Attending a college is a critical step in my future attainment of my personal, educational, and professional aspirations as I work towards obtaining a degree; gaining the skills, knowledge, and tools I will need for a foundation for building a prosperous future, as well as helping me positively change the lives of others. My aspirations go beyond advancing my career; through education, I want to create a positive impact in my community through service and contribute to the betterment of society, thereby establishing a lasting legacy. Overall, education has served as the main component of my personal, social, and professional development. To me, higher education is not only getting a degree, but it is also an opportunity for me to develop critical-thinking abilities, as well as expand upon my knowledge of the world around me, and develop experiences to prepare me for my career. I will have the opportunity to learn from knowledgeable professors, work with many different and diverse people from various backgrounds, and gain valuable and relevant applied knowledge that will benefit me throughout my future career. All of these opportunities will contribute to me becoming a more educated, competent, and well-rounded person. I want to go to college to reach my long-term career goals. I am driven to develop a career that supports me as I make a difference while also providing for my future security and advancement. Higher education will prepare me through specialized knowledge and professional skills, which are critical to my success when I enter the very competitive modern workforce. I would like to gain leadership experience, complete an internship, and create professional contacts while in school so that I will have what I need to make a successful transition into my chosen career. Another major reason I am pursuing higher education is to provide opportunities not only for myself but also for others. I believe that education can be a way to overcome challenges and create new opportunities that might not have existed otherwise. Earning a degree not only allows me to demonstrate that determination, persistence, and hard work can lead to success, but also allows me to be a role model for others, especially for young people who may not think they can achieve their goals due to any number of barriers. I take my responsibility to create a positive impact very seriously. The knowledge and skills I’ll gain from my higher education will enable me to help tackle the obstacles facing my community and assist those who need support and encouragement. Whether through volunteering, mentorship, community service, or my future career, I want to help create spaces in which people are empowered to achieve their goals and have support systems around them. I believe small acts can create a substantial impact, provided the actions originate from a place of empathy and genuine concern for supporting others. My higher education experience will allow me to develop my leadership abilities, which will aid in making broader impacts. Effective leaders possess not only the knowledge needed to lead, but also a willingness to listen, collaborate, and advocate for positive change among the teams they lead. Through my experiences in college, I hope to enhance my capability to collaborate with diverse individuals, solve difficult problems, and work toward creating opportunities for others. The abilities I develop through my education will enable me to be someone who creates solutions as opposed to being just someone who identifies problems. My plans for the future include using my education as a base for long-term development and giving back to my community. A degree will be only the first step in developing myself both personally and professionally through ongoing learning. I want to continue to learn, to adapt, and to find opportunities to enhance those around me, wherever I may be located. With this goal in mind of combining my education and my level of dedication with a sense of purpose, I believe that I can positively impact the people I meet and the communities in which I live.

How My Mental Health Journey has Impacted My Goals, Relationships, and Worldview My experiences with mental health have truly shaped who I am today in so many ways. The journey of finding my way through mental health challenges was not always easy, but it gave me amazing lessons about resilience and self-awareness. My experiences running track and overall being around amazing people have helped define my personal goals, create depth and meaning in my relationships with others, and shape how I see the world around me. Through both positive and negative moments in my life, I continued to develop more of an understanding of myself and what it means to help others. One of the most profound ways my mental health journey has impacted me is how it has shaped my goals for the future. Before my big injury running track, I was primarily focused on reaching expectations and successfully achieving goals; however, I never took into consideration my overall well-being while doing so. With the understanding that real success can only be achieved by achieving goals while having a healthy balance of all aspects in life, I have become more purposeful in creating goals that focus on my mental wellness and personal growth. My challenges have made me more resilient than I had imagined possible. At one point, it felt impossible to come back to the sport and run after the injury; however, each obstacle taught me to never give up and kept encouraging me to continue moving forward with perseverance and determination. I learned that each setback does not determine my future and that I have to have patience along with consistency to make changes in my life. Therefore, I have used those lessons when reaching my educational and career objectives. I gained confidence from these experiences in my ability to confront obstacles with a positive attitude and the belief that there is nothing I cannot accomplish by working hard and thinking about where I want to be. My mental health issues have affected how I relate to people around me in a very positive way. The trials I have been through have helped me realize how much our friends, family, teachers, and mentors mean in our lives when we are going through difficult times, before we realize they are there to support us throughout difficult times. The support of these people has helped me understand the value of being compassionate and understanding toward others. I have learned how to sympathize with people who have problems or issues that I can not see in their lives. By knowing that some people have problems that cannot be seen by others, I have become a better friend and a better listener. I have also learned that everyone can use some type of helping hand, no matter how little the help may seem. When I approach others, I try to do so in a patient way, instead of making an assumption about how their day is going or how they are feeling. My experience has also shown me how important it is to have good communication skills. I have become more at ease with expressing myself, sharing my feelings, and asking for assistance. Through being open about communicating, I have learned how to build stronger relationships and have developed a stronger bond with my friends and family. The skills that I have developed through my experiences up until now will continue to help me in my future endeavors when I will be working with other people who may be different from me. My experiences have also provided me with the means of understanding the world in which I live. I have learned that everyone struggles with some type of challenge that may not be able to be seen. Through these experiences, I have been able to become more understanding of people who are different from me. The journey of overall mental health has really helped me to stop and take notice of how far I have come as a person. I have also noticed, through self-reflection on challenges, that they are often the root of opportunity for growth as a person, an opportunity to learn more of who you are, and what you are good at! Through being able to reflect back on my values, priorities, and aspirations, I now have a good understanding of who I am, where I want to go, and what kind of future I want to build for myself.

