Out of all the many hobbies I have, writing will always have a special place in my heart. As a child, I enjoyed reading a lot of books, and I always had a very active imagination with my own scenarios going on inside my head. So, once it clicked in my head that I could in fact bring these scenarios to life, like how other authors did with their books, that’s when I started my journey. The rush that writing gave me and being able to see my imagine on paper, feeling like I’m living it as the main character. The unexplainable excitement that comes with being able to flip back to the beginning page of your story, and read on paper, the ideas that have been swirling around in your head. Seeing the progress, you’ve made from page 1 or chapter 1, and how well it flows, its honestly something only writers would understand. I ended up constantly writing 24/7, because the feeling of that happiness and overwhelming surge of dopamine I got, made me feel like I had unlocked a hidden part of myself. From 7th grade throughout, writing just became something of automatic habit. One thing I didn’t realize with my hobby though, is that as I would go on throughout my life, it’d become something I could rely on to be my outlet. Writing became my answer to any type of stress or sadness in my life, leading me into journaling as well. It provided me with a type of free therapy as I got older. Digging into a further part of my life, when I felt like everything was coming down around me, writing was what helped shed light and give me hope that things weren’t as bad as it seemed. Being able to write my emotions down, however way I wanted, in whatever way I wanted, became my coping mechanism. Not only, but it became a source of creating even better stories, taking pieces of things I’ve experience and creating a character or chapter in a book I was working on in the moment. In a way, I feel like writing helped me grow as a person and really figure out part of who I was, and what I was capable of. Once I discovered my knack at writing, it opened my inner path of creativity, leading me into more thing’s art related. Which is why even now, I still cherish writing as much as when I first decided to get into it.

Often when we think about the pandemic especially in the start of it, we reflect more on the negatives, for me personally thinking back to when the pandemic was in a worst state, there were a lot of positives that happened in my life because of it. To start off with, the pandemic allowed me to spend more time with my grandma since classes were switched to online my junior year. Due to us moving further away and me being involved in sports, I didn’t get to see her or spend time over at her house as much as I was able to before high school. Also, before the pandemic, I started struggling a little bit in school. My junior year of high school was the hardest year for me because I was juggling 4 AP classes along with sports. We were nearing our AP exams, almost a month before and I really started feeling the stress to do good on the exams and pass my classes. I was also going through personal things mentally which didn’t help, making it worse. The pandemic gave me a moment to finally breathe and helped me to focus and get back on track.

The amount of talented and brilliant African Americans that have made amazing accomplishments, even accomplishments that they have never even got credit for until years later. African Americans have had the biggest dreams with the most ambitious attitudes, and they were killed because of their skin color, because of where they are from. Dreams shattered and broken, altering their whole life to something they should have never become if someone would have just given them a chance. Just because you didn't have a gun in hand does not mean you didn't pull the trigger on them and hurt their soul. Throughout my life as a young black woman in America, I start to realize that the thousands of opportunities we see and strive for do not come easily to us as they would to someone, not of color. Being in a predominantly white area/high school made me realize that. You must work twice as hard and twice as much for the better parts of life, sadly because you are black. Throughout my high school life, I was always in honors classes, AP classes, etc. and a lot of these classes you do not see a lot of black kids in, and you are mainly surrounded by white people. Every year, every level is harder and harder and as a black student surrounded by mainly other white peers, you start to feel the pressure of being judged and questioned on your intelligence. I remember a teacher before putting back into a regular English class because she thought that the content was too hard for me after I had finished her class with a final grade of a low B. After that, I pushed myself more than any other person in all my classes to make sure I was not ever put in a situation like that again. Even in my math classes where that was my weakest skill as a student. Many may think, ‘Oh that’s just life, there’s always going to people that push you down and doubt you”, but many do not understand the fine line between “that’s just life” and “that’s how being black in America is”. When you are black, there are always several people underestimating you and doubting you, not even for reasons like academics or lack of ambition, but simply because we are always seen as ignorant or not intelligent enough. There isn’t a day that goes by where I am not pushing myself to take bigger steps, to accomplish more goals than normal in a day, week, or month. In the end, all that criticism, doubt, pays off. Personally, it made me stronger, helped me push and accomplish more goals than I thought I ever could. Now, I am recognized as one of the best students to represent my school, always picked to give speeches at events, even recognized by the school board. I have held a two-year standing position as student council president. Now, I have the great honor to be a part of and recognized in the “Women in STEM event” for Junior Achievement. Accomplishing our goals as young black students, entrepreneurs, etc. isn't far from us, it is a harder road we may have to travel, but with the right mindset and ambition, we all can get ourselves there.