Ruebenna Greenfield Flack Scholarship

At the time of my conception, both of my parents were drug addicts. My dad joined a gang in his adolescent years causing him to be incarcerated for 5 years of my life. It was very difficult for my single mother to raise three kids at 23 years old. We were temporarily homeless and lived in motels, shelters, and eventually our own apartment. My mother attempted to support my younger siblings and I in the best way she could, but we didn’t have a stable living situation. Needless to say, it’s been a rough journey but I have never given up hope or ambition. I want to make my parents proud by ending vicious cycles and breaking generational addictions. I could’ve easily fallen to drugs, dropped out of school, or chosen a variety of different pathways. However, I want to continue my education for the improvement of my own life and the future lives of my students. I want to help as many people as I can and I feel the best way to do so is to become a teacher and provide a safe space for children who have a difficult home life to have someone show them their importance. I want to inspire them to care about their education, so they can have a bright future and succeed in life. Although I intend to become an elementary school teacher, I would also be interested in any other occupations in the educational field that may sprout from that experience. I am proud to say through very hard work, I’ve received over a 4.0 weighted grade point average every academic year since 6th grade. This did not come easy. When I was younger, there was a lot of chaos in my home and it was very hard to focus. I often had to choose to do homework over going out with friends. However, I continued to motivate myself because I knew there was a greater reward ahead. At I am currently a sophomore at Biola University majoring in Elementary Education. I have made the Dean's List for the second year in a row. This past summer, I worked as an ESL instructor to students all over the world through zoom. I taught students in Pakistan, Nepal, Georgia, Iraq, etc. Through this experience, I gained a wider view of the necessity of quality education. My heart desires to go wherever the Lord sends me to provide quality education to anyone in need. Thank you for the opportunity and privilege to apply!