We were born to unite with our fellow men and to join in community with the human race” (Cicero). This quote by Cicero speaks to me as I am a firm believer in the importance of embracing and serving one’s community. For me, the idea of community exists within my family, my school, my team, and my future career. As a part of an extremely culturally diverse family, I know first-hand the importance of respecting and embracing people’s differences. My family has taught me to love unconditionally and keep an open mind in all situations. Likewise, my family believes in fighting for the less fortunate and donating time, money, or knowledge in the name of the greater good. I bring the tenets of my family as I interact in the other facets of my life. Where I especially enjoyed giving back was in my neighborhood community. I relished Saturday opportunities to help different organizations in my neighborhood. For many years, I offered six to ten hours per week sharing my knowledge of and passion for the special teams part of the football squad. When I found out that the neighborhood youth football team did not have anyone to help coach young kickers and punters, I began serving as a volunteer coach. One of my favorite memories from this experience is when my 10-year-old kicker made his first field goal. He immediately ran directly to me for congratulations, and I knew that helping others would never be done in vain. Another neighborhood organization that I worked with was my sister’s softball league. The league needed volunteers to run the concession stand along with field upkeep. Being able to offer my time to help something so important to my sister was an easy decision. Both of these volunteer experiences impacted my decision to pursue a degree in education. I would like to become a secondary teacher, and my experiences as a community volunteer have guided this decision, but not in the way one may think. Despite living and volunteering in a predominantly white community, most of the players on the sports teams that I helped were not white. Many of the players shared stories of troubled home lives and no viable options for seeking help. Many were kicked off sports teams and even expelled from school. I often wondered why they did not garner advice from a teacher or a coach. And then it hit me. Very few of the people who worked in their schools looked like them—brown-skinned and curly-haired. Students need people who look like them to be their confidants. Students need to see their role models in the hallways and practice fields—not on rap videos or NFL teams. Students need more people in the schools who look like me—and half of the people in our country. I have always considered a career in teaching, but now I am sure. I want to teach. I want to be someone in a school building who everyone feels safe coming to for help or advice. Maybe my brown skin will be an invitation rather than a deterrent for some; maybe I can help keep kids who look like me on the right path. Like Cicero, I discovered the importance of uniting with our fellow men, and I plan to “join in community with the human race.”

We were born to unite with our fellow men and to join in community with the human race” (Cicero). This quote by Cicero speaks to me as I am a firm believer in the importance of embracing and serving one’s community. For me, the idea of community exists within my family, my school, my team, and my future career. As a part of an extremely culturally diverse family, I know first-hand the importance of respecting and embracing people’s differences. My family has taught me to love unconditionally and keep an open mind in all situations. Likewise, my family believes in fighting for the less fortunate and donating time, money, or knowledge in the name of the greater good. I bring the tenets of my family as I interact in the other facets of my life. Where I especially enjoyed giving back was in my neighborhood community. I relished Saturday opportunities to help different organizations in my neighborhood. For many years, I offered six to ten hours per week sharing my knowledge of and passion for the special teams part of the football squad. When I found out that the neighborhood youth football team did not have anyone to help coach young kickers and punters, I began serving as a volunteer coach. One of my favorite memories from this experience is when my 10-year-old kicker made his first field goal. He immediately ran directly to me for congratulations, and I knew that helping others would never be done in vain. Another neighborhood organization that I worked with was my sister’s softball league. The league needed volunteers to run the concession stand along with field upkeep. Being able to offer my time to help something so important to my sister was an easy decision. Both of these volunteer experiences impacted my decision to pursue a degree in education. I would like to become a secondary teacher, and my experiences as a community volunteer have guided this decision, but not in the way one may think. Despite living and volunteering in a predominantly white community, most of the players on the sports teams that I helped were not white. Many of the players shared stories of troubled home lives and no viable options for seeking help. Many were kicked off sports teams and even expelled from school. I often wondered why they did not garner advice from a teacher or a coach. And then it hit me. Very few of the people who worked in their schools looked like them—brown-skinned and curly-haired. Students need people who look like them to be their confidants. Students need to see their role models in the hallways and practice fields—not on rap videos or NFL teams. Students need more people in the schools who look like me—and half of the people in our country. I have always considered a career in teaching, but now I am sure. I want to teach. I want to be someone in a school building who everyone feels safe coming to for help or advice. Maybe my brown skin will be an invitation rather than a deterrent for some; maybe I can help keep kids who look like me on the right path. Like Cicero, I discovered the importance of uniting with our fellow men, and I plan to “join in community with the human race.”

