Growing up in a tight financial situation, my father always explained to me that if I worked hard in this world, I could break the cycle. He told me that the American Dream is one that rewards hard work and persistence. This was when I was a young gun, and now my life's goal is to become the President of the United States. I will not be eligible for that position until 2040, which is over seventeen years away. My whole life I have been patient, but it is all stored within my confidence that I can accomplish my goal. If I need patience to see the world united in love, then I will, and have, implement patience in my life. I will work hard for perfect grades in college, which I have completed so far in my first semester, and am on track to in my second. I will never lose the passion I have to accomplish my goal. Patience is important to me because it embodies what the American Dream is. Paired with consistency, I believe that patience is crucial in any process. I am not waiting on a financial reward. My happiness relies on the state of the world, and I will be patient and work hard until I see that happen!

My only goal in life is to become the President of the United States. From a young age, my parents always stressed the importance of civic duty. Although they both had led patriotic lives, they disagreed on political ideology. Despite their differences, they coexisted. Around eight years later I'm in my senior year of high school, my parents are divorced, and the 2020 presidential election was on the horizon. I remember I was working at David Burger's in November, and my father would take me home after work. He was so disappointed in the lack of integrity on the stage between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. From my perception, the United States felt extremely divided. However, at that point in my life, I only wanted to make enough money to put my parents in a mansion. I would prosper economically, in what I believed to be my life's purpose. On November 3, it was announced that Joe Biden would be the President of the United States. Donald Trump's response was calling for a recount, further dividing the country. Around two weeks later, on November 19, I was working a school-night shift when my manager got a call and told me to go home. My father met me there, and he told me my mother was dead. The first ten minutes after I received that information I went to my room to cry. It was then I reconsidered the purpose of my life. How can I fulfill my purpose if I had no mother to payback? It was then I realized, I know exactly how to pay my mother back. I will NOT feel bad for myself. I will NOT grieve my mother's death. I WILL live my life as my mother's legacy. To do that, I will become the President of the United States, and I will unite the country. If you think my goal ends there, you would be severely mistaken. I have no ties to the geographical area that the legal citizens of the world consider the United States. However, I feel OBLIGED to the people. Notice that my obligation is not to a piece of land, nor is it a specific race of people, nor a specific religion, nor a group of sexual orientation. My goal is to, in my best and most ethical contribution, unite the people of the world. To become the President of the United States, I am currently at the University of Arkansas, currently in the process of earning a degree in political science and international relations. After I earn that degree, I plan on going to law school. Contrary to the depth of my goal, I come from a low-income family, and the death of my mother has put me in a position where I will need scholarships soon. The death of my mother has also confirmed that everything I require to become the President will come my way. It is not a matter of choice. You do not ask why you have to do the dishes, you just do them. The vision I have for this world is the same way. I looked the picture of my mother in the eyes, and I told her I would become the President of the United States. My mother's heart no longer beats, but she will live on in me eternally. With her spirit, I will see a unified world, full of love and family.

As a political science major, I seldom have the opportunity to use vocabulary flashcards or any other traditional study methods. Instead, my studying strategy focuses on taking concepts learned in the classroom and not necessarily applying them to the real world, but rather learning the subject by how it relates to the real world. For example, I took a Comparative Politics course last semester (Freshman, first semester.) The class heavily relied on reading the textbook, knowing vocabulary words, and taking notes verbatim to the professor's slides. I do not consider myself an artist of any kind, but this is not what education is about. Instead of limiting my knowledge to the textbook whenever an essay would come around, I would take the subject of the essay and paste it into the New York Times search engine bar. From there, I would read about real situations that were going on in the world. My last essay in the class was argument-based, where the student would give his/her/etc. opinion on whether or not the European Union would disassemble. Out of more than seventy students in the class, I was one of four students to argue the European Union would remain intact. Confused about why the numbers were so different, I read the assigned chapter and realized that all the information given would have led me to think the European Union would stay together. My studying strategy, as it applies to political science, is to look at concepts from as many perceptions as possible. The memory of the textbook will only last so long after the class is over, but my strategy leaves a lasting impact on my knowledge, and thus my academic success.

