James Allen Crosby & William Edward Huff Scholarship

One by one, I picked up the smashed liquor bottles and hypodermic needles, tossing them into the heavy-duty garbage bag. My hands perspired in the baggy adult-sized gloves I wore to protect myself from contamination, as the house had no running water for washing. The grass was puddled with the excrement flowing from a broken septic tank. I was working in a schoolmate’s yard--only one physical mile--but a world away from my own home. Since that day when I was 10, my volunteer work with local organizations has become a central part of my life. That day my eyes were opened to how privileged I am and how beneath the veneer of wealth within my community, there is a deep well of need. So many experience lives that are disconnected from opportunity, while others are blind to their own entitlement. I think about this disparity every day, and it drives the way I spend my life. Service work has helped to mold my entire worldview. Growing up in a family that emphasized service has allowed me to experience firsthand the need and inequity of the world we live in. Whether building wheelchair ramps or replacing rotten decks, delivering food boxes to needy families, or writing cards to lonely shut-ins, the way I choose to spend my time is a direct reflection of the worldview I adopted as a young child. A core piece of my character was built on the realization that the world isn’t fair and that I can help do something about it by serving others. This opportunity to change things, for me, is not optional and I try to live each day in order to help others. Seeing this deep inequity and inequality that pervades our society has fueled my desire for justice. Given this desire, I want to use my talents and abilities to earn a position in a federal law enforcement agency, ideally the FBI. I know this is a goal that requires years of effort, and I envision myself working in local law enforcement as a key part of this process. In one of the neighborhoods I have served in, a homeowner told me that the only contact community members had with people who looked like me was when officials came to take away her children. That conversation motivates me every day to work for change within both my community and society. Building bridges and making connections is the first step to truly mending the social rifts that pervade our system and go deeper than many of us assume. The realization that things can be changed and that I can be the one to take a stand to initiate action has created an opportunity that, for me, is not optional and compels me to live each day to help others. For me, college is a stepping stone on the way to a career where I believe that I will be able to use my skills, interests, and abilities to help people not only at a personal level but also on a more systematic level in order to positively impact the world we live in.