From my understanding the inspiration of this scholarship comes from a creative grandfather. I would love to share the story about my grandfather Jessie Ray Green III, who passed on his creativity, desire and aspirations for knowledge, and free spirit to all of his children and grandchildren! My grandfather who I will refer to as (papa) was an amazing man. He grew up in hot springs New Mexico. His childhood was right out of a movie, as he would tell me stories as a young boy about how he would wonder the desert plains of New Mexico with his brothers chasing rabbits and exploring mines. I would listen in astonishment and even though his storytelling was blemished with false facts making his stories even more exciting. I looked up to papa as a role model. A man who served in the army and the navy exploring the world and doing his best to keep his family safe, not only did he fight for our country he fought for his education and knowledge as well. Papa was an inspired reader and writer. After he passed away on December 20th 2022 from the demecha he had developed, I spent lots of time reading old papers and news articles that he had written from the war’s and his life experiences. I learned about who my papa really was, not only a news article writer but also a sharp shooter, a musichan, a home renovator, an artist and many more. I spent time asking my grandmother about his story and finding out who he really was. She showed me his artwork, a painting that had been hung up in their house all these years that I thought must have been painted by a professional, but all along it was papa’s art work. That's when I realized how creative he actually was. And how he passed all of those traits down to his family, my sister who is an artist, my cousins who are engineers and industrial designers and his daughters who are therapists and accountants. It's amazing to see how his legacy has been passed down to all of us! I didn't know my papa very well before he had developed dementia, but the more and more I hear about my papa the more I realize that I'm just like him. All of his storytelling and life lessons from when I was just a boy must have stuck with me. He challenged himself a lot, sometimes with things that were more challenging than he thought it would be, regardless whether it took creative solutions or makeshift temporary tools he would always get the job done. Recently after working as a welder I found some of my creative outlets. I had never been an artist or thought of myself to be talented in the slightest when it comes to pen and paper. But when I discovered welding things changed. It made me want to create things to make tools and even art. I saw some of the things that were possible and I had to give it a try. From making a sledge hammer for work to a little flower out of old nuts and bolts as a gift for my wonderful girlfriend. I was able to express my creativity in a way I had never been able to before. I was able to make things that were beautiful and then I was led to leather work, making belts and wallets with intricate designs using fine motor skills I had learned. And I will continue to use these creative outlets for all time!

Hi, My name is Conrad black. My girlfriend and I plan on attending college together at UNM main campus and on our mission we have found out that the most challenging aspect will be our finances. Being raised in New Mexico and going to school here all 12 years we haven't had much exposure to education about finances, regardless of the blind turn we are about to take. We have been planning for college for a long time. Now that our senior year in High school is coming to an end we have realized the importance of navigating the financial world. We will both be working through college to support each other. luckily we have been scoping out a budget for cost of living and unfortunately the cost of everything seems to be rising at a steady rate. Our parents have influenced us in a positive way when it comes to cold hard cash! along with knowledge about it. My mother Karen Black inspired me to start applying for scholarships when she gave me the book “debt free Degree” by Anthony ONeal. Everywhere we would drive on the radio would be Dave Ramsy talking about how to get out and stay out of debt! This introduced me to the Financial world. I continue learning about it every day, staying responsible with my money and reaching new financial goals, “savings/budget”... researching how to make my wealth grow. I don't plan on going to college for financing, I will go for Mechanical engineering. although I have stumbled upon an amazing resource and tool called youtube and the information I have learned from that simple tool is invaluable. I call it my Youtube degree with thousands of videos packed with information that app has helped me accomplish many things. Expanding my horizon and view of the financial world. Becoming independent and financially free is a lifetime goal of mine. Even though this jump into college can be intimidating, I'm ambitious and excited to take a run at it. As long as I stay focused and work hard I know I can succeed with the support of scholarships like this one generously offered by Olasumbo Ogunsola! I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my wallet to you, And many others. Another thing about me is my passion for agriculture, ever since the pandemic in 2020 had started on March 15th (usually the time New Mexico stops freezing) I started my own garden in about april once I became very bored. Learning about how to foster plants and help them succeed filled my life with gratitude that I had been missing from the regular life that had been shut down for so long. Soon I came to find out that even though my garden was successful and it brought peace to my heart and mind that “there ain't no rest for the wicked, money dont grow on trees”. And if you haven't heard the song….. (Ain't no rest for the wicked by: cage the elephant.)

