When we think of loss we look to death being the answer, some have lost loved ones to other things like addiction, or mental illness. I would happen to belong to those few. My mother since I was a little girl had always been an alcoholic. Being out of control with her temper, her acts, and most of all her words. From age 13 I knew I didn't love my mother, at the time I didn't think she loved me. Every conversation was nothing but screams, and any time I had something to object to or even just state my own opinion I was another belittling screech from her. Sometimes it had gotten to a point when she would get violent, other times she would be too drunk to walk. I suffered from this for 13 years. When I was 17 I decided to leave. I left her, I couldn't take the emotional, physical, and psychological abuse from the woman I called mom. For a night on end I questioned it, I questioned myself, because of the loss I placed with my mother. She never said it sober but her true actions showed me for years that I was disposable to her but an asset to her social life and motherhood lifestyle on Facebook. I was always happy, a forced, fake, frauded happy. In public, at school, and even to my family members I had to portray myself as this fake, happy, barbie doll-like perfect child but underneath I had lost all sense of self-identity. I didn't understand who I was, why I spoke a certain way, and most importantly why I couldn't be normal. I was so frustrated with the word "Normal" for years on end because my sense of what "normal" is, was fraudulent. At the brisk age of 18 and have a year and some months with no contact with her I have found that being 'not' normal is okay. From therapy and counseling I have found that I wasn't the only one who lost my mother, she also lost herself. I look at my friends and family members and even my grandmothers who were loving and amazing mothers and I have come to find that this loss isn't the hold I'm grieving to fill in my life. The loss of my mother to alcoholism has shown me that even at my lowest sense of self-identity I can accomplish all the things that are deemed impossible at the time. When I was living with my mother I thought I would have never made it to college. For a long time, I knew I wouldn't make it to 18, and yet here I am. Now I'm my own life, the life that is mine, and not hers I have found that my "fight" comes from growth. I have learned that when you are growing, growth is the ugliest, most uncomfortable, and unstable thing you can go through in life but when you have the fight to get through, to make it to the other side, that rewards it so, so much bigger than the pain you're feeling. The thing that matters to me most in life at this very current moment is to earn my degree. A degree, which is something she doesn't have, and this degree will be mine. My hard work, dedication, blood, sweat, and tears that go into getting my degree will be all from me. My fight comes from the loss of my mother, and that is the one thing I am most grateful to have from her.

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It's about the difference you make in people's lives." - Michelle Obama. The inspiration that drives an individual is different for every person. For most it's money, for others it's the end goal, and for me, it's the people. It is my family, my friends, coaches, captains, teachers, and so much more. There's an old southern saying that has stuck with me since I was a little girl. "Treat others how your want to be treated", I took this and ran with it. Since I was little I have treated every stranger with a polite hello no matter who they are or what they look like. The way you treat those around you is how they will impact you in the future, and I am a firm believer that polite acquaintances are blessings in disguise. Putting a smile on someone's face with a simple "thank you" or "have a nice day" gives me a smile, and a positive way to keep my day going. How I impact the people around me inspires me to keep being myself, and give back to those later on. To keep being the person those least expect, to help and open their eyes to a new way of thinking. It drives me to a new level to be the person to make someone's day or to even make a stranger's day go smoother than it has. My success consists of being a good person, and a blessing in disguise to those to least expect it. It drives me to be successful, to fulfill my career, to be me.

