The world is constantly growing and building and power is a necessity. It is also work that is desired especially because now kids want to work in front of a computer or from home but I know that my drive and desire to learn and gain real-life experience will set me apart from the rest of my competition. I hope that any support or help I gain along the journey will build me to succeed and become an awesome electrician who gets her job done but also remembers where she came from. I also hope that one day I can help kids who grew up just like me and give them the same opportunities that I received.

My father inspired me to go to trade school. Watching him work on our church growing up was monumental to me. He made his mark in this work doing something that would last years after he passed away. He put up church benches, laid out the carpet on the pulpit, and stained new hardwood floors that church shoes would stomp on. Being raised with hard work, dedication, and respect was left behind in that church, no questions asked just humble man that wanted to help the church that my mother was raised in, Memorial Tabernacle. In addition to his hard work, little bitty old me was there to help and left a good mental note of my father’s true heart and feelings towards people and revealed how he was when it came to helping others in his community. Sister couldn’t do anything but smile and thank him with the rest of the church-going members. With the heat that summer it could’ve been anybody’s duty. Something we didn’t take for granted but the big guy didn’t shy away from the challenge, it’s something he had experience doing. He once told me that worked on constructing a mall before and that he was a hard hat, but he wasn’t hardheaded. Remarkably the church turned out to be great like he said it would with every bit of his assurance. We had so many dinners, activities, and family moments there. What compares to Sunday service? After your father built the church up and you get to walk through those church doors with him. My mind was blown it was my first hands-on activity as a young man and he gave me responsibility for tasks. Luckily, we had breaks and got great food in between the work grind but we were grinding. But factually that’s what made me want to earn a degree in Welding Technology. It’s the best lifestyle for me. Working with my father instilled a work ethic nobody ever had. To me having a degree in welding technology possibilities are endless. Calls for more church-going memories, more parties, and more loving thy neighbor. Leaving enough said just an iconic representation of dedication and hard work. My legacy going forth is to continue that dedication and hard work. There is no comparison. Church floors stained, church carpet laid, and church benches put up was the most iconic thing I witnessed him do. That’s what inspired me to pick up a trade.