Making my community a better place, a challenge many people bring up on New Years or when they have a midlife crisis but it's not an easy task. It takes lots of people to have the courage to go out and make a change. From what I've seen, good positive energy can be as contagious as Covid 19, the only difference is you don't have to wear a mask when you have a positive attitude. My name is Conrad Black and my impact isn't a large one but I hope it affects someone who will have that larger impact. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and if you have ever been here you know it's not the most stunning place to visit but if you look closely at it like myself and many other people do you will be amazed. Just imagine that movie seen from an old wild west film of a tumbleweed blowing across the street. That's New Mexico.The only difference between that old wild west scene and nowadays is that there is a big city in New Mexico now and that tumbleweed turned into a plastic bag or something else someone threw out their window, I will be late to wear I am going if someone's trash can blew over because unlike tumbleweeds the trash that blows around doesn't spread seeds. Humans are creatures of habit and one person's habit can be cancerous to many other humans. So it's my goal for my habits to be good ones and for the seed that I spread to other people to be positive and to do the right thing to take the path that everyone benefits from. My girlfriend gives me a hard time for it all the time but the community that I want to be a part of is friendly and happy, so growing up as a kid riding my bike around with my friends in the neighborhood or driving around I would wave at anyone or go talk to them out front or help them with the yard work they were doing that day because I know if I was doing work and they were on a walk I would have been happy to have a hand. Those habits have stuck with me through the years and still I smile and wave at people as I drive by. I do these things in hopes that that positive energy makes their day, and gives them something to look forward to and another reason to go on a walk tomorrow. Another thing about New Mexico is that it's very brown, the landscape is dry and it makes it challenging to grow flowers and plants but with a little bit of research me and my family have built an amazing yard and garden with plants that grow great in the desert. And with that knowledge my parents have given me I have helped others with their yards and seen amazing things grow that most people could never imagine in a desert. So even though my impact is miniscule in the huge community we have here at home, by smiling and waving and offering someone a helping hand when a helping hand is all that is needed, I plant my seed. And I am excited to see what beautiful things grow out of that seed and what others will do with it. Because even though you don't expect to see a jungle in a desert I know that the Amazing people in this community can accomplish anything.

My name is Conrad Black, and I am a senior at volcano vista high school, I have been going to school in New Mexico for as long as I can remember and if there's one thing I have learned it’s that the culture of the schools are not made by the teachers they can only try to guide the students on their adventure through the ups and downs of elementary, middle, and High School. The last 4 years of my life have especially stood out in that regard, as students transition from kids to young adults. We start tucking life experiences under our belts and build our own ideas and opinions, and the combination of all of these things is what builds such strong and diverse cultures at our schools. The place where I believe my cultural identity at school began was with the football program. As Coach Wallen taught us all what real hard work and discipline were and how to apply these things in the classroom I found out how much harder I could push myself and grow as a person. It was also an experience that taught me how to be a leader and what people look up to, especially underclassmen. In the weight room when we were working out as a team and in the hallways how to properly conduct ourselves and be kind and respectful, not only to other students but to all of the staff and teachers. As our head coach rebuilt the culture of our football program, it seemed to correlate with the rest of the school; bringing more diverse student groups together. This culminated in increased support from our fellow students at games, as well as an improved sense of cohesiveness in the student body. It was a lesson in bringing people past their differences to create a shared sense of community. As a player, the energy of the crowd and the support of our band, the dance team, and the ROTC color guard carried that through the team as they supported us at every home game, and in return, we would put our hearts into the game to build campus pride. We would watch them practice and show our respect and appreciation for their performance, adding another brick to the community that we stand on. In my personal life my grandfather has been impacted by dementia and recently experienced a rapid decline in health, passing away shortly after winter break began. I was a part of his personal care leading up to and in his passing, as he died at home in hospice care. This has been a pivotal and moving experience for me, as I experienced the pain of the loss in conjunction with the relief of his release from pain and shared this experience with my grandmother, parents, and extended family. I grew in my understanding of how the support of family and community is pivotal as we navigate the more challenging aspects of life I am anticipating that I will qualify for a letter in academics this semester for maintaining over a 3.5 GPA for 3 semesters in a row which may not impact the people at my school much but has personally felt very accomplished. It has also opened opportunities for college and will make the transition to UNM just a little smoother. I couldn't have accomplished what I have without my supportive family members, amazing teachers who cared about my education, and a community to be a part of. And I thank the Trueba family for this scholarship opportunity!