Hope. One syllable, four-letter word that allows the heart to run rapid, whole holding hands with the brain's imagination. My hope to become a role model for troubled little boys and little girls to look up to gives me a swollen heart and gives me the drive to fulfill my career goals. The goals to become the CEO of my own business, to run it successfully, and to give back from it all. That is the goal, however, the plan to get there is tricky. Putting plans into words sounds easy, now putting the plans into action is a bit more difficult. In written terms, I want to obtain a bachelor's degree in marketing, while minoring in business. Everything you see is on social media, the commercials we watch on TV, and the ads we hear about on our music broadcasting apps. I want to put my best efforts into that, but there are a few other things I would like to do on the sidelines to achieve my goal. I have always been fascinated with the stock market, and how money works. I guess from growing up with little to nothing, you appreciate what you can get your hands on. In life I want what I believe most people want, to be successful. However, I think my perception of success is a bit different than others. My success is the success of the world, and the people in it. To see the progress and success of our oceans, our education, and our livelihoods. That is my ultimate goal. Of course, to do this I would give back from my success to further those in their own success. Whether their success is having a family, running a business, or recovering from addiction, or PTSD, if I can succeed those form my success, then my ultimate goal would be achieved. I have always tried to be a considerate person, considerate of my actions, my words, my knowledge. I've dedicated my life to absent-mindedly helping others, even as a child. I love reading on self-growth, and just ultimately am a person who wants to do and see good. Sadly I also understand that I am only one person, so donating to charities, and research facilities would be how I could help those in need and our world from behind the sidelines. To give back to my community would be to fix the broken communities, and straighten out the schools. To make them colorful, to fill them with more diverse opportunities, and ultimately make it a place students want to go to. In all honesty, my ultimate goal at the end of my life is to leave this earth a mark so strong, it heals a few things for the better, for good.

1938 to 2021, she was the southern sunshine and the sweetest soul. My nana lived a long life of 83 years and left a legacy. There was never a time where she unavailable to help. You could knock on her door at 3 in the morning and there she was, curlers in her hair, asking you if you're okay. Even inviting you in, and feeding you, so that you didn't leave on an empty stomach. She was the true charm and definition of a "southern bell". She gave to those in need and even to those who had what they needed. She truly was a beautiful soul. She played a major part in my adolescent life. She taught me manners, classy southern customs, and most importantly, she taught me how to love myself. I was a rambunctious little girl, always laughing really loud, and always flipping from one thing to the next. She embraced it, laughed with me, and joined me with my constant game switches. My favorite thing was how she cared for me. Always feeding me, asking me about how school was, and making sure I was okay, even in her older years. Her passing opened my eyes to a new meaning in life. The meaning of slowing down. By that I mean, taking your time to figure things out. Switching from thing to thing carried on in my young adult life, making me anxious and frantic about my day-to-day decisions. She always told me I needed to slow down, but I never took it to heart until now. I guess we always take advice lately until it's a little late. In a sense it isn't too late for me, I can still apply her life morals and lessons now so that was I can live more freely in my future. My everything from her was my freedom, my freedom to live, to speak freely, and most of all to be me. I know understand that being myself has given me a whole new meaning to the word growth. It takes growth to mature, and to mature, we need to realize. I realized my nana was so supportive because she didn't want me to stray away from who I was and lose touch with myself. As of now, that's what matters to me most, being mature enough to realize the good and bad around me. To shape me into a brighter, and wiser person for those around me. I will now and forever fight to be an understanding person, a person who doesn't act irrationally, or unethically, and to be myself is to take in those things and grow. My nana loved nature. She loved blossoming trees and flowers, so why not install that into her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. My fight is to continue blossoming for her, to keep growing my wisdom to achieve the most beautiful playwright of myself. My fight is to carry on her legacy, in my daily strives, and do it my way.

Over the mountains, and through the deserts, we fight pirates, and save the kingdom from sudden DOOM! My imagination runs wild with all the desires I have to be free. My "everything" is my freedom. My freedom to think, freedom to scouring the 7 seas with endless possibilities for learning, and the freedom to read simple stories and turn them into the biggest movies with my imagination. My freedom doesn't stop there, it continues into the world of my education, to play my favorite sport, and to speak my mind freely. My "everything" has endless possibilities. My imagination takes me far and wide with all of the possibilities for my future. I could be the president, or a CEO, or a queen if I'm lucky. In all seriousness, my "everything", my "freedom", gives light to my imagination and lets it run rapidly. My creativity soars with the freedom I have coating it. The creativity to paint canvases the size of billboards, to run as far as my legs take me, and to create the life I want. My "everything" gives me hope for a successful future, and the drive to get there. My "everything" is my way of living, and that is 'everything' I could ever ask for.

Every year we do a battle with our rival team, in a race to see who can raise the most money for our school and sports program. We compete by raising money at our local sonics (we have ours, and our rival team has another) and we have our football team, cheerleaders, and band kids all show up and car hop with sonic car hoppers getting donations from those in our community. We stay there usually all night, and not to brag but we've won every year. #GOGATORS (I am in the from holding support Lakewood cheer sign).

