Having an inspiration, be that of a person or something special, is something that possesses the potential to help individuals continue to move forward with their aspirations. In my opinion, inspirations are the driving force that truly sets events in which people do great things in their lives. My greatest inspiration, music, has had the most influential role within my life because of the opportunities it has provided me and how it has driven me to be more determined to succeed with anything I do. Music possesses the power to open opportunities that may have not been previously available. Music has played a pivotal role in providing me with opportunities that I could never imagine experiencing for much of my life. I always thought music was intriguing, and I admired those who could play instruments and bring the musical sounds I enjoyed to live. When I entered the 8th grade, I was fortunate to gain the opportunity to purchase an instrument of my own so I could participate in doing something that involved music. Although learning music has not been easy, it has created opportunities for me to meet new people, get out of my comfort zone, and increase the amount of happiness I experienced. I was younger, I struggled with making connections and communicating with others; therefore, I would often isolate myself from interacting with others. After all the hard work, music helped me graduate high school as one of the top students of my graduating class and enter college, Bethune-Cookman University. Music is my greatest inspiration because it displayed to me that it was possible to look at things from a different perspective. To me, music drives me by inspiring me to place my best foot forward, this is especially evident when I listen to something that inspires me to keep trying and focus on succeeding on the task at hand. Rather than throwing away the towel when things get difficult, I turn to listen to music to drive my determination. In high school, there were many times in which I had many assignments and tasks to do that caused me to feel overwhelmed/frustrated at times. To get through the many things I needed to do, I would always play music to help me through my worries and guide me in the right direction. Inspirations often serve as the fuel that drives people to what to live their lives to the fullest and seek out many different opportunities. For me, my greatest inspiration that drove me to take a path towards where I am now was music. Music is something that I hold dear to my heart because of what it has given me in the form of opportunities to see the world from a different perspective and drive me to get through things when they get tough. I will cherish the many experiences that music has provided me and utilize my inspiration to be that person who can inspire others as well.

Hello, my name is Demitri Beauford, and I am from the Atlanta, Georgia area. I am currently attending Bethune-Cookman University as a second-semester sophomore with a major in Music Education. When I was a freshman in high school, I never envisioned myself going to college to major in Music Education. Initially, I intended to just go to college and figure out what I wanted to do later down the line; however, that was changed when I met my role model, my high school Music Education teacher, Mr. Emanuel Johnson. Throughout the years, I have had many people who I would consider role models; however, Mr. E. Johnson left a lasting impression on me by imparting strong morals and lessons that I still utilize today. Mr. E. Johnson was a calm man who was quite passionate about teaching music to his students. The most notable lessons that I learned from him are that I should focus on encouraging others more and appreciate what life has to offer. When I first entered high school, I did not understand how to be encouraging to others, thus I found it difficult to communicate with others when they felt discouraged. After receiving some assistance from my teacher on how to be more encouraging to my peers, I soon realized that a small amount of encouragement could benefit others to keep trying to improve regardless of how many times they would fail at any given task. Encouragement is a powerful tool that can help fuel the determination of others to ultimately help them realize that they have the potential to get through their problems. My teacher also assisted me with learning to be more appreciative of what life offers me. I was taught that everyone does not have the same opportunities provided to them in life; therefore, I should not take things for granted regardless of how small they may be. For instance, learning music was an opportunity that I was fortunate enough to have access to; furthermore, I should take it seriously and not take it for granted. This soon developed into an appreciation for music and this appreciation assisted me with getting into college along with finding my current major, “Music Education.” Being grateful for the things in life allows for people to be more cognizant of what they have and do not have, thus further developing an individual’s character. With the increase of animosity influencing the action of others, people are often blinded by negative emotions that cause them to act immoral and unjust. I believe that my teacher made the right decision to teach me the fundamental value of respecting others enough to encourage them and appreciate the opportunities that life has to offer me. In my opinion, developing an understanding of how to be a respectful and appreciative individual can lead to fewer situations in which conflicts arise like crime, discrimination, and more. The lessons that I have acquired from my teacher provided me with much room for me to grow as a person. Since graduating high school back in 2019, I have utilized the lessons that were taught to me for the purpose(s) of guiding me through my life. Due to taking into consideration the positive lessons imparted by the teachings of my teacher, I was allowed to achieve some of my desired goals. For instance, I often isolated myself from others because I did not know how to properly engage with others when I entered high school. After learning how to be more encouraging, I was able to achieve my goal of developing the ability to make long-lasting relationships, friendships, with others. This