Mental health is something that cannot be controlled no matter the mental toughness of a person, those are two very different things. I consider myself a mentally tough person and work on that every day of my life but the mentally tough people are the people who I have met and had relationships with who struggle with mental health and illness. In some cases, they deal with things most of us could not imagine. Throughout a day they may be extremely happy then extremely sad and see how it affects the people around them so they try to contain it because they feel like they're the problem when in reality they're not in control. These are the reasons and things that give me fuel to help those people the best that I can. I am not a psychiatrist and the people that are kudos to you because you can do things that I will never be able to. Your understanding of the human mind astonishes me and I have the utmost respect for you! With that being said most people don't understand the human brain that way, and it's such a complex organ that explaining mental illnesses is almost impossible. That is why I believe that the people who deal with mental illness on a day-to-day basis are so strong. Many inspirational/motivational speakers like to say the people you hang out with and surround yourself with are who you will become, and I believe that having interactions and conversations and relationships with those people will open your eyes to new ways of thinking about others and possibly change your perspective on the world around you. For example, I play football at my high school and during this last off-season, there was another student who liked to come into the weight room when we were all lifting and show off a little. His name is Fabian, and he has down syndrome. But regardless of what he has to deal with he would come in in the morning and show off how strong he is, of course with a little bit of help from some of the guys but we would get excited and hoot and holler for him and it would just make his day and our day and our coaches day to see him be so happy and so positive. That experience changed my attitude on a day-to-day basis and helped my outlook become more positive! This world is full of ups and downs so when you're up hold onto these moments and take it all in. Sometimes the downs get to you but when they do at least for me I think of Fabian and how he helped me realize that the only disability in life is a bad attitude! So no matter what you're going through, hold your head high and keep on moving, there are good times right around the corner just waiting for you to show up and be a part of them. Thank you to Calvin Rosser for funding these scholarships what you do means a lot to many people!

Making my community a better place is a challenge many people bring up in the New Year or when they have a midlife crisis but it's not an easy task. It takes lots of people to have the courage to go out and make a change but they will feed off of the others that go out and do that same thing. My name is Conrad Black and my impact isn't a large one but I hope it affects someone who will have that larger impact. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and if you have ever been here you know it's not the most stunning place to visit but if you look closely at it like I and many other people do you will be amazed. It's unfortunate but people do tend to litter ad we do have very windy weather so it spreads around quite a bit but if it crosses my path on y journey to make my space prettier I will throw it away or throw it in the back of my truck if I have to till I can go home and throw it away, I will be late to where I am going if its trash day and someone's trash can blew over because unlike tumbleweeds the trash that blows around doesn't spread seeds. Humans are creatures of habit and one person's habit can be cancerous to many other humans so it's my goal for my habits to be good ones and for the seed that I spread to other people to be positive and to do the right thing to take the path that harms no one. My girlfriend gives me a hard time for it all the time but the community that I want to be a part of is friendly and happy so growing up as a kid riding my bike around with my friends in the neighborhood I would wave at anyone I saw driving around or go talk to them out front or help them with the yard work they were doing that day because I know if I was doing work and they were on a walk I would have been happy to have a hand. Those habits have stuck with me through the years and I still smile and wave at people as I drive by now, in hopes that that positive energy makes their day and gives them something to look forward to and another reason to go on a walk tomorrow. Many people come to mind for me that I know I could call in a pinch because of the relationship we have within our community. Am so grateful to be in a community like mine and to be raised by parents that loved and cared about me. Another thing about New Mexico is that it's very brown, the landscape is dry and it makes it challenging to grow flowers and plants but with a little bit of research me and my family have built an amazing yard and garden with plants that grow great in the desert. And with that knowledge, my parents have given me I have helped others with their yards and seen amazing things grow that most people could never imagine in a desert. So even though my impact is minuscule in the huge community we have here at home, by smiling and waving and offering someone a helping hand when a helping hand is all that is needed, I plant my seed. And I am excited to see what beautiful things grow out of that seed and what others will do with it because even though you don't expect to see a jungle in a desert I know that the Amazing people in this community can accomplish anything.