Growing up in a small town in the south, I was faced with a society that is stuck on traditional values, and it's unconventional to stray away from these things. I grew up in an unconventional home so, I was able to see firsthand how straying away from our nuclear family norms affected us. As a young girl, I was forced into raising my sisters, cleaning the house every day, making meals, and going to school for my everyday life. It was conditioning me into that "southern wife" lifestyle, and let's just say I am not built for that title. Growing up I noticed how the boys in my class were treated with more care by my teachers than girls. I grew up in a broken home and instead of someone asking me why I was acting out, or if I was okay, I was sent to the principal's office and given a write-up but the boys were given the excuses. "He's a boy, they're just louder and can't control it", but the moment I spoke too loudly or got excited about something and yelled I was "acting out" or "un-ladylike". At times I hated being a girl in elementary school. This continued to middle, and high school as well. I believe that society should hold younger boys and girls to the same standard, after all, children are our future. If we want equality we need to start at the base and keep our children on an equal playing ground. To ensure these demands are met, we need to recognize them. Going back to the equal pay issue, we need to recognize the severity that women face. It's not just a women-to-men issue, it's also a women-to-women issue. A white woman makes at least 17 cents more than a woman of color and makes at least 22 cents more than a Hispanic or Latino woman. The one thing all women share in this subject is that a white man will make one dollar whereas they will make less than that. Society needs to even out the sand on this issue whether it's rising all women's wages up to the 1 dollar men make or cut that man's dollar down to women's wage standards. On the note of equality, I am a firm believer in equal pay for both men and women. There should be no reason why a man working in the same position, at the same job as a woman should be making more money than her if they are doing the same thing. Society needs to accept the genders of this world as equal, in further terms, that means equal pay, equal opportunity, and equal rights. This also extends to maternity leave and paternity leave. Some women go through a c-section, which is major abdominal surgery to deliver their child. In some cases, this means life or death. The average maternity leaves time off from work is 12 weeks of unpaid leave. However this ends up being shorter than that time period because women still have to work. This counts for married women, single mothers, mothers who don't have families to help them out, and so much more. Society needs to bring a pause to this current way of living for expected mothers working and shed light on giving soon-to-be moms paid leave for their recovery after giving birth, and for when they're in labor as well. There are a plethora of other issues women face but as for now, this would be a good start to the equality the world and our future children deserve.

Growing up in a broken home can be perceived as many things by those looking from the outside in, but my broken home is one of those broken homes that never leave you. I grew up in a home of 3 children and one single mother. She is mentally ill and has been an alcoholic for as long as I can remember. Growing up I wouldn't see a dime of the money my dad paid in child support, my birthday money was hers, my Christmas money was hers, and anything I would end up having nothing every year. No money for anything I looked forward to as a child like a book fair, school field day, field trips, and anything else my friends got to do at school. The worse part was the neglect and abandonment she placed on my and my sister's shoulders. Being the oldest I was there to raise my sister and became a motherly figure for them because our mother wasn't there to do it. One of my sisters is bi-racial and my mother didn't really do much when it came to her hair, I did. When she was very little my mom taught me how to do it and after that, it was my sole responsibility. "Sole Responsibility", became a reoccurring theme, me raising my sisters, cleaning the house, tutoring them, getting them ready for bed, for school, and for life. These few experiences of the many matured me faster mentally than I could handle. At the age of 14, I felt as though I couldn't take it anymore and went to my medicine cabinet and a handful of whatever bottle was there first to grab. I wanted my life to be gone and at the age of 14, I thought that suicide was the only way out, but I woke up. I woke up and realized that I was scared. I was scared of losing my future. I realized my potential, and from that day going forward, I owed it to myself and my sisters that I would try my best to achieve my dreams, and make it in the real world. My mother is an unbearable person, I am thankful that I no longer live with her anymore and I am now able to take the steps to become a fully functioning adult. My childhood experience isn't the average experience I would wish on any child but it has taught me to be strong, and with this strength, I am going to go to college, obtain my degree, and live out my days being a role model to little boys and girls everywhere, and giving back to those in similar situations like mine so that they may prosper in the future. These are my ultimate goals in life because if I can do anything to help a child who feels as though there is no way out, I will.