As a person, I think we should set many goals in a lifetime, and those should adjust as we grow as people. When I was younger, all I thought I would value is money, so I wanted to be rich. As I grew, I fell in love with people. Not anybody in specific, just the diversity and uniquity of each individual I met. However, I realized that not all of these individuals are in love with everybody like I am, specifically in the subject of politics. So I decided my main goal in life is to become the president of the United States, and unite the Democrats and Republicans. I am currently in my third week of college, undecided major, but I know that I want to go to law school. I am having trouble deciding between political science, history, and international studies. However, only some of what my soon-to-be-decided major will have anything to do with what I actually want to accomplish within my lifetime. Now, as someone that is giving out a scholarship, that is probably something that would sway you away from awarding that to me, but please let me explain. With all due respect, I only went to college because there is no way that the majority of America will vote for a president that does not have a college-degree. I myself know, at least at the University of Arkansas, this is a business rather than a means to education. I myself have no interest in business, but education on how I can be put in the position to unify not only Democrats and Republicans, not only Muslims and Christians, not only Steelers fans and Ravens fans, but the entire world. The idea of a world where hatred is destroyed is what excites me most about this world. Now, Mr. President Benjamin Kindall, how the hell do you plan on doing something that people like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatama Ghandi, Wangari Maathai, have already tried. First off, before I begin, I want to pay the utmost respect to all the activists, including the listed ones, although they might not have created a utopia, the impact they had on the world is absolutely crucial for what I like to call inner-human innovation, or basically bettering ourselves as people. Well, I am not going to do anything. In fact, I don't even like the pronoun "I" when referring to my life goals. We, my friend, are the people that will achieve the dream I have in mind. When we let go of our ego, that is when we truly get off our ass and start trying to accomplish our goals. I am going to go out into the world, probably Senate for the buildup, and start bringing people together. I don't want to see another race discriminated for the color of their skin, nor religion, nor financial situation, nor anything that cannot be controlled by that person. We will give back to our community by setting up projects to better the environment, ensure that everyone has a place to sleep at night, everyone is respected in society, rather their opinions are liked or disliked. There is a lot of things I want to do, but I'm giving you the general purpose of why I am doing them rather than every single decision I make. Regardless of my reception of this scholarship, I will give it my all, and I hope whoever is reading this might be interested in voting for U.S. president in 2040, because the people's representative, Benjamin Kindall, will be on the ballot without question.

The poem in the link above is an original creation of mine that addresses the severity of division amongst the political parties in America. After watching the pain, hatred, and damage of the 2020 presidential election, I decided that one day, I want to try and become the president myself. I hope to, instead of divide the country into red and blue, united all people towards one common goal, which is making America the happiest country in the world. I thought that a creative way to do that is poetry, which I have adored ever since I started reading and listening to music. Rhyming in specific is a language I speak fluently in. So, I put my dreams and my talent together and created my poem: The Donkey and the Elephant.

I need this scholarship because each piece of money towards my education will be crucial for my family's future. Scholarships' purpose is to reward students who have worked hard and need financial aid, which both apply to me. However, other students are in the same or even worse situations, so I understand awarding other students the scholarship as well.

As a child, my mother was fired from my high school due to allegations saying she was showing up to school drunk. Also, my older brother and sister were both heavily addicted to drugs. My father was not financially stable without my mother, and my family faced an extremely hard time emotionally and financially. However, my father told me to keep working hard in school, and I listened to him. Even though my grades may have suggested I was doing great, I still only had what was going on at home on my mind. As I reached high school, I realized that everyone is faced with adversity in their lifetime, and I will only waste my life away if I feel bad for myself. As my mentality got stronger, I started to become more confident in general, and also began to develop some direction in my life. However, in my first three years at high school, I still felt feelings of adversity, and it had become a self-serving mentality. I allowed myself to hate my brother and sister and blame them for everything that had happened. That is no way to see life. I overcame my adversity when I chose to accept my brother and sister and do my best to help them get better. I do believe that life is mentality, and that adversity is only what you make it. Even though the situational adversity may still be prevalent in my family, I have overcome my adversity, and will never give up on my family or anyone close to me. This adversity has motivated me to chase my dream, which is to spread this message to the American people as the president of the United States. Regardless of if I succeed. the determination in my heart will not lose. I understand that everyone faces different adversity and therefore shapes different mentalities. If we as a country can understand that together, than a chance at a better future is alive and well.

In November of 2020, I lost my mother. This was an extremely tough loss because I had not been legally able to see her for the last three years. I learned a lot of things from my mom, but I also gained her passion. Mom was always so committed to everything she did. Although the death of my mom is hard, I know that she only wants the very best for me, so I have determined my life to a larger purpose, for true happiness. My mom was most compassionate about two things: our country and helping others. I always watched her growing up, tipping people 100 dollars when we did not have the most money ourselves. Along with that, she always tried to keep me involved with American history and what was going on in the world today. These two passions have naturally been passed on to me, and rather than mourn the death of my mother, I will commit my life to my mother’s dream for me. Mom wants to see greatness, and she always told me I was going to change the world. So instead of letting her words go to waste and slow down, I want to run for president in my first year of eligibility, in 2040. My plan is to finish high school strong, and go to college to major in law, while also studying government and environmental science. For the next nineteen years, I will live to become fit to lead the country to greatness. Education reform is my most passionate subject, because my mom was a long-time teacher, that truly lived educating. However, I feel like the education system is terrible, and a revolutionary reform that stimulates the creativity in each individual student rather than eroding away at the innovation and individualism that led to the birth of our country. The lessons I learned from my mother are more valuable to me than anything in the world. I live my life by them every single day, and I amplify my feelings every second my mom is not here. Adversity can be a person’s downfall, but it can also motivate someone to get better and do great things. In my case, the death of my mother is the boost that will help me show the world the same greatness that I saw within her.