As a student athlete, health has always been a priority for me, I'm always working to eat better, get good sleep and stay in shape but there have been some bumps along the way. I play football currently and played baseball my freshman and sophomore year but football took over my highschool life. I have played sports my whole life but all of a sudden when the baseball season had first started and we had only played one game covid came around and put sports to a halt. That's when it got tricky staying in shape. For so long I had players and coaches to help keep me accountable but now I was on my own and at first it was great to have a break but then I realized how much sports did for me, not just physically but mentaly as well. We still did online workouts with the football team but with everyone in a different situation we couldn't accomplish much but we were still a team and that gave me the motivation I needed to get out there and improve myself. I knew that eventually things would go back to normal and I wanted to get ahead of the game. I had gained quite a bit of weight and not in muscle, I started by going on runs for a few weeks only 2-4 miles then started getting longer and longer till I worked up to 6-9 miles and that was a good range for me to progress. I couldn't go to any gyms but my neighbors had a gym in their garage that I would use and before I knew it I went from 200lbs to 185 and since then they have been at that weight and felt so much better. After I finish working out it's hard not to smile because of the accomplishment knowing that I did something to make myself better today and I evolved to the point that the need to get better was the only motivation I needed. After I could workout I began eating healthier. I found out that a well balanced diet gives me more energy to give back to the world. I found out what was working for me and how I could improve myself and that was the hardest part. After that football started back up and I was at that point where I knew what I needed to do but I also had help and I was grateful for that. It was the hardest offseason yet and the hardest I had ever worked for something. I'm very lucky to have been a part of the football program at volcano vista high school, it surrounded me with others who are passionate about something and taught me how to stay focused on goals that you set for yourself. I expect that I will continue on my healthy lifestyle for a long long time there are a lot of things that I want to accomplish in my lifetimes and one that i've been working on more recently is flexibility, realizing that not all workouts have to be super intense was very beneficial and doing yoga has helped me a lot. All of the things that I have done and that I currently do help me stay in shape physically and mentaly make me a better person. With this healthy lifestyle I have found happiness and joy that I can spread and hopefully give this joy to the next person who needs it!

Why do I want to be an Engineer? Maybe it's who I grew up around, or maybe the books I've read or youtube videos of Mark Rober making a glitter bomb for porch pirates that inspired me and peaked my interest in the engineering design process. Now I don’t necessarily want to design glitter bombs but I do want to work on mechanical devices that could be improved to make the world a better and safer place! Engineering is involved in so much of our lives, for example mechanical engineering (the study of all moving things). There are a lot of moving parts in today's society. I really started to learn about Mechanics while working on my truck with my dad who is a Nuclear engineer. When I can put something together the way I imagine it and the outcome is successful, it's very rewarding and even when it doesn’t turn out so well, I still find it rewarding to have that new knowledge of a subject. To me that's more valuable than many things. I have hope that I will accomplish goals in my future and I want those things to be important. I want them to help people and make their lives better, to make the world a better place and I will use every resource available to make that possible. That's why I am passionate about engineering. I'm excited to pursue a career in engineering and I thank wiseGeek for this opportunity!

Why do I love math? I love math because there are many problems in math, never ending but there is a solution to every problem you will come across. Personally I have never thought of myself to be one who was very good at math, but I have always enjoyed learning about the subject. I had a hard time doing math that seemed pointless to life when I was younger but I have learned to appreciate it because almost anything in life can logically be explained with numbers. In highschool I took 2 years to learn a foran language so I could get into college and in math classes I compared it to learning a new language very different from any other. It tells a story with numbers and it can explain things that other languages can. With math humans have accomplished things they would have never been able to do without it. That is one thing that draws me to math, the fact that the possibilities are endless. I plan on going to college to become a Mechanical engineer, to accomplish that goal I will have to familiarize myself with many different types of math. I want to improve myself and my knowledge and there have been many amazing teachers who have shown me the beauty of math, and math has taught me some very important life lessons like patience and persistence. Practicing math can teach you many life lessons and that is why I love math. So even though I'm not the best at it, I'm not super fast with numbers and I need lots of practice. I like a good challenge so the people who are always talking about math and how hard it is, you can't scare me away. I look forward to it.