To me, this scholarship means, opportunity. The opportunity in my education. For instance, to grow with people on campus, to work with my teachers to further myself in my education, and to grow as a role model to those little girls and boys who need one. My whole life I have had to work for everything I have. To enjoy the sport I loved most, to be involved with the clubs I enjoyed doing, and to keep my family going, I had to work. I grew up in a broken home with a mentally ill alcoholic mother. She would steal every penny from me whenever she could. It broke me, it broke my sisters, it broke our home. Earlier this year, I and my sisters were able to escape her, and now we live better lives but I don't have enough time to enjoy the childhood I never had. I have enough time to get my life together to be able to go into the real world and live. My mother nor my father went to college, nor did my grandparents, nor did my great grandparents. I want to be the breaker of chains in my family. I am going to college in the fall. I will be able to show my family how strong I am and make them proud. To me, this scholarship means my career, new world experiences, and most of all, a proud father to come home to. Growing up I had step in parental figures, and role models I would look up to, and if there's one thing I learned after all these years of being used and broken, it's that if you put your heart into something that makes you happy, you'll live a happy life. With that, I took it to school. Going to school was my escape from the world at home. So I found joy in it. I found joy in the teachers, my schoolwork, and my friends. To me, this scholarship means enjoying the passion I have for school, and to continue loving it. It also means my future. By that I mean my future as a role model. I want to be that person little kids in broken homes can look up to and make a change for the better.

I'm sure you've heard the classic broken home stereotypes. Daddy is an alcoholic, and momma doesn't care. Well in my home, momma was the alcoholic, and momma was the only one there. From elementary to high school, my mother devoted her life to her drinking, and her kids weren't even an afterthought. Being the oldest I had to take one for the team and be a mom to my two younger sisters, considering my dad was forced out of the picture. She could never keep a job permanently, her lies always finding their way back to her in the ways karma saw fit. All the money we ever had gone to what she saw fit. Of course, she was the best mom in the world according to Facebook, so of course, she had to keep up with that title. She would buy food for the house but it would be her favorites. Nothing new, no snacks, the same old thing. Every week. In high school found myself eating grits for dinner some tonight, others were tomato soup if it were a good week. Now it wasn't always like this, middle school she was married, and my stepdad at the time cared for us. Bought us the food we liked and took us to do things as a 'family'. His name was William, he didn't last long. 6 years to be exact. 1 of those years was nice, the rest were filled with violence, sacrifice, and abuse. Not from him but her, my mother. Her lies, her problems, her cheating, it all turned him into a man less than human. He never took it out on us, he just left. He and countless others that have known my mother have done this, left, no calls, no texts, no communication. After years and years of this happening, she became worse and worse. Money was hers, Christmas money, birthday money, any kind of cash I came into, ended up in her hands. I wasn't allowed to work, to her my only priorities were school, but it was also, cleaning the house, taking care of my sisters, and making sure everything in her world was catered to her standards. Having a job also meant freedom, the freedom to leave home, and the freedom to be away from her. This angered her, and I had to bear all of this, my sisters caught heat from the end of the stick when it came to our mother, but I always made sure to take most of the brunt so they wouldn't have to. I never saw a dime of the child support my father sent, she never started a college fund for me as a child, and until February of 2021, when I moved with my dad and escaped her. Freedom from her suffocating claws. I combat my newfound freedom, I plan to go to college, Coastal Carolina University to be exact, and become a new person. Since then the scholarship hunt has been more than excruciating than ever. If I were to win this scholarship, I would use it towards my tuition, my books, or really anything I need on campus to further my education. I don't know what my future holds but if I know one thing is for certain, my future doesn't contain her, but it does contain my education, my careers, and my degree. A wise man said realizing is maturing, and I have realized that there's nowhere to go but up from here.

"1, 3, HIT, 5, 7". 'Adrenaline', These are the counts, and we've got what it takes. We compete in T-5 minutes. Competing in a cheer competition may look like all fun and games but it is no joke. You have to be bold to go out on the mat and give it everything you've got. To showcase that 2 1/2 minute routine you've worked hours, and days to perfect. You have to be bold, to have the confidence, and endurance it takes to throw your stunt, to hit your count, to give it all you've got. This is competitive cheerleading.