In Eutawville, South Carolina, there are no traffic lights. Dotting the intersections of the few paved roads are churches. Those are the only businesses that survive here. Faith… and the Dollar General. Their prices are just high enough to force patronage and just low enough to prevent the uninspired to travel the 30 miles to the nearest Walmart. But that’s what these roads do sometimes, they lead right to what you need and just short of where you want to go. In towns like this, leaders can make or break a community. Like with any small town, leaders usually consist of pastors and generational politicians. Rarely do you find a small town boy become a leader, but I found my calling and I pursued it. I mentored, I coached, and I volunteered at the church. I honored every one of these roles with fidelity. I began to tie my leadership roles with my sense of community. On main street, there are a few stalwart businesses; a hardware store, a farmer supply, and a barbershop that can get you in and out with a temp fade under 2 hours. There’s also the police station, where in 2011 the police chief shot and killed a black man sitting in his truck over an argument about a traffic ticket. A traffic ticket, with no traffic lights. The chief got 5 years probation, Mr. Bailey got death. But it’s here where I grew up. Down an old dirt road that leads to heirs property. Land, my grandpa’s grandpa, tilled over. Back when sharecropping provided upward mobility. And that’s what this essay is about; mobility. Mobility from dirt roads to universities. In 2008, my mom was a teenager giving birth to me. And like her dad, she saw heirs property as a road to success. Stay home, work hard, go to college, and that would be her road out of Eutawville. Despite teen pregnancy, she firmly believed the formula would pay off. So here I am, the current generation completing the formula, fulfilling the generational promise. This dirt road must lead to college. It was late into my high school career when my parents realized that some roads have dead ends. She packed our bags and on a prayer we moved to Columbia, SC to build new roads. During this transition, school and football were my roads to upward mobility. On those fields, I worked and perfected my craft. From little league to high school, I competed at the highest levels, winning championships. In addition, I pillared my physical success with academic excellence. I maintained an honor roll throughout the entirety of my high school career. I ministered in the children's church and I gave back to the little league who poured so much into me, helping with practices, moving field markers. I coached and mentored and I served as an example that dirt roads mold leaders. In addition to my community presence, I also worked at the Subway part time, helping fund the dreams I’m writing for today. In essence, this essay is about leadership but it's also about roads and mobility. The generations before me have laid the foundation and have paved a large part of the way but this scholarship is the concrete needed to complete my path. If chosen for this scholarship, I will build my own roads. I will graduate college and thrive in my future career. This scholarship will allow me to pave my roads back home so I can serve as an example that roads do indeed lead out of Eutawville but they can also lead back home.