“We were born to unite with our fellow men and to join in community with the human race” (Cicero). This quote by Cicero speaks to me as I am a firm believer in the importance of embracing and serving one’s community. For me, the idea of community exists within my family, my school, my team, and my future career. As a part of an extremely culturally diverse family, I know first-hand the importance of respecting and embracing people’s differences. My family has taught me to love unconditionally and keep an open mind in all situations. Likewise, my family believes in fighting for the less fortunate and donating time, money, or knowledge in the name of the greater good. I bring the tenets of my family as I interact in the other facets of my life. Where I especially enjoyed giving back was in my neighborhood community. I relished Saturday opportunities to help different organizations in my neighborhood. For many years, I offered six to ten hours per week sharing my knowledge of and passion for the special teams part of the football squad. When I found out that the neighborhood youth football team did not have anyone to help coach young kickers and punters, I began serving as a volunteer coach. One of my favorite memories from this experience is when my 10-year-old kicker made his first field goal. He immediately ran directly to me for congratulations, and I knew that helping others would never be done in vain. Another neighborhood organization that I worked with was my sister’s softball league. The league needed volunteers to run the concession stand along with field upkeep. Being able to offer my time to help something so important to my sister was an easy decision. Both of these volunteer experiences impacted my decision to pursue a degree in education. I would like to become a secondary teacher, and my experiences as a community volunteer have guided this decision, but not in the way one may think. Despite living and volunteering in a predominantly white community, most of the players on the sports teams that I helped were not white. Many of the players shared stories of troubled home lives and no viable options for seeking help. Many were kicked off sports teams and even expelled from school. I often wondered why they did not garner advice from a teacher or a coach. And then it hit me. Very few of the people who worked in their schools looked like them—brown-skinned and curly-haired. Students need people who look like them to be their confidants. Students need to see their role models in the hallways and practice fields—not on rap videos or NFL teams. Students need more people in the schools who look like me—and half of the people in our country. I have always considered a career in teaching, but now I am sure. I want to teach. I want to be someone in a school building who everyone feels safe coming to for help or advice. Maybe my brown skin will be an invitation rather than a deterrent for some; maybe I can help keep kids who look like me on the right path. Like Cicero, I discovered the importance of uniting with our fellow men, and I plan to “join in community with the human race.”

My chosen field of study is education; I plan to teach at the high school level because everyone needs at least one teacher to whom he or she can relate. Interestingly, my teachers have impacted my beliefs and career aspirations because of a lack of--a lack of teachers who look like me. I came to this realization when my friend was arrested. Though my friend Jeo and I shared a mutual passion for football, we shared few other similarities. Jeo was the introvert to my extrovert; Jeo preferred hanging with his closest pals while I revel in being surrounded by the crowd. Not only are our personalities different, but our home lives could not be more different. I came home to stability while Jeo was never sure which household would welcome him since his divorced parents tossed him back and forth like laundry. Since the two households were well over thirty minutes away from each other, Jeo lost his position on the football team, and he missed so many days of school that he was withdrawn. My friend’s life imploded, and he did not know where to turn. With nowhere to live permanently, no job, and no school, Jeo had to find a way to support himself, and he made a bad decision: he began stealing from a convenience store and reselling the goods. Unfortunately, he was caught and arrested. Never will I try to defend Jeo’s decisions. However, I will also never say that he is a bad person. I truly believe he is a victim of his circumstances. Like so many in our country, he had a troubled home life and no viable options for seeking help. I initially wondered why he did not garner advice from adults at school—teachers, coaches, deans. But then it hit me. Very few of the people who worked at our school looked like us—brown-skinned and curly-haired. Students need people who look like them to be their confidants. Students need to see their role models in the hallways and practice fields—not just on rap videos or professional sports teams. Students need more people in schools who look like me and Jeo—and half of the people in our country. Thus, I want to teach. Maybe my brown skin will be an invitation rather than a deterrent for some; maybe I can help keep kids like Jeo on the right path.