ability to be more encouraging has also assisted me with positively collaborating with my peers and offering them words of encouragement to help them when they were in need. Regarding appreciating what life has to offer, I attempt to utilize every opportunity allotted to me so I can continue to build up my character. Learning to appreciate things more assisted me with learning to appreciate what people do for each other. Being appreciative aided with my goal to do well in school because it displayed to me that I could show others that I care by acknowledging what they do, thus establishing a respectful mutualistic relationship in the future. A small amount of appreciation may appear to be something simple, but appreciation can go a long way if it is utilized correctly. Although I have utilized the lessons that I was taught to achieve some of my goals in life, I will aim to strive towards utilizing those lessons to help others become better people. By observing current events, I noticed that the amount of encouragement and appreciation are not as prevalent as they should be. From my perspective of living within the United States of America, I notice that there is much conflict in which people display strong hostility towards each other. For example, there are divisions within fellow Americans due to clashing ideologies, an increase of gun-related conflicts in which innocent people lose their lives, and many more unfortunate events that have occurred. I intend to pay what I learned forward by creating opportunities in which there is more unity within society. I can begin to do this by starting small with using my future position as an educator to teach the youth how to be more respectful of others with being more willing to encourage others and be more appreciative of what they have rather than what they do not have. I no longer desire to endure such a society with people blatantly disrespecting each other to cause conflict, thus it is my desire, goal, to promote a change from fear and intimidation to that of respect and kindness. Understandably, my goal may be quite ambitious for me to succeed in, I will make it my mission to impart the lessons of creating a good character to those I encounter throughout my life.

Hello, my name is Demitri Beauford, and I am from the Atlanta, Georgia area. I am currently attending Bethune-Cookman University as a second-semester sophomore with a major in Music Education. On the path towards making my desire to go to college a reality, I had to endure many adversities that made me question if I had the capabilities to get accepted into the college of my choice(s). Being an African American male growing up in a southern state, Georgia, I was constantly faced with the adversity of being viewed as nothing but another statistic, a potential criminal. In addition to being viewed as another statistic, I went to a predominantly African American high school that was regarded as a failing school with little resources to go around. The years before graduating from my high school, the graduation rate was slightly below average and the expectations for the students to succeed in life were set low by the community. I understood that I lived in an area that was not privileged with resources (such as textbooks and other essential items) that were available within the high school; however, I did not understand why the county did not make much more of an effort to help the students succeed at my high school. With little to no resources available and the low expectations from those within the community, I often felt discouraged with my capabilities. There were times in which I thought that it would be unlikely for me to be prepared enough academically to compete with other students, those at the more privileged schools, in the real world after high school. For a long time, I thought I couldn't graduate high school with the capabilities to tackle the outside world; however, much of my doubts had disappeared due to a shift in my mindset. To overcome the adversity that was discouraging me from further succeeding, I needed to change my mindset to something that reflected what I desired. I desired to create a path in which I could succeed by graduating with all the capabilities of being eligible for more opportunities in my life. Another contribution that had a part in me desiring to create a new path was my mother's effort to raise me. It did not help the situation that I lived with a single mother who did the best she could to raise a total of three children, including me and two other children, on her own with little assistance. Considering everything that my mother had done for me, I also wanted to do something that would alleviate the burden of finding a way to afford to send me off to college. Taking into consideration helping my mother and creating a desirable future for myself, I took it upon myself to put forth more effort towards going beyond the negative expectations that I had endured. Although it was difficult for me to believe that I could progress further through school with the adversities constantly holding me down, I managed to use my desire(s) to make something of my life to create a new path for myself. I believe that the experience of having adversities in my life had assisted in helping me decide what I want out of life. I had the option(s) of just being content with my life by being satisfied or having a desire to achieve more of the opportunities that life had to offer. Instead of going with the option that results in me being satisfied, I chose to seek out a future for myself where I am not tied down by adversities. This decision had an overall impact on my life because it helped me make it into one of the colleges of my choice and I was able to alleviate some of the cost on my mother by working hard enough to acquire a band scholarship to help with the costs of school. Since overcoming the adversities that were holding me back, I believe that I could endure and overcome problems within my future endeavors by having a determined mindset that encourages success. Overall, adversities possess the potential to throw many difficulties in our way; however, it is up to us to determine if we will allow those adversities to control our lifestyle or allow those adversities to be utilized as fuel to enhance our lifestyle.

