"If You Believe..." Scholarship

My why has to do with the bettering of myself and my community. As the firstborn of a teen mom; who left for work when the sun rose and returned when it left, I have been tasked with the supervision of my two younger siblings. My father was not around to pick up what my mom could not, so starting from a young age, I stepped up. Not to take away from her, if we could see responsibility, she was benching 800. I was also a role model to my younger siblings. Since elementary, I have been in leadership programs, gifted and talented and, other clubs to inspire them to do better. As they are doing their homework, I am doing mines to poke at their curiosity; to show them that their education is dire. I did everything in school to expose them to everything so that even if school was not in their future, an instrument or sports could be. Because of this, and that I take on everything myself, I became stressed and anxious. I felt a lot of pressure from everyone around me to be the best. I had a reputation to uphold in the eyes of my mother, siblings, teachers, and other individuals who believed in me. My mother had to rely on me because I was her last resort; my siblings had to rely on me without knowing it because they did not know any better. I did not talk to anyone about my stress and emotions because I felt like a burden every time my mother spent money on me, I felt like a burden every time I ate the last of the cereal, I felt like a burden every time I forgot to take out the trash. Getting into the high school I am at now has helped me redevelop my skills. It took me a lot of time and effort, but as more work came the, more confident I became in myself to complete the tasks at hand. I learned a lot from my past experiences. I do not have to do everything myself, others are willing to help, and my mental health should be my top priority because getting overwhelmed and crashing will bring everything I have worked towards to a halt as they crash with me. I have not only bettered myself. I am an active member in my community, excluding this past year for safety, and I have accepted more responsibility. Being inspirational and helping others has been integrated into my personality since I was a toddler. I have seen the positive impacts that come from helping others and being a role model in someone else's eyes. It brings me an unmatched joy when I can help someone whether it be with math, life, or even where to go. It has been for these reasons that I have been elected class president for the last two years. I have used this platform to continue helping others get through the stress that comes with life.