“Overcoming these issues would be hard but over time, with the help of my family, teachers, and friends, I realized I can shape what I could/wanted to become.” My experience throughout my younger years influenced the person that I am today. I was five, in kindergarten, when I got in trouble for not understanding basic English. For context, I am of African descent and bilingual. English was not my first language, as my first language was Wolof; a dialect from Senegal. I learned Wolof from my years in Senegal with my father, and as elementary school was approaching, I found out and realized that I had to go back to the United States and learn English for the first time in my life in an all-English school. My first English teacher was memorable, as he had this raspy loud voice and uncontrollable explosive outbursts. I was constantly struggling to understand such a complex language and I tended to get hurt and emotional in class, while at home my parents weren't much help either. At the age of five, being told, “Listen to your teachers” when you don't understand anything they were saying created multiple storms of emotions such as confusion, and a wave of overwhelming anger within myself because I felt I wasn’t being heard or listened to. At times, I would get so angry and fed up that I began to become physical which resulted in me needing to be transferred out of the school. I didn’t think this issue would arise again, yet I was wrong. There was once a point in my life when I went to a French charter school for elementary students that taught both French and English but what made it difficult was that one of the requirements was to learn two foreign languages and pass with proficiency. I began to learn these languages with much more ease as my uncle worked in my school and since he was able to speak in Wolof, he was able to translate things for me. But my first language of Wolof diminished as I started to learn two languages simultaneously and because of that, I lost the ability to speak Wolof. I preserved my native language skills by learning in elementary school and continuing to learn after graduating from elementary school; I developed the languages English and French. It also allowed me to help and build bridges with people who were in a similar situation that I was in. Being able to understand and enrich the quality of learning, including the amount I was able to learn, in that time helped me and shaped me into the person I am today. I have extracurriculars that I’m apart of: New York Presbyterian Peers Program, StreetSquash, College Now & more. Learning all these languages has helped me become resilient and determined to be successful in what I set out to do. The language barrier wasn’t just a barrier, it was a learning experience and I can carry these skills for the rest of my life. I have made my final decision, in pursuing higher education. I feel as if it is my responsibility to inspire my siblings and other people who were just like me. Having an education, being enlightened, and being aware can put me in a league I didn’t think could be possible. Education is power. I realize the power of education, what holds, and what one’s education has to offer. I understand pursuing an education can cause me to feel overwhelmed and exhausted, but I know I have it in me to see this opportunity through.

My most valuable back-to-school advice is to anticipate and mentally prepare for what lies ahead with your education. From a first-hand account, in my sophomore year of high school, I was ready to attend zoom calls, interact and talk to my teachers from home, and complete assignments as soon as they were assigned since I had learned from my freshman year. I had my Google Classroom, Zoom, and Google Meet information, new school email, and teachers' contact info for all of my classes, and I had my schedule planned out. My preparation enabled me to stay ahead of the game and be ready for any curve balls that came my way. It also made me focus so much more on my education, take it more seriously and have a different lens or insight on what was to come. Having this experience made learning seem so simple. I had set up unfamiliar, radically different, foreign, and unusual processes in place for myself to succeed within this radically different schooling environment. Taking this step was the most effective thing I did to have the most successful academic year, and I would advise you to do the same. Instagram - @dienedrame.

My favorite scientific discovery is Galileo's discovery of the heliocentric system. Galileo's scientific discovery was my favorite because he found out the planets orbit around the sun and was then sentenced to life imprisonment by the Catholic Church even though he was correct and proven right hundreds of years later. This man discovered something so game-changing. How fascinating is it to discover the heliocentric theory was the truth over the geocentric theory and take that up to the Catholic Church and tell them that they were wrong once again in the predicament they were in? Without Galileo’s discovery and help, who knows how much longer it would have taken astronomers to figure out that the heliocentric system was the model of the solar system. Just imagine, Galileo never made his research public Galileo stuck to his belief and discovery and never found out if his discovery actually remained a belief or if it was not a belief but actually widely known to the rest of mankind.

The drive, the run-up, the motion of swinging my racket, and just having the momentum and power to hit the shot. As I am swinging my racket to hit the shot, the ball changes course forcing me to adjust with the ball so I can hit the ball before the second bounce. I am becoming eager to hit the shot because if I do, I will be able to advance in the tournament. If I miss time the shot, my opponent is tied and I will have to win by 2 to advance. I hit the shot. My opponent could not get to the ball in time before the double bounce and I would advance to your next opponent. One of my favorite hobbies is Squash. I enjoyed the sport which is also my hobby because I can have fun, be active, and find enjoyment in myself. I had a constant drive to play Squash since the first time I played it with friends, I loved and cherished every moment that we would have. I would stay after hours just to play recreationally with friends to have fun and have a good time. Friends would ask me, “Did you learn to hit the ball in this way?” I would say no and then when we had the chance of having practice on the same days, we would work on the fundamentals just so I could get used to it. We would have so much fun and time would go by so quickly that we wished we could stay for longer and continue what we were initially doing. I enjoyed the hobby because when I first came to the first ever parctice session for tryouts, I was not judged for my skills and abilities as a beginner by my peers. This gave me the capability to be able to improve in a judge free zone. It gave me the flexibility to improve at my own rate, no matter who attended. My coaches did not lose hope in me and actually picked me up whenever I felt down and pushed me constantly to strive for better and because of this, I made the team. I had achieved my goal and wanted to push myself harder from the Junior Varstiy team to the Varsity team. We as a team can have some controversial matches against each other and we’ll suck it up and admit the win or defeat dependnig on the outcome. I hope to achieve bigger and better things and improve in my hobby and reach my goal.

One personal finance lesson that I find important is that “building up your wealth takes time, not months, not years but decades”. I found it important since I taught me that wealth will not come to you whenever you want it, or need it. Wealth takes time to acquire. It takes time and the people who can’t wait to invest their money will not be able to build wealth. It also taught me that if I strive, have the desire and want to pursue this, I needed to dedicate my current monetary means towards it even if it is a small amount. These smaller amount investments can benefit me in the long run, when it comes to net worth, generational wealth and more. I felt ready to take this commitment. But the thing is, I wanted to achieve wealth, but I didn’t know how. Educating kids, especially in underrepresented and low-income areas about personal finance. is important. As a descendant of African immigrants from New York City, I was never taught about the importance and value of personal finance. Personal Finance is crucial for individuals in low-income areas because speaking from first-hand experience, personal finance is not talked about as much as it should be. Personal finance should be way more publicized since more and more people want to become wealthy at young ages. These are people like myself aspire to get out of the neighborhood for safety, and environmental reasons. In my community, it was taboo to talk about personal finance. Personal finance seemed so special and sacred, but I as a kid, I did not know the value of personal finance, and what it can do to people but now that I do know, I feel it’s important and crucial for kids to understand and learn from it.