My mother and father split after only two years of being married due to the verbal abusive that my father put us through, to the point where she contemplated suicide. She fled with my siblings and I and we ended up 8 hours away in the small town we currently reside in, where we made our temporary residence in a $30 a night motel. Fifteen years later, we reside in a house that my mother owns. My brother and I are A-honor roll, Honor Society high school students who appreciate our mother's efforts every single day. My mother continuously reminded us that we were destined for greatness despite what our father believed. He kept us down financially and forced us to struggle to survive. He may have served his country, but he forget to serve his family. My father is the military veteran in this story. I wish I had some fond, heartwarming tale to express to the distributor of this scholarship, but I don't. I can say that I find humor in the experiences I shared with my father. They were usually brief and miserable, but they made the success that I am academically. Before I was ten years old, my father informed me that my role in life would be nothing more than a housewife. Instead of becoming academically successful to make myself "eligible for marriage", I worked relentlessly to ensure I would become an independent, prosperous African American woman that would make my mother proud. My motivation in life has been to avenge my mother and the struggles she has had to grapple with for the past 17 years of my life. She has had to raise my brother and I single-handedly with a current annual income of around $27,000. The amount of unmet financial needs in our household has crushed my mother, and I intend to repay her with a promising education and a future life where I can provide for her and I. With this in the back of mind, there will be no time for distraction and I will attend college with a strong and dedicated mindset to accomplish my goal. I have always done everything I could to promise this future for us, such as maintaining an almost perfect academic record and a college-4-point GPA of 3.9166. I apply for a different scholarship whenever I can and I've applied to 5 colleges, in which three I've been accepted to. I barely have time because of my job and schoolwork I have to maintain at the same time. I take only Dual Credit and Advanced Placement classes for my senior year of high school, while working over 20 hours a week to save money for college. I promised myself that all of my hard work would not be in vain, and I hope that the administrator of this scholarship helps to ensure this. I intend to show my mother how much I love her, and show my father that he was never needed.

The furthest back that my memory travels into my childhood was when I became consciously aware as a toddler. I recall gaining this consciousness in a motel with only my mother, my two-month-old brother, and my seventeen- year-old sister. As a toddler, I could only put together what I understood; which was that my father wasn't present, and we were no longer sleeping in a house at night. My mother and father had split after only two years of being married due to the verbal abusive that my father put her through, to the point where she contemplated suicide. She fled with my siblings and I after meticulously waiting for the moment my father left the house. We ended up 8 hours away in the small town we currently reside in, where we made our temporary residence in a $30 a night motel. From there, my mother worked relentlessly, along with the help of my grandfather who resided in this town, to retain an apartment in low-income housing. Fifteen years later, we reside in a house that my mother owns. My brother and I are A-honor roll, Honor Society high school students who appreciate our mother's efforts every single day. My mother raised us with our heads held high despite our financial situation, and continuously reminded us that we were destined for greatness despite what our father believed. My mother has been present for my educational growth from the moment she enrolled me in preschool as a two-year-old. From there, she pushed me to attend the most difficult classes and maintain A's in every single one of them. I wouldn't have been able to succeed if it wasn't for the strength that my mother had for the both of us. I'll never understand how a woman could endure being homeless and own a home less than 10 years later with two high-achieving students to speak for. My mother can "turn it up 11" for us, so I am doing the same for her. My main motivation in life has been to avenge my mother and the struggles she has had to grapple with for the past 17 years of my life. She has had to raise my brother and I single-handedly with a current annual income of around $27,000. The amount of unmet financial needs in our household has crushed my mother, and I intend to repay her with a promising education and a future life where I can provide for her and I. With this in the back of mind, there will be no time for distraction and I will attend college with a strong and dedicated mindset to accomplish my goal. I have always done everything I could to promise this future for us, such as maintaining an almost perfect academic record and a college-4-point GPA of 3.9166. I apply for a different scholarship whenever I can and I've applied to 5 colleges, in which three I've been accepted to. I cannot waste any time, and I barely have time because of my job and schoolwork I have to maintain at the same time. I take only Dual Credit and Advanced Placement classes for my senior year of high school, while working over 20 hours a week to save money for college. I promised myself that all of my hard work would not be in vain, and I hope that the administrator of this scholarship helps to ensure this. I intend to show my mother how much I love her, and show my father that he was never needed.

My mother and father split after only two years of being married due to the verbal abusive that my father put her through, to the point where she contemplated suicide. She fled with my siblings and I after meticulously waiting for the moment my father left the house. We ended up 8 hours away in the small town we currently reside in, where we made our temporary residence in a $30 a night motel. From there, my mother worked relentlessly to retain an apartment in low-income housing. Fifteen years later, we reside in a house that my mother owns. My brother and I are A-honor roll, Honor Society high school students who appreciate our mother's efforts every single day. My mother raised us with our heads held high despite our financial situation, and continuously reminded us that we were destined for greatness despite what our father believed. He kept us down financially and forced us to struggle to survive. I resonate with Jack Terry and his heartwarming journey. I, too, was rescued and given a chance at a happy and successful existence. I have not struggled nearly as much as he had, but I understand the drive and passion that is obtained when you know you have to repay those who open your doors. Mr. Terry was given a chance at redemption, and undoubtedly made the best of it. I plan to do the same with my education. My motivation in life has been to avenge my mother and the struggles she has had to grapple with for the past 17 years of my life. She has had to raise my brother and I single-handedly with a current annual income of around $27,000. The amount of unmet financial needs in our household has crushed my mother, and I intend to repay her with a promising education and a future life where I can provide for her and I. With this in the back of mind, there will be no time for distraction and I will attend college with a strong and dedicated mindset to accomplish my goal. I have always done everything I could to promise this future for us, such as maintaining an almost perfect academic record and a college-4-point GPA of 3.9166. I apply for a different scholarship whenever I can and I've applied to 5 colleges, in which three I've been accepted to. I cannot waste any time, and I barely have time because of my job and schoolwork I have to maintain at the same time. I take only Dual Credit and Advanced Placement classes for my senior year of high school, while working over 20 hours a week to save money for college. I promised myself that all of my hard work would not be in vain, and I hope that the administrator of this scholarship helps to ensure this. I intend to show my mother how much I love her, and repay her for rescuing me.