June 6, 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I asked for my mother to come to my room so that I could talk to her because I HAD QUESTIONS! This day was also the day of my 12th birthday. Upon her entering my room, I asked her to sit down. My mother and I have always had a very close relationship with one another and I've always felt comfortable talking to her about any and everything. She asked me what was on my mind? Although I was slightly nervous about this conversation, in my heart I knew I needed answers. I took a deep breath and began. Mom, where is my dad and why don't I ever see him? It was in that moment that I began to understand the strong woman that my mother is. After a brief pause, she responded to me "Son, I've been praying that God would equip me with the words so that you would have a clear understanding." Afterwards, she began to explain to me how after telling my father that THEY were expecting, my father told her that he did not want a kid with her and for her to abort me. My mom refused. He then asked her to give me up for adoption and my mother also refused that. He then told her that he would not contribute to anything regarding me and she stated to him with a broken heart, "WE will be alright". My mother then explained why she refused to abort me or give me up. Prior to her becoming pregnant, my mother battled with Stage 2 ovarian cancer and her doctors advised her that she wouldn't be able to have any children. While it was a complete shock to her finding out that she was pregnant with me. She said that abortion and adoption was NOT an option. She wanted to be a mother but had never thought she would be a single mother. Three months after having me, my mother had to make a tough decision in order to keep her job. Due to the fact that we lived in Georgia and our entire family lived in Illinois, she opted to move me to Illinois to stay with my grandmother and she commuted weekly for two years from Georgia to Illinois to see me and make sure that I was okay until my grandmother became ill. Upon my grandmother be coming ill, my mom then relocated my grandmother and I back to Atlanta to care for her and myself. Although I was raised in a single parent household, my mom and grandmother instilled in me the value of honesty, integrity, hard work and resilience. It's these four pillars that drive me daily. 1) To be honest and upfront even if it may hurt. 2) To lead with integrity because without it, you have nothing! 3) To do the hard work even when you don't feel like doing so. 4) To be resilient because people may knock you down but know that the two feet you're blessed with will help you get right back up and stand firmly. After our conversation that day, I was upset that my dad would never get a chance to see the person (now young man) that I have become but I promised my mother and grandmother that I would do something great with my life to make them proud. I pray to God daily that my heart won't be cold due to my father not being around because all boys need their father in their lives to show them the way but if the father doesn't plan to be a positive force in our lives, then stay away! It's not needed. I thank God for my mother putting positive male mentors in my life to show me the good in men. From the pastor of my church to my Kappa League Mentors to our neighborhood mechanic. They have each taught me the value of giving back to the community and being an upstanding man. I look forward to being just as impactful in the lives of young boys/men coming up behind me.

As a child of a single mom, I have watched my mother work extremely hard to make sure that I have everything that I need and a few of the things that I have wanted. She made the ultimate sacrifice 3 months after having me to move me from Georgia to Illinois so that I could stay with my grandmother so that she could have a peace of mind while she worked. My mom always commuted on her days off to see me and make sure I was okay. She did this weekly for the first two years of my life. This helped to cut the cost of childcare because she was never able to get any type of support from my father for me. Seeing her efforts has taught me about true love and compassion. Her undying love for me to make sure that I was in safe surroundings was always her priority. I have always been sensitive to my mom's feelings even when I didn't know what was going on. Now, as I have grown into my teen years, I often wondered why she did so much by herself and why my friends had a two parent household. After I asked my mom why it was only her, she was honest with me and helped me to understand my feelings. Although it was just myself and my mom, I believe that how she raised me has made me more caring to how women should be treated by men. I work extra hard to make my mom proud because of the sacrifices tbat she makes on a daily basis. Doing good in school, Maintaining a 3.0 GPA, being a scholar athlete, and continuing to be the best version of myself is my daily goal.