The first decade of my life was full of chaos and uncertainty. My parents separated just a few years after I was born, forcing my brother and I straight into the battle of split-custody. At my father's house, we faced emotional abuse predominantly, but physical abuse was not uncommon. Years later, my mother finally gained full custody of my brother and I after an arduous custody dispute, draining her retirement funds. It took even longer to become financially stable, moving apartments and schools constantly. My mother still has to work multiple jobs to support my siblings and I by herself. Yet, I have been able to find a place in the ambiguity of my world. I picked up the clarinet and never looked back. My life has become defined by wind ensemble, marching band, jazz band, orchestra. Through this, chaos has reentered my life, but in a new form – one I can control. After hours of rehearsal and hours of homework, practice leads into the late hours of many nights. Through music I have been able to travel to New York, performing in Carnegie Hall, and to Washington, D.C., performing in the Kennedy Center. Most importantly, music has taught me dedication and responsibility, while creating a community for myself and becoming a leader. All the while I have earned and maintained a 5.2 weighted GPA throughout high school through taking a course load of Advanced Placement classes, while working part-time at a local law firm. Simultaneously, reflection on my experience has left me disillusioned with the justice system – its many inconsistencies made glaringly obvious to me. I might have avoided much of the abuse I faced had law enforcement properly executed restraining orders, had quality, affordable legal representation been available to my mother. Thus, I have developed a deep yearning to help those also wronged by the “justice” system. In school, I have found solace in the sciences – biology and chemistry providing answers that real, convoluted stories like mine lacked. I believe science has a rightful place within the courtroom. From DNA analysis to rape kits, forensic science provides objective evidence that is key in many cases, and I strive to make science more applicable and accessible within the justice system. My passion inspired me to obtain my job at a local water law firm, Taggart & Taggart, where I have seen science and the law used in conjunction almost everyday for two years. I have been exposed to the intricacies of the legal world. I constantly badger the attorneys and paralegals with questions of legal procedures and argumentative strategies, craving every detail. During college, I plan to major in biochemistry to gain a foundation in the sciences. I plan to participate in genetic research and eventually conduct my own research in forensic methods, DNA analysis specifically, for science to become more reliable and accessible in the justice system. I also plan to minor in a field like sociology where I can gain an understanding of the biases that create an inequitable justice system. I want to help those like my family who have had harmful experiences with the law through the way I understand best. But ultimately, it is my goal to end the cycle of abuse and generational trauma I have been raised in. Through education, I will move beyond the small world I have been limited to – becoming exposed to diversity, new opportunities, new experiences, new perspectives that will permanently alter my future, and thus my family’s future, for the better. This scholarship will allow me to achieve my goal.

The ability of education to stop cycles of abuse and lift one up through the world has been embedded in me since childhood. My mother’s parents never graduated from high school, and she was raised in an extremely abusive household where drug use was prevalent. Visiting my aunt at college, she realized there was a life outside of poverty, inspiring her to attain her own college education. The first decade of my life was also full of chaos and uncertainty. My parents separated just a few years after I was born, forcing my brother and I straight into the battle of split-custody. At my father's house, we faced emotional abuse predominantly, but physical abuse was not uncommon. Years later, my mother finally gained full custody of my brother and I after an arduous custody dispute, draining her retirement funds. It took even longer to become financially stable, moving apartments and schools constantly. My mother still has to work multiple jobs to support my siblings and I single handedly. Yet, I have found a place in the ambiguity of my world. I picked up the clarinet and never looked back. My life has become defined by wind ensemble, marching band, jazz band, orchestra. Through this, chaos has reentered my life but in a new form – one I can control. After hours of rehearsal and hours of homework, practice leads into the late hours of many nights. Through music I have been able to travel to New York, performing in Carnegie Hall, and to Washington, D.C., performing in the Kennedy Center. Most importantly, music has taught me dedication and responsibility, while creating a community for myself and becoming a leader. All the while I have earned and maintained a 5.2 weighted GPA throughout high school through taking a course load of Advanced Placement classes, while working part-time at a local law firm. I have worked for the past four years to put myself in a place where I can create a new future for myself outside of the oppression my family has faced thus far. With a single mother, it is unlikely I will be able to afford a college education solely on my own. This scholarship will allow me to gain a formal education in which I will be exposed to more opportunities, diversity, experiences, and perspectives that I have yet to experience in my small world. This scholarship will allow me to follow in my mother's footsteps, to be the synthesis in a pattern of theses and antitheses. My mother’s story of overcoming oppression through education has inspired my own musical and academic achievement. She has shown that I am not condemned to my ancestor's fate. My father’s abuse now serves as motivation to be a dedicated student, to gain a formal education that allows me to stop my familial generational trauma.