Dogs are a man's best friend. I have had the honor of having three amazing dogs in my lifetime; they have raised me to be the person I am today. I grew up with Hatch and Luna, two labs who taught me compassion and love. When I was an infant, still crawling on my hands and knees, our older lab, Hatch looked after me like I was his own. I would crawl through the dog doors and he would come out after me to make sure that I was okay. I would sit in the garage and he would sit right there with me. One time I went out the dog door as usual but the garage was left open so I didn't stop. I kept going out to the driveway but I didn't make it far before Hatch came out and sat on me! I didn't know it but he was keeping me safe and protecting me at such a young age. Luna was his best friend, a little bit smaller but a lot more charismatic. She had enough energy to power our house and the neighbors. She and Hatch would chase each other through the backyard playing and wrestling over toys. We would play with them and take the two down to the river on walks. They loved the river like any lab would, getting to swim and run through the water, they would find sticks for us to throw back into the river so they could chase it floating along with the current. The two dogs that raised me grew old together and sadly dogs don't live as long as humans. When I was about 11, Hatch passed away peacefully. The family was devastated but no one as much as Luna . She was lonely so we thought we should get another dog to be her friend. This led us to get Toma, a golden lab, a little rambunctious pup who matched Luna’s energy when she was young. She kept Luna company until she passed away as well. We made it a goal to train Toma. As we all grew up in New Mexico, it became a theme to name the accordingly. Hatch was named for Hatch green chile and Luna for Los Lunas. When we named Toma, we were stumped for a little while but since she is a golden lab we thought maybe Zia like the symbol on our flag that represents the sun. Unfortunately, we didn’t like Zia so we did research on native languages of New Mexico and Toma also means sun so we named her Toma! Naming the dogs isn't the only responsibility that comes with dogs. Even though I don't like it, I've always been the one to scoop the poop and when I wake up first, I'm the one who feeds the dogs, but it's so much more than that. Dogs are your companions and you have to give them back energy as well, playing with them, taking them for walks and exploring with them. If they can count on you, you will always be able to count on them. If you give them a family they will bring it together! In Loving Memory of my 12th grade English teacher’s beloved Cotton

I am big and tall. It all began when I was young going into the doctor’s office for an annual checkup, the doctors filled my heart with hope telling a small child one day you will be 6 foot 4 inches tall! Every day after that I would go to bed early and wake up to drink a glass of milk. I dreamed of being 6’ 4” I thought it would be amazing… then I started to grow. I would go back to the doctors, but my feet would hang off the checkup tables, I would hit my head on light fixtures all the time, I could no longer fit into all my amazing hiding places when playing hide and seek. Although these thigs, I was growing out of or into was slightly annoying I took great pride in grabbing things off the top shelf for others. There was one year my dad started to buy me nice clothes and shoes and I was grateful but confused. I was so used to hammy downs from friends and cousins that getting my own new stuff was amazing. But I thought twice about it when I started to outgrow those cloths as well, then I realized as my closet was losing its volume my dad was filling up, he had bought me super nice hunting boots that conveniently fit him perfectly. I can’t blame him and all I can do is hope that my son one day will be even taller than me and I will steal his brilliant idea for myself. Although you might think that any tall person could be a basketball player, I could personally tell you your poorly mistaken. Even though basketball is not my strong suit if you have ever seen me shoot you would know what I’m talking about, my parents did give me some athletic abilities. I grew up playing all kinds of different sports starting with soccer then basketball, flag football and baseball I stuck with baseball for many years. when I started high school, I began playing football and have had so much fun over the last four years and have made it a goal to soak up and enjoy the last part of my senior season. My biggest fan from school is my girlfriend, she makes me look like a giant coming in at a solid 5’ 4” making it hard to spot her in the stands during games, and although she isn’t physically the biggest in my heart, she is my “biggest” fan. Even though I don’t know how my parents who are both much shorter than me gave me this size, I appreciate the advantage you have given me. Even though I’m not yet 6’ 4” I’m 17 and still have hope that I will hit a growth spurt and become that 6’ 4” person I always thought I would be.