Fallen "Freaks" Scholarship

Submitted via a video link

Submitted via a video link

I am Native American of the Colville Confederate Tribes who lives on a small reservation with a population of less than 500 people, with one gas station, two bars, a weed store, and a small K-12 school not even a mile away from those stores selling addictive substances. When I gain my degree in Criminal Justice, I will return to my small town as a cop, in order to help keep the drug and alcohol problems to stop from spreading. My goal is to one day work my may up to a high honored detective under the degree I chose by serving my reservation to help move it's way back to good instead of harmful. As I drive to different cities an places for the things I might need, I tend to notice the difference of care the earth is given compared to on my rez. Because of the drugs and alcohol, many have stopped caring to respect what we have been given by god, so there is beer cans a garbage in every ditch on every corner of our town. It is sad and disgusting. But as I drive to other places, it never looks that way. Their isn't beat up cars crashed into trees that stay there for months. There isn't beer and drug tool lying in ditches. Theirs not abandoned dogs running around getting into garbages. There is not house parties in the middle of the day. The reservation used to protect the land from the "whites" is now corrupted and less beautiful than the land across our river is that is owned by "whites". I am not saying all natives in my reservation are bad, nor are other races by any means, but from what I have seen from my own perspective in my home, a lot are in need of guidance and discipline in order to make our land the way it was intended for us as Native Americans to protect and to maintain is beauty. I tend to become a women of the law to help save our land and our reputation that it once was. We are beautiful, we should not look so ugly from the outside, and I believe I can help once graduated from the college I chose, with the help of scholarships to succeed in my future plans. As future generations come up, it will soon be my duty to lean them towards a better life that does not always have to involve such harmful substances that are so easy to get inside my small community. That is what I plan to do with my degree in order to help whoever needs it.

When It comes to criminal justice, I have a relatively unique background. Although it mainly pertains to law enforcement, I believe that it helped to spark an interest in me and that interest is to help others who have experienced the sort of trauma that I have. I came to the determination that criminal justice would be my avenue and here's why. When I was 12 (2018), my 14-year-old brother Jack committed suicide in the room next to me. I was asleep and only awoke to the commotion of law enforcement and medical personnel rushing through the house screaming and yelling. As you can imagine this could not have been scarier for a 12-year-old. Unknown to me at the time, this was the last time I would ever see my brother alive. At 14 years old he had somehow deemed himself damaged enough to shoot himself and take his own life. The law enforcement on scene was visibly upset and with such unbelievable news, I was practically incapable of feeling this way. However, I was able to question, as a 12-year-old does, to an endless extent. Law enforcement on the other hand, simply didn't have the capability to provide these answers and I didn't blame them. To this day we have not figured out why my brother chose to commit suicide. It was during this challenging time that I thought about my future and what I could do with the rest of my life. I was forever scared of images that my brain had conjured up of my brother and his condition. And for a while, I truly struggled to see past this. It was then that I realized what my purpose was. In some way, shape, or form, through criminology, I was going to provide answers for families that so desperately needed them as I did. I could help to provide closure and a conclusion for what many have experienced in both violent crime and suicide. This was my purpose. Following this realization, I instantly dove into true crime in every avenue and media. Whether it was podcasts like Crime Junkie or T.V. shows like NCIS, CSI, and Criminal Minds, I yearned to understand the human mind. It definitely helps that my mom has been a lawyer for nearly 30 years. She even spent time as a prosecutor in sex crimes in both Hendricks and Marion County. I greatly respect her and all the work that she has done. My overall interest in the subject drastically grew and to this day I am driven to accomplish my goals of having a career in this field. My high school even offered a Forensics class and I absolutely loved it! In summary, the suicide of my brother damaged me more than you know, but it also brought me to a career field that allowed me to give others answers for similar traumas. I am so glad that I have been offered the opportunity to help others like me and to provide justice and answers for those in need.