In fifth grade, I thought friendships and popularity were more important than school. I was smart and capable, but I didn’t take my education seriously. That changed when I met Ms. Bryson, my fifth-grade English teacher. From the very beginning, she saw the potential in me even when I didn’t see it in myself. Ms. Bryson was the first teacher to pull me aside and tell me that I was too smart to be wasting my time trying to fit in with people who didn’t share my goals. She didn’t say it just once. All throughout junior high, she continued to check in on me, encouraging me to focus on my schoolwork and reminding me that I was capable of so much more. At the time, I brushed it off. I didn’t realize that the distractions I chose were only holding me back. Still, Ms. Bryson never gave up on me, even when I wasn’t ready to hear the truth. It wasn’t until high school that I finally understood what she had been trying to tell me all along. I began to take school seriously and started focusing on my goals instead of the people around me. I stopped worrying about having a big friend group and started thinking about my future. Once I shifted my focus, everything changed. I’m now proud to say that I’m ranked number two in my graduating class. I worked hard to get here, but I also owe a lot of that growth to Ms. Bryson. Her persistence and belief in me planted the seed that eventually pushed me to strive for more. Attending college is important to me because it is the next step in fulfilling the potential that so many people, especially Ms. Bryson, have seen in me. I plan to earn my Bachelor of Science in Biology on the pre-med track, then enter a Diagnostic Medical Sonography program to become a certified ultrasound technician. With this career, I hope to care for patients, help people through challenging moments in their lives, and eventually work in different communities as a travel ultrasound tech. More than anything, college represents the future I have worked so hard to build. It is a chance to prove to myself and to those who have supported me that their belief in me was not in vain. I want to show my family, especially my mom who raised me on her own, that her sacrifices meant something. And I want Ms. Bryson to know that her words stayed with me longer than she probably ever imagined. I am proud of how far I have come, but I know this is just the beginning. Thanks to the support and guidance of people like Ms. Bryson, I am ready to take on what comes next and continue growing into the person she always knew I could be.