Hello, my name is Demitri Beauford, and I am from the Atlanta, Georgia area. I am currently attending Bethune-Cookman University as a second-semester sophomore with a major in Music Education. I decided to choose Music Education as my major because as a young child, I viewed teachers as being important in helping their students realize what passions they have along with what they should pursue in life. As an aspiring educator, my role will provide me with the opportunity to be a positive influence on the lives of my students to help them further realize their potential(s). What I hope to achieve in my life is assisting areas, such as my community and beyond, with providing a quality education for students, students of all ethnicities and racial backgrounds, to go further in life. In other words, I would like to establish the concept there are equal opportunities for all students to do much more with their lives. For many African American students, people of color, a large amount of their attention is directed towards what they view on the internet, the current media. The current media portrays people of color as being either rappers, singers, or so-on that promote some behaviors that can negatively influence the development of students. I understand that the music is catchy, and people enjoy it; however, I am not fond that students wish to become the songs they listen to by engaging in activities that cause them to either get arrested, shot at, engage in illicit behavior, or other acts. I desire to show my students that they can become much more in their lives like potential doctors, professors, and lawmakers that can influence positive change in the lives of others, regardless of their ethnicity or race. Students have a variety of skills and passions that they can benefit from later in life. If no one identifies their strengths, the students may end up disregarding them to either work a job they dislike or being in a place that they would not particularly desire. To help the students grow further, it would be my job as an educator to show them that they should aim towards doing what they are passionate about. To prepare me for my goal, I will do everything in my power to learn what I can do to help students see that their lives are worth more than what the media has portrayed thus far. To work towards developing a strategy to help students, I will combine aspects of past and current events to paint a picture to my students that there are things that they can do to influence positive change. Although I am not fond of the current media often criminalizing and sexualizing young African American students, I do suggest that they try to establish something that benefits the youth rather than promoting behavior that is not acceptable in the "real world." To counter the negative influences that can be observed through the media, I can encourage the students to make better choices. By allowing students to feel a sense of comfort when around me and sharing how they feel on particular subjects, I can work towards helping them discover what it is that they wish to do, later in their lives. In conclusion, I desire to become an educator that brings forth positive change that helps students, students of all ethnicities and racial backgrounds, realize their potential(s). I desire to achieve something that allows students to look past what is expected of them and aim much higher in their lives. To achieve what I desire, I must encourage positive behavior and promote the idea that each student has the capability to do something great that can influence positive change for them, as well as others. Being a great educator requires that every student have an equal opportunity to education in addition to having the needs of the students addressed to best help them.

As time progresses, going through the motions of experiencing life, do we ever stop to consider what type of legacy we desire to leave behind? To me, the concept of having a legacy is similar to that of leaving behind something memorable, so that people will remember me years after my time. In my opinion, a legacy is something that should stand out as being significant in a positive way. The meaning of the term, legacy, is a subjective statement that can be interpreted in any fashion; however, a legacy is always something that is left behind for future generations to remember. The meaning of leaving behind a legacy relates to how the individual wishes to be remembered for years to come. Some people desire to be viewed as influential, and some people desire to just leave some form of impact. In the end, I compare the concept of leaving behind a legacy to that of leaving behind a tale of the many feats an individual has achieved. The meaning of leaving behind a legacy relates to allowing the individual to live on in the memories of others, well beyond their passing. From what history has taught me, various kinds of valuable legacies were left behind for future generations. Although most legacies recount the key moments of a person's life, each legacy has the potential to aid with educating the younger generations. Many valuable legacies still retain their relevancy to this day. Individuals such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks left behind positive legacies that will go down in history, for their refusal to allow segregation/racism to dictate what they could and could not do. Individuals such as Adolf Hitler and other dictators left behind negative legacies that will be remembered, for ruling their countries through oppression and fear. Various kinds of legacies are created by the image that people left behind, be that good or bad. From my perspective, I would like to leave behind a positive legacy that people will remember for all the good that I did. I aspire to become an educator in the future after I completed my college courses; as a result, that provides me with the opportunity to influence the lives of my future students for the better. I desire my legacy to help inspire those of the future generation to put their best foot forward, regardless of the challenge. As an educator, I must set the example and the person that students could come to for assistance. As a person, human being, I would like to use the life that I have been provided towards creating a future that helps those in need. Leaving behind a legacy is more than just leaving behind something after I pass, it is leaving behind something that inspires.