My favorite thing about Disney is that it brings out the child in me. I think for a very long time I struggled, seeing that little girl in me happy, but Disney brings out the best of her. I remember as a child always too excited to go watch Disney Channel, pressing 52 on the remote to bring me right to Disney. I've had the best memories and moments watching Disney channel like watching "Let It Shine" lip-syncing the great hits and dancing with my older brother and sister. Let's not forget Disney XD, a very cool side of Disney I never thought would be a big part of me. It let me find my identity a little bit. It let me realize that there was more than just princesses. There was skateboarding from the tv show "Zeke And Luther", pranks from shows like "Walk The Prank" and kickass stuff or should I say Kickbuttowski stuff I wanted to always try as a kid. Disney is love, Disney is memories and Disney is laughter. Disney was medicine to the younger me that healed all the problems that I had when I was just a kid. Not only did Disney give me those experiences. They gave me amazing representations like "The Lion King" where they were speaking my native language Swahili. I felt an amazing sense of joy seeing the characters sing words of my beautiful language. We also got "The Princess And The Frog" where Disney made it universal to little black girls that they cared, and that they were seen. And now we have "The Little Mermaid" featuring Halle Bailey as the main character. I also got to see black families like "The Proud Family" and "That's So Raven". Disney gave us a mix of laughter, love and realness. And you see that growth in the newer show "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder", we saw issues that needed to be discussed in the black communities that Disney brought to light in an enlightening way. The one experience that I'm still wishing to have is going to Disney World. I think that would complete my Disney journey for real. Other than that I think Walt Disney would be so proud to see what an amazing franchise Disney has became to be and how it's always going to be remembered by people like me and the significant mark it has left on society.

I gave up making excuses. The biggest way I think I overcome adversity was when I stopped feeling sorry for myself. Realizing that I can change things, I was at my lowest point in life. In some situations, there are other options besides staying depressed and miserable. For me it was having confidence in God, writing, having a sense of humor, discipline, or hanging out with friends and family who were positive or encouraging. I realized that I was capable of overcoming any kind of adversity. I come from a family that had very little growing up and I always had this feeling that I needed to do something. Even though I had a lovely childhood, my parents made it seem as if everything was perfect. I watched my parents and siblings struggle for a very long time. They are the cause of my current desire for giving back to my neighborhood. I'm from a place where a lot of information is misconstrued or people are leading others astray. I want to help my community in the future by slowly educating them. We need individuals who are prepared to work toward positive change and who aren't doing so to advance their own status, make money, or please their greed. I took a class by the name of BCL (Burlington City & Lake) that revolved around how to make our city (Burlington) a better place and the main question that we focused on and studied for months was "What does it take for a community to thrive?" not only did we connect with amazing community partners like city hall racial equity leaders, the elders and 5th graders to speak about transportation in the city, Very Merry Theatre, and AALV (Association of Africans Living in Vermont) plus many more. We didn't just meet with them we heard them and helped them. So my answer to the question "What does it take for a community to thrive?" I think a community thrives by supporting each other's ideas and protecting each other. Collectively collaborating to make their community an environment people want to live in but also taking into consideration different needs whether it be ethnic, disability, or social class. I can already imagine the positive change I'm making just by writing this and spreading my thought process to others I feel as If there are so many ways I want to help my community in the future and this is just one step closer to that possible change.

I sat looking at this blank square for about an hour I spent half typing and deleting and I spent the other half self-convicting myself about how I would use my talents to positively impact the world. The truth is I don't know I feel it in my heart that I want to do something so great and I have an Idea of where I want to start. Whether I win this scholarship or lose I will continue to learn and try to uplift the people who need lifting or a hand to get to where they need to be with my talents. I want to be the spokesperson for my generation I want to be the leader that they want to join and make change with. I wanna pave the way for people like me who have failed, cried but got up and never doubted their abilities ever again. I can sit up here and give you a clean sheet of all the good deeds I have done, but what good is it without any action behind it? With my talents, I want to join groups/organizations where I can be an ally regardless of race, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability I'm going to use my talents and strengthen them so they're useful for everyone. That means putting the time and effort to hear their pains, worries, and frustrations about things that affect them day to day. I may not understand their personal experiences, but that is part of the process to listen, plan, and make a change. There is no better change than this. I want to start using ethical and sustainable thinking that aligns with certain ideas people identify with. I want to use empathy, transparency, honesty and promise-keeping to impact a world that has a million problems to it. I think the biggest thing about people that want to make a positive impact (me) with their abilities is being open and calling yourself out about what you need to work on or what you need to do to change I am personally willing to change for the interest of this world I want to leave a mark on society with my talents I've yet to see my full potential but hopefully, you can see it in my writing today I'll continue to call myself out to be a better person because a good person creates good change and with good change comes positive outcomes.